1124 Cannonballs

1124 Cannonballs

Just over two years ago, we had some advice for President Obama which he did not take.  We praised his intelligence, sensitivity and good heartedness, but also suggested in fairly blunt terms wrapped in a history lesson that he should display a little anger and a little backbone to re-tell the main point in euphemisms.

With the string of executive orders about guns, he finally has come around.  But by now, the opposition that was treading water in 2010 has learned speed swimming and how to use Vladimir Siminov’s ingenious APS underwater rifle.

Efforts to deny the president his rights under Article II of the Constitution will fail.  But not completely.  The disloyal opposition has Obama in its sights and those underwater rifles (really!) have had almost 40 years to prove themselves, and they have.

And the thing we forget about executive orders is that the next executive in the oval office can reverse them.

And the thing Obama never dealt with is the moron opposition in congress, where Representatives pretty much live in gerrymandered districts and therefore are responsible only to their own particular amen choruses (Thanks for that phrase, Patrick Buchanan) and have little to no regard for the national interest.

Even some former NRA lobbyists have little argument with the Obama plan.  The main guy in that corner is one Richard Feldman who heads the Independent Firearms Owners Association and is author of the book “Ricochet... the Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist.”  Feldman says some of what the President wants makes sense.  Tepid.  Odd, considering the source.  But a good beginning.

It’s likely the NRA thinks Feldman, a Washington lawyer, is right up there with Benedict Arnold and the Rosenbergs.  And the degree of his or his organization’s influence may be small.  But it’s a thread to pull.

To read the post from November 8, 2010, click here.  (caution, minor adult content.)


Shrapnel:

--So far, the highlight of American Idol Season 12 is the faux war between judges Mariah Carey and Nikcki Menaj.  Beneath her clown suit and wigs and her indescribably bad records, Menaj has shown a little technical knowledge of music.  Carey is the brain dead answer to “X-factor” judge Britney Spears only older, better looking and with a legitimate claim to musical artistry.

--You have to feel sorry for poor Jamie Dimon, CEO of the Chase bank and whose salary has been slashed in half because of last year’s huge trading losses and to show regulators that the bank’s board of directors is a dandy watchdog.  Dimon was unfazed.  You would be too, if you took home a mere 11 million dollars a year even though it was cut from more than 23 million.

--Boeing’s “Dreamliner” could be a nightmare for the company now that everyone on earth has grounded it because its batteries catch fire.  You’ve heard this here before:  it’s always the low tech stuff that screws up, things like O-rings, the glue that doesn’t hold fast and allows heat shields to fall off, seats that come loose and seat belts that don’t when they should.

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2013