Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

The drastic increase of drug activity on Arizona’s southern border since the 1990s has turned Organ Pipe rangers into de factor Border Patrol agents

Drug runners would cut across Mexican Highway 2 through Organ Pipe’s dirt roads in a car and then quickly hop onto U.S. Highway 85, which shoots up to Phoenix or Tucson. The vehicles blazed more than 200 miles of unauthorized roads through the park, and rangers found themselves in dangerous, high-speed chases nearly every day. An $18 million, 23-mile vehicle fence put up after Eggle’s murder by the Department of the Interior cut down on this vehicle traffic. Now, cartels have had to get smarter, sometimes cutting into the fence, removing it, driving through, and then putting it back together again. Drug runners also started coming more on foot, dropping their packages in designated spots on the highway for someone else to pick up.

So first, it’s clear that the fence helped. All these people against fences keep trying to argue that putting up fences won’t make a difference. Which is pretty stupid.

Still, Murdoc would argue for a second fence a hundred yards inside the first one, with a ten foot ditch between them. He’d also shoot any living thing that was spotted between the two fences, but that’s just him.

For what it’s worth, National Park Rangers should not be tasked with this. I’d say that National Guard troops should be guarding the nation. With crew-served weaponry and liberal ROE.

County Official Caught Speeding, Gets Off With Warning

A county official driving a county government issued vehicle was arrested after being clocked for allegedly going more than 100 miles an hour in a 55 mile an hour zone.

Prince George’s County police pulled County Councilwoman Karen Toles over along the Capital Beltway near Branch Avenue last week.

Tax dollars bought the vehicle and paid the councilwoman to speed. They paid the officer to let her get away with it.

The penalty: Fined $90 for an improper lane change.

Murdoc’s proposed penalty: Fire Karen Toles, fire the officer who stopped her, and demote officer’s direct superior.

Via Instapundit.

Tea Party and OWS Protest Side-By-Side Against Obama in San Francisco

The unthinkable finally happened last night in San Francisco: the Tea Party shared a protest with the Occupiers, both groups angry with the same person.

And who was this unifier, the only man who can bridge the divide and bring together all sides of the political spectrum? Why, President Obama, of course.

Via Instapundit.

New LCS named for Gabrielle Giffords

In yet another break with tradition, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced Friday that a new Littoral Combat Ship would be named for Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who survived a January 2011 assassination attempt.

“The selection of Gabrielle Giffords, designated LCS 10, honors the former Congresswoman from Tucson, Arizona, who is known for supporting the military and veterans, advocating for renewable energy and championing border security,” the Navy said in a statement accompanying the announcement.

No disrespect intended, but what sense does that make?

Naming of Navy ships has gone way downhill, and the fact that there are so darn few of them coupled with the fact that a lot of them seem to be getting substandard names means that a lot of good traditional names are going to go unused in order to suck up to someone politically.

LCS 10 is one of the General Dynamics trimaran designs.

More on that Clint Eastwood Chrysler commercial last night which was so good that Murdoc refused to watch any more Super Bowl commercials.

At first Murdoc was “Wow! That’s Clint Eastwood!”

Then Murdoc was “Oh, my God…I think this is one of those Detroit Chrysler commercials.”

Looking online after the fact, Murdoc sees that there was a lot of talk about this beforehand. He wishes that he would have seen some of this so he would have been prepared.

But seeing Eastwood up there being a huckster for that crap was sure disheartening.

Murdoc doesn’t know why these “Detroit rocks” commercials drive him so nuts. But they do. I see firsthand a lot of what these celebrity spokesmen like Eastwood and Eminem are talking about, and the reality ain’t pretty.

(Aside: Who would would have ever thought we’d see “Eastwood and Eminem” in print?)

Halftime America! Clint Eastwood Makes It All Better! Ugh.:

So, bringing in the city of Detroit as some city on the ‘comeback’ after being knocked down, and blah blah blah, was a bit disingenuous as it fails to mention they knocked themselves out. Detroit and the American car industry would not have made it to ‘half-time’ if it wasn’t for the Bail-Out ™. They were carried by the taxpayer to half-time, beaten and bruised by building inferior products, bloated management and union mismanagement and over-the-rainbow promises to it’s retiring workforce.

Exactly. Especially the “blah blah blah” part. (via Instapundit)

I know that Eastwood has long been a solid Conservative in an environment where being open about being such a thing is usually fatal. And I know that this is just a commercial. And, for what it’s worth, I DO hope Detroit and the American automakers get their crap together. But this commercial is a crock, and it’s disappointing to see Clint Eastwood starring in it.

Actually, it’s more “disheartening” to me than “disappointing.” A little of the shine just disappeared from so many of those movies and characters that I like so much and, to be honest, have been influential on me in many ways.

I hope I’m just over-reacting and feel better about it tomorrow.

US won’t cut carrier fleet to fix budget: Panetta

Good news, if true:

Aboard The USS Enterprise: The United States will not cut America’s fleet of 11 aircraft carriers to help trim the budget deficit, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said on Saturday, citing tensions with Iran as an example of why the massive ships are so critical to national security.

Panetta was addressing about 1,700 sailors headed to the Gulf this spring aboard the USS Enterprise, which after a half-century of service is about to embark on its final tour before being taken offline in November.

We’ll see. There is already a gap between the retirement of the Big ‘E’ and the addition of the USS Gerald R Ford (CVN 78).

Obama’s Surrender of Afghanistan Continues Apace?

So let’s get this straight: we agree to release key Taliban leaders from Gitmo, and the Taliban “reciprocates” not by releasing the one American they hold hostage, but by agreeing to “open a political office…in Qatar?” Wow, what a sacrifice! So basically, what is happening here is that Barack Obama is begging the Taliban to do business with him.

Murdoc’s got some strong issues with what our goals in Afghanistan are, how we’re going to accomplish them, and what a “victory” there would look like. But that doesn’t mean he favors surrender.

Just Shut Up, Moron….

NTSB Chair Supports Cell Phone Ban With Lies & Obfuscation

Conservative columnist Mona Charen contacted the NTSB and found out that the 3,000 fatalities statistic actually was for all distracted driving. Of those ~3,000 fatalities, the agency considered 995 to be due to cellphone use. So NTSB Chairman Hersman was misleading the public, exaggerating the risk of cellphone use by a factor of at least three.

How many of those 995 were drivers using hands-free phones?

Via Instapundit.

UPDATE: Also: There’s No Reason To Ban Cellphone Use While Driving

A 2009 NHTSA study found that 80% of all car wrecks are caused by drivers eating or drinking — not cellphone use — with coffee-guzzling the top offender.

Let’s see Washington ban coffee drinking while driving. The Second American Revolution would begin three minutes after it passed. It would be the first thing to unify all Americans since, well, ever.

Look, Murdoc is opposed to distracted drivers, and that includes drivers distracted by cell phones. He could be convinced that a ban on texting was appropriate. He would even listen to arguments in favor of banning hand-held phones, though it would be a tough sell. Bans on hands-free phones are just plain stupid. Especially at a national level.

Oh, and for all those who keep telling Murdoc how much worse things are now that everyone is yapping on their phone all the time:

According to federal data, traffic deaths have fallen from 2.1 per 100 million vehicle miles in 1990, when virtually no one had a cellphone, to 1.1 in 2009, when almost everyone does.

Republicans muscle tax cut bill through House

The Republican-controlled House has passed legislation sought by President Obama to extend Social Security payroll tax cuts through 2012. But the bill also includes a requirement for construction of an oil pipeline that has drawn a veto threat.

The Republicans “muscled” it through. That’s like getting enough votes to pass, but way meaner.