Found: One Troll

There’s one lie that I’m really sick and tired of hearing from proponents of socialized medicine, and specifically of the Obamacare bills. I keep reading that the new Government-run health care will increase consumer choice by allowing the Government to compete with existing health care plans. Frankly, that’s bullshit. Oh sure, for a few months or maybe even years existing private insurance carriers will continue to operate without much change, but in the end private insurers have to pass their expenses on to their customers. They have to operate at a profit or else they cannot remain a viable business.

The Government has no such restriction. It can offer its services seemingly below cost because its expenses are subsidized by the taxes paid by every working American. What will happen when private insurers have to compete against an entity that can sell its coverage below cost? The proponent of Obamacare might say that the private companies will be forced to cut costs and cut their rates, but the simple fact is that private insurers will never be able to compete with the Government. How can they, when their competitor is selling insurance at rates impossible to match? The Democrats may not be pushing for single-payer health care in name, but make no mistake, single-payer health care is exactly what we’re going to get.

And, many folks may reason, why shouldn’t we? Anyone with private insurance will be paying twice for their health care; once with their taxes and again with their disposable income. It’s not as though there will be an opt-out where you pay for your own care and pay nothing into the Government system.

Unless we stop these bills, private health care will go the same way in the US that it did in Canada: something that only the wealthiest among us can afford. The premium for quality health care will put private care out of reach of increasing numbers of Americans and more and more of us will end up on the Government program as private insurers either raise their rates to prohibitive levels or drop out of the game entirely.

Wired points to an article in the UK Sunday Express which indicates that a movement is afoot to place telescreens CCTV cameras into the homes of crappy parents. Says the Express,

They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals.

The families are part of a program called the Family Intervention Project, which, as far as I can tell, aims to get the parents of unruly yobs more involved in their children’s lives. And by “parents,” I mean “Big Brother.” No word yet on whether they must also participate in mandatory calisthenics or the Two Minutes Hate. I presume that comes later.

But wait! There’s more (this time from Wired):

It gets worse. The government is also maintaining a private army, incredibly not called “Thought Police”, which will “be sent round to carry out home checks,” according to the Sunday Express. And in a scheme which firmly cements the nation’s reputation as a “nanny state”, the kids and their families will be forced to sign “behavior contracts” which will “set out parents’ duties to ensure children behave and do their homework.”

That would be a security group separate from the usual police force. Coming soon to a police state near you!

A comment on the Express article by CloverGirl asks, “Why are people not up in arms about this?” Well, that would be partly because they have no arms to be up in. Don’t think it couldn’t happen here.

The Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association has a blog now and it’s right here. It’s a bit rough around the edges, but it’s a good start. The ASRPA has been slowly expanding its web presence over the last couple of years. If you want to stay up-to-date on Arizona shooting, hunting, and related news, this is definitely a blog to follow.

ErnestThing has a post detailing the failings of Marxism. It cuts straight to the heart of the problem: choice. The inability for individuals to chart their own course through life will kill the Human spirit if we proceed farther down the path of Big Government.
Hmm, I would have sworn that I had ET on the blogroll. That’s been fixed.

Here’s today’s Arizona Citizens Defense League alert:

Yesterday afternoon (7/13/09), Governor Brewer signed a number of bills. You can view the final disposition of bills sent to the Governor here: http://tinyurl.com/2009GovnrBills .

The following are key pro-rights bills that the Governor signed.

SB 1113, a limited “Restaurant Carry” bill, applicable only to CCW permit holders.

SB 1168, the “Parking Lot” bill that prevents any private or public employer, property owner, etc., from banning any person from keeping a firearm in a locked vehicle in a parking area on the property, with specific limited exceptions.

SB 1243, the AzCDL-requested bill that clarifies and codifies the defensive display of a firearm.

SB 1449, which retroactively applies the restoration of the “innocent until proven guilty” language, that became law in 2006, to cases pending at the time of passage.

Another bill that quietly worked its way through the Legislature and was signed on July 10, 2009 by the Governor, was SB 1437, which adds persons certified by a “national association of firearms owners” (e.g., NRA) to the list of persons qualified to be an Arizona Gun Safety Program Course instructor. Currently, instructors may only be certified by the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Bills signed by the Governor become effective September 30, 2009. (http://www.azleg.gov/GeneralEffectiveDates.asp)

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today!

AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html

Copyright © 2009 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

Edit: removed some formatting that made the alert unreadable.

Restaurant Carry will soon be legal in Arizona. Governor Jan Brewer signed SB1113 today. If she had not signed or vetoed the bill today, it would have passed into law without her signature. As the article at the Arizona Republic mentions, an amendment to the bill makes carry legal in any establishment that serves alcohol, none of that “51% of revenue must be from food” restriction that some states have. It’s about time.

New laws take effect 90 days after the legislature adjourns Sine Die. The Arizona Legislature adjourned Sine Die on June 30th. Since the June 30th session lasted until early July 1st, I’m not whether that affects the effective date.

A poll on AZ restaurant carry at AOL news. It’s currently 50/50 with votes opposing the legislation ever so slightly ahead.

Found via the OpenCarry.org forums.

Well, the Arizona State Legislature adjourned its 2009 session today. Kevin already covered the bit I’m most excited about, and I don’t have a lot of time right now, so here is the AZCDL‘s alert from today:

“Sine Die” is the Latin term the Arizona Legislature uses to signify the adjournment of the legislative session. The Senate adjourned this morning, July 1, 2009 at 7:30 AM. The House adjourned at 7:31 AM. It’s officially over folks. Unless a Special Session is called by the Governor, we have a 6 month reprieve on any further legislative meddling in our lives.

Unfortunately HB 2439, the AzCDL-requested CCW training reform bill that was amended to include Petty Offense and Defensive Display language, failed in the House at 5:10 AM this morning. It passed in the Senate Third Read by a 18-5-7 vote around 2 AM but when it was voted on in the House Final Read, it failed by one vote, 30-10 with 20 (Yes, twenty!) members not voting. Five of those twenty who were not present for the vote were Republicans who had indicated to us that they would vote for the bill. If they had been present, HB 2439 would have easily passed. You can find how every Representative voted here: http://tinyurl.com/HB2439FinalVote . The Republicans missing during the final vote were Nancy Barto (R7), Rich Crandall (R19), Adam Driggs (R11), Bill Konopnicki (R5), Lucy Mason (R1), and Doug Quelland (R10). If you are in their Districts, please keep this in mind next November.

Despite the setback with HB 2439, there are four pro-rights bills that made it through the legislative gauntlet and are headed to the governor’s desk. They are SB 1113, SB 1168, SB 1243 and SB 1449.

SB 1113, a “Restaurant Carry” bill laden with concessions to appease opponents, passed in the House Third Read yesterday (6/30/09) by a 40-19-1 vote. Early this morning, it passed the Senate Final Read by a 19-8-3 vote. In the final version of SB 1113:
- “Open carry” is not allowed in places serving alcohol. The firearm must be concealed.
- Only individuals with CCW permits may carry a concealed firearm where alcohol is served.
- The individual legally carrying the firearm may not consume alcohol.
- The penalty for violating the law is a class 3 misdemeanor.
- Establishments may prohibit firearms by posting a sign in a specified location.
- It is an “affirmative defense” if the person violating the law “was not informed of the notice,” the sign had “fallen down,” the person is not a resident of Arizona, or the posted sign has not been up for 30 days.
- However, lack of knowledge (by Arizona residents only) that firearms are prohibited in establishments serving alcohol is no longer a valid defense.

SB 1168 is the Senate bill containing the “strike everything” amendment substituting the language of HB 2474. It passed the Senate Final Read by a vote of 18-9 with 3 not voting. SB 1168 prevents any private or public employer, property owner, etc., from banning any person from keeping a firearm in a locked vehicle in a parking area on the property, with specific limited exceptions. HB 2474, the original “Parking Lot” bill, passed in the House and made it through Senate committees but was dropped when SB 1168 made it through the process first.

SB 1243 passed the House Third Read by a vote of 42-12-6 on June 29. Since the language in SB 1243 remained unchanged, it was sent back to the Senate where it was formally sent to the Governor this morning. SB 1243 is the AzCDL-requested bill that codifies the defensive display of a firearm.

Another very important bill that passed this session is SB 1449 which applies, retroactively, statutory changes relating to justification defenses in all cases in which the defendant did not plead guilty or no contest that were submitted to the fact finder as of April 24, 2006. In plain language this means that the restoration of the “innocent until proven guilty” language that passed out of the Legislature via SB 1145 in 2006 retroactively applies to cases pending at the time of passage. The most infamous of these was the trial of Harold Fish, who defended himself while hiking and was prosecuted under the 1997 “guilty until proven innocent” law. Even though SB 1145 became law in the middle of Mr. Fish’s trial, he was convicted under the older law. You can read more about Mr. Fish’s case here: http://www.haroldfishdefense.org/ .

This has been a very bizarre legislative session. With the focus almost entirely on the budget, very little time was spent on non-budget bills, and there was a mad rush to end the session and filter out as many bills as possible. Without the constant pressure YOU provided via your emails, letter and phone calls, AzCDL’s representatives (who went home this morning after staying all night lobbying and counting votes at the Capitol) would not have been able to keep pro-rights bill in the pipeline. Pat yourselves on the back – Job Well Done!

Unfortunately, we’re not out of the woods yet. The Legislature may have adjourned but the Governor now has a stack of bills on her desk to sign, ignore or veto. Her priority is the budget. The Legislature deliberately waited until Sine Die to send the budget to the Governor. If she vetoes the budget, state bureaucracies grind to a halt. A “do over” budget will require the Governor to call a Special legislative session, with more delays. It boils down to gamesmanship and who blinks first. All the non-budget bills might become pawns in the power struggle.

Meanwhile, the next step is to start asking the Governor to sign these bills. Her email address is azgov@az.gov. You can also fax a letter to her at 602-542-1381. Or you can mail it to her at the following address:

The Honorable Jan Brewer
Governor of Arizona
1700 West Washington
Phoenix, Arizona 85007

You can call her office, toll free, at 1-800-253-0883 or 602-543-4331.

You can also go to the Governor’s website, http://azgovernor.gov/Contact.asp, where you will find a fill-in-the-blanks form to register your opinion.  For “subject”, scroll down and select “Legislation.”  For “topic”, fill in the number of the bill you are making a comment on (e.g., SB 1243). In the message/comment area, leave a polite message asking her to sign the bill you are referring to. We recommend a separate message for each bill.

Stay tuned! We will notify you on the fate of legislation via these Alerts and Twitter.

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today!

AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html

Copyright © 2009 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

Now that we (hopefully) will have restaurant carry, I’m really hoping that next year we can pass campus carry.

At Slashdot:

Eastcoastsurfer: This bill should really be called “A Tax Increase For All Americans.” The estimated tax revenue the government expects to extract from the population from the passage of this bill is huge.

goldspider: This can’t be true. Obama promised that taxes would not go up for 95% of Americans.

AlexDV: He told the truth. Taxes will go up for 100% of Americans.

Heh.

I’m listening to the Senate floor session right now, and AZ bill SB1113 just passed the Senate Third Read and will be transmitted to the House for a final vote. SB1113 is Arizona’s restaurant carry bill. The vote was 18 Aye, 10 Nay, 2 Not Voting.

Edit: The Arizona Rifleman has more details.