Only in Washington?

The closer you get to government, the scarier it looks. DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) Chief David Clark, as quoted in the Washington Post:

"We have a plan that we're putting together in which people can check on an address and follow it all the way through. That way, they'll feel more comfortable that the government is accountable and action is taking place, even though they might not be able to see it."

No Gun Rights for DC

For the past week, I've been living in a "gentrifying" neighborhood in inner-DC. Every night, I pass a crack house on the way back from work. I think of the fact that the people charged with enforcing the gun laws are the same ones charged with enforcing the drug laws, shiver a bit, and replay the game plan in case I’m attacked. Carrying a gun seems to me like a pretty smart option.

Now, DC does not only disregard the “right to carry,” it requires that guns be kept at home “unloaded, disassembled or equipped with trigger locks.” Yesterday, the U.S. District Court decided that this does not violate the Second Amendment (see CNN and The Washington Post).

Shockingly, the decision states that “in any event, the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia,” relying on Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497 (1954), and District of Columbia v. Carter, 409 U.S. 418 (1973), Supreme Court decisions saying that the District is not a state, and that the 14th Amendment did not apply here. I’m sure District residents, workers, and tourists will be thrilled to find out that they are not guaranteed due process and equal protection in the nation’s capital.

I find it rather ironic that the Mayor praised this decision, considering that DC consistently insists that it is like a state, and should be treated as such, including having its own primaries. It is even more ironic that Judge Reggie B. Walton was nominated to his current post in 2001 by President Bush, and prior to that promoted by G.H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

Breaking News: “Mad pork disease strikes all members of Congress,” via Nashville City Paper

The Virtue of Capitalism

Looking at the two recent earthquakes in California and Iran, Thomas Sowell brilliantly notes the painfully obvious: If you don’t like capitalism, you have to be willing to accept the alternative.

Wealth enables homes, buildings and other structures to be built to withstand greater stresses. Wealth permits the creation of modern transportation that can quickly carry people to medical facilities. It enables those facilities to be equipped with more advanced medical apparatus and supplies, and amply staffed with highly trained doctors and support staff….

Those who preen themselves on their "compassion" for the poor, and who disdain wealth, are being inconsistent, if not hypocritical. Wealth is the only thing that can prevent poverty. However, if you are not trying to prevent poverty but to exploit it for political purposes, that is another story.

When Lawyers Attack

From Casella v Morris, 820 F2d 362, via Ben Glatstein:

Fuzzy Wuzzy's Family

Morris and his wife together owned 50% of Concepts, an entity incorporated for the purpose of franchising Fuzzy Wuzzy Wizard Wonderland of Food and Fantasy, ("Fuzzy Wuzzy" or "Wonderland") pizza restaurants. Morris and his wife together also owned an undetermined percentage ownership interest in Centers, an entity incorporated in Florida for the purpose of owning and operating the first Fuzzy Wuzzy restaurant, located in Tampa, Florida. The District Court, oddly failing to use the readily available "fuzzy" idea, described the lines between the corporations as "blurry, if they existed at all."