I know this is a little late, but I'm still getting caught up after our melt down the other week.
It is election season for the NRA again. Bitter has a scan of the full ballot of candidates. Dave Hardy has a roundup of some of the names being favored by bloggers. He also explains his method of vote rationing:
when I started voting, on, 20 years ago, I would take the number of votes allowed and fill up to that number. This year it's 26. I later figured out why it was unwise to do this. In practice, there would be 15-20 people that I felt quite qualified, and I was then adding some others about whom I was uncertain. In practice, I was adding to the vote count of those of whom I was uncertain, and some years some of them would beat out people I felt were solidly qualified. Thus I learned to vote for the folks I felt were quite qualified, and stop there, even if it was less than the 25-26 allowed.
when I started voting, on, 20 years ago, I would take the number of votes allowed and fill up to that number. This year it's 26.
I later figured out why it was unwise to do this. In practice, there would be 15-20 people that I felt quite qualified, and I was then adding some others about whom I was uncertain. In practice, I was adding to the vote count of those of whom I was uncertain, and some years some of them would beat out people I felt were solidly qualified.
Thus I learned to vote for the folks I felt were quite qualified, and stop there, even if it was less than the 25-26 allowed.
A theory also advocated by Tom Wright.
Another theory for casting NRA ballots:
I will vote for every candidate from a blue state, in the hope that more folks from states where gun rights are most under threat will be elected.
First suggested as far as I know by Nathaniel Firethorn.
Last week, 20/20 did a show about children in Camden, NJ. They called Camden the poorest city in the nation and followed several children over a number of months. The level of abject poverty was shocking and alarming. They couldn't have picked better children to follow either. They were bright, positive, hardworking, and articulate kids with basic dreams that we take for granted but they find utterly unreachable.
Having just watched that program, it is all the more shocking to read this news about how fiscally irresponsible and mismanaged Camden school district is. Two points:
The Newark Star-Ledger has started a new exercise in giving a platform for anyone to make their voice heard. Their new video blog TV Jersey is like public access cable for the web. They don't host the videos but they do showcase them. So if you post any video to YouTube, tag it "tvjersey" and they will find it and feature it.
via Beat.tv
While we know the gun grabbers are keen on blocking every right and erecting every inconvenience that they can in our path and have been for decades. After over a decade of obscurity and a lacking friendly legislature to get anti-self-defense measures to pass, they are approaching this new opportunity with particular enthusiasm. In fact, they are out for blood as Michael Brown of the DSLG said in yesterday's Seattle Post Intelligence.
Some of the newest bills in congress have absolutely no connection to safety or violent crime. No gun control law has ever proven to effectively reduce crime. In fact, even Clinton's own task force determined the presence of a link between gun control laws and crime reduction to be "inconclusive". Notably in the new agenda is the so-called "gun show loophole" bill will have an imperceptible impact on violent crime, if at all. Less than 1% of crime guns traced back to gun shows--a fact known by all. This bill has nothing to do with crime and everything to do with an attack on the gun culture. As Brown says:
You see, although gun shows are not a significant source of crime guns, they are both a tool and symbol of the gun rights movement. People gather to discuss their hobby, curse the gun grabbers and enjoy spirited haggling over the price of treasured objects. They also recruit new members and raise funds for gun rights organizations. What better target for the wrath of those who despise guns and gun owners?
