Newt Gingrich blew a hole completely through his foot. Again. Look candidates, illegal immigration is a major issue. Newt seems to think that pandering to a political correctness model that includes way too many people is an acceptable thing to do. I said it earlier this year that compromise with your fundamental values is not acceptable. This, combined with his half baked ideas about gun control, have made him an easy “NO” vote.
What will it take for these so-called “leaders” to figure out that we the people simply do not want a load of lawbreakers or their progeny here? Don’t we have enough home grown criminals?
What will it take for this same group of elites to figure out that we don’t want them messing with our fundamental and inalienable rights?
That is even when they, in their majesty, deem it to be for our very own good! We reserve certain things, such as the right to fail, unto our selves. Keep government out of our lives to the greatest extent possible while maintaining order and social discipline. Is that too much to ask..? It worked fairly well for most of our history.
From an email I received, and it is on target, no adjustments needed!
I know I don’t have to tell you, but politicians often say one thing but do the complete opposite — especially if they think no one is looking.
Newt Gingrich is the poster child for these sort of “flexible” principles.
I’ve been around the block a few times (I’m about to start my 20th year as a gun rights lobbyist) and dealt with literally thousands of candidates and politicians, but no Republican politician has managed to support and vote for anti-gun legislation and still proclaim that he is “pro-gun” more effectively than Newt Gingrich.
Don’t be fooled by his rise in the polls; Newt Gingrich has a long history of supporting gun control …
… and he has blatantly refused to return his National Association for Gun Rights Presidential Survey.
With more than three decades as a public figure, Newt is the quintessential political chameleon, shifting his views to reflect whatever is popular with the Washington, D.C. chattering class.
Make no mistake, while Newt may talk a solid conservative game, his record is that of a typical Inside-the-Beltway politician who will cut ANY compromise or make ANY deal with anyone for his own political or personal gain.
While Newt used the institutional gun lobby as a mouthpiece to convince millions of gun owners nationwide that “as long as he is Speaker, no gun-control legislation is going to move in committee or on the House floor,” he was working behind the scenes to pass gun control.
In 1996, Newt Gingrich turned his back on guns and voted for the anti-gun Brady Campaign’s Lautenberg Gun Ban, which strips the Second Amendment rights of citizens involved in misdemeanor domestic violence charges or temporary protection orders –- in some cases for actions as minor as spanking a child or grabbing a spouse’s wrist.(1)
Gingrich even called the anti-gun measure “reasonable,” and predicted that it would sail through his Republican-controlled House of Representatives with little trouble.(2)
The Lautenberg Gun Ban is one of the Congressional Republicans’ worst betrayals of gun owners, and those complicit in its passage deserve nothing but contempt from gun owners.
This gun control measure ranks right up there with the Brady Registration Act as the most aggressive gun control in America, denying hundreds of thousands of would-be gun owners the right to self defense.
Gingrich also stood shoulder to shoulder with Nancy Pelosi to pass the “Criminal Safezones Act” which prevents armed citizens from defending themselves in certain arbitrary locations. You and I both know that Criminal Safezones don’t protect law-abiding citizens, but actually protect the criminals who ignore them.(3)
As you can see, Newt Gingrich is no friend of gun owners, or small government conservatives. He simply can’t be trusted, and his record reflects his contempt not only for the truth, but his own integrity and the integrity of the very people he’s asking to vote for him to be the most powerful man in the modern world.
This is the same man who railed against the Obama bailouts of Fannie and Freddie Mac while receiving more than $1.5 million from Fannie Mae as a “consultant”(4) while his firm also raised $37 million to pass healthcare insurance mandates.(5)
He’s also the same man who sat next to Nancy Pelosi and insisted global warming was a man-made problem in need of a government-mandated solution. Now that he’s running for the Republican nomination, he doesn’t believe in global warming and calls the TV ad he did with Pelosi “inexplicable.” Please click here to watch the video.(6)
I’m concerned, though, that Newt’s snake-oil act is catching on.
It’s time for gun owners and liberty-minded, small government activists to hold Newt’s feet to the fire.
That’s why I need you to call the Gingrich campaign headquarters right now at (678) 973-2306. Demand that Newt Gingrich apologize for his past support of gun control, and make a dramatic turnaround statement of support to repeal the gun controls he’s supported.
Tell his campaign that you expect Newt to not only apologize for his past support of anti-gun measures but also to reveal where he stands on international gun grabs like the UN “Small Arms Treaty” and domestic anti-gun schemes like the banning of .50 caliber rifles.
Demand he quit stonewalling gun owners and return his National Association for Gun Rights Presidential Survey — at once. You and I both know that election season, when they’re begging for the votes of gun owners, is one of the best times to lobby candidates and politicians.
With Republican presidential primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina mere weeks away, it’s vital that gun owners know where the Republican candidates for President stand on important Second Amendment issues.
Newt’s record is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg. With a horrible voting record on Second Amendment issues, gun owners just don’t know which side Newt’s on.
Please call the Gingrich campaign headquarters right now at (678) 973-2306. Demand that Newt Gingrich apologize for his past support of gun control.
P.S. Newt Gingrich’s anti-gun record is too important — and dangerous — to ignore. That’s why I felt compelled to inform you.
His support for numerous gun controls is in direct contradiction to his current campaign statements.
Call the Gingrich campaign headquarters right now at (678) 973-2306. Demand that Newt Gingrich apologize for his past support of gun control.
The National Association for Gun Rights is working day and night to keep gun owners like you up-to-date on the presidential candidates’ records — please consider contributing to the effort by chipping in $15 or $20.
The National Association for Gun Rights is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, single-purpose citizens’ organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the Constitutionally protected right-to-keep-and-bear-arms through an aggressive program designed to mobilize public opposition to anti-gun legislation. The National Association for Gun Rights’ mailing address is P.O 7002, Fredericksburg, VA 22404. They can be contacted toll-free at 1-877-405-4570. Its web address is http://www.NationalGunRights.org/
Not produced or e-mailed at taxpayer expense.
To help the National Association for Gun Rights grow, please forward this to a friend.
To view this email as a web page, please click this link: view online.
Help fight gun control. Donate to the National Association for Gun Rights!
Seems that the Concealed Carry reciprocity Bil HR 822 passed by a wide margin. Looks good on the face of things. At least if you support the Constitution and Bill of Rights. However, I submit that this is merely a pig that has been dressed up and had a liberal amount of lipstick applied. It’s still nothing but a pig…
Why so? Because it assumes that the federal Government can assign a right that is preexisting, an inalienable right. Just because Illinois and D.C. are stuck on stupid does not in any way mean that others must follow their lead toward totalitarianism. It would have been much better if the House would have passed a law that said that no State, City, etc. shall deny any right that is defined as inalienable, including the Second Amendment right to be capable of properly and effectively defend oneself, neighbors, State, and Nation. In passing this law, they justify wrongdoing by a government authority, as it were. That said, here is Gun Owners of America’s take on things.
Prior to the “Republican Revolution” of 1994, Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia had earned an A rating with Gun Owners of America. But that all changed in 1995, after Republicans were swept to power and Gingrich became Speaker of the House.
The Republicans gained the majority, thanks in large part to gun owners outraged by the Clinton gun ban. And upon taking the reins of the House, Speaker Gingrich said famously that, “As long as I am Speaker of this House, no gun control legislation is going to move in committee or on the floor of this House and there will be no further erosion of their rights.”
His promise didn’t hold up, however, and his GOA rating quickly dropped like a lead sinker to a “D.” In 1996, the Republican-led Congress passed the “gun free school zones act,” creating criminal safe zones like Virginia Tech, where the only person armed was a murderous criminal. Speaker Newt Gingrich voted for the bill containing this ban.1
The same bill also contained the now infamous Lautenberg gun ban, which lowered the threshold for losing one’s Second Amendment rights to a mere misdemeanor.2 Gun owners could, as a result of this ban, lose their gun rights forever for non-violent shouting matches that occurred in the home — and, in many cases, lose their rights without a jury trial.
While a legislator might sometimes vote for a spending bill which contains objectionable amendments, that was clearly NOT the case with Newt Gingrich in 1996. Speaking on Meet the Press in September of that year, Speaker Gingrich said the Lautenberg gun ban was “a very reasonable position.”3 He even refused to cosponsor a repeal of the gun ban during the next Congress — despite repeated requests to do so.4
Also in 1996, Speaker Gingrich cast his vote for an anti-gun terror bill which contained several harmful provisions. For example, one of the versions he supported (in March of that year) contained a DeLauro amendment that would have severely punished gun owners for possessing a laser sighting device while committing an infraction as minor as speeding on a federal reservation.5 (Not only would this provision have stigmatized laser sights, it would have served as a first step to banning these items.) Another extremely harmful provision was the Schumer amendment to “centralize Federal, State and Local police.”6
[1] Final passage of H.R. 3610, Sept. 28, 1996 at: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1996/roll455.xml . Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) warned his colleagues about the hidden dangers in H.R. 3610, and in regard to the Kohl ban, noted that it would “prohibit most persons from carrying unloaded firearms in their automobiles.”
[3] Associated Press, “Gingrich Favors Handgun Ban for Domestic Abuse Convicts,” Deseret News, Sept. 16, 1996. The full quote reveals how much Speaker Gingrich had adopted the anti-gunners’ line of thinking: “I’m very much in favor of stopping people who engage in violence against their spouses from having guns,” the Georgia Republican said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I think that’s a very reasonable position.” But the fact that this gun ban covers misdemeanors in the home is primary evidence that NON-violent people have been subjected to lifetime gun bans for things like: shouting matches, throwing a set of keys in the direction of another person, spanking a child, etc.
[4] See H.R.1009, “States’ Rights and Second and Tenth Amendment Restoration Act of 1997,” introduced by Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-ID).
Will we be left with yet again holding our noses as we cast our votes..? Herman Cain‘s 999 plan will in fact raise taxes on virtually all Americans. That’s a really big no no for me. Romney is yet another RINO that would make the epic failure obama a shoe in if he were to run with Romney as his V. P. pick. Cain is also a suspect when it comes to being a closet gun grabber. Rick Perry has no real plan to deal with the invasion across our southern border, a deal breaker for me. Bachman needs to grow up politically. Ron Paul… is Ron Paul, what else can I say? Too be blunt, I have no use for Santorum, or any of the others, and in fact believe that they would be dangerous if placed into high office.
Still, I have to be considered a charter member of ABO, the anyone but obama group. Beyond that, the epic failure just might get reelected. To that end it is of utmost importance that we Conservatives and Libertarians see to it that both the Senate and House are solidly out of the hands of the Communist/Democrat/Progressive’s that are hell bent on destroying these United States. Election 2012 will, I believe, mark a turning point in American politics for years to come. Gary Nolan, a founder of the Libertarian Party, marked this election that way years ago while speaking at the Colorado convention. Something to do with election / political cycles.
Granted, no candidate is ever “perfect.” But compromising is simply not on the table when your core values are on the line. I say that along the lines of Barry Goldwater and it is a very good policy to follow. That takes a sort of moral courage that is, in reality, possessed by few people…
All too often we seem to get caught up in things that are nothing but distractions. It’s like being on a deer or elk hunt, and focusing the cross hairs on the antlers. Sure, those are what will get you into the book and hang on the wall. Perhaps even on the cover of a magazine. But they don’t get to the heart of the matter, pun intended.
Let’s go over a few such things, in no particular order of importance.
Illegal immigration is a deal breaker for many Americans. Put a clamp on it, or you don’t get the vote from a pretty large number of Americans, including one heck of a lot of Americans of Mexican extraction. Hold your nose and vote appears to be what we are once again headed for on that one…
Taxes… Americans pay one heck of a lot in taxes. Add all the state and local taxes, often camouflaged as user fees and we are well above many other nations. An awful lot of that can be laid directly at the feet of the various unions. But certainly not all. Various special interests groups also play a big role. Examples might be moralists that seek to force their beliefs upon us all under the guise of public health or expense. Think “sin” taxes. Then there are those that take environmentalism to an absurd extreme. These things all have a monetary cost, and guess where the money comes from?
Constitutional Rights, including The Bill of Rights. Often, these are treated like statistics. As in being twisted to fit whatever this or that person or groups agenda is. Free speech and Second Amendment rights seem to fall into that category most often. However let’s not forget what the Supreme Court has done these past few years concerning private property rights or search and seizure just to name two. The “Patriot Act” seems to have been crafted to fit that famous quotation having to do with trading security for liberty.
The economy as always, or at least every time I turn around is always way up there and right now is probably at the very top of the list for many. As it should be… It is also tied by the neck to just about every other issue. Here’s the thing though. Government cannot “create” jobs. What it can do though is create a climate that either stifles job growth and hinders that, or encourages job creation. How to go about that has been the great debate for many years and, I suspect will continue to do so for many years after I am long gone.
The “Drug War” continues on unabated. Again, this issue is intertwined with many others, and no. I do not advocate the use of drugs, other than as needed for the medical issues of the individual. The fact that drugs being contraband though creates an enormous market with corresponding profits. Profits that allow the purchase of very powerful weaponry that is in turn used to secure and bolster the business of those engaged in such enterprises. End the drug war, and you put a knife to the throat of the profits of murdering thugs and terrorists around the world. No, it will not stop them from their nefarious ways completely, but will go a long way toward that end.
Special Interests legislation. A real black eye for America to be sure. Whether it is one sided sexist laws that destroy our families or pure cronyism in the name of social or monetary profits these things need to be done away with.
Military and Veteran’s issues. These are things that simply are far to wide ranging to list. We must have a strong and powerful military. We have more than a few enemies around the world, and the group of home grown “Hate America First” types certainly don’t help matters. The way that we treat our Veterans can be summed up in a single word. That word being “shameful.”
The United States of America, still a work in progress, and still, the best place on this earth in which to be alive.
Yet another of our people that are sworn to protect and defend us gets hammered by our own government while doing their assigned duties. This is disgraceful to say the least. Republicans were no better on these sorts of issues either. Remember Ramos and Campean?
Noting that Holder needed to “take responsibility” for implicating the United States as an accessory to violent crimes committed by the Mexican drug cartels, Walsh blasted the Attorney General for the role he played in the “subsequent cover-up” of the failed Fast and Furious operation.
As detailed by Gun Owners of America on many occasions, Operation Fast and Furious is the gun-running scheme where the Justice Department has approved — and in some cases, helped fund — the purchase and smuggling of firearms into Mexico.
The apparent purpose of this gun running scandal was to use the increased violence south of the border as a pretext for more gun control in this country. Sadly, two U.S. federal agents — and hundreds of Mexican citizens — have died as a result of these illegal sales which the FBI approved under the direction of the Obama Administration.
Rep. Walsh takes Holder to task for “knowingly [forcing] licensed firearms dealers to sell guns to violent criminals” and for claiming that he was “not aware” this happening. As Walsh notes, Holder “received no less than seven memos” detailing the creation and progress of Fast and Furious.
“The American people deserve to know the truth regarding Attorney General Eric Holder’s knowledge and role in the Fast and Furious operation,” Walsh said in a statement. “This program was deliberately designed to attack law-abiding American gun-owners and gun-dealers. Why else would an anti-gun Administration force licensed firearms dealers to sell guns to violent criminals?”
IP-7-2011 (October 2011)
Author: Barry Poulson and John D. Merrifield
PDF of full Issue Paper Scribd version of full Issue Paper
Introduction:
Proposition 103 is an initiative that will increase Colorado tax rates and require the state to spend the money on government schools. Prop 103 increases the personal income tax, the corporate income tax, and the statewide sales and use tax for the years 2012 through 2016.
The Fiscal Impact Statement prepared by Colorado’s Legislative Council Staff estimates the cost of the tax increase at $2.9 billion. However, the cost for Colorado taxpayers will be significantly greater than staff estimates. Legislative Council uses static analysis, measuring only the direct impact of the higher taxes on state revenue. They ignore the negative impact the tax increase will have on economic growth and jobs in Colorado.
So, even with built in automatic tax increases Colorado Schools (Unions) need even more money. Now why couldn’t I have guessed that?
Nevertheless, I’m sure that the people of Colorado will vote in favor of this measure. Because after all is said and done the people there are stuck on stupid.
This only cost the people of America and Mexico how many lives..?
Note:The amendment’s sponsor, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called the vote “just the first step towards ensuring that such a foolish operation can never be repeated by our own law enforcement.”
The Senate voted Tuesday to effectively block the Justice Department from undertaking gun-smuggling probes like the flawed “Operation Fast and Furious” aimed at breaking up networks running guns to Mexican drug cartels but that lost track of hundreds of the weapons, some of which were used to commit crimes in Mexico and the United States.
The 99-0 vote would block the government from transferring guns to drug cartels unless federal agents “continuously monitor or control” the weapons. The amendment’s sponsor, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called the vote “just the first step towards ensuring that such a foolish operation can never be repeated by our own law enforcement.”
The Justice Department has already stopped the program.
The vote came as the Senate debated a $128 billion spending measure that would fund Justice Department operations and those of several other Cabinet agencies for the 2012 budget year already under way.
Operation Fast and Furious was a gun-smuggling investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives aimed at tracking small-time illicit gun buyers up the chain to major traffickers in an effort to take down arms networks. In the process, ATF agents lost track of many of the weapons.
Fast and Furious came to light after two assault rifles purchased by a now-indicted small-time buyer under scrutiny in the operation turned up at a shootout in Arizona where Customs and Border Protection agent Brian Terry was killed.
The operation has caused something of a firestorm in Washington and is the focus of an investigation by House Republicans, who have questioned whether Attorney General Eric Holder has been candid about all he knows about the botched operation.
Holder already has called a halt to the practice of allowing guns to “walk” in an effort to track them to arms traffickers, saying in a recent letter to lawmakers that “those tactics should never again be adopted in any investigation.”
The operation was designed to respond to criticism that the agency had focused on small-time gun arrests while major traffickers had eluded prosecution.
As recently as 11 months ago, the Justice Department’s inspector general criticized ATF for focusing “largely on inspections of gun dealers and investigations of straw purchasers, rather than on higher-level traffickers, smugglers and the ultimate recipients of the trafficked guns.”
The IG said some ATF managers discourage agents from conducting complex conspiracy investigations that target high-level traffickers.
There are always social experiments going on. That said, most are flops. Social engineering just doesn’t work. At least when it is based in the political correctness of the day. One of the biggest failures in more recent times would be Lyndon Johnson‘s destructive socialist program known as “The Great Society.” This creation and expansion of the welfare state has caused, for the most part, the exact opposite of what it was meant to eliminate.
The epic failure obama’s attempt to wreck havoc upon America via obamacare, operation fast and furious, and pure Chicago style cronyism are extensions of that failed experiment. An exercise in repeating the same operation and expecting a different outcome are hallmarks of socialism and communistic thinking.
This macroeconomic success owed nothing to policymakers’ fine tuning, because neither the administration nor Congress made such delicate adjustments of fiscal policy as conditions changed. In truth, the U.S. government was institutionally incapable of fine tuning fiscal policy, however much it appealed to Keynesian economists drawing diagrams on blackboards.
Now we have obama’s foot soldiers staging occupations here, there, and everywhere blaming America and our way of life for their own failures. They remind me of children saying “not me” when confronted about something that has gone wrong. Rather than rolling up their sleeves and doing something that is actually productive themselves they stage protests that ultimately result in more government, more rules, and less personal freedom.
The United States of America. Land of the free. That includes the freedom to fail. Home of the brave. Courage, to take on the task of personal wealth creation without having government getting involved in that task so long as we do not infringe on the freedoms and liberty of others while doing that.