Rights Infringed

I recently put up a post laughing at the ridiculous notion that requiring identification for voting amounts to vote suppression, or some sort of attack on voting rights. This is accusation is particularly funny coming from Democrats, who in certain states have been in the forefront of suppressing constitutional rights. This is definitely the case in my state of New Jersey.

We had an incident at our house where gas was stolen from one of our vehicles late at night, even though we live in a reasonably nice area. Since I currently work at night, my wife, who is disabled and not that mobile, is home with our son. The thought occurred to me that it would not be good if she were to go outside after hearing some noise, and surprise a criminal. I decided to look into purchasing a handgun, primarily for my wife's protection, and secondarily to take to a range and do some target shooting for family recreation. Although we have various weapons in the house, none of them are of the type that my wife could reasonably take outside just in case. The area is rural, but not rural enough that walking outside with a shotgun wouldn't alarm a neighbor.

After looking into it, I have determined that buying a handgun in New Jersey is probably more trouble than it is worth. Before I can buy anything, I first have to go to my local police station, and submit a detailed form. Among other things, the form requires my employer information, and two references from non-family members. You must also be fingerprinted, pay multiple fees which appear to total at least a hundred dollars, and wait anywhere from one to five months, depending on your local police department and state processing. Separate forms must be filled out for each handgun purchase, each of which requires new fees. There is a blog post here that relates the details of that blogger's experience with buying a handgun in New Jersey.

Since buying handguns out of state is illegal, I will not be getting one without jumping through all those hoops. That's because I don't want to get an illegal weapon, something I doubt criminals are too concerned with. It certainly seems to me that my 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms is at the very least being "infringed" by all of these requirements. But somehow this must be constitutional. I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to apply to purchase. If I do I will probably post my own experience.

Hurricane Aftermath

We were prepared for the worst but it wasn't as bad as expected, at least at my house. We had a massive amount of rain and some high winds, but the winds weren't as high as they could have been. There were no thunderstorms either, and we did not lose power. There's still a fair amount of wind, and our power often goes out with little reason, so hopefully our good fortune will continue.

I haven't been away from the house, but apparently this area, Salem County, NJ, had major flooding that caused at least one death and closed roads. Overall though, we were lucky compared to the possibilities that had been predicted.

Sex and Donuts

From the LA Times,

there was more on the menu than lattes and a dozen glazed during the late shift at a Dunkin Donuts in northern New Jersey.

A 29-year-old female is facing prostitution charges after police say she took breaks to provide sex in exchange for money.

I guess it makes sense. Some Dunkin Donuts are open 24 hours, and guys coming in there late at night are probably going to be alone. She probably made more on one of her breaks than she did the whole night working for Dunkin. If we legalized prostitution, late night sex & donut shops might be an effective business model.

Chris Christie Continues to Make Me Glad I Voted for Him

As I've mentioned before, when I voted for Chris Christie it was just a typical lesser of two evils vote. I had no idea he'd actually keep campaign promises and be a governor I'd be glad to have voted for. Today he killed the bloated, wildly over-budget Hudson River tunnel project.

“I have made a pledge to the people of New Jersey that on my watch I will not allow taxpayers to fund projects that run over budget with no clear way of how these costs will be paid for,” said the governor. “Considering the unprecedented fiscal and economic climate our State is facing, it is completely unthinkable to borrow more money and leave taxpayers responsible for billions in cost overruns.

That's not the kind of statement you hear from too many major politicians -- unless they are just making campaign promises.

Man Fired for Making a Political Statement

Derek Fenton, who burned a few pages from the Koran in a 9/11 protest was abruptly fired by New Jersey Transit after working there 11 years. NJ Transit claims he somehow violated their code of ethics. It sounds more like a combination of political correctness and fear of Muslim reaction. What does taking part in a political protest, and harmlessly burning a few pages of paper have to do with the ethics of working for a transit company?

There's no right to hold a job, and companies have all sorts of reasons for firing people, but firing people for making political statements, or for harmless acts religious people find offensive should disturb everyone. I'm not sure, but Fenton may have a first amendment case, since NJ Transit is a state agency. This appears to be a case of a government employer firing someone for taking part in a political protest and exercising his right to free expression.

Lighting that Cigarette Was a Bad Idea

This may have happened before, but I don't remember ever reading a similar story. A man here in New Jersey managed to accidentally burn himself to death. Apparently he was drinking at home last night, spilled vodka on himself and dropped a lit cigarette into his lap. According to the story he had third degree burns over his entire body, so the fire must have spread from his vodka-soaked pants to the rest of his clothes. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that he was probably pretty drunk when this happened. Lighting a cigarette when your pants are soaked with alcohol -- not a good idea.

Gay Marriage Defeated in New Jersey

The New Jersey State Senate voted against a bill legalizing gay marriage. The vote was 20-14 with 3 abstentions. New Jersey has been suffering under Democratic government for quite awhile. As a gay marriage supporter, I was hoping that outgoing governor John Corzine, who has been terrible for the state, might be able to leave on a positive note by signing a gay marriage bill into law. Unfortunately he won't get the chance.

The failure to get a gay marriage bill passed in a liberal state such as New Jersey, demonstrates again that complete equality for gays has still not won majority public support. Attitudes are changing, but the change is incremental. I'm not sure how long it will take until a majority shifts in favor of gay marriage. I have no doubt that gays wanting to marry here in New Jersey will feel -- and rightly so -- that they shouldn't have to wait for equal rights. Some will probably attempt to utilize the court system to get gay marriage legalized by judicial fiat, against the wishes of the majority. While I sympathize, I think that's a bad strategy which can lead to an anti-gay backlash. Unfortunately, I think gay people in most states are just going to have to wait, and work to change attitudes.

Hope & Change for Republicans

We shouldn't read too much into it, but the GOP sweep in Virginia, and the Christie win -- despite active campaigning by Obama -- appears to be a sign of hope for the 2010 elections. Here in New Jersey, Chris Christie is the first Republican governor elected in quite awhile. I'm not expecting a lot, since the NJ GOP tends to be little more than Democrat-lite, but I do expect that Christie will be significantly better than Corzine -- which isn't saying much. Hopefully, he'll at least be able to live up to those minimal expectations. Thanks are in order to all those who went out and voted against Corzine, and to all those Democrats who stayed home rather than re-elect such a lousy governor.

The message of this election for Congressional Republicans should be to redouble their efforts to delay passage of Democratic legislation. Everything possible should be done to stall the most damaging bills, such as health care reform and the climate change economy-wrecker. Continue to fight a rearguard action and get us to the 2010 elections. If a Republican can win New Jersey, and the GOP can sweep Virginia, a state that went for Obama in 2008, there is significant hope that we can slash deeply into the Democratic majority in Congress.

Lesser of Two Evils Day

I just got back from the polls. It was yet another election that involved voting for the lesser of two evils. And, as in most cases, that meant voting Republican. Here in New Jersey, I have no illusions about Republican candidate Chris Christie. His bumbling campaign, his failure to give a straight answer about pretty much any policy question, and the fact that he's already held high state office all leave me completely unenthused about his candidacy. My vote, like that of many others of his "supporters," was purely a vote against John Corzine, a corrupt, lying weasel who stands out even in a state government full of corrupt, lying weasels.

Despite his massive unpopularity and lack of job performance, Corzine closed the gap with a blizzard of negative advertising. He has basically attempted to buy the election, greatly outspending the Christie campaign. The Obama administration, fearing the message that might be sent by a Republican victory in a Democratic state, has been shilling for Corzine, going so far as to lend him campaign staff and management.

Anyone in New Jersey that's uninspired by Chris Christie, and is thinking of staying home or wasting their vote on Chris Daggett, should reconsider. Go out and vote against John Corzine. If that's not enough to motivate you -- and it should be -- consider it a vote against the Obama administration too.

New Jersey Governor's Race

Here in New Jersey, for a while it looked like there was a good chance to get rid of corrupt & unpopular Democratic governor John Corzine. Republican Chris Christie led in the polls for months, but now Corzine has closed the gap. The current RCP average actually has him up by a tiny amount. How did this happen?

From what I have seen, Christie basically sat on his lead while Corzine did everything possible to claw his way back into position to win. There has been a non-stop barrage of Corzine attack ads hammering Christie. I can't even remember seeing a positive Corzine ad. Christie's response ads have, in my opinion, been late, weak, and insufficient in number. I don't even watch that much television, but I've probably seen five Corzine ads for every one of Christie's. Plus the NJ Education Association has been running ads attacking Christie.

If Corzine pulls out the win, it will be yet another example that negative campaigning works -- even though people claim not to like it.  As of now, it looks like Christie may have blown an excellent chance for a GOP victory.