The Infrequency of Posts

As you can see, I have not posted regularly for a few months now. As it is, I am very busy with work and other endeavors that I am not at liberty to discuss at this time. My posts will be very few between now and the November 7 election. But rest assured that I am still alive and will return eventually.

Republicans in D.C. Need Courage

"A 'No' uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble." --Mahatma Gandhi

The D.C. Republican Party is undergoing some growing pains.

For example, in mid-April of this year, Republican realtor Dave Kranich announced to his friends that he planned to enter the race for mayor of D.C. (since that time, three other candidates join the fray). During that gathering of friends, a Republican in attendance admitted that he and his friend had laid the groundwork for a "Republicans for Linda Cropp" organization (presumably a PAC). He looked a little embarrassed, and I have not heard of the idea since.

The Republican Party in D.C. will not be built by supporting Democrat candidates who then run as liberal Republicans. Nor will voters be inspired to cross party lines and vote for Republicans who sound like Democrats because they would like to be elected. We need courageous Republicans who are not afraid to advance Republican ideas.

However, it is true that the Republican message must be tuned to have crossover appeal. D.C. is anti-Republican, but I'm not convinced that voters will reject Republican ideas properly expressed. The power of good ideas and good people will, with time, overcome anti-Republican prejudice.

Republican Mayoral candidate Dennis Moore Supports DC Gun Control-- Strongly

The Washington Post blog "D.C. Wire" featured Republican mayoral candidate Dennis Moore recently. In the comment section, a resident named NE DC wrote: "I would only vote republican if Mr. Moore would fight to get the gunban lifted." Dennis Moore's response:

Sorry "NE DC" -- Being ex-military, a clear thinking person, and an eyewitness to the actual horrors of random urban gun violence hereand across the globe, I am acutely aware of the purpose and problems of personal gun ownership. Lifting or diluting the gun ban will not be a policy I will ever support.

Simply, guns are for killing people, and the violent gene in human nature leads to people using guns to kill people. This simple point becomes absolutely clear if (God forbid) you or someone dear to you becomes a victim of random (or premeditated) gun violence.In an urban capital city-state, only police and licensed security personnel should carry guns while we aggressively prevent, catch, prosecute
and swiftly punish those who use guns (and other weapons) to threaten, rob, rape, hurt or kill the rest of us.

Nevertheless, I hope you can broaden your perspective and sensitivity to consider the greater good for you, your family and the general public safety of all District of Columbia citizens. If I get your support and vote in that process, then we are both winners.

Although Moore correctly states that "guns are for killing people," they kill bad people, not just good people. Guns in the right hands save lives. And, police, being human, must also possess "the violent gene in human nature leads to people using guns to kill people."

One can access the crime rates in the District from 1960 - 2000 here. From 1960 - 1963, murders were under 100 per year in the District. From 1967 - 1975, murders were in the range of 221 to 287 per year. D.C. passed its draconian gun ban in 1976. During the rest of the 1970s and early 1980s, the rate hovered around 200 per year, even dipping down to 147 in 1985. Gun control appeared that it might work, somewhat.

Then, beginning in 1988 through 1996, the murder rate exploded, averaging 423 murders every year. Compare that to 235, the number the year before the gun ban was enacted. Today, the murder rate is slightly under 200 per year, which is more than the average per year during the first few years after the gun ban.

What should we conclude? Draconian gun control measures usually do not keep guns out of the hands of criminals, and are of only marginal utility. Gun bans may have nothing to do with whether the murder rate rises or declines. D.C. officials credit the gun ban with reducing the murder rate when it falls, but do not credit the gun ban as a contributing factor to the bloody 1990s. Meanwhile, the civil liberties of would-be law abiding gun owners have been trampled with only a marginal benefit to public safety, if any.

Finally, consider this: the voter who incited Moore's comment was an independent or Democrat. He/she said: "I would only vote republican if Mr. Moore would fight to get the gunban lifted." The assumption that D.C. voters are unequivocally anti-gun should be open to review. People are tired of crime, and the gun ban has not produced conclusive results after 30 years.

A Fishy Story, Part II

So was Bush joking when he told a German newspaper recently that his best moment in office occurred while he was fishing? I discussed the ramification in my previous post.

I found the transcript (finally) the other day, you can read it at the White House here.

Turns out Bush was joking, assuming that the laughter cue in the transcript is accurate. But the White House failed to clarify, and the media were perfectly content to leave the question of Bush's state of mind hanging in the air.

I am still not sure exactly how Bush intended his statement to be taken. Is Bush tired of petty attacks? Is he trying to mock his 31 percent approval rating? The humor is a little imprecise and people aren't sure he was joking. Not good. A sharper point could have been made by stating that his best moment in office was catching a fish, but adding the tagline "... or at least that's what my Democratic friends in Congress would like you to believe."

Or something like that. Maybe next time.

The Bush Legacy: A Fishy Story

In today's Washington Post, we read that the Democrats are poised to swiftly enact their agenda and "launch a series of investigations of the Bush administration" should they take over the House in November. Furthermore,

[Democratic House Minority Leader] Pelosi denied Republican allegations that a Democratic House would move quickly to impeach President Bush. But, she said of the planned investigations, "You never know where it leads to."

And so the war cry has gone out:

Campaign chiefs for Republican Senate and House candidates have already begun using the threat of such investigations to raise money and rile core Republican voters. A recent mailing by Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, warned that Democrats "will call for endless congressional investigations and possibly call for the impeachment of President Bush!"

Strange, but I feel more riled up about the fact that Dole's NRSC spent money on attack ads against Senator Lincoln Chafee's conservative primary opponent. Chafee was the sole Republican to vote against Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

Meanwhile, George Bush has informed everyone of the greatest moment of his presidency thus far:

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush told a German newspaper his best moment in more than five years in office was catching a big perch in his own lake. * * * "I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound(3.402 kilos) perch in my lake," he told the newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

More suitable answers that are hard to disagree with do come to mind. How about, for starters, the moment he announced the liberation of the people of Iraq from the iron grip of a ruthless dictator? Or the moment he stood with the firefighters of New York City at the World Trade Center site and vowed to fight?

Maybe he was joking. Or trying to be "down to earth." Whatever it was, it was not inspiring.

This President is in a funk. The Republican Party is in a funk. Republican leaders must take decisive action and return the party to its fiscally conservative Reaganesque roots or Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats will be in charge of the House.

DHS Official Caught in Child Porn Flap is a Democrat

You won't read it in the Washington Post or New York Times, but former Department of Homeland Security deputy press secretary Brian J. Doyle, arrested for the attempted molestation of a 14-year-old, is a Democrat. Blogger Wizbang! has the hard evidence.

Meanwhile, most people around the country and in the blogosphere are shaking their heads, assuming that it is another Republican engaging in criminal activity. Admittedly, I did as well, until I saw Wizbang!'s evidence. In addition, many people don't realize that Doyle was a "career" employee, and not a Bush administration political appointee.

This situation presents yet another example of the dynamics underlying the blog community. Anyone can say anything, from "Bush should be impeached" (that phrase turned up 1,734 posts on Technorati) to "the DHS official was arrested for child porn, aren't those Republican religious nuts hypocritical." Then, sometimes, someone comes along and posts information that pokes gaping holes in the initial posting.

In that spirit, for those people who are bent on demonstrating that Republicans possess inherently criminal tendencies, here's another one for you to bite on, from 2003:

"Asked whether they had ever used marijuana, [Sen. John] Edwards, [Gov. Howard] Dean and Sen. John Kerry said they have. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, [Wesley] Clark
and Al Sharpton said they had not. Sen. Joe Lieberman answered the same, although he apologized as he did so. Former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun declined to answer."

And those people were running for President. I don't even need to bring up the Marion Barry drugs-and-taxes problem. Criminal behavior a not a Republican-Democrat problem, it is a people problem. Some people break the law, and they ought to be prosecuted.

Mayor Williams 2007 Budget To Increase Taxes On Housing

At a time when the real estate market is slowing down and homeowners are worried about a housing bubble, enter genius Democrats with a late-to-the-party TAX.

In Mayor Williams's new budget, he proposes an increase in the deed recordation and transfer taxes on residential real estate transactions from 1.1% to 1.5%. That works out to $2,000 in settlement costs for both the buyer and seller of a $500,000 house-- after they pay the federal government taxes on any capital gains due to increase housing values and after they pay their agent a sizable chunk for his cut. A family of two $60,000 income earners with children who can barely make the mortgage will take a real hit here.

And (drum roll please) Mayor Williams also hopes to snag $250,000 to establish a new "housing czar" job position. A task force recommended the position, but some members of the task force argued that the new position would duplicate responsibilities held by the city's Deputy Mayor for Economic Development.

We need affordable housing solutions, not new tax and spend bureaucracies. Affordable housing is a hot issue in D.C. But a candidate who doesn't rush to trample settled homeowners in order to help low-income renters/buyers could pick up some votes.

D.C. Young Republicans Call Upon City Council to Respect Self-defense Rights of Law-abiding Citizens

The District of Columbia Young Republicans (DCYR), one of the largest Republican grassroots organizations focused on the District, tonight called upon the City Council of the District of Columbia to amend the District law banning possession of handguns by law-abiding citizens to allow the possession of such firearms within the home for the purposes of self-defense.

The resolution also embraces the “right to carry” position and calls upon the City Council to hold hearings on the creation of a Citizen Marshal program, consisting of a certified gun safety course and training for those citizens that pass a mandatory background check, that would permit possession of a concealed firearm for the purpose of crime prevention. Such an action would bring the District within the American mainstream, given that 46 states permit concealed carrying of firearms under some circumstances. The resolution passed nearly unanimously.

The text of the resolution:

DCYR Resolution Concerning D.C. Gun Control Laws
Adopted March 13, 2006

Whereas every individual has a fundamental right to defend him or herself, or another, from an imminent threat of death or bodily harm;

Whereas since 1976 D.C. gun control laws absolutely bar law-abiding citizens from possessing handguns for self-defense purposes;

Whereas 46 states permit concealed carrying of firearms in some circumstances and 38 states permit the practice with few restrictions;

Whereas nearly 200 more people each year continue to be murdered in the District despite 30 years of draconian gun control laws;

Whereas right-to-carry states have on average 21% lower total violent crime, 28% lower murder, 43% lower robbery, and 13% lower aggravated assault, compared to the rest of the country;

Therefore be it resolved that:

The D.C. Young Republicans call upon the Council of the District of Columbia:

(a) To amend the District law banning possession of handguns by law-abiding citizens to allow the possession of such firearms within the home for the purposes of self-defense.

(b) To hold hearings on the creation of a Citizen Marshal program, consisting of a certified gun safety course and training for those citizens that pass a mandatory background check, that would permit possession of a concealed firearm for the purpose of crime prevention.