Author: Kevin

In a Mature Society, “Civil Servant” is Semantically Equal to “Civil Master”

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In a Mature Society, “Civil Servant” is Semantically Equal to “Civil Master”

The title of this post is a quote from Robert Heinlein’s The Notebooks of Lazarus Long, and it is echoed by Brit Phil B’s essay from last week, specifically this bit:

You must understand the nature of the Politicians, Quangos (Quasi Autonomous Non Governmental Organisations) and the Civil Service (which is neither civil or a servant but a Master). Ministers come and go and are briefed by the civil servants but it is the Civil Service which effectively runs the country.

RedState expands on a memo released by the US Office of Personnel Management yesterday, explaining:

Obama Administration Intends to Purge Republicans From the Civil Service

It is a typical Washington process that many political appointees are able to take jobs within the civil service once their political appointment expires — usually at the conclusion of one administration. What often happens as well is Congressional staffers, before an election or shortly thereafter, will move over to the Executive Branch placed into the civil service, in effect, by appointment.

So, for example, when George Bush became President in 2001, a number of Clinton political appointees became civil service employees. As a result, they became subject to civil service hiring and firing rules, which meant they could no longer be replaced simply for having been a Democratic appointee.

Barack Obama is changing that. He intends to purge all Republicans from the federal bureaucracy retroactive to five years ago.

My favorite quote from the memo:

I believe we must hold ourselves and the government to a higher standard, one that honors and supports the President’s strong commitment to a Government that is transparent and open.

War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, Indecision is Statesmanship, and Transparency is Opacity. So far I haven’t seen Obama show a “strong commitment” to anything other than getting elected. But he apparently deeply understands how to manipulate the levers of power.

Who Wants to Attend an Arizona Blogmeet & Range Trip?

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BUMPED AND POLL ADDED.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. For one thing, I desperately need to update my blogroll and get a LOT of AZ bloggers on the sidebar. Second, I’ve attended blogger get-togethers in Louisville, Reno, Phoenix, and Moyockistan, but the last time I met up with local AZ bloggers, we didn’t do any shooting.

So, I’m thinking we invade the Casa Grande public shooting range one Saturday, hurl a ton of lead downrange, then caravan off to dinner somewhere not too far off to eat, drink, and tell lies for a few hours.

Who’s interested? Can we set this up?

UPDATE: How about Saturday, Dec. 5? UPDATE III: I’m informed that there’s a gun show in Phoenix that weekend. How about the 12th?

UPDATE II: If you’re a blogger and you’re up for it, please spread the news. Not everybody who reads you reads me. Again, blog readers are more than welcome! And if you happen to live in Casa Grande or are familiar with it, some suggestions on where to go eat, drink, and be merry afterwards would be appreciated.

Free Blog Poll

COP-KILLER

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COP-KILLER!

A lot has been written recently about Major Hasan’s choice of weapons for his Ft. Hood rampage shooting, the FN Five-seveN handgun. SayUncle has some links, Tam discusses the SS190 5.7×28 loading in some detail, Michael Bane talks about it, and mentions a Brady press release from 2005 that describes the pistol as a “cop-killer gun.”

If you want real hysteria though, you have to travel back in time with me to July of 2006 when a Queens, NY District Attorney announced that an FN Five-seveN pistol was one of the weapons confiscated during a drug arrest. Apparently he read the Brady presser and thought it didn’t go far enough, as the DA’s press release contained this little bit of hyperbole, picked up and spread by media outlets such as Newsday, the TimesLedger, the Staten Island Advance, and local AM radio station 1010AM. It was also picked up by the Ass. Press:

Three men have been charged with illegally possessing two handguns, one of which is called a cop killer because it can break through most bulletproof vests and plates worn by police officers, prosecutors announced Thursday.

William Davis, 21, his brother Clarence Davis, 18, and their friend Gquan Lloyd, 18, all of Queens, were charged with multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon, District Attorney Richard A. Brown said.

During the execution of a narcotics search warrant Wednesday at the apartment the men shared in Far Rockaway, police found a defaced, unloaded Fabrique Nationale Five-seveN semiautomatic handgun, the first recovery of such a weapon in the city, Brown said.

“Its presence is troubling and makes the job of street cops that much more dangerous,” Brown said.

Of the 616 police officers killed nationwide between 1994 and 2003, 425 were shot with FN 5.7s, Brown said.

So far as I can tell, Officer Kimberly Mundy is the only officer who has ever been shot with an FN Five-seveN, and she’s still alive.

The piece I wrote in 2006 was about how the media, with all its professionalism and layers of editorial oversight, managed to pass DA Brown’s little faux pas on as fact, and then did very little about correcting the error afterward, but the Brady Campaign has never worried overmuch about little things like facts.

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

In the twentieth century…it has been said in a highly acclaimed book that “healthy, rational people will not injure others.” — Thomas Sowell, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles, 2007 Edition, p. 163

That “highly acclaimed book” is Ramsey Clark’s 1970 Crime in America.

Think about that for a minute. From my perspective that sentiment is missing one word: “Healthy, rational people will not injure others criminally.” There are other ways to say it, but honestly, given Clark’s actions, I wonder if he didn’t mean it precisely as it reads – that anyone who deliberately injures another for any reason cannot be healthy and/or rational.

This is, once again, a statement illustrating the inability to differentiate between violent-and-predatory, and violent-but-protective.

I would very much like to read that quote in full context.

Veteran’s Day

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Veteran’s Day

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Thank a vet today, would you?

Unions are an Anachronism

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Unions are an Anachronism

Watch this short Reason.TV video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzZ0nz7XVFo&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&w=425&h=344]

I’ve worked almost 24 years in an industry that supports mining. In that time I’ve watched the number of mining companies in my area drop from 10 or 12 to three or four, and I’ve watched as the big mining companies have broken their labor unions with the enthusiastic help of the majority of their workers. Those that were successful at breaking their unions are still in business. Those that didn’t aren’t around any more. Those that were successful currently employ about half of the number they did at the peak of the previous economic boom. Those that didn’t don’t employ anyone.

The economy currently sucks. Competition for everything is heavy, and profit margins are tight. Spending on luxury items is greatly reduced. Raises and benefit expansions are on hold. Some people are taking pay or hour cuts to remain on the payroll.

So United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99, which represents 15,000 Fry’s and 9,000 Safeway grocery store workers is threatening a strike if an “acceptable offer” is not presented by Friday.

In the interest of full disclosure, my wife worked for Fry’s for about three months as a non-union employee, and a sister-in-law is currently a union employee. My wife’s pay was about what those stores are offering “temporary” employees – $9.00-9.50/hr. My sister-in-law has been an employee for years. I have no idea what she gets paid.

Something tells me that Fry’s and Safeway will have a lot more job applicants than they’ll have job openings. The Union isn’t doing its members any favor, here. I would not be surprised if my sister-in-law didn’t have a job come Christmas.