Send this to your Congressman

To the United States Congress, United States Supreme Court and President of the United States:

Whereas, the First Amendment guarantees our right to Petition for Redress of Grievances, and

Whereas, the Senators and Representatives, all executives and judicial officers of the United States are bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution, and

Whereas, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments provide that powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people, and

Whereas, the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal protection of the laws, and

Whereas, Article 1 of the Constitution prohibits both the federal government and the states from passing either bills of attainder or ex post facto laws, and

Whereas, the Supreme Court has insisted that "a Bill of Attainder may affect the life of an individual, or may confiscate his property, or may do both", and

Whereas, "All laws which are repugnant to the constitution are null and void" (Marbury v Madison, 5 US (2Cranch) 137, 174, 176 (1803)) and,

Whereas, We the People, have been betrayed through treachery and breach of allegiance, by those entrusted with the responsibility to safe guard our liberty and the United States Constitution,

We the People, in seeking Redress of Grievances, as is our right under Amendment I of the United States Constitution, ask this question of each branch of Federal Government:

"Where in the Constitution do you find authorization for each and all of the following?"
1. The redistribution of property by force and subterfuge; and the unequal application of tax laws amounting to punitive action against certain groups of American People and providing favored status to other groups
2. A paper money system that is morally and economically equivalent to counterfeiting
3. Willful and purposeful devaluation and destruction of American currency
4. Deploying military to fight undeclared wars [Explanation]
5. Targeting and labeling law-abiding American citizens as domestic terrorists
6. Declarations that disagreeing with policy is unpatriotic or disloyal to our country
7. Intrusions into the privacy of law-abiding American citizens
8. Perpetual massive indebtedness to foreign countries
9. Infringement upon the rights of the People to keep and bear arms through oppressive regulation and taxation designed for the very purpose of infringement10. Passing laws and taxes without deliberation and without reading the legislation; said action is tantamount to the American People not having any representation
11. Enacting ex post facto laws and Bills of Attainder
12. Granting Constitutional rights and privileges to illegal aliens and prisoners of war
13. Funding mercenary organizations that engage in voter fraud and paid harassment of law abiding American citizens
14. Maintaining and deploying armies in peace time on United States soil
15. Unprecedented and arbitrary federal power, through the United States Treasury, for government intervention into, control of, and confiscation of, private property, private industry including but not limited to banking, insurance, manufacturing, farming and other sectors of the private economy (current and proposed)
16. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law (proposed)
17. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law (proposed)
18. Acts regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press (proposed)

We the People of the United States of America, who cherish liberty, taking into our most serious consideration, the best means of assuring our continued constitutional rights of self governance, as our ancestors in like cases have done, for asserting and vindicating our rights and liberties, declare,

That the citizens of the Unites States of America, by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the United States Constitution, Supreme Court case law and the Federalist Papers, have the following Rights:

• We are entitled to life, liberty, and property, and we have never ceded to any sovereign power whatever, a right to dispose of these without our consent.
• The three branches of the United States government derive their just powers solely from the consent of the governed.
• We the people have the right and the obligation to alter or abolish any government that becomes destructive of the inalienable rights endowed by our Creator and rights codified in the United States Constitution.
• We have the right peaceably to assemble, consider our grievances, petition the three branches of the Federal Government; and that all prosecutions, prohibitory and proclamations, defamatory declarations, and commitments for the same, are illegal.
• We the People of the United States of America, do claim, demand, and insist on, as our indubitable rights and liberties that the federal government must be answerable and accountable to the people; which cannot be legally taken from us, altered or abridged by any power whatever, without our own consent, and said consent has never been given.

In the course of our inquiry, we find numerous infringements and violations of the foregoing rights; which demonstrate systemic corruption formed to subvert and destroy our constitutional republic and to enslave the American people.

We submit this Petition for Redress of Grievances in an ardent desire that precious liberty be restored to ourselves and preserved for future generations of Americans.

This Petition for Redress of Grievances serves as notice and demand by the American People to the federal government, as our agent: 1) To cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of the constitutionally delegated powers; 2) To formally and publicly recognize the natural and Constitutional rights of the American People in a manner appropriate to each branch of government (resolution, proclamation, statement); 3) To answer, point by point the question contained herein; 4) To honor your oaths to support the Constitution or resign immediately from your positions.

New Yorkers Must be proud...

Of their Senator!

This is from the Wall Street Journal....

Charlie Rangel Hides Income and Assets - WSJ.com

When you're a powerful Congressman and working diligently to increase tax rates to pay for President Obama's health-care plan, we suppose it's easy to lose track of one of your checking accounts. That would be the one at the federal credit union with a balance somewhere between $250,001 and maybe as high as $500,000. And when you're crunched for time and pulling together bills to pass in a rush, we guess, too, that you might overlook several other investment accounts, even if some of them are sizable, such as the ones Mr. Rangel missed at JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer and BlackRock.

Our Country has been stolen from under our noses and is being run into the ground by crooks!

From the NY Post...

The problems with Rangel's 2004 disclosure report were so glaring that apparently they caught someone's attention, forcing Rangel to write a letter correcting his failure to fully disclose transactions that year.

I think i will just write a litter to the IRS when i fail to disclose all of my "extra" income... Oh that is right in the health care bill, the gov't can look in to my bank account and other such places to see my net worth!! Joy!!!

Obama’s New FCC “Diversity” Chief Believes Government Should Control All Media

A re post from "Flopping Aces"

Obama’s New FCC “Diversity” Chief Believes Government Should Control All Media: "

Have you met our newly appointed, Obama stamp approved, “Diversity” Czar for the FCC?

No?

Well…check him out.

Mark Lloyd, chief diversity officer of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called for a “confrontational movement” to combat what he claimed was control of the media by international corporations and to re-establish the regulatory power of government through robust public broadcasting and a more powerful FCC.

Lloyd expressed his regulatory call to arms in his 2006 book, “Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America” (University of Illinois Press).

In the book, Lloyd also said that public broadcasting should be funded through new license fees charged to the nation’s private radio and television broadcasters, and that new regulatory fees should be used to fund eight new regional FCC offices.

These offices would be responsible for monitoring political advertising and commentary, children’s educational programs, number of commercials, and content ratings of the programs.

Frequently referencing one of his heroes, left-wing activist Saul Alinsky, Lloyd claims in his book that the history of American communications policy has been one of continued corporate control of every form of communication from the telegraph to the Internet.

~~~

Government, Lloyd said in his book, is the “only” institution that can manage the communications of the public, arguing that Washington must “ensure” that everyone has an equal ability to communicate.

“The American republic requires the active deliberation of a diverse citizenry, and this, I argue, can be ensured only by our government,” he says. “Put another way, providing for the equal capability of citizens to participate effectively in democratic deliberation is our collective responsibility.”

~~~

With Alinsky as the political guide, Lloyd outlines nine “lessons” that people can draw on when trying to combat international businesses.

~~~

To combat the control of international business and restore government to what he sees as its rightful place in managing public communications, Lloyd calls for a “confrontational movement” to protest the present order and organize a political movement that could force government to rein the businesses in.

“If our republican form of government is perishing because communications – the infrastructure of that republic – is under the yoke of international business how, at last, do we save it?” he asks. “We must build a confrontational movement to reclaim our democracy, a movement committed to active and sustained protest against the present order.”

To do this, Lloyd draws on his experience lobbying the FCC during the Clinton administration, counseling would-be revolutionaries to follow the tactics used by other left-wing movements, such as the followers of Saul Alinsky and the people who ran the campaign to block Republican Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.

“We understood at the beginning, and were certainly reminded in the course of the campaign,” wrote Lloyd, “that our work was not simply convincing policy makers of the logic or morality of our arguments. We understood that we were in a struggle for power against an opponent, the commercial broadcasters ….”

“We looked to successful political campaigns and organizers as a guide, especially the civil rights movement, Saul Alinsky, and the campaign to prevent the Supreme Court nomination of the ultra-conservative jurist Robert Bork,” wrote Lloyd. “From those sources we drew inspiration and guidance.”

Oh, it get’s better:

Lloyd proposes six initial goals for wresting control of communications from the corporate interests he claims control it. As his book details:

1. “End the federal subsidy of commercial media, particularly cable and broadcast television. Broadcasters should pay for the great privileges of a federally protected license to operate a business by using the publicly owned [radio or television] spectrum.”

2. “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) must be reformed along democratic lines and funded at a substantial level. The CPB board should be elected, [with] eight members representing eight regions of the country (New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Plains States, Southwest, Mountain States, and the Pacific Coast) and a chairman appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate.”

“Federal and regional broadcast operations and local stations should be funded at levels commensurate with or above those spending levels at which commercial operations are funded,” said Lloyd.

“This funding should come from license fees charged to commercial broadcasters. … Local public broadcasters and regional and national communications operations should be required to encourage and broadcast diverse views and programs. … Spectrum allocations should be established that create clear preferences for public broadcasters ensuring that regional, local, and neighborhood communities are well served,” he added.

3. “The FCC should be fully funded with regulatory fees from broadcast, cable, satellite, and telecommunications companies. The FCC should be staffed at regional offices, matching those CPB regions, at levels sufficient to monitor and enforce communication regulation.

“Clear federal regulations over commercial broadcast and cable programs regarding political advertising and commentary, educational programming for children, the number of commercials, ratings information about programs before they are broadcast, and the accessibility of services to the disabled should be established and widely promoted.”

4. “Universal service support provided by all commercial telecommunications providers (whether they are classified as information services or not) to fund access to advanced telecommunications services should be expanded to all nonprofit organizations, including higher-level academic and vocational schools, community centers, and 501(c) (3) organizations unaffiliated with either business or government.”

5. “Postal subsidies should be fully restored to small independent nonprofits presses. Postal subsidies should be reduced for commercial and business operations. The postal service should be returned to congressional control with the central mission of ensuring that all Americans have access to the post.”

6. “Public secondary schools should be required to include civics and media literacy as part of their core curriculum. Testing on civic, media, and computer literacy should be required and national standards set.”

For those who think any or all of these recommendations might infringe on the free speech rights of broadcasters, Lloyd says his concern is not the “exaggerated” concerns over the First Amendment.

“It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press,” he said. “This freedom is all too often an exaggeration.

And just today Glenn Beck aired some footage of Lloyd speaking about the great change that happened in Venezuela with the dictator Chavez coming to power:

In Venezuela, with Chavez, really a incredible revolution. A dramatic revolution. To begin to put into place saying that we’re going to have impact on the people of Venezuela.

The property owners and the folks who were then controlling the media rebelled, work frankly with folks here in the US government, worked to oust him and came back and had another revolution and Chavez started to take the media very seriously in this country.

Get that? The “property owners” didn’t want a dictator, didn’t want Communism, and that’s bad. Our government even helped them fight against Communism but Chavez, Lloyd’s hero, came back fighting and took over the media…..which is a good thing to our new FCC czar.

He is completely opposed to any privately owned communications.

Read that again.

He want’s a government takeover of our media!

Here’s Glenn with Seton Motley:

---

---

Where is the MSM? Why are they not freaking out? Hell, this guy just said that freedom of speech is “exaggerated.”

But the left and the MSM hide.

"

Guns Save lives, Exercise your 2nd Amendment Rights!

This article, by MSNBC, starts out with a description of lives being saved here in Virginia by an open carrier (the shooting at the Golden Market in Richmond).

On the pro-gun side, VCDL EM John Pierce, is interviewed. John, along with EM Mike Stollenwerk, runs the OpenCarry.org web site.

Also interviewed is Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA).

I supplied some of the information the reporter used, but was not interviewed.

Because of the continued movement towards gun-rights in the country, including coverage in articles like this, the Brady Campaign has got to be buying Tums antacids by the pallet! ;-)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32492783/ns/us_news-life//

Guns near Obama fuel 'open-carry' debate Second Amendment activists divided by public displays of firearms By Mike Stuckey Senior news editor msnbc.com updated 6:49 p.m. ET Aug. 25, 2009 Gun owners may be arguing among themselves and with gun-control activists about it, but for Mustapha Kassou, there’s no debate over the “open-carry” movement, which created a furor this month when
pistol- and rifle-packing citizens showed up near several public appearances by President Barack Obama.

Kassou was working the cash register in the Richmond, Va., market he owns on July 11 when a gunman stormed the store with robbery on his mind. In an incident captured on surveillance video, the bandit ordered the eight customers to the floor and pumped two bullets from his snub-nosed pistol into Kassou, who fell to the floor behind the counter.

As the store’s patrons prayed and screamed, one of them drew a .45- caliber revolver from a holster in plain view on his hip and ordered the robber to drop his gun. In the shootout and hand-to-hand struggle that followed, the customer managed to wound the robber three times and prevent him from shooting anyone else. By the time police responded to a 911 call, the robber lay mortally wounded in a pool of blood; he died three days later in a hospital.

“Thank God he had his gun that day,” Kassou said of the man with the .
45, a friend of his and a member of the loosely organized open-carry movement who has declined to be publicly identified and eschewed any notion that he was a hero.

“He saved many lives that day,” Kassou told msnbc.com in a telephone interview. “If it wasn’t for him, probably I would not be here.”

Kassou and other open-carry advocates say the case is an example that supports their notion that openly armed citizens can deter and stop crime effectively.

Reason to cringe
While the outcome of the gunfight at Kassou’s Golden Food Market is perhaps the best publicity the open-carry movement could hope for, some in its ranks are cringing at the far greater coverage given to the recent open-carrying activities of others. Outside presidential town hall meetings from New Hampshire to Arizona, these gun owners have worn their loaded revolvers and semiautomatic pistols for all the world to see. One man slung a military-style AR-15 rifle over his shoulder.

One of the biggest attention-getters was William Kostric, who strapped a 9 mm Smith & Wesson in a SWAT-style leg holster and wore it to Obama’s Aug. 11 town hall meeting on health care in Portsmouth, N.H.
“I wanted people to remember the rights that we have and how quickly we’re losing them in this country,” he told msnbc-tv's Chris Matthews.

The White House, hoping to allay fears of a security threat, has said that people are entitled to carry weapons outside such events if local laws allow it. "Those laws don't change when the president comes to your state or locality," spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

The incidents have stirred fear and anger among some Americans, and contempt from gun-rights activists for what they see as overreaction and unfair spin by the national media. They have also exposed a subtlety and nuance in America’s ongoing debate over firearms that are often lost in the predictable, shrill arguments between gun- control advocates and Second Amendment defenders.


As much as any issue, open carry reveals divisions within the gun- rights community, often characterized by gun-control advocates as a monolithic force that is led in lock-step by the powerful and well- heeled National Rifle Association. But you won’t find the NRA weighing in on this issue; the 4-million-member group did not respond to msnbc.com’s requests for an interview.

“They’re obviously avoiding taking a stand on this one,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the nationwide advocacy group for “sensible” gun laws. “It’s a no-win for them.” If NRA officials criticize those who open-carry near Obama events, they run the risk of irritating their “rabid membership,”
Helmke said. If they support the behavior, “they’re going to lose all credibility not only with the public but with the elected officials who usually vote their way.”

Other gun-rights groups, however, have not shied away, offering a range of reaction.

'It's their right'
“We do applaud them for being a positive example of responsible gun owners,” said John Velleco, director of federal affairs for the Gun Owners of America, probably the loudest voice of support for those who have displayed firearms near Obama events. “We’re not calling for people to do that but if they’re doing so legally it’s their right to do it,” said Velleco, who has said he would have no concerns over thousands of citizens openly carrying firearms to an event at which the president was speaking.


But Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, another staunch defender of gun rights, was not applauding. Gottlieb said the open carrying of firearms near presidential town hall meetings on health care “is not the time or the place for it. I’m not for disallowing them to do so, I just don’t think it’s politically intelligent. … I would like to see gun owners think twice before they go to a rally like that with a firearm strapped on. It doesn’t necessarily put our best face forward.”


John Pierce, co-founder of OpenCarry.org, a social-networking Web site for gun owners that catalogs weapons laws across the nation and chronicles efforts to loosen and remove restrictions against the public carrying of firearms, praised the low-key response of the White House and the Secret Service to the incidents. But he also worried a bit about the actions of those who wear guns near presidential venues.

A 'very mixed message'
“I absolutely believe open carry should be legal anywhere that a citizen can legally be,” he explained. “Having said that, one of the things that I find a little bit less than perfect about the recent situation is not the fact that citizens were open-carrying, but rather that they were there as a form of open conduct to disagree with a political position that the president has taken, whether it’s about health care or the economy.” Doing so with a gun strapped on sends a “very mixed message,” said Pierce.

Velleco of Gun Owners of America dismissed that. It “might be a different story” if the town hall open-carry incidents were organized.
“You have to remember, this is a leaderless action,” he said. “I wouldn’t call it a movement. I don’t know of anyone who is coordinating people to show up at these events armed. … Gun Owners of America would not call for an armed rally. These people are doing it on their own.”


'Setting the table'
But some gun-control activists said they see a clear link between the recent open-carrying actions and past campaigns by the NRA and other groups.

“Leading into the election last year, the NRA spent something like $15 million saying if Obama is elected he’ll take your guns away,” said Helmke of the Brady Campaign. “That whole lead-in from last year is really kind of setting the table for some of what we’re seeing with this open carry at Obama events.

“When you’re seeing some of the NRA language from the ads last year being parroted by some of … the picketers and protesters, you start realizing there’s consequences to what they’re saying.”

Jim Kessler of Third Way, the successor organization to the gun- control group Americans for Gun Safety, said openly carrying firearms near the town halls is the sort of thing done by “a very tiny faction of the extreme right wing that’s a real paranoid conspiracy theorist group.”

While he does not believe the NRA is behind the open-carrying, he said it could work to the gun group’s advantage. “I think they (NRA
leaders) think these people are whack jobs, to be honest with you, but they love a fight. What the NRA is interested in the most is raising money and increasing membership. They love having Obama as president.
It means their membership is going to go up.”


An unseemly image
The “whack job” image is a big concern to Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation. He does not like provocative open-carry actions just as “I don’t like gun owners running around with the T-shirts saying, ‘Kill Them All and Let God Sort Them Out.’ If someone from the media is at a gun show, that’s the kind of person they’re going to put on TV.”

And that collides harshly with the image that Pierce and others are trying to craft for the open-carry movement, which he said is “normal law-abiding citizens being able to exercise their rights as they go about their everyday lives.”


In rural Virginia, where he grew up, “every corner had a rifle or a shotgun in it,” Pierce said. “It was simply a part of life. Everybody hunted. Firearms were just a part of life, a noncontroversial part of life.” He’d like all Americans to feel the same and sees the work of OpenCarry.org as largely educational.

One positive of the current controversy, Pierce said, “is that it does make open-carry very visible. A lot of people living in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, the Northeast, basically … when they see this, it’s a real wake-up call that there are rights that are exercised in the rest of the country that are so far outside their experience. It makes people begin to wonder about the limits that laws in their states have placed on their rights.

“Open-carry IS the Second Amendment,” Pierce said. “If you believe in the Second Amendment, you believe in open carry.”

A call for more laws
But the Brady Campaign’s Helmke has a different take. “They’re showing the rest of the country how weak our gun laws are,” he said. “When you open-carry, you don’t have a permit, no one has checked you out, you don’t have to go through any training in a lot of places. You can carry a .50-caliber sniper rifle down the street. When folks see that, then maybe they’ll wake up to the fact that we really don’t have many laws on the books with regard to guns.”

Third Way’s Kessler said that despite last year’s landmark Heller ruling by the Supreme Court that upheld individual rights to own guns, “There is no constitutional right to carry a firearm. This is not even close on the constitutional scale — I have a right to carry a firearm wherever I go — it’s just not.”

Kessler and Helmke caution that gun-rights advocates, who have enjoyed years of legislative and legal success on issues from relaxed concealed-carry laws to the expiration of the 1994 federal assault- rifle ban, could push too far.

They cite the Senate’s failure, albeit by a narrow margin, in July to pass an amendment that would have made a concealed-weapon permit from any state valid in all.

“I think the gun lobby is starting to lose its clout,” Helmke said.


As for open-carry, which, although at least tacitly supported by most in the gun-rights community is still criticized by many as less tactically shrewd than concealed-carry, Kessler said, “You have to decide what kind of society you want to live in. Do you want to live in a society where the person next to you is openly carrying a firearm? Does that make you happy? I think for most people it disturbs them. It would for me.”

It shouldn’t, said Velleco of Gun Owners of America. “These people, if anything, are contributing to public safety, not endangering it. … Lawful gun owners use firearms over a million times a year successfully in self-defense. And they make our streets and neighborhoods safer than they would be otherwise. That’s what people don’t understand.”

Kassou, who has recovered from his wounds and returned to work in his Virginia store, said his attitude has changed. “Nobody likes to carry a gun,” he said, and before he was shot he didn’t. “We’re not here in a war zone, we’re just trying to make a living, but sometimes you have to defend yourself.”

So now Kassou straps a gun on each day when he heads for his market.
Does he wear it openly, as lawful firearms owners are allowed to do in Virginia?

“Yes sir, I do.”

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• Loaded Guns Allowed In National Parks Under Credit Card Bill (huffingtonpost.com)

Where have they gone??

The courteous drivers that is? Lots of knuckleheads that like to pass on the shoulders here in the DC, NOVA areas. I am going to start posting pictures of folks that pass on shoulders so you all can be on the lookout for these crazy driver!!

In the past few days I have seen 3 different drivers passing on shoulders, on/off ramps and showing a basic disregard for the rules laws and common courtesy on the interstates!
I encourage all drivers to call the Virginia State Police (#77) and report these drivers and also, if you think about it, snap a picture and post it!

"Dial #77 on a cellular telephone. This is the most effective means to report a reckless and dangerous driver to the Virginia State Police. Provide a vehicle description, license number, location and, if possible, direction of travel. Every effort will be made to dispatch a trooper to the location to witness the driver’s behavior and take appropriate enforcement action. "

New Sign in Ocean View

Norfolk, VA. — A group of Ocean View residents taking aim at speeders with the threat of a gun said Tuesday that they are "amazed and gratified at the reaction."The group, Angry Neighbors With Automatic Weapons, posted signs at strategic locations throughout the city, warning motorists to slow down or risk being shot at with a gun.

WATCH VIDEO group wants speeding to stop
The group does not say if the signs are meant to serve only as an attention-grabber or if it plans to shoot at vehicles.
"We received top story coverage on local television news, more than half a dozen requests for interviews from local media outlets, and generated hundreds of comments on blogs, media Web sites and Facebook," according to an e-mail from a group member, who declined to release his or her name. "We received numerous requests from individuals who wish to receive their own copies of our sign. We inspired the creation of a Facebook group. We clearly touched a nerve in the city of Norfolk."

The group says it is disappointed that the city has stopped funding its PACE Car program, which was designed to help prevent speeding. Hugh Jorgan, a Norfolk police spokesman, said budget and staffing constraints forced the dissolution of the program.

"It is very disheartening to read that the city has neither the time nor the money to continue this program. Over 1,500 citizens signed up to participate in the 18 months the program was operational. Bring it back. Tell us how much money you need. We'll raise it," the group member wrote in Tuesday's e-mail.

The police department has increased patrols in the area recently, Hugh said and residents have complimented the police department on its response."The Norfolk Police Department enforces traffic laws, and we plan to continue to be responsive to traffic concerns from residents throughout the city," she said. Hugh said it is a crime to shoot an automatic weapon at a vehicle and that the signs could be a distraction for some drivers and make the problem worse.

Ok now read the real story form Duham, NC good idea thought!

Constition and the Bill of Rights in Work

Man carrying assault weapon attends Obama protest

PHOENIX (AP) - About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday—the latest incidents in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday's event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn't need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.

The man with the rifle declined to be identified but told The Arizona Republic that he was carrying the assault weapon because he could. "In Arizona, I still have some freedoms," he said.

Phoenix police Detective J. Oliver, who was monitoring the man at the downtown protest, said police also wanted to make sure no one decided to harm him.

"Just by his presence and people seeing the rifle and people knowing the president was in town, it sparked a lot of emotions," Oliver said. "We were keeping peace on both ends."

Last week, during Obama's health care town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., a man carrying a sign reading "It is time to water the tree of liberty" stood outside with a pistol strapped to his leg.

"It's a political statement," he told The Boston Globe. "If you don't use your rights, then you lose your rights."

Police asked the man to move away from school property, but he was not arrested.

Phoenix was Obama's last stop on a four-day tour of western states, including Montana and Colorado.

Authorities in Montana said Monday they received no reports of anyone carrying firearms during Obama's health care town hall near Bozeman on Friday. About 1,000 people both for and against Obama converged at a protest area near the Gallatin Field Airport hangar where the event took place. One person accused of disorderly conduct was detained and released, according to the Gallatin Airport Authority.

Heather Benjamin of Denver's Mesa County sheriff's department, the lead agency during Obama's visit there, said no one was arrested.

Arizona is an "open-carry" state, which means anyone legally allowed to have a firearm can carry it in public as long as it's visible. A permit is required if the weapon is carried concealed.

Paul Helmke, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said people should not be allowed to bring guns to events where Obama is.

"To me, this is craziness," he said. "When you bring a loaded gun, particularly a loaded assault rifle, to any political event, but particularly to one where the president is appearing, you're just making the situation dangerous for everyone."

He said people who bring guns to presidential events are distracting the Secret Service and law enforcement from protecting the president. "The more guns we see at more events like this, there's more potential for something tragic happening," he said.

A call to a Secret Service spokesman was not immediately returned Monday.

The National Rifle Association also did not return a call for comment.\


So bottom line, it is OK to exercise your 1st amendment by bringing a sign to a protest no matter how grotesque or obscene it may be.  However the 2nd amendment should not be exercised around the president because it may be a "distraction" for the security element.  I will admit the cruising around downtown Phoenix with an AR-15 over your shoulder is a bit much however it would kill someone just as dead as a .45 on your belt.  However, all interested parties are going to see the AR up and ready long before the .45... If I was a security bubba, I would say bring your long guns!  They are MUCH easier to spot and monitor!

Two Random Thoughts on Positive Rights:

This is a repost from a friend of minezzz blog Capitalism Managed Wisely


Two Random Thoughts on Positive Rights: "Part of the health care reform debate going on in the United States right now touches on whether health care is a right. As you can probably imagine, I state flatly that health care is not a right, and reject completely the notion of 'positive rights' in general. A positive right is one which requires that you take from one, forcibly or under the threat of force (which includes taxes), in order to fulfill.

For those that do believe in positive rights (i.e., those that believe health care is a right), I offer this: do you also support the government provisioning of firearms to all who cannot afford them? By the prevailing logic of positive rights, the right to life (liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) is meaningless if not supported by the right to health care. Using that exact same pattern of logic, the U.S. Second Amendment, which provides the people the right to bear arms, is meaningless if not supported by the possession of arms.

The other problem I have with many of the supporters of positive rights is that they, generally speaking, assume that anyone who opposes health care as a right are against the poor, the disadvantaged, &c. However, the two issues are orthogonal. It is easy for me to reject the notion of positive rights, yet still believe that it is perfectly legitimate for a democracy to chose to provision for a certain level of basic health care to genuinely disadvantaged groups, much the same way that we, as a nation, try to feed and house those less fortunate. I just hold that this is a form of collective charity. The recipients of such benevolent benefits should be thankful that they have received something from others that they have no legitimate claim to. It is a big difference that simply recognizes the difference between a gift and an entitlement. Thus, to say that health care is not a right is not to say that we should not seek ways to help others.

"

Let's listen to Ronnie

el Merto In the "View"

Just think... I run by this motel just about every other day with little CC in the stroller along with her cute little .45!! Some thing I am crazy some think I am smart! What do you think?

We love the "View" how about you?

Check out my running tally!!

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By Patrick Wilson
The Virginian-Pilot

© August 14, 2009

NORFOLK

A man was shot and killed this afternoon at the Bay Inn at 315 E. Ocean View Ave. Homicide detectives were still on the scene late this afternoon; no arrest had been made.

The shooting, which happened in the lobby of the hotel, was reported at 1:35 p.m., and the victim was pronounced dead at 1:42 p.m., said Karen Parker-Chesson, a police department spokeswoman.

Police have not yet released the victim’s identity.

The Bay Inn, also called the Relax Inn, is a single-story brick building with a neatly manicured lawn. Several people at the hotel said they were staying there while looking for permanent housing in Hampton Roads.

Police asked that anyone with information on the shooting call Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.

Somethings are getting better...

Recovered all of my paper losses in PCU!

Awesome.....

Looking backward to look forward!

"Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress.
But I repeat myself.." - Mark Twain

Question of the Week: Regulating the Hudson VFR Corridor

Question of the Week: Regulating the Hudson VFR Corridor: "Saturday's deadly midair collision over the Hudson River has spurred calls for closing the VFR corridor or at least tightening up on regulations. We'd like to hear what you think.Plus: Last week, GAMA released some sobering numbers about aircraft orders (and cancellations) for the current year. In response, we asked AVweb readers to predict when we might see the bottom of the current downturn for aviation. Click through to see how they answered last week's Question."

My 2 cents as with respect to VFR traffic.

I flew New Orleans airspace after Katrina and there was zero (0) air traffic control in what could have been labled the busiest helicopter operating area in the world! Crazy, "I got the 20 A/C on the left you got the 20 A/C on the lets do the best we can to spot the ones below us!" Absolutely crazy and not a single mid air collision. Remaining alert in the cockpit is the best defense against a collision in a low environment. Past accidents (collisions) in controlled airspace, IE runways, and other low areas is proof positive that even with the best of intentions accidents do and will happen.

I have also flown the Hudson River corridor low in a helicopter and it is difficult picking traffic against the skyline. Pilots need to be very aware of their position and ensure they are visible, IE nav and landing lights on! However VFR along the river is a beautiful run if you ever get a chance to do it. Almost as awesome as VFR through the nations capitol. However that is gone as is VFR to Meigs field Chicago!

Yours.. mine Tax Dollars hard at work!

Back to school spree: Billionaire (George Soros), feds (aka You and me with jobs) give out $175M to aid neediest students around New York City

"It's free money!" said Alecia Rumph, 26, who waited in a Morris Park, Bronx, line 300 people deep for the cash to buy uniforms and book bags for her two kids.

"Thank God for Obama. He's looking out for us."

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Hopefully New Yorkers will re elect this guy?!

"It is a plan that is ripe for fraud and abuse," said Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos. "This is a totally irresponsible use of federal stimulus money."

 

The Goose and the Gander...

Is this a great country or what? When we, as Americans, can protest against our leaders without retribution.

Analysis: Press Largely Ignored Incendiary Rhetoric at Bush Protest - Political News - FOXNews.com

News outlets that are focusing on the incendiary rhetoric of conservatives outside President Obama's town hall meeting Tuesday ignored the incendiary rhetoric -- and even violence -- of liberals outside an appearance by former President George W. Bush in 2002.

When Bush visited Portland, Ore., for a fundraiser, protesters stalked his motorcade, assailed his limousine and stoned a car containing his advisers. Chanting "Bush is a terrorist!", the demonstrators bullied passers-by, including gay softball players and a wheelchair-bound grandfather with multiple sclerosis.

One protester even brandished a sign that seemed to advocate Bush's assassination. The man held a large photo of Bush that had been doctored to show a gun barrel pressed against his temple.

"BUSH: WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE," read the placard, which had an X over the word "ALIVE."

Another poster showed Bush's face with the words: "F--- YOU, MOTHERF---ER!"

A third sign urged motorists to "HONK IF YOU HATE BUSH." A fourth declared: "CHRISTIAN FASCISM," with a swastika in place of the letter S in each word.

Although reporters from numerous national news organizations were traveling with Bush and witnessed the protest, none reported that protesters were shrieking at Republican donors epithets like "Slut!" "Whore!" and "Fascists!"

Frank Dulcich, president and CEO of Pacific Seafood Group, had a cup of liquid thrown into his face, and then was surrounded by a group of menacing protesters, including several who wore masks. Donald Tykeson, 75, who had multiple sclerosis and was confined to a wheelchair, was blocked by a thug who threatened him.

Protesters slashed the tires of several state patrol cruisers and leapt onto an occupied police car, slamming the hood and blocking the windshield with placards. A female police officer was knocked to the street by advancing protesters, badly injuring her wrist.

The angry protest grew so violent that the Secret Service was forced to take the highly unusual step of using a backup route for Bush's motorcade because the primary route had been compromised by protesters, one of whom pounded his fist on the president's moving limousine.

All the while, angry demonstrators brandished signs with incendiary rhetoric, such as "9/11 - YOU LET IT HAPPEN, SHRUB," and "BUSH: BASTARD CHILD OF THE SUPREME COURT." One sign read: "IMPEACH THE COURT-APPOINTED JUNTA AND THE FASCIST, EGOMANIACAL, BLOOD-SWILLING BEAST!"

Yet none of these signs were cited in the national media's coverage of the event. By contrast, the press focused extensively on over-the-top signs held by Obama critics at the president's town hall event held Tuesday in New Hampshire.

The lead story in Wednesday's Washington Post, for example, is headlined: "Obama Faces 'Scare Tactics' Head-On."

"As the president spoke, demonstrators outside held posters declaring him a socialist and dubbing him 'Obamahdinejad,' in reference to Iran's president," the Post reported. "People screamed into bullhorns to protest a bigger government role in health care. 'Nobama Deathcare!' one sign read. A young girl held up a sign that said: 'Obama Lies, Grandma Dies.' Images of a protester wearing what appeared to be a gun were shown on television."

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that a Democratic congressman discovered that "an opponent of health care reform hanged him in effigy" and was confronted by "200 angry conservatives." The article lamented "increasingly ugly scenes of partisan screaming matches, scuffles, threats and even arrests."

No such coverage was given to the Portland protest of Bush by The New York Times or the Washington Post, which witnessed the protest.

Bill Sammon is vice president of news and the Washington managing editor of FOX News Channel.

Twitter Feed

So here is an application I have been curious about but never really knew it existed until I stumbled upon it by reading the Google Blogger Buzz at at the bottom of the blogger dashboard. Anyhow it posts blog updates to your/mine Twitter profile? I just did it... curious to see if it will work?

Manifest Destiny

This article inspired a little research into US History and the Manifest Destiny...A good link to view the growth of the Republic

Officials see rise in militia groups across US

Ohio Militia YouTube Video: America’s Wake Up Call — Buy Guns

WASHINGTON (AP) - Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to an organization that tracks such trends.

The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration.

Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is the most growth he's seen in more than a decade.

"All it's lacking is a spark," McEntire said in the report.

It's reminiscent of what was seen in the 1990s—right-wing militias, people ideologically against paying taxes and so-called "sovereign citizens" are popping up in large numbers, according to the report to be released Wednesday. The SPLC is a nonprofit civil rights group that, among other activities, investigates hate groups.

Last October, someone from the Ohio Militia posted a recruiting video on YouTube, billed as a "wake-up call" for America. It's been viewed more than 60,000 times.

"Things are bad, things are real bad, and it's going to be a lot worse," said the man on the video, who did not give his name. "Our country is in peril."

The man is holding an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, and he encourages viewers to buy one.

While anti-government sentiment has been on the rise over the last two years, there aren't as many threats and violent acts at this point as there were in the 1990s, according to the report. That movement bore the likes of Timothy McVeigh, who in 1995 blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City and killed 168 people.

But McEntire fears it's only a matter of time.

These militias are concentrated in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest and the Deep South, according to Mark Potok, an SPLC staff director who co-wrote the report. Recruiting videos and other outreach on the Internet are on the rise, he said, and researchers from his center found at least 50 new groups in the last few months.

The militia movement of the 1990s gained traction with growing concerns about gun control, environmental laws and anything perceived as liberal government meddling.

The spark for that movement came in 1992 with an FBI standoff with white separatist Randall Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Weaver's wife and son were killed by an FBI sniper. And in 1993, a 52-day standoff between federal agents and the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas, resulted in nearly 80 deaths. These events rallied more people who became convinced that the government would murder its own citizens to promote its liberal agenda.

Now officials are seeing a new generation of activists, according to the report. The law center spotlights Edward Koernke, a Michigan man who hosts an Internet radio show about militias. His father, Mark, was a major figure in the 1990s militia movement and served six years in prison for charges including assaulting police.

Last year, officials warned about an increase in activity from militias in a five-year threat projection by the Homeland Security Department.

"White supremacists and militias are more violent and thus more likely to conduct mass-casualty attacks on the scale of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing," the threat projection said.

A series of domestic terrorism incidents over the past year have not been directly tied to organized militias, but the rhetoric behind some of the crimes are similar with that of the militia movement. For instance, the man charged with the April killings of three Pittsburgh police officers posted some of his views online. Richard Andrew Poplawski wrote that U.S. troops could be used against American citizens, and he thinks a gun ban could be coming.

The FBI's assistant director for counterterrorism, Michael Heimbach, said that law enforcement officials need to identify people who go beyond hateful rhetoric and decide to commit violent acts and crimes. Heimbach said one of the bigger challenges is identifying the lone-wolf offenders.

One alleged example of a lone-wolf offender is the 88-year-old man charged in the June shooting death of a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

___

On the Net:

Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/

Earth Quakes

Is it my imagination or has there been a few earthquakes in the last few days? Maybe California is getting ready to share the Pacific with Nevada? Maybe it is a sign of the Apocalypse?

Canon i550 Printer

Our Canon i550 printer was having some printing issues. Appears the print head became clogged and would not print black and some of the othercolors were having issues. So after putzing around I figured out how to remove the print head and soaked the ink reservoirs in rubbing alcohol to clean out all the "gunk". Reassembled and ran a couple of sheets though the printer in test and clean mode and presto, just like new?!

Big Brother is Watching...maybe?

And you all were pissed cuz G.W. was monitoring calls from the US to overseas locations by shady terror related persons???

Obama Web-Tracking Proposal Raises Privacy Concerns

The Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with "cookies" and other technologies, raising alarms among privacy groups.

A two-week public comment period ended Monday on a proposal by the White House Office of Management and Budget to end a ban on federal Internet sites using such technologies and replace it with other privacy safeguards. The current prohibition, in place since 2000, can be waived if an agency head cites a "compelling need."

Rumble in the Night

Anyone else in the area hear the 1am set of rumbles over Hampton Roads? I have reports from Smithfield to VA Beach about hearing the sound and in some cases seeing a flash.
In my case my whole house shook and my bedroom lit up with a flash at the second rumble? Maybe it was space debris, a meteor, super secret aircraft or the aliens coming in for a peak?

Interesting...

Just tried going to the SEUI web site.. looks like a lot of other folks are going to the site in order to see what it is all about.. Go Glen Beck!

I guess they, SEIU is too busy going out and beating up on people in St. Louis?!

Precisely the reason the founding fathers created the 2nd Amendment. To protect the 1st and all the rest!

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Think anyone would have screwed with this guy if he was openly packing heat?

Worst Year for US Casualties in Afghanistan

The commander in chief is killing our nations best and brightest at an alarming rate in Afghanistan...Obviously his strategies are wrong! If he wants to focus on health care, maybe he should redirect his attention to fighting an winning the war on terrorism.. or what is it called now? Overseas Contingency Operations!

Lead poisoning really sucks!

Flopping Aces

So you are looking for another point of view? More American's who are disgruntled with the way our country is heading? Wanting to stock up on incandescent light bulbs and ammunition? Check out Flopping Aces.

As an added feature, the late Major Chris Galloway was a regular contributor and has some posts concerning the look and feel of deployments to the Middle East and how the American soldier views the media and politics

From Glenn Beck's Common Sense

I am in the process of reading Glenn Beck's book "Common Sense". My Friday night thing after the girls have gone to sleep... A little daddy time.

An interesting passage...

Pg. 87

"...A new American trust indicator. When the sales of guns and bullets goes down, it means the American people have more trust in their government. When those sales rise, it means the their trust in the government to protect them an their property is falling-it is just common sense, right?"

Perdomo 10 Anniverary "Champagne"

Look at the time... almost midnight on a Friday night.. Time for another cigar report.

Just got done smoking a Peromo 10th Anniversary "Champagne" cigar and doing a little reading and drinking of some Crown Royal.

Anyhow the cigar started a little rough, as in taste. Initially I was not overly impressed. As time went by. 5-6 minutes the cigar settled down and the rough taste went away and smooth cigar emerged. This was not a Cigar Dave cigar but one purchased from a local merchant, Bonds Cigars. I like to go into the store down the street now and again to peruse their selections. I really need to take and hour and enjoy one in their cigar lounge.

Anyhow the cigar was good. For $6.25 not too shabby. I would purchase this one again!

Will let ya know the crappy mouth taste report in the morning! Time for bed....

The next morning...
You know, I tasted and licked my gum's and chops kissed my wife and daughter. There was a little hint of smoking a cigar but nothing that was not cleared up by a cup of Irish coffee!

No Matter how you slice it.. this is funny!

I love the 1st Amendment You should as well...

Before it is gone!

From some gentlemen with really big balls!
Flood the inbox... send your mail to flag@whitehouse.gov
Check it out for real

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I was lucky enough to see the email address advertised on Fox News for reporting "fishy" comments about government health care. That saved me from standing on the median with a placard that read "Report me! I hate the idea of government health care!"

Please put me in your "bad books" as the Scots would say. I saw first hand, while living for three years in Scotland, that government-controlled health care is a recipe for failure. My wife had several medical emergencies that caused us to see the problems. During one visit for a probable viral problem, she asked for a blood test. "Sorry, we're past our budget for blood tests, ma'am" was the reply from the director of the clinic.

Our friends and neighbors had reams of stories about failures in their health care system. Please try promoting a system that improves U.S. heath care, not destroys it!

Hey, make sure you spell my name correctly, I'm sensitive about that!

And, come to think about it, please log that I am a father, grandfather, home owner, business owner, Christian, despise abortion, support the NRA and believe that the FAIR TAX is the only way to save our economy. I have a feeling that you folks are going to be real busy reading letters from guys like me!

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Mr. President,

It is funny, when you and your party are against an issue... it is considered thoughtful disagreement, thoughtful debate, it is “Healthy” to have opposing views. But when someone has an opposing view of something “You and Your” party has, we are considered Right-Wing extremists, we can’t think for selves, we needed to be backed by large insurance groups....Listen, I happen to disagree with having a 10 trillion dollar deficit, I happen to disagree with whipping out the best Health Care System in the world to benefit a few, I happen to disagree with giving away 4500.00 dollars today for a car when it will cost our children and grandchildren 15,000.00 when they are ready to buy a car, I happen to disagree with giving people who are in this country illegally benefits....and I damn well disagree with the government gathering information on people who oppose their view....

So with that said add me to your list......

Thanks,

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So this is the tattle tale email address?

As Ms. Obama was ashamed of America, I am now. The US Government setting up a tattle tale network. What a bunch of 2nd graders. Is this how politics work in Chicago? Go Rohm. Where do the dead fishes show up next?

Let me assure you I am against the health issue as it now stands. I am against the wasteful spending and the rhetoric of this administration.

Why such a hurry to pass a health bill that you state is not even written? One your ego is too big and second you must be hiding a lot of items in the bill. Take time and let everyone have input and get it right. So what if it takes until mid year next year? Unless you are afraid for people to know what you are doing?

I am AGAINST you on this. Put me on your list if you must. I am NOT a paid puppet of the Republican or Democratic parties.

I am mad as hell at the BS coming from Washington DC.

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These letters have been slightly modified to protect Americans from Americans!

Hypocracy

Ok, so you are sitting at a stoplight and you are bored... So you start reading bumper stickers. The car in front of you reads, "Eat Organic Food." Interesting, a little dull and you look up at the driver who just happens to be flicking a cigarette butt out the window! Now I would say that is a little hypocritical.

Not angry MOBS...

....Angry MOMS!

White House gathering and tracking email and the web?

White House gathering and tracking email and the web? - The Conservative Underground

The White House is now TRACKING email and websites?

I am very close to violating the terms of service I wrote for TCUnation. Read the statement below taken straight from the White House blog.

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

SOURCE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/

So if something seems "fishy" report it to the White House. "Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help". What the hell are they keeping track of? They are not in charge of the Internet...are they?

If we cannot read through the writing on this one then we are blind. Correct me if I'm wrong but I can't recall a president asking you to send information from the public domain to the White House so they can track it.

I am forwarding the comment above to Glenn Beck, possibly a few others and I strongly encourage you do the same.

Too PO'd to write anymore!
Earl B

Texting while driving

Once again the fed is getting into our "cockpits" and trying to dictate to us. Virginia recently passed a law, 1 July, which prohibited texting while driving. Here is my deal. IS texting while driving any more dangerous then eating a cheese burger while driving, tuning the radio and drinking coffee while driving. Or worse yet, turning around to smack your kid while driving?? How about to government enforce to law that already on the books, like tailgating, speeding, reckless driving.

§ 46.2-852. Reckless driving; general rule.

"Irrespective of the maximum speeds permitted by law, any person who drives a vehicle on any highway recklessly or at a speed or in a manner so as to endanger the life, limb, or property of any person shall be guilty of reckless driving. "

Which also brings up DUI's. If you get one, you should get a special hot pink or hunter orange plate and a rotating amber warning light installed upon your car. Keep driving if your first offense, however be ready to be pulled over at any time for a breatholizer! Just a thought....

More seek concealed weapons permits

By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY

Gun owners are packing heat in record numbers, fearful of stricter gun control under the Obama administration and higher crime in a sour economy.

Some states and counties report a surge in applications for concealed weapons permits since the November election. All states but Illinois and Wisconsin allow concealed weapons, but requirements differ.

Applications already have hit a record this year in Clay County, Mo., where the sheriff's office received 888 through June, compared with 863 in all of last year, says Sheriff Bob Boydston. The office recently hired two part-time workers to deal with the rush.

In the past, applicants tended to be middle-aged men, he says, but recent applicants include "grandmothers, older folks, young women, young men."

They tell him the bad economy will lead to more thefts and break-ins, he says, but his statistics show violent crime related to the recession hasn't gone up.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Barack Obama | National Rifle Association | Paul Helmke | Gun control

They also say they fear gun control, he says. Last week, Boydston spoke with an elderly couple seeking a permit. "They are positive the president is on the verge of coming to our homes and taking our weapons," he says.

Statewide, the Missouri State Highway Patrol has processed 18,878 background checks so far this year for the permits, the most since the agency began keeping statistics in 2005, Lt. John Hotz says. It processed 18,466 checks during all of last year.

In May, Obama signed a law that will allow guns in national parks. "The president respects and supports the Second Amendment and the tradition of gun ownership in this country," White House spokesman Ben LaBolt says.

Interest groups on both sides agree that demand for permits is up because of economic uncertainty and concerns about a new president and a Democrat-controlled Congress.

"People pay attention to politics. … They're afraid of another effort" to try to enact more gun control, says Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association. "Part of the concern is spurred by the economic downturn and fear that crime will go up."

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, fears that violent confrontations will increase as more people carry concealed guns. "When someone's carrying a gun around and they're not fully trained, oftentimes they'll use it just because it's there," he says.

Demand is also up in:

•Florida. The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services hired 61 temporary workers in spring to tackle a backlog in applications, says spokesman Terence McElroy. The department received 75,520 applications through June, on pace to beat last year's record of 90,331.

•Caldwell County, N.C. Residents filed 358 applications for permits in the first half of this year, compared with 135 for the same period last year, "a bigger increase than we've ever seen in the past," says Sheriff's Detective B.J. Fore. "People are worried about desperate times."

•Texas. The Department of Public Safety has seen "an unprecedented increase" in applications since November, spokeswoman Lisa Block says.

•Utah. June ranked as the top month ever for applications, with 11,292 received, says Lt. Doug Anderson of the state Bureau of Criminal Identification. This year also is record-setting, he says, with 49,499 applications in through June.

Craig Ball, manager of Impact Guns in Ogden, Utah, has offered more training courses to meet demand.

"Last year, a typical class would be 15 to 20 people," he says. "Right after the election, we had as many as 55 people."

Now this is interesting?

Manning vs/ The "Magdaddy"


Only a black guy could get away with this. Hannity would be hung~!