The Beltway Outsider

Teri Christoph, executive director of Smart Girl Politics attempts to ask Gerry Connolly for his stance on health care reform. She’s stopped by douchebag extraordinaire George Burke who attempts to tell her that filming ist verboten and she needs to apply for a press pass. Huh? Teri is a citizen, not a member of the press.

Things get worse when Connolly attempts to have a different constituent (not Teri) arrested!

Connolly left his office about an hour or so ago, and a small woman, about 4′ 8″ touched his arm, trying to get his attention long enough to say a few words to him as he tried to flee. Connolly then reacts like he’s been bitten by a snake, and starts ranting on to her that what she did was assault him, that assault is a felony, and he is going to have this woman, who couldn’t have weighed more than 110 pounds ARRESTED. Connolly then charges down the hall yelling to the capitol police, WHO THEN TAKE CONNOLLY’S CONSTITUENT INTO CUSTODY. The police talk to this woman for about two minutes, and people in the crowd who witnessed this event give their take on this. The woman is then released, and allowed back in the line to fill out a form where she can express her opinion.

Further reading on this topic:

http://www.bvbl.net/index.php/2009/11/05/breaking-gerry-connolly-tries-to-get-constituent-arrested/

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Congressional-staffer-denies-pushing-visitor-69326747.html

http://townhall.com/blog/g/25e06ac0-1eff-4af0-b823-7509538c3656

Looks like I won’t be voting for anyone in VA-35 this year, both candidates are idiots who support gun control. Mark Keam, and ex K Street lobbyist even went so far as to send several mailings to me decrying the “gun show loophole”. I used those mailings as target practice at the range, along with anything else Keam sent to my door. Jim Hyland thinks VA is a major source for crime guns in NYC and is happy we have one-gun-a-month rationing in addition to closing the “gun show loophole”.

Well, that makes things easy for me at least: If a candidate can’t think straight about a Constitutional right, they cannot be trusted to make other laws, or be trusted with my vote. I will be voting this year, just NOT for either of these two clowns.

Further reading: Candidates Differ Little in Chamber Debate

Joint Forces Quarterly is one of the magazines you will find in most flag officer waiting rooms in and around the DC area. It is written and intended to be a publication for senior military officers and decision makers and its contents are reviewed and approved by the Chairman of JCS, ADM Mike Mullen before publication by The National Defense University at Ft. McNair. JFQ is quite simply the Pentagon’s top scholarly journal and sounding board for leading military thought and critical analysis. While reading the most recent issue (in a flag waiting room of all places) I came across an interesting article discussing the Clinton era “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of allowing homosexuals to serve in the armed forces as long as they keep their sexuality a secret. The author, Air Force Colonel Om Prakash makes a powerful argument that the time is coming near for the military to revisit its policy on gays serving in the military, but he also points out that the only body with the power to make the change is Congress. Here is the current language of DADT.

I am of the belief that homosexuals are “born gay” and it’s not a choice they make in life (to be homosexual). I came to this decision years ago by rationalizing to myself “Why would anyone choose to be gay, to be despised by certain segments of society, to not be a full equal citizen?” My thoughts were somewhat echoed in the JFQ article:

“I wish I could decide who I fell in love with; if someone thinks I would consciously choose such a life where I am forced to live in hiding and fear, knowing the bulk of the population is against you, is just crazy. I can’t help who I am.” “Why would I choose to suffer like this?”

Another point that caught my attention was that homosexuals must compromise their integrity to serve under DADT. I joined the military out of a sense of honor, duty, and patriotism. It also didn’t hurt that it was a better job than the one I had at the time. But nevertheless, I was proud to serve my country and I did so with immense pride. The three core values my service cherished were Honor, Courage, and Commitment. Let’s look at the first, Honor:

Honor: “I will bear true faith and allegiance …” Accordingly, we will: Conduct ourselves in the highest ethical manner in all relationships with peers, superiors and subordinates; Be honest and truthful in our dealings with each other, and with those outside the Navy; Be willing to make honest recommendations and accept those of junior personnel; Encourage new ideas and deliver the bad news, even when it is unpopular; Abide by an uncompromising code of integrity, taking responsibility for our actions and keeping our word; Fulfill or exceed our legal and ethical responsibilities in our public and personal lives twenty-four hours a day. Illegal or improper behavior or even the appearance of such behavior will not be tolerated. We are accountable for our professional and personal behavior. We will be mindful of the privilege to serve our fellow Americans.

I highlighted several words and phrases for a purpose. How can a homosexual be honest and truthful if living a secret life in the closet? Also, if you have read the linked JFQ essay by Col. Prakash at the beginning of this post you will remember reading about the history of DADT, and that it was feared homosexuals serving openly might engage in risky behavior or drug use. I understand the law and rational behind DADT was the geniuses of Congress, and they have neither morals or integrity themselves. But to project their own shortcoming upon gay service members is silly and insulting. Military warriors, regardless of sexual orientation live by a code of integrity. It is the secret code of brothers (and sisters ) of arms. Without it there is no trust, no loyalty, no sacrifice for the betterment of your country. Patriots serve out of a sense of duty to their country and fellow man, and they expect the best out of each other and push each other toward that goal every day. Being gay doesn’t change the equation.

The law also forces unusual personal compromises wholly inconsistent with a core military value—integrity. Several homosexuals interviewed were in tears as they described the normous personal compromise in integrity they had been making, and the pain felt in serving in an organization they wholly believed in, yet that did not accept them.

I fully support lifting DADT, it serves no purpose in today’s military.

Sorry for the poor quality of this post, I wrote and posted this from my phone while sitting in a VW dealership getting my car fixed.

Further reading Joint Forces Quarterly

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”?

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.

From National Motorists Association:

#6 Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. is overrun with ticket cameras. They even have ticket cameras installed on their street sweepers. The city has also been criticized for ticketing motorists in their own driveways. Over a six-year period, the District has issued more than 500,000 citations and $32 million in fines via automated tickets.

And WTOP:

As far as photo enforcement tickets are concerned in the District, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier tells WTOP the Metropolitan Police Department has mailed out more citations this year than ever before.

“Year to date, for red light cameras, 81,249 tickets and 489,892 speed camera tickets issued so far,” said Lanier on WTOP’s Ask the Chief program Thursday.

There’s a good explanation for why the numbers are up: There are simply more cameras watching drivers.

We’ve added some cameras and technology out there,” Lanier said. “Currently, we have 49 red light cameras, all of which are operating. We have 10 fixed and 12 mobile radar units.”

See, D.C. is like an immature teenager. It wants, wants, wants, but doesn’t have the budget or tax base to afford. It wants to dole out entitlements to citizens who won’t work. It thinks it’s entitled to have a world class baseball team and the $610M baseball stadium to go along with it. It wastes money here, it wastes money there. All the while the critical infrastructure is falling apart. Schools are in disrepair and the roads will rattle your cars suspension to nothing in a few years.  How do you feed the never-ending appetite of a city that can’t budget within its own means? Why you install these traffic devices to shake even MORE money from your citizens and the tourists who visit daily. Every few months DC tries to bring up the idea of taxing commuters from Maryland and Virginia. When will this madness end? Can’t congress swoop back in and take responsibility for the city once more? You know, how the Constitution says the city should be run?