Recall Too - Part 6 Disinformation

9 News reports that the recall effort against Evie Hudak is going well enough that the Hudak people have taken to hanging fliers on doors warning people that those soliciting signatures might be identity thieves, or sex offenders as the minimum wage temps hired for the job haven't all had background checks run on them.

The hangers say the people out collecting the 18,000 signatures necessary to set a recall are potential criminals; some are even possible sex offenders.

This is especially amusing after watching Evie come down solidly on the side of the sex offenders during the Senate hearings on one of the gun bills passed early this year. Joe Salazar was also there protecting rapists, but somehow missed the recall wagon.

Watch the video at the second link. I was sitting 2 rows behind the young lady testifying when this happened. Every jaw in the room hit the floor.

The first link is an annoying auto start, complete with commercials.

Inflation

According to the government, it's near zero, which is why I'm getting a 1.5% raise in my SS allowance. The way that figure is calculated has been changed repeatedly in order to keep the government from looking bad. Over at Theo Spark there's this:

Someone who is actually trustworthy, John Williams of ShadowStats, says that if inflation was calculated the way it was under Jimmy Carter it would run between 8 and 10 percent.

- The inflation calculation has been changed many times since 1978, and the purpose each time was to make it 'appear' as though inflation was lower than it actually was. "Officially" of course. [Inflation's a lot like the phony BLS unemployment numbers, or the initial enrollment numbers that were touted for ObamaCare...two other win-wins by Gooberment.]

Shadow Stats is behind a paywall but what gets out suggests it's worth the money. Remember the "misery Index"? Made up of the sum of the inflation rate and the unemployment rate it got to the point that it eventually unseated Jummy Carter. Current unemployment, which by the way has also been jiggered to look better, is at 7.8%. Add that to the 9% inflation rate and we're up to 16.8. Be honest about the unemployment rate and call it 16% (U6) and the misery index is a whopping 25.

This index got up to 19.9 for J.C. There's a chart, which is worthless given the tomfoolery and book cooking that's been going on, here.

The Future Of Transportation - 2 Extremes

Here's a "car" that starts out at 110" long and folds up to 70 inches presumable so you can get 2 of them in a one-car garage. Since it's an electric with a top speed of 37mph and a 60 mile range, it's more of a novelty than a real contender. In parts of the country where golf carts make up a significant part of the traffic, this might make sense. Still I have visions of grandma pushing the "fold" button before first exiting the vehicle.....

The other one is a trike, 2 in front, and Suzuki Hyabusa in the back.

The bhp for the Hyabusa is in the 150-200 bhp range. Weight is same as the Elio but is has no top/heater. Nice styling though. With a top it would look even more like a scaled down Viper.Go here to read the rest.

Took my first commute to work today since Jan 31. Overcast, 40 deg, drizzle. I'll take the Elio. I have a friend who can add a turbo.

Fun With Headlines

Found this collection in the dayly newsletter from the WSJ's Taranto:

The Buck Stops Ware?

• "Obama 'Unaware on Investments"--headline, Albany (Ga.) Herald, March 8, 2007
• "Obama 'Unaware of Illegal Aunt' "--headline, BBC website, Nov. 1, 2008
• "Obama Unaware of Tea Party Protests"--headline, Examiner.com, April 15, 2009
• "Obama Unaware of Backroom Deal, White House Says"--headline, Dallas Morning News website, June 4, 2010
• "Blago Judge: Obama Unaware of Seat Exchange Bid"--headline, Associated Press, May 16, 2011
• "Sebelius: Obama Unaware of ACA Website Glitches Before Launch"--headline, CaliforniaHealthline.org, Oct. 23, 2013
• "Obama Reportedly Unaware NSA Spied on 35 World Leaders"--headline, ABCNews.com, Oct. 28

To which let me suggest:
                 "Obama Unaware That Bush Had Left The White House Five Years Ago "

Recall Too - Facetime

Evidently seeing a need for some media face time, Sen Hudak held a rally on the steps of the capitol attended by 2 of her close friends, Rep McCann and Rep Fields. Rep McCann appeared to be among the Brownies* protesting the recall effort on Friday as well. The picture of the rally showed 11 live people and 9 empty chairs representing the 9 women killed in domestic violence disputes per week.

Rep McCann was one of 3 or 4 protesters out at 80th and Wadsworth on Friday. She went home early as it appeared that most of the traffic passing by favored the recall.

Rep Fields distinguished herself in front of the House Judiciary committee and about 1000 onlookers when as House sponsor of the magazine limitation bill she was unable to tell anyone where the exemption for profitable businesses was in a 3-page bill.

*I started out calling them Brownshirts, but they don't appear to be that well organized.

CCW - Ranking The States

G&A magazine has published a comparative ranking of the states with respect to their various CCW laws. Not surprisingly D.C. finishes last with a score of zero. It's also the only place to pull down this number. CA, HI, NJ, and NY finish out the bottom five.

I put the scores into a spreadsheet to see how the numbers broke out and while the rankings are not without their flaws, the question to be answered here is probably "Compared to what?".

If you can't locate your state here, go to the G&A article to see what your score was. Sliding down the slope from right to left, the last two >60 scores before the abyss were NM at 62 and CO at 63. IL got 50 which rather surprised me. AZ holds down the top of the list.

The graph suggests that while 70 is indeed better than 68, the big drop happens at 60. If your state is doing better than that, you're on the happy side of the list.

H/T to No Lawyers - Only Guns And Money for the lead.

Fun With Headlines

social-security-administration-to-purchase-174-thousand-rounds-of-hollow-point-bullets

Maybe they're planning to attack the IRS...if so, they have my support.

Brings up a vision of an old geezer with a belt-fed machine gun bolted to his walker doesn't it?

Do You Belong In Colorado?

Up to now I had thought that the only people who felt they belonged here was a software geek who had sold his shotgun shack in El Segundo for $1M and was looking to escape the California State taxes.

Here's a link to a personality test of eight questions that will tell you which of the lower 48 you would fit in best in. I can point to no attestations to its validity, and note that most states share similarities with several others. It told me that I'd fit in best in Georgia. I know just enough about Georgia to know that there's Atlanta Lanner, and then there's the rest of the state. Some parts look quite appealing, so who knows? Maybe I'll visit some time.

Recall Too - Part 5, Harassment

After a large front-page article yesterday in the Denver Pest, the Hudak Brownshirts are out practicing Alinkayite intimidation techniques including having one of their number prance about with a long lens camera taking everyones pictures and calling the police and everyone they can think of to make complaints. The fellow with the camera looked fairly lively. The rest of his crew looked like they had been recruited from the Jerry Garcia Memorial Nursing Home.

Our location is on a grass strip between the public sidewalk and the parking lot of a corner property. The grass strip is public property, but the City of Arvada has notified us several times in one day that all our signs must be 12 ft from the curb. This after we moved the signs. The repeat visits were just time wasters.

The Brownshirts have evidently called the property manager and complained about us as now they don't want us to park our cars on their asphalt. The police were summoned to enforce this edict and we had to move our cars across the street. This is inconvenient as the laptops we use need power and we had been getting it by using an inverter in one of our vehicles and running an extension cord about 10 feet down to the table. We now have to bring our own car batteries with us to keep the computers running. The police were reminded that the edict about parking was non-specific and included the Brownshirts, all of whose vehicles we helpfully identified. Everyone on our team was spry enough to park across the street and walk back. The Brownies, not so much and the pogrom reduced their numbers from six to two.

We use the laptops to confirm that everyone signing our recall petitions is in fact who they say they are, and is a registered voter in the district. This inconveniences the Brownshirts when they send their friends over to add known invalid signatures to the petitions.

Shortly after I got there a fellow approached me and told me that his grounds maintenance company wanted to blow out the sprinklers in the area we were using. We asked for 5 minutes to clear out the line at the table and that he start at the far end of the grass strip, which he agreed to. As the farthest sprinkler heads began to spray air and water, we picked up out table and moved it to the asphalt to wait out the storm. When the sections near us began to erupt, the Brownies found themselves dampened a bit. When the blowout process ended we moved everything back to the grass just in time for the police to arrive. Yep, they had been called about us being on the asphalt. We explained about the sprinkler blowout and all was well. The head Brownie then came rushing up and accused us of conspiring with the landscape company to deliberately soak them. Officer Friendly rather brusquely informed him that she didn't want to hear any more from him, having heard too much B.S. from him already. Come to think of it, a false report ticket is issued at the policeman's option isn't it?

The fancy lead-acid battery packs that we came up with, with a 400W inverter included and a claimed 12-hour run time alas only ran two laptops for about 30 minutes. Might be insufficient initial charge. We'll find out more tomorrow.

Also having 3 or 4 extras on the sidewalk even with opposing signs actually helped our efforts. Pity they left early.

(Un)Employment

The government is reporting that few people are finding jobs at the end of the fifth consecutive Summer Of Recovery and are presumably baffled as to why no one wants to hire anyone in the face of the wildly successful rollout of the National Health Care clusterf*ck experiment.

The USG is claiming 7.3% unemployment, mostly due to people dropping out of the workforce:

Remember, the smaller the workforce, the fewer workers you need to make it look good.

In the meantime Gallup is calling it 7.6% unemployment and oh by-the-way, 17.1% U-6 un and under employment.

As to why you younger folk can't find work, it's probably because no one wants to hire a full time worker and find that the cost of keeping them is ruinous when they can hire a retired person part time with no benefits a whole lot cheaper. Since we already have Medicare, Medicaid, Part D and pay for our own Medigap insurance, nothing further is needed. Besides we don't want to work full time.

On that note I'll be going back to work this coming Monday, depriving some young college grad of a position which would otherwise allow him to get married and support a family, and providing me with enough extra disposable income to buy that used Jaguar I've been lusting after.

Beats the hell out of a Mercury Grand Marquise doesn't it?

Tea Party Rising

Notwithstanding the vilification by the MSM, new Republican candidates are making sure the voters know which side of that fence they're standing on, usually to great approval of the electorate. Absent the complete demise of the Republican party and its replacement by the Tea Party, complete with new leadership, this looks hopeful.

Even in Europe, the anti-statists are showing new strength.

Privilege

Rand Paul is proposing a constitutional amendment declaring that “Congress shall make no law applicable to a citizen of the United States that is not equally applicable to Congress.”

Swell idea. It should read "...that is not equally applicible to any employee of the Federal government."

I had thought that this would be covered by the clause forbidding the congress from issuing titles of nobility which generally carry certain perks such as being exempt from the pesky regulations imposed on the peasants. The problem I guess is that that would require the Supreme Court, themselves members of the nobility, to issue a ruling to this effect.

H/T Roger Simon, PJMedia. 

History In The Re-Making

Stalin is reported to have remarked that "Those who cast ballots decide nothing. Those who count the ballots decide everything." As a corollary to that I suggest that those who make history decide nothing. Those who write history decide everything.

Here's a great example of rewritten history:

For the benefit of any of you who recently graduated from a public high school or otherwise flunked U.S. History, or are very low information voters, here's the scoop.

First: The Tea Party is a conservative leaning group, tending to the right side of the Republican party.
Second: The Republican Party was founded for the express purpose of abolishing slavery.
Third: The Democratic Party, while not founded for that purpose, was the staunch supported of slavery.
Fourth: The KKK, whose trade mark was the burning cross pictured above, is the militant wing of the Democratic party, founded to keep blacks, if not enslaved, at least in subservient positions. The burning cross is emblematic of the left, not the right.

On a similar note is the left's practice of denouncing the right as either Nazis or Fascists. This derives from the 1930's when pretty much the whole world was run by the left, the only difference being one of degree. When Stalin, darling of the New York Times who held down the position of leftmost leader, denounced Hitler and Mussolini as right-wingers, he was correct, at least from his point of view. The practice continues to this day with anyone to the right of the New York Times being called a right-wing Nazi or Fascist.

Complete article from which the above clip was extracted is at The Weekly Standard, here.

Travel

The Air Force is offering to fly the entire House of Representatives to Florida for the funeral of one of their members who was discovered to be dead recently.

One hopes that after the funeral the plane will be refueled and proceed on to Gitmo where the lot of them will be given a paid vacation for the next 13 months.

Vote Fraud

Want to vote multiple times in the current off year election? Here's how to get started. Lots of ballots are available in the mail rooms of large apartment complexes as one was sent to everyone who ever voted, and if there's a question, a letter is sent out asking for authentication of the voters existence.

A word of warning: The return envelopes are signed by the voter, whose signature is on file with the county clerk. When received, all signatures are compared. If they don't look enough alike, the ballot is side tracked and a letter is sent out asking the voter to confirm his or her existence. If the letter doesn't come back, the ballot is not counted.

Of course if the signatures are close enough, it gets counted. If you get caught, you'll go to jail. If you spend $.65/envelope to mail the ballots in, the odds of you getting caught are essentially zero.

The Future - Looking Bleaker?

Found here at Power Line Blog is an article that references Rasmussen polls taken 8 years apart. Poll #1 taken August 2008 during the campaign:

45% of voters think America’s best days lie ahead, while 37% think they have come and gone.

Poll #2 released Friday, Oct 18th:

31% of Likely U.S. Voters think America’s best days are still to come… Just over half (52%) think the nation’s best days are in the past.

Quite a fundamental transformation of the country isn't it?  Here's a description of what it will look like when the transformation is complete. Ace of Spades is always a good read.

Recall Too - Part 4, Process

The Colorado courts have ruled that a ballot initiative to ask for a $1Bn tax increase will have a fairly low standard for the process:

However, in his ruling, Mullins said the Amendment 66 campaign did indeed meet the legal test for “strict compliance” with election laws, but even if it didn’t, Mullins said Hagedorn’s side ignored 19 years of state Supreme Court precedents that give ballot campaigns leeway to comply with the law even if they don’t have all their paperwork technically perfect.

So "strict" doesn't actually mean "strict" in this case.

What we're finding out with the recall petitions is that if a petition is signed by
John Q. Public
28 Mockingbird Ln

This is NOT the same as the voter registered there with the secretary of State:
John Quincy Public
28 Mockingbird Ln

Hence we are looking up everyone who signs to make sure they use the same signing format as they did when they registered. Do you know what you put down when you registered? Most people don't.

The process is on track at this point. Different municipalities have different standards for doing this sort of thing, and we find out about them as we go along. As long as we're not blocking a sidewalk, Westminister and Broomfield don't care. Evie has friends in Arvada however and our tables get regular visits from Arvada municipal busybodies with tape measures and some without warning us that we must be 12 feet back from the curb with stationary signs although standing on the sidewalk with one is O.K.

Having a creepy guy sit in his Caddy in the parking lot behind us and watch us carefully all day long is likewise entertaining. That job must pay well. At another location someone sat in his car and videotaped us until one of the petitioners went over and took his picture with his cell phone whereupon the cinematographer departed posthaste.

The Durango Herald and the Colo Spgs Gazette are turning out to be much better sources of actual news than the Denver Pest.

QOTD - Popularity

In the unlikely source department I stumbled across this:

Recent polls show that Congress is still slightly more popular than the Taliban with most Americans, but analysts warn that, "The numbers are fluid and the Taliban is creeping up. We think that people appreciate that at least the Taliban is honest about wanting to destroy America. If the House of Representatives would just come clean, they might get a little boost."
                                                                Dr Cosmo Fishhawk

Notwithstanding the obvious leftward tilt of the commenter, one could easily remove the reference to the House and insert any of the multitudinous factions that call D.C. home. I attribute the president's surprisingly high approval rating, 37% last I looked, to his remarkable ability to warm the chief executives seat without actually doing anything of an executive nature, thus avoiding the blame when it goes south on him.

The Best Handgun

The second best handgun is the one in your hand when you need it. The best handgun is the one that fits your hand correctly and is thus more likely to serve its intended purpose when you need it.

Here's a data sheet from a study on handgun ergonomics from a study done by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. It's 20 years old, so some of the data may be obsolete, but since the shooter has generally far more influence on accuracy than the gun.....

The stats were collected to try to figure out why small people were having trouble shooting large pistols. This sounds like a no-brainer, but the useful information comes from discovering which of several factors might have the greatest influence and how they might be modified with the minimal impact to the guns overall function.

If I were a firearm manufacturer, I'd be doing this sort of study work on a regular basis and adding data as quickly as I could. Some factors tie in to others in subtle ways. A high bore axis will cause more muzzle flip when you fire and a longer time to get back on to target. OTOH, converting recoil energy into muzzle flip might reduce the felt recoil.

In addition to trigger reach, I'd also consider the mag release reach. Build the basic gun small enough for a small-handed person to comfortably reach both the trigger and the mag release and make available grip overlays to fit the larger hands, and you're broadening your appeal. For newbies, the distance from the middle of the web between your thumb and forefinger to the center of the last joint of your forefinger should be at least equal to the trigger reach listed for any gun you might be considering.

The source for this is Bearing Arms. The actual study, in pdf format, is here.

Recall Too - Part 3 Getting Noticed

The Dem strategy in the recall efforts begins with the old standby of ignoring the opposition and hoping the rest of the public does the same. This is becoming increasingly difficult to do as even editorials in the Denver Pest ridiculing the effort serve to draw attention to it. The effort is bipartisan as both the Dems and the Republican leadership have weighed in denouncing the effort as divisive. The sentiment is shared as I had a lady stop her car in traffic on Friday to yell at me that if we didn't like Sen Hudak, we should wait for the elections to vote her out. Sen Hudak is up for reelection in 2016.

The governor is now suggesting that the anti-gun groups from out of state should stay away from this one as the people of Colorado, he has discovered, don't like being dictated to by New Yorkers. He must have only recently figured this out as not even the presence of thousands of angry peasants prevented him from signing everything that landed on his desk this spring. He is no longer listed on the membership list at MAIG, but one supposes he's some kind of member emeritus, having moved up from Mayor to Governor.

The lower tier Dems are less sanguine about this with the Aspen Times, the organ for rich ex-pat Californians reporting that a Herculean effort will be mounted next year to keep Colorado in the blue state category.

“We found in Pueblo, where there are a lot of hunters, that people didn’t understand the new gun-safety laws,” she said. “We would tell them that the laws passed in March and then ask them, ‘Is your gun gone?’”

Not yet.

It was difficult trying to counter the efforts of the National Rifle Association and other special-interest groups, she said, because they spend a lot of money and use scare tactics.

“We explained to people that what the (Colorado General Assembly) did was not ‘gun control,’ it was ‘gun safety,’” O’Leary said.

Hunters and shooters, it would seem, have no real grasp of the concept of "gun safety".

Our Cybernetic Overlords

At least two companies are announcing that they have software that can pick potential new employees better than a human HR specialist. Personally I find this easy to believe. I bet they can even tell you when their own software is obsolete and in need of upgrades. Just don't plan on doing any hiring while the upgrades are running.

In related news there is reportedly software that can predict recidivism among prison inmates.Possibly these can be combined to predict how long that new potential star employee the first software picked will remain with the company once he or she gets to understand the corporate culture a little better.

Glitch

While at the symposium I walked by Clayton Cramer who was discussing a piece of government software he had been privy to the workings of. The word "glitch" was used, along with several others which made the crash of the Hindenburg sound like a bumpy landing at DIA. Maybe I'll find out what it was. If so I'll update this post.

Meantime Drudge is using the word "glitch" in reference to a nationwide shutdown of the EBT card system. Seems they were running a routine test on it and the software flunked. Big time. Strip clubs, liquor stores and used car lots everywhere report crashing sales. Oh the humanity.

NRA Law and Second Amendment Symposium

Just got back from the NRA symposium on firearms law and the second amendment at D.U. in Denver. A star-studded gathering of everybody who is anybody relating to gun law from NRA-ILA executives to Emily Miller, possibly the only person in D.C. to actually legally buy a firearm. And me.

There may have been some media types there, but they weren't obvious about it. Maybe I was it. I was told that last year there were protesters. This year all I saw was a gaggle of students waiting for a bus across the street from the parking garage, so all in all, very quiet. I was also told that support for gun control is at an all time low among the under-30 demographic, so that's good.

Topics included National level litigation efforts with a description of what the NRA is doing and how it's doing it. We got an inside look at how the SCOTUS selects cases which explained why certain cases came up when they did. Seems the members work on the basis that it takes 4 votes to agree to review a case, and 5 to decide it. Unless both criteria are met up front, the court is unlikely to hear a case. If this sounds like an example of the fix being in, you're probably right. Most cases revolve around the vote of a single justice and the attorneys on both sides usually know who that is. The court being closely divided, cases are usually decided on the narrowest possible basis, so unless one philosophy or the other holds a substantial majority, don't expect any sweeping rulings.

Local litigation and involvement was also covered. The NRA is involves in the suits about the new gun laws here, which suggests they think they can win them. When asked about involvement in the recalls, they respond that notwithstanding the $350K they chipped in, they generally specialize in litigation, not electoral politics. They also noted that Mike Bloomberg has a lot more money than they do and can easily buy legislatures. Of course the obvious answer to the question about the NRA presence is that the recalls were heavily supported by the Colorado membership. Like the button says: I'm the NRA and I vote.

Clayton Cramer had an excellent talk on the state of mental health laws going back to the times before deinstitutionalization and the effects of the policy on the incidence of mass killings.

All in all a really interesting time listening to some really smart people. I have a copy of all the presentations. I may add more as it percolates to the top.

Gun Sales

The FBI's NICS data tells me that NICS checks are down almost 4% vs September of last year. This is the fourth month in a row in which checks were lower than previous year. It's still up from 2 years ago, so the antis have nothing to crow about.

The point of this is that ammo should be less stressed as a result. I have had reports of people walking into Wal Marts and finding the popular calibers on the shelf. One other thing is that the last Tanner gun show was very sparsely attended. Rifles and pistols were available at no more than 10% over last years prices, which is consistent with inflation.

Yes, I know the government is happy to tell you that inflation is in the 1% range, but listen carefully to the report. Note the disclaimer: "Excepting the volatile food and energy sectors, core inflation was...". So as long as you don't eat, drive to work, or heat your house, prices are stable.

Update Day

Message: Updates are ready to install on your machine. You may continue working while this is being done. Express Install.

Message Really Means: Updates are ready to install. You may continue working while this is being done. Suggested activities include laundry, gardening, vehicle oil changes, or national park visits. Express Install: Click O.K., get up, go away, don't call us, we'll call you. L8ER Dude.

The EPA Wants To Listen

They say they do anyway. I think it's just a golf tour for high mucky-mucks. Still, they promise to be there to listen to you about carbon pollution standards. You should go just to ask when the last of the coal-fired power plants will be shut down to save us from the warming. Or how much the new respiration permits will cost.

The schedule and registration for the events which are being held all over the country, is here.

I don't know about the other sites, but the Denver site is in LoDo, meaning that public transit is pretty much mandatory. Also the building 1595 Wynkoop St features security identical to getting onto the concourses at the airport. They are terrified of the peasants so don't bring large water bottles or small pocket knives.

Click the link, and call ahead to see if the government shutdown has exempted them from listening to anybody at all.

Something Useful From Washington

 Today, U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) introduced “The Renewable Fuel Standard Repeal Act” (S. 1195). The bill would repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in its entirety. This is the first useful piece of legislation I've seed bubble to the surface in quite some time. Feel free to cut the following letter and paste it to your Senator.

Dear Senator:

The Renewable Fuel Standard is fundamentally broken and beyond repair. Instead of delivering meaningful environmental benefits, it’s driven up food and fuel costs for American families.  This flawed program will also inevitably lead to widespread lawsuits against American manufacturers. When Congress enacts bad policy, the right response is to scrap it and start over.

Burning a significant part of our national food supply as a substitute for oil, which it now appears we have plenty of, is a terrible idea. End this fiasco now and support S-1195.

Yours truly
Joe Voter

Found this at Hot Air. Follow up piece also at Hot Air.

Recall Too - Part 2 - Days Of Whine And Roses

The Dems are weighing in on the recall effort against Evie Hudak, and predictably they do not approve. Since the recall of Senate president John Morse and Sen Angela Giron, the Senate, still controlled by the Dems, if only by a single vote, has elected new leadership moving it slightly further to the left than it was before.

"Personally I don’t think a recall mechanism is the best way for us to resolve our policy differences,” newly elected senate president Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora) said.
One Democratic senator called the attempted recall, ridiculous. Another, Matt Jones (D-Longmont) says it’s a tactic out of the Washington playbook.

I did not realize that Washington used this tactic. Of course the accepted method for resolving policy differences is to listen to both sides and work out acceptable compromises. This year the Dems simply ignored their constituents and rammed through whatever they pleased in forms that would get a failing grade in a High School civics class.

At some point it may be possible to convince this crew that Mike Bloomberg, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden are not their constituents and the angry peasants at the gate need to be listened to. Or not. Losing Sen Hudak in a recall would switch the Senate to Republican control. In event of a recall however, Sen Hudak can be tossed under the bus and replaced by another reliable party hack who will do as they are told, and the election would be called off. Using this method, the Dems could protect their majority until the 2014 elections and rely on the Vote Fraud Act of 2013 to keep them there indefinitely.

I heard an address last night by Matt Crane, Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder, who spoke on the implications of the new election law. Several questions were asked about vote fraud. He answered that up to now it was not easy but not impossible by any stretch. Finding a fraudulently cast ballot is one thing. Finding the person who cast it is something else. On a happy note, some who have tried this were caught and are currently doing time for it. The county prosecutor takes a dim view of the practice.

Under the new law with a bit of preparation it becomes very easy and much more difficult to catch. In some cases, it's possible to find that a ballot was improperly cast after the fact, but impossible to trace it to the person who cast it or prevent it from being counted.

Take your pick; Either the law was written by a drooling moron, or it was written by a Machiavellian who hoped no one would be looking.

The Future Of Transportation - Trolley Problems

Taking a page from some other groups in their approach to problem identification and solving:

The San Francisco Chronicle's Vivian Ho sets the scene:

A man standing on a crowded Muni train pulls out a .45-caliber pistol.

He raises the gun, pointing it across the aisle, before tucking it back against his side. He draws it out several more times, once using the hand holding the gun to wipe his nose. Dozens of passengers stand and sit just feet away—but none reacts.

Their eyes, focused on smartphones and tablets, don't lift until the gunman fires a bullet into the back of a San Francisco State student getting off the train.

That's what investigators saw when they watched surveillance footage from the eastbound M light-rail vehicle* on the night of Sept. 23.

The obvious solution is to ban both smart phones and trolleys. A no-brainer.

Health Care EULA

Found this at Hot Air: On the off chance that you actually do successfully sign up online for Obamacare, be sure to read the End User Licensing Agreement. You know, that interminable bunch of gobbledygook you have to check when downloading or installing software? Note carefully this line:

“[W]e may share information provided in your application with the appropriate authorities for law enforcement and audit activities.”

Of course if you don't have any warrants out on you, or if you haven't said or done anything disloyal to the administration, you have nothing to fear.

Happy Anniversary

Forty-six years ago today the Bolivian army stood Che Guevara up against a wall and shot him.

And the world became a slightly better place.

Not wishing the same fate to befall them, his co-ideologistas have been advocating for gun control ever since.

Primary Candidate Wanted

Must be resident of CO-6. Need a genuine conservative to replace Mike Coffman who has been kidnapped and had his brain tampered with:

Coffman said he takes Obama “at his word that he is willing to work with Republicans on a budget agreement to bring down our debt.”
“President Obama is now saying that he is willing to negotiate on additional steps to bring down the debt but only after the partial shutdown has ended and the debt limit is once again raised,”

Sure Mike, and Lucy will dutifully hold the football for you this time, no kidding.

Coffman's district was gerrymandered to make the party split almost perfectly even before the Vote Fraud Act of 2013 was passed. It now leans slightly Dem and Mr. Coffman is convinced that by selling out his base he can increase his attraction to the Undecideds.

Me, I've got my doubts.

Budget Solution - Draconian

Over at Market Ticker, Karl Denninger is proposing a more than slightly draconian solution to the budget problem:

Here's what Boehner should do as Speaker:
Bring the bills to the floor under regular order to fund government departments at the level of existing tax revenue and no more.  In other words, fund programs such that there will be a zero deficit.  Pass those bills and send them to the Senate.
Then adjourn "sine die" and go home!

He proposes the house not come back until the 2014 elections are over. I'm pretty sure there are at least a few things the House actually needs to vote on between now and than but there is the happy possibility that no further damage would be done for a period of one year. That alone should set the markets soaring.

Of course the next obvious thing would be to pass legislation funding each of the various departments at some percentage of actual tax revenues for the year, with the caveat that the total could not exceed 100% of available funds, and let it run like that. If someone wanted to increase funding for the Department of the Interior, the money would have to come out of some other departments hide.

In a good year, markets would surge, tax revenue would climb, and the government would grow. Of course this would cause the economy to tank and tax revenue to drop leaving the alternatives of either layoffs in government or massive borrowing from the Chinese.

If at the same time, borrowing was limited to times of declared war with active military operations, I could see a balanced budget happening fairly easily and no politician having to take the rap for big government layoffs as the circumstances would be out of his control.

Gun Fun - E-Postal

Here's the October target:

A nice pizza brought to you by Mrs TrueBlueSam. The rules are simple; 25 feet, or as close to that as you can set up at your range; shoot ten times per target.  Anchovies are worth 5 points, Olives are worth 3 points, the Crust is worth 3 points, and Pepperonis are worth 1 point.   Multiple hits on toppings or the crust are OK.   Hits that touch the center of an Olive count double, for 6 points.  You might touch a pepperoni and the crust with one shot; that will count for three on the crust.

Go here to get the actual pdf target as this one isn't remotely the right size.

Results from September are up at TrueBlueSam's place. No one but Mr.Completely got a perfect score which is almost as it should be. If anyone, even Mr. Completely, gets a perfect score, than the target was too easy. Wait until you see my next offering. Bwahahaha!

Ars Gratia Artis

A silly notion, this. Anyone who can do good art is making a comfortable living in advertising, which is where most of the market for art actually is.

Anyway the state just dropped $1M and 6 months to come up with a logo to use to promote Colorado to the rest of the world, and came up with this:

Ignore the number 7, it's not actually part of the logo. Without the word Colorado under it, it looks like a hazmat placard for a truck carrying Carbon Monoxide. It appears in another contest here in which students at my Alma mater Metro State, were given 2 days to come up with a better logo. The top six are these:

 

I like #3 as did a large number of people voting at the Denver Pest article on the topic. 

Whoever did the #3 logo got lucky in that I was not in that class, and did not collaborate on the work. I would have used the graphics, but without the enclosing dome. Instead I'd have put the graphic on the side of a big, fat, smoldering blunt.

I don't use the stuff, nor do I endorse it but if you're trying to capture the essence of the state as it currently stands....

Recall Too - Part 1

Having spent last weekend out helping the effort to collect petition signatures, I can report that the effort is moving forward with the grim efficiency of a WWII vet visiting the memorial in D.C.

It's not just thrusting a petition under someones nose and soliciting a signature, the battleground has long since become far more sophisticated than that. Today every signer is checked with the secretary of State's office to verify identity and residence before getting to sign. This eliminates the bogus signatures from Micky Mouse and Do-Wop Diddy which while valid for voting in say Washington State, would be challenged here.

It's early, only the third day, but the signature count is on track. They could use all the help they can get for walking precints on weekday evenings, so visit the website at www.recallhudaktoo.org  or the Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/recallhudaktoo to find out how you can help.

Of course there is opposition. The Dems of course don't want to lose control of the Senate, which replacing Hudak with a Republican would do. It is widely thought, however, in light of the successes in Colo Spgs and Pueblo, that if the call for a vote is successful, Evie Hudak will be offered a cushy position with the Department of Redundancy Department in return for her resignation. This would stop the election and allow the Dems to select her replacement. Last election results (2012): Hudak (D) 47%, Sias (R) 46.3%, Sweeny(L) 6.7%. This is very similar to the results in Sen. Morse's last election. Libertarians: Electing Democrats since their inception.

Other opposition in coming not too surprisingly, from Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call, who has been so instrumental in making the Republicans the party they are today in Colorado, notably the minority party in both houses and out in the cold at the governors mansion.

But, with Democrats now clinging to just a one-seat senate majority, the proposed recall election targeting Sen. Evie Hudak of Westminster isn’t about her gun votes or anything else she’s done — activists already tried and failed to gather enough signatures to recall her earlier this year.

Evie Hudak has stated in effect that she would prefer that other women be raped and murdered as long as she doesn't have to go around all day fretting that some of them might be armed. Worrying that a woman might be armed is a task for a rapist, not a Senator. She also likes green energy as long as she doesn't have to look at it or listen to it, and as long as someone else is paying for it.

 The earlier recall failure is attributed to the high number of signatures required in a short length of time, an all-volunteer force of petition circulators, and mostly on 3 blizzards in 3 weeks which put a big damper on the efforts. Weather is always a factor, especially this time of year, so we'll see. Mr. Call is evidently not upset at the prospect of the Dems running the state to suit themselves including institutionalizing vote fraud.

“The job of the Republican Party is to get Republicans elected when there are regular elections,” said Colorado GOP Chairman Ryan Call. “And there are already a lot of things competing for our time, attention and resources.
“This recall election would undermine our efforts in the governor’s race, the U.S. Senate race and to win a senate majority if voters perceive that Republicans are trying to win a majority through recalls.”

Dude! Your job is to get the party into a majority position in the legislature and into the Governors office. Waiting for the elections fairy to appear and wave her magic wand somehow doesn't seem like a viable business plan. At the rate you're going, we'll have multiple precincts reporting >100% turnout and 100% support for Saddam Hussein, or whomever the Dems are running. If a recall will fix this, then let's have a recall. If you need angry peasants with pitchforks and torches, just let us know when, where, and how many. One more suggestion: Develop an outreach program to the Libertarians.

When You've Lost The Press...

You're in deep trouble. All those pictures of the prez with logos behind him like medieval depictions of saints, someone finally got it right:

Fitting, no?

Obamacare Problems - Easy Fix

The administration assures us that the only thing preventing a smooth and successful implementation of Obamacare is excessive demand for the product.

There is an obvious solution in which everyone can participate: Simply quit trying to get on with the  expectation that it will work. Log off and go back to whatever you were doing. After all, in 2 months the rules will be changed and you'll likely have to start all over again anyway.

The government has plenty of server space to run the program, assuming that the software is actually ready to run, it's just that all the servers are currently in use by the NSA storing your browser history and all those cute cat videos and midget leather porn sites need to be carefully scrutinized to prevent another 2012 electoral disaster.

Colorado Gun Law - Recall 2

The first recall efforts were marked by dispersed efforts by rank amateurs. To recall a legislator, first you have to get the minimum number of signatures on a petition to recall the person. Of the four legislators who were targeted, only two got that minimum. Still, it resulted in the recall of both of the targeted senators.

Buoyed by this success, a second effort is now underway to recall Sen Evie Hudak. Sen Hudak, you may recall famously dismissed the testimony of a rape victim, herself a CCW holder, who had dutifully left her gun somewhere else while she walked across the UNLV campus, which had a "no guns" policy. Within 50 yards of the campus police station she was accosted by a thug with a gun. After hearing her plea against a bill that would have made all Colorado colleges "gun free zones" Sen Hudak informed her that she felt the "statistics were against her" regarding actually defending herself and dismissed the testimony in the most insensitive display of arrogance I saw at the capitol the whole time I was there.

Sen Hudak doesn't like armed peasants and isn't shy about letting the peasants know. The testimony is at the web site. Watch it. It's 4-1/2 minutes well spent. I was in the audience when this happened and was appalled at Sen Hudaks response. She also is easily distracted.

The new effort has a web presence here and a Face book page here. Now that the methodology and available resources are better understood, this effort should proceed much more easily than the last one. As an extra bit of incentive, if Sen Hudak is recalled, the Republicans will hold a 1 vote majority in the Senate making repeals and amendments much more feasible.

The petition has been approved for wording and content so now we have 60 days to get 18,300 valid signatures on the petitions. This probably means that more than that will be required as the opposition will be working hard to get bogus signatures on the paper. Typically 130% of the minimum requirement is required although in the case of Giron, the gatherers were careful who they solicited and needed only about 10% extra to be successful.

Last time I don't believe the Donks took us very seriously as no sitting legislator had ever been successfully recalled up to that point. This time they will believe with the level of faith of a suicide bomber as their majority is now at stake and not just one seat. If you can help, please do. I plan to.

Even More Anarchy!

Go to the HHS web page and try to buy Obamacare and you may also be offered various retail goods. HHS says those pages aren't supposed to be there but is seems it wasn't hard for someone to tack them in. If you do manage to get to a website that offers to help you get insurance, be sure to check the url at the top of the page. urls with .ru, .ch, .ni, or other such suffixes are probably not from the U.S. government.

Possibly related; The government weather control machines that keep things comfortably warm have been left unattended and have broken down. Yesterdays 70's and sunny have given way to todays 40's and snow. Al Gore call your office.

It has been reported that the wolves imported from Canada to replace the native ones hunted to extinction locally, have not been fed their daily ration of Scooby Snacks by the Federal Bureau of Land Management's Department of Pestiferous Wildlife and are gathering in packs in front of grade schools. Of course this could just be an extension of the first lady's plan to improve the health of children as the kids won't have to run faster than the marauding wolves, just faster than Fat Albert.

Colorado Gun Law - Repeal?

Dave Kopel is optimistic about the prospects of repealing two or more of the gun laws passed this year in light of the recall of 2 senators last month.

As Ms. Giron points out, the laws are still in effect and repealing anything is extremely difficult. The current (Dem) leadership in both houses is NOT inclined to let any modification to their signature bills make it out of committee and the leadership are both from very safe blue districts.


Additionally there's the issue of getting Gov Chickenpooper to sign the recall. This may not be as difficult as getting the legislation passed in the first place as the governor has shown a propensity to sign anything that lands on his desk without giving it much thought.

I applaud Mr. Koppel's optimism but I have trouble sharing it.

At this point I see fixing the Vote Fraud Institutionalization Act of 2013 as a greater priority if we expect to remove any of the sitting Dems at all. As it stands, it is still legal to export surplus voters from safe districts into swing districts in an attempt to "swing" the district to your favor, an electoral version of the open borders philosophy.

Solidarity!

In Solidarity with the shutdown of the government today I shut down my lawn sprinkler system for the year. Alas, the government shutdown probably won't last that long, but we do what we can to assist the common good.

More Anarchy!

With the government shutdown some 90% of employees at the EPA and the IRS have got a modest vacation on their hands. The two have been the administrations kneecappers for the last 5 years stifling economic growth and political dissent. The EPA puts you out of work and the IRS insures you can't complain.

Now with a furlough in effect, EPA employees are protesting the loss of their jobs. Big deal. I'm going to guess that in less than a month they'll all be back to work and the SEIU will have gotten them their back pay for the period during which they weren't working.

In the mean time, welcome to the real world.

Government Shuts Down! Anarchy Prevails!

On news today that the federal government had shut down, the price of oil fell to $102. Speculation is that if the Iranians nuke D.C. the price could drop to $35/bbl.

Today is a good day to go to work as all earnings will be free of federal taxes while the government is paralyzed. Please note that speed limits on state roadways are enforced by state and local law enforcement who most certainly ARE working today.

Factory output is expected to rise as no documentation will be required of anybody until ICE comes back on line. Frank J. Fleming has expressed doubts over the value of the shutdown, pointing out that little would be accomplished if it just gets started up again later. To that end I suggest we take advantage of the "Cash For Clunkers" program and commit about half of the now moribund government, the parts identified by designations beginning with "Department of...", to the recycling bin of history.

Like Okies traveling to California we will discard unnecessary weight from the pickup truck of the state including sofas, pianos, and elderly family members who are no longer demonstrating presence of brain activity. John McCain, Nancy Pelosi, Susan Collins, Harry Reid, and others too numerous to mention come to mind.

As today is the official opening of Obamacare exchanges, remember that some glitches still exist in the system. Numerous sites out there will take all your personal information, apologize for running slow, assure you that the premium you committed to pay them will buy you the best insurance available (!) and reroute you to an Albanian porn site. Be careful. Some of these sites may not be actual government sites. Only sites with URL's ending with /menendez/house.gov are to be trusted.

One other note: It is unconfirmed that IRS buildings are protected from fire by the Federal Fire Department, which is closed today, and not by local fire departments. If you see smoke emanating from an IRS building, please do not call the local fire department. They already have plenty to keep them occupied without calls about stuff outside their scope.

Buy ammo. The federal fleet of black helicopters is grounded until further notice.