30 posts from 2008

Merry Christmas

The lawyer for Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign sent a letter to US Attorney General Michael Mukasey alleging that the FBI was “in league” with the McCain campaign on the voter fraud issue.

“They’re taking a ‘strict constructionist’ perspective and trying to cram it down the throat of the American people,” complained Bob Bauer, the Obama campaign’s general counsel. “Whether a ‘strict constructionist’ view of the law should prevail is one of the issues of this campaign. It is well known that Senator Obama has taken a position that ‘fairness’ ought to take precedence over a rigid adherence the written law. It is our considered opinion that the FBI should refrain from action until the election decides a winner.”

Bauer belittled contentions that vote fraud would be significant enough to determine the outcome. “Let’s say every one of the 1.3 million voters registered by ACORN is phony,” Bauer conjectured. “This is only 1% of the total votes that will be cast. Polls have consistently shown that Senator Obama is leading by far more than 1%. If you do the math you realize that Obama will win regardless. So, rather than feed a controversy that can only serve to divide the nation, we strongly advise against this unnecessary inquiry.”

Candidate Defends “Spread-the-Wealth” Philosophy

In the wake of his unscripted exchange with Joe Wurzelbacher (now known as “Joe-the-plumber”), Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama tried to explain his now infamous “spread-the-wealth” remark.

“Look, $250,000 is a lot of money,” Obama pointed out. “No one really needs to make this much money, least of all a plumber. It just inflames envy and greed. It’s time everyone pulled together for the common good. For this to happen, some will be called upon to make sacrifices so others can have a taste of the good life.”

Obama characterized his views as “simple justice.” “A father wouldn’t cut unequal shares of pie for each of his children,” he said. “So why should the president tolerate an unequal distribution of the nation’s bounty?”

The Illinois senator called production of wealth a “social process requiring the participation of many hands. The government has to make sure that none of these hands takes too much out of the common pot. This is the fundamental change my campaign has promised will reshape America for the future.”

Running mate, Senator Joe Biden (D-Del) echoed Obama’s views stating, “We’re campaigning as friends of the working class. If ‘Joe-the-plumber’ buys the business he’ll have joined the capitalist class—the guys who’re exploiting the working class. He could hardly expect to get a break from an Obama Administration as a member of the exploiting class. After all, they’re the guys we’re going to be spreading the wealth from.”

In related news, during a break at a meeting at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Michelle and Barack ordered lobster hors d’oeuvres, two steamed lobsters, Iranian caviar and champagne, as an afternoon snack. Barack challenged the contention that the high-priced noshing showed he is a “spendthrift.” “I, personally, didn’t spend one nickel on this,” Obama asserted. “The claim that I am careless with money is just another smear made for political advantage.”

Campaign Donations Transferred to Real Estate Firm

Donors to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) probably were unaware that nearly $100,000 of their contributions have found their way into the hands of the Speaker’s husband for the benefit of his real estate business—Financial Leasing Services Inc.

A bill to ban this frequently criticized and unseemly practice failed to pass congress last year. The Speaker touted the bill as a demonstration that “Democrats are committed to reforming the way Washington does business.” Her flouting of the bill’s provisions has raised some eyebrows and sparked some criticism.

One of the critics is Meredith McGehee, policy director for the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “This kind of self-dealing is an abuse of the system,” McGehee said. “The most powerful member of the House has set a bad example. Others are now more likely to follow this example. This is not the reform she promised voters back in 2006.”

Pelosi offered a spirited defense of her seemingly contradictory behavior saying that “while the practice may be reprehensible, it’s not illegal. Until it is, I see no reason why I should be held to a higher standard than the law allows.”

Newspaper Lists Names, Addresses of Registered Non-Voters

In what the publisher said was a bid to ensure that every eligible vote is cast, the Tennessee Tribune published the names and addresses of persons registered to vote, but who had failed to cast ballots in the last election.

Rosetta Miller-Perry, president and publisher of the Tennessee Tribune justified what many have called “an invasion of privacy” and “an invitation to fraud.” “The failure to cast a ballot is a blot on the community,” she contended. “We’ve got to do whatever we can to get the vote counts up.”

This isn’t the first time this paper has done this. A similar list was published prior to the last election and the number of ballots cast was boosted from 2004’s 37% turnout of registered voters to 2006’s 65% turnout.

Miller-Perry discounted the risk that this higher vote total could have included bogus votes. “I suppose it’s possible that this information could be used to forge documents so that others would be able to cast fraudulent votes,” she admitted. “But is this truly worse than having fewer than 50% of the potential votes cast?”

In related news, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner hailed the US Supreme Court’s decision declaring that she need not verify 200,000 voter registrations that have discrepancies in names, addresses, and other identification data. “I’d rather have 200,000 ineligible votes cast than run the risk of denying one legitimate voter the right to exercise the franchise,” Brunner said. “I’m glad to see that the Supreme Court’s decision has vindicated my sentiment on this matter.”

Lawyer Asks Court to Issue “Cease-and-Desist” Order to McCain Campaign

Kansas City lawyer and supporter of Barack Obama, Mary Kay Green, has filed a lawsuit in federal court asking that Arizona Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign be ordered to cease its negative portrayal of Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill) on the grounds that it is adversely affecting her health.

“I used to sleep easy in the confident expectation that Senator Barack Obama would be our next president,” Green stated. “But Senator McCain and his running mate’s persistent attempts to undermine Obama’s ascent to the office of president are causing me terror of the heart, anxiety and grave fear. My health has been put at risk of irreparable damage.”

The suit argues that the only way to avert this irreparable damage is for the court to block further campaign activities and statements by the McCain/Palin ticket. “My belief in the omnipresent goodness and wisdom of Senator Obama is being threatened,” Green continued.

Green drew a parallel with the day she was told that there was no Santa Clause. “I was at the junior prom when my date mentioned that there was no Santa Claus,” Green recounted. “My classmates backed him up. My whole world was turned upside down. I don’t want to have to relive those feelings.”

Pumpkin Thief Demands Justice

A 19-year-old man who received superficial buckshot wounds while he was attempting to steal pumpkins from a farm in San Joaquin County, California, expressed his anger that no arrests have been made. “Not only did I have to go to the hospital, but my friend’s Lincoln Navigator was damaged,” the man complained.

The man, whose name is being withheld by the police, claimed he was merely engaged in “spreading the wealth” when he was shot by the property owner. “This guy has a giant field full of pumpkins,” he said. “I have none. This is the unfairness Obama warned us about.”

The shooting victim predicted that “this kind of thing won’t be happening once Obama is president. People won’t have guns lying around to shoot others with.”

Congressman Says He Is Victim in Sex Scandal

Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL) is under fire for agreeing to pay $121,000 in “hush” money to a former mistress who was set to file a sexual harassment suit against him when he fired her from his campaign staff.

“The point is, I was paying her for sex,” Mahoney said. “When she cut me off I had no further use for her. It’s not like she knew anything about campaigns or advertising. She’s the one who reneged on the agreement we had. Then she blackmailed me. Clearly I’m the victim here. I just hope the voters will appreciate that.”

Senior Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives have been working with Mahoney to try to keep the scandal from hurting his re-election campaign.

John Semmens got his start writing about politics for his college newspaper. Since then, he has written more than 600 articles that have been published. In addition to "Semi-News," John's opinion pieces have appeared in many newspapers around the country--including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, and many others.

Will Anti-Gun Group’s Endorsement Help Or Hurt?

Anti-Gun-Rights Candidate Could Gut “Heller” Decision

Now that Barack Obama has received the endorsement of the Brady Campaign gun-control group, will the Supreme Court’s findings in the D.C. gun-ban “Heller” case matter?

That’s the question experts are asking in the wake of Obama’s 11th-hour support from America’s leading gun-ban advocates. The late-date endorsement was conspicuously absent from most large news outlets. Those groups have repeatedly claimed that anti-gun-rights agendas were a key issue in the Democrat election defeats of 2000 and 2004.

“Obama publicly supported Washington D.C.’s total gun ban until the Supreme Court’s ‘Heller’ case voided it,” says Alan Korwin, co-author of “The Heller Case: Gun Rights Affirmed,” which was just released (see below for news-media review copies). “His opposition to gun rights is well known and carefully documented in the new book,” he said. Obama swiftly reversed his position after the High Court found that gun rights belong to individuals, a point also documented in the new book.

“Before the ban was overturned, Mr. Obama supported the position of the Court’s dissenters — that gun bans are fine and the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights does not protect people, it protects ‘collective rights’ of states,” Korwin notes. That position had little to support it in the historical record, but was favored by people seeking to ban firearms from public hands. The “collective rights” theory, a recent creation, was dismissed with ridicule by the Court (equating it to Alice in Wonderland). The Amendment itself speaks of “the security of a free state,” and “the right of the people.”

As the first book released about the landmark gun-rights decision, “The Heller Case: Gun Rights Affirmed” describes the events leading up to the case, and precisely what the Court said, word-for-word and in plain English. If Obama follows the Court’s decree, the civil rights of the general public should be fairly well safeguarded with respect to owning and using firearms.

If he instead follows the lead of his endorsers in the Brady Campaign, gun rights as America has known them for more than two centuries could easily end. His campaign positions so far suggest the latter, if he is elected. His widely available voting record is 100% consistent — voting for every restriction on law-abiding gun use, and against every proposed protection for innocent individuals.

Virtually all recent gun-law proposals fall into those two categories — bans on honest ownership and rights, or support for honest ownership and rights. New laws targeting criminals are rare, since every imaginable criminal activity with guns is already against the law and carries severe penalties.

The only thing left, according to leading experts, is to ban guns for non-criminals, a policy choice adopted in some circles. Gun bans on criminals have had embarrassingly little effect on street gangs, the drug war and career criminals in general. Facing abject failure of crime-related social policies, and unable to disarm criminals, many politicians are turning instead to civil-disarmament schemes. Working against this trend, “Disarm Criminals First” says one campaign slogan in the Marksmanship Movement.

The three publicly announced elements of the Brady-Obama anti-gun positions include 1- Ban the freedom to sell firearms from one innocent person to another, euphemistically called the “gun-show loophole”; 2- Allow all law enforcement officers to fish through gun-dealer records looking for paperwork or other violations, and compile data as they see fit, euphemistically known as “repealing the Tiahart Amendment” (which prevents them from doing so currently); and 3- permanently ban an enormous list of perfectly legal firearms and accessories based on looks, names and operating characteristics, euphemistically called an “assault-weapons ban.”

First, knowledgeable observers know assault is a type of behavior, not a type of hardware, plus the ban seeks to outlaw all semiautomatic firearms. Second, it’s already completely illegal for criminals to buy firearms under any circumstances, so the proposed private-sale ban would only affect innocent citizens. And third, the Tiahart Amendment protects the innocent from government registries and abuse, so all three proposals, as noted above, have virtually no effect on stopping crime, but do crush freedoms Americans currently enjoy.

A long wish list of other gun-freedom repeals have been previously announced by Brady, Obama and their supporters, but have not shown up in the candidate’s platform yet. See some of them here:

http://www.gunlaws.com/PageNineIndex.htm

and many more here:

http://www.gunlaws.com/Left-wing%20Gun%20Plan.htm

including (as listed during the Clinton administration):

THE FIVE YEAR PLAN:

1. National Licensing of all handgun purchases.

2. Licenses for Rifle and Shotgun owners.

3. State Licenses for ownership of firearms.

4. Arsenal Licenses (5 guns and 250 rounds of ammunition).

5. Arsenal License Fees (at least $300.00, with a cap of $1,000.00).

6. Limits on Arsenal Licensing (None in counties with populations of more than 200,000).

7. Requirement of Federally Approved Storage Safes for all guns.

8. Inspection License. (Gun safe licenses, yearly fee for spot inspections).

9. Ban on Manufacturing in counties with a population of more than 200,000.

10. Banning all military style firearms.

11. Banning Machine Gun Parts or parts which can be used in a Machine gun.

12. Banning the carrying a firearm anywhere but home or target range or in transit from one to the other.

13. Banning replacement parts (manufacturing, sale, possession, transfer, installation) except barrel, trigger group.

14. Elimination of the Curio Relic list.

15. Control of Ammunition belonging to Certain Surplus Firearms. (7.62×54R and .303).

16. Eventual Ban of Handgun Possession.

17. Banning of Any ammo that fits military guns (post 1945).

18. Banning of any quantity of smokeless powder or black powder which would constitute more than the equivalent of 100 rounds of ammunition.

19. Ban the possession of explosive powders of more than 1 kg. at any one time.

20. Banning of High Powered Ammo or Wounding ammo.

21. A National License for Ammunition.

22. Banning or strict licensing of all re-loading components.

23. National Registration of ammunition or ammo buyers.

24. Requirements of special storage safe for ammunition and licensing.

25. Restricting Gun Ranges to counties with populations less than 200,000.

26. Special Licensing of ranges.

27. Special Range Tax to visitors. ($85.00 per visit per person).

28. Waiting period for rentals on pistol ranges.

29. Banning Gun Shows.

30. Banning of military reenactments.

PLUS:

Ban of all clips holding over 6 bullets.

Elimination of the Dept. of Civilian Marksmanship.

Ban on all realistic replica and toy guns (including “air soft” and paintball).

The right of gun-violence victims to sue, with financial assistance from government programs, the gun manufacturers.

Taxes on ammo, dealers, guns, licenses to offset medical costs to society.

The eventual ban on all semi-automatics regardless of when made or caliber.

CHICAGO, Oct 15, 2008 /PRNewswire-US Newswire via COMTEX/ -- The following is the text of an open letter to the nation's hunters and sportsmen issued today by Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson:

Fellow Sportsman,

Hello, my name is Rich Pearson and I have been active in the firearm rights movement for over 40 years. For the past 15 years, I have served in the Illinois state capitol as the chief lobbyist for the Illinois State Rifle Association.

I lobbied Barack Obama extensively while he was an Illinois State Senator. As a result of that experience, I know Obama's attitudes toward guns and gun owners better than anyone. The truth be told, in all my years in the Capitol I have never met a legislator who harbors more contempt for the law-abiding firearm owner than does Barack Obama.

Although Obama claims to be an advocate for the 2nd Amendment, his voting record in the Illinois Senate paints a very different picture. While a state senator, Obama voted for a bill that would ban nearly every hunting rifle, shotgun and target rifle owned by Illinois citizens. That same bill would authorize the state police to raid homes of gun owners to forcibly confiscate banned guns. Obama supported a bill that would shut down law-abiding firearm manufacturers including Springfield Armory, Armalite, Rock River Arms and Les Baer. Obama also voted for a bill that would prohibit law-abiding citizens from purchasing more than one gun per month.

Without a doubt, Barack Obama has proven himself to be an enemy of the law abiding firearm owner. At the same time, Obama has proven himself to be a friend to the hardened criminal. While a state senator, Obama voted 4 times against legislation that would allow a homeowner to use a firearm in defense of home and family.

Does Barack Obama still sound to you like a "friend" of the law-abiding gun owner?

And speaking of friends, you can always tell a person by the company they keep. Obama counts among his friends the Rev. Michael Pfleger - a renegade Chicago priest who has openly called for the murder of gun shop owners and pro-gun legislators. Then there is his buddy Richard Daley, the mayor of Chicago who has declared that if it were up to him, nobody would be allowed to own a gun. And let's not forget Obama's pal George Soros - the guy who has pumped millions of dollars into the UN's international effort to disarm law-abiding citizens.

Obama has shown that he is more than willing to use other people's money to fund his campaign to take your guns away from you. While a board member of the leftist Joyce Foundation, Barack Obama wrote checks for tens of millions of dollars to extremist gun control organizations such as the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and the Violence Policy Center.

Does Barack Obama still sound to you like a "friend" of the law-abiding gun owner?

By now, I'm sure that many of you have received mailings from an organization called "American Hunters and Shooters Association(AHSA)" talking about what a swell fellow Obama is and how he honors the 2nd Amendment and how you will never have to worry about Obama coming to take your guns. Let me make it perfectly clear - everything the AHSA says about Obama is pure hogwash. The AHSA is headed by a group of left-wing elitists who subscribe to the British view of hunting and shooting. That is, a state of affairs where hunting and shooting are reserved for the wealthy upper-crust who can afford guided hunts on exclusive private reserves. The AHSA is not your friend, never will be.

In closing, I'd like to remind you that I'm a guy who has actually gone nose to nose with Obama on gun rights issues. The Obama I know cannot even begin to identify with this nation's outdoor traditions. The Obama I know sees you, the law abiding gun owner, as nothing but a low-class lummox who is easily swayed by the flash of a smile and a ration of rosy rhetoric. The Obama I know is a stony-faced liar who has honed his skill at getting what he wants - so long as people are willing to give it to him.

That's the Barack Obama I know.

The ISRA is the state's leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. Founded in 1903, the ISRA has represented the interests of millions of law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.

WEB SITE: http://www.isra.org

SOURCE Illinois State Rifle Association

There's an effort to elect an unknown random person as President... and it's someone we know! Watch this online video about the surprising new nominee:

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=370617&altf=Njdibfm&altl=Cfbn

Jot back a note to let me know what you think!

Thank you

Michael Beam

You've read the quote. You've heard the rumors. Now, hear the audio of Mark Warner calling the NRA, people of faith, home schoolers and people who believe in the right to life "a threat to what it means to be an American." When this issue first surfaced in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, then gubernatorial candidate Mark Warner "angrily denied the claim" and called it "inaccurate." But the audio will tell you a different story.