RNC Growing A Pair?

The Washington Times reports that the Republican Nat'l Committee will try to pass a resolution next month accusing President Bush and Congressional Republicans of moving our economy further into socialism.

The resolution simply states: "WHEREAS, the Bank Bailout Bill effectively nationalized the Nation's banking system, giving the United States non-voting warrants from participating financial institutions, and moving our free market based economy another dangerous step closer toward socialism; and WHEREAS, what was needed, and is still needed, to fix the banking industry is not a bailout, but rather a commitment to fiscal responsibility."

That seems pretty tame to most of us out here in fly-over country. We would have preferred that they include the phrase "communist weasel pussies" when describing Bush and his gang of DC RINOs. I also don't think the bailouts are a "step [...] toward socialism." We're already there. The bailouts are just a step further into it.

However, the resolution is a step in the right direction at least. Let's hope that they actually mean it and it's not just a publicity stunt to salve hurt feelings with conservatives. Maybe, just maybe, someday we can go back to having at least two parties in this country.

THE FED OWNS YOU...RIGHT DOWN TO YOUR DNA

Well boys and girls, if we need any further proof that Fed.gov is completely insane and utterly out of control, here it is. The Feds want your baby's DNA. This is one of those bills they slipped in under the radar when our "watchdog press", once again, was sleeping under the porch and licking itself. Many of the usual suspects sponsored this BS; Christopher Dodd, Daniel Inouye, Edward Kennedy, Tom Harkin, Hillary Clinton. In addition to fifteen Democrats co-sponsoring were five "conservative" Republicrats and an Independent.

From the article at Natural News:
S.1858, known as The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007, is justified as a “national contingency plan” in that it represents preparation for any sort of public health emergency. The bill states that the federal government should “continue to carry out, coordinate, and expand research in newborn screening” and “maintain a central clearinghouse of current information on newborn screening… ensuring that the clearinghouse is available on the Internet and is updated at least quarterly”. Sections of the bill also make it clear that DNA may be used in genetic experiments and tests.

Our pal, Ron Paul, was of course against this travesty. You remember, that guy who was an alarmist and a kook to be shunned when he warned us about the perlious state of this country's finances. From Ron on the House floor:

“I cannot support legislation…that exceeds the Constitutional limitations on federal power or in any way threatens the liberty of the American people. I must oppose it.”
“S. 1858 gives the federal bureaucracy the authority to develop a model newborn screening program. Madame Speaker, the federal government lacks both the constitutional authority and the competence to develop a newborn screening program adequate for a nation as large and diverse as the United States. …”
“Those of us in the medical profession should be particularly concerned about policies allowing government officials and state-favored interests to access our medical records without our consent … My review of S. 1858 indicates the drafters of the legislation made no effort to ensure these newborn screening programs do not violate the privacy rights of parents and children, in fact, by directing federal bureaucrats to create a contingency plan for newborn screening in the event of a ‘public health’ disaster, this bill may lead to further erosions of medical privacy. As recent history so eloquently illustrates, politicians are more than willing to take, and people are more than willing to cede, liberty during times of ‘emergency.”

Here's the full text of the odious bill for those with strong stomachs. Never mind...linkee now downee, go figure. Natural News has more information and what little "we the peons" can do to about Big Brother's DNA snatch.

Christmas For Tyrants

[A paid advertisement from the Bush Administration.]

Not sure what to get for the usurping tyrant on your holiday gift list? Don’t worry! The Bush Administration has it covered with the new EZ-Bake Dictatorship.

When he issued “The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive” (NSPD 51/HSPD-20) in May 4, 2007, President Bush made creating your own dictatorship as easy as 1-2-3!

Step 1. Mix

Remember all that silly stuff they taught you in civics class about the legislative, executive and legislative branches of government creating “checks and balances” against each other to keep any one branch from getting out of control? NSPD-51/HSPD-20 states that in the event of a "catastrophic emergency" a president can get rid of all that confusing stuff and create his own "Enduring Constitutional Government" coordinated by himself. Pretty cool, huh? It doesn’t state who has the power to declare the emergency over, and without those pesky legislative and judicial branches around, why would any president want to end the party?

And that’s just the un-classified part of the directive! Who knows what other goodies await in the parts you aren’t allowed to see. They’ll be there for a long time, just waiting for some audacious future president with the nerve to open this neatly wrapped gift.

Step 2. Apply Heat

NSPD-51/HSPD-20 defines a “catastrophic emergency” as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions." Since any designing president who has the chutzpah to open his EZ-Bake Dictatorship will already be sitting on the world’s second largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, creating such carnage would be a snap!

If one of those warheads should “accidentally” fall into the wrong hands (preferably a political or religious group that has opposed the president) and be detonated in a major U.S. city, that should do the trick.

If inflicting megadeath upon your own people isn't really your style (Pussy!), try global warming. It's already being billed as a "catastrophic emergency" by world leaders and the media. The case has already been made that it is an "incident [...] severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions[,]" just as NSPD-51/HSPD-20 stipulates. Close enough for government work, he-he-he!

Step 3. Enjoy!

Enjoy your dictatorship! Since not everyone might agree with your glorious new vision for the country, however, the Bush administration offers some cool accessories for your EZ-Bake Dictatorship.

The Pentagon already has work afoot to have 20,000 specially trained troops inside the U.S. by 2011 who will be tasked with helping out during a “catastrophic emergency.” They could be handy for disarming and controlling political enemies. While a 1994 survey of military personnel found that 26% “would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the U.S. government,” that number would surely go up during the “rally around the flagpole” period after a major terrorist attack, especially if dissenting citizens could be implicated in the attack.

With the Bush Administration’s EZ-Bake Dictatorship, tyranny has never been so easy!

From the people who brought you: The Socialist Takeover of the Free Market, The Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina Relief, The Capture of Bin Laden, The Bridge to Nowhere and many more fine products.

STOP MILKING OR WE'LL SHOOT!!

There are two sides to every story and maybe it’s tinfoil hat time, but this would sure seem to be a disturbing trend. Do Agriculture Departments really need police powers, undercover agents, and SWAT teams?

First, a couple of years ago, the powers-that-be of our beloved nanny state decided you can’t drink milk out of the cow. The government is diligently keeping us safe from the deadly threat of the Amish, non-violent farming folk who shun modern conveniences such as electricity and cars as part of their Biblical beliefs. One would think that the government might possibly have something a bit more important on their plate than busting Eli the milk-trafficker, but one would be wrong.

Being an old pig boy, I must confess I’m no expert on dairy cows, but the Terror of Holsteins ranks pretty low on my DEFCON status. Apparently, natural grass-fed cows have almost no risk of producing contaminated milk. But that’s no reason not to bust a few Amish heads. You let those peaceful extremists get their camel’s nose under then tent of the Big Ag Corporate Monopoly and the next thing you know their lobbyists will have to shell out more money to their favorite senators.

I’m too lazy to do further research, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the “laws” being violated are not laws passed by Congress, as mandated in the Constitution, but just regulations made up by bureaucrats but which nonetheless carry the weight of the Rule of Law.


Now, apparently, since the menace of runaway Amish milkmen has been contained, the Ag Cops have moved on to the subversive natural food co-ops.
Gets kind of scary when you think about Henry Kissinger’s little gibe, “Control food and you control the people.”

Rather than a grand conspiracy, at least at this point, I suspect a few other reasons. First, the Big Ag Corporate Monopoly has spared no expense to purchase politicians and by God they’re gonna get their money’s worth. You can’t have these little independent guys nibbling away at that last three-tenths of a percent of the market that’s not (yet) monopolized. Another reason is that since the USDA now has eleven employees for every farmer and rancher left in the U.S., a bunch of chairborne mid-level bureaucrats have to come up with some kind of justification for their useless existence, let alone their fat budgets.

Toss into the mix the National Animal Identification System, patented genetically mutated hybrid terminator seeds, and livestock and poultry crammed full of hormones and antibiotics and altered genes and meat waste products for feed (always good for a herbivore, that last one). All that is fine ‘n’ dandy, as long as it’s done by the country's biggest recipients of corporate welfare.


But don’t worry. It’s for your own good. Nanny knows best. Get rid of that grass-fed ribeye and just shut up and eat your glow-in-the-dark porcuswine drumstick.

SAM-THE-DOG REPUBLICANS

Just after the turn of the last century, southern boys gave us the term Yellow Dog Democrats. These were folks who, like many of the blind faithful minority and “working class” Democrats of today, would just as soon vote for an “ol’ yaller dawg” than vote for a Republican. Especially if Jesse Jackson or the Union tells them to.

More recently we had the Blue Dog Democrats. This is a much more useful group, going back to what were once known as Reagan Democrats. A Texas Democrat, Pete Geren, coined the phrase when he said the Democratic Party had been “choked blue” by the left-wing extremist wacko kook-fringe, such as bunny-huggers, gay rights activists, the Democratic Underground, George Soros, and Katie Couric.

Which brings us to Sam-the-Dog Republicans.

Sam-the-Dog was a rather sad little creature who came to stay with us on the farm for awhile when we were kids. Sam was a bonified Heintz 57 American Mutt, but primarily some kind of heeler. A cow dog on a pig farm. Regardless of his lineage, or lack thereof, Sam was not the most loveable or huggable of dogs. At best you just kind of felt sorry for him. When you tried to pet him, Sam, who was soooo eager to please and wanted to be loved soooo badly, would start whimpering and roll over on his back and spump thick, smelly urine all over himself and you. You quickly decided you did not want to pet him after all and backed off in disgust.

At the other end of the spectrum, we had a dog named Duke, a black lab/Great Dane mix. Duke was universally loved and the few that didn’t love him by God respected him. He could pick Sam up in his mouth and carry him around. If you were pheasant hunting with Duke and missed a shot, he would turn, never say a word, but give you that look, which made you promise to do better next time. Sometimes, if you weren’t quick enough on the draw, he would leap 4-5 feet in the air and get the pheasant himself. If any ol’ yaller dawg came into the farmyard, Duke simply kicked its ass. His mere presence kept the farm secure; the Jehovah’s Witnesses wouldn’t even get out of the car when he looked down at them through the window and went, “WOOF!”

From 1981-1989 America had a Duke on the job. Today, all that those geniuses at the Republican National Committee can offer us is Sam-the-Dog. Sam-the-Dog Republicans want sooo badly to be loved by the Left, the Press, and “moderates” that they too will roll over and whine and grovel and pee all over themselves in a pathetic and very unsuccessful attempt to curry favor with those who are cat-lovers in the first place.

Now that I think about it, not even the Sam-the-Dog analogy quite covers the current Republican Party completely. After all, Sam-the-Dog never even thought about biting the hand that fed him.

At any rate, we now have the ultimate yaller dawg on top of the heap. Or, as I like to call him, Jimmy Carter’s Evil Twin. Pass the Zicam, I can feel this country coming down with a “malaise” already. This young puppy has been chasing the car for a long time, but now that he’s actually caught it, he hasn’t a clue on what the hell to actually do with it. He could, in the next four years, “screw the pooch” (ha-ha, get it?) so badly that the GOP could make a sweeping come-back in 2012.

They won’t, not with the current dog handlers. Even in the doubtful event that they could come up with another Duke, the RNC trainers would never let him off the leash. Neo-Cons, New Conservatives, as Edward Abbey once said, “Are neither new nor conservative, but old as Babylon and evil as Hell.” They seem to actually hate real Conservatives and real Conservatism and prefer Sam-the-Dogs.

Many of these same weenies, or similar creatures of their ilk, tried to keep Duke in the kennel way back in 1976…he was “too conservative” to be electable. Instead, the clever puppet-masters picked Gerald Ford because he was “moderate”, more like a poodle. Thus the RNC helped usher in the beloved Carter Administration which strove so hard to make America the world’s fire hydrant.

Duke broke out of his pen and got the nomination the next go-round, and proved to be a tad bit more than “electable” than the RNC rocket scientists predicted. Just ask the Democrats’ very own Sam-the-Dog, Peanut Boy Carter, who won 6 states in 1980. Or yapping Chihuahua Walter (Hey, I won Minnesota and Washington D.C.!) Mondale.

As el Rushbo always says, Conservatism wins whenever it is tried. Despite the Reagan Revolution and the Class of ’94, the GOP big shots won’t even try actual Conservatism. They keep insisting that only wishy-washy moderate or left-leaning Sam-the-Dogs can fetch the big ball. We’ve all seen how well that’s been working for them. Apparently, they themselves can’t see it no matter how many times they step barefoot on the poop in the yard. Right now they’re posting fliers on telephone poles seeking to find another beloved Sam-the-Dog to run in 2012. They’ve already pushed Duchess out into the street to get hit by the bus.

If you’re one of the few actual Conservative who still try to pet the GOP Sam-the-Dog, bring some hand sanitizer; you’ll no doubt get peed on again. I think maybe the GOP has rabies and needs to be taken out behind the woodshed and shot. Only no one will cry at the end.

Storm Clouds Gathering For Gun Owners

Although Obama campaigned in rural states as being supportive of the right to keep and bear arms, there are more and more signs that America's gun owners may be headed for trouble with the Obama administration.

Obama's website www.change.gov explains his future agenda. In the "Urban Policy" Section is the heading "Address Gun Violence in Cities." Here are Obama's ideas in that section and my responses to them.

"Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade."

The Tiahrt Amendment prohibits the BATFE from releasing information from its firearms trace database to anyone other than a law enforcement agency or prosecutor in connection with a criminal investigation. In other words, local law enforcement already have access to this "important gun trace information." Anti-gun fanatics like NYC Mayor Bloomberg want this information released to them so that it can be used in predatory lawsuits against legal gun dealers, as well as to anti-gun sociologists to use in academic studies to impune civilian gun ownership. Not all guns in the data are crime guns. Both the BATFE and the Fraternal Order of Police oppose releasing this information, as it jeopardises ongoing investigations.

"Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals."

If the Second Amendment didn't exist at all, the federal government would still have no authority over any of this. "Keeping guns away from children" could mean mandatory safe-storage laws, perhaps even away-from-home storage. How do you verify that? Random home searches? And there are already scads of laws on the books to keep guns away from criminals. What hasn't been tried, other than nation-wide licensing and registration or outright bans?

"They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof."

Ugh! First, there is NO gun show loophole. All federal, state, and local laws are in full force at a gun show. All gun dealers have to do background checks on buyers at gun shows just as they do back at their stores. Private gun sales (like you selling me your old shotgun) do not require background checks whether they occur at a gun show or down at the shooting range. Why? Because you don't have the knowledge or ability to conduct a background check on someone when you sell them a gun. Even with this "gaping loophole," only about 2% of all crime guns come from gun shows. Big deal!

And making guns "childproof!" What the hell? I've heard a few proposals on how to do this. One is to make guns that "recognise" their owners (by fingerprint or some other biometric identifier) and will only fire for them. Unfortunately this is untested, unreliable technology. That is why the proposed legislation for this have always exempted cops from this requirement. They don't want to risk law enforcement lives on shit technology, just yours.

Another brilliant proposal is to make trigger pulls so stiff that children can't pull the trigger. I'm no Carlos Hathcock, but I do know that trigger control is important to actually hitting anything. If pulling the trigger is harder than setting a bear trap, you won't hit what you're shooting at. That also makes armed self-defense harder for women or old folks with weak hands.

"They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent."

This could be a whole post in and of itself. For starters, so-called "assault weapons" are not fully automatic machine-guns as the are often portrayed in the popular media. Those have been illegal since the 1930's. What is an "assault weapon" then? Whatever Carolyn McCarthy, Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer say it is. They can be rifles, shotguns or pistols. They can fire big bullets or little bullets. They can be old guns or new ones. That's what makes this ban so dangerous: If you give these jokers the ability to ban ANY weapons based on completely subjective and arbitrary criteria, you've essentially allowed them to ban ALL weapons.

Proposed legislation not only reenacts the expired 1994 ban, but widens it to include all sorts of guns that weren't affected by the original ban, such as the Ruger Mini-14 and the M1 Carbine and God knows what else.

The ban was pointless to begin with. In 1993 the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported violent criminals only carry or use a "military-type gun" (if that's how you want to define "assault weapon") in about 1% of the crimes nationwide. Cops were statistically three times as likely to be killed by their own gun than an "assault weapon." After the ban expired in 2004, crime rates continued to drop as the formerly banned weapons suddenly flooded the streets.

Besides Obama's stated agenda on his website, another troubling sign is Obama's choice of Eric Holder as his Attorney General. Holder worked under Janet "Torch" Reno in the Clinton administration and has an anti-Second Amendment track record a mile long.

All signs point toward a bumpy few years ahead for America's gun owners. Keep your powder dry boys and girls.

WHAT I LEARNED IN HUNTING CAMP

Well, enough with the political crap for awhile. It is now safe to watch TV again, although I still don’t because the shows on are so worthless. I myself just got back from a nice 5 days in hunting camp where I got a decent buck “speed goat”, aka pronghorn antelope, with my favorite little 1894 Swedish Mauser in 6.5x55mm. My partner also got his speed goat and filled a whitetail doe tag. It was a great time living in an old GI squad tent with the cold weather liner, stoking up the Cabela’s packer stove, and cooking in the Dutch oven. Camp was as much fun as hunting. As always, one tends to learn new things on such trips. Here are the lessons from hunting camp that lodged themselves in the warped recesses of my warped little mind.

A single cup of coffee in the morning will cause you to urinate at least 17 times during the first hour of hunting, especially if you are stalking game and the wind is erratic.

It is a very good thing to have an insomniac hunting partner who gets up early and stokes the tent stove. If you do not have an insomniac hunting partner, consider slipping him some laxatives before bed.

Waterproof boots do you no good when you take a one-legger up to your crotch in a beaver hole.

Due to strange atmospheric conditions, not age, rifles and packs will swell and increase in weight by at least threefold during the course of a single day’s hunt.

Toilet paper! Always have toilet paper in your day pack!

A fatally shot game animal will have just enough energy left lurch over a stream bank and fall into the deepest beaver pond on the creek.

In real life, anyone insisting one should drink the blood of a downed game animal, like those idiot kids in Red Dawn, will be immediately clubbed with rifle butts.

When it’s ten degrees, have an empty Gatorade bottle beside your cot to prevent those annoying trips outside in the middle of the night in your long underwear.

When your wife says you don’t need a game cart, you will really, really, really need a game cart.

When you shoot an antelope, be sure you are at least a mile from the truck and have left your skinning knife in it, so you can field dress with a dull 3-inch pocket knife.

It’s never too early to start making plans for next year.

Debate On "Money Hole"

In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

[from http://www.theonion.com/]

EVEN AS WE SPEAK, THE GENIUSES AT THE RNC WHO GAVE US MCCAIN '08 ARE IMPLEMENTING BRILLIANT NEW STRATEGIES FOR A GOP COME-BACK IN 2012!

No More McCains!

If you're like me, you get plenty of junk mail from groups like the NRA and Republican Party, asking for donations. They're often accompanied by a postage-paid return envelope. Don't throw these away! I made the following and now print it off and stick it in the return envelope and mail it to them. I hope you will too!

No More McCains!
No More RINOs!
No More Sellouts!
(And, until I’m sure that you’ve got the message, no more money from me.)

GOA: "Gun Rights in Peril"

Gun Rights in Peril

Barack Obama in the White House

[from Gun Owners of America]

Based on his voting record in the Illinois state senate and in theU.S. Senate, President-elect Barack Obama will be the mostanti-Second Amendment president in the history of America.

In January, the new President will govern alongside congressional leadership, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who are also extremely hostile to gun rights and who now enjoy greatly expanded majorities.

There can be little doubt about the direction in which gun rights are headed. The questions are how far will the anti-gunners go and how fast will they move?

Many comparisons have been made to the first two years of the first Clinton Administration, in which one party controlled both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Almost all experts agree that it was Clinton's overreaching on issues like gun control that cost his party control of Congress. Barack Obama will start out governing with even larger majorities than did Clinton.

Obama ran a campaign high on rhetoric and short on specifics. The President-elect claims he will govern from the middle, but the question for gun owners is which Obama will show up at the WhiteHouse -- the "centrist" from the campaign trail, or the radical anti-Second Amendment extremist who supports gun bans, waiting periods for firearm purchases, one gun a month restrictions, and more?

His party's large gains in the Congress give the incoming President more room to maneuver with a radical agenda.

An equally important question is the outlook for gun rights in the new Congress. That Obama will sign any anti-gun bill that gets to his desk is a certainty. But what can gun owners expect from the new Congress?

Hopes of Congressional restraint on gun issues dimmed with each election return as Pelosi's and Reid's majorities grew to historic proportions.

While there are many moderately pro-gun Democrats in Congress,they're not the ones calling the shots. The leadership is completely in the anti-gun camp, so expanding their majority would have a negative impact on gun rights regardless of who filled those seats.

Unfortunately, though, many seats that flipped parties also went from strong pro-gun to strong anti-gun. Gun owners suffered heavy losses in the Senate. Here's a look at five Senate seats that switched parties (all switches went from Republican to Democrat).

Colorado -- The retirement of A-rated Senator Wayne Allard set up a battle between anti-gun Rep. Mark Udall and pro-gun former Rep. BobSchaffer. This is one of three senate seats that flipped from "A" to"F."

New Hampshire -- Pro-gun Senator John Sununu was defeated by F-rated former governor Jeanne Shaheen, another "A" to "F" shift.

New Mexico -- Long-time Senator Pete Domenici, who was D-rated and usually voted against gun owners, was replaced by F-rated CongressmanTom Udall. Udall defeated A-rated Representative Steve Pearce,making this a big loss for gun owners.

North Carolina -- Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole ran as a pro-gun control candidate for president in 2000. Since being elected to the Senate from the Tar Heel state, however, Mrs. Dole compiled a good pro-gun record. Dole's defeat at the hands of F-rated anti-gunnerKay Hagan is a dramatic flip for gun rights.

Virginia -- F-rated Republican John Warner retired. Former governor Mark Warner (no relation) trounced "A" rated Jim Gilmore, also a former governor. Either of the candidates would have been an improvement over the retiring Senator, but Mark Warner refused to answer the GOA survey and has a mixed record on gun issues.

In the battle for the U.S. House of Representatives, gun owners also were hit hard.

Of the 18 incumbents who were defeated, 15 were pro-gun (only two were replaced by a pro-gunner). Of particular disappointment to gunowners were the losses of Republican representatives Marilyn Musgrave(CO-4), Tom Feeney (FL-24), Bill Sali (ID-1), and Tim Walberg (MI-7).These representatives were among the most ardent Second Amendment supporters.

In the 32 open House seats, the results were mixed. Thirteen seats went to A-rated candidates, while six went to F-rated anti-gunners. Nine new congressmen are "Not Rated," meaning they have no record and refused to fill out a GOA questionnaire. Four new members fall somewhere in the middle, leaning toward a pro-gun position but no guarantees. Note: a handful of close races across the country are obviously headed for recounts, but this is how things look at the moment.

The A-rated winners in open seat elections are: Tom McClintock (R-CA)(this race is still subject to change), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Bill Posey (R-FL), Mike Coffman (R-CO), Debbie Halvorson (D-IL), Aaron Schock (R-IL), Brett Guthrie (R-KY), Erik Paulsen (R-MN), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Christopher Lee (R-NY), Glenn Thompson (R-PA),Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY). These representatives will have their work cut out for them, as the new Congress has moved decidedly in the anti-gun direction and many pro-gun leaders were defeated.

All in all, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid can’t help but be emboldened by their gains and there can be no denying that gun control legislation is on their agenda.

So what can gun owners and sportsmen do to help prevent a gun control tidal wave? Get involved and stay engaged!

Gun Owners of America will continue its efforts as Capitol Hill's no-compromise gun lobby. But GOA's effectiveness depends on your activism. Please continue to send the e-mails to your congressmen,and forward GOA Action Alerts to pro-gun friends.

If you are not a member of Gun Owners of America, please join today at http://www.gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm so that you can start receiving our newsletters and other important gun rights information.

The entire Congress needs to know that we're watching, and if they attempt to ban even one firearm or expand unconstitutional gun control in any way they will pay at the polls in the next election.

AND THE NEXT ADMINISTRATION WILL BE...

"Jimmy Carter's Evil Twin" instead of "Bush III".

IT WILL ALL BE OVER SOON...

I think the above illustration pretty much sums up what we have gotten from the 2008 elections, even more so from the so-called media than from the candidates.

Thankfully, the election cometh this week and our pain will be over soon, although another pain may be imminent. It will be safe to watch TV again without being bombarded with annoying political ads, although IMHO TV is not worth watching these days even without the politico ads. Try reading a book. We will have maybe a two-year hiatus in which to do so before they start campaigning for 2012.

Meanwhile, lest we forget history, since those who do are doomed to repeat it, let’s take a brief time-out to examine a few age-old observations appropriate to this election that the grazing public at large seems to have forgotten…again…

"If you don't read the newspaper you are uniformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."-Mark Twain

"I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to luft himself up by the handle."-Winston Churchill

"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."-George Bernard Shaw

"Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everyone else."-Frederic Bastiat

"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!"-Pericles

"A government big enough to give everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."-Thomas Jefferson

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."-Matthew 6:33

Cabinet Posts

Although the election isn't over yet, it's never too early to start speculating about who the presidential candidates might appoint to their cabinets if elected. I have a few possible candidates for some of the posts.

Barack Obama Administration-

Secretary of Homeland Security:

Bill Ayers

Secretary of Defense:

Cindy Sheehan

Secretary of Veterans Affairs:

Jane Fonda

Department of Justice:

Barney Fife

Secretary of Treasury:

An exhumed Karl Marx

Lesser Posts-

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms:

Ted Kennedy (Alcohol Division), Bill Clinton (Stoogie Division), Sarah Brady (Firearms Division)

John McCain Administration-

(All federal agencies will be consolidated under the control of the newly formed "Department of Offense," thereby requiring only one cabinet post.)

Secretary of Offense (formerly Defense):

Either McCain himself, or the WOPR supercomputer from the movie "War Games"

Did I leave out any possible candidates? Your suggestions are appreciated.

Sarah Palin On SNL

I rather enjoyed this skit with Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.

WHO WON THE DEBATE? WHO CARES.

OK, here's the mandatory "who won the debate" column, featuring the above photo of the two Presidential candidates duking it out. No, wait, those are kangroos, and thus much smarter and higher on the food chain than the two candidates.

I must confess I could not make it through the entire "presidential" debate myself. I was in an out, doing important stuff like reloading some .30-06 and/or picking my nose. I couldn't stand to just sit and watch for fear of losing my cookies or my mind.

The few things that I did notice was that one did not have to check McCain for a pulse this go-round. He even got in a few zingers, like "Senator Government". Some (namely the Drive-by Media) complained about his "mean-spirited" attacks in regards to Obama's pal, mentor, and possible ghost writer former violent terrorist/current educational terrorist Bill Ayers. Then again, Juan wouldn't need to even bring it up if the talking heads spent approximately 1/150th of the time on that story as they did on the horrors of "Troopergate". At least Palin's state troopers are still above ground, which is more than one can say for the troopers who worked the Arkansas governor's detail awhile back.

Obama said nothing, as usual, but dang he says it so well. So, 95% of us will get a tax cut???? Oh, and yeah, the sun will always shine and the sky will be filled with bluebirds and butterflies atop the Big Rock Candy Mountain. He wants to be and do everything for everybody, never mind we can't pay for the BS programs we have now, and keeps beating the same old "class envy" drum we've heard for how many decades now? Government is our saviour, government will fix everything. It would seem that the "Trickle Down Economics" of the Reagan Administration would be replaced with Obama's fiscal policy of "Trickle Up Poverty".

The handful of Republicans I know who will still admit to being such have long been wondering when McCain was going to "go on the offensive". I can see why all he had to go on the offense with was Barack's long line of shady/crazy/terrorist/muslim/socialist wacko "acquaintances". Just imagine if Juan really did go on the attack about the issues.

MCCAIN: You're against the Second Amendment and support more gun control!

OBAMA: You're the one who wanted to ban the private sale of firearms.

MCCAIN: You helped bail out bloated irresponsible lending institutions on the taxpayer's dime.

OBAMA: You did too. Twice. Remember the S&L Scandal of the 80's?

MCCAIN: You would allow a flood of more illegal aliens into the country.

OBAMA: Oh, come on. That one is tooo easy.

So, I doubt the big debate changed many minds. We won't know about this one till the fat lady sings. The polls have been notoriously inaccurate previous to presidential elections about as long as I have been alive. Of course, it doesn't help with the media meatheads always trying to skew the polls with unanswerable questions like, "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?"

It would be nice to see the media's blatant Obama pandering blow up in their faces. I'm starting to hear people saying they're not voting for McCain but voting against the mainstream media. I gotta admit I would find that pretty hilarious.

Either way, whoever won the debate and whoever wins the election, we lose. But both sides have been destroying this country brick by brick for better than thirty years anyway. So we're just gonna go hunting and camping, visit family this winter, and keep our faith in the One who's really in charge.

NOW THAT'S FUNNY

Now that's funny. I don't care who ya are.

An Open Letter To The NRA

Apparently unswayed by my eloquent letter explaining why they should NOT endorse John McCain for president, the NRA did it anyway. Forgoing any more frilly words, I sent them the following curt letter. Hopefully they'll get enough letters from ticked-off members that they'll stop selling out.

Dear NRA:

I am writing to express my EXTREME displeasure at your recent endorsement of Senator McCain for president. McCain is a traitor to the Second Amendment (as well as most of the rest of the Constitution). He does not deserve to endorsed by the NRA.

I will not quit the NRA, although I'm tempted. However, you will receive NO donations from me for the rest of the year. Not to the NRA, not to the NRA-ILA, not to the NRA-PVF. I don't want any of MY money going to that traitorous sonofabitch John McCain.

You will lose many members over your support of this back-stabbing bastard. Do you happen to have the address for Gun Owners of America? I understand that they don't compromise their member's freedom.

Sincerely,
Ben

V.P. Debate

I've been a political junkie my whole adult life, but in this election I haven't watched any of the debates or anything because, for the first time, I truly and honestly don't care who wins the presidency. I think the republic will be doomed by an Obama or a McCain win. I'm voting for Bob Barr, but I know darned well that it's just a protest vote.

Since there wasn't anything good on tv, I did catch some of the vice presidential debate on Thursday night. Most of what I did see was while I was playing the board game Cariboo (a "magical treasure hunt game") with my two-year-old son, so I couldn't hear a lot of it. After putting the boy to bed, I was able to give Palin and Biden's closing comments my full attention. Therefore I feel that I can offer my enlightened analysis of the debate.

After years of careful study, I've developed several methods by which I evaluate each candidate. It's very interesting to see how each one stacks up based on the methodology. Here goes:

The "Who Would You Rather Bone?" Method: Governor Palin was the clear winner in this category. This issue is very important to me and I felt like Senator Biden wasn't even trying to sway my stance. Slacks with low heels? So last season Joseph!

The "Who Would Win In A Fistfight" Method: Palin again! I can picture Biden curled up on a sawdust floor, shrieking like a woman, trying to shield himself with his briefcase as Palin rains down blows on him. Now there'd be a debate people would watch.

The "Who Would You Rather Go Moose Hunting With?" Method: In a surprise upset, Biden walked away with this category. This is mostly because Sarah Palin is probably a much better marksman and woodsman than I am and my delicate male ego couldn't take being made to look like a chump.

The "Who Has The Most 'Experience' Destroying The Nation and It's Constitution" Method: Senator Biden comes out on top here. With 35 years in the U.S. Senate, which has screwed up nearly every element of the country that has crossed through its sphere of influence (from the economy to foreign relations), in every way that can be measured, Biden has much, much more experience than Palin. Palin's state of Alaska doesn't even have a single trillion dollars of debt, much less 10 trillion like the federal government (9 of which came about while Biden was in the Senate, controlling the purse strings). You'll have to try harder Governor!

While taking a few lumps, Palin performed better than the liberal media pundits had envisioned, since she didn't spit no "tabacky" juice or pause to squat-birth another kid during the debate. Even though Palin did better than expected, "the old pro" Joe Biden can still hold his own... and from what I've heard, he often does. (Hey! Can I get a rimshot here?)

In my humble opinion the real winner of the evening was my son, who managed to find ALL of the rubber balls hidden within the gameboard and thereby opened the magical treasure chest. The smile on his face means more to me than who wins or loses this bullshit election.

BARACK ATTACKS, PART XVII

We all expect BS political ads from both parties. One guy slings mud in an ad and the other guy "refutes" it and slings some back.

The Messiah's minions are getting rather out of hand about it, though. In their minds, I guess, he has already been annointed lord and master. The First Amendment, as we all should know, has been under assault for quite some time now by both parties (Free Speech Zones, anyone?). If the minions have their way, however, it will be fitted with cement shoes and sent to sleep with the fishes. Thou shalt not say anything bad about the Messiah, and if you do thou shalt be attacked and silenced.

First, in a speech to Planned Parenthood Obama let slip that us toothless web-footed hillbillies are "basically decent" but that we aren't smart enough to keep from being misled when we..."listen to the wrong talk radio shows or watch the wrong TV networks."

That was benign enough, going right along with calling those of us in Fly-Over Country (formerly known as the Heartland) gun-totin', God-clingin' racists. Yawn. We're used to snotty left-wing elitists and/or media hacks telling us we shouldn't listen to Rush (even I can't stand GOP cheerleader Hannity) because he will turn us into mind-numbed robots.

Next came the thinly veiled threats from the loony left that America will pay with riots in the streets if we are too "racist" to elect the Obamanation. Big deal. We've heard the "Long hot summer" threats many a time before.

Things started to get a little scary, though, when the Obamistas attacked radio stations in Pennsylvania and Ohio for running NRA sponsored ads that claimed Obama was anti-gun, demanding that they pull the paid advertisements. They even threatened the radio stations with with FCC sanctions if they did not comply with their demands. Well, um, Obama is anti-gun. Duh. How dare they call him on it! If he's pro-gun, then I'm Sarah Brady.

Now, apparently, in St. Louis it has become illegal to even dare to attempt to speak ill of Herr Obama. If you do not utter the Gospel "truth" about Hussein, as determined by Barack worshippers such as District Attorney Robert McCulloch, he will send like-minded sherriffs after you and you will be prosecuted.

Talk about a police state. What next? Wearing special brown shirts? Intimidating thugs stationed outside the polling places? Beating up Republicans in the streets and smashing the windows of their businesses? Mark my words, the bloggers will be next if we dare to say anything critical of...

(SOUNDS OF DOOR BEING KICKED IN, BREAKING GLASS, TRUNCHEONS ON HUMAN FLESH)

Happy (Belated) Constitution Day

Realizing that there are probably thousands of you all across the fruited plain who have been laying awake nights wondering how I spent Constitution Day, I have decided to assuage your curiosity. Using my handy copy of the Constitution as I guide, I spent the day going right down the list, trying to enjoy all the freedoms enumerated in the first handful of amendments (what we used to call "The Bill of Rights," and now call "Toast").

First, I spoke freely and worshipped a discarded hair scrunchie, as is my right under the First Amendment. Then, in honor of my Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, I randomly fired wild shots in the air... and found myself quickly hustled out of the Obama rally.

When a tired and weary group of brave young American GI's wandered through my neighborhood, looking for a place to stop and rest, I told them to "piss-off" as enshrined in the Third Amendment. Next, I politely informed a police officer that, pursuant with the Fourth Amendment, he may NOT search my house without a warrant, after flagging down his patrol car.

Then, in solemn observance of the Ninth Amendment, I donned beekeeper garb and climbed into the refrigerator with my bottle of gin to sing show tunes. Okay, that wasn't really for Constitution Day, that's just something I do EVERY Wednesday, but it IS well within my 9th Amendment rights. (When she repeatedly tells me to "get out of there," and to seek the "help" that I "desperately need," my wife really puts her Constitutional ignorance on display, let me tell you. I feel sorry for her.)

My Constitution Day festivities ended there with the Ninth Amendment, because, as any politician can tell you, there is no Tenth Amendment. Now if you'll excuse me, my wife is here with two gentlemen with white-jackets and butterfly nets.

MEDIA REFUTES CLAIMS OF ELECTION COVERAGE BIAS

ANNOUNCER: We now interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you this important message from ABS network President Eileen Left.

ABS PRESIDENT: Here at ABS News, “all BS, all the time”, we have received complaints from nearly a quarter of our remaining 324 viewers. It seems some people are claiming that our interviewing and reporting style is too critical of Sarah Palin and too softball concerning Senator Barack Obama. Here at ABS News, we strive to remain non-political, equal and balanced. We fairly ask both candidates the same kind of probing and insightful questions, because you, our viewer(s) need to be fully informed on the issues. In order to show our apolitical and completely unbiased reporting style, we have compiled a list of questions recently asked of each candidate. We know you will see then that all charges of bias are false.

OBAMA QUESTION #1: Senator Obama, if you were a fluffy bunny, would you be utterly adorable or merely very cute?

PALIN QUESTION #1: Ms Palin, is there any truth to the persistent reports, which have been widely circulated, that you kick puppies?

OBAMA QUESTION #2: Oh wise Senator Obama, would you care to read aloud this list we compiled, “The Top 10 Reasons the Bush Administration Sucks”?

PALIN QUESTION #2: Palin, why do you support the pathetic and failed policies of the worthless Bush Administration?

OBAMA QUESTION #3: Oh wise and experienced Lord Obama, isn’t it true that Community Organizer is the most important contribution to mankind since fire and the wheel?

PALIN QUESTION #3: Sarah, as inexperienced mayor of a town with a population of a mere lousy 9,000 people, is it true that you and the thugs of your administration burned books from the Wasilla library, and, if not, can you prove it?

OBAMA QUESTION #4: All-knowing, all-seeing Lord Obama, an international policy question. Do you think your administration, when it brings peace and harmony to all the nations and peoples of the globe, would require mere days or a couple of weeks to achieve this amity?

PALIN QUESTION #4: How about foreign policy, wench? What would you do if, simultaneously, Iran launched a nuclear attack on Israel, while North Korea and Red China physically invaded South Korea and Taiwan, India and Pakistan declared war, Putin’s forces attacked the East and West coasts of the United State simultaneously, and Al Queda detonated nuclear devices in 23 major American cities in unison while you were in the shower? Hunh? What would you do “Sarah Barracuda”? Hunh? You have four seconds to answer. Time’s up!

OBAMA QUESTION #5: Brilliant statesmen and most merciful genius Lord Obama, if I grovel on the floor, will I be allowed to kiss your Holy feet?

PALIN QUESTION #5: Hey, how come you are such a (expletive deleted)?

OBAMA QUESTION #6: Omnipotent, sage and benevolent Redeemer Lord Obama, savior of the nation, may your humble servant be allowed to ask you why Palin is such a (expletive deleted)?

PALIN QUESTION #6: (Expletive deleted), how dare you think you are fit to breathe the same air, let alone run in the same campaign, as our omnipotent, sage and benevolent Redeemer Lord Obama?

OBAMA QUESTION #7: Oh noble, magnanimous, sumptuous Savior, Redeemer and Messiah High Lord Obama, seated at the right hand of the Father, I worship you, I am not worthy to be spat upon by your Holy lips, I love you and pay homage to your Heavenly visage.

PALIN QUESTION #7. (Expletive deleted). You despicable toothless(expletive deleted) in-bred gun-toting NASCAR-watching (expletive deleted) racist sexist scum-sucking (expletive deleted) Nazi hillbilly hate-monger! (Expletive deleted) You suck! I hate you! I spit upon you! PTOOIE!

ABS PRESIDENT: We hope that this simple demonstration of parity and impartiality puts to rest any misconceptions some prejudiced members of the public might falsely have had of any bias whatsoever on the part of ABS News. If you do not agree, you are a despicable toothless (expletive deleted) in-bred gun-toting NASCAR-watching (expletive deleted) racist sexist scum-sucking (expletive deleted) Nazi hillbilly hate monger! (Expletive deleted) You suck! I hate you! I spit upon you. PTOOIE!

ANNOUNCER: We now take you back to our regularly scheduled programming.

U.S. House To Vote On Repealing DC Gun Ban

From our friends at Gun Owners of America:

E-Mail Alert 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151Phone: 703-321-8585FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org Monday, September 15, 2008

How quickly things can change. Last week, the early reports indicated that the Childers bill to repeal the DC gun ban, HR 6691, was going to be a "cake walk" in the House of Representatives.

But now, DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) has managed to get an alternative, anti-gun bill onto the floor of the House. Her bill passed out of committee last week on a whopping 17-1 vote. Every Republican on the committee -- except for Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) -- voted for the Norton bill.

The Norton bill would allow the DC council to continue enacting gun control,while the Childers bill (HR 6691) would repeal the ban on semi-auto pistols and rifles in DC, the registration requirements which require residents to get permission from the city council before they can own a weapon, and the lock-up-your-safety provision.

Representatives will now have a choice between the two bills -- and the fact that every Republican in the committee, except for one, voted for the Norton gun control bill is not a good sign.

ACTION: Please urge your Representative to vote IN FAVOR of the Childers bill (HR 6691) and to vote AGAINST the Norton gun control bill (HR 6842).You can use the pre-written message below and send it as an e-mail by visiting the GOA Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm (where phone and fax numbers are also available).

----- Pre-written letter -----

Dear Representative:

I am glad to see that the House is taking up HR 6691, a bill introduced by Mississippi Democrat Travis Childers. His bill would help enforce the recent Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Heller by repealing the gun ban in the District -- including the ban on semi-auto pistols and rifles, and theregistration requirements which require residents to get permission from the city council before they can own a weapon.

The Childers bill will also strike the "trigger lock" provision which endangers gun owners by forcing the lucky ones who successfully jump through the 12-step process to render their guns unusable for immediate defensive purposes. However, I strongly oppose the Norton gun control bill which would allow the District to continue passing gun control legislation. Please vote for HR6691 and against the Norton compromise (HR 6842). Thank you.

Sincerely,

GADDAFI ENDORSES OBAMA

Boy, oh boy. This election cycle just keeps getting better and better from a sheer entertainment standpoint. At first I was just going to point out, again, the hypocrisy of the Drive-by Media. These people, who live and die by polls, are suddenly, like a school of fish, all turning en masse and proclaiming polls don't mean squat, mainly because the McCainanites just tromped the Obaminations in recent polls. At the same time, however, they are touting an international poll of citizens of other countries, who think Obama should be president.

Especially France. You know, the people who think Jerry Lewis is the greatest comic genius of all time. I won't even get into the "Eeek!!Panzer!!" jokes or the "accidental" bombing of the French embassy in Libya.

Anyway, in addition to France, it now seems that Barrack Hussein Obama has the support of Libya as well. Barry is smokin'!

Mohammar ("Hey Moe!") Gaddafi, Libyan crackpot dictator who still cringes at the name "Reagan" or the sound of an F-111, recently crawled out of his hole with his three virgin female bodyguards to give a rambling speech that kinda sorta stumps for Obama. You can snicker at it here.

Our pal Moe sez...

"There are elections in America now. Along came a black citizen of Kenyan
African origins, a Muslim, who had studied in an Islamic school in Indonesia.
His name is Obama. All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa
applauded this man. They welcomed him and prayed for his success and they may
have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to
win the American presidency."

Then Moe bemoans Barry saying that he's a Christian whose first official act in office won't be to immediately blow Israel off the face of the earth. But, adds, Moe...

"We hope that this is merely an elections 'clearance sale', as they say in
Egypt,; in other words, merely an elections lie...Allah willing, it will turn
out that this was merely elections propaganda."

Moe, I think, gives Barry waaaayyyyy too much credit. He seems to think Obama has some kind of omnipotent grasp of all the subtleties of Middle Eastern and international politics and that the whole election is just some kind of clever behind-the-scenes Byzantine plot to destroy Israel and take over America. Barry the Empty Suit just ain't that smart. If his past associates are any indication, if elected Hussein would appoint Louis "Mothership" Farrakan, Zippy the Wonder Goat, and an ouija board as his Mid-East advisors.

Too bad Kim Il Jung is under the weather lately; perhaps he could stump for Barry as well. Or at least they could prop him up and make him wave, like the stiff in Weekend at Bernie's.

THE LITTLE LADY WHO SAVED THE GOP'S BUTT

That bumper sticker is what I seem to be hearing alot these days. Conservatives are flocking back to the GOP and jumping for joy now that they have someone who actually is a Conservative to rally around. McCain sure didn't garner any support or passion. I myself really like Sarah Palin. She's quite the breath of fresh air in the whoredom of Washington politics. I would vote for her in a heartbeat.

The way the unabashedly Leftist Swine that masquerade as our objective "news" media are going waaaayyyyyy out of their way to hack on her just because she is a Conservative will hopefully backfire on them. If Chris Matthews gets tingly feelings down his legs when he hears Obama speak, he probably feels castrated when Palin speaks. Obama could screw a goat, burn the flag, and urinate on the Constitution on live television and the Drive-by Media would forget to mention it while sending battallions of dirt-diggers storming Alaska trying to find out if Palin ever farted in church. That just makes me, and countless others, love Palin that much more.

The problem is, as much as I wish it were so, Sarah Barracuda is not running for president. John MexiCain still is. When it comes right down to it, the Vice-President's most important duties include flying over flooded towns in North Dakota (where natural disasters don't count) and meeting and greeting VIPs from dirt bag little countries like Ubongastan when the President doesn't want to bother with them. Sarah won't have a whole helluva lot of say in what goes on in a McCain Administration.

It will still be President McCain who sets policy. It will still be President McCain who is "reaching across the aisle" to work with the Left. It will still be President McCain signing into law odious amnesty bills, spending bills, and entitlement bills, and I don't think he would bat an eye at signing off again if the Dems in Congress throw a new assault weapons ban on his desk. It will still be President McCain supporting the "Fariness Doctrine", "Real ID", Homeland Security and all the other un-Constitutional crap we got from the Bush Administration.

I'm sure the snooty blueblood elitist neo-cons still at the helm of the RNC are laughing themselves silly. "See, we can screw the living crap out of real Conservatives for years and then, at the last minute, throw them a bone and they'll still support us. Suckas! We can't wait to screw you again. We know you have nowhere else to go. BWAHAHAHAHA!"

So, while I would prefer the GOP win this go-round, I find it rather pathetic that all they can offer us is, "That other guy is a bigger piece of crap than our piece of crap." and "Can we appease you with our VP choice?" We can hope that they set Sarah up for a Presidential run in four years. As nice as that would be at the moment, I'm very, very afraid that four years in Sodom on Potomac, rubbing elbows with the scum that floats to the top of the RNC (as well as the DNC) and all the other sneering elitists may well taint and jade "our" Sarah like all the others by 2012. The best thing that could happen is Juan chokes on a taco his first month in office.

Barry Hussein would, without a doubt, the Worst President Ever. Possibly the last one. McCain will merely be a Very Bad & Weak President. The fact that these two are the best and brightest our nation, and the Two-Party Oligarchy, can offer us just goes to show how little choice we really have.

Is Sarah-cuda enough to make me hold my nose and swallow my bile and give the GOP just one more chance? The verdict is still out. Probably only disgust with the snarky attacks of the Lefty Talking Heads of the Drive-by Media could make me do that. The more these pompous Leftist Cheerleaders sneer and spew in attacking Palin, it seems, the deeper Obama's hole grows.

HOW TRUE IT IS

Night of the Living Dead In Denver

The Democrats kicked their convention off to a rousing start when a white-haired cadaver with the voice of Kermit The Frog approached the podium to speak. Of course I'm speaking of former-Iowan, former-Republican, former-congressman, former-somebody, Jim Leach. He served as one of Iowa's U.S. Representatives as a "Republican In Name Only" until the voters in his district replaced this wannabe Democrat with a REAL Democrat.

I tried to watch his speech on You Tube, but it was so damned boring I just couldn't finish. During the little bit that I did watch, I kept hoping that they'd occasionally cut to a couple of grumpy old men in the balcony who would mock and laugh at him. (How about Dick Cheney and Fred Thompson?) No such luck. I had to read the transcript instead of watching, in order to stay awake.

Kermit, I mean, Jim did make a few good points. Bashing the Republicans he said, "And the party historically anchored in fiscal restraint has nearly doubled the national debt[...]." Very true Jim! But I don't see how respect for fiscal restraint would drive you into the arms of the Democrats who've never even pretended to give a crap about it. Jim also blamed this increased debt on Bush's tax cuts, not the obscene spending increases. Wrongo!

The Democrats followed up on this ribbiting... I mean riveting speech with a 10-minute silent closeup of a warm bowl of oatmeal slowly congealing. Good television! If Jim ever gets on national television again, I hope he spices it up by singing "Rainbow Connection" or something.

In other news this week: Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain announced their picks for vice president. Balancing their respective tickets Obama and McCain both picked V.P.s that are what they are not. Obama picked an old, white man and McCain picked a conservative Republican.

POSTVILLE POSTSCRIPT

Having been born and raised in Iowa and having lived in a town with a large meat-packing plant, when I heard the news about the big Immigration raid in Postville, Iowa it did not upset me. Representing the Red State hicks out here in Fly-Over Country, my response was similar to those of everyone else I know. And the usual responses were somewhere between, “It’s about blamed time!” and, “Well, it’s a start.”

OF COURSE, I should have known what the response from the Loony Left would be. I saw a particularly odious article about this small town struggling to “survive its ordeal”, so I delved further into the coverage of the event, and found it par for the course. The Usual Suspects…the Drive-By Mainstream Media, the perpetually outraged professional “protestors”, the snooty “elite” of Academia, and the rest of the Left-Wing nut cases who search the world around them for something to be offended by…were all whining like a bitch dog in heat. They are trying to portray this simple and long overdue Immigration raid as the greatest genocide since Hitler and Pol Pot.

So, since they seem to be incapable of wrapping their warped little minds around reality and are impervious to their own inconsistencies, allow me to point out the pontificating Socialists’ hypocrisy.

The same fear-mongering weenies of the Thought Police who wipe their butt with the Constitution and would have the very thoughts inside someone’s head criminalized and prosecuted as “hate crimes” don’t think that folks ought to be arrested for identity theft or Federal Immigration violations. Some animals are more equal than others. They also forgot to mention that many of the stolen/fake ID’s came from Agriprocessor’s own human resources department. There was even a meth lab operating at the packing plant, but I guess as long as Hassidic Jews and ILLEGALS are cooking the meth, it’s kosher, pardon the pun.

The sniveling Commies who detest Capitalism and would like to see oil company executives burned at the stake swoon over Agriprocessors and how they are the “savior” of the economy of Northeast Iowa. The lying liberals who pretend to stand for the working man and back unions weren’t to be found when Agriprocessors were stone-walling and fighting the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Agriprocessors even took their case against the unions to Federal court, saying their employees couldn’t join the union or vote because they were ILLEGAL. Then there’s the subminimum wages that the original citizens of Postville could not afford to work for because they represented a pay cut from the already feeble job market in the area. Sucks to be you, Mr. American working man, we’ll bring in some ILLEGAL slave labor for the subminimum jobs you “can’t or won’t do.”

Then there are the fern-feelin’, flower-sniffin’ bunny’huggin’ Gaia worshippers who hang on every word of the Goracle, the same wacko tree-huggers who killed the American logging industry, untold family businesses and small towns all over the Northwest to save a stinking owl (90% of which, by the way, according to field surveys, did not nest in Old Growth forests anyway). These eco-weenies sure weren’t too concerned when Agri-Proccessors was dumping all kinds of nasty stuff, including 40,000 gallons of turkey blood, into the scenic and beautiful Yellow River, resulting in massive fish die-offs, or contaminating the ground water, or dumping other wastes, or violating state environmental regulations, or paying $600,000 in fines to the EPA.

The self flagellating hanky-twisters who would tax or outlaw everything in the country “for the children” and would confiscate everyone’s guns if “it saves just one child” (well, except for the unborn children; they don’t count) threw a hissy fit over La Migra “breaking up poor families” but didn’t utter a peep when Agri-Processors was violating child labor laws. The same wild-eyed slobberers who are berating ICE for their “cruel and inhumane” treatment of the ILLEGALS were not to be found while Agriprocessors were guilty of physically abusing their slave labor, as well as violating other labor and food safety laws.

I read a piece from one bile-spewing Leftist kook who was belly aching about how the money spent on the immigration busts could have been better spent on providing the ILLEGALS with universal health care and better education. I got news for you, Socialist bimbette, they already get free health care and education, at tax-payer expense, while in the process of swamping, bankrupting and ruining local medical facilities, schools, and law enforcement at the expense of the local American CITIZENS.

I hear tell we are not even supposed to call them ILLEGALS anymore. They tell me that’s a racist term now and we need to call them Undocumented Workers. Yeah, right. And a drug dealer is an Unlicensed Pharmacist.

So, my take on the whole deal is that if you are an ILLEGAL in this country and you don’t like the treatment you receive for breaking our laws, don’t let the door hit you in butt on the way out. But if the Loony Left gets its way, terrorists and ILLEGALS will have more rights than the ordinary American citizen who's supposed to be protected by the Constitution.

I.O.U.S.A .; FINANCE SO SIMPLE EVEN A SHEEPLE CAN UNDERSTAND

http://www.iousathemovie.com/about/

Throughout history, the American government has found it nearly impossible
to spend only what has been raised through taxes. Wielding candid interviews
with both average American taxpayers and government officials, Sundance
veteran Patrick Creadon (Wordplay) helps demystify the
nation's financial practices and policies. The film follows former U.S.
Comptroller General David
Walker as he crisscrosses the country explaining America's unsustainable
fiscal policies to its citizens.

A new documentary has just been released concerning the true scope and depth of the national debt. Some reviewers are calling it the "Inconvenient Truth" of our national finances. I find that a bad analogy since the national debt is real while that other thing...well...

Gazillionaire Warren "Jimmy" Buffett, who knows a little something about money, was involved in the film. Former Comptroller General David Walker quit his post in frustration and disgust to travel the country on his "Fiscal Wake-Up Tour", trying to reach "those who have eyes, but see not" and "have ears, and hear not", aka the vast majority of the American public. The movie will at least reach a wider audience than Walker's impassioned but limited speaking tour. From the interviews I've seen, Creadon and Walker have more credibility than Al Gore, Michael Moore, and, say, the United States Senate all rolled into one.

Of course, the media and Fed.Gov are treating our national financial house of cards as a non-issue. Nobody wants to notice the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Move along, nothing to see here. It hasn't even been mentioned in the presidential campaign, except by one former candidate, this crackpot representative from Texas. The government, who created this fiasco in the first place, has responded to this crisis seems along the lines of..."If we all bury our heads in the sand, maybe it will go away." The political whores who run the country seem to think we can borrow our way out of debt. Kind of like the 1700's medicine of bleeding a patient to get the bad blood out, but with less chance of success.

I'm glad to movie will open at least a few sheeple eyes. It won't, I'm sure, have any effect on the upcoming presidential elections. The vast majority of the electorate (judging by Obama campaign commercials, especially) still thinks Fed.Gov is Santa Claus, there to give them whatever "presents" they desire, and to hell with where the money (or lack of it) actually comes from.

Oh well, there's a new episode of "CSI Newark" on, there's still $57.16 left on the credit card, and there's a six-pack in the fridge. All is well.

REAL ID RESISTANCE, OR: ACTUNG! VERE ARE YOUR PAPERS?!?!

“Do you want our government to have the ability to track where you went,
how you went, how you got there and when you got home? It would be naive for someone to
think this information will not be abused in the future. Virtually every decade
these kinds of files have been used to violate people’s privacy.”-- Brian
Schweitzer, Governor of Montana

Out on the dusty Mainstreet, Homeland Security Gruppenfuhrer Michael Chertov, resplendent in his monocle and spit shined jackboots, has once again faced down Montana Governor Brian Schwietzer, wearing his bolo tie and with his faithful cow dog at his side.

Governor Schwietzer wrote the Gruppenfuhrer a letter stating that Montana would not comply with the odious Federal REAL ID Act, which would do absolutely nothing to close our porous borders as recommended by the 911 Commission, but, on the other hand, would allow Big Brother to see Winston, or any other citizen, writing in his tiny alcove. It will do nothing against terrorism, but it will sure keep us peasants in line.

Chertov called Schwietzer in response and said, "Vait till I get my chip implanted in YOUR forehead, Enemy-of-the-State! Ve vill see how cocky you are in das cooler!" Or words to that effect. He said Montanans would be ostracized, banned from airline flights, and subject to even more arbitrary and invasive TSA inspections than they are now. Like TSA isn't already enough of a joke and home for wanna-be baby dictators while contributing absolutely nothing to national security.

The Governor countered with his own threat, “How about we both go on 60
Minutes a few days after the DHS starts patting down Montana driver’s
license-holders who are trying to get on the planes and both of us can tell our
side of the story.”

At present, the only "solution" or "compromise" offered has been for Big Brother to grandiosely "extend the deadline" until the peasants decide to toe the line, or someone more easier to browbeat and manipulate gets in office.

In addition to the obvious threats to our free society, the risk of ever more sophisticated ID thieves mining information from the new REAL ID is a serious problem as well. The Fed is not known for their brilliant ability to keep information secure, not when VA, USDA, and even FBI files have all been hacked. Imagine some hacker cracking the into your all-encompassing REAL ID and gaining access to all your personal information in one fell swoop. Might as well kiss your credit rating good bye and go live in a cave while it gets "straightened out".

So far, Montana's DEMOCRATIC governor and two DEMOCRATIC Senators have actively resisted the REAL ID act while our one lone REPUBLICAN Representative has whined for us to play nice with Big Brother.

If you have not contacted your own Congresscritters to protest this piece of...legislation, now's the time. A few more governors around the country are starting to dig their heels in on the issue as well. Let your duly erected reprehensivitives know what you think about this invasion of personal privacy with all its risks of abuse and identity theft.

If not, see you in the gulag!

Gun Nut Roundup August '08

Story 1

TSA Wants To Ban Concealed Carry Permits

First the government banned citizens from carrying guns past the security checkpoints in airports and even most gun advocates didn't squawk too much. (Although there's 2,974 dead 9-11 victims that might question that policy if we could ask them.) Now the TSA wants to ban concealed-carry even in the unsecured areas of airports. So a duly-licensed concealed weapons permit holder who picks up or drops off a family member at the airport may run afoul of federal regulations, even if he is just standing on the curb out front.

Gun Owners of America is working on President Bush to reign in the TSA. You can help here.

Story 2

Bi-Partisan Effort To Stop Tyrannical DC City Gov't

When the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down Washington D.C.'s onerous handgun ban, saying that the Second Amendment protects an individual right, the DC city council responded by telling the Supreme Court to stick it. The city council passed a new law that bans many handguns and requires that weapons be stored in ways that won't allow them to be used for self-defense and in general keeps lawful gun owners in the capitol as scarce as hen's teeth.

Some Republican and Democrat congress-critters have introduced The "Second Amendment Enforcement Act" which will help unscrew the law-abiding folks of DC. You can read more about it here.

Story 3

Ammo Prices Are Damned High

The rising cost of materials has caused the price of ammunition to soar. Prices are so high that Bawb and I have to be pretty selective about who we shoot or don't shoot these days, so if we seem irritable we apologize.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF ONCE AGAIN...SALUTE!!!

According to the Washington Times, fanatical supporters of Presidential hopeful Barack Hussein Obama have decided that the Illinois Senator needs his own "salute". According to the article...

"Our goal is to see a crowd of 75,000 people at Obama's nomination speech
holding their hands above their heads, fingers laced together in support of a
new direction for this country, a renewed hope, and acceptance of responsibility
for our future," says Rick Husong.



"We thought, 'Let's try and start a movement where even while walking down
the street, people would hold up the O and you would know that they were for
Obama,' "


"We want to see it everywhere, but more importantly we want this sign to
take the world by storm."

Talk about a cult of personality. What next for the Obamanites? Arm bands? Brown shirts? These sheep have only two speeds; graze and stampede. Like lemmings, the loony left will follow any "messiah" who will lead them, as long as no actual thinking is required on their parts, from Al Gore to Barack Obama. Sensationalism over substance, emotion over intellect, the herd mentality over independent thought...(War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength?)...Anything to keep people from pinning down the exact definition of "change", examining the issues, or thinking for themselves.

This kind of blind, fanatical devotion to a "leader" has always been a recipe for disaster. Anyone else remember the last time a world leader relied upon a cult of personality and had his own salute, which was emulated by cheering crowds of thousands and literally tried to "take the world by storm"? No, I'm not trying to say Obama in any way equates to Hitler, but both personalities sure led blind, unthinking packs of cheering, devoted Socialist followers around by the nose in the name of "change".

TOO MUCH GUN

In one of the greatest cinematic triumphs known to man, John Wayne's True Grit, the best country music singer turned actor until Randy Travis, Glen Campbell, uses a Sharps .56-caliber carbine to shoot a turkey. Naturally the turkey gets blowed up real good. John Wayne leans over to the girl Matty and says a trifle too loudly, "Too much gun."

So, without further ado, I will present my genius to the world on the subject. I will try to avoid getting overly technical, as outdoor writer Pat McManus complains about his friend Gary Roedl. "His gun articles are so technical they don't even have any words in them, but only numbers, abbreviations, and a smattering of punctuation." Instead I will use home-spun colloquialisms such as, "That thing's accurate enough to knock a gnat off a water buffalo's ass at a quarter mile."

I myself finally gave in to the siren's song of the big Magnums in the form of a .300 Winchester Magnum on an old P-17 action. Heretofor, I had managed to stumble through forty years without suffering a single case of "Half Moon Disease". This ailment comes from getting "scoped", i.e. the recoil of the rifle drives the rim of the scope into your eyebrow and gives you a "half moon" shaped injury. The first time I shot the .300 Win Mag with Federal 180-grainers, I got a nice case of Half Moon Disease. I no longer suffer from Half Moon Disease, but the thing is still borderline uncomfortable to shoot. The worst thing about the .300, for me, is ammo. Quality factory ammo (Remington does not fall into that category in my book) is getting up there near two bucks a pop, and even if you reload you need to pour powder out of a 5-gallon bucket into a motor oil funnel to fill those big fat cartridge cases.

About ten years ago, a friend of mine who was on the small side of hieght and weight forsook the trusty old .30-06 he had been hunting with his whole life to give in to the crooning call of the .300 Win Mag too. He came out to our place to sight it in. His first 3-shot group could have been covered by a dime; his third group couldn't have been covered by a dinner plate. Flinching. Too much gun. He hunted one season with the big Magnum and went back to the .30-06.

More recently, I helped a guy bigger and fatter than myself sight in his new .338 Winchester Magnum. He too wound up flinching and throwing lead all over the target, or merely in the general direction. He figured that was good enough since his new toy was so powerful that even a peripheral hit to an elk's left rear hoof would instantly slay it in its tracks. He was not the type of go back to the .30-06, not after he paid so much money for his new toy. Perhaps he was compensating for something.

When it comes right down to it, no amount of foot-pounds or extra velocity can replace a well-aimed shot to the boiler room. Shooting legend Jack O'Connor did just fine on nearly every game animal in North America with his beloved .270 Winchester. I'd rather hunt elk with a crack shot armed with a .243 than with some bozo with a 20-mm cannon who only shoots 6 rounds per year at the range because he's so scared of the darned thing.

There's all kinds of new Magnums on the scene these days, and it seems a new caliber gets spawned every couple of weeks, like some weird creature from a sci-fi movie reproducing in a swamp. These super-duper choco-fudgie belted short Magnums seem to be, in the words of the late great Jeff Cooper, solutions in search of a problem. For an exorbitant price, you get something that performs only marginally better than factory .30-06 ammo. About the only real "benefit" I can see is that some of them allow a rifle with a short-action to deliver long-action .30-06 performance. They also keep gun writers in the glossy magazines in business.

So, in case it is not painfully obvious by now, the good old "thirty ought six" is still my favorite. It has also been said, and this is not much of an exaggeration, that the .30-06 can be loaded for everything from "mouse to moose". (Contrast this to the M16 series of rifles, which can be loaded from "mouse to poodle".)

I just got done playing with my pre-season antelope loads. A .308 diameter 130-grain Hornady bullet backed by 46 grains of Reloader 15 turned out to be my "baby" for this sport. With a muzzle velocity chrono'ed at 3300 feet per second, my trusty, rusty old .30-06 boasts a 310 yard zero and a maximum point blank range of 370 yards. If you can't sneak up that close to an antelope, it's time to give up the sport. This load would also perform just fine for use on deer and black bear. While generally too light for elk, it would do in a pinch, at closer ranges and in the hands of a true marksman who puts 'em right where he wants 'em.

My lil' old 6.5mm Swede, a caliber that boasts a very high ballistic coefficient, launching a 100-grain Nosler at 2900 feet per second, has a zero of 290 yards and a point blank out to 340 yards. This too is more than good enough for me as antelope medicine, and once more would work on deer and lil' bear. A 140-grain .264 at 2,500 out of my carbine has a 250 yard zero and a 300 yard point blank. This load is what I consider quite marginal for elk, but I've know a few guys who do just fine with it.

For the great wapiti, I like to go with a .308 or .30-06 with the 165-grain bullet. With an ought six, you can get 'er up to 2,800 fps and a max load .308 tags along closely behind at 2,700. With controlled expansion bullets, this is my "split the difference" load for elk and deer both, and can still reach out there to a 340 yard point blank. Many people in my neck of the woods prefer the 180-grain bullet for elk. When my wife drew a moose tag, I took the .30-06 up to the big 220-grain bullet launched at a mere 2400 fps, which was still good for holding "center of mass" out to 300 yards.

So, after experimenting with the cannon, I too will be going back to the good old .30-06 this hunting season. It was an interesting journey, but wound up taking me right back to the starting point. I believe there was an old, old country song that expressed this well. "There's very few things that a man can't fix, with fifty seven dollars and a thirty ought six."