A story today out of the country’s heartland describes how gun shop owners are seeing a dramatic increase in gun sales, a “hoarding” of ammunition, and an extraordinary increase in concealed carry permit applications since Barack Obama took office. According to Tulsa, Oklahoma journalist Kelly Bostian, gun sales first spiked in November, coinciding with Obama’s election and with Democrats adding to their majority in Congress. Bostian notes further that gun dealers specifically cite political worries about gun rights, as well as concerns about increased crime due to the worsening economy, as the reasons for the remarkable spike in sales.

How remarkable? Jim Prall, owner of a sports shop in Tulsa, said, “We’ve sold more ammunition in the last three months than we sold last year.” State reports out of Oklahoma indicate an 87 percent increase in concealed carry permit applications for February 2009 over February 2008.

Do gun owners and buyers have a reason to be scared? If Obama’s cabinet choices are any indication, then the answer is a resounding “yes.” Hang on to your Second Amendment, people, here are some of Obama’s cabinet members’ views on gun control:

In April 2003 and again in October 2005, both Hilda Solis (Labor Secretary and longtime member of the socialist-leaning Progressive Caucus) and Rahm Emanuel (Obama’s Chief of Staff and ruthless left-wing intimidator) voted “No” on banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers as punishment for violence that is committed with guns. By such reasoning, car manufactures should be held accountable for many of the 50,000 auto-related deaths that occur on American roads each year.

Secretary of State and Former First Lady Hillary Clinton ran for her Senate seat in 2000 on a gun-control platform. “We have to do more to stand up to those who refuse to believe the reality that guns do kill and that common-sense gun measures can make a difference,” she said. “I believe we need a comprehensive plan to stop gun violence, and it is one of the reasons I am running for the Senate.” Her proposals included the creation of a national gun registry and laws that required guns and ammunition to be stored in separate locations!

“Excuse me for one moment, Mr. Home Invader, my ammo is in the other closet…”

At the forefront of any anti-firearms crusade, we are likely to find Attorney General Eric Holder, best known for helping to secure presidential pardons for 16 FALN terrorists in 1999. Holder seems ready and willing to take up the anti-gun cause on behalf of the President. “As President Obama indicated during the campaign,” Holder said recently, “there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons.”

Many gun owners view this as just the beginning of the erosion of the right to bear arms, particularly in light of the fact that many anti-gun crusaders wrongly and deceitfully classify a wide range of semiautomatic firearms as “assault weapons.”

Back in April 2008, Obama chided many Americans for their alleged inclination to “cling to guns or religion.” Thanks to his election in November, it seems that Americans are now “clinging” to such things more than ever.

Speaking before a group of CEOs from U.S. companies yesterday, President Obama cautioned that the American economy can’t continue with “endless cycles of bubble and bust.” His solution: full-scale socialism.  This is no surprise, of course, when we consider that this same President has already appointed such key Administration officials as energy czar Carol Browner (affiliated with Socialist International) and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis (an officer of the socialist-leaning Progressive Caucus who has sent representatives to events sponsored by the Socialist International and the Communist Party USA).

Obama is the same President, moreover, who has embraced the strategies of the Chicago Marxist and revolutionary Saul Alinsky, and who has actively allied himself with such luminaries as: the Marxist Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn; the racist, socialist demagogue Jeremiah Wright; and a pro-Soviet, anti-capitalist, America-hating congresswoman named Alice Palmer — to name just a few.

Are you fed up with the current Administration’s belief that it knows how to spend your money better than you do? You’re in good company. In 1773, the American colonists channeled their anger at the British government into a potent act of defiance – the Boston Tea Party. This singular event rallied support for American independence and forever changed the course of our history. Their grievance was taxation without representation. Today it’s “taxation without cessation.”

We too are in a fight for independence – independence from the rapidly approaching transformation of the U.S. into a socialist nation. On one side of this battle, we have citizens that place trust in the Constitution and believe that we have the power to attain the American Dream — not through entitlement, but through hard work and personal sacrifice. In opposition, the Obama Administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress seek to exploit these hardworking Americans through bloated stimulus packages and obscene budget plans.

Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, “We, the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts– not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow men who pervert the Constitution.” Our Constitution is being perverted, and it’s time to put on our boxing gloves.

The following are a few of the upcoming events being staged around the country in protest of that long and winding road to Socialism on which we’re currently sprinting:

• March 13: The “We Surround Them” Event will be held in select cities across the country, and set to coincide with the 5:00pm EST broadcast of the Glenn Beck show on FOX News.
• March 30: An Anti-Tax Rally & March will be held at the Fairfax County Virginia’s Government Center.
• April 1: National Mail a Tea Bag to the White House & Congress Day.
• April 15: New American Tea Party National Tax Day Tea Party. Details forthcoming.
• May 23:  The Defend America Rally at the US Capitol.

Know of an event not mentioned? Feel free to add to the list.

Today, President Obama signed the $410 billion spending package passed yesterday by Congress, despite its flaws; namely 8,570 disclosed earmarks worth $7.7 billion of taxpayers’ money. “I am signing an imperfect omnibus bill,” Obama said, “because it’s necessary for the ongoing functions of government.” These “ongoing functions,” as he describes them, include $951,500 for sustainability programs in Las Vegas cosponsored by Harry Reid, and $381,000 for Jazz music programs at Lincoln Center sponsored by the socialist-leaning congressman Jerrold Nadler.

Flashback to September 26^th, 2008, when Obama declared: “We need earmark reform, and when I’m President, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.”

Surprised? Why should we be? President Obama has made a political career of saying one thing, and then turning around and doing the exact opposite. Starting in 2004, following his election win as an Illinois U.S. senator, Obama adamantly ruled out running on a national ticket in 2008 due to his lack of experience. Just over two years later, Obama officially announced his candidacy for U.S. President in the 2008 election cycle. Really, who needs experience when you have celeb antiwar and environmental activist George Clooney stroking your ego via Blackberry?

During his campaign, Obama continued his trail of deceit. For example, during his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention in 2008, Obama noted how he’ll “pay for every dime” of his budget “by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens.” As it stands now, the federal deficit reached $765 billion in the first five months of the budget year, a far cry from paying for every dime. And speaking of dimes, recall how, early in his presidential campaign, Obama said he would abide by the $85 million publically-funded spending limit, only to back out during the general elections so he could amass his $600 million campaign fortune and buy prime-time, half hour TV spots just prior to the November 4^th vote.

Boldface lying must be a skill that many Americans view as a plus for an elected official, as Obama’s job approval ratings hover around 61 percent. According to far-left House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who is a member of the socialist-leaning Progressive Caucus), a new multi-billion dollar stimulus bill is looming on the horizon. Should Obama want to see his approval ratings climb even higher, perhaps he need only to say: “there’s no way I’d sign another stimulus bill” – just before putting pen to paper and signing it.

This post was written by Claude Cartaginese.

The online reference source, Wikipedia, has abandoned any pretense of seeking to be an objective and comprehensive source of information about its political sacred cows, most notably Barack Obama. Indeed Wikipedia has transformed Obama’s profile into a glowing hagiography that is all but stripped of any controversial or unflattering information about the President. In this regard, it is reminiscent of what Thomas Bowdler did in 1818, when he published an edition of Shakespeare that he felt was a vast improvement upon the original. You see, Bowdler was uncomfortable with many of Shakespeare’s coarser references, so he cut and edited and eventually came out with a “family” version of Shakespeare which was an emasculated facsimile of the original. To this day, to remove material that is considered offensive or objectionable in someone else’s work is known as “bowdlerizing.”

Wikipedia, which proudly claims to be written and edited entirely by its own users, has taken bowdlerizing to the next level when it comes to the background and past associations of Barack Obama.

Removed from Obama’s Wikipedia profile, for example, are references to any questions that have been raised about Obama’s eligibility for office as a native-born American. His 20-year association with the racist demagogue Jeremiah Wright has been stripped down to a single sentence. No longer mentioned are his affiliations with America-hating Marxist terrorists like the former Weather Underground leaders Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, who literally helped launch Obama’s political career in Chicago. Nor is there any mention of Obama’s Muslim upbringing. No mention of the radical voter-fraud organization ACORN. No mention of Saul Alinsky, the Chicago Marxist whose political tactics of confrontation and infiltration had a profound influence on Obama.In short, Wikipedia has taken on the role of Guardian of the Presidential Reputation. Anything which its army of “volunteers” determine to be harmful to Mr. Obama’s holy aura is promptly deleted, and the authors of the offending information are blocked from re-posting. Some entries were actually removed within two minutes of posting!

 

According to an article in WorldNetDaily, “the entire Wikipedia entry on Obama seems to be heavily promotional toward the U.S. president. It contains nearly no criticism or controversy, including appropriate mention of important issues where relevant.”

This from an encyclopedia?

Contrast this to the far more factual, far more complete entry on the President here, at DiscoverTheNetworks. The Wikipedia version pales in comparison and will leave you as confused as the readers of Bowdler were in 1818, when they no longer recognized Shakespeare.

This post was written by Claude Cartaginese.

Barack Obama’s foreign policy initiatives are off to a bad start. For example, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s recent visit with our President was marred when Obama, in the traditional gift exchange, gave Brown an armload of cheap DVDs while the Prime Minister, for his part, gave Obama gifts of true historical significance. Next, Obama dispatched a delegation to make nice with the pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah, pro-al Qaeda Syrians. And now, the Obama administration has turned its attention to making overtures to the Taliban.

Yes, Obama is looking to negotiate with Taliban “moderates” (assuming he can find any). The Taliban themselves admit that this may be difficult, and a spokesman told the English newspaper The Guardian that “They will not be able to find such people because we are united around the aim of fighting for freedom and bringing an Islamic system to Afghanistan.”

Naturally, Obama’s friends over at the Center for International Policy (CIP)—which is co-chaired by Senator Tom Harkin and Rep. Don Fraser, whose sympathies for Marxist causes are no secret—are enthusiastic about this idea and want Obama to go even further and start sending friendly signals to everybody from Hugo Chavez to Raul Castro (brother of the longtime Cuban dictator Fidel Castro). The CIP’s Wayne Smith—a notorious State Department shill for Castro—advises that “with the stroke of a pen” Obama could remove all travel and trade restrictions and thereby normalize relations with Cuba.

What must the leaders of Iran and North Korea be thinking? Perhaps if they play their cards right, they too, like the Syrians and the Taliban, can have their past antics overlooked in the name of “normalization” of relations.

Stay tuned for more foreign policy based on historical fiction.

President Barack Obama used his health-care summit Thursday to underscore the many lies he has consistently told about the American health-care system. Most notably, he echoed his favorite canard—the notion that there are “nearly 46 million uninsured” in the United States. Of course it is politically shrewd to grossly inflate and distort the actual figures, and to thereby give the impression that the health-care “crisis” is too large for any entity other than the long arms of government to effectively wrap themselves around. But in actuality, the figure Obama cites is pure fiction. Stated more succinctly, it is a lie. And if Obama is indeed the kind of genius that his disciples have proclaimed him to be, then he knows quite well that it is a lie.

Here is the reality, as explained by Sally Pipes in her monumentally important book, The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care—a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand how health care can be made “universal” via free-market approaches rather than by handing over the reins to government bureaucrats:

First, about 14 million of the uninsured are low-income Americans who are fully eligible for government assistance programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP—but who simply haven’t gotten around to enrolling in these programs. This is really nothing to worry about, however, since they could visit a doctor, clinic, or hospital anywhere in the country and enroll in those programs on the spot and receive treatment. Can any honest person really argue that these 14 million people are “uninsured”?

Another 10 million of the uninsured are not even U.S. citizens; many of them are illegal aliens. Is it good public policy to burden American taxpayers with the health-care costs of non-citizens and illegal immigrants?

And, while Obama broadly paints the uninsured as people who are financially unable to afford health insurance of any kind, the fact is that 28 million of the 46 million uninsured earn more than $50,000 annually. This is well above the national median income. Many of these 28 million are healthy young adults who are not insured by their employers and choose not to buy health insurance because they would rather use their money for other things. Americans aged 19 to 29 represent one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of the uninsured population.

The demographic groups cited above are not mutually exclusive; there is some overlap. And indeed some people do “fall through the cracks.” These are mostly people who earn less than $50,000 per year but too much to qualify for government assistance. There are roughly 8 million of these chronically uninsured, and they are indeed in need of assistance.

Obviously, there’s an enormous gulf between 8 million and 46 million. But if a chronically dishonest political opportunist like Barack Obama were to present his case with real numbers rather than fictitious ones, he wouldn’t be able to frighten the public into agreeing that we must hurriedly dismantle the most effective and innovative health care system the human race has ever known.