Topics like this didn’t used to be political in nature. But through no fault of lawful gun owners everywhere, anything to do with a gun has become a political issue.
In the interest of gun safety, on February 9, 2013, there is an event at the Escambia River Gun Club for women only that you should know about. Looks like a good chance for ladies to get some expert experience and advice from NRA Certified Pistol Instructors.
Through my unscientific poll of Facebook posts, people are saying that the lines to get into the gun shows in Pensacola, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami are the longest ever. Since the gun store shelves are almost empty and out of ammo, I have to believe that President Obama wins the ‘Top Gun’ Salesman of the Year award.
It was heartening to see so many people getting CWP (Concealed Weapons Permit) training. Young, old, Black, White, and everywhere in between. And they weren’t all republicans either. Believe it or not, democrats believe in personal protection too. Contrary to Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Barack Obama’s argument, I didn’t see any gang members or gang bangers there buying guns. I saw everyone there that was buying, filling out the required paperwork and going through the background check procedure.
The laws of supply and demand have affected the firearms industry, at least at the retail level. Weapons like the AR15 that was $600-700 three months ago, are now between $2000 -3000. Ammo? You’re lucky if you find what you’re looking for. There was no 40 caliber range ammo, which was what I was looking for. I later found some, at before hysterical (over $1.00/round) prices too, at a local shop off the beaten path. Not at the gun show. The name of which shall stay my secret. You’ll have to email me to get it.
Happy Shooting!
As an update to this post, Where Rules Of The Road Are Not, there is an exception, a ‘seasonal’ exception to who can drive unregistered motor vehicles and trailers on Florida’s public highways. Call it a carve-out for BIG DELIVERY if you wish, because it only applies to delivery services that employ 10,000 employees or more in the State of Florida.
As far as I can tell, there is no exception for landscapers during the peak growing season.
Title XXIII Chapter 316, Florida Motor Vehicle Statute
That such a statute exists came as a surprise to me, as I’m sure it is to you. A surprise to me because it contradicts what both the Pensacola Police dispatcher and Traffic department had said weeks earlier.
A special ‘thank you’ to Pensacola Police Officer M. Dupois. She took the time to reference the above statue. The vehicle pictured in the above referenced post does show a discrepancy with the statue however:
Seasonal delivery personnel may pull a trailer from any of these vehicles.
(c)All vehicles specified in this subsection must be:
1.Marked in a conspicuous manner with the name of the delivery service.
But why be picky with “Santa” on a 4-wheeler?
An article in today’s Pensacola News Journal piqued my interest because of a matter that was brought to the attention of the Pensacola City Police, three times.
The article is about a growing trend started by a local entrepreneur that builds and sells battery-powered golf cards that are legal to drive on public roadways and are subject to the same traffic and motor vehicle laws that apply to cars.
A commenter there, Paul Utter said “if they are on the street, they need a tag and insurance..if not get off the road.”
After reading that, I had to reply . . .
There’s one caveat to that Paul. The Pensacola City Police apparently have one exception to the law. You see, if you’re a hard working guy, or gal, in the landscaping business, of course your vehicle and the trailer you tow both have to be registered and street-legal. But if you work for a big company like, or say, UPS, you’re allowed to drive on the roadways in your unregistered vehicle AND unregistered trailer. No problem.
Of course, Paul is correct. All vehicles driven on the public roadways must be legally registered and tagged, including any trailers being towed.
But there seems to be a double-standard within the Pensacola City limits. I’ve personally never seen landscapers driving around in an unregistered vehicle towing an unregistered trailer. Or any other occupation for that matter. Only reason I use landscapers as an example is because there are so many of them around. (A testament, perhaps, to the need to make a living in a lousy economy. But that’s another subject.)
Maybe you have seen a UPS driver delivering packages in your neighborhood? Maybe he was doing it legally? Clearly, this one was not.
And clearly, the city police were ineffective in enforcing the law. Because repeated calls about the same offense on different days resulted in no effective action. And calls to Police Chief Chip Simmons went unanswered and unreturned.
This writer has no problem in UPS finding more economical ways to conduct their business. But I want to believe that the City Police would agree that the rules of the road actually do apply to everyone on the road.
Considering that our local newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal, endorsed Barack Obama in ’08, their endorsement of Mitt Romney today was a surprise. Whether it is a sign of buyers remorse or their own economic situation, the basis for their endorsement is the economy, and the likelihood that Romney can turn things around for the better.
Obama failed to adequately address the rising national debt that will cripple future generations. He has not pushed the approval submitted two years ago by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, also known as the Simpson-Bowles plan, that called for higher taxes to bring the debt under control. Congress also has failed to take the debt seriously, instead passing the buck, or in this case, $16 trillion of them.
Clearly, President Obama is disconnected from reality with this statement.
If the economy and our economic situation in NW Florida is as important to them as they say, the Romney endorsement seems to be inconsistent with their ‘NO’ recommendation for all of Florida’s 11 amendments. Early voting started yesterday in Florida. But don’t hold your breath waiting to see them reverse themselves on those too.
Links: WE RECOMMEND: Mitt Romney for president | Vote ‘No’ on amendments
More early retirements at our local newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal. What we are seeing at the PNJ is happening to the newspaper industry. It is an industry in a state of change.
What is happening at the News Journal is symptomatic of an aging industry. Whether that makes the PNJ more a victim of circumstance than of their own doing is arguable, but the fact is the print news industry is changing. The computer age that enabled the media to get and share info has become a not insignificant part of the industry’s woes because the same information, and more, is also available online to their customers.
There is plenty of evidence of how industries evolve as the need to meet customers’ demand changes. Some evolve and survive. Others die.
Look at the effect the internet has had on the movie industry. Retail stores sprung up all over the country to rent movies. Movie Gallery, Blockbuster, and small mom and pop stores renting movies. In the quest for a better mouse trap, companies like NetFlix and RedBox sprung up making movie distribution so much more convenient. The customers get their needs fulfilled in a way that no longer includes the brick and mortar stores. That industry is changing, never to be the same again. The brick and mortar stores are closing, giving way to movie vending machines or internet access from your home that need no employees to serve you when you want to be served. The recording industry faced the same metamorphosis. Record stores are more like antique shops. The trend now is online with shops like iTunes.
Remember the Sears Catalog Sales stores where you could buy your washing machine and pick up your catalog order from “The Book” in the same store? Sears, once the largest retailer in the world, has seen the end of the catalog segment of their business.
With its roots in the late 1950’s and 60’s, a ‘new’ industry arose in the 70’s and 80’s. The Catalog Showroom industry. The Sears ‘Big Book’ was, for all intents and purposes, replaced by a thinner book and monthly and seasonal flyers inserted into newspapers for stores that carried (on a good day) everything that was in the catalog. The giants in that industry were Service Merchandise (TN) and Best Products (VA). Smaller players in this industry were, H.J. Wilson (LA) and Present Company (NY). In fact, it was H.J. Wilson Co. that brought my family to Pensacola in the early 1980’s. I saw the industry grow for about 25 years, then die a slow death. They were replaced by stores that were even more convenient.
I don’t see the news industry dying. But it is in a state of change. Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess. What is certain though is that there will be something better, from a consumer standpoint, that will either augment or replace the newsprint industry. That is, as long as free-market forces are at work and Washington stays out of the bailout business.
Link: Richard A. Schneider: And so we say goodbye to 11 of our best
Let’s go back 14 months to January 31, 2011 when Pensacola’s own Judge Vinson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida became the second federal judge to strike down Obamacare’s individual mandate.
But Judge Vinson went further. He dealt with what the Supreme Court is having to decide now, whether or not the legislation is severable. Whether some parts can be stricken and the rest stand?
Judge Vinson’s decision, which was proffered by the government’s attorney, was that “the individual mandate and the remaining provisions are all inextricably bound together in purpose and must stand or fall as a single unit.” Accordingly, Vinson concluded: “Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void.” {emphasis added}
Had the administration followed the legal process, they would have either appealed the decision or requested a stay. They did neither. The reaction of the lawless administration was that because the judge did “not order the government to stop implementing the law, a senior administration source said ‘implementation will proceed at pace.’”
Then in August 2011, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit also ruled that the provision of the law that requires people to buy health insurance or face an annual penalty is unconstitutional. The ruling affirmed an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson of Pensacola, Florida.
Curiously though, the court also ruled that absent the mandate, the Act can continue. What this means is that three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit pulled a severability clause out of thin air. Because neither the individual mandate or the Act itself contain a severability clause, on purpose.
The future of our country and our relationship with the government rests on whether this bill dies at the Supreme Court. If not, then the 2012 election will be repeal and replace. There is a private-sector alternative.
Links: Obamacare Is Void, Lawless Administration Doesn’t Care | 11th Circuit Court Of Appeals Affirms Judge Vinson, Sort Of | An Alternative To Obamacare Already Exists
Sorry I won’t be able to attend the town hall meeting at the Vickery Center tonight, but I do have a question for the mayor. (In case you are going.)
Mr. Mayor, at your April 2011 town hall meeting at Gull Point, you said that the city has a plan to deal with the chronic fecal contamination in Bayou Texar. The health department again had to close the bayou last week. Please tell me what the city’s plan for Bayou Texar is, and what has been done so far?
“Visit Pensacola! You’ll love our shit!” There’s your Chamber of Commerce bumper sticker.
Like water sports? Fishing, swimming, water skiing? Come to Pensacola. But just don’t go in Bayou Texar for any of that. The Health Department has closed it for the umpteenth time due to excessive levels of fecal contamination.
It happens so often now, that the Health Department no longer calls it what it is like they used to. Now they’ve sanitized the warning. Now they just call it ‘bacteria.’ You have to call the Health Department to find out the nature of that bacteria. I called to ask. It’s the same as it has always been. Fecal bacteria.
What’s worse, the reaction to it is also the same. After having abandoned the study to find out the sources of the contamination years ago, the city and county officials continue to ignore the problem. Apparently, unless it has anything to do with BP, they’re not interested in cleaning up their own back yard.
Here’s a real hoot. The Occupy Pensacola bunch has been misbehaving. Not only that, but they have been sort of out-of-joint where another ‘group’ that offered them some help is concerned. Mr. Berachot Levine, the Director of Government Affairs for a group called The Arm of Justice (AOJ) sent this email (below) to the Occupy Pensacola folks.
I can’t verify that this AOJ group is anything more than a single person. All I could come up with using google is a blog run by Mr. Levine. But, it’s amusing nonetheless.
H/T to RicksBlog for posting it.
November 23, 2011, 10:57 AM EST
To the Membership, “Leadership” Facilitators, Legal Counsel, and Chaplain/Safety Officer of Occupy Pensacola:
My name is Berachot Levine and I am with The Arm of Justice (AOJ), which is basically a group of people from all walks of life and various religious backgrounds (including atheists and agnostics), whose common desire is to see that justice and truth are brought forth. Wade Demers was the original Executive Director of The Arm of Justice, and he is now the Director Emeritus. Wade and his wife Patti had gone to Florida to get some rest from the intense persecution they had been receiving in another state when they happened to come upon Occupy Pensacola. Because of our years of association, Wade contacted us here at The Arm of Justice, so that we could possibly be of help to your cause. I am nearly 70 years old, and am currently located in the State of Rhode Island.
I’ve been apprised of everything that’s been going on regarding situations with Occupy Pensacola and interactions with Wade & Patti Demers. For nearly 30 years I have known these people. You may be surprised at the knowledge of detail at which we (AOJ) keep track of Wade & Patti’s activities; their lives are in danger from corporate America, the government, and organized religion…ironically, the very organizations you people claim to oppose.
Because of who they are and what they do, and their surviving the onslaught of enemies that go all the way back to Washington, D.C., the Demerses have acquired invaluable experiential wisdom that you have not recognized and have squandered and ignored.
You have effectively thwarted my and The Arm of Justice’s efforts to aid you in your cause, because of your actions and inactions and lack of having/using proper wisdom:
1. You have lost the moral high ground with the general public and numbers of those in the city administration who were sympathetic;
2. You have fallen for various “baits” put out by the opposition, and in doing so, have compromised and weakened your position;
3. You have failed to fully comprehend the use of guile, patronizing, and other deceptions by the mayor and the city administration;
4. You have not listened nor paid attention to the voice of reason from those two elder experienced ones sent among you;
5. Your timing of actions and inactions has played into the hands of your opposition, to your detriment;
6. You have neutralized the advantage and effectiveness of those two who had been acting as my eyes and ears among you;
7. You have failed to make certain tactical moves, provisions, and positions in substance, time and space.
8. You have failed to cultivate moral law and discipline.
9. You have refused to listen to wisdom addressing your sorely lacking ability to effectively and peaceably communicate with each other, the media, and city administration. You have refused to listen to wisdom addressing the pathway which would lead to defining and coalescing your disjointed and unclear goals into easily understood objectives spoken with one voice. These two points are causing you to be misunderstood, maligned, and discounted, producing results that are counterproductive and diametrically opposed to your goals.
Ironically, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, which the young marine introduced to your group recently, was shared with me by Wade over 30 years ago, after I had first met him through business association…and it is quite disheartening how many of those principles you are violating, resulting in your present weakened condition.
We here at The Arm of Justice had hoped that our objective third-party observation from a distance would cause your opposition to be more inclined to act and interact with you in good faith. Your actions/inactions with Wade & Patti have caused us at The Arm of Justice, at this point, to disengage our support.
Your failure to address the various insults, rudeness, and even threats against Wade & Patti by your group, quite frankly seems bizarre. Your behavior, and especially the behavior of those in leadership, has caused us to disrespect your individual and separate motives. I do feel I have erred by temporarily associating The Arm of Justice with your movement in Pensacola, and have damaged our reputation.
I stand disappointed as spokesman for The Arm of Justice,
Berachot Levine
P.S. In response to receiving a copy of my email of Nov. 19, 2011 to Mayor Ashton Hayward (see copy of text below), I was contacted via email by a television network executive, asking if we/I wanted to do a show or a series of shows bringing more light on to the subject matter contained in that email, which, of course, would have raised the public’s awareness, sympathy, and support for your cause. Of course, now, because of your collective and individual behaviors, that is moot.
P.P.S. It is sad that you were all, by and large, unable to perceive the wisdom, guidance, direction, and timing of same that Wade & Patti were bringing to you to help you…and of course, that would have helped us, The Arm of Justice, to help you.
Your challenges are the same as those faced by the Occupy Movement throughout the United States. Listening might have put you in the forefront of attaining both understanding and support of the public opinion, as well as, perhaps, real victory.
Though I feel sorry for your present plight and condition, I wish you well—hang in…try to learn…try to articulate…try to unite…perhaps someone will hear.