The Beltway Outsider

VA state senator Chap Petersen has published the details about his fundraiser for Criegh Deeds on his blog, oxroadsouth. Based on that information, it seems this is a ticketed event and the cheap seats start at $100. They must be serving some fancy wine and cheese at this fundraiser, or Chap is aiming for “Ranger” status with Deeds. Deeds’ website has no mention anywhere of events the common citizen can attend to hear his views or communicate their own to him. I don’t think I’ve heard of any events featuring Deeds within reasonable driving distance not during normal work hours that I could attend without taking time off. Is this the image Deeds wants to promote? That a citizen must “pay to play” to hear his views or get face time with him? If it’s this hard to get face time with the candidate now, how accessible will he be once elected?

As a contrast, I’ve been to TWO McDonnell events in Northern VA. At both events McDonnell gave a speech and made his views (that I mostly don’t agree with) perfectly clear. He also stuck around to shake hands and have (short) conversations with anyone who wanted to speak to him.

Lots of stuff keeping me busy tonight and this weekend. I hope to have an update concerning a Deeds “meet and greet” fundraiser in NoVA in a few days. Prime opportunity to ask him why he’s allowing emotion to dictate his views on closing the non existent “gunshow loophole”. Chap Petersen will be there too and I’ll be asking him to sponsor a bill next year that removes the provision in VA code which allows LEO cars to travel in HOV lanes with no additional passengers, even when they are commuting home and not on official business.

On Sunday I made my first observation about the VA governors race and the fact that Bob McDonnell (R) had dropped the F-bomb on a live radio interview. I intend to continue my blogging about both candidates until the election is over. In that vein, I turned my TV on for the first time in 2 weeks this evening and happened to see both candidates current political ads in the same commercial break so I digitized them and here they are. I’m going to start with Creigh Deeds (D) commercial; McDonnell’s is a rebuttal to Deeds and should come second. In Deeds’ commercial he uses an article written by the Washington Post to paint McDonnell as an out of touch conservative who has attempted to assert control over the reproductive health of women. He provides a link to an attack site paid for and authorized by the Deeds’ campaign, bobmcdonnellblueprint.com. Here is Deeds’ video:

McDonnell’s commercial starts off looking like he will rebut the Deeds attacks but stops there. McDonnell deviates and speaks about strong families and raising his three daughters to be strong and independent, crackdowns on domestic abusers, stronger laws  for sex offenders, his bipartisan support, and claimed creation of jobs and roads if elected (where have we heard that before?). I have been to a few McDonnell rallies and heard him speak of restricting abortion rights and protecting the unborn if elected. Deeds’ attacks don’t seem too far away from the truth, and it doesn’t help that McDonnell is dodging them. Here is McDonnell’s video:

I really don’t like this type of politics. I don’t appreciate Deeds attack on McDonnell for a paper he wrote in college. I wrote a lot of things I didn’t agree with in school, I simply wrote them to get the grade and get one step closer to graduation. But where there’s smoke there may be fire; McDonnell’s dodge of the accusation doesn’t look good for him either. So, who is the real Bob McDonnell?

I moved to Northern Virginia in 2003, and I one thing that has been constant since my arrival is the slow death of  Springfield Mall , currently owned by Vornado Realty Trust . When I first visited the mall it had almost all of its available space leased to retail tenants (which is good). But it was dirty, smelly, and not pleasant to walk around in. For some reason the trash dumpsters for the food court were placed next to two major entrances and they smelled of horrible rotting waste, especially during the summer when outside temps easily reached 100 degrees daily. The retail stores were decent, but I could not understand why mall management was allowing its image to be ruined by bad smells and dirty appearance. Fast forward several years to present day. The mall is a skeleton of its old self, half the retail stores are vacant, and it looks even dumpier than before. Supposedly the reason for the decline in retail stores are  renovations at the mall and Vornado needed the tenants to leave so their space could be redone (the leases were not renewed). Vornado even sought approval for demolition of certain areas of the mall for the renovation work, this link will show all zoning and construction requests for the mall. The current news is Vornado wishes to change Springfield Mall into a “town center” style property, kind of like Reston has done.

But why is Springfield Mall such a hotbed for criminal activity? And why is that criminal activity so serious in nature, ranging from armed robbery, muggings, kidnappings, shootings, and frequent deaths? Part of the answer lies in the fact that the mall is located about 1/2 mile from the Springfield Metro station. Thugs and criminals from other parts of the DC metro area ride the trains to Springfield to commit serious crime in a place where their victims are likely to be unarmed and defenseless (more on that later). Looking at the police reports and news stories for several years you will see that almost all of the suspects who have been captured and convicted committing serious crimes in the Springfield Mall area are from Maryland and the areas served by the Green Line of the Metro system. The Metro is their conveyance to come to more affluent areas in Virginia to rob, mug, carjack and sometimes kill victims who are more well-to-do than victims in their own areas might be.

Also, the victims have one less protection: by Springfield Mall’s very own “Rules of Conduct”, visitors to the mall agree to disarm themselves of weapons, even if legal to carry them unless they are an “Only One“. What’s an Only One you might ask? See the bottom of this post for an explanation. So, the mall disarms law abiding customers by rules and codes of conduct, and cannot or will not protect its disarmed customers once outside in the parking lots and garages. Yes, you can ask for a security escort out to your car, but what good will Springfield Mall’s unarmed security guard do to protect you from a thug with a handgun? The unarmed mall guard is simply a speed bump to be dealt with as efficiently as possible on the criminals path to you, his ultimate victim.

So, what’s the point to this post? First, I want everyone reading this to be well aware that Springfield Mall is not a safe place. If you shop there you’re literally risking your life. And Springfield Mall doesn’t care about your right to defend yourself. Second, I call on everyone who takes this sort of thing seriously to boycott Springfield Mall until they reverse position on lawful self defense and concealed carry of handguns on their property. If you feel compelled to tell Springfield Mall why you won’t be spending money there here is their contact info.

What are “Only Ones”?

Not Larry Sabato was the first to report on this:

Virginia Republican Governor candidate Bob McDonnell appears to have accidentally dropped an F-bomb on a live chat with WTOP news.

[Radio host Mark] Plotkin asked if McDonnell would consider an increase in the state gasoline tax to help fund the transportation budget. McDonnell said no, and uttered the expletive during his response.

“So no tax will be raised during your four-year term?,” Plotkin asked.

McDonnell answered: “I’m going to find other ways to be able to fund transportation. I’ve outlined 12 f—g funding mechanisms that are creative, that are entrepreneurial.”

The audio can be listened to here.

I am not ready to say who I support in VA’s governor race this year. Two men are running, the above McDonnel (R) and Creigh Deeds (D).

Of note, in 2000 when McDonnell was a Virginia state senator he cosponsored a bill that would punish students who use profanity. McDonnell has also recently been in the news concerning his views of women and their place in the family. In that college thesis written during his studies at Regent University McDonnel wrote that working women are “detrimental” to good families. McDonnell also has extreme views on homosexuals and abortion that I do not agree with. I don’t know enough about Deeds to formulate an opinion, but McDonnel looks very extreme right to me.

On this mornings “The Chris Matthews Show” Norah McDonald filled in for Chris and asked her guests if Obama’s recent problems were avoidable… or were they partly his own mistakes. The answer was split 50/50 but Joe Klein explained his answer and went a bit further saying what I believe is the shortest and clearest description of Republican problems as of late; he said Rush Limbaugh is the de facto “boss” of the Republican Party. Rush has a free card to say whatever he wants and set the tone for Republicans nationwide and not one single Republican leader will stand up to him and disagree with his opinions. Those who do quickly offer public apologies to El Jefe.

I just got back from the 9/12 March on Washington. I don’t subscribe to all of the issues the march stood for and I didn’t even march; I intentionally showed up late at noon so I could take pics from Capitol Hill and skip marching around with a bunch of people holding posters of our president wearing a Hitler mustache. Whether you agree or disagree with our current president, comparing him to Hitler and drawing a mustache on his portrait is so wrong words cannot express my disbelief that people are doing this. One of the things that bothered me was everyone was stating “they heard from somewhere, possibly the Capitol Police” that the crowd estimate was 1.6 million attendees and the government had shut down the highways around the area. I again heard these facts repeated by one of the speakers up on the stage whose voice was carried through the PA system. While it is true that several roads in DC were shut down for the march (Penn Ave. and roads around Cap. Hill and the Mall) the government DID NOT shut down any highway. Also, I’ve been to several MAJOR events on the National Mall. This crowd was NOWHERE near 1.6 million people. It wasn’t even 0.6 million, my estimate is there were less than 150K people at the rally, and not nearly enough porta johns for even THAT number. Just for comparison, when Obama was inaugurated the Washington Post estimated the crowd at 1.8 million, and The National Park Service “did not contest” that estimate. Here is a picture of the crowd on Jan 20, 2009 at Obama’s inauguration. The Washington Post’s story on the rally today places crowd estimates at 30K, but that figure is waaay too low.

Here’s a link to all the pics I took today. The link won’t work forever, as I need space on the Photobucket site I must delete old photos to make way for new content.

Edit 9/14/2009: I originally estimated 300K protestors at the Mall, but after reviewing my pictures and pics on other websites I have decided to downgrade my estimate. I still say more than 60K showed up which is the “official” count.

Offensive Hitler mustache

From The Daily Telegraph (UK):

Scouts will now be a little worse prepared after they were banned from carrying their traditional penknives (pocketknives -IB) due to the fears of those in charge of health and safety.

Here’s a brief (VERY brief) history of crime control in the UK:

1996 Dunblane Massacre  kills 16 children and one adult.

1997 The UK bans pistols. Not even the UK Olympic team is spared, they must leave the country to conduct pistol practise.

1997 – present: Because firearms are illegal, knife crime and knife murder is skyrocketing in the UK. Also, due to firearms being turned into mystical taboo items, the common Brit is horrified if they even come across a single .22 short bullet.

So, where does that leave the Brits? Well, for one thing, if they are scared of .22 short shells laying in doorways you can bet they will also go pale if they see a young boy use a knife to whittle a new neckerchief slide, build the derby car, or carve a regatta sailboat. All of which are traditional scout activities. Ladies and gentlemen, the pussification of the young man has truly begun, in the UK at least.

Miss Burgin, who offers lessons in carving using penknives, added: “If you teach children to use a knife properly they won’t abuse it. If someone wants to cause harm they will do it anyway. It is a real shame it has come to this.”

That Miss Burgin sounds like she has her head screwed on right. We can create all the laws and policies we want, but only the peaceful will abide while the criminal reigns supreme. I hope and pray this nanny-state nonsense never comes to our shores.

Hat tip to David Codrea – The War on Guns

From WTOP News:

If you’re headed to Union Station Wednesday, expect to see extra police. They’re part of a massive security exercise called Operation ALERTS.

Officers from more than 100 federal, state, local, rail and transit police agencies are participating in a counterterrorism exercise. The exercise is being conducted at 150 railway stations in 13 states along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.

Heads up, if you plan to open carry (in Virginia only of course) on Amtrak be prepared to see a larger police presence. They may possibly conduct a “consensual stop” on you if they see you carrying. What is a consensual stop? It’s when an officer is not detaining you, but is asking questions to determine what you are up to. You are free to leave of shut up at any time and you are not under suspicion (yet). Consensual stops sometimes lead to probable cause for further detainment, I’d advise not speaking to police about any topic outside of the current weather conditions.

From The Washington Post

It took $833.69, a total of 15 hours 50 minutes, four trips to the Metropolitan Police Department, two background checks, a set of fingerprints, a five-hour class and a 20-question multiple-choice exam.

Is this what the Founding Fathers meant by “Shall not be infringed”? That the common citizen should waste a whole bunch of time and money simply to enjoy a freedom allowed by our Bill of Rights? Who set this system up this way and why?

But as my four trips to the police department attest, D.C. officials haven’t made it easy. Which was exactly their intent. The day the Heller decision was announced, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) vowed that the city was still “going to have the strictest handgun laws the Constitution allows.” Fenty decried the ruling, saying that “more handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence.”

Well, Chairman Mao, err…. I mean Gray your city’s scheme is still unconstitutional, and you’re being sued again! Gee, I wonder if you’ll win this time? And Mayor Fenty, can you show how many of these newly registered handguns has caused an uptick in “handgun violence”? (I’ve never seen a handgun commit violence, I’ve only seen a human commit violence with a handgun) No? None of them have? How long must we wait?

And how things done in Virginia, according to Post writer Chris Davenport:

If I lived in Virginia, I’d simply walk into a shop, show my ID, fill out forms and then wait while the store calls for my background check, which can take all of three minutes. If I pass, the gun is mine. Or I could buy a gun from a private citizen and forgo the background check. No safety course required (unless I’m applying for a concealed-handgun permit, which is not even an option in the District). No need to register the gun with the government (unless it’s a machine gun, which is, again, not an option in the District).

Wow, how refreshing! I should have named this post “A tale of two cities” but Virginia isn’t a city now, is it? It’s too bad D.C. can’t come to its senses and figure out that keeping the citizens unarmed leads to more violence. You may as well fill a fish tank full of goldfish and then let loose a couple predatory fish like piranhas in the tank. The goldfish are the citizens and the piranhas are the criminals. Swell idea, eh? Well that’s exactly what D.C. has done and they seem quite happy about it.