As I discussed earlier, the folks at Marriott got just a bit cute with NRA attendees staying in their facilities and with folks holding side-events to the NRA convention at their facilities - setting them up, after taking their money, for potential felony charges.
To their surprise, things went viral. Seems the designated targets not only took exception, but they and their friends are spreading the word here and elsewhere with coverage on most major blogs and in national venues (since the venomous bigotry was aimed at "icky gun people", the national traditional media seems largely unable to detect said misbehavior).
Boycotts are firing up, starting with the folks at Grass Roots North Carolina. Apparently, effective boycotts and negative PR, given Marriott's subsequent actions.
A BIG LIE. Marriott announced they'd take down all the nasty signs and wouldn't be naughty anymore. As Examiner Paul Valone documents, for Marriott there is apparently a huge difference between what they say and what they do - for us common folks, we call that sort of thing fraud and deceit (but to be really sure, run it past your attorney).
Apparently their current course is based on the theory if they just babble on long enough and loud enough, gun owners will somehow forget Marriotts ongoing fun and games and come back, bringing their checkbooks with. Not likely.
In the meantime, where's the NRA? Granted, their website is a truly godawful piece of slow-loading kludge on anything less than a T1, but still - they are the 800lb gorilla.
When do we see a statement across all NRA sites along the lines of:
We at the NRA are vastly disappointed by the ill-considered conduct by the staff and corporate leadership of Marriott in Charlotte during our convention and subsequently. We recognize and respect the right of private property owners to set policy, however bigoted and ill-advised, on their own property. We also support the right of our members, affiliates, and allies to take their business and their dollars to persons that do not engage in discrimination against our members, including varieties of discrimination that could be considered entrapping our members in felonies. We encourage all persons opposed to bigotry and bait and switch tactics to do business with any other hotel or motel than Marriott at all our future events, staying in tents, if necessary as superior lodgings to those available from such a duplicitous organization. We regret this necessity, but for the legal protection of our members, we must post this recommendation until further notice.
Mr. LaPierre, your podium is waiting....
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Lesson of the Day: Don't Screw the Unconsenting
Example the First: How's that working for you, Cycles & More?
Example the Second: Does litigation make it better, T&J Towing?
Just a hint. No matter what you, as a business owner or employee may have gotten away with in the past, this is a whole new world. Offend a customer, and become a star of the blogworld, on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and more - a whole new level of negative fame.
Try litigating your opponent into silence, and watch your business implode, as the 'net community responds to what is perceived as an attack on freedom of speech.
Your business (and very possibly personal) history will be examined and published, every complainant you've ever had will suddenly be talking to each other (and comparing notes and attorneys while raising their united voices in publicly retelling their tales of woe regarding your business and the essential vileness of your business practices in their eyes).
This will not be good. The balance of power has shifted. The Better Business Bureau was...annoying...if you weren't a good business critter, but it was fairly toothless and most folks couldn't be bothered to check your business with them before *doing* business with you. Lifting a phone was too much effort.
A quick Google search, on the other hand, is a lot easier. And folks are doing them more and more. Or checking out Yelp.
Cycles and More of southern Louisiana, over a year later, in a simple Google search pulls up Ambulance Drivers blogpost as the sixth result - and gee whiz, it sure wouldn't inspire me to rush right over and do business with them. For a long while, AD's post was *first* in Google listing for Cycles and More.
Our second example, T&J Towing out of Michigan, when googled generates the Facebook UnLove group dedicated to them and their practices as the FIRST result. Again, not a really great business promotion.
If it's not screaming obvious yet, the wrong thing to do is get all pissy about matters. If you are at fault, or could reasonably be viewed as such - think very seriously about apologizing, then making the matter right...or you, too, could be watching your business implode as the offended customers version of events blazes across the internet like a wildfire on a gasoline-soaked prairie.
Example the Second: Does litigation make it better, T&J Towing?
Just a hint. No matter what you, as a business owner or employee may have gotten away with in the past, this is a whole new world. Offend a customer, and become a star of the blogworld, on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and more - a whole new level of negative fame.
Try litigating your opponent into silence, and watch your business implode, as the 'net community responds to what is perceived as an attack on freedom of speech.
Your business (and very possibly personal) history will be examined and published, every complainant you've ever had will suddenly be talking to each other (and comparing notes and attorneys while raising their united voices in publicly retelling their tales of woe regarding your business and the essential vileness of your business practices in their eyes).
This will not be good. The balance of power has shifted. The Better Business Bureau was...annoying...if you weren't a good business critter, but it was fairly toothless and most folks couldn't be bothered to check your business with them before *doing* business with you. Lifting a phone was too much effort.
A quick Google search, on the other hand, is a lot easier. And folks are doing them more and more. Or checking out Yelp.
Cycles and More of southern Louisiana, over a year later, in a simple Google search pulls up Ambulance Drivers blogpost as the sixth result - and gee whiz, it sure wouldn't inspire me to rush right over and do business with them. For a long while, AD's post was *first* in Google listing for Cycles and More.
Our second example, T&J Towing out of Michigan, when googled generates the Facebook UnLove group dedicated to them and their practices as the FIRST result. Again, not a really great business promotion.
If it's not screaming obvious yet, the wrong thing to do is get all pissy about matters. If you are at fault, or could reasonably be viewed as such - think very seriously about apologizing, then making the matter right...or you, too, could be watching your business implode as the offended customers version of events blazes across the internet like a wildfire on a gasoline-soaked prairie.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
What do we want from the NRA in a convention?
Charlotte was a mistake, a substantial one. From the moment the NRA knew the Convention Center was no-carry and that even restaurants were carry-hostile for even the concealed carry crowd, Charlotte should have been a no-go.
Bad words should have been said, tearing at hair performed, and general dismay expressed - and then a press release distributed that the NRA was horribly, horribly, sorry...but that it would be, based on the hostile welcome the city offered the NRA's members, be holding 2010 elsewhere - even holding it on the Burning Man site, complete with Tents & RV's as convention facilities, would have been a screaming improvement.
Fortunately, contrary to the NRA spin, there are a number of *other* cities (not just two or three) that could accommodate the convention. Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Albuqueque - heavens, even Seattle would be friendlier to folks attending with both open-carry and CPL options (check who Seattle is reciprocal with, and with due notice, you can either bag a permit or go open carry if your state isn't listed).
There are plenty of convention-ready cities (or, if necessary, large flat pieces of ground) that welcome us and our cash. We'd like to support them.
We want a convention where we are not disarmed - not in the event facility, not in our hotels, and not when we're out and about or seeking a bite to eat.
As covered elsewhere, Marriott in Charlotte got cute with NRA members and other attending folks - placing them at significant legal risk. According to various reports, this is apparently a corporation wide problem.
We want to be warned of risks and of vendors that would abuse or cheat us. And while we're at it, we'd like to know who our friends are so we can spend money with them.
Anything else we should be asking for, folks?
After all, once we realize the NRA screwed up significantly, and tell them so, it's part of our responsibility to offer some hints on how to do better going forward.
Thoughts?
Bad words should have been said, tearing at hair performed, and general dismay expressed - and then a press release distributed that the NRA was horribly, horribly, sorry...but that it would be, based on the hostile welcome the city offered the NRA's members, be holding 2010 elsewhere - even holding it on the Burning Man site, complete with Tents & RV's as convention facilities, would have been a screaming improvement.
Fortunately, contrary to the NRA spin, there are a number of *other* cities (not just two or three) that could accommodate the convention. Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Albuqueque - heavens, even Seattle would be friendlier to folks attending with both open-carry and CPL options (check who Seattle is reciprocal with, and with due notice, you can either bag a permit or go open carry if your state isn't listed).
There are plenty of convention-ready cities (or, if necessary, large flat pieces of ground) that welcome us and our cash. We'd like to support them.
We want a convention where we are not disarmed - not in the event facility, not in our hotels, and not when we're out and about or seeking a bite to eat.
As covered elsewhere, Marriott in Charlotte got cute with NRA members and other attending folks - placing them at significant legal risk. According to various reports, this is apparently a corporation wide problem.
We want to be warned of risks and of vendors that would abuse or cheat us. And while we're at it, we'd like to know who our friends are so we can spend money with them.
Anything else we should be asking for, folks?
After all, once we realize the NRA screwed up significantly, and tell them so, it's part of our responsibility to offer some hints on how to do better going forward.
Thoughts?
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Soap Box, Ballot Box, Jury Box, Bullet Box
You know, I'd really like to not see our nation making political decisions using either of the last two boxes in my lifetime (or, frankly, my nieces).
Current events are not, however, causing me wild optimism. One can, after all, only piss into the wind for so long before growing damp and funky-smelling - no matter how enthusiastically one goes about the project.
Current events are not, however, causing me wild optimism. One can, after all, only piss into the wind for so long before growing damp and funky-smelling - no matter how enthusiastically one goes about the project.
Will there still be blogs?
I don't have quite the gift of Stingray at such things...but, given this, I'll give it a whirl.
You pig-fucking, monkey-fellating, scat-fondling, snake-rimming unpatriotic nimrods. You treasonous, cretinous wretches - have you grown bored with fondling yourselves and your interns? We've grown used to your having the morals of rabid badgers in heats, the ethics of a rattlesnake, and the appetites, intellects, and sensible attitudes of rhinoceri with severe mental deficits. But you go to far.
I write my blog, and I write it to please me. If folks give me money or sponsor me, that is between me and PERHAPS my readers. Buyer beware, and anyone without enough skepticism, particularly in a nation accursed with you and your ilk as what passes for a leadership class, to consider the possibility is likely to stupid to worry about.
That you rock-headed dipshits, you dingleberries on the body politic, have simultaneously erupted into public office not unlike a veritable plague of pustulent boils upon the buttocks of the nations citizenry is to some extent our fault as citizens.
We have let you buy us off with bread and circuses, with baubles, and then baffle us with bullshit - as it's been a very long time indeed since any significant number of you asshats have had what it takes to blind us with your brilliance. We have bought into it as you've thrown sops to various special interest groups and spent the majority time posturing, junketing, and looking busy.
Now, with the DISCLOSE Act winding its way through once-august halls now sullied by your very presence, that vile bit of legal deception attempting to evade the First Amendment in a transparent attempt to silence your critics in the blogosphere and elsewhere, simultaneously seeks to reward those that wave pom-poms as you hie about your treachery.
Enough.
We will not be silent, nor will we be silenced. I, and other like-minded persons, will write on the 'net and elsewhere, speak as we wish, and do so as we drive you like diseased vermin towards the ballot box where you will be driven from office - in all likelihood, all too often, the good with the bad, but so be it. None of you are indispensable, and every incumbent is now suspect.
November is coming. Start making retirement plans.
You pig-fucking, monkey-fellating, scat-fondling, snake-rimming unpatriotic nimrods. You treasonous, cretinous wretches - have you grown bored with fondling yourselves and your interns? We've grown used to your having the morals of rabid badgers in heats, the ethics of a rattlesnake, and the appetites, intellects, and sensible attitudes of rhinoceri with severe mental deficits. But you go to far.
I write my blog, and I write it to please me. If folks give me money or sponsor me, that is between me and PERHAPS my readers. Buyer beware, and anyone without enough skepticism, particularly in a nation accursed with you and your ilk as what passes for a leadership class, to consider the possibility is likely to stupid to worry about.
That you rock-headed dipshits, you dingleberries on the body politic, have simultaneously erupted into public office not unlike a veritable plague of pustulent boils upon the buttocks of the nations citizenry is to some extent our fault as citizens.
We have let you buy us off with bread and circuses, with baubles, and then baffle us with bullshit - as it's been a very long time indeed since any significant number of you asshats have had what it takes to blind us with your brilliance. We have bought into it as you've thrown sops to various special interest groups and spent the majority time posturing, junketing, and looking busy.
Now, with the DISCLOSE Act winding its way through once-august halls now sullied by your very presence, that vile bit of legal deception attempting to evade the First Amendment in a transparent attempt to silence your critics in the blogosphere and elsewhere, simultaneously seeks to reward those that wave pom-poms as you hie about your treachery.
Enough.
We will not be silent, nor will we be silenced. I, and other like-minded persons, will write on the 'net and elsewhere, speak as we wish, and do so as we drive you like diseased vermin towards the ballot box where you will be driven from office - in all likelihood, all too often, the good with the bad, but so be it. None of you are indispensable, and every incumbent is now suspect.
November is coming. Start making retirement plans.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Getting Cute in Charlotte - Marriott Bait'n'Switch, With Fangs
With news breaking post-convention at Workmans blog and over at the Charlotte Examiners blog, it becomes apparent that Manager Jim Diehl and his staff of the Charlotte Mariott City Center have been very naughty indeed.
It seems that after several hundred NRA convention goers made reservations to stay at the Marriott and, in addition, Grass Roots North Carolina also held its “Gala for Gun Rights” on Friday night at the location. GRNC had, in fact, by all accounts carefully verified in advance that Marriott was not one of the many gun-free zones that make Charlotte a deeply undesireable city for 2A conventions and events.
Subsequent to taking payment and check-in of said guests and organization (estimated at over $100,000), on Friday night, during the Gala, Diehl and his minions posted the hotel as a no-firearms zone using quickie computer printed signs and scotch tape to hit all the entrances - instantly criminalizing those present and placing them at risk of prosecution if they were in possession of firearms on the premises.
Such prosecution would place them at risk of imprisonment, fines, and loss of their Concealed Pistol Licenses.
As a bonus, the hotel had hand-outs on its front desk actively encouraging visitors to place themselves in legal jeopardy by asserting the patently false notion that firearms could be checked/stored at the Charlotte Convention Center - a center where possession of firearms, regardless of intent, is a criminal act as verified by Workman. So, following these directions, armed guests would rush up to Center security, announce they had a gun to check, and then be at risk of arrest, imprisonment, and seizure of their firearm.
Very. Naughty. Indeed.
I will leave it to the attorneys in the community to determine with certainty if such action rises to the level of criminal conduct (Bait'n'switch? Fraud?) though my lay suspicions certainly leave me rather curious if those merry boundaries were crossed by Diehl and company.
Similarly, though as a lay person, I suspect that grounds for civil litigation exist...but would rather leave that fight to the lawyers, though I will be gleefully cheering on the attack lawyers should such occur.
I do suggest that, from a purely ethical view, that the folks at Grass Roots North Carolina and every NRA-attending guest affected by Diehls unacceptable actions are due a refund in full of all funds they expended staying or putting on an event at the Marriott during the time period in question. As a lay person, I suspect the argument could be made for such action on a legal basis, and would encourage the affected to seek counsel from appropriately licensed persons.
Subsequent to the event, Workman and Valone tell us, Marriott made a series of excuses, and when faced with public pressure made a rather mealy-mouthed and essentially worthless apology while claiming it will never happen again in a call to a High Road participant.
Not enough. Not nearly enough. Full refunds, public apologies, and then a restitution campaign to make good the risk the individuals and organizations were placed at by Marriott's bad faith (my opinion, ymmv) actions.
If individuals had actually been arrested, more punitive measures would, in my opinion have been appropriate. Marriott should be grateful that did not occur as a result of their actions, and that their liability, through no fault of their own, was minimized.
From the point of view of the activist, I can only urge folks to take actions to minimize their risk while taking every possible action to provide Marriott with a "learning moment".
Don't stay or hold an event at a Marriott facility if it is practically avoidable - until the conditions above have been met, they should likely be considered as dangerously untrustworthy. A tent is a better, and likely legally less risky, choice.
If you can't avoid Marriott for your event (i.e., if it's the only game in town), ensure your rental or event contract specifically bans such conduct with specified and prohibitively punitive penalties for violation - and specified compensation for damaged individuals. Or hold your event in a field or parking lot. Or put it off a year. In my opinion, it's just not a good risk.
If an opportunity comes up in your life to steer other, non-gun related events or business away from Marriott - Carpe Diem! Seize the day, and drive business elsewhere by any lawful means. It can be as simple as simply steering company travel away or as dramatic as pulling a convention previously scheduled. There are, after all, plenty of other hungry hotel chains out there in todays economy.
Finally, don't give up hope. Don't be quiet, shrug your shoulders, and assume there's nothing to be done. In just one day after folks got home, caught their post-event breath, Marriott has already *begun* to realize the depth of their faux pas.
That's due to folks like you blogging about this, writing and calling Marriott, and generally raising havoc over their bad actions. The time to smile and take it is long past on many fronts, of which this is but one - today is the day to burst forth in your very own personal rendition of Twisted Sisters "We're not going to take it, anymore" while reaching for pen, pocketbook, and keyboard.
To contact Marriott (with thanks to Valone for the contact data):
E-mail Charlotte Marriot City Center General Manager Jim Diehl at jim.diehl@marriott.com or fax him at (704) 358-6522 and let him know that until you receive an apology and a notification that postings have been removed, you and everyone you know will be avoiding the hotel.
It seems that after several hundred NRA convention goers made reservations to stay at the Marriott and, in addition, Grass Roots North Carolina also held its “Gala for Gun Rights” on Friday night at the location. GRNC had, in fact, by all accounts carefully verified in advance that Marriott was not one of the many gun-free zones that make Charlotte a deeply undesireable city for 2A conventions and events.
Subsequent to taking payment and check-in of said guests and organization (estimated at over $100,000), on Friday night, during the Gala, Diehl and his minions posted the hotel as a no-firearms zone using quickie computer printed signs and scotch tape to hit all the entrances - instantly criminalizing those present and placing them at risk of prosecution if they were in possession of firearms on the premises.
Such prosecution would place them at risk of imprisonment, fines, and loss of their Concealed Pistol Licenses.
As a bonus, the hotel had hand-outs on its front desk actively encouraging visitors to place themselves in legal jeopardy by asserting the patently false notion that firearms could be checked/stored at the Charlotte Convention Center - a center where possession of firearms, regardless of intent, is a criminal act as verified by Workman. So, following these directions, armed guests would rush up to Center security, announce they had a gun to check, and then be at risk of arrest, imprisonment, and seizure of their firearm.
Very. Naughty. Indeed.
I will leave it to the attorneys in the community to determine with certainty if such action rises to the level of criminal conduct (Bait'n'switch? Fraud?) though my lay suspicions certainly leave me rather curious if those merry boundaries were crossed by Diehl and company.
Similarly, though as a lay person, I suspect that grounds for civil litigation exist...but would rather leave that fight to the lawyers, though I will be gleefully cheering on the attack lawyers should such occur.
I do suggest that, from a purely ethical view, that the folks at Grass Roots North Carolina and every NRA-attending guest affected by Diehls unacceptable actions are due a refund in full of all funds they expended staying or putting on an event at the Marriott during the time period in question. As a lay person, I suspect the argument could be made for such action on a legal basis, and would encourage the affected to seek counsel from appropriately licensed persons.
Subsequent to the event, Workman and Valone tell us, Marriott made a series of excuses, and when faced with public pressure made a rather mealy-mouthed and essentially worthless apology while claiming it will never happen again in a call to a High Road participant.
Not enough. Not nearly enough. Full refunds, public apologies, and then a restitution campaign to make good the risk the individuals and organizations were placed at by Marriott's bad faith (my opinion, ymmv) actions.
If individuals had actually been arrested, more punitive measures would, in my opinion have been appropriate. Marriott should be grateful that did not occur as a result of their actions, and that their liability, through no fault of their own, was minimized.
From the point of view of the activist, I can only urge folks to take actions to minimize their risk while taking every possible action to provide Marriott with a "learning moment".
Don't stay or hold an event at a Marriott facility if it is practically avoidable - until the conditions above have been met, they should likely be considered as dangerously untrustworthy. A tent is a better, and likely legally less risky, choice.
If you can't avoid Marriott for your event (i.e., if it's the only game in town), ensure your rental or event contract specifically bans such conduct with specified and prohibitively punitive penalties for violation - and specified compensation for damaged individuals. Or hold your event in a field or parking lot. Or put it off a year. In my opinion, it's just not a good risk.
If an opportunity comes up in your life to steer other, non-gun related events or business away from Marriott - Carpe Diem! Seize the day, and drive business elsewhere by any lawful means. It can be as simple as simply steering company travel away or as dramatic as pulling a convention previously scheduled. There are, after all, plenty of other hungry hotel chains out there in todays economy.
Finally, don't give up hope. Don't be quiet, shrug your shoulders, and assume there's nothing to be done. In just one day after folks got home, caught their post-event breath, Marriott has already *begun* to realize the depth of their faux pas.
That's due to folks like you blogging about this, writing and calling Marriott, and generally raising havoc over their bad actions. The time to smile and take it is long past on many fronts, of which this is but one - today is the day to burst forth in your very own personal rendition of Twisted Sisters "We're not going to take it, anymore" while reaching for pen, pocketbook, and keyboard.
To contact Marriott (with thanks to Valone for the contact data):
E-mail Charlotte Marriot City Center General Manager Jim Diehl at jim.diehl@marriott.com or fax him at (704) 358-6522 and let him know that until you receive an apology and a notification that postings have been removed, you and everyone you know will be avoiding the hotel.
- Call Marriott Corporate Communications at (301) 380-7770 and leave a message for Kathleen Matthews, Executive Vice President, Global Communications and Public Affairs, letting her know that Marriott will be held accountable for the actions of its hotel in Charlotte, whether or not the hotel is a franchisee.
- Contact Marriott Customer Care at https://www.marriott.com/suggest/suggest.mi or (888) 236-2427 and deliver the same message that you will not use any Marriott until the problem is resolved;
- If you are a Marriott shareholder, contact Investor Relations at: investorrelations@marriott.com.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
And so it begins...
One of the key rules in politics and in life is to never push an enemy into so far into a corner that they either have no reasonable way out, or believe they have no reasonable way out. A good corollary of nearly equal importance is that you should always try and leave a surviving opponent with a reasonable amount of "face" and dignity.
The current administration and their co-conspirators are apparently unaware of these rules, or seriously underestimate the character and number of folks they are angering.
Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts was a *hint*. So was the public rejection at the Utah GOP convention of Senator Bob Bennett as that parties fall candidate for the Senate race.
Tonight, we see the eviction of 45 year Senate inhabitant and party-jumper, Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania primary. In Kentucky, Rand Paul took out the GOP establishment candidate handily. A Democrat narrowly squeaked by in the special election to fill Murtha's House seat.
Both parties need to worry, but, the (D) probably needs to worry more. There's a notably cranky giant out there, twitching in his slumber...and he may or may not be terribly discriminate about party membership when he lays about him with his terrible swift sword come the elections this fall.
The GOP would be well advised to start aligning itself with Libertarians and folks in the Tea Party movement - or risk becoming irrelevant.
The current administration and their co-conspirators are apparently unaware of these rules, or seriously underestimate the character and number of folks they are angering.
Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts was a *hint*. So was the public rejection at the Utah GOP convention of Senator Bob Bennett as that parties fall candidate for the Senate race.
Tonight, we see the eviction of 45 year Senate inhabitant and party-jumper, Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania primary. In Kentucky, Rand Paul took out the GOP establishment candidate handily. A Democrat narrowly squeaked by in the special election to fill Murtha's House seat.
Both parties need to worry, but, the (D) probably needs to worry more. There's a notably cranky giant out there, twitching in his slumber...and he may or may not be terribly discriminate about party membership when he lays about him with his terrible swift sword come the elections this fall.
The GOP would be well advised to start aligning itself with Libertarians and folks in the Tea Party movement - or risk becoming irrelevant.
Monday, May 17, 2010
NRA 2010...a passing thought on the way to Pittsburgh
| Note: North Carolina State law prohibits the carrying of firearms in the Charlotte Convention Center, and the Time Warner Cable Arena. In addition, the Rules and Regulations of the Charlotte Convention Center prohibit the carrying of firearms in the Center. Pursuant to Time Warner Cable Arena policy, all individuals entering the Arena will be subject to a magnetometer security check. |
This was not a welcoming city. This was not a city that respected the privacy or dignity of 60,000+ guests and more than 150 vendors. This was not a city deserving of $15,000,000 or more of revenue from the NRA, its' members, or its vendors.
This was a mistake.
That a good time was had by many is indisputable. That the event provided aid and comfort to persons and organizations hostile to the NRA's goals and interests is equally indisputable. That many, because of the relevant laws and policies either stayed home or refused to attend the "official" events in the verboten spaces is again equally indisputable.
I do not, and will not, criticize those who were both able and chose to attend - after all, an NRA convention is a big fling and it's not all that often one gets to attend. I applaud those who made the best of a bad situation, particularly and especially folks like Breda who not only made the best of a bad situation - she managed to generate a fair amount of joy and festivity despite amount of fail built into the event by the NRA's bad venue choice.
That said, this needs to be the last time. Regardless of the NRA's pitiful excuse "there's just not that many cities that can do a convention our size", there are sufficient cities that would welcome the NRA, its' members, its vendors, and the vast outpouring of cash resulting from their appearance that the NRA can do without Charlotte and other cities that are either hostile or don't quite get it.
Seattle, Phoenix, Albuqueque, Houston, Dallas, New Orleans (dear gawd, the NRA in New Orleans...what a party!), Miami, Ft Lauderdale, St. Louis, even Tacoma for heavens sake...and if the facility is crowded - so be it. Reward the virtuous and starve the hostiles and the clueless.
No more conventions in anti-gun towns.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Severe Envy
Our favorite World's Deadliest Librarian is throwing her BlogBash tonight at the 2010 NRA Convention in Charlotte, NC (an odd place to hold a pro-gun event...). Breda managed to get, as a special guest, Alan Gura of Heller and SAF fame. Gura is also lead attorney representing the SAF in McDonald vs. Chicago, recently argued before the Supreme Court of the United States. Should make for some interesting chats.
It's a bit premature to get reports, but rumor has it all the cool kids able to make it to Charlotte are in attendance and flying their blog flag proudly. JayG brought the rage, Breda the deadly, Number6 his wit, Alan his man-skirt and his special alan-dance, Wai his pointy objects, MikeW, Weer'dBeard, SayUncle) and a number of others to be named later...
Meanwhile, nobody has collected the Nerd Cocoa prize from Stingray, but that's not because folks are not wearing the mighty shirt. And there's still a whole day full of hope left!
It's a bit premature to get reports, but rumor has it all the cool kids able to make it to Charlotte are in attendance and flying their blog flag proudly. JayG brought the rage, Breda the deadly, Number6 his wit, Alan his man-skirt and his special alan-dance, Wai his pointy objects, MikeW, Weer'dBeard, SayUncle) and a number of others to be named later...
Meanwhile, nobody has collected the Nerd Cocoa prize from Stingray, but that's not because folks are not wearing the mighty shirt. And there's still a whole day full of hope left!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Elena Kagan & Scotus
Elena Kagan might be a good, bad, or indifferent judge - we don't know, what with her never having held a judicial position before. She might write landmark decisions expanding civil rights or states rights or severely damaging those same rights - but we don't know, because Kagan has no judicial record.
We do know she has chosen to associate, of her own free will, with Slick Willie and the Obamination. Both the Obama and Clinton administrations take/took an expansive view of federal authority, a dim view of firearms and individual rights, and were in general more committed to "social justice" and pragmatism (though the Obamanites, not so much, being more "if we just implement it right" wonks trying to saddle the us with the failed socialist experiments of Europe).
The Supreme Court of the United States is not amateur hour. Neither is it the place for wild gambles - one may occasionally be surprised (people are not, after all, static creations - they tend to grow and evolve and degenerate as time, experience, and entropy happen), but ideally any nominee to the Supreme Court should have a *minimum* of a decade of judicial experience complete with a track record of decisions prior to nomination to the Court.
Kagan does not. Serving as Solicitor General for a little over a year under Obama and as Associate White House Counsel under Clinton indicates only that she is reasonably competent at kissing the right rectums and is a perhaps adequate administrator and litigator - it does not demonstrate, for good or ill, judicial temperament or philosophy. Keeping busy between (D) presidential administrations, as a Harvard Law School Dean and as a Professor of Law similarly fail to provide indicators of anything resembling judicial temperament or philosophy.
What few indications we have, including her ardent support of barring military recruiters from Harvards campus, is not particularly promising - and we cannot fail to note than when previously nominated for a Federal District Court judgeship, the then GOP Senate declined to even hear the nomination for reasons not publicly available.
Rumors of Kagan's supposed lesbianism are, for the most part, irrelevant - or at least overshadowed by the appearance that she is either a fire-breathing liberal or frequent associate thereof, which only heightens concerns regarding what might emerge as her judicial philosophy.
Elevating a lesbian, or someone broadly perceived as a lesbian, to the Supreme Court would not trouble me a whit had she at least SOME judicial track record. Should such mythical nominee ALSO be black and libertarian, I should be reduced to mad giggles of joy for not less than a month.
That she is a mere 50-some years old, liberal/progressive, and orthodox progressive at that...leads me to believe that the interests of the nation would best be served by stalling this nomination and all nominations consideration until well after the November elections, when meaningful opposition may well appear in the Senate as a voice for moderation.
Gah. It's going to take DECADES to undo the damage inflicted by the Obamanation.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
A wee adventure...
Meandering home after doing the Mom-Chauffeur thing to CostCo, I was leaving Sodo, when I ran across a classic specimen of Yuppie Neanderthalus Seattlus - a beamer driving hulking sort with a strong sense of entitlement and anger issues.
This became apparent when he whipped into the left-hand turn lane and cut me off (and darned near taking off the nose of my car, I honked, and he flipped me the bird several times before meandering off on a slow Sunday morning at warp speed.
Myself, I don't like either bullies or buttheads much. And tend towards the view that tolerating such bullshit propagates it.
Multi-tasking is our friend. Saying a little word to the Fates, a cell phone can emerge and a report can be made of license plate, make/model, driver description and a short synopsis of events can be shared in the spirit of community improvement...and should a patrol officer have a spare moment (a sadly rare thing) to share wisdom with the cretin, well, it beats other chains of events.
We've had such critters in the area, with far more money and entitlement than sense, drag other drivers out of their cars and physically abuse them. Squash'm while they're small - Washington's answer to aggressive driving is RCW 46.61.525, and should the Fates be particularly kind, the Neanderthal Du Jour will end up under a pile of irritable SPD sorts having taken a swing at one for having the temerity to interfere with his privileged travels...
Moderate grrrr.....
This became apparent when he whipped into the left-hand turn lane and cut me off (and darned near taking off the nose of my car, I honked, and he flipped me the bird several times before meandering off on a slow Sunday morning at warp speed.
Myself, I don't like either bullies or buttheads much. And tend towards the view that tolerating such bullshit propagates it.
Multi-tasking is our friend. Saying a little word to the Fates, a cell phone can emerge and a report can be made of license plate, make/model, driver description and a short synopsis of events can be shared in the spirit of community improvement...and should a patrol officer have a spare moment (a sadly rare thing) to share wisdom with the cretin, well, it beats other chains of events.
We've had such critters in the area, with far more money and entitlement than sense, drag other drivers out of their cars and physically abuse them. Squash'm while they're small - Washington's answer to aggressive driving is RCW 46.61.525, and should the Fates be particularly kind, the Neanderthal Du Jour will end up under a pile of irritable SPD sorts having taken a swing at one for having the temerity to interfere with his privileged travels...
Moderate grrrr.....
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For good or ill, regulations are seldom *ever* forward looking.
They most often are formulated in a post-disaster/post-politic
"Let's just do something, dammit!" feels good, but can and often does lead to making things worse. And frankly, the last thing the experts on the scene need (the BP folks who *do this for a living and for whom making it work is a livelihood*) is the nightmare of a presidential visit with all the security drama, distractions, and strains on already stressed resources. (ed., not to mention that if the frontline oil folks screw up, they are ALSO at the front of the line to get suddenly dead in the event of a rig accident...it seems reasonably to suspect a certain enthusiasm for care, caution, and safety.)
I may not like or support Obama, but staying away is the best thing he can do in this instance. A Presidential visit isn't always a beneficial thing.