Marino Takes On Gov’t Reform

Republican Congressman Tom Marino recently introduced two bills to reform Washington.

The first bill, H.R. 2113, the One Subject at a Time Act, would require that bills embrace only one subject, that the subject be clearly displayed in the bill title, and prohibit appropriations bills from including hidden general legislation.  If a bill like this were in place, Obamacare would have been impossible.

The second bill, H.J. Res 48, amends the U.S. Constitution to prohibit U.S. Senators from serving more than two consecutive terms (12 Years) and prohibits members of the U.S. House of Representatives from serving more than six consecutive terms (12 years.)

Term limits are an interesting subject.  When the founders designed our Constitution, U.S. Senators were not elected by the general public.  Instead, they were elected by the state legislatures as expressed in Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution.  The 17^th Amendment to the Constitution changed that, making them directly elected by the people.

Members of Congress have always been directly elected by the public.  The real difference is in the expectations of service.  As a member of the House, it was understood that you were there for service to the people.  The founders designed it so that average, every day people would give up some of their time to serve in Congress and then return to their regular business. 

No doubt to reinforce temporary service, they were barely paid anything.  For nearly the first 70 years, members of the House of Representatives received a $6 per day payment that was designed to cover their expenses.  In 1855, that changed to a flat $3,000 per year.  Today, they make $174,000 per year plus benefits.  Contrast that with the median household income in the U.S., which is around $50,000 per year.

In short, congress wasn't supposed to be a career.

Marino’s One Subject at a Time Act deserves passage.  This bill is a common sense bill that will improve government transparency. 

Politicians becoming entrenched is a problem at every level of government and Marino’s amendment might get help fix that.  But, it won’t truly deal with the problem. 

Deviation from the Constitution and the spirit of original intent is what caused the problems in Washington that Marino is trying to address.  Rather than limiting the terms of politicians, a better bill would merely adjust the salary a politician may receive to the median household income in the U.S. during the year in which they were elected.  This would do three things: first, it would right-size the salary of Senators and Representatives to better reflect the annual income of their constituents; second, it would make it difficult for members of Congress to make a career out of being a member of Congress because the money just wouldn't be there to do it; and third, it would force representatives to focus on bettering the economic prosperity of this country.

AG Kane: Prohibitionist

Democratic Attorney General Kathleen Kane spoke recently at a gathering of newspaper editors about her thoughts on medical marijuana and the proposed decriminalization of recreational use.

There is legislation proposing exactly that, which likely prompted the question.

She believes marijuana is a gateway drug that will make you turn to other hard drugs.  She also fears medical marijuana prescriptions will be given out “willy-nilly.”

Her prohibitionist policies do not however appear to transcend to alcohol.  In fact, during her campaign, The Sentinel  reported that her family holds a multi-million dollar contract with the state for the storage and delivery of liquor and wine.

Kane’s nanny-state hypocrisy doesn’t end there.  She also wants to “slow up the permitting of guns” and defend municipalities that intentionally violate state firearm pre-emption laws.

The Attorney General is the top prosecutor in Pennsylvania and the law of the land explicitly prohibits municipalities form enacting municipal gun laws.  The AG is supposed to go after people for breaking Pennsylvania’s laws, not encourage them to break them and pledge to use state resources to defend them.

As far as slowing up permits, the only permits issued in Pennsylvania for guns are concealed carry permits.  Disarming law-abiding citizens and preventing them from being able to defend themselves, their family, or their property is a terrible idea.

Kane is a prohibitionist, and a hypocritical one at that.  Fellow nanny-stater Michael Bloomberg has to be proud…the Soda-banning Bloomberg’s six-figure superpac expenditures to prop up her campaign are paying off.

Walter Griffith and Wire Tapping

At the start of the year, accusations were made that Republican Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffith illegally recorded conversations dealing with CityVest.  When made aware of these accusations, Republican District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis turned the information over to Democratic PA Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s office.

On Friday, four days before Walter Griffith’s contested Primary Election he was in court for the felony charges filed by the Democratic AG.

CityVest has been plagued with problems. No one disputes that.  And, being a good government advocate, it is entirely understandable that Walter Griffith would attempt to turn over every rock and expose any wrongdoing that he believed he found.  He has been incredibly successful with that.  Unfortunately, that also likely made him a target.

Republicans in the House of Representatives proposed a bill last year, HB 2400, that would have changed Pennsylvania’s wiretap law to allow recording of conversations if there was a belief that the subject of the recording would be talking about criminal behavior.  With the corruption that has been exposed in both Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties, a law like this might make a lot of sense.

When considering the timeline, that this information was given to Democrat Kane’s office months ago and charges were filed four days before an election, some will question the timing of Ms. Kane’s actions. 

Nonetheless, the law is the law.  If Walter Griffith broke it, he needs to answer for that. 

That said, every citizens enjoys certain rights in this country, not the least of which is to be considered innocent until proven guilty.  Mr. Griffith hasn’t been proven guilty.  The people of Luzerne County shouldn’t lose sight of that or the tremendous good he has done for them in the Controller’s office.

Colion Noir: How to Stop Mass Shootings

Several good points in this.

To illustrate one of them… ever heard of Alfred and Sylvia Armen?  Didn’t think so.  They are an elderly couple that owns a music store in PA.  While working at their store a criminal entered the store with a club, hit the 72-year-old Sylvia in the head with it, forcing the 73-year-old Alfred to act.  He used his .38 caliber revolver to shoot and kill the attacker, likely saving their lives.

Or how about this guy that used an AR-15 to defend himself and his girlfriend from an intruder?

That’s just two incidents that happened in Pennsylvania in the last seven days of April.

Kutztown University Lifts Partial Ban on Civil Rights

Effective 19 April 2013, Kutztown University has amended their campus firearms policy.  The new policy states:
 

"The possession or carrying of any deadly or offensive weapon by any person is prohibited in Kutztown University academic buildings, administrative buildings, student residence halls (both university owned or leased), dining facilities, student union buildings, athletic facilities, recreation centers, or while attending a sporting, entertainment or educational  event on the university property or sponsored by the university. Entry upon university  property in violation of this prohibition is expressly forbidden and will result in the  individual being directed to remove the weapon immediately from university property or sponsored event. Failure to comply with such directives may result in further disciplinary action for students and employees."

The old policy:

"Possession or use of firearms, explosives, other weapons, or dangerous chemicals on university premises is prohibited. Unauthorized items include but are not limited to: firearms of any kind including pellet and BB devices, ammunition, air powered projectile devices, knives with blades longer than four (4) inches, switchblades of any kind, chemicals, fireworks, any item which has been modified or adapted so that it can be used as a weapon or any item which has been used as a weapon, or any other dangerous weapons."

It would appear as though the policy still disarms lawful citizens in the housing they rent from Kutztown, in University buildings, and other structures but would allow them to maintain their rights in some circumstances.

It does create a bit of a paradox for students living in rented campus housing.  There are areas where you can carry, but you cannot store your firearm in your residence.  That may be why they inserted a provision that allows Kutztown to review requests for full restoration of rights on a "case-by-case" basis.

While students still must surrender some of their rights to attend school at Kutztown, decriminalizing lawful conduct like this is a step in the right direction.

Gun Homicide Rate down 49% Since 1993

The National Institute of Justice estimated in 1994 that 35% of civilian in America owned a firearm and that firearms totaled 192 million.  By 2009, the number of firearms increased to 310 million.

Yet, gun homicide rates are down by 49%.

If you believe this appears inconsistent with both MSM reporting as well as the rhetoric of gun control supporters, you would be correct.  And, like most of the public, you probably didn’t know it either.  That is due, in no small part, to the MSM using statistics produced by agenda-driven, anti-gun groups instead of scholarly research and neutral FBI crime statistics.

While a correlation doesn’t always indicate causation, it is hard to argue that more guns in the hands of lawful citizens hasn’t brought crime rates down.  This is particularly relevant in the context of other research.  A study of Pennsylvania burglary inmates found that they tried to avoid occupied homes for fear of being shot by gun owners, for example.

The fact is, firearms are used 2-2.5 million times a year to save lives.  Or, looking at it another way, firearms are used 80 times more often to save lives than take them.

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