Background Checks for Gun Owners? Better Yet, How About Politicians?

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Looking at the state of affairs in Washington, perhaps it is time to apply the same proposed standards for gun owners and apply them to prospective and sitting politicians. Perhaps go even further, by requiring our leaders to pass an FBI background check.

Governor Huckabee mentioned he was subjected to a security background check while Governor of Arkansas, in order to be allowed access to National Homeland Security information.

At the time, he was a sitting Governor, a politician… he had no problem complying with it. In fact he suggested all politicians be subjected to security background checks.

What’s wrong with verifying who our leaders are? Should they at least be able to pass the same background tests that applicants for an FBI job have to pass?

After all, their decisions have the power to affect our national security; shouldn’t we make sure they at least meet the same standards as the rest of us if we want a government job in the security sector? Or even a regular government job for that matter.

It would be good to know ahead of time, if the person running for senator has criminal ties? Graft or corruption allegations? A drug problem. Is there anything in the background that could subject him/her to blackmail?

How about running all of his/her credentials and getting those degrees verified? This is nothing less than what many prospective employees are put through for even a county job.

There is a growing chorus for medical/psychiatric standards for gun owners. From listening to some of the bizarre rants coming from leaders in Washington DC, I think some sitting members would not be able to pass the psychological standards.

Many say these screens are already set up by political opposition research to try to dig up dirt on opponents. But opposition research cannot be as thorough as an FBI background check.

Ask Bill and Hillary Clinton what one of the first things they did when they entered the White house in their first term? They got the confidential FBI files on all of their political opponents. What did they do with that information for the next 8 years?…And to this day for that matter?

Perhaps it is time for President Obama to appoint Joe Biden to head up another “blue ribbon” committee to see how this can best be facilitated…As soon as Joe passes his background check.
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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Buchanan: Obama Has Hijacked the American Revolution

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photo credit: victorynh

“Second Term Begins With a Sweeping Agenda for Equality,” ran the eight-column banner in which the Washington Post captured the essence of Obama’s second inaugural. There he declared:

“What binds this nation together … what makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago.”

Obama then quoted our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Our “union,” Obama went on, was “founded on the principles of liberty and equality.”

Nice prose – and transparent nonsense.

Read more from this story HERE.

White House Fly Upstages President’s Press Conference

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The buzzing insect stole the show as the President announced two new members of his second administration, cutting wild loops around the leader of the free world before landing squarely on his forehead.

The official White House transcript simply reads: “This guy is bothering me here – (swatting at a fly.)”

Meanwhile, the pool report which describes the President’s movements throughout the day noted that “the president spoke for about five minutes while being menaced by a house fly”.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Wants 100,000 American Students to Study in Communist China

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(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday will celebrate the launch of a newly rebranded organization called the “100,000 Strong Foundation,” which aims to have 100,000 American students studying in China by 2014.

Thursday’s event will “underscore the importance of study abroad in China and the benefits to our strategic relationship with China as well as the personal benefits individuals receive through these exciting experiences,” the news release said.

Until now, the 100,000 Strong Initiative — announced by President Obama on his trip to China in 2009 — has operated inside the State Department. Thursday’s 1 p.m. ceremony marks its transition to a non-profit, nongovernmental organization operating independently.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officially launched the Obama initiative in May 2010 in Beijing. “China has established dozens of Confucius Institutes across the United States that offer Chinese language instruction and cultural programs to help Americans better understand China,” Clinton said at the time. “We would like to see similar American language and culture centers on the campuses of Chinese universities.”

According to State Department statistics, in the 2010/11 academic year, 14,596 U.S. students were studying in China, which was number five on the list of study-abroad destinations, behind the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and France.

Read more from this story HERE.

Lou Holtz After Obama’s Inauguration: ‘I’m Done, Finished, the Country’s Over With, We’re Not Doing This Again!’

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Former Notre Dame coach and ESPN commentator Lou Holtz has spent decades giving individuals pep talks, both on and off the football field. But the re-election of President Barack Obama caused the legendary coach to seek out someone else for inspiration: Speaker of the House John Boehner.

During an address to the Ripon Society on Tuesday, Boehner revealed that Holtz consulted him via text messages on Monday night following Obama’s inauguration.

“Last night, I got a three-page text from my good friend Lou Holtz, who must have watched the inaugural and then all that blabber on TV…: ‘I’m done, finished, the country’s over with — we’re not doing this again!,’” Boehner recounted.

The text was not the first time Holtz voiced pessimism about the president.

“Now, I had already had this conversation with Lou about nine or ten days after the election. He came in to speak to our 34 new members. And before he went over to talk to them, he came over to my office, and he was moaning and groaning,” Boehner said. “I said, ‘Lou, would you stop it? We’re Americans, we’ll figure this out!’ And I had to spend 15 minutes giving Lou Holtz a pep talk! I had to do it again last night!”

Read more from this story HERE.

The RomneyCare Bill Comes Due

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The health reform that Mitt Romney passed in 2006 in Massachusetts presaged President Obama’s, and its results are showing what we can expect nationwide. The latest warning comes in a huge new tax increase proposed by Governor Deval Patrick.

Last week the second-term Democrat followed his party’s recent habit and proposed an increase in the state’s single-rate income tax to 6.25% from 5.25%, the first in more than 20 years. The Bay State constitution requires a flat rate, so the Governor is sticking it to all taxpayers.

Mr. Patrick will try to add progressivity by raising the personal exemption, which taxpayer groups will challenge as unconstitutional. His plan would also eliminate 45 income-tax deductions, for such things as the capital-gains exemption on the sale of a home, adoption fees and college scholarships. This is the left’s idea for tax reform: raise rates and limit deductions—a revenue twofer.

To help this bad medicine go down, Mr. Patrick would lower the state sales tax to 4.5% from 6.25%. He says the sales levy “is widely regarded to be the most regressive tax that states impose,” which is funny given that Mr. Patrick is the same guy who raised the rate to 6.25% from 5% in 2009. Then he said raising the rate was essential to pay state bills and wouldn’t hurt the economy. Now he says it’s regressive and must be cut.

Business taxes would also rise under the Patrick revenue raid, and Bay State residents would pay higher gas taxes, turnpike tolls and car taxes. All told it’s a $1.9 billion a year net tax hike.

Read more from this story HERE.

Colin Powell Invited to See Obama Fraud Evidence

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Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has denounced Republicans for “birther nonsense” and described such concerns as “idiot presentations,” but now a law enforcement official who has reviewed the evidence regarding Barack Obama’s eligibility has invited Powell to see it for himself.

“I don’t know what Mr. Powell’s problem is,” said Michael Zullo, the lead investigator of the Cold Case Posse for Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz.

“I would open an invitation to him at my expense to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, and I will sit down with him and show him the evidence that we have accumulated that brings us to the only logical conclusion – that this document (Obama’s birth certificate) is manufactured.”

Zullo argued that “if it’s manufactured, the president of the United States at that point in time owes the American people at explanation.

“Tell us why. … It’s as simple as that.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Mississippi Bill Would Nullify Federal Laws

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photo credit: StuSeeger

JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi defied the union during the Civil War and civil rights era, and at least two lawmakers think it is time to do so again.

Republican state Reps. Gary Chism and Jeff Smith, both of Columbus, filed a bill this month to form the Joint Legislative Committee on the Neutralization of Federal Laws.

Chism said Thursday that the tea party-backed measure is a response to President Barack Obama’s federal health care overhaul and proposals to curb gun violence.

“Certainly, the Obamacare started this,” Chism told The Associated Press, referring to the health care plan, “but then gun show loopholes that the president wanted after Newtown really put an exclamation on that — that we need to do something to stand up for the Tenth Amendment.”

The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says powers not specifically reserved for the federal government are reserved for the states.

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Democrats Assault on Second Amendment Begins

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WASHINGTON — California Democrat Dianne Feinstein begins her fourth full term as a U.S. senator much as she started her Senate career: fighting for a ban on assault weapons.

Feinstein’s new bill introduced Thursday proposes to:

•Ban the sale, transfer, importation or manufacturing of about 150 named firearms, plus certain rifles, handguns and shotguns fitted for detachable magazines and having at least one military characteristic.
•Strengthen the 1994 ban by moving from a two- to a one-characteristic test to determine what constitutes an assault weapon.
•Ban firearms with “thumbhole stocks” and “bullet buttons.”
•Ban the importation of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.
•Ban high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

The bill would grandfather in weapons legally owned on the day of enactment and exempts over 900 specific weapons “used for hunting or sporting purposes.”

Read more from this story HERE.