Snowflakes in Hell

Came back from the McCain/Manion rally to find our McCain/Palin sign had been ripped off the holder, and the holder bent beyond recognition.  Fortunatly, we have dozens of holders since a lot of people we hand out signs to just want the sign without the holder.  A little duct tape, and the sign is fixed and back out.  I’m tempted to pepper spray the sign now!  I will be compiling video of the rally later.

We’re off to the rally.  If anyone wants to join, scroll down for details.  We’ll be working outside the security checkpoint to recruit people for Sportsmen for McCain.  Recruit as in get them all together so we can be one big, happy, cousin humping family inside the rally.

Here’s a sample of my Inbox from Obama supporters:

I read about what you did to Dan Cooper, you neo-nazi right wing bitch. You’re going to find out soon that you are in the minority, and we are not going to stand for people like you. Trying to ruin a good man’s life! You are scum.

John McCain will never win another election as long as he lives. Way to back the losing horse, and then get your name plastered all over USAToday for it.

From one american to another– FUCK YOU.

Stay Classy

You are a sick and a scary nutcase.  Thank God we have options in the U.S. and have the right to bear arms without you as our spokesman.  Please shoot you toe off instead of your mouth!!!

Who’s silencing who now?

I am an avid hunter from Michigan and our state will probably carry Obama.  My gun rights will not change because of this.  You Sir, are an ignorant PA. asshole.  Regards.

Have you looked at Obama’s record on guns?  I’m not the one that’s ignorant here.  Finally:

You can be traced, and someone can do this to you. Maybe I will show up outside your job, and picket them over you. Maybe I will write your local newspaper. Maybe I will just start my own blog, and rail against you until everything in your life is stripped away.

Like you did to Mr. Cooper.

I hope he does start his own blog.  The entertainment value would be high.  “What you did was wrong and despicable, so I’m going to do the same thing to you!”  Apparently he’s not heard about what happens if you add two wrongs together, even assuming that asking my fellow gun owners to tell a company you were unhappy about what their CEO was doing to them by supporting a man who’s tried to destroy the second amendment his entire political career.

Stay classy, Obama supporters.  Stay classy!

Bucks Right has the audio of Obama saying he supports banning concealed carry of a firearm federally, despite 40 states allowing concealed carry with a license, and two that do not require any license.  I’d love to see Obama tell Alaskans they can’t carry guns.  It’s grizzly bear food you can believe in!

John McCain is coming back to Southeastern Pennsylvania for the last time before Tuesday.  This should indicate that their data shows the election is much closer than the media is reporting.  Ed Rendell’s numbers must be showing that too, or he wouldn’t be telling Obama to get his butt back here.  I’m inviting anyone who wants to go to contact me, because if we can turn out 100 sportsmen, we’ll get special (i.e. good) seating.

Road to Victory Rally with John McCain and Tom Manion

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2008
Doors Open 12 noon, Program Begins 2pm
Pennridge Regional Airport
1100 North Ridge Road
Perkasie, PA

I know I have a fair number of Pennsylvania readers, so if you’re in the area, or don’t mind a drive, let me know.  It’s important for gun people to turn out.  Wear your NRA and sportsman’s gear.  Make sure the politicians know where their bread gets buttered.  It’s important that politicians see the pro-gun vote.  So come out if you can.  Even if you don’t care about McCain, Tom Manion definitely deserves support.

Here’s another article - not a blog post this time - about the effort to draw attention to Dan Cooper’s efforts working against gun owners by supporting Barack Obama. It not only mentions Peter again, but also quotes me.

Some gun websites had posted the company’s e-mail address and telephone number, encouraging gun owners to boycott the company and contact its top executives.”This needs to get around,” wrote a blogger who calls himself “Sebastian, a thirty something, self professed ‘gun nut’ living somewhere in Pennsylvania.” He added: “Gun owners need to know which companies sell their interests down the river. Here’s contact info for Cooper Firearms. I would talk to them, and be sure they know Obama’s record, why you’re not voting for him, and why you’ll never buy one of their products.”

I love that Bob Ricker calls me a whacko!

USA Today is reporting on the ouster of Dan Cooper. Includes a link to Firearms and Freedom, and credits gun bloggers in helping generate the outrage.

It looks like they are asking Dan Cooper to resign:

The employees, shareholders and board of directors of Cooper Firearms of Montana do not share the personal political views of Dan Cooper.

Although we all believe everyone has a right to vote and donate as they see fit, it has become apparent that the fallout may affect more than just Mr. Cooper.  It may also affect the employees and the shareholders of Cooper Firearms.

The board of directors has asked Mr. Cooper to resign as President of Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc.

Daily operations will continue with the competent staff currently in place in Stevensville, MT producing the finest, most accurate rifles money can buy.

Dan Cooper has spent all of his working life producing the highest quality rifles built here in the USA.  He started with nothing but the American Dream and built that into firearms company anyone would be proud of.  We firmly believe Dan stands by the 2nd amendment.

We wish him all of the best in his future pursuits.

So Dan has been asked by the board to resign from the company he himself founded.  It’s sad that it has to come to things like this, but he’s supporting a candidate who would disarm us all if he could find a way.  I might buy the notion that Dan Cooper believes in the Second Amendment, I just don’t think it’s very important to him.  It can’t be if you’re voting for a candidate who spent much of his public life trying to destroy it.  Cooper Firearms is doing the right thing here.  If Dan Cooper does indeed step down, I think we should consider that a satisfactory resolution to this situation.

Dave Hardy notes that contributions are listed for Daniel Cooper in two states, which are high enough to take him over the legal campaign contribution limit:

Egad; looks as if he might be involved in the reports of Obama illicit donations. Go here to see contributions by Dan or Daniel Cooper. $3,100 to Obama from a Dan Cooper in Montana, president/CEO of Cooper Arms. Plus $3,100 to Obama from a Daniel Cooper in Ohio, also president/CEO of Cooper Firearms of Montana. Got to be the same guy. And why use different names, States, and company names, except to conceal the fact that the cumulative donations are illegal? (The limit is $2,300 for the primary and the same for the general).

This just gets better.

UPDATE: Dave notes in the update that the campaign seems to have refunded the overage, so no harm done here.  This kind of thing happens fairly often, since people often don’t know what the contribution limits are, or forgot how much they’ve already given.

UPDATE: It turns out there was nothing illegal or funny going on here.  It was a mistake.  The other accusations of Cooper’s support of Obama’s candidacy still stand.

Found at the Federal Election Commission, Dan Cooper of Cooper Firearms of Montana did indeed donate $3300 bucks to Obama this election cycle, all in the primaries:

Dan Cooper - $3100 to Obama

Add that to the $200 from OpenSecrets.org, and you have the amount listed in the USA Today article.  Also, conspicuously absent is any donation to John McCain or the Republican National Committee.  Pretty clearly Cooper Firearms of Montana is worried about damage to their business.  They ought to be.  Selling gun rights down river isn’t something we pariticularly appreciate.  Just ask Jim Zumbo.

Cooper Arms, who’s CEO we talked about earlier, have updated their web site:

Regarding the USA Today Article. Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc. did not contribute and does not support in any fashion the campaign of Senator Obama.

Nine months ago Dan Cooper (personally) made an online donation to the campaign in an effort to help defeat Hillary Clinton and in protest of American plant closures and the shipping of jobs overseas.  Three months ago he made yet another donation to the McCain campaign and the RNC totaling over twice that given to Obama campaign.

There is no doubt that the article in USA Today has caused a considerable response.  To this end we are encouraged and stand with our fellow NRA members and supporters of the Second Amendment and against those who oppose it.

There’s one problem with this claim, the USA Today article was an interview.  Dan Cooper was quoted as supporting Senator Obama.  He was also quoted as being “chief executive of Cooper Arms, a small Montana company that makes hunting rifles.”  I appreciate that Cooper Arms didn’t donate to Senator Obama, since corporate contributions to candidates for public office are illegal, but the man who runs the company, and represents himself as its CEO, did.  But what about the other claims?  Fortunatly, John McCain keeps his entire donor list online:

Cooper Donations from Montana

You will notice there’s no donation from a Dan Cooper.  Now, it’s possible that he donated to McCain’s camp after September 1st, which means his donation went to the RNC, rather than the McCain camp.  But we look up his donation history on OpenSecrets.org:

Cooper Donations

Of course, there’s not to be found the donation for 3,300 that was mentioned in the USA Today article. I’m not buying Cooper Arms spin on this. They need to explain why their CEO is on record, in an article that he was pretty clearly interviewed for, as supporting Barack Obama this election.  I can understand why the employees of Cooper Arms might want to minimize the damage something like this could do to their company, but there are consequences to be suffered by the poor decisions of their CEO, who should have thought about his company before endorsing a candidate who has voted to ban guns, and common hunting ammunition.

Bruce links to a piece by Newsbusters that suggests the LA Times is sitting on a video of Barack Obama toasting Palistine Liberation Organization operative Rashid Khalidi at an Israel-bashing party with Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.  One wonders whether Khalidi is just another guy in Mr. Obama’s Neighborhood.

Dan Cooper of Cooper Arms is backing Obama.

Cooper said he voted for George W. Bush in 2000, having voted in past elections for every Republican presidential nominee back to Richard Nixon. In October 1992, he presented a specially made rifle to the first President. Bush during a Billings campaign event.

This year, Cooper has given $3,300 to the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama. That’s on top of the $1,000 check he wrote to Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign in 2004, after he was dazzled by Obama’s speech at that year’s Democratic National Convention.

This needs to get around.  Gun owners need to know which companies sell their interests down the river.  Here’s contact info for Cooper Firearms.  I would talk to them, and be sure they know Obama’s record, why you’re not voting for him, and why you’ll never buy one of their products.

Hat tip to Blog O’ Stuff, who passed this along to me.

UPDATE: Cooper Arms has updated their home page with a statement.  It does not hold water, in my opinion.

UPDATE: The Board of Directors and Employees Cooper Firearms of Montana has asked Dan Cooper to step down as CEO.  This was the correct move for Cooper Arms to undertake.  I’m satisfied with it, provided there is follow through.

SayUncle points out Jim Shepherd’s warning that Obama’s transition team is looking into government record keeping of gun sales.  Even more scary is the first comment.  We’re going to be in for some dark days folks, if this guy wins.

… wrong on Batman.

From an interview with Larry Grathwohl, who infiltrated the Weather Underground as an FBI informant:

The instructions I received from Billy Ayers was that the bombs to be used in Detroit must have shrapnel (fence staples, specifically) and fire potential (propane bottles). The intention was to kill police officers.

I agree with those who say that the extent of Barack Obama’s relationship with Ayers is not quite as important as the fact that Obama has supported Ayers’ legitimacy in Chicago high society, and legitimized him in Chicago political circles.  Now Obama wants us to know that Bill Ayers is a “Professor of Education.”  Someone needs to ask Obama straight up whether he thinks Bill Ayers should be respected, or be a pariah. Anyone who thinks the former isn’t only not fit to occupy the White House, I’m not even sure they are fit to be Americans.

From Bill Whittle:

We have, in our storied history, elected Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives and moderates. We have fought, and will continue to fight, pitched battles about how best to govern this nation. But we have never, ever in our 232 year history, elected a President who so completely and openly opposed the idea of limited government, the absolute cornerstone of makes the United States of America unique and exceptional.

Read the whole thing.  Then contact your local GOP to help stop this terrible thing.

The New York Post details how false campaign contributions can be made to the Obama campaign:

He went to the Obama campaign Web site and made a donation under the name “John Galt” (the hero of Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged”). He provided the equally fictitious address “1957 Ayn Rand Lane, Galts Gulch, CO 99999.”

He checked the box next to $15 and entered his actual credit-card number and expiration date. He was then taken to the next page and notified that his donation had been processed.

He then tried the same experiment on the McCain site, which rejected the transaction. He returned to the Obama site and made three more donations using the names Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Bill Ayers, all with different addresses but the same credit card. The transactions all went through.

I’m told by people who understand e-commerce software that insecurity is not the default setting.  In order to not match up names and addresses to credit cards, settings have to be manually disabled.  The FEC needs to investigate this.

Hat Tip to Instapundit

From a 2008 video:

Obama’s election will be a game changer.  We’re a week from the election.  Please, get involved.  If we don’t stop this terrible thing here, there will be no stopping it.  The McCain and various other pro-gun campaigns will be looking for people for their 72 hour efforts in order to get the vote out.  That’s going to be critical for us.  Please give them a call.  If you have a hard time getting in contact with someone, let me know.  I can point you in the right direction.

Apparently the United Nation’s folks are quietly praying for an Obama victory.  Says John Bolton:

Conservatives who are skeptical of the United Nations said they are not surprised by the political tilt. “The fact is that most conservatives, most Republicans don’t worship at the altar in New York, and I think that aggravates them more than anything else,” said John R. Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. “What they want is the bending of the knee, and they’ll get it from an Obama administration.”

They certainly will.

I hate Bill O’Reilly with a burning white passion, but a Fox reporter managed to catch up with Bill Ayers, wearing a big red star.  What he said stunned me:

You have to love a communist who says, “This is my property, will you please leave?”  How far the mighty have fallen eh?

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

Well, I suppose the world being described by John Lennon’s words is after Bill Ayer’s reeducation camps take care of our intrepid reporter.

I was wondering whether it was this election in particular that was driving me to madness, or whether I had become this unhinged over the prospect of Kerry ‘04.  Fortunately (or unfortunately), I have some of my babbling saved for posterity from that time period:

Election Day 2004

Turns out I am particularly unhinged over the prospect of Obama ‘08, compared to Kerry ‘04.  I seemed to have much more criticism of Bush than I currently do of McCain.  My main criticism over Kerry was that he was a) wrong on foreign policy and b) a great big douche.  Both I still think were true.

But I didn’t fear for the future of my country under Kerry.  Even in 2006, I had to admit that the Republicans really did deserve to lose:

Election Day 2006

But this election, I’ve put pretty much all of my reservations aside in order to defeat Obama.  In the past two years the Democrats have inspired no confidence in their ability to run Congress any better than the Republicans, and they’ve nominated a candidate who I think may actually ruin the country, not merely make a big foreign policy miscalculation.

Maybe I’ve totally lost my mind, but I really believe Obama is a game changer, and if he’s elected, the game will change in dangerous and irreversible ways for people who want government to step back, and who desire more liberty.

Tom McClintock is a California State Senator.  He’s currently running for Congress in California’s 4th Congressional District, who’s seat is currently occupied by retiring Republican John Doolittle.  Tom has been a strong advocate for the Second Amendment, and conservative principles in California for a long time.  He carries an A rating, and an endorsement from the NRA.  He a good candidate who deserves the support of Golden State gun owners.

I have been offered an opportunity to interview Senator McClintock, and thought I would open up the comments to anyone who wants to ask a question of him.  I have a few I’m thinking of asking, but if someone comes up with a good one, I’d be happy to include it.

If you really want to know why the Second Amendemnt really exists, it’s because the people described here do:

We’re about to possibly elect a president from a political culture who believes Bill Ayers is “no big deal.”  Just keep that in mind as we head into November.

Looks like John Morganelli is trying to run from his record and statements on guns.  I’m as much concerned by how Morganelli proposes to implement “Lost and Stolen” as I am about the fact that he’s supporting the measure.  If the AG can regulate that issue under consumer protection measures, what’s to stop him from banning guns?  Anyone who proposes to do what Morganelli is doing can’t be trusted as Attorney General.  Gun owners really need to get behind Tom Corbett this election.