Rob Portman Endorsed by Buckeye Firearms for U.S. Senate

From Buckeye Firearms --

Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA) is pleased to announce our endorsement of Rob Portman for United States Senate in the 2010 general election.

Portman previously served as a Congressman from the Ohio Second District, Director of the federal Office of Management and Budget, and also as Trade Director. His record on Second Amendment issues is solid.

Portman voted for the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" (HR 1036) to prevent lawsuits against firearms manufacturers. He voted against the "Regulation of Semi-Automatic Assault Weapons" (NR 4296) – the so-called assault weapons ban. He later voted to sunset the assault weapon ban. Early in his career (1993) he voted against the Brady Handgun Bill (HR 1025). The Portman record stands solid for gun owners and is in stark contrast to opponent Lee Fisher's life-long pursuit of gun control, plus Fisher's service on the Board of Brady Campaign (Handgun Control
Inc).

Additionally Portman has a personal involvement with firearms and hunting. Both have been passed down in his family.

"I heard Portman speak on this subject when he addressed the 2008 annual convention of the League of Ohio Sportsmen," said Buckeye Firearms Association Region Leader and outdoor writer Larry S. Moore. "Portman said, 'I have been an avid outdoorsman my entire life, I'm a lifelong hunter and fisherman, and a guy who believes I have a right to use firearms responsibly. As you may know, the NRA looked at all the votes I made during my 12 years in Congress regarding the Second Amendment, and gave me an A rating."

In 2008 Portman called for overhauling the Pittman-Robertson tax process and the way the firearms manufacturers must pay the tax.

Portman explained, "We need to do everything possible to ensure that these self-imposed taxes are administered in a manner that is sustainable and is fair. We need to replace the biweekly reporting requirement with a quarterly schedule that is consistent with other estimated tax payments. If elected, I will be working with a bipartisan group in Congress that shares my interest in removing this burdensome and unnecessary requirement."

While not a result of Portman's statement, the Firearms Fairness and Affordability Act of 2010 (S. 632) and House companion bill Firearms Excise Tax Improvement Act (HR 5552) are in now the U.S. Senate. This demonstrates Portman's understanding of a variety of firearms issues. It clearly shows that Portman is willing to go to bat for gun owners and firearms manufacturers.

Ohio's gun owners need Rob Portman in the United States Senate. Not only is Portman the clearly superior choice over anti-gun Lee Fisher, the Senate will play a key role in any gun legislation. Gun owners need a clear pro-gun majority in the Senate and Portman is one key to that goal.

Additionally, should the current administration attend to ratify any United Nations treaties dealing with international gun control, the Senate must ratify any treaty. A pro-gun majority is critical to protecting our gun rights and the United States Constitution.

Ohioans, and all Americans, need Rob Portman as our next U.S. Senator.

Tea Party Patriots Offer Democrats Advice to Halt Free Fall in Polls and Public Support

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Randy Lewis

July 14, 2010

Not passing legislation that Americans oppose is key to gaining support

Washington - Tea Party Patriots, the nation's largest Tea Party organization with more than 2,000 affiliates, today offered the President and the Democratic Party advice on how they can halt their well-documented free-fall in national public opinion polls.

"The Tea Party is growing and our candidates are winning primary contests across the country," said Mark Meckler, Co-Founder and National Coordinator of Tea Party Patriots. "All the Democrats need to do is listen to the American people about their concerns, and embrace the core values of the Tea Party Patriots."

The Core Values of Tea Party Patriots are:

• Fiscal Responsibility
• Constitutionally Limited Government
• Free Markets

"It's not too late for struggling candidates to reverse their fortunes," said Jenny Beth Martin, Co-Founder and National Coordinator of Tea Party Patriots. "It can be done with just a few simple policy changes that are widely supported by the American people."

Meckler and Martin recommend that Democrats immediately:

Suspend stimulus spending and return the unspent money to the Federal Treasury. The stimulus is not working, in fact, it may be hurting. A better policy would involve lowering taxes and adopting other policies that support private sector hiring and spending. These are well-known job creators that stimulate the economy and prosperity.

Repeal ObamaCare. The American people hate this program. They have figured out that the president didn't tell the truth about people being able to keep their insurance and their doctors. And, they don't want giant government programs with thousands of new bureaucrats dictating their treatments. This program is killing the Democratic Party, and the sooner they ditch it the sooner they can get back into the good graces of the American people. More important, repealing it will save the United States from bankruptcy because ObamaCare is a financial train wreck!

Drop the Arizona lawsuit. Democratic governors met with the President this past week and told him that his lawsuit against Arizona was "toxic." The Democratic governors are right. Arizona is trying to protect its people from violent drug criminals that are invading Arizona across a border that Democrats refuse to patrol and seal. Why should the people of Arizona risk their lives so the President can build the Democratic Party with more illegal voters?

We are confident that the Democratic Party can "feel the love" of the American people once again. All they need to do is quit passing legislation that destroys our economy, grows government and strips the American people of their liberty and freedoms. "It really is just that simple," said Meckler.

Tea Party Patriots is a national grassroots coalition with more than 2,000 locally organized chapters and more than 15 million supporters nationwide. Tea Party Patriots is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets.

Visit Tea Party Patriots online at www.TeaPartyPatriots.org.

On being labeled 'racist'...

Addressing the increasingly desperate and shrill attacks against the Tea Party Patriots by the liberals & the NAACP who are now playing the race card, the below Op-Ed by Jenny Beth Martin & Mark Meckler, co-founders of the Tea Party Patriots, was printed in Politico.

From Politico --

A clear pattern of behavior has emerged over the last 16 months. According to liberals, if you disagree with their thinking, and if you disagree with the Obama administration, you are not only wrong, you are a “racist.”

The latest strike by the left comes from the NAACP, which has resolved that the tea party movement is inherently “racist.” At its most simple, this is a direct attack on the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans.

The NAACP has long history of liberalism and racism.

If you are a conservative — including a conservative African-American — there is no room for you at the NAACP. If you have opinions that differ from the NAACP and the liberal establishment, and if you are African-American, you are an “Uncle Tom,” a “negro,” “not black enough” and “against our people.”

In other words, the NAACP fancies itself the thought police for millions of black Americans. Disagree with them and you will be ostracized and attacked. You will be subjected to public humiliation and racist commentary from NAACP leadership. The message is clear: Tow the line or pay the price.

But the NAACP does not stand alone in this regard. The left has a long history of using the race card. It has been pulled on people across the political spectrum.

President Bill Clinton was smeared as a racist by the Obama campaign when Hillary Clinton was running for president. It seems that anyone who disagrees with the far left, socialist policies of Barack Obama and the current administration is subject to the heavy hand of the race card.

This card is generally played when all else has failed. It was inevitable that it would eventually be used aggressively against the tea party movement.

First, members of the tea party movement were called disgruntled voters, then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said our movement was nothing more than "astroturf" and laughed us off as a flash in the pan that would disappear overnight.

Next the Democratic National Committee relased an ad calling us an “angry mob.” Now, we’re being called racist.

All these attacks have failed because they are untrue and the American people know it.

According to recent polling, more than 49 million people are active members of the tea party movement (Winston Group, April 1, 2010). More than 145 million people say that the tea party movement is a good thing for America (Rasmussen, June 2, 2010).

The Obama White House and liberal interest groups are hitting the panic button as they read weekly polls showing diminishing support for their radical big government issue agenda, and a weariness for the politics of division.

Like all movements, the tea party has its fringe. President Barack Obama’s domestic terrorist friends from the 1960’s anti-war past never represented the Americans of good conscience who opposed the Vietnam War. In a similar vein, the racist posters of a few at a Tea Party rally do not represent the feelings or behavior of Americans who believe in this movement.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud of this movement. He dreamed of a colorblind society. The tea party is a truly post-racial movement. Based strictly around the three simple principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free market capitalism, the movement is uninterested and uninvolved in the politics of race.

We are freedom loving Americans who have come together to express outrage against a government no longer of, for and by the people. Standing together as brothers and sisters in the fight to return America to its founding principles, skin color, religion, social status and even political party affiliation are irrelevant to the people involved in this movement.

These are the facts. And these facts have already withstood 16 months of liberal media scrutiny and bombardment.

Wednesday, the NAACP is again bringing up the completely falsified charges of racial epithets hurled at members of Congress during the debate leading up to the passage of Obamacare. Widely reported as fact by the liberal media, even an offered reward of $100,000 to anyone who could provide documentary evidence proving the charges could not coax videotape, audiotape or a single witness out of a crowd of thousands present on Capitol Hill that day.

The race card played again; and once again discarded by the American people.

When Kenneth Gladney, a black conservative activist was brutally beaten by SEIU thugs at a protest outside of Rep. Russ Carnahan’s (D-Mo.) office, the NAACP and the liberal left refused to intervene. To the contrary, at an NAACP press conference in St. Louis in May, Gladney was referred to as a “Negro,” an “Uncle Tom,” and someone not worthy of the protection of the NAACP, because he’s working for the “other side.”

The NAACP has defended the thugs who beat Gladney. At the press conference, money was raised for the defense of the “brothers.”

At Tea Party Patriots we will continue to condemn the fringe elements of the movement and any expression of racism or bigotry. We sincerely hope that the Obama While House, the NAACP, and the liberal left will follow our lead and do the same in their own ranks.

Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin are co-founders of Tea Party Patriots.

Stop the Financial Regulation Bill

Patriots,

Congress has returned from their mini-recess and we need to burn up the phones, faxes & emails again! Harry Reid has stated the Senate WILL pass the compromise House/Senate version of the Financial Regulation Bill this week! If needed, Reid stated they will work through the weekend to get it passed.

Patriots -- you know what to do!

Financial Regulation Bill, S.3217

This bill cements into place the “too-big-to-fail” corporations that leave taxpayers on the hook yet again. It does nothing to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and it allows unelected “regulators” to decide who wins and who fails.

It’s important to note that this bill has passed both the House and the Senate. The conference committee bill, which is the House/Senate compromise, will be going back to both chambers for an up-or-down vote. The House has the votes, so we must stop this in the Senate. Once the bill passes the two chambers, it gets signed into law by the President.

Reasons to reject S.3217

• Having permanent bailout authority
• Trusting the same regulators that failed last time
• Creating brand new innovation-killing regulations
• Micromanaging the market
• Having Fannie and Freddie forever (This is possibly the most egregious part – they refuse to protect taxpayers from Fannie and Freddie's "risky behavior.")
• Mandating that all regulatory agencies with economic jurisdiction hire employees based on gender and race

Information resources for S.3217

Heritage Foundation
“The Dodd-Frank Assault on Economic Recovery”:

http://bit.ly/9uPa1o
“Financial Reform in Congress: A Disorderly Failure”: http://bit.ly/cGm0Xz

FreedomWorks
“Wall St. plans payback for reg. reform”: http://bit.ly/csud4s

Real Clear Markets

"Race & Gender Quotas in Finance Bill": Click here to read

According to the New York Times, "The bill, completed early Friday and expected to come up for a final vote this week, is basically a 2,000-page missive to federal agencies, instructing regulators to address subjects ranging from derivatives trading to document retention. But it is notably short on specifics, giving regulators significant power to determine its impact.’ In other words, this law is going to be continually rewritten by federal bureaucrats for years to come. And the continued uncertainty it will create is just the beginning of its faults...”

Call these senators for the Financial Regulation Bill

As of yesterday, Senators Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have said they will be voting YES for the Financial Regulation Bill. That puts the count at 59, so they're just waiting for Byrd's replacement.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Phone: (202) 224-3441 / Fax: (202) 228-0514 / E-mail: maria_cantwell@cantwell.senate.gov
Reason: She recently changed her NO vote to a Yes.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Phone: (202) 224-5323 / Fax: (202) 224-2725 / E-mail: http://feingold.senate.gov/contact_opinion.html
Reason: He says he’s voting NO, but may be pressured into voting YES.

Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA)
Phone: (202) 224-4543 / Fax: (202) 228-2646 / E-mail: http://scottbrown.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Phone: (202) 224-5344 / Fax: (202) 224-1946 / Email: http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe.Email

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
Phone: (202) 224-2523 / Fax: (202) 224-2693 / E-mail: http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCollins.EmailIssue&CFID=42880122&CFTOKEN=39747274

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Phone: (202) 224-3744 / Fax: (202) 224-6020 / E-mail: http://grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm

Sen. George Voinovich
DC Phone: (202) 224-3353
Cleveland Phone: (216) 522-7095 / Cleveland Fax: (216) 522-7097 / E-mail: http://voinovich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm

Sen. Sherrod Brown
DC Phone: (202) 224-2315 / DC Fax: (202) 228-6321
Cleveland Phone: (216) 522-7272 / Toll-Free: 888-896-6446 / Cleveland Fax: (216) 522-2239 / E-mail: http://brown.senate.gov/contact/

Did President Obama Condone Voter Intimidation in the Primary Too?

President Obama has shown he applies a double standard to almost everything he does. The below video shows he actually may have no standards, has no problem breaking the law and will let nothing get in the way of his agenda.

Found at the TPP Facebook Page...

WH Spokesman Gibbs fumbles question on Immigration

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs gets tongue tied on immigration question....

H/T Gordon Gekko at Taxmanblog

Gibbs sounds like a man without a teleprompter!

Should there be Race & Gender Quota's in the Finance Bill?

The below was found on the Tea Party Patriots Facebook Page...

While racial and gender quotas may or may not be a good idea, they really shouldn't be in a financial reform bill designed to prevent further financial decline.

From New Patriot Journal via Real Clear Markets --

What one finds when reading congressional legislation is invariably surprising. Take the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, for instance, which was created by merging Senate and House bills. When the Senate returns from recess one of its first actions will be to vote on the bill, which passed the House on June 30.

I was searching the bill for a provision about derivatives. What did I find but Section 342, which declares that race and gender employment ratios, if not quotas, must be observed by private financial institutions that do business with the government. In a major power grab, the new law inserts race and gender quotas into America's financial industry.

In addition to this bill's well-publicized plans to establish over a dozen new financial regulatory offices, Section 342 sets up at least 20 Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion. This has had no coverage by the news media and has large implications.

The Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the 12 Federal Reserve regional banks, the Board of Governors of the Fed, the National Credit Union Administration, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau...all would get their own Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.

Each office would have its own director and staff to develop policies promoting equal employment opportunities and racial, ethnic, and gender diversity of not just the agency's workforce, but also the workforces of its contractors and sub-contractors.

What would be the mission of this new corps of Federal monitors? The Dodd-Frank bill sets it forth succinctly and simply - all too simply. The mission, it says, is to assure "to the maximum extent possible the fair inclusion" of women and minorities, individually and through businesses they own, in the activities of the agencies, including contracting.

How to define "fair" has bedeviled government administrators, university admissions officers, private employers, union shop stewards and all other supervisors since time immemorial - or at least since Congress first undertook to prohibit discrimination in employment... read more HERE.