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ANTLER COLLECTORS REMINDED OF RESTRICTIONS

December 14, 2010

I have been called a “rollover” for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and worse in the past. What follows has some very serious problems… I’ll respond to any serious questions about my reservations with this latest episode in beast verses man, and Mankind…

GUNNISON, Colo. — The Colorado Division of Wildlife is reminding antler hunters that the collection of shed antlers in the Gunnison Basin is regulated by strict guidelines.

The purpose of the regulations is to protect vulnerable wildlife species, especially Gunnison sage-grouse and mule deer, explained J Wenum, area wildlife manager in Gunnison.

Collecting shed antlers for commercial use has grown significantly during the last decade in the Gunnison area. The activity can disturb Gunnison sage-grouse during their mating period, and also cause unnecessary harassment of deer and elk on winter range. Collectors are cautioned to know the regulations. Violations could result in confiscation of antlers, a $68 fine and five penalty points against hunting and fishing privileges.

“The Colorado Division of Wildlife takes the disturbance of wildlife species during the critical winter period very seriously,” Wenum said.

Over the years, unscrupulous antler collectors have been observed chasing deer on foot and with snowmobiles, searching areas at night, and going onto private land without permission.

Shed antler collection on public lands in Game Management Units 54, 55, 551, 66 and 67 is closed completely from Jan. 1 through March 14 annually. From March 15 through May 15, collecting is prohibited from sunset to 10 a.m. daily.

The regulations were adopted by the Colorado Wildlife Commission and based on a collaborative petition submitted by the Gunnison Basin Sage Grouse Strategic Committee, Gunnison-area sportsmen and shed antler collectors. The DOW worked closely with those groups to develop the regulations.

The period of the first closure (Jan. 1 to March 14) assures that deer herds and Gunnison sage-grouse are not harassed during the difficult winter months. The second closure period (March 15 to May 15) ensures that Gunnison sage-grouse are not disturbed during the critical early morning hours of their mating period.

The closures will be strictly enforced. Collectors are advised to consult official sunset tables and to obtain accurate public lands maps.

For more information, or to report violations or suspicious activity, call the DOW office in Gunnison at (970) 641-7060.

For more information about Division of Wildlife go to: http://wildlife.state.co.us.


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Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Law, Local Politics Colorado, News, Non Compos Mentis, Politics, States Rights, Uncategorized, Wordpress Political Blogs | Comments Off on ANTLER COLLECTORS REMINDED OF RESTRICTIONS

obamacare and the Courts…

December 14, 2010

Basic instinct as well as simple logic reveal that the mandated purchase of a product, any product, exceeds the power and authority of government. Yet, as expected, courts are issuing different rulings concerning this abominous assault on the personal liberty and freedom of all Americans.

I can already hear it though; you are just too stupid to be able to understand things like this. It’s just too complicated for you. To that I reply that when laws are beyond the ken of the common man then they are unenforceable, and violate the principles of natural and common law.

Within a fortnight of each other, two federal judges in Virginia, relying on identical precedents and hearing carbon-copy arguments, issued diametrically opposed decisions on the constitutionality of the federal health-care overhaul.

Read side by side, the two rulings reveal strikingly divergent views of what the case is about—and suggest that the fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 will rest on which depiction best satisfies the Supreme Court.

Full Story HERE

So what next..? A Supreme Court ruling that will treat all of us as wayward children that are incapable of making our own decisions about life and death matters? If so, then what of Juries, and our entire system of laws?

Related Story


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Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Law, News, Politics, States Rights, Uncategorized, Wordpress Political Blogs | 2 Comments »

Honor Roll High School Student Faces Expulsion

December 10, 2010

Demari DeRue is a 16-year-old junior at Columbia Falls High School in Columbia Falls, Montana.  She is an honor roll student, a cheerleader and a hunter.  On Monday, December 13th, she faces expulsion from school because, after a recent weekend family hunting trip, she inadvertently left her unloaded and secured hunting rifle locked in her trunk, and then drove to school Monday morning and parked on school property.

The expulsion could be for as long as a year, but any expulsion could seriously hurt Demari’s college plans.

Details of Demari’s situation can be read here: http://www.dailyinterlake.com/news/local_montana/article_30256480-0282-11e0-ac8f-001cc4c03286.html

School officials claim they have no choice but to expel Demari.  But the facts of this case show the unreasonable nature of the “zero-tolerance” mindset.  Further, both federal and state law give discretion to school officials to modify the expulsion provisions in the statutes.

The no firearms rules were created to punish students who present a danger or who intend to commit crimes; not to punish an upstanding honor student who simply had a memory lapse.  Further, it was Demari who voluntarily informed school officials when she remembered she had left the rifle locked in the trunk of her car.  It is appalling that Demari is facing expulsion because of her honesty.

The hearing for Demari will be Monday, December 13, at 6:00 p.m. (plan to arrive by 5:00 p.m.), in the Administration Building at Glacier Gateway Elementary School, located at 501 sixth avenue west, in Columbia Falls.  If at all possible, please attend this hearing and support Demari.  Politely tell school district officials that blind adherence to unreasonable anti-gun policies does not make our kids safer, and in this particular case, would be a grave injustice.

Let them know that the only reasonable outcome of this hearing is to completely purge Demari’s high school record of this incident, so she won’t be in a position of trying to explain a “gun crime” to firearm-averse review committees considering college and scholarship applications.

Also, please contact high school officials, the superintendent and the school board and politely let them know that you support Demari, that you oppose any action to expel her and that a complete expungement of her record is in order. Contact information can be found below.

Mike Nicosia   Superintendent   mnicosia@sd6.k12.mt.us

Alan Robbins   Principal             arobbins@sd6.k12.mt.us

Scott Gaiser    Asst. Principal     sgaiser@sd6.k12.mt.us

School Board Members:

Jill Rocksund                            jrocksund@sd6.k12.mt.us
Dean Chisholm                        dchisholm@sd6.k12.mt.us
Barbara Riley                            briley@sd6.k12.mt.us
Darrell Newby                          dnewby@sd6.k12.mt.us
Gail Pauley                               gpauley@sd6.k12.mt.us

Jim Henjum                             jhenjum@sd6.k12.mt.us
Larry Wilson                             lwilson@sd6.k12.mt.us
Scott Emmerich                        semmerich@sd6.k12.mt.us

SOURCE

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Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Hoplophobia, Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Law, News, Non Compos Mentis, Politics, States Rights, Stupid is as Stupid Does, Uncategorized, Wordpress Political Blogs | 10 Comments »

The facts, however, don’t stop the Left from their dishonest characterization

December 10, 2010

“Tax deal” is the buzz phrase of the week in Washington, as Barack Obama and congressional Republicans came to an agreement Monday on a two-year extension of current income tax rates for all Americans. Predictably, the Left went hysterical. House Democrats promptly held a voice vote to reject the compromise unless undisclosed changes are made to it, though the Senate began debate on a larded-up version of the proposal Thursday night with a test vote scheduled for Monday. As usual, the devil is in the details — and, in this case, the definitions.

Obama, his fellow Democrats and their acolytes in the media continue to frame the debate in terms of tax “cuts” versus the budget deficit — as if tax rates before 2001 were the natural order of things and to keep rates where they are is a “cut” that will increase the deficit. On the contrary, without the deal, everyone’s taxes will rise by hundreds or even thousands of dollars next year. With the deal, no one’s income taxes will be cut. In fact, some taxes will skyrocket. The estate (death) tax will be resurrected at 35 percent with a $5 million exemption — up from 0 percent this year, but down from the previous 55 percent. The only new cut would be a temporary payroll tax reduction of two percentage points.

The facts, however, don’t stop the Left from their dishonest characterization. “The far-reaching package … would add more than $900 billion to the deficit over the next two years,” The Washington Post lamented. Ditto for The New York Times, the Associated Press and others. This assumes that economic behavior won’t change if taxes go up, meaning federal revenue will increase by the exact amount of the tax increase. Ergo, if Congress prevents the tax hike, that lost revenue adds to the deficit. It’s a wrong assumption, demonstrable by the fact that federal revenue actually went up after the Bush tax cuts went into effect.

Meanwhile, Obama was so concerned about the “cost” that he insisted that unemployment benefits be extended for another year. Now that will actually cost nearly $60 billion, and it will cause the unemployment rate to remain higher than it otherwise should. On top of that, Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) secured various energy subsidies in exchange for their votes, and more pork is almost sure to follow.

The fact that Obama conceded to any deal is notable. The Wall Street Journal concludes, “Obama has implicitly admitted that his economic strategy has flopped. He is acknowledging that tax rates matter to growth, that treating business like robber barons has hurt investment and hiring, and that tax cuts are superior to spending as stimulus. It took 9.8% unemployment and a loss of 63 House seats for this education to sink in, but the country will benefit.” The flop is so complete that even former economic adviser Larry Summers warned of a “double dip” recession if taxes go up. John Maynard Keynes, call your office.

Though Obama did accept the deal with the GOP, he proved to be a rather disagreeable compromiser, calling Republicans “hostage takers” and the American people the “hostages.” Obama thus not only reneged on an oft-repeated campaign promise to repeal the Bush-era tax cuts “for the rich,” he also proved utterly ungracious to those lawmakers with whom he had just struck a deal. “[B]ecause of this agreement, middle-class Americans won’t see their taxes go up on January 1st, which is what I promised,” he said. “[But] I’m as opposed to the high-end tax cuts today as I’ve been for years. In the long run, we simply can’t afford them. And when they expire in two years, I will fight to end them.”

Some conservatives are opposing the bill because of the aded deficit spending. Club for Growth President Chris Chocola said, “The plan would resurrect the Death Tax, grow government, blow a hole in the deficit with unpaid-for spending, and do so without providing the permanent relief and security our economy needs to finally start hiring and growing again.”

Yet given that Democrats still control the White House and, until January, both houses of Congress, this deal may be the best we can hope for now. Republicans should fight to resist wasteful spending, but tax hikes must be prevented. If they are, taxpayers will keep billions of their hard-earned dollars over the next two years. With that renewed tax stability for small businesses, unemployment should go down, though not as much as if the rates were permanent. In 2012, Republicans could be in far better position to win a permanent solution.

Patriot Post

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Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Law, News, Politics, States Rights, Stupid is as Stupid Does, Uncategorized, Wordpress Political Blogs | 18 Comments »

Year in Review: 2010

December 10, 2010

Your membership in — and activism with — Gun Owners of America has made a world of difference over the past several months.

The past couple of years were supposed to be the worst on record, as far as gun rights are concerned.  With the election of Barack Hussein Obama, Americans went rushing to gun stores and generated a buying spree that created shortages of firearms and ammunition around the country.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were in charge of the legislative branch, and with the election of Obama, everyone was bracing themselves for the worst.

But even with the deck stacked against us, Gun Owners of America began working with friendly congressmen to get good legislation passed… and to defeat most of the anti-gun bills that were thrown our way.

What follows here is a record of what ALL OF US were able to accomplish by working together.  As you read about the amazing success that gun rights activists achieved, please also consider joining Gun Owners of America if you have not yet renewed your membership for next year.

For your convenience, you can go to http://www.gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm to update your membership.

We thank you for your support, which makes this e-mail and web service possible.

And now for this year’s highlights. The following paragraphs review some of the major achievements that we accomplished together in 2010.

January

* The year begins with GOA taking the offensive in the battle against the anti-gun ObamaCare legislation.  While both houses of Congress have passed different versions of the bill, the fight against this legislation is far from over.  A conference committee will most likely have to iron out differences between the two bills and then send the finalized version to each chamber for another vote.

* Gun Owners of America gets involved in the Scott Brown race in Massachusetts.  Even though a month earlier, Brown was about 30 points down in his run for the U.S. Senate, GOA is hoping that a win in the Bay State will kill ObamaCare for the year.

After all, replacing the late Sen. Ted Kennedy with someone who opposes ObamaCare will give Republicans the exact number of votes to filibuster the health care bill.  Amazingly, Brown pulls off a dramatic come-from-behind win, and political pundits are declaring ObamaCare is now on life-support — if not dead for the year.

* In a case where GOA has submitted an amicus brief, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of free speech rights in the Citizens United case.  The Court ruled unconstitutional huge portions of the McCain-Feingold law, which means that GOA will have greater freedom to hold legislators accountable for their anti-gun voting records.

* GOA begins rallying the grassroots in several different states to pass Firearms Freedom Act legislation.  These laws stipulate that a firearm which is made in a state — and stays in the state — is immune from federal gun laws that rely on the Interstate Commerce Clause for their justification.

February – March

* GOA continues its campaign to enact good Firearms Freedom Acts (FFAs).  Of special note, GOA works with the sponsor of the Wyoming bill to put “teeth” in his bill, thus making it the toughest FFA in the nation.  The Wyoming act criminalizes any federal official who attempts to impose a federal gun ban in contravention to The Cowboy State’s law.

* The National Parks gun ban finally expires!  GOA worked with Senator John Ensign (R-NV) to get a repeal added as an amendment to a must-pass bill in 2009.  This effort succeeded, and the repeal of the Reagan-era gun ban takes effect on February 22.

* The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in a very important gun-related case known as McDonald v. Chicago.  As Gun Owners of America submits a hard-hitting amicus brief in this case, USA Today asks Gun Owners to submit the Opposing View editorial taking aim at Chicago’s gun ban.

* House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cajoles enough “Blue Dog” Democrats to walk the political plank and vote for ObamaCare.  Because the House voted for an identical version of the legislation that passed in the Senate last year, Congressional leaders can send the anti-gun bill straight to the President’s desk, thus avoiding a Senate filibuster (now that Scott Brown is in the Senate).

GOA was able to gain modest protections for gun owners in ObamaCare.  Nevertheless, GOA is committed to repealing this law at the federal level.

* In Virginia, GOA works to successfully pass anti-ObamaCare legislation in the state that will prevent citizens in the Old Dominion from being forced to comply with the insidious federal mandates in the new anti-gun health care law.  Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signs the legislation.

April – May

* One of GOA’s top priorities is getting permitless carry passed in states around the country.  To this end, GOA helps lobby for new legislation in Arizona (allowing concealed carry on one’s person) and in Virginia (allowing concealed carry in one’s car or boat) — without having to jump through government hoops.  Both bills are signed by the respective governors of each state.

* GOA begins a fierce lobbying campaign against Elena Kagan as the next Justice for the U.S. Supreme Court.  Of special note, GOA targets Senator Jon Kyl in his home state of Arizona.  Kyl, the Senate Minority Whip, goes on record saying that Republicans will probably not filibuster Kagan’s nomination.

* By the end of the state legislative season, several states have passed Firearms Freedom Act laws, including Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

June – July (Part One)

* The Supreme Court hands down the McDonald decision, stating that Fourteenth Amendment applies the right to keep and bear arms (in the Second Amendment) to all 50 states.  GOA uses this opportunity to discuss the impact of the McDonald decision in dozens upon dozens of media outlets.

* Gun Owners of America is the only national gun group on Capitol Hill lobbying to defeat the DISCLOSE Act, which would hinder our ability to expose congressmen’s records around election time.  As the first battle is fought in the House, DISCLOSE narrowly passes by a mere seven votes.

* Erick Erickson of RedState.com thanks GOA for taking a strong stand against DISCLOSE, stating:  “I support Gun Owners of America, which is a consistent and uncompromising defender of the Second Amendment, not a weak little girl of an organization protecting itself while throwing everyone else under the bus.”

June – July (Part Two)

* The fight against DISCLOSE moves to the Senate, where GOA marshals the grassroots to inundate Senate offices with opposition to the bill.  Thankfully, there are enough votes to filibuster the anti-free speech legislation, as it dies on a party line vote.  (Scott Brown’s earlier victory is now paying tremendous dividends.)

Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) congratulates GOA for its hard work against the bill, saying that, “Gun Owners of America has been one of the key players in opposing the DISCLOSE Act.”

* GOA attorney Bill Olson testifies before Congress against Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, telling Senators that, “If [Kagan] were to go on the Court, with what we know about her now, she could be the most anti-gun justice on that Court.”

August

* The U.S. Senate debates the nomination of Elena Kagan.  Senator John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, uses GOA testimony to underscore the problems with Kagan:  “After reviewing Ms. Kagan’s record and testimony at her confirmation hearing, the Gun Owners of America concluded that, ‘The available evidence portrays her as a forceful advocate of restrictive gun laws and driven by political considerations rather than rule of law.'”

* The Senate votes 63-37 to confirm Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court.  While this was very disappointing, it is important to note that we got more votes against Kagan than we have ever gotten against a Supreme Court Justice that we’ve opposed — more than we garnered against Justices Sotomayor or Ginsburg.  (On Justice Gingsburg’s nomination, there were only three negative votes.)

Bottom line:  we gained tremendous ground in our fight against Kagan.  There were Senators who voted against Kagan in August who had never before voted against a Supreme Court Justice.  And by the way, Senator Kyl was one of the Senators who supported the filibuster against her (see “April – May”).

September – November

* GOA’s Political Victory Fund has been busy all year long, working to get good candidates elected.  Some of the more notable highlights include knocking off long-time compromisers such as Sen. Bob Bennett in Utah, while helping many good candidates get their party’s nomination — like Kentucky’s Rand Paul in May and Florida’s Marco Rubio in August.

* In October, GOA publishes its biannual Congressional Voter Guide.  For 20 years, GOA has been the only gun group publishing an open-source national rating for gun owners to use.  Our rating has been so devastating in smoking out the anti-gun bias of phony politicians that the Brady Campaign even took us before an administrative court three years ago to try and silence us.  They lost.

* On November 2, scores of candidates backed by Gun Owners of America won tremendous victories.  In many cases, GOA was the ONLY national pro-gun organization to actively oppose Nancy Pelosi’s “Blue Dogs” Democrats.  Our aggressive opposition to these Representatives — who are mistakenly considered to be somewhat conservative — was well worth the effort as Pelosi was reduced to minority status.

December

* GOA, having spearheaded the victorious lobbying campaign against the Amtrak gun ban, celebrates its demise this month.  The repeal language was authored by Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi.  The Wicker language takes effect December 15, 2010, and enforces a policy similar to airlines, so that firearms can be transported in checked bags on the trains so long as they are declared and carried in a prescribed manner.

Stand with Gun Owners of America!

As you can see, your activism helped us to accomplish many great things this year.  And this should encourage you and anyone you know who is concerned about Second Amendment rights.

. We are going to be fighting a lot of battles in the next Congress, and it’s good for gun owners all across the country to go into these skirmishes with a reminder that we can accomplish much together (and that we have done so in the past).

As you know, we were able to get two gun bans repealed this past year — the National Parks ban and the one on Amtrak trains.  Now we are going to be lobbying to shut down the BATFE (or to put a straitjacket on them, at a minimum); to liberalize concealed carry (so good people aren’t registered like sex offenders before exercising their rights); to block UN gun control; to pass Firearms Freedom Acts (which allow states to imprison any federal official who tries to enforce unconstitutional gun control laws); and much, much more.

Thanks for standing with us. You can go to http://www.gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm to make sure that your support remains current.

 

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Posted in Blogroll, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Law, News, Politics, States Rights, Wordpress Political Blogs | 1 Comment »

Remember ObamaCare?

December 8, 2010

GOA had managed to win some minor victories in the fight over this legislation last year.  At that time, the very-liberal Slate magazine lamented that GOA had won a skirmish over ObamaCare:

Score one for the Gun Owners of America, a lobby group positioned well to the right of the National Rifle Association…. [T]o pacify GOA, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [has inserted into the health care bill] a section titled “Protecting 2nd Amendment Gun Rights” [which prevents the] disclosure or collection of any information relating to gun ownership.  (Slate, December 20, 2009.)

But even after being “cleaned up” for some of its anti-gun problems, the ATF can still use ObamaCare to troll a federal database for your medical information.  It can identify people with common ailments such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) — and take away their guns by sending their names to the FBI as “prohibited persons.”

For these and other reasons, GOA is still committed to repealing the anti-gun ObamaCare law.

So GOA was not particularly thrilled when Republican leaders went on the Sunday talk shows right before the election to explain why they could not repeal ObamaCare because of the threat of a presidential veto.

In fact, some have speculated that these cowardly pronouncements could have cost Republicans control of the Senate.

But, never mind, say the Republicans.  If they can’t repeal it, they can just “defund” ObamaCare.

So it came as a bit of a shock to us that Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl appeared on the Greta Van Susteren program December 2 to announce that he would prefer to pass a stripped-down funding bill (a so-called Continuing Resolution) to fund the government until October 1, 2011.

In other words, money would flow for the next ten months — without ANY EFFORT WHATSOEVER TO DEFUND OBAMACARE.  This would take the pressure off Congress to act on ObamaCare for almost a year.

Do you want proof that Congress doesn’t like to act unless they have a “gun” put to their collective heads?  Consider a hot topic that’s been in the news lately:  tax cuts.  Congress has had almost 10 years to deal with this issue, but they’re only dealing with it now — as the time limit on the Bush tax cuts are about to expire on December 31.

We don’t want this to happen in our efforts to repeal the anti-gun health care law.  Putting off this issue would undermine the efforts of incoming congressmen who campaigned on getting rid of ObamaCare!  The will of the American people was made clear in the November elections.  If Congress extends the funding of the government beyond the first few weeks of 2011, it will pull the rug out from under the newly elected members and be a slap in the face to millions of voters.

Moreover, if Congress puts off dealing with ObamaCare until next fall, momentum for repeal will wane and the President will have won a significant public relations battle.  This may all sound a little like “inside baseball,” but if Congress passes another Continuing Resolution next October 1 — as they probably will — then it’s very possible that there will be no impetus to deal with repealing or defunding ObamaCare until after the 2012 elections.

This would allow Obama to run for reelection without the stain of public repudiation for his socialist policies.

The time to act is sooner, rather than later.  If Senate Republicans are serious about defunding ObamaCare, they need to fight to prevent a bill that funds the government beyond January or February.  If the funding measure is only for the short-term, then the new Congress can come to town and deal with nixing ObamaCare right away.

ACTION: Please urge your Senators to take action on repealing ObamaCare sooner, rather than later!  There are two different pre-written letters for this alert — one for Republicans and one for Democrats.

If you go to GOA’s Legislative Action Center to contact your Senators, the correct pre-written letter will AUTOMATICALLY be chosen.  If you choose to contact your Senators without going through the GOA website, then please make sure you choose the correct letter below for the correct Senator.

—– Pre-written letter to Republican Senators —–

Dear Senator:

Without question, repealing the anti-gun and anti-freedom ObamaCare legislation should be one of Congress’ top priorities next year.

Polls continue to show that an overwhelming percentage of the American people want to see this law repealed.

And this is why I was shocked to learn that Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl appeared on the Greta Van Susteren program December 2 to announce that he would prefer to pass a stripped-down Continuing Resolution to fund the government until October 1, 2011.

Even worse, it would undermine the efforts of incoming congressmen who campaigned on getting rid of ObamaCare!  The will of the American people was made clear in the November elections.  If Congress extends the funding of the government beyond the first few weeks of 2011, it will pull the rug out from under the newly elected members and be a slap in the face to millions of voters.

Furthermore, if Congress puts off dealing with ObamaCare until next fall, momentum for repeal will wane and the President will have won a significant public relations battle.  And, if Congress passes another Continuing Resolution next October 1 — as they probably will — then it’s very possible that there will be no impetus to deal with repealing or defunding ObamaCare until after the 2012 elections.

This would allow Obama to run for reelection without the stain of public repudiation for his socialist policies.

The time to act is sooner, rather than later.  If Senate Republicans are serious about defunding ObamaCare, they need to fight to prevent a bill that funds the government beyond January or February.  If the funding measure is only for the short-term, then the new Congress can come to town and deal with nixing ObamaCare right away.

Sincerely,

—– Pre-written letter to Democrat and Independent Senators —–

Dear Senator:

Without question, repealing the anti-gun and anti-freedom ObamaCare legislation should be one of Congress’ top priorities next year.

Polls continue to show that an overwhelming percentage of the American people want to see this law repealed.

Please do everything in your power to defund or repeal this law.

Sincerely,

Sign the Petition!

Please remember to stop by http://readtheusconstitution.org to encourage Congress to read the U.S. Constitution, out loud, upon convening in January.  Way too often our elected officials act without even considering the source of their authority.

http://gunowners.org

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Posted in Blogroll, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Hoplophobia, Law, mysandry, News, Non Compos Mentis, Politics, States Rights, Uncategorized, Wordpress Political Blogs | Comments Off on Remember ObamaCare?

Lessons learned: Not much… December Seventh

December 7, 2010

As I perused the main news pages this morning one thing was painfully apparent. The “Day of Infamy” seems lost in the forgotten past. Google had a single story on the subject.

So then, what have we done. We allowed a President to gut our intelligence services. Then spent a period of national despondency while a nation that allowed itself to be taken over by a bunch of religious radicals held us hostage. That lasted until a new President was elected. One that made no secret that we would take them to the wood shed upon his being sworn in.

Later, we elected yet another “Great appeaser” that took apart what had been rebuilding, and we got smacked again, and the end results of that fiasco are not all in and we are coming up on the tenth anniversary of that failure to “read the tea leaves.”

Now, we have a Commander in Chief in name only that bows to kings and other assorted despots. Not to mention that Iran, and South Korea are more dangerous than ever along with various assorted groups of terrorists around the world…

Let’s take a cursory look at our recent history, and see what things may be found that seem to occur when things like this go haywire.

There appears to be a pattern. Apply Keynesian type economics during an economic down turn. The Great Depression, the economic tragedy of the seventies, and our current Great Recession. The Viet Nam War spawned it’s own sort of turmoil of a different type, Hyperinflation, and guess what? We are headed in that direction again. Now, I can’t blame that particular situation on John Kennedy, but I sure as hell can on his successor. So then in summery;

  • Socialist Economic Policy during hard economic times.
  • Cut backs in Military / Intelligence Services because of said times.
  • Weak Presidents; Either in foreign/ domestic policy, or both.
  • In each case it was a Democrat President.

So what will we Americans do? More of the same..? More appeasement and negotiation from a position of despair and weakness?

I submit that we should learn from the hard won lessons of our Fathers and Mothers. From the mistakes as well as from the victories. From strength of conviction as well as actual military / physical strength. From things that have happened in the past. The day of infamy being just one.

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Benjamin Franklin

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Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Historical Quotes, Immigration, Law, Military Science, News, Politics, States Rights, War, Wordpress Political Blogs | 4 Comments »

It’s back: Court to hear arguments over Ariz. immigration law

December 4, 2010

When the Federale’s refuse to enforce their own laws a state needs to do what it has to in order to protect itself, and it’s lawful citizen’s.

PHOENIX – The impassioned debate over the nation’s immigration policy takes center stage at the Supreme Court Wednesday in a dispute over an Arizona law that punishes employers who knowingly hire workers illegally in the U.S.

Arizona’s employer sanctions law has been used just three times in three years, but business interests and civil rights groups, backed by the Obama administration, have banded together to argue that only the federal government may enforce immigration laws.

The outcome in this case also could signal how the court would handle the controversial and more expansive Arizona immigration enforcement law, known as SB1070, that the administration challenged and a federal judge blocked key components this summer.

“It could take this less visible case and do something that impacts substantially on the SB1070 litigation by making some broader observations,” said Peter Spiro, who teaches immigration law at Temple University’s law school.

Full Story

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Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Immigration, Law, News, Politics, States Rights, Wordpress Political Blogs | 3 Comments »

ObamaCare Challenge Tossed

December 4, 2010

U.S. District Judge Norman Moon, a Clinton appointee, tossed out a challenge to ObamaCare in Virginia this week. This is the second victory for the Obama administration in a wave of lawsuits. Liberty University, the plaintiff in the case, has already decided to appeal in hopes of eclipsing Moon’s decision. “Congress does not have the authority to force every American to purchase a particular kind of health insurance product,” said Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty’s School of Law and an attorney on the case. Liberty argued that the law abuses the Commerce Clause of the Constitution in an attempt to provide the government strict control over the health care market. Their constitutional exegesis is completely sound, but Moon was blinded to that reality.

According to Moon, the law requiring individuals and employers to purchase health insurance falls legally under the Commerce Clause because the lack of the law would drive up costs, “precisely the harms that Congress sought to address with the Act’s regulatory measures.” To this we would ask, if the Commerce Clause can be melded to the whims of the backers of ObamaCare, what powers doesn’t Congress have to continue to shackle the American people?

Along the same lines…

A recent Investor’s Business Daily editorial calls it “the ultimate form of taxation without representation”: the continuing attempts by eco-fascists to force wealth redistribution upon the United States and other “rich” countries. This is all under the guise, of course, of saving the world from the scourge of global warming.

After its abysmal failure in wintry Copenhagen last year, the UN is holding another climate change conference in balmy Cancun, Mexico. There, surrounded by sun and sand, it will once again attempt to convince delegates from 193 countries that, a) the world is in peril and therefore we must drastically reduce emissions; and b) the U.S. and other developed nations must pay poor countries billions of dollars in retribution for the “damage” they caused in becoming, well, developed. The conference will feature the usual fanfare, including 250 presentations about the effects of climate change and proclamations that 2010 is tied for the hottest year since we began keeping records 131 years ago.

This is all smoke and mirrors. German economist Ottmar Edenhofer, who also serves as the pretentiously titled Co-chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group III on Mitigation of Climate Change, has openly admitted that “climate change policy is redistributing the world’s wealth.” This would be accomplished in the U.S. with cap-n-trade policies being pushed by Obama and his “progressive” pals in Congress.

Despite the sunny weather, the climate at this conference probably won’t be any friendlier than it was in Denmark. Even before the Republican landslide in last month’s elections, many lawmakers were leery of saddling Americans with more taxes during the recession, especially given the fact that China — the world’s biggest polluter — refuses to make any binding promises about emissions. In addition, in the wake of the Climategate scandal, emerging studies have shot more holes in climate change “science” than in Swiss cheese. Only time will tell, but it looks as if leftists will have to find another way to siphon America’s wealth to other nations.

In related news, House Republicans are set to eliminate the climate change committee created by soon-to-be-ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In Congress at least, the climate has changed.

And yet more commentary on epic fail obama’s choice of czar for BATFE

In another example of the “Chicago Way,” last week Barack Obama tabbed Andrew Traver, currently special agent in charge of the Chicago division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (better known by the ATF acronym), as the bureau’s permanent head. “You might as well put an arsonist in charge of the fire department,” quipped NRA spokesman Chris Cox.

While the gun grabbers at the Brady Center applaud the choice, Second Amendment advocates are predictably aghast. They criticize Traver because of his ties to the gun-control advocating Joyce Foundation and work during a 2007 conference on reducing gun violence sponsored by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, another fervently anti-gun organization. The IACP report includes a call for legislation to allow federal health and safety oversight of the firearms industry. What Second Amendment?

Others question Traver’s lack of senior-level executive experience, but when has that ever stopped anyone in Washington? The Senate may get a chance to question and confirm Traver, who would take over an agency laboring under acting leaders since 2006, unless Obama decides to use him as yet another recess appointment. Certainly Traver would fit right in with the rest of Executive Branch Washington in an era where the president relies on regulation, as opposed to legislation, to enact his agenda.

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Congress is in session: Rut roh!

December 4, 2010

Our intrepid Congress returned from its Thanksgiving break Monday to take on several important items facing the nation, such as the looming tax increase for all Americans, fixes for some provisions of ObamaCare, the nuclear weapons treaty known as START and funding for the federal government itself. But before our elected representatives could tackle those important chores, they turned their attention to school lunches, a food “safety” bill and regulating volume for television commercials. Ain’t our republic grand?

First Lady Michelle Obama has made it her cause to fight childhood obesity. A fine goal, but not if it includes the $4.5 billion child nutrition bill headed to her husband’s desk. The legislation will supposedly improve the nutritional value of school lunches and take sugary snacks and drinks out of vending machines in schools. To pay for it, future funding for food stamps will take a hit. We’re sure that money will never actually be cut, but it looks good on paper.

The Senate, meanwhile, passed the Food Safety Bill, which would merely saddle the nation’s 2.2 million farms and 28,000 food producers with even more regulations and taxes. As The Wall Street Journal aptly put it, “maybe the bill won the votes of 13 Republicans because there was hardly any public controversy. These days, the government needs to take over entire industries to get anyone to notice.” However, House Democrats may block the bill — because it violates the Constitution. The legislation includes fees (a.k.a. taxes), and according to Article I, Section 7, “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.” Don’t be fooled, though. House Democrats aren’t concerned for the Constitution per se, only their own power to get this ball rolling.

Democrats are also set to vote on the quaintly named Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation, or CALM, Act, which will regulate the volume of ads on TV. The FCC received tens of thousands of complaints about blaring ads in the first quarter alone this year, but to those who say, “There oughta be a law,” be careful what you wish for — Congress is always willing to oblige.

In the meantime, a massive tax increase awaits all Americans if action isn’t taken to preserve current rates that expire on Dec. 31. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) engineered a rule-making vote that prevents Republicans from offering amendments to stop all of the Democrats’ tax increases from kicking in, and the House voted to extend rates for those earning less than $250,000 a year. Those earning more, i.e. small businesses, will be saddled with a job-killing tax hike. The White House and congressional Republicans are still trying to make a deal.

Senate Republicans have vowed to block legislation of any kind until bills dealing with taxes and funding the government are passed. It’s likely that a temporary extension of all tax rates will garner enough support from both parties to pass, but that merely kicks the can down the road. Rates should be lowered again and permanently, not raised, even if the economy improves. Congress should be focused on reducing taxes and cutting spending, not monkeying around in the school lunch room.

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