The Uninvited Ombudsman Report, No. 73 - McDonald v. Chicago

Taken from the most recent "Page Nine", Alan Korwin's "The Uninvited Ombudsman Report"

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1- 1,400 Arrest 46

The lamestream media told you:

Thomas Watkins, reporting for the AP, writes: "More than a thousand law-enforcement officers descended Tuesday on the homes of key members of a notorious street gang suspected of killing a sheriff's deputy and murdering rivals while defying authorities for decades. A federal indictment identified 88 suspects and detailed criminal activity spanning more than a decade... 1,100 police officers worked with nearly 300 federal agents to arrest 46 gang members (39 were already in custody)... Among them was Tammy Armstrong, a corrections officer accused of helping incarcerated gang members... gang members strafed L.A. police in Feb., 2008... off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante was shot dead in Aug., 2008 in front of his parents' home northeast of downtown." http://tinyurl.com/mw2k9a

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

Unasked and unanswered questions include: Why were 1,400 people needed to make the 46 arrests? Why was this known illegal activity allowed to continue for a decade before making arrests? If gang members strafe police, is it considered timely to wait 1-1/2 years to nab suspects? Corrections officers are supposed to help inmates in addition to keeping them locked up, what sort of help did officer Armstrong provide?

While it's encouraging to hear the "news" media cheerleading for the capture of 79 desperados (nine are still at large), is L.A. now safer? How many gangbangers were still operating after the media promo ended?

Well... LAPD estimates that L.A. has 463 gangs, making the 79 individuals arrested seem small. Those gangs have an estimated 39,032 members http://tinyurl.com/yqotg8. No word yet on when the rest might be rounded up, or which of them will be promoted to fill the empty slots created by those detainees who don't get back on the streets soon. No followup "news" reports on that are expected, just the rah rah for the original collars.

Stepping out further, again using LAPD figures, L.A. County has 1,108 gangs, with 85,298 members, and no word on planned arrests for them either, or available jail space for the 85,219 known or suspected gang members still at large, probably for decades.

Note that L.A. gangs are notorious for rejecting diversity and multiculturalism, according to LAPD estimates. The most numerous gangs are Latino, with 22,309 non-diverse members, and blacks (Crips and Bloods), with 14,515 non-diverse members. Rumors that white, oriental and other gangs will be filing Title VII discrimination charges could not be confirmed at press time.

Anti-gun campaigns that focus on crime as a motivator overlook the fact, with the media's assistance, that crime is largely gang related and geographically isolated, leaving much of society untouched. It's also fueled in large measure by the government's feckless War on Some Drugs, making the murder rates war deaths, not gun deaths. See the maps: http://www.gunlaws.com/GunshotDemographics.htm. It's hard to remove the failed social policies that spawn the problem, because that's what justifies much of the law-enforcement community and its budgets and jobs. The 1,400 police involved in the 46 arrests (30 per detainee) are under administrative protection and could not be reached for comment. Thankfully, not one hardened criminal on the streets for more than a decade was killed. An estimated cost to provide public defenders for the former fugitives is unknown.

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6- Women Shooting More

The lamestream media told you:

Nothing.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

The National Shooting Sports Foundation's "First Shots" program has helped introduce thousands of first-timers to shooting at their local ranges. Nearly half of these participants have been female. The shooting sports are the #2 consumer sport in America, based on money spent, ahead of #3 golf by $100 million, but golf gets all the "news" coverage for reasons that were unclear at press time. http://www.firstshots.org

A new report from NSSF shows a snapshot of these new women shooters. For example, after attending a First Shots seminar at their local range, 47 percent of women have met their local requirements to purchase a sidearm, 26 percent said they have already purchased a sidearm and 58 percent said they are planning to purchase a sidearm in the future. When asked what their primary reason for purchasing a sidearm would be, 86 percent said personal protection, recognizing that when seconds count, the police are just minutes away. See the report, fascinating and data rich: http://www.firstshots.org/PDF/Female_Perspective.pdf

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8- McDonald v. Chicago

The lamestream media told you:

Chicago's 27-year-old ban on handguns is coming up for challenge at the U.S. Supreme Court, with a ruling likely due by June 2010, and an oral-argument date as early as February, expected to be set soon. It is the second major gun-rights case to reach the Court, following the 2008 landmark Heller case that overturned the Wash., D.C. strict ban on working guns at home. Alan Gura, lead counsel in the Heller case, is lead counsel in this case, and is quoted as saying, "State and local politicians should be on notice: the Second Amendment is a normal part of the Bill of Rights, and it is coming to your town." The case is being brought by the Second Amendment Foundation, the Illinois State Rifle Association, and four local plaintiffs.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

Although this is presented almost everywhere as a Second Amendment case, and it does and will affect 2A in profound ways, the real significance of this case is in its 14th Amendment implications.

The 14th Amendment is supposed to protect the "privileges and immunities" of all Americans. It was enacted soon after the War Between The States (1868), to prevent states from denying rights to freed slaves. The intent was to apply the Bill of Rights to people regardless of the state they were in.

This was completely eviscerated in the Slaughterhouse cases (1873), and has remained dormant since then, leaving only the due process and equal protection clauses in 14A to carry that water. You can google the elements of this situation so I don't have to bore you with the incredibly fascinating lengthy details here.

McDonald, using the Second Amendment, is a stage upon which the High Court can at last restore 14A to the prominence it deserves and is intended to have. The issue could have arisen in other contexts, but here we get a stunning two for one drama.

If 14A is restored, the benefits for liberty, limiting government, protecting states rights and civil rights, and slowing or stopping power-mad federal legislators and Congress as a whole are ginormous, with no way to adequately express in words how big that would be for your freedom -- an effect that will play out for decades to come.

So, sure, we want to see 2A "incorporated" against the states, and prevent states from flatly ignoring 2A and denying or infringing fundamental rights as they have been doing for decades. And sure, the gun-rights players and the hopelessly biased "news" media are highly focused on this important element of the case and Chicago's tyrannical gun ban for innocent people. But it is the 14A aspect that deserves at least equal attention, because it will affect the entire Bill of Rights, 90% of which could also use the help.

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Don't forget that Bill of Rights Day is coming up on Tuesday, Dec. 15 this year. Mark your calendar now for events in your area -- and organize one if there isn't one already. http://www.gunlaws.com/BOR-Day-2008-Report.htm. Do something good -- send that link to your email list.

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Contents:
(searchable by item number)

1- 1,400 Arrest 46
2- ACORN Still Funded
3- 9/12 Was Gigantic
4- Quarter Pounder Ignorance
5- Impossibly Longrange Predictions
6- Women Shooting More
7- Obama's Muslim Unsupporters
8- McDonald v. Chicago
9- Special Guest Columnist Craig Cantoni --
"No one gasped in shock when Obama said he was committed to the will of the people"

Page Nine is now a blog! You can sign up for automatic RSS feeds and find a wealth of interesting information at PageNine.org

Thanks for reading!
Alan Korwin
The Uninvited Ombudsman