Democrats
Debate Nuances of Gun Control
Vice-President
Joe Biden, the man tapped by President Obama to lead his
Administration's efforts to push gun control legislation,
acknowledged that “Nothing we are going to do is fundamentally
going to alter or eliminate the possibility of another mass shooting
or guarantee that we will bring gun deaths down.”
Biden
insisted that critics' contention gun control laws are, therefore,
useless or counterproductive “represents a short-sighted view.
While the projected impact on criminals is likely to be minor, the
number of firearm fatalities at the hands of the law-abiding will go
down. To the extent that the laws deter or delay access to weapons by
those willing to conform to the rules, fewer people will be shot by
these persons.”
“Look,
everybody with any sense knows that your hardcore criminal isn't
going to be swayed by any rules we can enact,” Biden added. “Case
in point, Chicago has some of the strictest gun control laws in the
country. In fact, many of the measures we're looking at for a
nationwide program are modeled on what Chicago has already done. Yet
Chicago has one of the worse murder rates in the country precisely
because criminals there don't obey the City's laws. But just because
we can't keep guns out of the hands of these outlaws doesn't mean we
have to give up on the idea of disarming as many others as we can.”
Senator
Dick Durbin (D-Ill) took issue with Biden's perspective saying that
“the Vice-President's distinction between criminals and the
so-called law-abiding is flawed. If we do it right, mere possession
of a gun will be a criminal offense. So by definition the number of
criminals we will be able to crackdown on will be expanded. If police
are the only ones allowed to legally have weapons the whole job of
enforcing gun control would be simplified"anyone else brandishing a
gun would automatically be classified as an armed and dangerous felon
and could be legitimately shot on sight.”
Senator
Diane Feinstein (D-Calif) asserted that “while Senator Durbin is, I
think, on the right track. I believe that there may be a need for
persons other than the police to be authorized to carry weapons.
Those of us in government who may be targeted by extremists should be
permitted to defend ourselves. Tragic as it may be for a private
citizen to be victimized by a gun-toting assailant, it cannot compare
with the threat to our whole social and political system that an
assault on a member of our government poses. There is a paramount
need for us to prevent such a possibility in any way that we can.”
In related
news, the Department of Homeland Security's stockpile of bullets
reached the two billion round mark this past week. Quizzed as to why
her Department would need six times as many rounds as the entire
population, Secretary Napolitano pointed out that “while it would
take only a single bullet to the head to dispatch a person, we cannot
rely upon those who pose a threat to the government to be so
accommodating as to just line up to be shot. We need the firepower to
overcome any resistance or, better still, to project an image so
daunting that none would dare rise up against us.”
Outgoing
Energy Secretary Defends Administration's “Green Investments”
Secretary
of Energy Steven Chu announced his resignation from the Obama
Administration this week. Chu had clashed frequently with critics of
Obama's so-called green investment approach. He took the occasion of
his pending departure to fire off a final volley at these critics.
“Much
as these people would like to portray the bankruptcies of a large
number of recipients of government aid as a failure of the
Administration's green investment policy, they are wrong,” Chu
maintained. “Take the Solyndra Company as a example. The contention
is that the $500 million we invested in this now bankrupt company was
a waste takes a too narrow view of the program.”
“First
of all, the $500 million we put into Solyndra is $500 million that
was not available for a more environmentally damaging form of energy
production,” Chu argued. “Money that might have been used to
expand output of oil or coal was diverted away from these polluting
technologies.”
“Second,
the fact that Solyndra failed is another overlooked plus for the
environment,” Chu continued. “As long as the company remained
open it meant employees commuting to work and spewing emissions into
the air. It meant lighting, heating, and cooling the facilities in
which these employees worked. Since green energy sources couldn't
have met these needs, an idled plant helps reduce the consumption
polluting energy sources.”
Chu
suggested that “we ought to emulate China. They are making more
headway on green energy than we can here. They don't have naysayers
nitpicking every idea insisting that it must meet some kind of
'reasonable return on investment concept.' The Government sees what
it wants done as just orders everyone to fall in line.”
Ironically,
half of the world's annual coal consumption occurs in China. China's
urban areas also have dangerous levels of air pollution with coal
soot particles more than 20 times higher than is considered safe.
IRS
Estimates Cheapest Insurance Available under Obamacare
This
week the IRS issued its estimate for the projected annual cost of a
“bronze” package of benefits when the system is fully implemented
in 2016. The bronze package is the lowest level of benefits that will
be allowed by law. It is expected to cost $20,000 per year.
With
the median family income around $50,000 per year, this health
insurance bill may be out of reach for many. Not to worry says IRS
Acting Commissioner Steven Miller, “families that can't afford to
pay the $20,000 premium will have the option of going without
insurance and paying an annual fine of $2400 instead.”
Miller
denied that the high cost of insurance would pose a health threat.
“In most cases, people don't really need professional health
services,” Miller asserted. “We've seen a few studies that show
fatality rates actually decline when doctors and nurses have gone on
strike. So, contrary to the alarmists who've been forecasting doom
under the Affordable Health Insurance law, it looks like the
potential for deterring overuse of professional medical services may
be an under-appreciated benefit of the new system.”
“And
let's not forget the added revenue stream for the government that
will come from the collection of the non-participation fines,”
Miller said. “If only half the households falling below the median
income opt to pay the fine we'll net another $60 billion per year for
the federal treasury.”
NJ
Senator Mounts His Own Defense
Under
a new wave of criticism related to his overseas sexcapades, Senator
Bob Menendez (D-NJ) rose to his own defense insisting that
“everything I''m alleged to have done has been within my rights
under the law.”
The
claim that he has illegally and immorally consorted with underage
prostitutes in the Dominican Republic is “without merit,”
Menendez said. “There is a saying"when in Rome, do as the Romans
do. Well, in the Dominican Republic, prostitution is not illegal. I
was within my rights to engage in a transaction that is perfectly
legal under that country's law. That I should be hounded here in
America shows disrespect for both me and the sovereign nation of the
Dominican Republic.”
“Likewise,
the implication that the young age of the ladies involved somehow
constitutes a sort of 'statutory rape' offense is absurd,” the
Senator complained. “Girls in other countries don't lead the kind
of sheltered lives they do in America. They mature a lot faster. They
have to if they are to make a living. That I may have employed a few
of them helped contribute to their efforts to support themselves. I
deserve credit, not censure.”
Menendez
also asserted that as a member of Congress he has immunity from
charges of this sort. “Even if New Jersey law were applicable,
which it is not, prostitution is only a misdemeanor,” he pointed
out. “Under the Constitution, members of Congress are 'privileged
from arrest' except for 'treason, felony and breach of the peace.' My
breach of a piece in a foreign country clearly fits within this
privilege.”
A
poll of New Jersey voters indicates that the Senator is in no trouble
as far as the majority of them are concerned. “What he does in the
privacy of some whorehouse is none of my business,” said one
respondent. “His job is to bring federal money back to New Jersey.
As long as he does that he's got my vote.”
White
House Blames GOP for Shrinking Economy
“The
decline in the country's fourth quarter GDP isn't President Obama's
fault,” says Press Secretary Jay Carney. “If you want to blame
someone, blame the Republicans.”
It
is Carney's contention that “opposition to the President's agenda
is what is causing uncertainty in the markets. As anyone in business
can tell you, uncertainty discourages investment and hiring.”
“What
the country needs is unity,” Carney advised. “The sooner everyone
gets in step and marches to the same beat the sooner we will be able
to pull the nation out of the recession we inherited from George
Bush.”
“The
Republicans in Congress need to stop trying to impede the President's
program,” Carney demanded. “He won the election. He has a
mandate. The argument that we can't afford his program is bogus. As
Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman has reminded us, the
Government can print as much money as necessary. It should be clear
that the GOP's resistance is spiteful obstruction, at best. At this
point, one must really question their loyalty to the country and the
will of the people.”
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