The Los Angeles city council thought it would be big and tough and economically bully Arizona around for daring to protect their borders and enforce the state equivalence of existing federal law. What they didn’t count on however was the Arizona Corporations Commissioner who decided that he would be more than happy to oblige Los Angeles in boycotting Arizona. That Commissioner, Gary Pierce, sent Los Angeles Mayor Antonio   this letter:

Dear Mayor Villaraigosa,

I was dismayed to learn that the Los Angeles City Council voted to boycott Arizona and Arizona-based companies — a vote you strongly supported — to show opposition to SB 1070 (Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act).

You explained your support of the boycott as follows: “While we recognize that as neighbors, we share resources and ties with the State of Arizona that may be difficult to sever, our goal is not to hurt the local economy of Los Angeles, but to impact the economy of Arizona.  Our intent is to use our dollars — or the withholding of our dollars — to send a message.” (emphasis added)

I received your message; please receive mine.  As a state-wide elected member of the Arizona Corporation Commission overseeing Arizona’s electric and water utilities, I too am keenly aware of the “resources and ties” we share with the City of Los Angeles. In fact, approximately twenty-five percent of the electricity consumed in Los Angeles is generated by power plants in Arizona.

If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation. I am confident that Arizona’s utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands. If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona’s economy.

People of goodwill can disagree over the merits of SB 1070. A state-wide economic boycott of Arizona is not a message sent in goodwill.

Sincerely,

Commissioner Gary Pierce

What a brilliantly written letter. With just the right amount of sarcasm and using the Mayor’s own quotes to show the absurdity of his claim. Too bad they can’t just shut the electricity off for a few minutes to rub salt in the wounds.

A pdf of the letter is available via Hot Air here: http://hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/letter-azcc-villaraigosa.pdf.pdf

In a move, under the guise of trying to fight terrorism the Obama Administration is seeking to take away our 2nd Amendment rights again. The National Association for Gun Rights is announcing that The Obama Administration will work with the UN to pass a Small Arms Treaty. Although the revised version of the Small Arms Treaty has not been released yet, the previous version can give us some insight into what it will likely contain. “According to The National Association for Gun Rights “if passed by the UN and ratified by the U. S. Senate, the UN ‘Small Arms Treaty’ would almost certainly FORCE national governments to:

• Enact tougher licensing requirements, making law-abiding citizens cut through even more bureaucratic red tape just to own a firearm legally;
• CONFISCATE and DESTROY ALL “unauthorized” civilian firearms (all firearms owned by the government are excluded, of course);
• BAN the trade, sale and private ownership of ALL semi-automatic weapons;
• Create an INTERNATIONAL gun registry, setting the stage for full-scale gun CONFISCATION.

While many think this could never happen because it would be a violation of the Constitution there is a debate in the legal field that treaties signed by the President and ratified by the Senate have the same force as the Constitution, a completely asinine assertion in my opinion but a serious one none the less. In order to try and stop this encroachment of liberty and outright violation of the Constitution from happening NAGR has set up an online petition available here. Please take the time to fill it out and to call your senators.

From the diaries by Erick.

President Obama has nominated David Michaels to be the assistant secretary for OSHA and is just another in the list of Obama nominee/appointees to be anti 2nd Amendment. After the Virginia Tech tragedy Michaels wrote:

In the U.S., we see an average of one gun-related homicide every 45 minutes, or 32 each day.* These are usually treated as isolated incidents, until a horrific event like the Virginia Tech massacre reawakens the public and strengthens public health advocates who are attempting to prevent gun violence.

That’s what has just happened in Georgia. There, legislation that would allow employees to keep guns in workplace parking lots went down to an unpredicted defeat.  Of course,  the National Rifle Association “never stopped arm-twisting Georgia lawmakers,” an Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial reports.

As Walter Olson at overlawyered.com notes:

Read More →

This past Saturday (August 15th) congressman Ben Lujan scheduled a “Congress on your corner” event where people can have 5 minute meetings with the congressman on a first come first serve basis. The congressman has repeatedly been asked to hold a public town hall type event but refuses, opting instead for these 5 minute meetings where people barely have time to ask a question or two much less get an actual substantive answer.

This Saturday however, the congressman hit a new low. He was scheduled to meet with people from 1:00 to 2:30 both with people who had called his office in advance to schedule a 5 minute meeting and on a first come first serve basis with people who showed up for the event. Congressman Lujan had pre-scheduled meetings with his constituent starting at 1:00 but the congressman lingered over his lunch (not with other constituents but just merely a personal lunch) for more than an hour and a half and thus was 28 minutes late to his prescheduled meetings and effectively disallowing anyone who did not pre-schdule a meeting to get to speak with the congressman at all.

When the congressman finally did show up (almost half an hour late to an hour and a half event) he just sauntered in with his little cadre of staffers, didn’t apologize or really even acknowledge the crowd constituents (had waited nearly 30 minutes for his highness to descend from on high) and went into his office to prep for his meetings. When I asked his staffers why the congressman was late they told me he was just running a little behind but he would still try to meet with all the people who had scheduled meetings. That meant effectively that they disregarded the first come first serve pledge to meet with people and shoved back 30 minutes everyone who had pre-scheduled a meeting requiring many of those people to have to miss their meeting because they had had scheduled their day to meet with the congressman at a certain time and couldn’t make the new time. I spoke with several people who waited around and did have their meeting with the congressman and was told that he spent the entire time trying to rush them out so he could hurry on to the next constituent he was going to ignore.

It infuriates me and is just another example of representatives who could care less about their constituents and cannot be bothered to live by the constraints of peasants they represent. I needed the rant, thanks for this site and its dedication to helping rid the congress of men like Lujan.

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[I posted this in a comment earlier but wanted a Diary on it as well.]

When Bill Ayers (a known terrorist who states that he wants to radicalize America and its students) was given $100 million dollars who did he see as a person who would help carry out that vision. When Bill Ayers wanted to help launch a political career, and lets be honest no one wants to help launch the political career of someone with whom they disagree, HE SAW BARACK OBAMA AS JUST THAT TYPE OF PERSON. It is not just Obama’s judgment that is called into question but also what is it about him, his nature, his politics, his ideology that Bill Ayers saw and liked so much he held fund raisers, invited into his home, and put him in charge of his projects.

It is one thing (as deplorable as it is) for Obama to have all of the interactions and relationships with Ayers but it is far another for the terrorist to have an interest in the advancement of Barack Obama. Ayers has always pushed his terroristic America hating causes throughout his life and when he had the opportunity he say Obama as a way to further that goal. Don’t misunderstand me I am not suggesting or insinuating that Obama is in any way a terrorist or that he hates America but merely that he is part of the far left fringe that wants to fundamentally alter America. One only needs to look as far as statements made by his spouse (proud of my country for the first time in my adult life, America is a mean country, etc.) to see that they view America as a place that needs to be fundamentally altered,* and it is in that aspect that I believe Ayers saw a comrade in arms.*

From Gallup “If these numbers are sustained through Election Day — a big if — Republicans could be expected to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.”

For most of the past year Democrats have held double-digit leads in the generic “if the elections for Congress were being held today, which party’s candidate would you vote for in your congressional district?” The latest USA Today/Gallup poll however, is showing a surge for the Republican brand “with the Democrats now leading the Republicans by just 3 percentage points, 48% to 45%,” in their choices. *Importantly, republicans have closed the gap with the so-called independents with 44% for the Democrats and 40% for the Republicans. *

I think that there are three major reasons for this: 1)most importantly Governor Palin! She has not only energized the base and given us much more reason to get out and vote and be excited about the prospects of this election but has shown many independents a person that is easy to admire and respect and whom they can rally around as well; 2) the increased success in the war in Iraq and the contrast between the two parties regarding the surge; and 3) the drumbeat from the House Republicans during the break on drilling for oil.

Let us keep up the good fight not only for the White House but also for the Congress as well. There is also good poll information about voter enthusiasm and the boon that it could be to our election result.

(link to the poll is at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/110263/Battle-Congress-Suddenly-Looks-Competitive.aspx )

I think this is excellent and just what I have been waiting for. I hope that they can keep it up and that it gets more press coverage.

“The House adjourned about three hours ago, but GOP lawmakers, outraged that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats went home for five weeks without allowing a vote on offshore drilling, have refused to leave the floor. Even though C-Span can’t show you what’s going on (C-Span is prevented from showing what’s happening on the floor when the House is out of session), Republicans are holding an unprecedented session on the House floor. They have brought in dozens of their members, who are walking up and down the aisles making speeches. They have packed the floors and galleries with staffers. When Capitol Police tried to remove reporters from the gallery, Republicans stopped it from happening. The crowd has repeatedly broken out in chants of “Vote, vote, vote!” There’s several dozen Cub Scouts sitting on the House floor in seats normally occupied by members.”

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0808/DemsturnoutthelightbutGOPwontgohomePart_II.html