No one stopped him

Cindy Ann Yuille
Steven Mathew Forsyth

A shopper and a shopkeeper, gunned down by a 22 year-old man for no apparent reason.

The sheriff is taking credit, saying that mall security and the quick response of his agency prevented the gunman from taking more lives. Except there is a problem ... the perpetrator's gun jammed.

The police have a saying: when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

Once again, the police responded within minutes. 2 minutes? 15 minutes? Accounts don't specify. I can only wonder if the outcome might have been different if other, law-abiding shoppers had been armed. Would the gunman have even contemplated such an act if he knew that his targets might be able to resist?

End Collective Bargaining

There is no reason why a public sector employee requires collective bargaining. I can understand - to an extent - that it works for public safety employees. The police is essentially a local army, and there is a valid argument for payment based on rank. But the schools are not. And there is no reason why teachers should be paid based on anything but performance, as determined by their manager.

Why should a bad teacher with 10 years of service get paid more than a great teacher with 5 years of service?
Why should someone besides the principal get decide how much her employees get paid?

The whole collective bargaining system should be dismantled.

How a "grass roots movement" starts

From the Weekly Standard...

"I don't know what she's going to do, but I do know this: The Democrats want her to run," said Carville, in response to a discussion about Clinton's future. "And I don't just mean a lot of Democrats. I mean a whole lot of Democrats, like 90 percent across the country. We just don't -- we just want to win. We think she's the best person and shut it down. And that's across the board."

So the archetypical Washington insider declares that the "people" want Hillary to run for president in 2016. Remember this when the MSM begin to report on the "groundswell" of support for Mrs. Clinton in 2 years.

Falling behind

Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7%. Unfortunately, inflation — as measured by the consumer price index — has risen by 2.2% over the past year, meaning average hourly earnings have fallen by 0.5% in real terms.

This will cause far more damage than the "fiscal cliff". What's worse is that most people have no idea this is happening to them ... yet.

From this point forward

I was hoping that the election had turned out differently. But I have become more troubled by larger issues. Among the most concerning is one that gets little to no attention in the press: the decline of traditional marriage.

The MSM only wants to talk about homosexuals getting married. But they refuse to acknowledge the great harm that results when fewer men choose to marry their girlfriends... or even worse, when fewer men marry the mother of their children. The facts are indisputable:

• Children borne out of wedlock are far more likely to suffer sexual and physical abuse
• Single men are more likely to be unemployed (or under-employed)
• Unmarried mothers are far more likely to be poor

Why is this happening? Some might say that pop culture has so glamorized the single lifestyle that people are sorely tempted to pursue it. I disagree. The single lifestyle has always been glamorized, and it has never delivered on that false promise.

What is new, though, is that the traditional family lifestyle has been turned into a punch line. Pop culture portrays the man of this life as far from ideal or attractive or aspirational. Instead it casts him the role of lovable idiot (at best), or malicious oppressor. Why would anyone want to be that guy?

the Likable lie

How can anyone say this guy was ever likable? Almost everything that comes out of Obama's mouth is arrogant, condescending, insulting, or all three! Here's the latest:

At a $20,000-per-ticket fundraising dinner at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, President Obama made a joke about Romney cracking down on the Muppets.

"Finally, somebody is cracking down on Big Bird," Obama quipped. "Elmo has been seen in a white Suburban. He's driving for the border."

Using a murder to score political points? He is unworthy of the office.

Credit where credit is due: Real Clear Politics. Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit

Sometimes the government is just stupid

Microscopically etch an identifying mark on a gun's firing pin. Every bullet casing would be engraved with that mark, and law enforcement would know which gun fired that bullet. Seems like a great idea, right?

Actually, it's hard to count how many ways this is a stupid idea. But Jazz Shaw at Hot Air and Bob Owens at PJ Media itemize just some of the problems with gun microstamping.

Included in the litany of idiocy:

1. The firing pin for most weapons are easily replaced with a $12 part
2. The stamping naturally wears down through normal use, rendering it unusable.

This is what happens when central economic planners get too much power.