HoodaThunk?

WordPress On The Go app test

I just downloaded the WordPress On The Go app from the Blackberry App World and I’m giving it a go. Keep the fingers crossed.

February 19th, 2010 Posted by ricjames | Blogging, Human Interest, Internet | no comments

LCRC filing deadline tomorrow! (That’s 5:00pm, Saturday, 20 Feb 2010!)

As noted over at Too Conservative:

The filing deadline to become a member of the reconstituted Loudoun County Republican Committee and/or a delegate to the 10th District Convention, is Saturday, February 20, 2010 at 5:00 PM.  Any stragglers out there wishing to get their form in better get it done today and deliver to Jeff Maged’s house.  Here’s a link to the form at the LCRC website.

There is no need to file a form to simply vote in the upcoming canvass for LCRC Chairman.   That will be held March 6th and is a walk in and vote and leave event.  Details here.

That last point bears repeating: the filing deadline for tomorrow is to 1) become a member of the LCRC for the 2010-2012 cycle, 2) become a delegate to the 10 Congressional District Committee Convention on May 22, and/or 3) file to run for the Chairman’s position with the LCRC. There is no requirement to file anything to participate in the LCRC party canvass being held Saturday, March 6 for the purpose of electing the new chairman. Any registered voter in Loudoun County who wishes to participate may do so. You need to bring a photo ID to vote and you will be required to sign a pledge stating that you will support the GOP’s candidates in the upcoming elections.

If you’re interested in hearing the candidates for the Chairman’s position, please come to the Tuesday night meeting of the LCRC, held at Harper Park Middle School on Tuesday, 23 Feb at 7:30 pm. (See the LCRC web site for details.) As of this moment we have 2 candidates for the office, Mark Sell and Candace Strother. I am wholeheartedly supporting Candace Strother for the office. I’ve written of her qualifications before and nothing has made me change my mind since then. I’ve also written about the choice that faces us. Candace Strother is the right decision that the LCRC needs right now. We have a lot of work ahead of us for the mid-term elections and November will be here before you know it. We need a Chairman with the skills and experience that Candace brings. Come to the canvass on March 6 and cast a vote for Candace Strother.

February 19th, 2010 Posted by ricjames | Politics, Virginia Politics | no comments

Ping pong in a hailstorm: Sometimes you misfire.

It’s no secret that I’m a 2nd Amendment supporter and that I keep track of many bills regarding this topic as they move through Virginia’s General Assembly. I pay special attention to the votes of my direct representation which means that’s I’m keeping an eye on the votes of Senator Mark Herring and Delegate Tag Greason.

Herring’s votes regarding the 2nd Amendment are, to put it mildly, spotty at best. While he purports to be a supporter of 2nd Amendment rights and he managed to get the vote right on the matter of SB268 (which I reported back in January) his near constant opposition to bills designed to support the actual citizen exercise of rights protected by the 2nd Amendment calls his characterization as a “supporter” into question. I’m displeased with his stance, but hardly surprised.

Tag Greason, on the other hand, is a true supporter and his votes on issues related to firearms and to Virginia’s sovereignty prove that support. That’s why I was surprised to the point of shocked when I heard of Greason’s vote on the matter of HB69, “Firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition manufactured and retained in Virginia.” The bill has Virginia joining with a number of other states in asserting their sovereign control over matters within their own borders, specifically with reference to the manufacture and sale of firearms that do not leave the state. The vote shows Greason voting “No” on the matter, effectively saying he thinks the manufacture and sale of firearms should be under federal control regardless of whether they are involved in interstate commerce or not. The bill passed the House by a better than 2-to-1 margin so his vote wasn’t critical to the bill’s success. However, knowing his positions on these matters as I do, I wrote to him asking for him to explain. Was his vote recorded correctly? Was there something in this bill that didn’t look right?

Tag’s response was, frankly, what I was thinking it might be. I’ve read elsewhere that the General Assembly dealt with about 2600 bills in this session. Even if we assume that the bills are evenly split between the House and the Senate (they’re not, but let’s go with it anyway) that means they had 1300 bills to go over and vote on in the 1st half of the session, about 30 days. As the halfway mark approaches, each house of the GA must conclude their business and send their bills to the other house. That makes “crossover day” a very busy one since any bill that hasn’t come up for a floor vote must do so before the day is adjourned. This past Tuesday was crossover day and the House handled literally hundreds of bills, a rate that approaches automatic weapon fire if I’m doing the math right.

The short version of the story is that our freshman Delegate, locked “in the heat of battle” on his 1st crossover day, zigged when he should have zagged. Intending to vote “Yes”, he pressed the button for “No” and didn’t notice the error until it was too late to change the vote. It’s on the record now, like it or not. That’s an error, absolutely, but an error is all that it is.

Note that Tag voted “Yes” on 2 other matters, HB10 and HB18, both of which deal with the same matter of Virgina’s sovereignty as HB69 did, just not in the matter of firearms. HB10 does so in preempting any federal mandate that Virginians must buy federally-approved health insurance. HB18 does so in a more generic fashion, holding that any goods or services made or performed within Virginia’s state boundaries are not subject to US Congress authority under the commerce clause. That would arguably apply to firearms as well as anything else so it could be argued that HB18 subsumes HB69 in any event. I think Tag’s intentions are more than clear and his unfortunate vote on HB69 is obviously a matter of a mistake made under the withering pace of crossover day. A rookie mistake, one that I’m confident our now-veteran Delegate won’t repeat.

February 19th, 2010 Posted by ricjames | Politics, Virginia Politics | 4 comments

WA State Supreme Court holds 2nd Amendment applies to states

In a case brought on a matter of a minor found in possession of a firearm during a routine traffic stop, the Supreme Court of the State of Washington has ruled, by a commanding margin, that the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States most certainly applies to the actions of state governments. From the decision in State c. Sieyes:

Pursuant to Duncan the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms from state interference through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.  This right is necessary to an Anglo-American regime of ordered liberty and fundamental to the American scheme of justice.

While this is a state-level finding (a case before the Supreme Court of the United States is asking the SCOTUS to make a similar ruling at a national level, something supported by a majority of the states’ governments) it is significant for a couple of reasons. First, it is relying on many of the arguments that are being made to the Supreme Court and it views those arguments through the lens of analysis and conclusions made by SCOTUS in the past. It is certainly indicative of the logical assessment of the arguments being advanced there. Second, and probably even more compelling, the WA Supreme Court concluded there was no reason whatsoever that state courts were required to wait for a SCOTUS decision on the matter to make such a determination:

Although the Heller Court did not expressly consider incorporation of the right to bear arms, “that need not stop the rest of us.” Sanford Levinson, Comment, The Embarrassing Second Amendment, 99 Yale L.J. 637, 653-54 (1989).  Lower courts need not wait for the Supreme Court to apply Duncan; the Constitution is the rule of all courts — both state and federal judiciaries wield power to strike down unconstitutional government acts. 7  U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2; Nelson Lund, Anticipating Second Amendment Incorporation: The Role of Inferior Courts, 59 Syracuse L. Rev. 185 (2008).  We must ourselves determine whether the Second Amendment is incorporated.

Emphasis mine. There is certainly no rule that says that a State may not consider provisions of the US Constitution to be incorporated against its own actions unless SCOTUS says it is. It may not disregard such a finding by SCOTUS and consider a provision held incorporated as not being incorporated, of course. But there’s nothing that says it can’t hold itself to the federal-level standard if it finds such to be lawful and compelling. This is what WA did in this case. I applaud their actions and analysis and I look forward to seeing this play out in the Supreme Court case later this year.

February 19th, 2010 Posted by ricjames | 2nd Amendment, Law, Politics | no comments