Archive for the ‘Law’ Category

Musings After Midnight — With ear to the ground, more rumblings heard from the political landscape

December 24, 2013

Much has happened since the last time we met here on this forum, which has become our virtual fireside chat about the events of the day, the preservation of liberty, and other such issues of vital importance.

So, sit back and relax. Have a soothing beverage. Have a cigar. Or maybe the pipe. I have some of the finest tobacco to be found anywhere, courtesy of a local dealer who offers only the very best to his customers.

Recently I have discovered the pleasures of the corncob pipe. They are very inexpensive, which is probably why the higher end tobacco shops do not carry them. But I will guarantee you that you will get a mellow, fine smoke from these pipes that have a very long history.

I have to watch myself with this, though, because as an intermittent asthmatic, I cannot smoke like I want. So, I have to limit myself to special occasions.

Now, let’s get down to business.

As most of you already know I try to keep my ear to the ground to ascertain what is going on in the vast political landscape. And I must be quick to say that there is always something going on there. It is relentless. And some of the most important activity is that which we cannot see. The political underground is where the power is, where the forces of good make plans to keep the fires of liberty flickering…and where the evil forces reside in their attempt to snuff out those fires. These individuals rarely show their faces above the ground, except for the purpose of wearing masks. Masking is vital to the forces of collectivism and progressivism, for this is the only way they can succeed. Dangerous enemies of liberty would never make any headway if they told the truth to the public. Most Americans would find the ultimate ends of progressivism so repulsive, so untenable, so unconscionable, that they would relegate the proponents of such tyranny to the dustbin of worthless radicals who are not to be taken seriously, much less elected to public office.

Most progressives/collectivists are smart enough to know this. They know they cannot tell the truth. They know that telling the truth will mean the end of their movement. Their goals, their dreams, all they have worked for since the late 1800s would go up in smoke right before their very eyes.

Thus, the progressives must lie to get elected. They must lie to get their agenda and proposals accepted by the public. They must lie to get their proposed laws passed by Congress. And they must lie to the public once again about the nature of the fallout of that agenda.

Welcome to the world of the vast political underground. Nothing is as it seems in public. And I mean nothing. People are not who you think they are. Their real goals are usually the opposite of what they have led you to believe. This is the only way they can lure you into supporting them.

It just so happens that 2008 was the year of the perfect political storm. All of the various components of the collectivist agenda came together in one nightmarish superstorm, a demonic cyclone in which Marxists, Islamofascists, Nazis, totalitarians, liberals, and others who affirm the goals of collectivism/progressivism all coalesced together to take control of the White House and both houses of Congress, with supermajorities that insured the minority Party had no power whatsoever.

This demonic cyclone rammed through an unpopular law in the middle of the night with no support at all from the minority Party in either the House or the Senate. This has never happened in the history of the country. For the very first time in our history, a broad, sweeping law that would not only totally change and revamp the healthcare system but change the very nature of our Republic, was passed without any support from the Party not in power. In the past such sweeping legislation was passed with at least some bipartisan support in both houses of Congress. But not this time.

Not a single Republican voted in favor of Obamacare in either the House or the Senate.

Now, I want you to let that sink in for a bit. Conservatives such as myself have often bemoaned the fact that Republicans have been stymied and hamstrung by dangerous progressives (RINOS) who form what is known as the Republican leadership establishment. These Republicans often vote with Democrats on legislation that is denounced by conservatives. Yet when it came to Obamacare, even John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Lisa Murkowski, Olympia Snowe, John Boehner, and Eric Cantor voted against it. All of them, every single one.

That alone should have told us something about the danger lurking in the Obamacare law. And the very fact that Reid, Pelosi, Obama, Biden, Schumer, Hoyer, and others would ram through this legislation and approve it without ANY Republican support whatsoever, should have been enough to show the country that this crowd is not interested in “looking out for the people” or “reaching across the aisle for bipartisan solutions.” In a pig’s eye they were. They don’t care about you or me. They don’t want bipartisanship except when THEY are the minority Party. The ONLY thing they want is power, control, money, and bigger and bigger government. They wish to be the ultimate authority in all matters.

And now that we know what Obamacare is all about, we can understand why they rammed it through, why no Republican voted in favor of it, why they lied incessantly about its provisions, and finally, why Nancy Pelosi said, “We have to pass the law before we can know what’s in it.”

Most did not read it, for sure. But I will guarantee you that just as sure as the sun rises the ones in leadership knew full well what was about to happen, which is why they lied and why they did not want to tell us what was in the law. Even if they did not read the entire law, they had been fully briefed by the authors of it, such as Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (Rahm “Dead Fish” Emanuel’s brother), and David Cutter of Harvard, among others.

Yes, Pelsoi knew. Reid knew. Schumer knew. Hoyer knew. Even Kirsten Gillibrand, the junior Democratic senator from New York, admitted that she knew. Gillibrand has not been around that long. So what would lead us to believe that a junior senator knew but Pelosi, who has been around forever, did not? Such a notion is laughable. They ALL knew.

Oh, but if you like your current plan and your current doctor, you can keep them. You knew that didn’t you.

One commentator counted the number of times Obama made that promise to the American people. He got as high as 48 and quit counting. But now, the Fuhrer has relented and “allowed” people to keep these plans for an extra year. An extra year? Why not, like, from now on? And nevermind that most of these plans have already been cancelled due directly to the provisions of the Obamacare law, which forbids companies from offering to the public any plan that is not approved by Obamacare.

So, the Obama one-year extension comes just a tad late for most people. They have already been dropped. Their plans have been discarded in accordance with what the providers thought was the law. And now they are being asked to go back and resurrect those plans because Obama is taking a political shellacking from the public? Of course he is paying them off to sooth ruffled feathers. They are being bribed to continue supporting the Obamacare law. But no need for worry, any losses they incur will be more than compensated through health insurance company bailouts and hidden taxes in the new law that are designed to go directly to the insurance companies.

This is what it has come to, folks. If a private corporation had engaged in bribery, you and I both know what would happen. But not if government does it. What kind of a perverted standard is that?

These people are criminals. And those who aid and abet them are criminals, and that includes companies and voters who continue to support them in spite of their known lies and corruption.

Yeah, that’s right, I said it. If you support this bunch, you yourself must be a criminal. 

I can be most forgiving and accommodating toward those who were genuinely fooled by Obama and company. I realize that many people today are stretched to the limit. There are limits on their time, limits on their money, limits on their ability to keep up their mortgage payments, and the like. Many do not have the time or the energy to keep up with politics.

These people can learn a valuable lesson in all of this. Politics is important, and we had best pay close attention. We had best not accept what we are told at face value, but dig much, much deeper to get at the real truth. If you have learned these lessons sincerely, I can fully embrace you.

But if you can sit back and look at the lies of Obama, incessant lies, lies upon lies, lies he even told to you directly, making promises to you that he knew he could not keep, but he made them anyway just to get your support, and yet you still support this scam we call the Obama administration and their enablers in Congress, then I have no qualms whatsoever about telling you that you are aiding and abetting criminals. And you know what that means. People who support criminal activity become accessories to the crime. That means you, yourself, are a criminal.

My friend, you need to do some deep, serious soul searching. You need to understand the gravity of your position. You cannot claim any regard for morality or ethics or spirituality of ANY kind if your heart is so corrupt that you can fully embrace the deception and debauchery of the present administration and their allies in Congress.

Now, at the outset I told you I had heard more rumblings from the political landscape that should be of great interest to you. Not all of it is good, but not all of it is bad.

First, the bad news.

I have become aware in recent days that in spite of losing significant support from the American people (Obama’s approval rating is down to only 37 percent), the Obama camp is most resilient and has incredibly deep support from leftwing financiers and those who are committed to the progressive vision for the country and the world. These people never give up. They have been around since the late 1800s under various and sundry names. Who would have thought that in 2008, after over 100 years since they first made waves in the world of politics, that they would show such considerable strength?

But when one looks at who, exactly, is in this movement, it soon becomes all too clear that we who oppose them have a most arduous task on our hands. They will not be easily defeated. Consider some of the main players: the leadership of the Council on Foreign Relations, George Soros and his various organizations, the Federal Reserve, Wall Street mega-banks, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the EPA, the FBI and the ATF, the NSA, the FISA Court, the IRS, John Podesta’s Center for American Progress, and murky financiers from the European Union and from radical Islamic nations who wish to influence U.S. policy.

Remember that the Clintons and Obama have been the recipients of thousands of political donations from overseas, the names of which have been kept secret. But what we do know is that Communist China has pumped money into leftwing politics in this country. So have Islamic extremist nations. No wonder the American Leftwing finds itself in bed with Islamic radicals, the “Palestinians,” the Muslim Brotherhood, and other like-minded groups. Following the money trail is always such an incredibly enlightening process.

Further, we have seen how far the Obama camp will go to achieve their goals. Lying to the public is only part of it. We now know that the administration manipulated the unemployment figures just two months prior to the 2012 elections. Many of us said at the time that something was amiss, that what we were observing in the corporations and small businesses at the time was not consistent with the unexplained, sudden drop in the jobless rate in September of that year.

Well, now we know that the administration had cooked the books. The real unemployment rate (that is, as “real” as the government can be) was at least three-tenths of a percent higher than what was being reported. This meant that an unemployment rate of 8.1 dropped, in one month’s time, to 7.8 — just in time for the presidential election. Obama could then claim, “My policies are working.”

Of course, I had already outed the government on its false figures on unemployment, along with others who saw the same thing. The government has gradually changed the manner in which it calculates unemployment. At the height of the recession in 2009, the government claimed that the jobless rate was in the 8 to 9 percent range. But if we were to use the same method that was used during the Great Depression of the 1930s to calculate unemployment, the rate would be 20 percent…some economists placed it even higher than that. This matches the unemployment figures of the 1930s.

The Obama administration has never, ever counted as part of its calculation of unemployment the number of people who have quit looking for work in despair. Many have gone five years without a full time job, despite their best efforts. Many of these gave up after so much disappointment.

Well, guess what. When you drop out of the employment market, you are no longer counted as unemployed, in spite of the fact that you have no job.

How convenient for the administration and Congressional Democrats.

Thus, not only were the books manipulated by ceasing to count those who drop out of the job market in despair, but the administration cooked the books on its own skewed jobless figures. What they saw was a jobless rate of 8.1 percent. What they reported was 7.8 percent.

This is why I contend that nothing in this administration is as it seems to be. It is all smoke and mirrors. Manipulated figures. Outright lies and deception. And this has happened not once, not twice, but over and over and over again.

Fast and Furious. TARP I and II. The bailouts. The economic stimulus that wasn’t. Benghazi. Egypt. The Fox News-Associated Press eavesdropping scandal perpetrated by the Feds. The NSA spying scandal. The IRS scandal that targeted the Tea Party, conservatives, Christian groups, etc. And now the Obamacare scam.

“If you like your current healthcare plan, you can keep it. If you like your present doctor, nobody is going to take that away from you, period.”

Anyone who would do these things and deceive the American people this way, over and over, is not to be trusted. That should go without saying. But some Americans, apparently, are slow to learn. How can you trust someone who lies to you on a daily basis about the most important issues effecting your life?

And that is why I say we are entering a most dangerous period in this whole sordid saga. Obama and his minions have shown they will not hesitate to do anything to keep their power and to amass more power. They will lie, cheat, deceive, steal, bribe, and who knows what else, to maintain their current status as the kings and queens of the hill.

Now that millions of Americans are onto them, many for the first time since this crowd took office, the faceless, nameless figures of the vast army of underground operatives and thugs are probably becoming more desperate. In all likelihood they will become even more desperate as we edge closer to the 2014 midterm elections.

We have already seen at least some signs of their desperation. In Texas, cops set up a roadblock on a major roadway and took saliva samples from every single driver. Who ordered such an act of tyranny? Where were the court-issued warrants?

In addition, some trustworthy citizens are already sitting in federal prison on trumped up charges. You didn’t hear that from me. But if your government would lie to you about your healthcare, what is to prevent them from arresting you simply because they don’t like your views? If they decide you are expendable, then off you go to prison.

And remember, New York State has already implemented a provision of its new gun and ammo law that encourages citizens to turn in their family members, neighbors, and friends if they have seen them loading more than seven bullets into a gun in the privacy of their homes.

Any government entity that will do that will kill you if you get in their way.

We are not dealing with nice people here. They are not good, honest, trustworthy public servants. They are deadly tyrants.

And so, my friends, we are going to see increasing confrontations between the forces for liberty and the forces for government control of our lives. The rubber is about to meet the road. Are you ready?

And let me be very clear about one thing. If you wish to deprive me of my guns and ammunition, then you are not for liberty and you are not my friend. If you wish to dictate to me what I can and cannot eat, what I can and cannot drink, what I can and cannot smoke, and such, then you are not for liberty and you are not my friend. If you wish rob me of my right to have the doctor of my choosing, and the healthcare plan of my choosing, and even the right to decide I don’t want any damn insurance at all, then you are not for liberty and you cannot be my friend.

It all boils down to liberty vs. tyranny. Freedom vs. slavery. If you support measures that restrict my liberties and freedoms, then you are automatically for tyranny and slavery to an all-encompassing, all-powerful central government. There is no middle ground here.

That’s the bad news. Now for the good news.

Patriots all across this land are awake and paying attention. In some ways the Obamacare debacle was a blessing in disguise. It woke some people up who have not been awake in years, and not even Benghazi, the NSA spying scandal, or Fast and Furious could wake them. But Obamacare sure did.

It is very personal, and sobering, when you believed your president when he promised you that you could keep your current insurance plan and doctor if you like them, only to find that within the last seven weeks since Obamacare was rolled out you received a piece of mail telling you that since your current plan is no longer allowed by federal law, it has been discontinued and you are thus dropped from your insurance plan.

Yes, it is now very personal. As one lady put it, a 58 year old who received one of those letters, “He lied to me!!”

Well, he sure did. Now what are you going to do?

At least she is awake, and millions like her who thought they could trust Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and even Hillary, are awake as well. And they are damn mad.

Trust is a lot like toothpaste that leaves the tube. Once it is gone, it is awfully hard to get back.

This means that millions of people who were not watching closely before are now watching with a telescope. They are placing every word uttered by Obama and his minions to the test. Is this yet another falsehood? Another deception? Another ruse? Can I trust this smiling face? He seems so likable. But, but…he was smiling and entirely likable when he lied to me. So how can I trust these smiles? Maybe there is much more to a person than simply the likability factor. Ted Bundy was a charming individual too.

We as Americans have GOT to get over our obsession with how a person “comes across on TV.” We CANNOT accurately make judgments about a person’s character or trustworthiness based upon how they look on television. Those who know how to manipulate the masses through videos, TV, and such, are taught how to fool you. Even an actor is taught how to fool you. When you watch them in a movie, the name of the game is to get you to believe they ARE the person they portray on the screen. Nothing is wrong with that, for sure, but it makes my point. Those who know how to manipulate the masses through images are very good at fooling you, some for nothing more than entertainment purposes, but others for evil intent.

I’m glad that Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Robert De Niro, and others can so thoroughly entertain me by their ability to actually become a fictitious character on a movie screen. They are so very good at what they do. Good acting is one of life’s pleasures. But I don’t want my president to be a good actor. I don’t want him to fool me. And when he does, he loses something vital to governance — in a free society you cannot lead unless the people can trust that what you tell them is the truth.

And that is precisely what has been lost.

There are many ways that the liberty and patriot movement is making headway. Gone are the days when progressives in power can successfully enact gun bans. They tried, but they failed except in the most virulently blue states. Gone are the days when JBTs can perpetrate a Ruby Ridge, a Waco, etc, and not expect some sort of response from citizens who will not stand for oppressive violence by ANY government official.

Patriots are doing their part, most often in secret, away from public view. They are not violent in any manner whatsoever. But they ARE cunning and courageous. They know how to thwart the plans of tyrants under cover and without a single shot being fired. They are smuggling “illegal” firearms into states that have banned what most citizens would view as perfectly acceptable means of self-defense. But they are not going to allow government tyrants to deprive them of a guaranteed Constitutional right. So, the vast underground is very active, much as it was during Prohibition when again, government jackbooted thugs tried to prevent citizens from drinking alcohol.

How did that work out for ya, you progressive knucklehead?

And one more thing, my dear patriot friend, remember that as long as human beings long for the freedom to make their own decisions, chart their own course, live out their lives as they see fit, apart from the crazed nannies and social change agents of the surveillance state, then liberty will never be totally removed from the earth. It is much bigger than you or me. Liberty is part of our deepest longings, our hopes, and our dreams. People don’t dream of becoming slaves. They dream to be free, to fly, to be their own person as a competent, reliable, and self-reliant human being. This means our cause is part of the human spirit. It is part of our nature as human beings to want to live free. And that is why, in the end, we cannot lose.

SOURCE

Some things that were missed; The Bill of Rights

December 16, 2013

The obamanites and other Tory’s would simply crap their pants if all would have passed!





Amendments Offered in
Congress by James Madison
June 8, 1789

First. That there be prefixed to the Constitution a declaration, that all power is originally vested in, and consequently derived from, the people.

That Government is instituted and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consists in the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right of acquiring and using property, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

That the people have an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform or change their Government, whenever it be found adverse or inadequate to the purposes of its institution.

Secondly. That in article 1st, section 2, clause 3, these words be struck out, to wit: “The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative, and until such enumeration shall be made;” and that in place thereof be inserted these words, to wit: “After the first actual enumeration, there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number amounts to ——, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that the number shall never be less than ——, nor more than ——, but each State shall, after the first enumeration, have at least two Representatives; and prior thereto.”

Thirdly. That in article 1st, section 6, clause 1, there be added to the end of the first sentence, these words, to wit: “But no law varying the compensation last ascertained shall operate before the next ensuing election of Representatives.”

Fourthly. That in article 1st, section 9, between clauses 3 and 4, be inserted these clauses, to wit: The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed.

The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.

The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the Legislature by petitions, or remonstrances, for redress of their grievances.

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country: but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.

No soldiers shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor at any time, but in a manner warranted by law.

No person shall be subject, except in cases of impeachment, to more than one punishment or one trial for the same offence; nor shall be compelled to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor be obliged to relinquish his property, where it may be necessary for public use, without a just compensation.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The rights of the people to be secured in their persons, their houses, their papers, and their other property, from all unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated by warrants issued without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, or not particularly describing the places to be searched, or the persons or things to be seized.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the cause and nature of the accusation, to be confronted with his accusers, and the witnesses against him; to have a compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence.

The exceptions here or elsewhere in the Constitution, made in favor of particular rights, shall not be so construed as to diminish the just importance of other rights retained by the people, or as to enlarge the powers delegated by the Constitution; but either as actual limitations of such powers, or as inserted merely for greater caution.

Fifthly. That in article 1st, section 10, between clauses 1 and 2, be inserted this clause, to wit:

No State shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or the freedom of the press, or the trial by jury in criminal cases.

Sixthly. That, in article 3d, section 2, be annexed to the end of clause 2d, these words, to wit:

But no appeal to such court shall be allowed where the value in controversy shall not amount to —— dollars: nor shall any fact triable by jury, according to the course of common law, be otherwise re-examinable than may consist with the principles of common law.

Seventhly. That in article 3d, section 2, the third clause be struck out, and in its place be inserted the clauses following, to wit:

The trial of all crimes (except in cases of impeachments, and cases arising in the land or naval forces, or the militia when on actual service, in time of war or public danger) shall be by an impartial jury of freeholders of the vicinage, with the requisite of unanimity for conviction, of the right of challenge, and other accustomed requisites; and in all crimes punishable with loss of life or member, presentment or indictment by a grand jury shall be an essential preliminary, provided that in cases of crimes committed within any county which may be in possession of an enemy, or in which a general insurrection may prevail, the trial may by law be authorized in some other county of the same State, as near as may be to the seat of the offence.

In cases of crimes committed not within any county, the trial may by law be in such county as the laws shall have prescribed. In suits at common law, between man and man, the trial by jury, as one of the best securities to the rights of the people, ought to remain inviolate.

Eighthly. That immediately after article 6th, be inserted, as article 7th, the clauses following, to wit:

The powers delegated by this Constitution are appropriated to the departments to which they are respectively distributed: so that the Legislative Department shall never exercise the powers vested in the Executive or Judicial, nor the Executive exercise the powers vested in the Legislative or Judicial, nor the Judicial exercise the powers vested in the Legislative or Executive Departments.

The powers not delegated by this Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively.

Ninthly. That article 7th be numbered as article 8th.


SOURCE




 

Citizens defeat tyranny: a cautionary example from 1946

December 8, 2013

Collectivists and progressives that now control all three branches of the U.S. government often claim that citizen uprisings against the government are invariably seditious, illegal, and treasonous.

U.S. history does not confirm that point of view.

As late as 1946 a group of citizens did, indeed, mount an armed uprising against government officials, and won. Their victory was even noted publicly by the U.S. Congress, which included a hearty congratulatory commendation by a Tennessee Congressman.

When American GIs were returning home after having served their country in World War II, saving the world from destruction at the hands of Nazi Germany and totalitarian Japan, they slowly reintegrated themselves into the local communities they left behind.

But one group of GIs returned home to east Tennessee only to find that the county government had fallen into the hands of incredibly corrupt politicians who wielded their power like Mafia thugs over the citizens who cowered in fear.

At the forefront of the localized tyranny was one Paul Cantrell, who was elected sheriff in McMinn County, of which the town of Athens is the county seat. The wealthy Cantrell family had backed Franklin Delano Roosevelt for president and were determined to implement New Deal programs on a small scale in McMinn County, even if they had to engage in outright fraud to do so.

For decades the residents of the county had taken pride in the fact that their local politics had been free from divisive partisanship, corruption, and fraud. But during World War II the Cantrell family decided to take advantage of the absence of significant numbers of residents who went away to fight in the war.

Paul Cantrell, thus, was elected sheriff by razor thin margins in 1936, 1938, and 1940. In 1942 and 1944 Cantrell ran for and was elected to the state legislature. And in 1944 Cantrell saw to it that a crony, Pat Mansfield, was elected sheriff. There were widespread reports of voter fraud, corruption, and bullying by local government officials.

In 1946, Cantrell was ready to leave the legislature and run for sheriff once again.

But at the end of 1945 over 3,000 soldiers had returned home to McMinn County. They were appalled by what they saw. The war veterans blamed Cantrell and Mansfield for creating a scenario in which fraud flourished.

Thus, the veterans decided to launch a major campaign against Cantrell which focused on cleaning up the county. These brave, honorable citizens, and those who supported them, wanted to rid county government of graft, dishonesty, dirty deals conducted under the table, and bullying.

Their tactic would be to offer a ballot for county offices on which could be found the names of no candidate but ex-GIs who pledged to work toward the clean-up.

One GI, who spoke at a rally, stated,

“The principles that we fought for in this past war do not exist in McMinn County. We fought for democracy because we believe in democracy but not the form we live under in this county” (Daily Post-Athenian, 17 June 1946, p.1 ).

The GIs requested that the FBI send poll watchers to make sure no fraud would be committed. They received no response whatsoever from the FBI. Similar requests were sent to the FBI in 1940, 1942, and 1944. Again, the FBI did not respond.

At the primary election, Sheriff Mansfield sent in 200 armed deputies to “watch the polls.” But his real motive was to prevent those who supported the GIs from voting. A confrontation ensued. A black resident was told by the Mansfield people that he would not be allowed to vote. The result was that the man was beaten and shot by Mansfield’s thugs. Witnesses said that one of the armed deputies had shot him in the back.

Mansfield ordered some of the GIs detained on election day. Tensions escalated. Fearing the ire of the GIs Mansfield took the ballot boxes to the country jail to be counted. But this only further incensed county residents.

But the GIs were running low on firearms and needed many more in order match Manfield’s deputy thugs. The GIs scoured the county looking for the arms they needed, including the National Guard, State Guard, and local militias. They came away from the search with three M-1 rifles, five .45 semiautomatic pistols, and 24 British Enfield rifles.

With theses arms and the ones they already had, the GIs headed to the jail. Three GIs who had stopped residents to warn them to stay away from the area were fired upon and wounded by county deputies at the jail. Other GIs returned fire upon the deputies.

The fighting that ensued and its conclusion is described by JPFO:

Several who ventured into the street in front of the jail were wounded. One man inside the jail was badly hurt; he recovered. Most sheriff’s deputies wanted to hunker down and await rescue. Governor McCord mobilized the State Guard, perhaps to scare the GIs into withdrawing. The State Guard never went to Athens. McCord may have feared that Guard units filled with ex-GIs might not fire on other ex-GIs.

At about 2 a.m. on August 2, the GIs forced the issue. Men from Meigs County threw dynamite sticks and damaged the jail’s porch. The panicked deputies surrendered. GIs quickly secured the building. Paul Cantrell faded into the night, having almost been shot by a GI who knew him, but whose .45 pistol had jammed. Mansfield’s deputies were kept overnight in jail for their own safety. Calm soon returned. The GIs posted guards. The rifles borrowed from the armory were cleaned and returned before sunup.

In the end the GIs won the election and their victory was properly certified. A system was put into place that would greatly lessen the risk of fraud and corruption in county government and elections. A more complete description of these events can be found here, including reaction by major newspapers across the country.

Thus, when government becomes so corrupt that it loses the respect, support, and confidence of decent, honest citizens, the Athens experience shows that the taking up of arms to use against the forces of government tyranny is the honorable thing to do, proving that honorable, honest, and corruption-free government can be restored by taking away the power of dirty politicians — by force if necessary.

ALERT! BRAND NEW!

A new entry has been posted on my blog at The Liberty Sphere under the section, “Musings After Midnight.” It is titled, “With ear to the ground, more rumblings heard from the political landscape.”

NOTICE.

Read one of my most popular entries on my blog in the popular series, Musings After Midnight, titled, “The Stealth War.

My series “Musings After Midnight” is now indexed at my blog, The Liberty Sphere.

Cross Posted with Permission.

EPIC FAIL OBAMA; Yet another failure in Econ 101

December 4, 2013

He loves backing an 18-wheeler into a tight spot. He has been patiently training new drivers for more than eight years.

Lately, though, Mr. Hernandez‘s patience has been worn thin by a confusing tangle of rules, efficiency directives, and electronic devices that cap his speed, log his every move, and practically try to autopilot his truck.

Magnifying the stress are more federal rule changes that took effect in July and are now roiling the industry.

Under the revised rule, the average workweek has been shortened to 70 hours from 82. They must take one 30-minute break during the first eight hours of driving. And the required 34-hour break between workweeks now must extend over two nights, including the hours between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.

Those changes are proving more disruptive because they are added on to existing requirements that limit drivers to driving 11 hours a day and require them to rest a consecutive 10 hours.

The changes are aimed at reducing chronic fatigue and related crashes, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Department of Transportation agency responsible for highway safety. Fatalities in large truck crashes declined 26% from 5,111 to 3,757 in the decade ending in 2011, according to the FMCSA, but it considers that number still unacceptably high.

“This agency is not just mandated but driven to improve the operating environment of trucks,” said Anne Ferro, the agency’s administrator, in an interview.

Full Story HERE

House Leadership Ignores Gun Owners, this is why you never trust a RINO!

December 4, 2013
Slams through Plastic Gun Ban Reauthorization

The battle continues, and now moves to the Senate

“There is opposition to changing existing law from conservative lawmakers and gun rights groups such as Gun Owners of America.” — USA Today, December 3, 2013

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Someone once said that the only thing anyone ever learns from history is that no one ever learns anything from history.

Straight from bumbling the shut down, the House leadership yesterday, by a voice vote, slammed through a straight ten-year reauthorization of the poorly drafted 1988 plastic gun ban.

Read GOA’s oped on this subject in this morning’s USA Today.

At least, argue House Republicans, this “straight authorization” of a bad law will prohibit New York Democrat Chuck Schumer from using the reauthorization as a vehicle to enact new, more extensive gun control.

Maybe.

But the House leadership has now handed Schumer a legislative vehicle for passing his gun control.  This means he and Harry Reid could choose to take their ban on 3-D printer guns -– which, by the way, would also ban many metal gun manufacturers -– and send it back to the House.

Just hours after the House reauthorized the anti-gun law, Schumer held a press event in support of expanding the plastic gun ban.

If they do this, then Boehner and his leadership team will once again be swimming in a river of pain –- inflicted by a liberal media that finally sees an opportunity for passing its much-desired gun control agenda.

So the first thing we’re doing is to organize a Senate filibuster of any Schumer effort to pass and/or expand the House bill.

Given that the Senate is currently bogged down in a fight over the defense authorization legislation, we may be able to make it very difficult for Schumer to use the House-passed bill as a vehicle for new gun control.

So please stay tuned.  We thank you for all your activism up to this point.  But just realize that this battle is not over yet.

GOA IN THE MEDIA

Meanwhile, GOA Director of Communications Erich Pratt authored the Opposing View this morning in USA Today.

Among other things, Pratt argued that the plastic gun ban is an unconstitutional infringement of our liberties that is not only ineffective, but could eventually be expanded by an anti-gun administration to ban even more guns.

But what about the issue of smuggling guns onto planes?

Pratt says that renewing a ban on plastic firearms will “not stop criminals from making them or stealing them,” any more than Chicago’s gun restrictions have been effective in stopping shootings there.

Not only that, says Pratt, “smuggling guns onto planes will still be against the law, with or without a plastic gun ban.” And airport X-ray machines will still be able to detect them.

Bottom line, says Pratt, Congress solved the problem of terrorists carrying weapons onto planes after 9/11 — not through additional gun bans, but by “allowing pilots to use guns to defend themselves and their passengers.”

Again, you can read the entire column here.

 

More Ex Post Facto Law; Guess who it’s being brought to you by?

December 3, 2013

I mean seriously people… Lautemberg is barely in his grave and what? A Monument to his utter treason?

 

Legislative Time Bomb Could Retroactively Outlaw the Possession of Virtually all Guns with Non-Metal parts
Wood stocks could be prohibited

“We look at [the plastic gun ban] as an infringement,” said GOA’s Erich Pratt.  “The law does nothing to keep undetectable guns out of the hands of criminals [who have] no regard for the law in the first place.” — The Hill, November 28, 2013

URGENT ACTION:  The House did not take up the plastic gun ban yesterday.   So please continue contacting your legislators — especially your Representative — with today’s new message.  The House will most certainly vote today.  If you can, please call your Rep. at 202-225-3121.

Gun ban would be mischief for an anti-gun administration.

Sometimes it takes decades for a poorly-drafted anti-gun law to rise up and bite you. The 1968 gun ban for “mental defectives” sat around for 25 years before an anti-gun Clinton administration decided to use it to disarm more than 150,000 law-abiding veterans who had never been before a court.

The “plastic gun ban” is another massive time bomb sitting in federal law. And it will be reauthorized (for as much as a decade) in the next two weeks — if we don’t stop it.

Unless it existed before December 10, 1988, the plastic gun ban absolutely bans any gun that is not as detectable in a “walk-through metal detector” as a Security Exemplar [18 U.S.C. 922(p)(1)(A) and (6)].

The “Security Exemplar” is a piece of metal that the ATF uses to calibrate how much steel a manufacturer needs to put in the gun to make it beep in the metal detector.  Other than the fact that it has to contain 3.7 ounces of steel and look sort of like a gun, anti-gun Attorney General Eric Holder can determine, by regulatory fiat, the characteristics of the Exemplar.

He can determine whether you test guns with a “top flight” metal detector — or a crummy one. He can determine how many times (or thousands of times) a gun has to pass in order not to be banned.

In addition, every “major component” of every firearm has to pass through an airport x-ray in such a way that its shape is “accurately” depicted [18 U.S.C. 922(p)(1)(B)].

The statute contains a list of parts of guns which are definitely “major components.”  But is that list exclusive?  If we didn’t have a President and an Attorney General who have violated and perverted the law again and again and again, we might be able to conclude that it was exclusive.  But the language is not so definitive as to protect us against an administration intent on destroying us.

So what if Holder determines that a wooden stock is a “major component”?

According to an expert we consulted, a wooden stock would produce an x-ray image which is “fuzzier” (less “accurate”) than a metal gun would produce.  Interestingly, a wholly plastic gun would also produce an x-ray image, according to this expert, although it would be “fuzzier” (less “accurate”) than that of a metal gun.

So, for those Republicans who are talking about locking us into an extension of this statute that could ban lots of guns … tell them, “please don’t.”

A couple of more points:

* It is simply not true that, if this statute is allowed to lapse, “killers can freely go into airports, courthouses, and schools to commit mass murder and mayhem.”

X-ray machines will pick up the images of plastic guns.  And, unfortunately for the safety of the inhabitants, guns in airports, courthouses, and schools will remain illegal under 18 U.S.C. 922(q) and 930.

* And it is foolish to assume that the Jared Loughners and Adam Lanzas of the world — intent on committing mass murder — would somehow be deterred by a plastic gun ban.  That genie is already out of the bottle.

* Finally, it appears that New York Senator Chuck Schumer would like to take the potentially significant gun ban and expand it even further.

Thursday, November 21, Schumer tried to pass an expansion though the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent without even usual a standard Senate procedure for notifying other senators, called hot-lining. Almost two weeks AFTER HE TRIED TO PASS IT, the text of the Schumer bill was still not available.

But we do know that Schumer has been working all year to expand the plastic gun ban to shut down every gun manufacturer in America who makes guns using a mold.  We also know that Schumer has been trying to extend it even more explicitly to gun parts and magazines — although it’s hard to see what danger a plastic magazine would pose.

ACTION:   Click here to contact your senators and representative.  Tell them to oppose this effort to ban guns with wooden stocks. Call him or her at 202-225-3121.

Much to be Thankful for This Thanksgiving

November 27, 2013

“We may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks….” — President George Washington, October 3, 1789

This year, gun owners have been in the fight of our lives.

The President of the United States used all his power and ability in a fierce attempt to ram gun control down the throats of the American people.

The media relentlessly supported his cause, repeatedly telling Americans that the Sandy Hook shooting last December had changed everything … that the “tide had turned” … and that Americans were now in favor of more gun control.

At points during the battle, many gun owners may have felt like their forefathers of old who suffered at Valley Forge — disheartened, ill-equipped and facing a much larger enemy.

But, as is often the case, the victory does not go to the loudest.  And to date, the President has been frustrated beyond belief in his attempts to eviscerate the Second Amendment.

As recently as Sunday, MSNBC weepingly pronounced the death of gun control for the 113th Congress.

Your support has made a tremendous difference in this fight this year!

In 1789, President George Washington recognized from whence their Ultimate Help had come in defeating the British, in establishing a Constitution, and realizing the tremendous liberty they were then enjoying.

We should do no less this Thanksgiving, as we consider the monumental opposition that we have overcome in defending the Second Amendment.

Not only that, we want to thank you for all your hard work.

And thank you for all your support, which has kept GOA on the front lines!

As members of GOA’s grassroots network, you have fought alongside us every step of the way.  And the results have been astounding.

Consider what the anti-gun Left had to say about GOA’s involvement this year:

* “Democrats blame ‘Gun Owners of America’ for gun control setback” — TPM, April 8, 2013.

* “[GOA] pushes the NRA [to the right] and makes it hard for the NRA to be reasonable.” — Senator Harry Reid, April 6, 2013

* “Gun Owners of America was the most active outside group in early efforts to block all gun control efforts.” — The Examiner, April 28, 2013

* “Upstart group [GOA] pushes harder than the NRA” — New York Times, April 3, 2013.

Your support has ticked off the media this year!

It was the New York Times that lamented how GOA was “successful [in] freezing senators, particularly Republicans” from supporting gun controls like expanded background checks.

Bottom line:  Gun owners were able to defeat every word of gun control that came down the pike — and it was thanks to gun owners like you who send us to Washington to lobby on your behalf.

Thank you for helping support us on the front lines this year!

Our successful fight to kill the Feinstein semi-auto ban … to prevent limits on magazine capacity … to defeat attempts at banning private sales of firearms … were all just the tip of the iceberg.

And while our victories from earlier this year were welcome news, we must recognize the battle is not over.

Senator Harry Reid wants to pack the courts with liberal judges who will gut the Second Amendment and uphold ObamaCare — to the detriment of gun owners nationwide.

And the President is just one well-publicized shooting away from re-launching his failed gun control agenda.

Next month, you can be sure that the media will try to jumpstart the gun control issue as it memorializes the tragic Sandy Hook shooting.

But GOA will not be silent.  You can find us on the webon Facebook … and on InstaGram.

We will be rallying the troops to keep the heat on Congress.  And we hope that, as Christmas approaches, you will consider gifting a GOA membership to your family and friends, so that we will increase our voice in Washington.

We need you — and them — in the fight!

Finally, as promised in an earlier alert, here are a couple of interviews that GOA has done recently — interviews we think you’ll enjoy:

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBxWKZZlzS0

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2Q9MtNMLhI

From all of us here at Gun Owners of America:  Have a blessed Thanksgiving this Thursday!

Democrats Using Gun Control to Get Focus off ObamaCare; and using Brady Law Anniversary to pressure GOP

November 23, 2013

“We are going to finish the job and pass background checks and then move on and do other things we have to do to get guns off the streets and stop gun violence.”Senator Chuck Schumer, November 13, 2013

Don’t let them get away with it.

Democrats on Capitol Hill want to change the subject, but we can’t let them do it.

The anti-gun aspects of ObamaCare haven’t even been fully implemented yet because the entire “health care” rollout has been imploding — and it’s taking a huge toll on the President.

The solution?

The Examiner.com reported last week that Democrats are trying to “deflect public attention from a disaster of their own making [on ObamaCare] by shifting the subject to gun control.”

They’re hoping to pressure Republicans on the 20-year anniversary of the Brady Law.  (November 30 marks the anniversary when President Clinton signed the bill into law.)

The Hill reports, “Democrats argue that enough pressure on House GOP leaders would return the topic [of gun control] to prominence.”

You can’t blame them.  As support for ObamaCare continues to plummet — and the President’s approval rating along with it — many Democrats are scrambling to get the mainstream media to cover any other topic.

Their first choice is to return to their tired ole gun control agenda like the Toomey-Manchin background checks (for private gun buyers) in the Senate or the identical Thompson-King bill (HR 1565) in the House.  These are unconstitutional and should never see the light of day.

Their second plan to distract the American public is to blow up the Senate rules — abolishing the filibuster where federal judges are concerned — so that Democrats can pack the courts with liberal, anti-gunners who will uphold ObamaCare.  Majority Leader Harry Reid successfully accomplished this yesterday, claiming it was necessary because Republicans were supposedly causing gridlock.

You can see that critical Senate vote here, where YEA was the pro-gun, pro-freedom vote to maintain the filibuster.

Finally, Democrats plan to craft small temporary one-year “fixes” for the health care law in order to fool enough Americans into reelecting senators who were the “deciding votes” on ObamaCare:

* Mary Landrieu, the Louisiana Democrat — who sold her soul to vote for ObamaCare in exchange for a political bribe nicknamed “the Louisiana purchase” — is currently up in a tough reelection.  She knew how bad ObamaCare was, but she didn’t care until the nation’s pain threatened her reelection.

* Mark Begich, the Alaska Democrat who also cast the deciding vote, also knew Alaskans would suffer. But it didn’t bother him until their suffering threatened his reelection.

* Similarly, several other Democrat Senators — Kay Hagan (NC), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Mark Warner (VA), Mark Udall (CO), Mark Pryor (AR) and Jeff Merkley (OR) — all became “born again skeptics” of ObamaCare when provisions they crafted, knew about, and were indispensable in passing came back to bite them.

All of these senators had a chance to “tweak” ObamaCare during the shutdown fight.  Instead, these Senators were all too busy playing politics — gleeful at the prospect of declaring total victory over Republicans.

We need to remind them that the only legitimate option is a total repeal of the anti-gun ObamaCare law.  And that a Brady Law anniversary is an excuse to pass more gun control, but rather, a reminder of just how much of our constitutional rights have already been infringed.

ACTION: Contact your Representative and Senators and urge them to ignore calls for gun control or to settle for a temporary one year ObamaCare “fix.”  Demand that they repeal this anti-gun travesty and stop trying to change the subject to supporting gun control.

NAGR: What the NRA should be! No compromise with your rights, ever!

November 12, 2013

While there are many Second Amendment support groups the most well known, and reviled by those that suffer from the mental illness hoplophobia really does very little for the day to day supporter of the Bill of Rights. That being the National Rifle Association. Please don’t get me wrong about the NRA. They are possibly the very first safety organization of any type in history, and it is doubtless that the firearm safety programs started by them have saved countless lives, as well as reduced severe injuries all around the world, and have served the vital function of providing a working template for virtually all safety programs.

Feared by many politicians, the NRA has clout. However, when it comes to politics? The NRA is a true failure. They refuse to fight the tough fights. Only getting into those in which the probability of success is high. Indeed, the refusal to actually get involved in the dirty work led to the formation of Gun Owners of America as well as others. Wyoming Gun Owners, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and others like them get into the trenches and fight. Also, The National Association for Gun Rights has been getting results that have been quite impressive as of late. Please watch the video for more about NAGR, and donate what you can to each of the groups mentioned above.

http://youtu.be/w_LPhsUgs9A

 

Chief Kozak… We sir, are not the ones that are stuck on stupid!

November 2, 2013

 

Chief Kozak wants you to believe that despite his years of experience in police work, he was unable to “connect the dots” that the ADL is an east coast anti-gun lobbying group.  Ah huh…

Of course Kozak started running for cover with his first public statement — that our alert about his scheduled ADL training was “bogus”.

His next move was criminal in nature. Kozak deleted all evidence from the Cheyenne PD webpage listing the actual ADL event – See a screen-shot of the web-page here. You can also see the event flyer that was linked on the deleted page here.

But after getting even more of your phone calls Chief Kozak attempted to back peddle again, now claiming that even though this training is led by the ADL, it’s about “hate crimes” and it had nothing to do with gun control.

By now it was certain that Kozak was going to leverage his position as Chief of police to carry on this event by this known anti-gun organization the ADL, even though as he said himself, “he was getting a ton of calls.”

As we already know, the “hate crime agenda” is the progressive lie of the century.

Just look at what the ADL said about the Zimmerman verdict in Florida:

“This case raises serious questions about the wisdom of stand-your-ground laws and the easy access to concealed weapons permits in states like Florida, where more than one million permits have been issued since 1987 when the state’s concealed weapons law went into effect. Had neither been in place, this tragedy may never have occurred.”

In the same statement the ADL then played the ‘race’ card to further denigrate the Jury decision:

“Hopefully, the debate concerning the justice of the verdict in the Zimmerman case will inspire a continued much-needed discussion about the lingering impact of racism in society.”

So according to an official statement from the ADL, if there wasn’t a law to protect citizens from having to retreat from dangerous criminals, and that if Florida had never allowed concealed carry starting in 1987, the Zimmerman/Martin case would have never happened, and that we need to keep up the discussion on racist gun owners in America.

By now the gun-free-utopia model as embedded in the ADL’s hate philosophy is coming across loud and clear
!

The ADL’s  gun control propaganda is so bizarre, that you just can’t make this kind of stuff up…ADL Director Abraham Foxman says that the use of Adolph Hilter as an analogy against gun control is wrong and offensive to Jews.

This radical-progressive lobbying group that the Cheyenne Police Chief Brian Kozak has partnered with, fundamentally believes that anyone who adheres to the premise enshrined in the Second Amendment, that a armed society is the primary safe-guard against Tyranny, is to be suspected as being a criminal.

The ADL has stated that they have held these “Right Wing Extremist” trainings for the FBI, DHS, ICE, FEMA and many other agencies. One has to wonder if the ADL was involved in the FEMA training where America’s Founders where labeled as the nation’s first terrorists. See the FEMA video here.

Chief Kozak also wants you to believe that his testimony during the last legislative session where he helped to squash was somehow in his job description. HB-103 was legislation that’s sole purpose was to protect the rights of the citizens to keep and bear arms from the over reach of city officials.

I was standing there with — 50 plus pro-gun advocates – while witnessing Chief Kozak acting as the gun-control lobby to the state legislature
.

The good news…is that many “Rank and File” police officers responded positively to our presence and to our knowledge of the ADL’s liberal-progressive agenda. These same officers had no idea that the ADL was in support of Obama and his policies.

WyGO Director Anthony Bouchard and WyGO/JPFO member Howard Last greeting police officer with a pro-gun message at the “Right Wing Extremist” police training event in Cheyenne

A Cheyenne WyGO member who is also a JPFO member lended a hand passing out JPFO pro-gun literature.

In case you didn’t catch this, the ADL is a “progressive” Jewish anti-gun organization — so it was fitting to distribute literature from the renowned pro-gun Jewish organization the JPFO – Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Much thanks to JPFO for providing the materials on such short notice.

Kozak should have a look at this JPFO video called — “No Guns for Jews”, as it exposes the danger to a disarmed populous in the face of a Tyrant and Psychopath like Adolph Hilter.

While I believe Chief Kozak may never see the light, there is always hope that one day he may take the oath he swore to defend the Constitution seriously.

But knowing that this isn’t very likely, WyGO will be watching Chief Kozak very closely.

To Liberty,

Anthony Bouchard
   Executive Director
Wyoming Gun Owners

 

P.S. In case you didn’t call during the last email, here is a second chance to callchief Brian Kozak at (307) 637-6500 — let him know that you don’t appreciate him inviting his anti-gun pals to Wyoming.

If you would like to help fight against ALL gun control schemes, and expose public officials that pal around with gun-grabbing lobby groups, then please consider donating to Wyoming Gun Owners today.


 

“WyGO is the only state level group that legislators take seriously” – Dudley Brown Executive Director National Assoc. for Gun Rights

“Wyoming Gun Owners has a proven strategy to hold legislators accountable” – Larry Pratt Executive Director Gun Owners of America