Administration blocks import of surplus rifles

The venerable M1 Garand -- sometimes called the rifle that won World War II -- is a favorite of collectors and rifle shooters in the United States. While it's reputation may be exaggerated the design has proved reliable over three wars and billions of rounds fired in matches and recreation. Though quite heavy compared to modern sporting rifles, it has a reputation for accuracy not usually associated with military surplus rifles and it is a piece of history.

Now The Korea Times reports that the Obama Administation is blocking the import of about 86,000 surplus Garands that have been setting in a warehouse for the past 50 years.

The U.S. administration put the brakes on the plan, citing “problems” that could be caused by the importation of the rifles.

The problems the U.S. government cited were somewhat ambiguous, said an official at the Ministry of National Defense on condition of anonymity.

“The U.S. insisted that imports of the aging rifles could cause problems such as firearm accidents. It was also worried the weapons could be smuggled to terrorists, gangs or other people with bad intentions,” the official told The Korea Times.

Terrorists and gang bangers do not use the Garand. It is absurd on its face as an excuse for blocking these imports. Terrorists prefer the AK-47 which is a hardy, reliable, user friendly rifle designed to be used by those who have had little or no military training. American gang bangers seem to prefer 9mm pistols and shotguns. I doubt that many would even recognize a Garand if they saw it.

Supporters of the President try to use the fact that Obama signed a credit card reform bill with an amendment allowing conceal carry in national parks -- subject to local law -- as evidence that the Lightworker is not anti-gun. However, actions like this and last year's aborted attempt to eliminate once-fired military brass from the civilian market give lie to that assertion. Make no mistake, Obama wants to restrict the rights of gun owners as much as he possibly can. I have no doubt he would disarm all non " only ones" Americans if he could.

Anyone who wants to disarm you has a reason. That reason is usually that he wants to do something you would stop him from doing if you still had the power to do so.

H/T to David Codrea

Senate "Terrorism" Hearings

It is a small wonder that the Powers That Be didn't publicize this meeting. The remarkably unbalanced witness list alone serves a warning. The JPFO summary here gives an indication of just how had it can be. Read it.

If, in your lexicon, "common sense" is a synonym for "colossal stupidity" then this is a common sense measure. However, if you believe that meekly stacking your belongings and stepping into the boxcar is a good way to get disappeared then you might recognize this as an attempt by the Administration to disarm its opponents.

Additionally, the Liberty Coalition testifies it is grossly unconstitutional. Not that matters to the current Administration any more than it did to the one before.

As always, there is useful commentary from David Codrea and a followup.

I predict that, should this make its way into law, it will not be used to go after real terrorists. It will be used to suppress dissent in the United States. The terror list has been wielded as a weapon against legitimate petition for redress before. For example in 2009, The Maryland State police admitted they classified non violent activists as terrorists:

The Maryland State Police have admitted classifying 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists, including opponents of the war and the death penalty, and tracking them in state and federal "terrorism" databases. Cops infiltrated organizing meetings and rallies, and spied on political email lists, similar to the government infiltration of the RNC.

The groups targeted, including the Maryland Campaign to End the Death Penalty and the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, aren't suspected of harming anyone, aren't suspected of bombing anyone, and aren't even suspected of vandalizing property.

They're "fringe people," says Thomas E. Hutchins, the former state police superintendent who authorized the operation. "I don't believe the First Amendment is any guarantee to those who wish to disrupt the government," he said.

Terrorist Watch List: Homeland Security Defines Millions Of Americans As Domestic Derrorists[sic] (retrieved on May 5, 2010)

Fugit irreparabile tempus, singula dum capti circumvectamur amore

Maxine on Obama Care

Let me get this straight..

...we're going to pass a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it,

passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it,

to be signed by a president that also hasn't read it and who smokes,

with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes,

all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese,

and financed by a country that's nearly broke.

What could possibly go wrong?

More on the Window Breaker

Infoshop indetifies Schwenkler as a transgender known as Arial Attack

Ariel Attack, a Denver-based anarchist, was arrested at 2:27am Tues, 24 here in Denver for allegedly smashing 11 windows of the Democratic Party headquaters at 777 Santa Fe Drive.

Apparently heesh* made bail

*Heesh: A person of indeterminate sex. With apologies to Poul Anderson.

False Flag Operation?

Several windows at the Colorado Democratic Party headquarters were broken Tuesday morning. A suspect, Maurice Schwenkler, is in custody.

1 suspect in custody following Dem HQ vandalism in Denver

Immediately the State Democratic Party Chairwoman, Pat Waak, blamed the vandalism on "other side".

"We ought to be having a serious, conscientious debate about what's best for the country," Waak said. "Clearly there's been an effort on the other side to stir up hate. I think this is the consequence of it."

According to this article at the Denver Westword Blogs the suspect may be a liberal activist.

[I]n his mug shot, Schewenkler looks more Sonic Youth than Reagan-youth. Plus, it turns out that someone bearing his exact name -- a fairly rare one, to say the least -- was once an employee of a progressive political action committee based in Colorado.

According to campaign finance records, someone named "Maurice Schewenkler" was paid $500 on November 6, 2008, by a group called the Colorado Citizens' Coalition. Judging by the contributors, this 527 political organization falls on the liberal side of the spectrum.

Peter Marcus reports in The Denver Daily News that Schwenkler may be connected to leftist groups.

Originally assumed by many that the incident was committed by Republicans angry over the reform proposal, a trail of evidence connects Schwenkler to ultra-liberal groups investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

A woman listed as a resident of Schwenkler’s home in the 1000 block of Lipan Street was once questioned by investigators over various protests, including plans to disrupt the 2004 Republican and Democratic national conventions and the 2004 presidential election.

More at Gateway Pundit and People's Press Collective

[Update] Mike Vanderboegh, naturally, has some commentary at Sipsey Street Irregulars including,

Breaking windows was and is the job of the Sons of Liberty, which is say, it is our job. And now, a young SEIU sponsored "progressive" has gone and done what Three Percenters should have been doing for years to both parties. I don't know whether to hang my head in shame or cheer, "Go get 'em, Maurice!"

Congress Votes to Outsource Presidency

Received in E-mail

Washington,
DC -- May 28, 2009

Congress today announced that the office of President of the United States of America will be outsourced to India as of September 1, 2009. The move is being made in order to save the President's $500,000 yearly salary, and also a record $750 billion in deficit expenditures and related overhead that his office has incurred during the last 3 months.

It is anticipated that $7 trillion can be saved to the end of the President's term. "We believe this is a wise financial move. The cost savings are huge," stated Congressman Thomas Reynolds (R-WA). "We cannot remain competitive on the world stage with the current level of cash outlay," Reynolds noted.

Mr. Obama was informed by email this morning of his termination. Preparations for the job move have been underway for some time.

Gurvinder Singh, a tele-technician for Indus Teleservices, Mumbai, India will assume the office of President as of September 1, 2009. Mr. Singh was born in the United States while his Indian parents were vacationing at Niagara Falls, NY. Thus making him eligible for the position. He will receive a salary of $320 (USD) a month, but no health coverage or other benefits.

It is believed that Mr. Singh will be able to handle his job responsibilities without a support staff. Due to the time difference between the US and India, he will be working primarily at night. "Working nights will allow me to keep my day job at the Dell Computer call center", stated Mr. Singh in an exclusive interview.

"I am excited about this position. I always hoped I would be President." A Congressional spokesperson noted that while Mr. Singh may not be fully aware of all the issues involved in the office of President, this should not be a problem as President Obama had never been familiar with the issues either.

Mr. Singh will rely upon a script tree that will enable him to respond effectively to most topics of concern. Using these canned responses, he can address common concerns without having to understand the underlying issue at all. "We know these scripting tools work," stated the spokesperson.

"President Obama has used them successfully for years, with the result that some people actually thought he knew what he was talking about."

Obama will receive health coverage, expenses, and salary until his final day of employment. Following a two-week waiting period, he will be eligible for $140 a week unemployment for 26 weeks. Unfortunately he will not be eligible for Medicaid, as his unemployment benefits will exceed the allowed limit.

Mr. Obama has been provided with the outplacement services of Manpower, Inc. to help him write a resume and prepare for his upcoming job transition. According to Manpower, Mr. Obama may have difficulties in securing a new position due to a lack of any successful work experience during his lifetime.

A greeter position at Wal-Mart was suggested due to Obama's extensive experience at shaking hands, as well as his special smile.

Between this and the Jokerbama poster, perhaps history will remember him as Barack "Rodney" Obama. Even Jimmy Carter got more respect.

Jokerbama Artist Unmasked -- Sort of

Obama Joker artist unmasked: A fellow Chicagoan

Bored during his winter school break, Firas Alkhateeb, a senior history major at the University of Illinois, crafted the picture of Obama with the recognizable clown makeup using Adobe's Photoshop software.

Alkhateeb had been tinkering with the program to improve the looks of photos he had taken on his clunky Kodak camera. The Joker project was his grandest undertaking yet. Using a tutorial he'd found online about how to "Jokerize" portraits, he downloaded the October 23 Time Magazine cover of Obama and began digitally painting over it.

Mr. Alkhateeb did a "jokerization" of a digital image of the October 23 Time Magazine cover. The still anonymous creator of the poster that began appearing in Los Angeles about a month qago apparently downloaded that image and removed all the extraneous references before adding the word "Socialism". He remains at large.

The guerrilla uses the tools at hand and adapts them to his purpose. The Jokerbama poster had proven so far to be an effective tool for ridiculing the current administration and that, ladies and gentlemen, is what this about.

Further comment by Mike Vanderbeogh at Sipsey Street Irregulars

Jokerbama Goes Viral

and judging by the Bobots reactions I'd think it was the fictional rage virus.

Here Noel Sheppard points to some very unflattering images of George Bush including the Vanity Fair depiction of Bush as the Joker!

Obama Joker Poster Stirs Outrage, Bush Joker Poster Not So Much

Oops!

Maybe the real problem here is the Bobots are just too thin-skinned to play outside.

Poster in 8 ½ X 11 PDF format
Color PDF
Grayscale PDF

More on the Jokerbama

Obama as The Joker: Racial Fear's Ugly Face


The image of Obama as the Joker with the "socialism" label is undoubtedly a powerful visual statement. I didn't think it would amount to much but it has obviously struck a nerve with the Bobots. I wonder if articles like the one linked above are not just a lure to the unknown artist tempting him to reveal himself. I hope he (or she) resists the temptation to grab fifteen minutes of fame because, more likely, it will be days of misery as the Bobots drag him through whatever mud they can manage to make stick.

Bureaucrashers at work?

Obama 'Joker' Poster Causing a Stir in L.A
Obama Joker Poster Popping Up In Los Angeles
April 25 article from Bedlam Magazine
Photoshopped?

From the first article linked above:

"Depicting the president as demonic and a socialist goes beyond political spoofery," says Hutchinson, "it is mean-spirited and dangerous."

Mean spirited? Maybe.

Dangerous? It's a picture you idiot! Are leftists afraid of pictures now? Can we expect to see demands for registration of art supplies? Background checks for Photoshop? Waiting periods to install the Gimp?

I have no idea who is behind this piece of work and I think it works better that way. However, it does not indicate real trouble for Obama. He is using the momentum of an already entrenched Amsoc to hurry events to their logical conclusion. The image is, I suspect, just an indication that some people know what that conclusion will be. Remember the Joker was an unprincipled, murderous thug.

Bureaucrash Website

Praetorian Presumptions

Highly recommended
Pro Libertate: Praetorian Presumptions

What little respect I had left for President Obama dissolved when he apologized to Sgt. Crowley. It may be just the Stopped Clock Syndrome but this time Bobo was right. If he had a fraction of the spine I expect from a President of the United States he should simply have said that once Crowley was convinced that Gates was the rightful resident of the house his responsibility ended! Anything beyond that was an abuse of power.

If this was a civilized country, once Gates showed his ID and it was verified as valid, Crowley should have simply apologized for the inconvenience and wished Gates a good night. If Gates was still upset, he could complain all he wanted but then he'd be the dickhead.