Gun Nut Roundup - June 2010

The Never Ending Story: More Guns, Less Crime

Preliminary crime numbers released by the FBI show that violent crime is down in 2009 for the third year in a row, all while gun sales have been through the roof.

The Bureau’s 2009 Uniform Crime Report shows a 5.5% decrease in violent crime from 2008 figures (which were near historic lows to begin with). Robbery fell by 8.1%, rape dropped 3.1%, and aggravated assault fell by 4.2%.

Meanwhile, the Bureau’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), the system used to perform background checks for gun purchases, reported record numbers. There were 14,033,824 background checks in 2009, up from 12,709,023 in 2008 (which was up from 11,177,335 the year before that). Excise taxes collected by firearm and ammunition manufacturers during the fiscal year running from Oct. 1, 2008 to Sept. 30, 2009 were up 38.6% over the previous 12 months.

All signs point toward record gun sales, yet violent crime rates continue to tumble. Sorry about that, Sarah Brady!

Alaska: Number 8

In May, Alaska became the 8th state to pass a “Firearms Freedom Act” when Governor Sean Parnell signed the sucker. Based on a law first written in the great state of Montana, the law would exempt firearms manufactured, sold and retained in the state from all federal gun laws.

These laws set Alaska, Montana, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Idaho, and Arizona on a legal collision course with the federal government for an eventual courtroom showdown. Hopefully a states’ rights victory would strengthen not only the Second Amendment but the Tenth as well.

SOCOM Scraps SCAR

In a move sure to make M16-o-phobes like Bawb pull their hair out, the U.S. military's Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has unexpectedly pulled the plug on their replacement for their M16/M4 rifles. The “SCAR” rifle was available in both 5.56mm (Mk-16) and 7.62mm NATO (Mk-17) chambering, and had already been issued to some SOCOM units like the Army Rangers.

"The Mk-16 does not provide enough of a performance advantage over the M-4 to justify spending USSOCOM's limited … funds when competing priorities are taken into consideration," officials at USSOCOM told Military.com. In a hopeful sign, SOCOM will still purchase numbers of the 7.62mm Mk-17 version, I presume as some type of “designated marksman” weapon. It will also purchase the similar new Mk-20 Sniper Support Rifle.

Hopefully SOCOM will be so happy with their new rifles (even in limited numbers) that the whole military will get onboard and replace the M16. We can dream can’t we?

THE REST OF THE STORY...IS UNAVAILABLE

I usually have pretty low opinion of generals myself. Too many of them are political yes-men who worked their way to the top on their knees. As a certain Iowa patriot would say, the difference between a brown-noser and a shithead is that a brown-noser at least knows when to stop.

Regardless, with the firing of General McChrystal, the fawning media, once more showing the integrity of intestinal parasites and the objectivity of Beria, is peeing all over itself to spin this as Barack “the Duke” Obama showing some real kick-ass decisive he-man leadership. Wa-haw.

The Propaganda Ministry keeps comparing this (over and over and over and over) to President Harry Truman firing General Douglas “Dugout Doug” MacArthur during the Korean War. MacArthur was loudly advocating dropping atomic bombs on Red China; McChrystal’s staff said things that hurt poow wittle Bawack’s feewings. Yup, exactly the same situation.

Of course, if Obama smoked a bowl of crack and took a flame-thrower to a bus full of orphans and nuns in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue, the Ministry of Truth would somehow find a way to spin it making Barack the victim and the nuns at fault.

We’ll never know what really happened, especially from a Rolling Stoned reporter. Thrice in my own life have I been personally involved in events that, when portrayed by the media later, did not in any way, shape or form remotely resemble what I had seen with my own eyes.

Many moons ago, when there were still two Germanys, our mechanized infantry battalion attempted to cross a river on engineer barges. As I recall, the operation took literally all night and, in that time, we managed to get maybe two or three Bradley Fighting Vehicles out of the entire battalion across the river. Of course it was raining--If it ain’t rainin’, we ain’t trainin’. Anyway, we were using barges because by the time, even the Army had given up on pretending that the Bradley was even remotely amphibious.

When AFN (Armed Forces Network) ran the press release, it told how that if the Russkies blew up all the bridges, the rivers would not be even a minor obstacle to our mighty American battle forces, who could cross them at will. Well, you would kind of expect that spin from AFN. The Soviets were pretty good at rigging and faking river crossings using tanks themselves, with accompanying heavily-edited propaganda film footage. One would expect more objectivity from the so-called Mainstream Media. One would be wrong.

Later, while dispatching for a police department, all local network affiliates and newspapers ran a hysterical series of reports on the mean, nasty, evil out-of-control trigger-happy cops who stormed a man’s property and sprayed the whole neighborhood with bullets to kill some childrens’ favorite little pet dog “Fluffy” right before their eyes. They made it sound like more ammunition was expended than at Normandy Beach and that people for blocks around were diving for cover and pulling their children indoors in fear of their lives as the bullets sang overhead. This story was, of course, constructed entirely from statements from “the victim”. The press did not in any way, shape or form attempt to verify, fact-check or confirm the story from any other sources. The guy played them like a fiddle.

Turns out poor little “Dad of the Year” had a criminal record as long as your arm, including two prison terms for drug dealing, and was an abusive drunk no stranger to restraining orders. The ramshackle white trash conditions of his home and yard, his loud parties with his unsavory friends, and furtive visitors coming and going at all hours of the night had pretty much enabled him to single-handedly destroy property values for the entire block. He was the source of frequent calls and complaints to the police from neighbors and the public at large. Poor little “Fluffy”, the kids’ cute cuddly little puppy, was an aggressive full-grown Rottweiler that was pretty much allowed to run wild. It had chased and attacked pedestrians walking by on more than one previous occasion, sending one guy to the ER.

The cops were responding to yet another dog attack on yet another passing pedestrian. At that time and place, these guys were still “Peace Officers” rather than the growing new breed of militant young “Law Enforcement Officers”. As the pair of officers walked up the sidewalk, Fluffy attacked them. The “trigger-happy maniac who sprayed the neighborhood with bullets with no thought for public safety”, subject to so many harangues by the press, was an officer well known for his marksmanship. He fired two shots right into Fluffy’s head, at a downward angle so that any over-penetrations or misses would go down into the bare dirt of the “lawn”. Too bad all those intrepid muck rakers of the media just happened to miss all this information in their in-depth investigations.

The last instance involved a Support the Troops rally. There were about 300 of us pro, and THREE counter demonstrators. Guess who was shown on the evening news by all three local network affiliates and in all the newspapers. Myself, my fellow blogger, and a close friend were all observing the events in question from quite literally within spitting distance as the “incident” that garnered so much media hype took place.

The main female counter-protester, apparently going for that timeless cross between a Chinese peasant woman and Cyndi Lauper look so popular with college radicals, made sure she was right in front of the cameras. A calm, quiet lady in her thirties stepped up, deftly pushed Comrade Cyndi’s placard sign to the ground and then stood firmly on it. Glancing out the corner of her eye at the cameras to make sure they were on her, Comrade Cyndi fell to the ground, curling up in a semi fetal position, rolling around between peoples’ legs, with much lamentation, rending of garments, ashes and sackcloth, gnashing of teeth and wailing and the whole nine yards. “Stop hitting me! Stop! Help!” I have to give her credit; it was an acting performance worthy of an Oscar.

Once more, the press were sucked in like turnip pickers gaping at a carnival huckster at the State Fair. Comrade Cyndi got all the face time press coverage as the media spoke of how “The peaceful demonstration turned ugly against the counter-demonstrators” and showed highly edited snippets of film that made it look like a Biblical stoning.

So then it was no big surprise what happened at the last event I was involved in. There had been prison break and the fugitives had fled up to a popular recreation area on the National Forest. Several prison guards, deputies, and Forest Service types were gathered on the road discussing the situation as a team of trackers searched for signs of the escapees’ trail.

Then a young lady and her cameraman from one of the local network affiliates drove up in a van emblazoned with the news channel logo. Everyone in uniform scattered like a covey of quail, cars and trucks firing up and fleeing in every directions, looking like a scene right out of the Blues Brothers. Who can blame them; no doubt all of them had been misquoted, misrepresented or negatively spun by the press at one time or another and wanted no part of any news story.

It always cracks me up when the so-called journalists of this country still seem think of themselves as old style hard bitten investigative muck-raking terriers with press passes sticking out of the band of their fedoras and cigarettes dangling from the corners of their mouths. Let’s face it, the media hacks didn’t get into their line of work because they were too smart to be nuclear physicists, too brave to be soldiers, or too hard-working for the high steel. Even when they’re occasionally putting on one of their weak facades of “objectivity”, they’re still more gullible than a cat chasing a laser pointer. Any liberal can make them dance like puppets. “Investigative journalists” remind me of a nest full of baby birds, peeping away with their up-turned mouths wide open, squawking to be satiated with press releases spoon-fed them by the Whitehouse.

What really happened with the whole McChrystal deal? Honestly, I don’t really care. But if I did, I would sure as hell never find out from our intrepid journalistic professionals.

POLITICS VS. FOREST HEALTH...YOU ALREADY KNOW WHICH ONE TRUMPS THE OTHER

Across the Rocky Mountain West, at least 4 million acres of forest, 2 million in Montana alone, have been devastated by the mountain pine beetle. These disgusting little varmints bore into the tree and lay eggs beneath the bark. When they hatch, the larvae eat the inner bark, eventually killing the tree. The lodgepole pine is the most heavily hit tree species. Of course, this epidemic is much more easily spread when there are endless continuous stands of a single timber type stretching forever. Such as where all timber harvest has long been banned.

Most likely, millions of board feet of beetle-killed trees will just continue to die yet remain virtually untouched, except maybe near some urban areas. After a few years, entire drainages and hillsides turn from green to red to gray, covered with dead, bone dry timber, eventually falling over to create ladder fuels and impenetrable blowdowns. One dry summer it'll all burn like it was hit by a nuke and consume tens of thousands of acres at a time. In places, it will probably burn hot enough to be a sterilizing fire, where foliage will not grow back naturally for a long damn time and entire watersheds wind up choked with erosion and run-off.

After almost a century and a half of fire suppression, there are trees growing where they wouldn't naturally. Regular wildfires kept the mountain meadows clear of conifer encroachment. Photos of the old gold mining boom towns from the late 1800's show the hillsides in the background barren except for sagebrush. Today, those same slopes are covered with century-old stands of Doug fir that wouldn't be there without the hand of man interfering.

Even though these are not natural stands, that doesn't stop the bunny huggers from spiking the trees, in hopes of preventing harvest and killing/injuring workers in the timber industry. More love and tolerance from the left. Cleacuts as such don't happen on public (not Federal) land anymore. Cuts are much smaller, carefully laid out, irregular in shape with patches of standing timber within the boundaries left untouched, wildlife trees set aside, and with no cutting near streams. This encourages natural reseeding, and seedlings are usually planted by hand as well. Fortunately, in one recent case of tree spiking, the eco-terrorists spiked the marked "leave trees" that were set aside to remain unharvested.

There are far too many people out there who believe the propaganda that the West consists of nothing but barren old clearcuts with perhaps a half a dozen surviving trees in entire mountain ranges. I've met some of those who think that no tree should ever be cut for any reason, forever and ever, amen. This includes any salvage logging of fire-killed or beetle-killed tress. The trees are dead and going to waste anyway, but God forbid anyone get any good out of them. Naw, better to let them build up fuel for the Mother of All Forest Fires.

When originally set aside, National Forests were given the mandate to be managed for three human generations ahead. The Forest Service fell under the Department of Agriculture as trees were considered a renewable crop. In the 50's and 60's, things leaned towards one extreme and a "get the cut out" policy of too much harvesting. In the last couple of decades, the pendulum swung to the other far extreme in the favor of the tree-huggers, who don't want anything cut, period. Many of them would like to see the public pretty much banned from using public land. Except for themselves, of course. And all it takes for them to succeed is finding a left-wing Federal judge who'll rule in their favor.

I recall one kook from an eco-outfit in Bozeman being quoted in the Butte newspaper. The gist of his statement was that they knew they couldn't win their latest particular lawsuit against salvage logging of beetle killed timber, but that they could keep things tied up in court for so long that the wood would be worthless and thus go unharvested.

From what I've seen, the only "solution" they offer to saving the forests from the pine beetle epidemic is apparently to whine about global warming and demand the government confiscate more money from the taxpayer. The very same government that is dragging its feet, blundering around aimlessly, and actually hindering the Gulf oil spill clean-up. Yeah, they'll be a big fat help.

I guess this a big secret, but I'll let you in on it in a hushed whisper. "Trees grow back." They are a renewable resource. Apparently, the belief is that once trees are cut the land becomes an eternal barren wasteland resembling the surface of the moon. Trees, which have proven themselves quite capable of reproducing since the beginning of time, supposedly become extinct. And after all, trees are more important than the lives and livelihood of individuals, families, and even entire communities who once harvested timber.

Parts of the beautiful Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, for instance, were logged as recently as the late 50's/early 60's. Today, most of the fern-feelers enjoying the place have no idea. I once met a couple of "hairy-legged women in comfortable shoes" on a portage trail between lakes. Stopping to chat, they immediately went into the standard, "Oh thank Gaia we saved this natural wonder from those foul, evil, blankety-blank loggers."

Being me, I couldn't help but to kick some of the gravel from the trail with my boot heel to reveal the decaying remnants of what was once called a sleeper. "That," I said, "is an old railroad tie. This trail we're on is in fact an old logging railroad grade. This place was once logged and you're telling me you can't even tell the difference?"

I was quickly included in the blankety-blank logger category. But then again, I don't think the gals had much use for any men.

At any rate, I recently just happened to be looking at pictures of the current devastation in the forests of the West and noted that the only green remaining is the young "regen" tree growth in the old logging cuts.

I fully expect the be called a no-good filthy evil blankety-blank SOB by the kind loving compassionate tolerant left for daring to voice my opinion. So be it. Like the Congressman Etheridge slapping around college students, who are you going to believe? Your own eyes or the spin of your betters at the Propaganda Ministry?

NEVER WASTE A GOOD CRISIS...EXPAND IT!!!

Remember when George W. Bush was Satan personified because he wasn’t down in New Orleans personally siphoning water with a garden hose fifteen minuets after the hurricane hit? Remember how the media and liberals and incompetent crooked mayors and governors who did absolutely nothing and the Justice Brothers threw a hissy bitch fit? Remember that the response is still being berated to this day?

In a world populated by journalists who had more integrity than tapeworms, Uncle Sammy Obammny would be getting his ass handed to him on a plate. While there are starting to be an occasional grumble, even from Chris “Tingly Leg” Matthews, about the Emperor’s nakedness, they’ve pretty much given him a pass.

So the Anointed One continues to flounder around helplessly and cluelessly, playing golf and shooting hoops and going on vacation and to big parties and fundraisers. The “most cerebral president” shows all the intelligence, integrity, and leadership of a pouty third grader. Finding out that, as President, he can’t just vote “present” on every issue like he did in the Senate, even his cheerleaders in the state-run press are becoming rather half-hearted in trying prop him up and to blame Bush for the problem.

In fact, the Obamination Administration has been making the spill worse and is actively hindering clean-up efforts!

Starting with Norway on Day One, the regime has turned down help from some 17 nations around the world who have been offering their equipment and expertise in cleaning up oil spills. Why? Because of the Jones Act.

The Jones Act, a piece of 1920’s protectionist legislation, bans foreign vessels and crews from working in U.S. waters; only unionized workers can help out. Bush waived this act immediately for Katrina and got no credit for doing so. Everybody and his dog on the Gulf Coasts wants the expert foreign help. Obama, still pandering to the unions, refuses to waive the act, even after all this time. Where’s the media outrage?

In addition to keeping out a wide variety of expert foreign help, the inept dictatorship is now closing down domestic clean-up efforts as well.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, rather than doing absolutely nothing but run around squawking about Bush (as another governor did after Katrina), has been actively doing everything possible to get things cleaned up. Louisiana’s efforts, as with the efforts of other Gulf Coast states, once again, have run up against Federal incompetence, red tape, and regulatory interference.

Sixteen oil-sucking barges were been busy in the Gulf removing thousands of gallons of oil from the Gulf for just over a week, when they were all shut down by the Coast Guard and are now sitting idle. This time the excuse is that the Coast Guard needs to conduct safety inspections for fire extinguishers and life rafts, but “cannot contact the owners of the vessels”.

Gee, I thought this administration was nature’s friend, the greenest of the Watermelons (green on the outside, Red on the inside). The Emperor is so worried about the environment he has shut down off-shore drilling, cutting off a third of our domestic oil and putting thousands and thousands of more men out of work in an already abysmal economy.

What a great leader! How cerebral! We’d be better off with a Border Collie in the Whitehouse. At least then you’d see some action, leadership, and intelligence coming out of Washington.

I can't wait until they're running our health care.

ETHERIDGE UPDATE, OR; SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

Watch the video again HERE.

Now, don't go believing your own eyes peasant scum, listen to the wisdom of the Washington Post, as they stand up for Lurch the beloved public servant and try to villainize what they sneeringly refer to as the "self-described students" in what many of the talking heads are calling "an ambush interview", as opposed to the "journalism" they practice.

"Who are you?" asked Etheridge, grabbing one of the cameras and pointing it down -- a move more typically seen from Hollywood bodyguards than congressmen. The second camera rolled as Etheridge, irritated, held the wrist of the first cameraman, then pulled the student to his side and grabbed him in a hug.

So who are the students? I don't know. The National Republican Congressional Committee tells me they didn't send them, and "DCCameraGuy" has yet to respond to my e-mail. But without any name or organizational support, just by riling up a member of Congress, the students have created the first conservative meme of the week. They seem to have learned from organizations such as ThinkProgress that any video of a member acting strangely, no matter how grainy, is grist for the Web.

That's right boys and girls. Ol' Lurch was just giving the boy a hug. Awww. Isn't that sweet. (I'd be willing to bet if that student was 6'4" and 250 lbs the brave Congresscritter wouldn't have been man-handling him.)

No one noticed, though, until today, when Andrew Breitbart's Big Government posted the video -- an edited version posted at another YouTube account -- with a commentary from editor Mike Flynn.

No one noticed? Isn't that the press' JOB to notice and report on such things rather than (1) Try to cover up/ignore the story (2) skew the story (3) make excuses for the congresscritter (4) accuse the victems (5) sweep it under the rug because Lurch said he "profoundly regrets" what happened.

You can rest assured that no charges of any kind will be filed and there will be no Congressional recriminations or censure from Nancy "The Dunce" Pelosi or anyone else on the Hill.

So we see once again that we have a ruling elite class, a sort of self-proclaimed royalty, and the rules for them are certainly not the same rules for you, proletariat filth. Just shut up, pay your taxes, and be thankful for their "public service".

Some animals are more equal than others.

Chet vs. Terry: Clash of the Pussies

The Iowa primary elections are finally over. Now that the major-party candidates have been selected, the Iowa governor’s race looks to be a battle royal between two moderates which may heat up all the way to tepid. Current Iowa Governor Terry Culver (D) is being challenged by former Iowa Governor Chet Branstad (R), leaving Iowa voters with a stark choice between a career politician with a moustache or a career politician without one.

Although we often think of the Democrats as the ones who seek to destroy the economy with massive taxes and the Republicans as the ones who seek to destroy it with massive debt, the Iowa race seems to juxtapose the two parties normal roles. In his tenure, Governor Branstad (Republican, moustache) increased the state sales tax by 67%, raised the state’s gasoline tax and proposed a state income tax on Social Security recipients.

Governor Culver (Democrat, no ‘stache), in his single term, has added about $750 million in debt just on his pet “jobs-creating” stimulus project called I-JOBS. I-JOBS has helped change Iowa’s unemployment rate from 5.3% , when it was introduced, to 6.9% today, while tripling the state’s debt.

Although there are not yet any scheduled debates between the two candidates, there was a foretaste of the verbal fireworks to come when, in their acceptance speeches, both candidates took “jabs” at each other.

In his primary victory speech, former governor Chet Branstad said: “In November, Iowa families will show the Democrats that we will no longer tolerate them referring to ‘six’ as ‘half-a-dozen’ and exposing their bare upper-lips to decent, hard-working Iowans.”

At his own victory celebration, current governor Terry Culver shot back: “The Republicans want to take this state backwards. Back to a time when furry-lipped men called ‘half-a-dozen’ by the nonprogressive term ‘six.’ Governor Branstad may try to hide from his long record of moustache-bearing by referring to it as merely a ‘cookie-duster’ or ‘soup-strainer,’ but in November, Iowa’s working families will show that we are not so easily fooled.”

Revelers at each candidates’ respective victory party then feasted on bowls of plain oatmeal and glasses of room-temperature tap water. Hang on to your hats, Iowa!

MORE PEACE, LOVE, AND TOLERANCE FROM THE LEFT...I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!

Remember when Obamassiah’s deputy chief of staff Jim Messina told Democrats trying to force healthcare “reform” down our throats, “If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard.”

Well, despite the media propagandists gleefully reporting any and every random liberal claim of hate or violence (without substantiating or fact checking in any way) by Tea Partiers, despite endless harangues of potential violence and hate when they didn’t have any real violence or hate to report, despite the Ministry of Truth suppressing any and all video proof of violence and hate from the left, the beat goes on.

Since the main media effort of this story was to try and discredit the victim, here’s a reminder of Kenneth Gladney getting beat down by purple-shirted SEIU thugs using racial slurs. I met Mr. Gladney at a rally in Montana and bought an autographed Gadsen flag from him (you can never have enough Gadsen flags these days). Sure seemed like a nice, soft-spoken guy to me. And I didn’t see any Tea Parties using the language and violence that the SEIU goons did.

Then we had another violent lefty biting off a guy’s finger! OF COURSE you recall the media coverage of that event. (Sound of crickets chirping).

In the latest “Tea Party violence and hate” incident, you guessed it, the Lefties were once more the instigators and perpetrators.

This guy, Governor Spencer, a union organizer, a socialist and a black liberation activist, wades into a peaceful demonstration and starts throwing profanity and punches.

What? You didn’t see this video played over and over again on every TV news show or hear this endlessly discussed and over analyzed by Chris Matthews or Kieth Olberman? You didn’t see Nancy Pelosi giving indignant press conferences and calling him a Nazi? Do I have to tell you won’t?

Well, I guess it’s not enough to send your brain-washed thugs and lackies to beat up on non-violent protestors and/or non-MSM interviewers anymore.

Now, Congresscritter “Lurch” Etheridge (D-NC) personally physically attacks a college student attempting to interview him on a public sidewalk. Don’t hold your breath for any assault charges to be filed. Despite the video-taped proof, you probably won’t hear anything from Katie or Kieth or any of Obama’s other legion of pet Propaganda Ministers.

Is it just me, or is there a trend developing here?

No wonder the Golden Child thinks we're getting "too much information" on the Internet.

IT AIN'T EASY BEIN' GREEN

Oh, Happy! Happy, Joy Joy! The Unclothed Emperor and his toadies in government and the MSM, aka the Far Left Cheerleader Squad, have announced that, for the 314th time, the “recession” is over. They are crowing about the miraculous 575,000 jobs “created” in May.

What they forgot to mention was that only 150,000 of those are real, full-time, permanent private sector jobs, you know, the kind people can actually make a living and feed their children and keep a roof over their head with. Most of the rest are once-a-decade part-time temporary Census taker jobs. And even those numbers, it turns out, are padded like hell. It seems that the Census Bureau is hiring people on about a weekly basis and then re-hiring them the next Monday and counting that as a “new” job created.

But not to worry! Since the campaign, Obamassiah has been promising to save the economy with “green jobs”. In fact, he promised and the state-run media ran with the figure of five million new jobs. The original figure was quoted as “864 hillion bazillion jobs” but even Chris Matthews was forced to say, “If you’re just going to make up these random ass numbers, you have to make them halfway believable. Not even the American sheeple we’re spoon-feeding the ‘news’ to are that stupid.”

Let’s take just a quick peek at some of the wonderful green job opportunities that, as we're being promised by the Dictatorship and the Propaganda Ministry, will no doubt contribute millions to the economy and kick-start private industry and reduce sun spots and cure male pattern baldness.

For instance, while historic buildings and landmarks across the nation crumble into ruin and you can’t find a campsite in a National Park to save your life and the concessionaires are staffed entirely by Nigerians to whom ‘I would like a huckleberry shake” does not translate, the National Park Service is hiring for the position of Climate Change-CESU/RLC Coordinator.

Apply now, folks! For the paltry sum of $136,770 per year you too could, "…communicate significant issues and news, and be the liaison among various NPS programs, with an emphasis on the integration of climate change activities within the NPS and with other agencies, especially the Department of Interior Bureaus that are involved with climate change activities.”

Or, you could work for the Forest Circus, Department of Aggravation, in Houghton, MI as a “scientist” who, “Develops and implements communication, outreach, and technology transfer activities related to ecosystem management and climate change. Organizes workshops, seminars, trainings, and scientific meetings.” That pays up to $89,000 a year which, in Michigan these days, is the equivalent of being Donald Trump. Expect the “ailing” auto industry to turn around almost immediately after this job gets filled.

Despite the gazillions of ”stimulus” dollars poured out on the ground of key constituencies whose representatives might not have supported health care “reform”, the Park and Forest Circus are strapped for cash and making cutbacks. For instance, it is popular to combine two Ranger Districts into one, or even two entire National Forests into one. The effects of such “integrations” mean that say one actual worker at the ground level who might actually do something to directly benefit the public can cover twice the ground and do the work formerly done by four people. But while the forests may combine, the respective Supervisor’s Offices each remain. So now we have double the administration positions to supervise one-quarter of the workforce. Talk about savings and efficiency! Still, that is so stressful for the supervisors that addition GS-12/14 Assistant Supervisors may need to be hired. Now that’s leadership and planning.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of funding for a meaningless multi-year, multi-state, multi-million dollar survey of recreational use on the National Forests to find out what the public wants. Here ya go. Maintain the roads, clear the trails, and clean the shitters. Done. Saved ‘em millions. That and fighting fires are about all the useful things the agency does these days, and the latter is preety questionable in many cases. The agency is supposed to manage the forests as resources for three generations into the future. But that ain’t green. So loggers and miners and even the tiny handful of remaining federal employees who actually work for the public lose their jobs and they just let the forests decay and die until one day they burn like an atomic bomb going off some dry year. Now that's green!

That, my friends, brings us to the biggest of the numerous dirty little secrets of the “green jobs” scam.

Spain, for instance, was quoted repeatedly by the wunderkind as a model to base ourselves on. Not even going into the rest of Spain’s obviously less-than-stellar economy, let’s see how much good these green jobs have done them.

Every “green job” created with government money in Spain over the last eight years came at the cost of 2.2 regular jobs, and only one in 10 of the newly created green jobs became a permanent job, says a new study released this month. The study draws parallels with the green jobs programs of the Obama Regime. Further proof that, as Rush says, no matter where he goes or who he's with, Obama is always the least-qualified person in the room, whether the subject is Economics 101 or getting your fingers out of those little "Chinese handcuffs".

If you need anymore good news, they found that in Italy, the losses were worse than they were in Spain: Each green job cost 6.9 jobs in the industrial sector and 4.8 jobs across the entire economy.

Only flaming socialists and complete morons could point to those numbers and cry, “Success!”

Which explains Obama, Pelosi, Couric and Mathews dancing arm and arm in the streets singing, “Happy Days are Here Again!”

DEFINING THE THREAT...MEXICAN GUN RUNNERS OR HOLSTEINS?

What the government is here to protect you from.

Mexican gun-runner. No problem. Perfectly Harmless

Dairy cows! Aiiieeee! Heinous threat to life, liberty and the American Way.

As the frenzied bashing of Arizona state laws that no one in the Obama Justice Department has actually read, two Mexican ILLEGALS were busted (by local authorities) in Texas. The ILLEGALS, Damaso Alberto Rueda Cabrera and Arnulfo de la Cruz Sanchez, caught in possession of some 147 assault rifles with 10,000 rounds of ammunition and various sundry gun-related items.

Being felons in possession of firearms, if they were American citizens they could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison or $250,000 per violation, or a maximum of 735 years and $36,750,000. But, since they were ILLEGALS, they apparently have more rights than mere American citizens, so they were sentenced to terms of TEN DAYS and FORTY FIVE DAYS for pleading guilty to entering the United States illegally. Of course, the ATF is involved. You didn’t have to even ask, did you?

Ten and 45 days? Why even bother. If it were you or me, American Citizens, we would have been buried so far under a federal prison that we would pray for a cockroach just to have some company. Hell, they killed Randy Weaver’s wife and son over a sawed-off shotgun. Seventy six branch division men, women, and children were roasted alive because the BAT-men believed that, even though they had not done anything illegal at that point, they could possibly be modifying legal arms into illegal arms. There are people still in prison because the ATF managed to define shoestrings, a single spring, or malfunctioning weapon as a MACHINE GUN.

In fact, since the judge scoffed at their asinine conspiracy theory regarding the Hutaree, the Feds took some time off to regroup and have now filed an entirely new set of charges involving illegal weapons and bomb-making materials. By BATF definition, if you have a shoestring and a piece of plumbing in your garage you are probably guilty of possessing a machine gun and bomb-making materials. They’re probably considered weapons of mass destruction, too. I wouldn’t doubt that the Hutaree’s suddenly unearthed “unregistered short-barreled rifles” as claimed by the Feds have fresh hacksaw marks in the metal.

Other dangerous threats the Federal government is protecting is from lately are those pesky Amish again. The Environmental Protection Agency, showing it too can be as rogue as the ATF, is using its own unconstitutional rules and regulations to go after Amish dairy farmers in Lancanster County, Pennsylvania. If they can’t sop the Amish from producing whole milk, I guess they’re just gonna stop them from farming altogether.

The EPA is charging the Amish with polluting Chesapeake Bay with cow poop. Almost a century of huge industrial complexes in the area dumping their untreated wastes into streams and tributaries flowing to the Bay until caught and fined (if at all) apparently has no environmental impact whatsoever. Major cities dumping all kinds of unspeakable filth into lakes and rivers get a pass for monetary and political reasons. Big $$$$ payoff covers up much if any media attention while Amish farmers are now targeted to distract from the Mega-Agribusiness, big industry and large metropolitan areas dumping.

Yes, it is ironic that the Amish and Mennonites fled Europe in the 1700’s to avoid government persecution and believe that they should take care of their own and are mistrustful of outsiders in general and government in particular. Could their freedom and anti-establishment beliefs be contributing to the Feds’ need to whip them into line? Perhaps they are seen as a threat to Big Ag and its governmental mercenaries. Or maybe it’s just some more good old-fashioned Christian bashing. I’ll bet if they were a Muslim sect Uncle Sammy Obammy wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot pole.

What is it about dairy farmers that so pisses the government off? The Department of Fatherland, er I mean Motherland, er I mean Homeland “Security” is threatening to use Eminent Domain to confiscate land from another family dairy farm. What with all the gunfights, border incursions, chaos, and ruin going on at the international borders, Uncle Sammy has finally seen that it need to use a wad of “stimulus” money to build a fancy new border checkpoint.

Of course, this is not in Texas or Arizona. It’s in VERMONT! Yes, a border station that sees an average of FORTY vehicles per day needs to be expanded…at the expense of taking land from a local family dairy farm…to protect us from the insidious and violent Canadian border invasion.

DHS spokesperson Obergruppenfuhrer Barb Wire stood up for the decision. “Why, just last year this important border security post intercepted and apprehended some three Canadians, two of whom were trying to smuggle non-American bacon into the country, and one who was armed with an unregistered hockey sick.”

"Don't worry. We know what's best. We're from the government, and we're to help you. So shut your face and take this chip in your forehead."

Field of Blinkard Idiots

As I've written before, visiting the "Field of Dreams" movie site is one thing every Iowan should do before they croak. But now the baseball diamond/cornfield from the iconic film is up for sell. There's about 5.4 million reasons why this farmboy won't be buying it.

According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette's Todd Dorman, neither Kevin Costner nor Ray Liotta will be buying the tourist attraction either. One group that is interested in leasing the property are the nuts over at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Apparently they want to turn it into a "pig empathy display," some type of holocaust museum for pigs, drawing attention to the "cruel treatment" of future pork chops here in Iowa, the nation's top pork producer.

Here's the email that the PETA nuts sent to the landowners selling the farm. [My responses are in brackets.]:

Dear Mr. and Ms. Lansing,

I am writing on behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters—including thousands across Iowa. We have an idea to put the iconic “Field of Dreams” to good use while you await a final sale. We would like to offer to rent this landmark to build the temporary “Field of Nightmares: Pig Empathy Display,” [A "Pig Empathy Display!" Do you people have lives?] which would encourage nearby pork producers to stop cheating pigs out of a happy life. [As farm owners themselves, I'm sure the Lansings will sure want to tick off all their farming neighbors with this.]

Pigs get a worse rap than Shoeless Joe. [But they're not nearly as handsome as Ray Liotta.] As the nation’s number one pork-producing state, [Which assures that your display here will go over like a turd in the punchbowl at a Sunday school picnic.] Iowa has factory farms that are truly a “Field of Nightmares” for pigs, who live in filth [Then tell them to clean up after themselves!] and often have their tails, teeth, and testicles cut off without any pain relief. [I'm amazed that a group primarily comprised of liberals who applaud it when an unborn child gets his or her skull slit open and their brains vacuumed out, suddenly get "concerned" when a piggy gets its tail cut off. By the way, the reason farmers cut pigs tails off is because these "noble swine" that you love so much will chew off and eat each others tails. Perhaps getting it cut off quickly with a sharp knife is the more humane option?] After a lifetime of suffering, the first time that many pigs breathe fresh air is the day that they are forced onto a transport truck and taken to the slaughterhouse, where some pigs have their throats cut while they are still conscious. [I.e. Obama's plan for all future generations of Americans.]

We’d like to educate the 65,000 tourists who come each year to the Field of Dreams [You really think that many will still show up for your damned pig thing?] about how pigs feel pain and fear just as we do and are just as smart as 3-year-old humans [or adult PETA members]. Guests can “pig out” on delicious faux-pork “riblets” (made from healthy plant protein), [Why eat that crap when you can eat the real thing? If God didn't want us to eat pigs, why'd he make them taste so good?] and youngsters will enjoy free animal-friendly stickers and coloring books. [Shoeless Joe: "Is this California?" Ray Kinsella: "No, it's Iowa."] Our multimedia display will leave visitors enlightened and empowered, knowing that they can stop the abuse of these intelligent [compared to yourself], friendly animals simply by leaving pork off their plates.

We hope that you’ll consider our offer to make the Field of Dreams a roadside attraction that offers tourists a new kind of food for thought. [If you build it, they will leave.] Please contact me so that we can begin the planning process. [Just call 1-800-MOONBAT] Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman

Executive Vice President [of PETA]

While I highly doubt these folks will lease the ball field to the boneheads at PETA, if they do it should be quite a show. I hope the local pork producers set up their own display, then people can choose between "plant protein 'riblets'" and hand-wringing or real pork ribs and tummy-patting. I know what line I'll be in.