Oregon Legislators Propose Gun Ban, Confiscation & Home Searches

Think I'm kidding?

Check out House Bill 3200

The Hot Air article by Jazz Shaw:

Living in New York, we’re no strangers to really restrictive new gun laws, but you sort of expect that out here. We may have some competition in the race to the bottom, though, if some legislators in Oregon have their way. In fact, if HB 3200 gets passed into law, you may as well pack up and leave the state if you have any interest in Second Amendment rights. Here’s the top line summary.

Creates crime of unlawful possession or transfer of assault weapon or large capacity magazine.
Punishes by maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, $250,000 fine, or both.
Requires current owners to dispose of or register assault weapons and large capacity magazines.

That should be bad enough on its own, but if you really dig into the guts of this bill, it actually gets worse. After spending quite a bit of ink defining “assault weapons” as pretty much anything with cosmetic attachments which look scary to somebody, we get to the meat of the proposal.

Any person who, prior to the effective date of this law, was legally in possession of an assault weapon or large capacity magazine shall, within 120 days after the effective date of this 2013 Act, without being subject to prosecution:
(a) Remove the assault weapon or large capacity magazine from the state;
(b) Sell the assault weapon or large capacity magazine to a firearms dealer licensed under 18 U.S.C. 923 for lawful sale or transfer under subsection (2) of this section;
(c) Surrender the assault weapon or large capacity magazine to a law enforcement agency for destruction;
(d) Render the assault weapon permanently inoperable;

Oh, wait… did I say that was the bad part. I think I actually meant to refer to this truly tasty treat near the very end. After specifying that even under grandfathering you can only have one “assault rifle” and three high capacity magazines, these high level edicts are handed down.

(3) The department shall create and maintain a registry for owners of assault weapons and large capacity magazines who qualify for registration under section 4 of this 2013 Act. The department may adopt rules concerning the administration of the registry, including but not limited to renewal and revocation procedures and storage requirements for assault weapons and large capacity magazines.
(4) The department may conduct inspections of registered owners of assault weapons and large capacity magazines to ensure compliance with the storage requirements of section 4of this 2013 Act.
SECTION 6. This 2013 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2013 Act takes effect on its passage.

For all the talk I hear from gun control proponents this year about how universal background checks won’t lead to some sort of gun registry, it certainly seems like there are a lot of lawmakers who are interested in doing precisely that wherever they can. (Referring to (3) above that is.) And when it comes to (4) what can we say? We are assured on a daily basis that the authorities aren’t coming to kick down the doors of gun owners, but out in Oregon they are clearly opening the door to unscheduled, uninvited visits to people on the list.
And this is so important… so critical.. so vital… that a state of emergency must be declared to exist so the law will go into effect immediately without any period of review or challenges. Now tell me again why we’re all paranoid crazies making up fantasies about the government?

Update (Ed): Patriot Perspective’s Short Timer adds his own thoughts on this topic, and reminds us what Oregon Democrats think of gun-rights supporters:

But remember, Oregon Democrats like Lee Coleman have assured us that this kind of thing is just paranoid delusion from some people in “Kansas or whatever” so “go screw yourself.”
[emphasis mine]

Remember, if you're worried about this you're delusional, evil, and probably a racist.

Also, it's a super super-duper-red-hot-needs-to-be-done-now!now!now! emergency. If anybody's got any complaints it's too late after it's passed. 

Will it pass? I have no idea. Anything seems possible in the manufactured crisis climate that we live in. The Democrats and The Ministry of Truth media have labored mightily to create uncertainty, fear, division and at times outright hatred in this country. Maybe the gun grabbers will be able to strike while normal people are reeling from record unemployment, a dismal economy and a general distaste for all things political.

Gas Prices Up 51 Cents in Two Months

"Back to horses and scythes, I guess."

And does anyone care? If this happened under W. Bush people would be screaming about Big Oil and the "Masters of the Universe" or something. Yet, under Obama, when gas prices have really skyrocketed, we hear crickets.

From the CNS article by Julia Seymour:

Consumers are taking another huge hit in 2013. First, the two percent Social Security tax hike began the year. Now, gas prices are soaring ever closer to $4 a gallon and have jumped 51 cents a gallon since Dec. 20.

According to the Oil Price Information Service, the national average for a gallon of unleaded was $3.21.9 on Dec. 20, 2012. Today, that price is $3.73.0. While there has been a steady increase, prices shot almost 9 cents just over the weekend.

This President's Day also marked a full month of rising gas prices every single business day, following a very small early year drop. Gas prices began rising Jan. 18, from $3.29.3-a-gallon, and have soared since. If this increase continues, gas prices could threaten or even top the all-time high price of $4.11, set in 2008.

February 2013 saw record high gas prices for the time of year according to news reports. CNBC noted the national average was the highest ever for the time of year on Feb. 1. As of Feb. 11, The Los Angeles Times reported that the national average that day ($3.587) was also a record, "7.8 cents higher than the record for Feb. 11, set last year." Today's price is now 17.6 cents higher than 2012.

It took the media some time to catch on to rising gas prices, as "Good Morning America's" Josh Elliot said two weeks after the climb began that "we have just learned that gas prices have skyrocketed."

Those higher pump prices hurt consumers, who were already paying more for gas than in decades. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported recently that the average household spent more on gas last year, as a percentage of income, than it had in 30 years.

The Hill's Ben Geman wrote on Feb. 4, "the average household spent $2.912 for gasoline in 2012, which makes up almost 4 percent of pre-tax income, tying 2008 for the highest percentage in roughly 30 years." The media actually forecast falling prices in 2012, during the heated presidential election. Many of those predictions failed.

Gas prices have been at sustained highs throughout much of President Obama's time in office. Although there are many factors to gas prices, Heritage Foundation noted in August 2012, that "after three years of adding regulatory hurdles and blocking exploratory access and development, President Obama's policies are helping keep prices higher than necessary. [emphasis mine]"

Huh. The gas prices rose unexpectedly after the press predicted that they would drop. Color me shocked.

Number of Americans on Food Stamps Exceeds the Population of Spain

My bet is that Obama won't mention this statistic in his State of the Union Address. I'm sure he's just too proud of it. Obamanomics in action.

From Elizabeth Harrington at CNS News (via Gateway Pundit):

Since taking office in 2009, food stamp rolls under President Barack Obama have risen to more than 47 million people in America, exceeding the population of Spain.

“Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity,” said Obama during his first joint session address to Congress on Feb. 24, 2009.

Since then, the number of participants enrolled in food stamps, known as the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP), has risen substantially.

When Obama entered office in January 2009 there were 31,939,110 Americans receiving food stamps. As of November 2012—the most recent data available—there were 47,692,896 Americans enrolled, an increase of 49.3 percent.

According to the 2011 census, Spain had a population of 46,815,916.
 

If Obama keeps it up maybe he get the food stamp rolls to exceed the population of Italy (about 60 million) or Britain (about 62 and half million), or maybe even Russia (around 143 million). Dare to dream!

Pew Poll Shows Americans Want Focus on Jobs and Economy; Not Guns, Not Illegal Immigration, Not Global Warming

"I'm your boss and father (according to Chris Rock, at least). I will focus on what I wish... and if that means deficit spending, so be it!"

But Obama's packing the audience with gun violence victims and gun control advocates. Any guesses on what his hyper-partisan State of the Union speech is going to focus on?

But hey, anything to keep Americans from thinking about what a miserable job Obama's done. I mean spending trillions of dollars all to create a crappy economy. Change! No one said it would be cheap!

From the Pew Research Center:

When Barack Obama took office four years ago, reducing the budget deficit was a middle-tier item on the public’s agenda. Only about half of Americans (53%) viewed it as a top policy priority in January 2009, placing it ninth on a list of 20 policy goals.

But as Obama begins his second term, only the economy and jobs are viewed as more important priorities for the coming year. Currently, 72% say that reducing the budget deficit should be a top priority, up 19 points from four years ago.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Jan. 9-13, 2013 among 1,502 adults, finds that Americans continue to view other domestic initiatives as important priorities as well, despite their focus on the deficit. Growing numbers give high priority to dealing with education, the problems of the poor, crime and the environment.

Fully 70% say that improving the educational system should be a top priority, up from 61% in January 2009. And 57% rate dealing with the problems of the poor and needy as a top priority; four years ago, 50% viewed this as a top priority.

The survey finds that 52% view protecting the environment as a top policy priority, up 11 points from January 2009. However, dealing with global warming remains at the bottom of the public’s agenda for 2013; just 28% see this as a top priority, little changed from recent years.

Gun control also ranks relatively low on the public’s priority list; just 37% rate it as a top priority, 18th out of 21 policy goals tested. This item was last asked in 2001, when support for gun control was much broader nationwide, and 47% rated it as a top priority. However, reducing crime has become a more important policy priority in the past year; 55% rate this as a top priority, up seven points since last January and the highest percentage since 2007 [emphasis mine].
 

Yeah, but the media can show hot topic issues like global warming and gun control as immediate and panic-making. SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!!! And then Obama can push through Left's pet issues, despite the fact few people feel it's a priority to even address.

Is Obama Visiting Israel to Warn Them to Not Attack Iran?



Kinda funny how Obama reserves his tough talk for the GOP and American allies

Well, the Jerusalem Post thinks so.

From the article by JPost staff:

The main purpose of US President Barack Obama's visit to Israel in the spring is to warn Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against attacking Iran, unnamed officials told Army Radio on Sunday.

According to the officials, the urgency of the trip is because in his speech to the United Nations in September, Netanyahu had flagged the spring of 2013 as a significant time in the context of the Iranian nuclear threat.

Therefore, they said, Obama is concerned that the prime minister will decide to attack Iran now when he is backed by a new government and can establish a new security cabinet, without Dan Meridor and Benny Begin, two Likud MKs and alleged opponents of such a strike who lost their Knesset seats in the recent elections.

The officials told Army Radio that the US president subsequently decided to transmit a direct message to Netanyahu: "Don't attack Iran, let me handle matters with the Iranians according to my understanding, and if necessary I will take action, we have capabilities that you do not."

At the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday morning, Netanyahu said that he and Obama, when they spoke last month about the visit, agreed that it would focus on three central issues: Iran's race toward nuclear weapons; the instability in Syria and how that impacts on regional security, and both Israeli and US interests; and efforts to move forward the diplomatic process with the Palestinians.

Obama hates Israel about as much as he hates Republicans... and for much the same reason. You see Republicans are evil white (of course) people who get in the way of his fundamental transformation of America into his progressive paradise based on racial identity and federal supremacy. Israel is a bunch of evil white (of course) people who get in the way of his strategy of bringing peace to the Middle East by its inconvenient existence.

The American Left truly believes that: (a) Israel is made up of "white" people who stole land from the indigenous "brown" people, (b) that the United States' unpopularity in the Middle East is caused by both the existence and the U.S.'s support of Israel. Therefore the American Left believes that it is both a moral imperative (based on a uniquely American version of racial identity politics and plain old white guilt) and good international policy that Israel should cease to be, or at least be put into such a strategically adverse position that it will likely be overrun.

Don't believe me? Merely pay attention in a few college classes in almost any subject. I was an English major and I was repeatedly exposed to this, not merely in core classes or political science classes, but in narrative theory (often in there), narrative writing and even linguistic classes.

I would be very surprised if the meeting consists of anything more than Obama warning Netanyahu that attacking Iran would net some unspecified but dire sounding "consequences" from the U.S., heaped upon some arrogant crud about the U.S. knowing what's best for Israel.

And they say Bush was an international embarrassment...

Ca. Proposes Forcing Gun Owners to Buy Insurance



"It's a just like auto insurance. Or it's a tax. Whatever... Just give up your guns or pay out money!!"

Words of wisdom: when the government is given the power to force citizens to buy something, they'll do it.

From NBC San Diego:

Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation Tuesday that would require California gun owners to buy liability insurance to cover damages or injuries caused by their weapons.

Similar bills have been introduced in other states after the Newtown, Conn., school massacre. They include Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York. 

[...] 

Ting [Assemblyman Philip Ting of San Francisco, who introduced the bill] equated the idea to requiring vehicle owners to buy auto insurance [huh, now where have I heard that argument before *cough* ObamaCare *cough*]. Gomez said it would encourage gun owners to take firearms safety classes and keep their guns locked up to get lower insurance rates.

No state has enacted the requirement despite repeated previous attempts, said Jon Griffin, a policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

[...] 

Some proposals would require buyers to show proof of insurance before they could purchase a weapon. The proposal in California would apply to anyone owning a weapon, Ting said, though the bill's details are still being worked out.

Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, said most gun owners already act responsibly and can be sued for damages if they don't.

He said the proposal is part of an ongoing attempt to "price gun owners out of existence,'' particularly the law-abiding poor who live in crime-ridden areas and need protection the most. Criminals would ignore the law, he said. [Now Paredes is just being negative. Of course the criminals will buy liability insurance for their guns. Just how silly is this guy to suggest otherwise?]

Moreover, he questioned whether it is constitutional to require someone to buy insurance to exercise a constitutional right.
 

I'm afraid Sam Paredes will find that this is just another tax leveled by the legislature. Right?

It's just one more reason that I'm glad that I moved out of California...

CBO: 7 Million Will Lose Healthcare Coverage Under ObamaCare

"You didn't really want to keep that insurance plan, did you? Too bad."

Do we all remember Obama telling us that if we liked our health insurance we could keep it? Just another lie, of course.

From Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times:

President Obama's health care law will push 7 million people out of their job-based insurance coverage — nearly twice the previous estimate, according to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday.

CBO said that this year's tax cuts have changed the incentives for businesses and made it less attractive to pay for insurance, meaning fewer will decide to do so. Instead, they'll choose to pay a penalty to the government, totaling $13 billion in higher fees over the next decade.
 

What?! The feds underestimated the results of a monstrous 1000 page plus law? Say it isn't so.

And as far as all the people losing their health insurance through their jobs... well, I'm sure they didn't want to keep their coverage anyway, And that means that Obama didn't really lie at all. Right?

UPDATE: And slightly related-- Paul Krugman joins the ranks of prominent Leftists insisting on death panels for the future. That ridiculous Sarah Palin...

IRS: Cheapest ObamaCare Plan: $20,000

"Don't worry. The Supreme Court said it was just a tax."

You voted him back in, now own it.

From CNS News:

In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.

Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS.

The IRS's assumption that the cheapest plan for a family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan.

The examples point to families of four and families of five, both of which the IRS expects in its assumptions to pay a minimum of $20,000 per year for a bronze plan.
“The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000,” the regulation says.

Bronze will be the lowest tier health-insurance plan available under Obamacare--after Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Under the law, the penalty for not buying health insurance is supposed to be capped at either the annual average Bronze premium, 2.5 percent of taxable income, or $2,085.00 per family in 2016.

In the new final rules published Wednesday, IRS set in law the rules for implementing the penalty Americans must pay if they fail to obey Obamacare's mandate to buy insurance.

$20,000 huh? I seem to remember Obama and his mouthpieces promising something like $2,500 being the minimum. Wow, the government underestimating costs? Who woulda thunk it?

Oh, well. With 8,500,000 less workers since Obama first took office, there won't be too many able to afford the $20,000 so the IRS will penalize them and that will increase tax revenue and then Obama can go on another $8 million vacation or something.

UPDATE: Oh yeah. Obama said ObamaCare would decrease premiums by 3000%. Don't believe me? There's a video of him saying it here.

Why does anybody ever believe this guy? Seriously.

Interviewed Gun Control Activist is a Convicted Rapist

Jerome McCorry-- Convicted Rapist and Anti-gun Activist (I wonder when he'll get a Presidential citation...)

Life is now falling completely into the surreal.

From Daniel Greenfield at Frontpagemag.com (h/t Instapundit):

Jerome McCorry organized a protest against a gun show, claiming that the gun show made it too easy to buy guns. Why did that worry him? Perhaps because because the easy availability of guns might have made his career as a rapist more dangerous.

Outside of Bill Goodman’s Gun and Knife Show, people were protesting the sale of assault weapons. Those are the guns which the proposed bill would ban inside Hara Arena.

“We know that guns are being sold on the floor inside Hara Arena illegally” said Jerome McCorry. “No background checks no identification of any kind.”

McCorry said “AK-47s and M16s are not gonna be used for hunting, they’re not going to be used to protect anybody. These are the weapons that are coming back and being used in mass murders and mass killings.”

And Jerome is an expert on what kind of guns can be used to protect someone, since he is the kind of guy that people buy guns to protect against.

But according to him, you don’t need an AK-47 or M16 to stop him from raping you. It’s just overkill. When Jerome bursts into your bedroom, you don’t need that much firepower, says the guy bursting into your bedroom.

Senator Feinstein needs to bring Jerome down to D.C. as an expert witness so he can testify on just how much firepower a woman needs to defend herself from him. And maybe Piers Morgan can have him on too.

Hmm.

Apparently, WHIO who gave Jerome McCorry his press time are aware of his rapist past... but now he's a peace activist or something. Way to go WHIO of Ohio.

Maybe in the interest of fairness they should disclose the fact that McCorry is a convicted rapist. Lemme think here... nah. What would that prove?

GDP Shows "Surprise" Drop in US

"If only the rest of America was as smart as I-- or is it me? Never mind. You know who I mean!"

Another "unexpected" development.

From the AP:

The U.S. economy posted a stunning drop of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, defying expectations for slow growth and possibly providing incentive for more Federal Reserve stimulus.
The economy shrank from October through December for the first time since the recession ended, hurt by the biggest cut in defense spending in 40 years, fewer exports and sluggish growth in company stockpiles.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter. That's a sharp slowdown from the 3.1 percent growth rate in the July-September quarter.

The surprise contraction could raise fears about the economy's ability to handle tax increases that took effect in January and looming spending cuts [emphasis mine].

Gotta love the AP. Hey, this all sets up a great incentive for spendapalooza the sequel. I mean sure the first stimulus was a dismal failure that managed to spend $1 trillion and netted basically a 0% change in unemployment-- if you don't count under employment of course.

The shrinking of the economy is pretty much a surprise for only academic Leftists and people who deny the existence of European and South American economic policies. Congrats Barack!

Pics of the Pro-Gun Rights Rally in Salem OR. January 19, 2013

All of us were right out on the steps of the capitol and the crowd overflowed out across the street. My wife and I arrived about half-an-hour after the rally began, but there were still a lot of people there despite the cold. Both, my wife and I are both pretty bad at estimating crowds, but we both thought there were at least 500 people attending.

The crowd had a very positive feeling about it. People were obviously upset about the recent attacks on the 2nd Amendment and their rights to keep and bear arms, but no one was out-of-control, unreasonable, nor angry. My wife is black, and she, of course, received no ill-treatment of any sort. Not even a questionable look.

I saw only one counter-protester there, although I read on somebody's Facebook page that there were a few more. They must have left early, because I only saw the one and I went through the rally pretty thoroughly. The weather was pretty cold, the temperature hovering around 32 F with freezing fog conditions. But there was no rain!

Click on the pics below to enlarge.




The speakers at the rally were to the right of the white box truck

Lots of people braving the cold out there on Saturday.

Many of the ralliers were ladies. I would guess that least a 1/3 of the crowd were women. Maybe more.

The woman with the dog was the lone anti-gun protester that I saw. There were supposed to have been more there, earlier but they must have left before I arrived. It was very pretty chilly out.

 

The anti-gun protester has a polite debate with pro-gun rights rallier. I was listening to the speakers more than their debate, but I didn't hear any raised voices nor name calling. It seemed quite civil and polite.

I appreciated the passage from the Oregon State Constitution that this man had printed up on his sign. It reads: "The people shall have the right to bear arms for the defense of themselves, and the State, but the Military shall be kept in strict subordination to the civil power."



This was the overflow from the capitol's steps across the street. Most of the cars passing by were honking with support while giving everyone the thumbs up.

My favorite sign. When will people realize that "Gun Free Zones" are completely ineffective against some violent person intent on shooting a bunch of people?

The state police were there (blue uniforms and trooper hats) and were just finished having a conversation about pistol calibers with the two guys in the coats. Oddly (sarc.), a lot of police officers are part of the dreaded gun culture that the Left so despises.

I haven't blacked out any signs. The large rectangular black things in the middle of the pic are speakers.

And this is the where the rally took place two hours afterwards. Notice how clean it is.

Still clean.

It's almost like these people took pride in their state's capitol.

Obama's Stance on Gun Control is Classic American Left: Restrict Citizenry's Rights and Throw Billions of Dollars at Govt. Programs

"Take that Bitter Clingers... plus, the NRA is Evil."

...oh, and incorporate doctors and medical insurance into the effort. Just one more reason why ObamaCare is junk, I guess.

Obama proposes spending more then $4.5 billion for cracking down on Americans' Constitutional rights.

From The Weekly Standard:

The proposal contains a mix of executive actions, regulations, and calls for Congress to act legislatively. The total package will cost at least $4.5 billion in new spending.

 

Among the new spending the president proposed:

 

• $4 billion for the president’s proposal “to help keep 15,000 cops on the streets in cities and towns across the country.” (That is roughly $266,000 per police officer.)

 

• $20 million to “give states stronger incentives to make [relevant] data available [for background checks] … “$50 million for this purpose in FY2014”

 

• “$14 million to help train 14,000 more police officers and other public and private personnel to respond to active shooter situations.”

 

• “$10 million for the Centers for Disease Control to conduct further research, including investigating the relationship between video games, media images, and violence.”

 

• $20 million to expand the National Violent Death Reporting System.

 

• $150 million to “put up to 1,000 new school resource officers and school counselors on the job.”

 

• “$30 million of one-time grants to states to help their school districts develop and implement emergency management plans.”

 

• $50 million to help 8,000 schools “create safer and more nurturing school climates.”

 

• $15 million to “provide “Mental Health First Aid” training for teachers.”

 

• $40 million for school districts to “work with law enforcement, mental health agencies, and other local organizations to assure students with mental health issues or other behavioral issues are referred to the services they need.”

• $25 million for state-based strategies that support “young people ages 16 to 25 with mental health or substance abuse issues.”

 

• $25 million to “offer students mental health services for trauma or anxiety, conflict resolution programs, and other school-based violence prevention strategies.”

 

• $50 million to “train social workers, counselors, psychologists, and other mental health professionals.”

 

The president’s proposals to ban high capacity magazines and “military-style assault weapons” will be costly to implement, if they are passed. Those costs are either unknown or haven’t been released.

Hey, nobody ever said that breaking down the 2nd Amendment would be cheap. And throwing out a little bit of government cash to pay off outragous salaries or embezzle train and implement policy never hurts to popularize these programs with the political and bureaucratic classes.

Of course, tight gun control has proven to be completely counterproductive in reducing crime in Chicago, Australia, and England for starters. And the old U.S. "assault weapons ban" did nothing to curb crime, nor mass killings.

But let us not allow inconvenient facts to stand in the way of Obama's version of progress.

Exactly what is Obama's version of progress? The same that it has been in the past-- to demonize political opponents (like the NRA, but in the past it's been House GOP members, Wall Street, the wealthy, Fox News, the coal industry, Sarah Palin, business owners who didn't build that, insurance companies, etc.) and to punish people he doesn't like, in this instance every one of the millions of law-abiding gun owners in the U.S. as we dash toward some "common sense" utopia that the Left seems reluctant to talk about.

Forward! With ideology and billions (to start) in taxpayer money, forward!

UPDATE: Texas Governor Rick Perry has issued a response. (h/t Douglas at American Power) Best lines are: "In fact, the piling on by the political left, and their cohorts in the media, to use the massacre of little children to advance a pre-existing political agenda that would not have saved those children, disgusts me, personally. The second amendment to the Constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot be nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president."

Biden: Obama Eyeing 19 Executive Orders on Guns



*The above image is merely a plastic representation, and not the real Obama

And do you think this Constitution ignorant --oh, I'm sorry, this "living" Constitution advocate-- Obama Administration won't ignore Congress and push his fiats?

You know, that's more executive orders than bullets Obama wants in your guns' magazines...

From Politico:

"The White House has identified 19 executive actions for President Barack Obama to move unilaterally on gun control, Vice President Joe Biden told a group of House Democrats on Monday, the administration’s first definitive statements about its response to last month’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

"Later this week, Obama will formally announce his proposals to reduce gun violence, which are expected to include renewal of the assault weapons ban, universal background checks and prohibition of high-capacity magazine clips ["magazine clips"?]. But Biden, who has been leading Obama’s task force on the response, spent two hours briefing a small group of sympathetic House Democrats on the road ahead in the latest White House outreach to invested groups.

[...]

"The White House declined to comment on the details of what Obama will propose.

"But Biden did indicate that the remains of the Obama campaign apparatus may be activated in the effort.

"'He said that this has been a real focus on the policy and that the politics of this issue, that a strategy on the politics of the issue hasn’t been undertaken yet,' Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) told POLITICO. 'He did remind us that the campaign infrastructure is still accessible.'

"Obama touched on his expected legislative guns agenda at his own news conference in the East Room on Monday, while stressing the power he has via executive order.

"'How we are gathering data, for example, on guns that fall into the hands of criminals, and how we track that more effectively — there may be some steps that we can take administratively as opposed through legislation,' Obama said. [emphasis mine]"

Huh. I wonder if that tracking the guns falling into criminals' hands will include the 1400+ weapons given to Mexican drug cartels by Holder's Justice Department?

My guess is no.

David Gregory Will Not Be Prosecuted "Despite the Clarity of the Violation of This Important Law"

"Mr. Gregory, who has no criminal record, or any other NBC employee based on the events associated with the December 23,2012 broadcast. OAG has made this determination, despite the clarity of the violation of this important law, because under all of the circumstances here a prosecution would not promote public safety in the District of Columbia nor serve the best interests of the people of the District to whom this office owes its trust."

And with these words, District of Columbia Attorney General Irvin Nathan has proven that there are two laws in this country: one for the elite and politically connected, and then the one for all the little people.

Jacobson at Legal Insurrection has the best summation of this ridiculousness, including the news that David Gregory and wife both know the DC Attorney General Irvin Nathan.

Also included is Jacobson's posting is the story of an injured special forces soldier arrested in upstate NY for possession of high capacity ammunition magazines, and that NBC requested and was denied permission to use high capacity magazine in news segment by the DC police.

Hey, so much for that equal protection under the law thing. That's all passe, now anyway. It's as outdated as the 2nd Amendment, and perhaps the Constitution itself. I mean it gets in the way of Obama's dictates executive orders. Right?

Another Shocker: Red States Show Surpluses, Blue States in Financial Crisis

Weird how that works.

From The Examiner:

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government posted a $293 billion deficit in the first fiscal quarter of 2013, setting the Obama administration up for a record fifth-year of trillion dollar deficits. But while the fiscal condition of the Democratically controlled federal government is still atrocious, Republican controlled states are now swimming in surpluses.

Thanks to a Republican governor committed to developing its natural resources, not punishing entrepreneurs who do, Texas legislators are facing an $8.8 billion surplus over the next two years. To the east, Republican governors Bill Haslam of Tennessee and Rick Scott of Florida have also turned recession deficits into budget surpluses. Moving north, Michigan’s Gov. Rick Snyder, Iowa’s Gov. Terry Brandstad, and Indiana’s out-going-Gov. Mitch Daniels, also can now all boast surpluses in the hundreds of millions of dollars. All of these governors managed to turn their state’s fiscal situation around through spending cuts, not tax hikes. Now their budgets are in the black and their economies are growing.

Things do not look as good in Democrat-controlled states. Illinois, who massively raised taxes on the rich, still has a $5.9 billion stack of unpaid bills. California, who also raised taxes on the rich, was supposed to post a small surplus this year. But tax collections are coming in at 10.8 percent below budget projections. As a result, the state is now projected to be $1.9 billion in the red by the end of this fiscal year.

It does not appear that that Congress and the White House will come to any consensus on how best to solve our fiscal crisis at the federal level. Conservatives and liberals simply have diametrically opposed views on how our fiscal crisis can best be resolved while preserving economic growth. But at the state level, conservative and liberal models of governance are being fully implemented. And it is becoming increasingly clear which of those visions is producing the best results.

Of course it was quite clear as to which vision produced the best results long before now. It was only the mainstream media's unified call to kowtow/promote all things Obama and the Left offered that produced any confusion.

Oh, and California's budget will be more in than $1.9 billion in the red at the end of the fiscal year. An "unexpected" happening, of course.

Wikipedia Has Listing for Fake War Up for Five Years

And yet another reason why I don't use wikipedia as a source very much...

From The Daily Caller (h/t Instapundit):

For the last five years, those who spend their time procrastinating on Wikipedia could read up on a 17th century war between colonial Portugal and India’s Maratham Empire known as the “Bicholim Conflict.”

The problem is that Bicholim Conflict never happened, and that the entire 4,500-word article on the war was nothing more than an elaborate joke.

The Daily Dot, which previously reported on the hoax, says that the writer of the article still hasn’t been identified. But whoever it is, he or she did an outstanding job of fooling the online encyclopedia into believing the “research” was genuine.

It was voted a “good article” by Wikipedia’s readers, and at one point was even nominated to be a “featured article” that would be prominently displayed on the site’s homepage.

“’Featured Article’ status is a bit of a badge of honor on Wikipedia, a recognition bestowed to only the highest quality pieces on the site,” the Daily Dot notes. “Out of more than 4 million English Wikipedia articles, only 3,772 are ‘featured.’”

[...]

Wikipedia owned up to the hoax after it was brought to their attention by ShelfSkewed on Dec. 29, and quickly deleted the piece.

This was not the first time that Wikipedia has been fooled by a hoax. Last July, an article on Gaius Flavius Antoninus — who purportedly conspired in the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar — had to be purged after someone noticed it was a work of fiction.
 

Hmm. I guess history is no longer written by the winners, but just by some screwballs who have the proper backing. Once writing that, it makes me think of academia-- and things like the Zinj Empire.

Iran Supports Chuck Hagel for Sect. of Defense

Well, then he's got my vote.

From Fars News (h/t Gateway Pundit):

q Iran on Tuesday expressed the hope that Washington’s foreign policy will witness practical changes after US officials announced that President Barack Obama will nominate Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary. 

"We hope that practical changes will be created in the US foreign policy and the US officials' approach will change to respect the nations' rights," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday.

"We hope that the US officials will favor peace instead of warmongering and recognize the rights of nations instead of interfering in the countries' internal affairs," he said.

"If such a trend is adopted (by the American officials), hatred for the US hostile policies will decrease, although assessment can be made in action," the spokesman said.

Tehran has been under Washington sanctions after the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled a US-backed monarch in the country.

The United States and Iran broke diplomatic relations in April 1980, after Iranian students seized the United States' espionage center at its embassy in Tehran. The two countries have had tense relations ever since.

If a supporter of terrorism like Iran digs Hagel, then you just know that he's gotta be good.

Shocker: Crime Increases After Ca. Releases Criminals Due to Budget Constraints

"No spending problems here." *sigh*

A sign of things to come?

From Ben Shapiro at Breitbart:

Since October 2011, property crime in the state of California has jumped dramatically; from October 2011 to January 2012, property crime skyrocketed 4.5 percent throughout the state. In the previous nine months, property crime had been down some 2.4%.

So, what happened? Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill that let low-level offenders out of prison to prevent overcrowding in the penitentiary system. Those offenders ended up in the hands of county sheriffs, who quickly released them due to overwork. According to the Wall Street Journal:

While the attorney general doesn't release 2012 data until late this year, localities ranging in size from Sacramento to Santa Rosa in Sonoma County saw property crimes rise last year. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which hasn't reported 2012 crime data, says property crimes fell 0.5% nationally in 2011 from a year earlier.

This is reason 11,381 as to why I left California.

Meanwhile, even though law breakers are being released due to lack of funds, we should remember that we don't have a spending problem-- so says Obama. I guess we just have a tax problem, or super trillion dollar health care costs or something. Well, that's a load off my mind...

Obama Selling Inauguration Kitsch

Action Hero Obama vs. Darth Vader (Dick Cheney in diguise?)

Does anybody want to bet that these aren't going to sell quite so well as the 2008 bunch?

From the AP: (h/t Gateway Pundit)

"President Barack Obama's inaugural team is opening an online and brick-and-mortar store to sell souvenirs including a commemorative poster by famed artist Chuck Close.

"The Presidential Inaugural Committee launched the online store Thursday. A retail store a few blocks from the White House was scheduled to open Jan. 11. The goods, ranging from $2.50 rulers to $30 champagne flutes to a $7,500 medallion set, also will be sold at some Washington hotels around the Jan. 21 inauguration.

"Close, a long-time Obama supporter, designed the $100 poster in the pixelated photorealistic style he is famous for. Only 2,013 are available."

The real question is will those great Obama action figures be back?

No Surprise: Senate Votes on Fiscal Cliff Bill 3 Minutes After Receiving It

In the new age of passing bloated and intrusive bills in the middle of the night (Obamacare anyone?), this new found minutes of deliberation is almost refreshing.

From CNS News: (h/t Patterico)

The U.S. Senate voted 89-8 to approve legislation to avoid the fiscal cliff despite having only 3 minutes to read the 154-page bill and budget score.

Multiple Senate sources have confirmed to CNSNews.com that senators received the bill at approximately 1:36 AM on Jan. 1, 2013 – a mere three minutes before they voted to approve it at 1:39 AM.

The bill is 154-pages and includes several provisions that are unrelated to the fiscal cliff, including repealing a section of ObamaCare, extending the wind-energy tax credit, and a rum tax subsidy deal for Puerto Rican rum makers.

The bill avoids the fiscal cliff by making permanent the Bush tax cuts for individuals making less than $400,000 per year and couples making less than $450,000 and by putting off the automatic spending cuts (sequestration) from last year’s debt ceiling deal until March.

Ah, deliberation... It's being turned into a new hallmark of both stupidity and conservatism in these current times.