Midweek Politics with David Pakman - 08.19.2009

[dpakman91]

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[drupal=111]Midweek Politics with David Pakman - 08.19.2009[/drupal]

This Week on Midweek Politics with David Pakman

August 19th, 2009

Produced by

David Pakman, WXOJ, Northampton, MA
Louis Motamedi, WXOJ, Northampton, MA

Total Running Time: 55:57

This Week's Topics:

--Angry emails from conservative radio stations.

--The health care town halls continue, and conservatives say the Obama administration is backing away from the public option.

--A woman's Rosa Parks poster is ripped up at a Claire McCaskill event, and all involved parties are thrown out, but critics say media outlets did not cover the fact that there was a no posters rule at the town hall.

--Glenn Beck has been one of the leading opponents of the Barack Obama healthcare reform plan and has lauded the current system as the best in the world, but recently went out of his way to say how horrible the system was from a firsthand point of view.

--More guns at Barack Obama healthcare town calls, this time moving simply from handguns to assault rifles, with the explanation that the gunmen are simply exercising their rights as Americans, and fighting for not only health care, but also gun rights.

--Rahm Emmanuel's move to bring in conservative Democrats to the health care debate may or may not be working as planned as Blue Dog Democrats say they will not vote for bills to kill old people.

--The focus on the public option is partly replaced with talk of healthcare cooperatives, but conservatives say that will move from a plan where just the insurance is a death panel to a system where everything is one big death panel.

--The Arlen Specter controversy involving his appearance at Netroots Nation and his phone call to Chuck Grassley from backstage.

--Cash for clunkers is still thrown into the list of unsuccesful Obama initiatives, along with the stimulus and healthcare, and we debate whether it is too early to make any of those calls, and if they are even flat wrong.

--Pat Buchanan continues suggesting that Sarah Palin's daughter's ex boyfriend should be drowned.

--Lou Dobbs seems to have completely lost it, blaming liberals for trying to get him fired from CNN and calling Howard Dean a bloodsucking leftist, before offering a bizarre pseudo-apology.

--Joe the Plumber, our favorite fake-plumber-not-real-business-owner, will not go away, making a strange appearance at a conservative conference where he said when was younger he would have beaten up people like Nancy Pelosi.

--Robert Novak, one of the most influential political reports, has died.

--Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dpakman

Listen to Midweek Politics with David Pakman 08-19-2009

[kinggovernor]

"conservatives say the Obama administration is backing away from the public option."

no that was the Kathleen Sebelius who said that, and every respectable media outlet has covered this.

[JaJae]

The only report of assault rifle I'm aware of was in regards to an ar-15. The media incorrectly labeled I an assault rifle. It is not.

[dpakman91]

Originally Posted by JaJae

The only report of assault rifle I'm aware of was in regards to an ar-15. The media incorrectly labeled I an assault rifle. It is not.

AR-15 (for Armalite model 15,[9]) is the common name for the widely-owned[10] semi-automatic rifle which soon afterwards became the selective fire M16 and M4 carbine assault rifles, which are currently in use by the United States military. AR-15 was the original name for what became the militarily designated M16, the assault rifle first used by the U.S. in the Vietnam War. The name AR-15 is now used almost exclusively to refer to the semi-automatic (commercially available) civilian version(s) of the M16 and M4 assault rifles.

seems like semantics for all reasonable intents and non-trolling purposes. it's a rifle for NOT assaulting?

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by dpakman91

seems like semantics for all reasonable intents and non-trolling purposes. it's a rifle for NOT assaulting?

It fires kittens and rainbows.

[HughRuss]

If Obama ever comes to rally near me, I'm going to show up with a cardboard sword, flak jacket, water gun (super soaker, baby), and a to-scale replica Knight's helmet.

According to the US legal definition:

Primarily limited to the United States, the term assault weapon is a term used to describe a variety of semi-automatic firearms that have certain features generally associated with military assault rifles. The 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which expired on September 13, 2004, defined the rifle type of assault weapon as a semiautomatic firearm with the ability to accept a detachable magazine, and two or more of the following featurers:

• Folding or telescoping stock
• Conspicuous pistol grip
• Bayonet mount
• Flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
• Grenade launcher
• Barrel shroud

The following are accessorizable with the AR-15:

Standard AR-15 rifles accept detachable magazines of widely varying capacities, and have a pistol grip that protrudes beneath the stock. AR-15 rifles are highly configurable and customizable. They are commonly fitted with several accessories such as bipods, folding or collapsing stocks, threaded barrels for the attachment of a flash suppressor, and a rail system for the attachment of vertical grips, flashlights, laser sights, telescopic sights, etc.

Given the AR-15's factory pistol grip, this would qualify it, by the definition of the United States of America, as an assault weapon. So, the AR-15 is indeed an assault weapon (with at least two of those accessories, of course).

[HughRuss]

Originally Posted by Scrum

It fires kittens and rainbows.

Actually, it fires 5.56x45mm (45 calibre) NATO round, capable of penetrating 15-20 inches in soft tissue under ideal conditions. Because of its manufacturing, it may fracture and yaw at certain velocities, sending bullet shards into bone and soft tissue material, capable of lacerating vital organs and causing death by internal or external bleeding.

It can also fire a .223 Remington round. But that is not nearly as cool.

[kinggovernor]

lol barrel shrouds:

YouTube - What is a barrel shroud?

[stolz25]

Originally Posted by HughRuss

Actually, it fires 5.56x45mm (45 calibre) NATO round, capable of penetrating 15-20 inches in soft tissue under ideal conditions. Because of its manufacturing, it may fracture and yaw at certain velocities, sending bullet shards into bone and soft tissue material, capable of lacerating vital organs and causing death by internal or external bleeding.

It can also fire a .223 Remington round. But that is not nearly as cool.

I was thinking of getting one of these, and then Obama got elected and for some odd reason firearm prices shot up everywhere. I wonder if they have gone back down yet.

[HughRuss]

Originally Posted by stolz25

I was thinking of getting one of these, and then Obama got elected and for some odd reason firearm prices shot up everywhere.

Aren't confidence games fun?

[stolz25]

Originally Posted by HughRuss

Aren't confidence games fun?

Heh, well my confidence in the government was gone a long time before that, but I'm such a procrastinator...

[Stylerod]

Originally Posted by JaJae

The only report of assault rifle I'm aware of was in regards to an ar-15. The media incorrectly labeled I an assault rifle. It is not.

His might be an assault rifle. The AR15's you could purchase during the "assault weapons ban" were not assault weapons because, well, they were banned.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by HughRuss

If Obama ever comes to rally near me, I'm going to show up with a cardboard sword, flak jacket, water gun (super soaker, baby), and a to-scale replica Knight's helmet.

According to the US legal definition:
The following are accessorizable with the AR-15:
Given the AR-15's factory pistol grip, this would qualify it, by the definition of the United States of America, as an assault weapon. So, the AR-15 is indeed an assault weapon (with at least two of those accessories, of course).

Wrong, you need to have two or more of the items on that list. A pistol grip does not make it an assault rifle. The whole purpose of the AR-15 is that it is a rifle that mimics an assault rifle and can be legally sold.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by HughRuss

Actually, it fires 5.56x45mm (45 calibre) NATO round, capable of penetrating 15-20 inches in soft tissue under ideal conditions. Because of its manufacturing, it may fracture and yaw at certain velocities, sending bullet shards into bone and soft tissue material, capable of lacerating vital organs and causing death by internal or external bleeding.

It can also fire a .223 Remington round. But that is not nearly as cool.

Have you ever fired an M16 or AR-15? Are you also aware that the AR-15 is banned in many states to be used for deer hunting because it is considered inhumane to the deer? It isn't powerful enough. They require you to use a rifle that fires a more powerful round.

[northhunter]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Have you ever fired an M16 or AR-15? Are you also aware that the AR-15 is banned in many states to be used for deer hunting because it is considered inhumane to the deer? It isn't powerful enough. They require you to use a rifle that fires a more powerful round.

The problem is more the capacity of the magazine, many states limit "deer hunting rifles" to five rounds. If the magazine is modified they would be legal. I would never use military ammo for deer hunting in any caliber as it can and does pass through making neat little holes that cause suffering and a lingering death as opposed to the quicker kill achieved with hunting ammo designed to "mushroom".

[HughRuss]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Wrong, you need to have two or more of the items on that list. A pistol grip does not make it an assault rifle. The whole purpose of the AR-15 is that it is a rifle that mimics an assault rifle and can be legally sold.

Refer to the items emboldened on the list, as well as the qualifying parenthetical statement I put at the end of the sentence:

(with at least two of those accessories, of course).

Originally Posted by JaJae

Have you ever fired an M16 or AR-15? Are you also aware that the AR-15 is banned in many states to be used for deer hunting because it is considered inhumane to the deer? It isn't powerful enough. They require you to use a rifle that fires a more powerful round.

Are you aware that the laws to which you are referring are specifically made against magazine capacity? Are you also aware that the round I described, the 5.56x45mm is more effective in bringing down deer than a 30-30 or a 30-06, due to the latter's velocity and impact energy? The 30 caliber rounds tend, instead of disintegrating on impact (like the NATO round), tend to go right through, which means the deer, if no vital organs are severed, can run for miles and hours on end without getting too weak. Talk about suffering.

Are you also aware that there were no deers present at the Obama rally?

[stolz25]

Originally Posted by HughRuss

(with at least two of those accessories, of course).

Originally Posted by JaJae

Wrong, you need to have two or more of the items on that list.

[stolz25]

Originally Posted by HughRuss

Are you also aware that there were no deers present at the Obama rally?

You don't know this...

[HughRuss]

Originally Posted by stolz25

You don't know this...

I hunted that area clean the day before with my AK-47... No meat was recovered unfortunately.

[stolz25]

Originally Posted by HughRuss

No meat was recovered unfortunately.

Eh, deer is pretty gross anyway. I had a roommate in college who made deer jerky all the time (and stuck most of the remains of another deer in the deep freeze he brought into our apartment). He also hid guns all over the apartment. I declined to room with him again.