GOP "PARTY OF STUPID" BY ONE OF ITS OWN

I knew Richard (never call him Dick) Viguerie years ago when I was in the junk mail business. He was a simple broker of mailing lists consisting of conservative donors to various causes over the years. One of his employees told me once that Viguerie had exclaimed early-on that he had found a political hotbed of data that would someday help sway history. He was right. Using his names to fight what he considered the mainstream media then, Republicans were able to reach individuals that supported conservative causes and win elections. In my early days of junk mail, fund raising, as it was called then, was looked on as a step child and Viguerie was just another philanthropic data broker trying to make a living.

Richard began to put all those right-wing mailing lists together in a database that grew gradually in the beginning and then, once the GOP discovered the gold mine that Viguerie was creating, got on the band wagon while at the same time making the man very rich. Viguerie was one of the earliest in junk mail to discover just how valuable personal data could be in targeting the right household. Things like age, income, job description, where you lived as only a few. By using several of these selection factors, you could determine how much a person would give, when was the best time to reach them and how many times you could come back asking for more money.

But now he is taking on the mainstream Republican Party similar to how the Tea Party has reacted to House Speaker John Boehner and his gang of misfits. He claims their Presidential strategy is "insanity" and calls the GOP "the Party of Stupid." Rave on Richard and take the Grand Old Party down with you in 2016. Hey, 2014 was not a win for Republicans, rather a vote for change when no other choice was available. And Mr. Viguerie, who do you think Fox News supports, liberals? No matter that a majority of what they spew out is without fact, they are a huge voice in the media world. Did you forget them?

The conservative guru whines over Jim Lehrer's handling of the 2012 Presidential debates as if Mitt Romney would have been a debating challenger for Barack Obama under any circumstances. Viguerie has a new book out I will not help promote, thus, this new found publicity. It is noteworthy that a big promoter of the book is Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and president of Tea Party Patriots. Now that does it for me and the millions of progressive thinking Americans who want this kind of political garbage placed in the landfill. With a brief spurt of fame Richard (not Dick) Viguerie will go back to fund raising obscurity.

 

GUN CONTROL BUILT INTO 2ND AMENDMENT

Adam Winkler is a Constitutional Law Professor at U.C.L.A. and author of the book "Gunfight." He is an expert on the legality of gun rights and I have corresponded with him regularly on this subject. I asked him two questions recently: 1) Is there any constitutional law validity in the premise that based on the many revisions of the 1st Amendment, that the same could apply to the 2nd Amendment? I refer you to Barry Lyga's "Second Amendment Loopholes." 2) Do you see any loopholes in the 2nd Amendment that people like the Brady Organization or CSGV, or the individual American could pursue legally? His answer was not a direct response to the questions but more pointed to the issue of gun control.

First, he says he "wouldn't call them loopholes, but the Second Amendment does include space for legitimate gun control." I used the term "loophole" for its obvious meaning, "a means of escape or evasion; a means or opportunity of evading a rule, law, etc." However, Adam's answers are much more directed at the need for gun control. He continues: "There's some reference to gun owners being 'well regulated' in the text itself. Well, it's government that does the regulating. And we know that the founders who wrote the Second Amendment supported gun regulation, including gun bans, gun registration, and safe storage laws." Two direct hits on gun rights so should we call it quits here? No way!

Adam Winkler confirms the legal possibility of gun control with, “More importantly, the scope of the right as it has been shaped over the course of American history permits government significant leeway to regulate the right so long as the right is not nullified or destroyed.”

Seems to me like prohibiting assault rifles, requiring universal background checks and limiting open and concealed carry to only those with a specific need does not nullify or destroy the right of an individual to have a weapon in his or her home for protection as the Supreme Court recently ruled.

With these hard facts and a Constitutional Law Professor like Adam Winkler to back them up, why haven't the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence gone to court?

 

 

  

 

 

DID YOU VOTE?

Did you vote? Because if you didn't and you are a Democrat, you sure helped cause one hell of a mess! But then, 2016 is just around the corner.

VOTE TODAY

If you are of a mind, go to the polls and vote DEMOCRAT! if you aren't of a mind, at least go to the polls and vote!

DEMOCRATS CAN WIN TOMORROW AND HERE'S HOW

YOU HAVE TO VOTE. That's right, you have to get off your duffs and go to the polls tomorrow and vote. That is if you haven't already sent a mail-in ballot. I am a pessimist when it comes to Congress doing the right thing for the country, but whatever happens, the U.S. will be in much better hands with a Democratic Senate. Some surprises in the House would be nice to help put John Boehner in his place. It is beyond me how an American public can make its decisions on who to vote for with all the negative advertising backed by dark money. Of course the more sophisticated voters can see beyond this trash but most of us need some hard facts to decide and we're not getting them. Rome didn't fall in a day but I'll bet there are several similarities here in its decline.

IOWA ALERT - STOP JONI ERNST!!!

DON'T elect Joni Ernst

I lived in Iowa and know the majority of people who live there are not daft enough to vote for Joni Ernst. Yet, she is up 7% in the current polls and that is frightening to anyone that has both oars in the water. Some think the results could be based on assumed Republican votes that plan to vote for her opponent, Bruce Braley. I have done three blogs on this Tea Party lunatic you can see here, here and here. Ernst is a complete disgrace to Iowa talking about the ages-old Agenda 21 Conspiracy where the UN is planning to take away farms from Iowans and her idea to take up arms against the government. If there is any justice in the political system, and with the help of all the common-sense voters in Iowa, please send Joni Ernst packing and elect Bruce Braley to the senate.

Get out and VOTE tomorrow!

JOE BIDEN COULD SAVE OBAMA'S LAST TWO YEARS

V.P. Joe Biden

Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight has forecast some great results in past elections predicting Obama would beat John McCain in march of 2008. His prognosis has been correct significantly more than wrong, making him someone you want to follow into next week. He recently talked of the possibility of November 4, ending in a senate tie between Democrats and Republicans. And if that happens, who comes to the forefront to break that tie? Vice President Joe Biden. Joe may be outspoken and have gotten off some zingers, but he's solidly Democrat and staunchly backs the President. The Dems don't want to and may not have to settle for a split but should it happen, this is their cushion.

VOTE NOVEMBER 4!