It's baack! Famous Austrian Returns to U.S.

After 20 year of absence from the U.S. civilian market, the Austrian Steyr AUG has returned. Ammoland.com reports:

"Now built stateside by Steyr subcontractor Sabre Defense—legendary for its tactical rifles and its unrivaled M2HB and Minigun barrels currently in use by the U.S. military—under the watchful eyes and to the exacting tolerances of Austrian engineers, the new Steyr AUG/A3 SA USA made its debut at the 2009 SHOT Show and is now available in 5.56×45mm (.223 Rem.).

"After the importation ban in 1989, the legendary AUG/A1 frequently commanded in excess of $5,000, but the svelte, utilitarian Austrian bullpup in its upgraded, modern A3 configuration is now available at a fraction of that."

The MSRP is now $2,295. That's still beyond the means of a humble blogger with children who demand to be fed on a pretty regular basis, but this will go down as more AUGs get into the market. 30-round mags are still $45 a pop on Steyr's website.

There is also a domestic AUG clone built by Microtech Small Arms Research (MSAR) called the STG-556. The MSAR version retains the integral AUG/A1 optical sight, while the new Steyr model has a picatinny rail to mount whatever optics you want.

Although Bawb will point out that the AUG is still just a "poodle shooter" since it fires the .223 round, if you are going to have a poodle shooter this is the one to have. The AUG is shorter (without sacrificing barrel length) and more rugged and reliable than the AR-15. Besides, that "poodle shooter" crack may seem funny to Bawb and his buddies out in grizzly-country, but here in the Hawkeye State, where packs of feral poodles are a growing menace, it's no laughing matter.

You can view a cool promotional video about the new Steyr AUG here.

I encourage my fanatical fans or affectionate older siblings to seriously consider giving me one of these. It's better to give than to receive, so I'd be getting the hard part of that transaction. That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

HWY 61 HUTCHISON, KS

My Ex lives there and confirms that the sign is still up. This is why the media is afraid to enter Fly-Over Country.

"SCAM! SCAM! SCAM!" UK EUROPEAN PARLIMENT MEMBER RIPS GLOBAL WARMING HOAX

Yes indeed, this is a MUST-SEE.
Breitbart.tv » ‘Scam, Scam, Scam!’: European Parliament Member Rips Global Warming Hysteria

NO LEFTY MEDIA BIAS IN THE BROWN-COAKLEY RACE (SUPPRESSED SNICKERING)

From The Peoples' Cube, of course

Now that the Taxachusetts race for Teddy K's old barstool is over, and Republican Brown beat out Dem Coakley in the bluest of blue states, I'd like to note how this happened in spite of the best efforts of the leftist Democratic cheerleaders who masquerade as "journalists". Need proof? We'll start with mild and go to wild.

In the pot-calling-the-kettle black category, Coakley staffers wouldn't allow a "biased" reporter into their office, claiming civil rights and private property rights, "which we still have despite Nazis like you!"

Next up, wow! Look at this. Whoulda thunk? Of course, they're blaming Bush for it: "But the problems came from the previous administration. So we're blaming poor Obama, who's working 36 hours a day ... to solve these problems that he inherited." "One thing the Democrats have done wrong? We haven't kept the focus on this disaster on the Republicans who brought it upon us. We've tried too hard to do that right thing, and that's to fix it, as opposed to spend more of our time and energy pointing the finger at who got us [here] in the first place."

The more mainstream of the "Mainstreamers" worried if they were doing enough to swing the election for Coakley.

KELLY O’DONNELL, NBC: "What we`ve got to figure out is whether all the talk we`re doing about this race will fire up Democrats to try to prevent a loss, a stunning loss, really, if it were to happen."

MAGGIE RODRIGUEZ, CBS: "It’ll be interesting to see if Brown the Republican wins if the Democrats can defer his swearing in and get health care passed.”

DIANE SAWYER, ABC: "After all these months of fighting for it, and then may be slipping away at the last minute for the White House. But are there options on health care reform? Other ways to go to get a vote?"

Then there's all our old tingly-legged pals over PMSNBC, outright endorsing voter fraud and cheating to get the election to turn out "their" way.

ED SCHULTZ: "I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts, I'd try to vote ten times. I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right, I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are."

CHRIS MATTHEWS: "You know in the old days, maybe I shouldn`t be harkening back to the old days, if the Democrats faced this kind of a disaster in the works, you`d go back to your ones, the people you were sure are going to vote Democrat, and you`d make sure they got to the polling place, you`d get them lunch, you`d get them a car. You`d make sure they got there and in some cases you`d be buying people to get them, not officially buying them, but getting them there as block secretaries, as block captains, you`d be getting them there with street money, legitimate but it`s a little bit old school. But I hear talking to somebody today there aren`t people up there in Massachusetts like that anymore."

Feeling rather bitchy the morning after, the Politico was raving that sexism must be the only reason for Brown's win: "...a glass ceiling that remains almost impenetrable, even in the blue state of Massachusetts...To get an idea of how mind-bending the gender dynamics in this campaign were, consider this...But it is an illustration of the kind of double standard voters apply to female candidates — a double standard that some longtime women’s advocates see in the success of Republican Scott Brown."

Of course it was our buddy Kieth Olbermann, who has to resort to such crazy rants in a desperate attempt to draw any kind of attention to himself to keep his estimated 37 viewers from leaving, who took the cake for Best "frothing-at-the-mouth-vitriol-spewing insane rant" Award hands-down:

KIETH OLBERMANN: "In short, in Scott Brown we have an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, teabagging supporter of violence against woman and against politicians with whom he disagrees. In any other time in our history, this man would have been laughed off the stage as an unqualified and a disaster in the making by the most conservative of conservatives. Instead, the commonwealth of Massachusetts is close to sending this bad joke to the Senate of the United States."

I have my problems with Fox News, mainly Establishment GOP Poster Boy Sean Hannity, but for the state-run media to call Fox biased is pretty hilarious. Once more, as always, they prove themselves utterly impervious to the concept of irony. Let's hope they continue working so hard to put themselves out of business.

Rambo 1- 4

I know I’ve written about at least one Rambo movie on this blog before. But since my wife recently gave me the Rambo quadrilogy on DVD and since the filmmakers so shamelessly based the title character on myself, I thought I’d write about all four movies in the series.

First Blood (1982)

In this original, ex-Green Beret John Rambo (played by the ever-versatile Sylvester Stallone), is a drifter looking for one of his old Vietnam buddies in the Pacific Northwest. After finding out that his friend is dead, Rambo is arrested for vagrancy and is mistreated by the local sheriff. Rambo goes nuts and escapes, injuring a few deputies in the process. This sets off a massive manhunt in the mountains, where Rambo’s cunning and training keep him alive. His Vietnam commander Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna) arrives to try to talk him down.

This is one of the better Rambo films and is more realistic than the next two sequels. If I have one complaint, it is that the film relies on the tired 1980’s Hollywood cliché that everyone who served in Vietnam was an emotional burnout who can’t function in peaceful society. Rambo eludes to this when he complains to Trautman that he can’t even hold down a job parking cars.

Most of the Vietnam vets I’ve ever met were well-adjusted family men. In their book Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History, authors B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley show that Vietnam vets were actually statistically more successful than the rest of the baby-boom generation at large. But I guess John Rambo running his own construction company or something wouldn’t be so exciting.

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

In this cartoonish sequel, Col. Trautman finds Rambo toiling away in a federal prison work camp. Trautman has arranged an early release and pardon for Rambo, if he’s willing to do a snoop-and-poop mission in Vietnam to look for American POWs. It soon becomes apparent that Trautman’s superiors actually want Rambo to fail and NOT find any POWs, in order to save the U.S. government from embarrassment. Instead of just taking pictures, Rambo rescues the Americans and brings them home.

The whole movie feels like an extended episode of the A-Team. When I was 12 years old it seemed awesome, but it seems hokey now. The film also contains another one of my pet peeves from 1980s war films: A big red star painted on the side of American Huey helicopter does not a Russian Mi-8 Hip helicopter make.

Rambo III (1988)
In this equally cartoonish installment, Col. Trautman is captured by the occupying Soviets when he’s smuggling Stinger missiles to the Afghani “freedom-fighters” (now called “terrorists”). Rambo must leave his tranquil life in Thailand to rescue his old friend.

One distraction in this one is Rambo’s feathered, shoulder-length coif that makes it look like Rambo should be performing with Queen or some other big-haired 80’s rock band rather than capping commies in Afghanistan.

Another distraction was the excessive subtitles in the “Ultimate Edition” DVD I have. When Rambo infiltrates a Soviet firebase there are Rusky soldiers running around, barking menacing-sounding Russian phrases. Since Russian is about as pretty as Klingon, this sounds intimidating to the western ear. But since the makers of the DVD subtitled EVERY little Russian phrase uttered in the film, you quickly realize the commie soldiers are saying nonsensical, random Russian phrases that don’t necessarily have anything to do with what’s going on. For instance, a Russian officer, while directing his men to search an area for Rambo, orders one of his soldiers to “go to hell like Rasputin.” Don’t subtitle that!

The climactic battle scene features something that Bawb, an old cavalryman, says turns his stomach. Rambo commandeers a commie tank and is somehow able to drive it as well as load, aim and shoot the main gun, all from one station. There’s a reason why tanks have crews.

Rambo (2007)

In this latest chapter Rambo is again living the quiet life in Thailand as a riverboat pilot. Things get complicated when he agrees to smuggle a group of Christian missionaries into war-torn Burma. Since I wrote about this installment at length HERE, I won’t go into great detail now. I will say that I believe this gritty and gory installment is the best one since the first movie.

For fans who can’t get enough, a fifth episode is said to be in the works, to be released in 2011. I guess my DVD four-pack will become obsolete then, damn it!

YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP, FOLKS

That wacky Obama has coughed up another one of his even wackier nominees, this time for obergruppenfuhrer of the Transportation "Security" Administration. A tape surfaced of nominee Erroll Southers discussing domestic terrorism...again...spouting that we must watch out...again...for Christian, pro-lifer, and prepper/survivalist terrorists. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has put a temporary hold on the nomination with the tape surfacing, but I doubt such will block the success of the appointment.

Whitehouse Press Secretary Robert "Parrot" Gibbs, sporting his new MSNBC T-shirt and ABC ball cap, also demanded that there be a hold put on Southers' nomination when the even more shocking allegations that Southers has never cheated on his taxes were revealed. "We are extremely troubled by the information that Mr. Southers has, apparently, been paying his income taxes since 1992. This will be a major stumbling block for him to be qualified to serve in the court of the Obama Monarchy."

Slipping from the annoying to the ludicrous, Germany has apparently gone insane as a new musical is opening in Frankfurt..."Yes, We Can". That's right folks, it's Obama the Musical. I couldn't make this crap up if I tried.

There are vague rumors surfacing that a lawsuit by Mel Brooks may be pending. Apparently, the creators of the new musical merely changed the lyrics from The Producers' song Springtime for Hitler to Springtime for Obama. In addition, when informed of the domestic and financial crisis facing the United States, the character of the President in the musical leaps to his feet and utters, "Gentlemen, we must do something to protect our phony baloney jobs ...immediately...immediately...immediately!" to which the chorus responds with a hip-hop medley of "Harrumphs!"

Moving on from ludicrous to asinine, Barack Hussein Obama (Mmm-mmm-mmm) has received an "A" for openness when it comes to his reducing the power of lobbyists and increasing transparency in government, even as he slithered away from the CNN cameras and keeps health care negotiations completely secret in violation of his campaign promises. The "A" grade comes from a group of "bipartisan non-profit watchdog organizations", which, when translated, means rabid froth-spewing leftist nut jobs such as Moveon.org, the George Soros Fan Club, the American Communist Party, and the Weather Underground.

From his Special Place in Hell, Joseph Stalin pouted, "Nobody ever gave me an "A" for openness, and my 'transparency' wasn't really that much different."

Finally, we delve into the just plain pathetic. A recent McClatchy-Ipsos poll revealed that 51% of American Sheeple agree that, "it is necessary to give up some civil liberties in order to make the country safe from terrorism." Benjamin Franklin responded by spinning in his grave at an estimated 3,000 rpm, registering on seismic monitoring instruments as far away as Missouri.

Wiltshire Horn, spokesman for American Sheeple for the Uber Police State, was interviewed in a busy airport terminal where video shows two bearded men in turbans carrying large bundles of what they declare as "carry-on road flares" passing through the security checkpoint behind him.

"We know the new, oppressive, and heavy-handed over-reactions by the government will do absolutely nothing to keep us safe from terrorism, but we enjoy the delicious illusion of safety. If we were in The Matrix, we would be spooning up those yummy blue pills out of cereal bowls."

Wiltshire then stuck his head through a woven wire fence and called over his shoulder to the nearest TSA guard, "Baaaa-baaaa. I'm ready for my security enema. Bleat bleat."

MORE GLOBAL WARMING GLACIERS AHEAD

NASA Earth ObservatoryDecember temperatures compared to average December temps recorded between 2000 and 2008. Blue points to colder than average land surface temperatures, while red indicates warmer temperatures.

From Miami to Maine, Savannah to Seattle, America is caught in an icy grip that one
of the U.N.'s top global warming proponents says could mark the beginning of a
mini ice age.

Oranges are freezing and millions of tropical fish are dying in Florida, and it could be just the beginning of a decades-long deep freeze, says Professor Mojib Latif, one of the world's leading climate modelers.

Latif thinks the cold snap Americans have been suffering through is only
the beginning. He says we're in for 30 years of cooler temperatures -- a mini
ice age, he calls it, basing his theory on an analysis of natural cycles in
water temperatures in the world's oceans.
Naturally, professor Mojib noted that this new mini ice age is all within the greater context of global warming. He also added, "The check's in the mail, we won't raises taxes, I'll call you, and if you keep watching Lost it will make sense."
The global whining fanatics are getting more desperate these days. All their "adjusted" figures, rigged computer models, data manipulation, and outright lies are alkl floating like turds to the surface of the scientific cess pool, exposed to the light of day. With the state-run media's deathgrip on information dissemination slipping more and more every day, that darned old truth is filtering out to the public. When provided with real information, even many sheeple are capabale of making intelligent decisions.

For instance, a poll of Americans revealed that hardly more than a third still believe global warming is a "grave threat". Recent opinion polls in Great Britain have found that 52% of the people are not worried about global warming anymore. Like our current Whitehouse denziens, the Brit government is not one to let a good crisis "go to waste". The Department of Energy and Climate Change shelled out some 5.75 million pounds of the people's money for an ad campaign to convince the people they must not think for themselves, especially with British politicians trying to take the lead of the Big Boys of First World countries seeking to become Third World countries in Copenhagen.

The news is even starting to slip by the media blockade that the universal scientific consensus on global warming might not be, well, a universal scientific consensus. They now scoff at the 1970's Coming Ice Age scare as totally different than the global warming scare because there was not a real consensus of scientists and an alarmist media blew it out of proportion. Speaking of lack of consensus and an alarmist media...

Survey: Less Than Half of all Published Scientists Endorse Global Warming Theory

>

Of 528 total papers on climate change, only 38 (7%) gave an explicit endorsement of the consensus. If one considers "implicit" endorsement (accepting the consensus without explicit statement), the figure rises to 45%. However, while only 32 papers (6%) reject the consensus outright, the largest category (48%) are neutral papers, refusing to either accept or reject the hypothesis. This is no "consensus."

The figures are even more shocking when one remembers the watered-down definition of consensus here. Not only does it not require supporting that man is the "primary" cause of warming, but it doesn't require any belief or support for "catastrophic" global warming. In fact of all papers published in this period (2004 to February 2007), only a single one makes any reference to climate change leading to catastrophic results.


As Agent Mulder would say, "The truth is out there." And, I would add, with the political elite's and their state-run media lapdogs' embargo on information steadily crumbling, more and more people are realizing that. Whether or not enough sheeple get the message before the "ruling elite" destroy us is another matter.

GLOBAL WARMING FREEZING SHEEP & MANATEES

In agriculture news, it appears that Scotland stands to lose a huge percentage of its domestic sheep population, with predictions of as much as a third of the total herd. The killer? Bitter cold weather.

One
Million Sheep May Freeze

You've almost certainly heard about the cold snap that
sweeping both the
US and Northern Eurasia...record cold temperatures are
being set, and
many tragedies are unfolding. In Scotland, the victims are
the sheep:
one million of them, a whole one third of Scotland's sheep, may
freeze
to death during the current cold spell.

This couldn't have come at a worse time, as researchers at the University of North Dakota recently made two huge breakthroughs concerning the use of sheep....you can get wool and mutton from them!!!
Not to worry. The UK government is on the job, showing the same kind of efficiency and intelligence our politicos show in Sodom on Potomac. It seems that the UK Met Office predicted a horrendous heatwave for Great Britain this summer. Turned out to be quite cold and wet. Then they predicted a warm, mild winter just before this record-breaking sheep-freezer hit. To straighten out these glaring mistakes, the Brit government gave the UK's head climatologist a "performance" bonus that puts him at a higher salary than that of the PM. No doubt he is predicting a global flood right now as we speak in hopes of getting a really big bonus next year.

Meanwhile, somewhat closer to home, sunny Florida is experiencing one of the "longest cold snaps" in decades (months of record-setting cold winter weather across the entire northern hemisphere is a "cold snap"...an unproven .0003 degree temperature variation over 400 years a Global Warming eco-Apocalypse).

In addition to wiping out strawberries, beans, and squash, Florida farmers, and much of the rest of the state's economy, would really get a kick in the teeth losing the billion-dollar-a-year citrus crop. But, as the bunny huggers like to point out, so what? They're just people, a blight upon the planet. It's not like they're an endangered species or anything.

Speaking of endangered species, though, the "cold snap" is also affecting Florida's manatee population. It seems all the cold water is stressing the hell out of the sea cows, and they are dying in droves.

''It's the worst winter die-off we've had since we've been counting,'' he said.
''They are literally coming in so fast we can't keep our records up.''

In a bit of irony I'm sure will completely evade the eco-kooks, it seems the survival of hundreds of endangered manatees depends on evil old mankind, in the form of power plants. With water temperatures too cold for them out yonder, manatees have found shelter in the warm-water discharges from power plants. A tallied 500 beasties out of a population estimated at 3,000 or less now gather at the plants to survive. However, the eco-kooks have been clamoring for years to get these plants shut down to be replaced with more eco-friendly "green" facilities. They finally got it done, and these plants are now closing. So now they have to somehow wean the manatees off the warm water and kick them out back into the cold, where they can turn tits up and wash ashore.




Where's Algore and his worshippers when you really need them?

U.S. Senate: "Moral Cesspool"

From our friends at Gun Owners of America:

ObamaCare Has Revealed The Moral Bankruptcy Of The Senate
-- It's time for us for to repeat this loudly and often

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://gunowners.org/


Thursday, January 7, 2010

Here's where we're at on socialized health care. The House and Senate have passed ObamaCare bills, but the two versions are very different. So, the bill can't go to the President until they iron out the differences.

Make no mistake about it. This legislation moves us down the road towards socialism, and it will result in even more gun owners being disqualified from owning firearms.

We need to regroup and renew our efforts to kill ObamaCare -- an outcome which is still very doable.

Now, repeat this phrase over and over: A MORAL CESSPOOL.

If we are going to defeat the anti-gun ObamaCare legislation, these words are going to have to be repeated millions of times over the next month.

The U.S. Senate has become a moral cesspool.

The U.S. Senate has become a moral cesspool.

The U.S. Senate has become a moral cesspool.

Why is this refrain so important? There are several reasons why, but consider this: Throughout this fight over ObamaCare, Senators have lied about guns... they've lied about the deficit... they've lied about the costs of health insurance premiums and how the bill will affect senior citizens. They have lied over and over to their constituents about all these issues.

That's why it's time that we tell Democrat Senators how corrupt their vote for ObamaCare really was. Obviously, they won't agree. So let each Senator make the argument that, "I am not a crook."

That argument never wins elections.

Already, Democrat Representatives and Senators are either switching parties or announcing their retirements. They know the American people are disgusted with the moral bankruptcy of the U.S. Congress -- a situation that has become obvious to anyone who watches the nightly news.

Consider the following despicable practices which were perpetrated in order to push ObamaCare through the Senate last month:

1. Lies

* For months, Senators claimed there were no anti-gun provisions in the ObamaCare legislation. But everyone knew they were lying. So last month, a provision was inserted into the Senate bill which claims to allay the concerns of gun owners -- but leaves the most important problem unremedied. If they weren't lying to begin with, then why try to fix what they claimed wasn't there?

* Senators are now insisting that the current Senate health bill protects the rights of gun owners, even though this version would still allow the BATFE and FBI to troll through the ObamaCare database for gun owners who would be disqualified because of their medical information. This could result in millions of Americans -- who are suffering from PTSD and other similar conditions -- being put into the NICS system and denied the right to buy firearms.

2. Bribes

* A $100 million bribe to treat Sen. Ben Nelson's state different from all others, in exchange for Ben Nelson's vote.

* A $100-300 million bribe to treat Sen. Mary Landrieu's state different from all others, in exchange for Mary Landrieu's vote.

* $10 billion for community health centers operated by groups similar to ACORN, in exchange for Sen. Bernie Sanders' vote.

* A bribe to Sen. Max Baucus in order to treat Libby, Montana, different from any other town.

* A bribe to Sen. Chris Dodd consisting of a $100 million medical center in Connecticut.

* Bribes to Sens. Kent Conrad, Brian Dorgan, Bill Nelson, etc., etc., etc.

* In fact, there are so many bribes in the Senate version of the ObamaCare bill that the bribe-meister himself, Majority Leader Harry Reid, publicly bragged that if your senator doesn't have a bribe in this bill, it "speaks poorly" of him.

3. Extortion

* Threats to take away Sen. Joe Lieberman's chairmanship because of his opposition to the government run "public option."

4. Fraud

* Senators are claiming that the Senate-passed version reduces the deficit, even though:

a. $247 billion of the bill's costs are being snuck through in separate legislation;

b. The "savings" rely on $465 billion of Medicare "cuts," which no one believed were achievable; and

c. The "savings" rely on making new taxes take effect 3-5 years before any of those tax monies are spent.

* Senators are claiming that the bill would make Medicare solvent -- but this claim can only be made by fraudulently double-counting the effects of the phony Medicare cuts.

* Senators are claiming that health care costs would be brought under control, when the government's own Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that costs would go up $245 billion.

* Senators are claiming that premiums would be brought under control, even though the Congressional Budget Office found that policies under the "exchange" (i.e., those policies which you would have to buy, under penalty of law) would be 10-13% more expensive than if Congress did nothing.

5. Secrecy

* The final version of the 2407-page bill wasn't revealed until less than 48 hours before Congress began voting on it.

Now that the Christmas holidays are behind us, we need to get back to work. Please take the time to contact your Senator, so that we can protect the rights of gun owners by defeating socialized medicine.

ACTION: Over the next month, the term "moral cesspool" needs to become part of the political lexicon. Below, you will find that two sample communications are attached -- one for Democrat Senators, the other for Republicans.

So please send your letter, and then get your relatives, your friends, your neighbors, your gun clubs, churches, etc., to do the same.

You can use the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send a pre-written message to your Senators -- the appropriate e-mail will automatically be sent to your Senator, based on whether he or she is a Republican or Democrat.

----- Pre-written letter for Democrat Senators -----

Dear Senator:

The U.S. Senate has become a moral cesspool, and you need to begin doing something about it before this whole country is sacrificed on the altar of the Senate's moral decay.

I am disgusted with the lies, bribes, and fraud which you have advocated by voting for the Senate ObamaCare legislation:

* Millions of American taxpayer dollars were spent in the states of Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu and Chris Dodd to obtain their votes. In fact, so many bribes were shelled out that the chief bribe-meister, Harry Reid, publicly bragged that if a senator doesn't have a bribe in this bill, it "speaks poorly" of him.

* The Senate bill was passed on the claim that the Reid bill reduces the deficit, even though:

a. $247 billion of the bill's costs are being snuck through in separate legislation;

b. The "savings" rely on $465 billion of Medicare "cuts," which no one believed were achievable; and

c. The "savings" rely on making new taxes take effect 3-5 years before any of those tax monies are spent.

* Senators claimed that health care costs would be brought under control, when the government's own Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that costs would go up $245 billion.

* Senators also claimed that premiums would be brought under control, even though the Congressional Budget Office found that policies under the "exchange" (i.e., those policies which you would have to buy, under penalty of law) would be 10-13% more expensive than if Congress did nothing.

There is still time to change course. I implore you to change your vote on ObamaCare.

Sincerely,

----- Pre-written letter for Republican Senators -----

Dear Senator:

Thank you for voting against the ObamaCare fiasco.

For months, Senators claimed there were no anti-gun provisions in the ObamaCare legislation. But everyone knew they were lying. So last month, a provision was inserted into the Senate bill which claims to allay the concerns of gun owners -- but leaves the most important problem unremedied.

Some Democrat Senators are now claiming that the current Senate health bill protects the rights of gun owners, even though this version would still allow the BATFE and FBI to troll through the ObamaCare database for gun owners who would be disqualified because of their medical information. This could result in millions of Americans -- who are suffering from PTSD and other similar conditions -- being put into the NICS system and denied the right to buy firearms.

Bottom line: Please do everything in your power to kill the ObamaCare legislation. What can you, as a senator, do about this?

Please take away the incentive that the suicidal Democrats have for selling their votes on ObamaCare for posh nominations in the Obama administration after they are defeated at the polls or retire.

You can do this by announcing you will place a "hold" on the nominations of Blanche Lincoln, Evan Bayh, Chris Dodd, Brian Dorgan, and Michael Bennet -- nominations which will inevitably be made next year as a payoff for their votes on behalf of ObamaCare.

It's time that the bribes stopped, and you can make this happen.

Sincerely,

Unemployment: Spreading Like Cancer

Here's an animated map of U.S. unemployment rates by county from January '07 to October '09. The darker the color, the higher the unemployment rate.



You can view a larger version here.

I can't help but notice that our intellectual superiors on the coasts have it the worst (so far), while those ignorant provincial bumpkins in the Rockies and Great Plains are experiencing comparatively lower rates of unemployment. Nonetheless it's frightening to be able to visualize the spread of unemployment.

NH Legislators Look to Nullify Federal Gun Laws

by Michael Boldin

NH Legislators again raise the bar for the 10th Amendment Movement – felony charges proposed for federal agents violating gun rights in New Hampshire
Pre-filed for the 2010 legislative session in New Hampshire, House Bill 1285 (HB1285) seeks to “exempt firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition manufactured in New Hampshire from federal law and regulation.”

Introduced by State Rep. Dan Itse, the bill currently has 5 other co-sponsors, including 10-4 pledge signer, Carol Vita. (h/t NHLiberty.org)

While the bill’s title focuses on federal gun regulations, it has far more to do with the 10th Amendment’s limit on the power of the federal government. It states, in part:

The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution for the United States guarantees to the states and their people all powers not granted to the federal government elsewhere in the constitution and reserves to the State and people of New Hampshire certain powers as they were understood at the time that New Hampshire ratified the Bill of Rights, particularly the Tenth Amendment in 1790. The guaranty of those powers is a matter of contract between the State and people of New Hampshire and the several States comprising the United States as of the time that the compact was agreed upon and adopted by New Hampshire and the several States comprising the United States.

The regulation of inter-state commerce was delegated by the People of the Several States to the federal government in the US Constitution. Since the regulation of intra-state commerce was not delegated to the federal government, this authority, as codified in law by the 10th Amendment, remains with the State governments or the People themselves.

HB1285 includes this principle in its text:

"a personal firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in New Hampshire and that remains within the state of New Hampshire is not subject to federal law or taxation, or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce. It is declared by the legislature that those items have not traveled in interstate commerce.

"The authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce in basic materials does not include authority to regulate firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition made in New Hampshire from those materials. Firearms accessories that are imported into New Hampshire from another state and that are subject to federal regulation as being in interstate commerce do not subject a firearm to federal regulation under interstate commerce because they are attached to or used in conjunction with a firearm in New Hampshire."

Unlike many other states that are considering Firearms Freedom Acts (FFA), the New Hampshire legislation includes official sanctions on any state or federal official violating the law, if adopted.

State Agents:

"Any public servant of the State of New Hampshire as defined in RSA 640:2 that enforces or attempts to enforce a act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the government of the United States upon a personal firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in New Hampshire and that remains within the State of New Hampshire shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor."

Federal Agents:

"Any official, agent, or employee of the government of the United States, or employee of a corporation providing services to the government of the United States that enforces or attempts to enforce a act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the government of the United States upon a personal firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in New Hampshire and that remains within the State of New Hampshire shall be guilty of a class B felony." (emphasis added)

NULLIFICATION

Some supporters of the legislation say that a successful application of such a state-law would set a strong precedent and open the door for states to take their own positions on a wide range of activities that they see as not being authorized to the Federal Government by the Constitution.

The principle behind such legislation is nullification, which has a long history in the American tradition. When a state ‘nullifies’ a federal law, it is proclaiming that the law in question is void and inoperative, or ‘non-effective,’ within the boundaries of that state; or, in other words, not a law as far as the state is concerned.

All across the country, activists and state-legislators are pressing for similar legislation, to nullify specific federal laws within their states.

A proposed Constitutional Amendment to effectively ban national health care will go to a vote in Arizona in 2010. Thirteen states now have some form of medical marijuana laws – in direct contravention to federal laws which state that the plant is illegal in all circumstances. And, massive state nullification of the 2005 Real ID Act has rendered the law nearly void.

INTERPOSITION

In the Virginia Resolution of 1798, James Madison wrote of the principle of interposition:

"That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the powers of the federal government, as resulting from the compact, to which the states are parties; as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting the compact; as no further valid that they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact; and that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the states who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits, the authorities, rights and liberties appertaining to them."

Here Madison asserts what is implied in nullification laws – that state governments not only have the right to resist unconstitutional federal acts, but that, in order to protect liberty, they are “duty bound to interpose” or stand between the federal government and the people of the state.

Felony charges for violations of citizens’ rights such as proposed in HB1285 are certainly an effort to interpose between state residents and an overreaching federal government. Time will tell if the State Apparatus will follow through with such needed actions should the bill pass.

Michael Boldin is the founder of the Tenth Amendment Center
Copyright © 2009 by TenthAmendmentCenter.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.