That’s right, knives!

Legislation needs to be put through to register all knives, for background checks on anyone planning to purchase a knife… those dastardly knives!

People don’t kill people, KNIVES kill people.

Here’s proof…

That would seem to be the proper heading for this post if a certain Lt. Col. Jack Rich is to be believed!

From Instant Analysis

Two pro-family organizations are calling on the Pentagon to provide some answers after an Army officer sent an e-mail to subordinates labeling the organizations as “domestic hate groups” and stating their values don’t align with “Army values.”

The Fox News Channel obtained the 14-page e-mail sent out by Lt. Col. Jack Rich telling subordinates at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, that the American Family Association and the Family Research Council are “domestic hate groups” because they oppose homosexuality. Rich said: “When we see behaviors that are inconsistent with Army Values, don’t just walk by – do the right thing and address the concern before it becomes a problem.” (See Fox News report)

Of course, the allegations against this Lt. Col. are being “investigated”.

Pentagon spokesman George Wright told the Fox News Channel that the Army is looking into the origin of that e-mail, adding: “Any belief that the Army is out to label religious groups in a negative manner is without warrant.”

Now, I don’t want to be accused of cynicism, but… But Mr. Wright’s statement sounds pretty much like all “buy time while we either smooth this over or make it go away” statements sound, doesn’t it?

So now we wait…and wait…and wait…

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has passed away.

There is an excellent 2 minute 28 second biographical video in the linked article that’s a great watch…

How else can I title this post?

The Obama Administration has been anti-Israel from the outset and, as significantly, pro-Palestinian.

It would be one thing if there was any kind of even-handedness involved, but there simply is not.

Like most left-handed political bodies, the Obama Administration automatically assumes that the electorate is comprised almost entirely of citizens who only recently fell off the back of the banana truck, that we’re all incredibly stupid, so much so that Obama and his cadre can say one thing, do another and we won’t even begin to notice…

From CNS News

Secretary of State John Kerry in Turkey Sunday condemned the “cowardly terrorists” who killed a young foreign service officer in Afghanistan and referred to Kurdish terrorism against Turkey, but when asked minutes later about Hamas – the Palestinian terrorist group embraced by his Turkish hosts – he chose to comment only indirectly.

The incident provided a fresh example of the Obama administration’s reluctance to tackle Turkey’s Islamist government in public over its support for Hamas, even as it partners with Ankara in its centerpiece counter-terror initiative (which excludes Israel).

Finish reading the article here.

I mentioned above that the lefties in the White House and their fellow travelers believe we all fell off the back of said banana truck, right? Well, how is it that Jewish Americans who, naively supporting an enemy of Israel who also happens to be the President of the United States for the moment, continually take what he says seriously, believing him even as his actions deny his words?

From Jonathan Tobin via the Jewish World Review

In the aftermath of President Obama’s ringing affirmation of Zionism and Jewish rights during his visit to Israel last month, many of his liberal Jewish supporters are justifiably feeling vindicated. But after years of backing Obama and sniping at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, some of them are having a little trouble fully understanding the administration’s moves.

While the president also called on Israeli students to pressure their government to make peace, he also reversed course on one of the key elements of his Middle East policy during his first term. When speaking with Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas, Obama pointedly said that settlements were not the obstacle to peace and that no preconditions should be expected of the Israelis in order to entice the PA back to the negotiating table.

These comments, which received far less play than the president’s Jerusalem speech about peace, represented a significant policy shift. After four years of demanding Israel freeze settlements as well as make other concessions prior to talks, Obama put himself on the same page as Netanyahu when it came to the question of Israel being asked to ante up and virtually guarantee that it would abandon its bargaining chips prior to negotiations.

Yet somehow many of the president’s backers haven’t quite assimilated this message.

That article is here.

When will they ever learn?

This one came in an email today.

It is a slow day in the small South Dakota town of Pump-Handle and streets are deserted.

Times are tough, everybody is in debt and living on credit.

A tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs
to pick one for the night.

As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Co-op.

The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her “services” on credit.

The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.

The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the
traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves.

No one produced anything.

No one earned anything…

However, the whole town is now out of debt and looks to the future with a lot more optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a “stimulus package” works.

(LOL)

Hat Tip: Ric

First, it looks like the state legislature of Maryland, thanks to their treasonous (and I say treasonous because they are, legalese notwithstanding, violating the Second Amendment rights of their taxpaying residents) contempt for their citizens’ right to keep and bear arms, are about to lose a prominent local employer and tax revenue generator.

New legislation is forcing gun manufacturing company Beretta to uproot and take their business elsewhere.

Established in 1526, Beretta holds the distinction of being the oldest active firearms manufacturer in the world. The U.S. factory is located in Accokeek, Maryland, and has been a staple of the local economy for years.

Beretta warned that stricter gun control laws would push the company outside of state lines, but that didn’t stop Maryland legislators. Jeffrey Reh, a spokesman for Beretta who also serves as the President of Stoeger Industries under Beretta, announced that the company would begrudgingly uproot and take its business elsewhere. He said, “We don’t want to do this, we’re not willing to do this, but obviously this legislation has caused us a serious level of concern within our company.”

He added that Beretta paid approximately $31 million in taxes, employs 400 people, and had invested $73 million in the business over the past several decades. Despite being such a prominent player in the local economy, Beretta was unable to prevent legislators from passing tighter gun control laws. Ironically, Beretta manufactures some firearms that are now banned in Maryland.

Republican state Delegate Anthony J. O’Donnell lamented: “Losing [Beretta] would be a big disappointment. Maryland has a reputation for having a horrible business climate, and this would be one more nail in the coffin.”

This is a prime example of oily, sleazy, corrupt, self serving politicians valuing party politics over the welfare of their constituents, but then again, as Seth likes to say, “the people get what the people vote for.”

Popping the champagne corks, meanwhile, we apparently have something to celebrate.

Mike Lee Hammers the Final Nail in The UN Small Arms Treaty Coffin

On Wednesday Senator Mike Lee became the 34th co-sponsor of S. Con. Res 7, a resolution expressing opposition to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The treaty contains several troubling provisions that could prevent the United States from coming to the aid of its closest allies, as well as limit the constitutional rights of Americans. Senator Lee was the 34th co-sponsor of the resolution introduced by Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas, which gives the opposition more than enough votes in the Senate to block ratification of the treaty.

“The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty is deeply flawed, which is why a majority of senators recently voted to stop the administration from continuing to push it,” said Senator Lee. “I have great concerns that this treaty can be used to violate the second amendment rights of American citizens, and do not believe we should sign any treaty that infringes on the sovereignty of our country. I am pleased to join 34 of my colleagues in signaling to this administration that the UN-ATT is a non-starter in the senate.”

As of Tuesday the resolution had 33 co-sponsors but it was Lee who officially put the final nail in the coffin. The UN-ATT requires 67 Senate votes to ratify and now the maximum possible number of votes in favor of the treaty would be 66. It is now officially a “non-starter.”

Joining Lee (R-UT) in co-sponsorship of the resolution are: Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), John Barrasso (R-WY), Max Baucus (D-MT), John Boozman (R-AR), Richard Burr (R-NC), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Thad Cochran (R-MS), John Cornyn (R-TX), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Dean Heller (R-NV), John Hoeven (R-ND), James Inhofe (R-OK), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Rand Paul (R-KY), Rob Portman (R-OH), Jim Risch (R-ID), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), John Thune (R-SD), Pat Toomey (R-PA), David Vitter (R-LA) and Roger Wicker (R-MS).

The resolution, introduced by Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas, quickly gained support of 33 fellow Senators.

And finally, some sensible local legislation in Nelson, Georgia.

Things, as they say (whoever “they” are) seem in some ways to be looking up as Americans (even some Democrat politicians) and local legislatures respond to oppressive left wing attempts to legislate away our Second Amendment rights.

And you wonder why we’re so fed up with our politicians and the bureaucracies they allow to flourish within our government? That’s right, OUR government, the one we pay for with OUR taxes.

From The Washington Guardian

The D.C. DOES program was supposed to spend federal dollars helping find jobs for the unemployed, but instead wasted $8.8 million on excessive salaries, rent and other unrelated costs

A District of Columbia program misused $8.8 million in federal funds that were supposed to help the jobless find work, diverting the money instead to overpay bureaucrats or cover unrelated overhead expenses, investigators found.

The grants provided by the U.S. Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) were designed to support employment programs and unemployment insurance. Instead, officials at the DC DOES program couldn’t keep track of their own expenses, investigators said.

“D.C. DOES did not have sufficient controls and processes in place to ensure costs claimed for ETA grants were adequately supported by the general ledger and were reasonable, allocable, and allowable as set forth in federal cost principles,” the Labor Department’s inspector general general declared in a recent report.

Investigators analyzed $25 million the D.C. program received in federal grants and found that roughly a third of it had been wasted. But their sample size was just part of the $89 million D.C. DOES received between 2008 and 2011.

That’s okay, Uncle Sam, just keep providing plenty of Bread & Circuses.

In this case, the usual suspects are the liberal-owned Democrats and the usual target is our nation’s ability to defend itself.

Several weeks ago we resolved to try and get away from politics for awhile, since it’s all pretty much the same thing every day now, the leftists on their side of the aisle leading Republican politicians, and America, down the road to hell by the nose, but it’s just so difficult not to comment when one feels offended, as an American and a patriot, by what some of those we’ve elected to govern us are doing and what, just as important, others are not doing to prevent it!

So,

Either the GOP has few genuine conservatives in it anymore, or those it does contain are so spineless or corrupt that all they do is take up space that might be better used by men and women with the guts and resolve to embrace the conservative cause.

Patriots who are willing and able to place America before their self seeking need to be reelected.

Well, here are the usual suspects on the left side in action.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday said no budget cuts will be off-limits as the Pentagon looks to tighten its belt.

“We need to challenge all past assumptions, and we need to put everything on the table,” Hagel said in his first major policy address, according to prepared remarks.

In other words…

Speaking at National Defense University at Fort McNair, Hagel defended his review of the military’s strategy, which he ordered shortly after taking over at the Pentagon.

He said the military must look at change “that involves not just tweaking or chipping away at existing structures and practices but, where necessary, fashioning entirely new ones that are better suited to 21st century realities and challenges.”

…fashioning entirely new ones that are better suited to 21st century realities and challenges.

That, as we’ve learned over the past 4 years, 2 1/2 months, is, in Obama Administration speak, synonymous with dismantling, to the fullest extent possible, yet another institution that has kept America safe and strong, dragging us still further down to defenseless, third world s–thole status.

They (no, LOL, not as in “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you” they, but they as in the far left wingers now inhabiting the Democratic party and their most efficient tool to date, President B. Hussein Obama) have eroded our economy in every sector, plunging the nation into debt, attacked American morality on all levels from the sanctity of marriage to institutions like the Boy Scouts, the Ten Commandments and the freedom for religious medical venues to reject treating or funding abortion and other abominations that go against their beliefs and now they’re attacking our very rights via an assault on the Second Amendment.

So yes, we should all be just a little worried when a left wing Obama stooge like Hagel uses his status as Defense Secretary to fashion entirely new anythings that are “better suited to 21st century realities and challenges”.

Yeah, yeah, call me a skeptic, but what else could anyone with any common sense be after seeing Obama Administration “have to read between the lines to get to the truth” shenanigans for more than a full term?

At any rate, the entire article can be read here.

Who would have thought, a mere thirty years ago, if that, that great American institutions such as the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts would be victimized by the same left wing political agendas as everything else that comes under attack by the barely disguised, yet somehow unacknowledged by so many people, forces of communism that by now have become entrenched within, and under the umbrella of, the Democratic Party?

Over such an issue as not allowing homosexuals to assume the role of scout leader!

What parent, short of a left winger in need of a little American moral deterioration or a gay male/female who maintains custody of some poor child and wants to bring that child up in the same image, so to speak, wants his or her own child of impressionable age to be given into the “role model” influence of an adult, a “leader”, whose sexual preferences are, at best, an aberration to them?

Don’t get me wrong, here, I’ll say again that I, and the guys here at Hard Astarboard as well, have nothing against two consenting adults of the same gender “making whoopie”, as Seth so tactfully (not!) puts it, as long as they keep it behind closed doors and/or among those of their own “community” and don’t force what are essentially their perversions on the rest of us.

That applies to having them assert their influence on such conservative and character building organizations as the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts, to both of which our (Wolf and I) sons belonged when they were growing up.

Why do these people feel such a need, anyway, to become scout leaders, or is this just another case of the political left sticking their filthy fingers into yet another institution in hopes of still further decaying our American sense of values?

From FOX News

Public School Boots Cub Scouts

A federal civil rights complaint has been filed against the Salt Lake City School Board after a principal booted a Cub Scout pack from an elementary school.

About 30 eight to 11 year-olds were told they could no longer meet at Mountain View Elementary School because the Boy Scout’s ban on gay members in leaders conflicted with the school district’s anti-bias policy.

The ban drew the ire of Michael Clara, a school board member and lifetime Boy Scout. Clara filed the federal complaint on behalf of two Latino parents.

“I believe it is an assault on the founding principles of our country for school officials to attempt to exclude a voice no less legitimate than its own from public school participation,” Clara told Fox News. “A marketplace of ideas devoid of competitive viewpoints engenders an insidious society of conformity, contrary to the fundamental precepts of our Constitution.”

He claims the school district is violating the Boy Scout Act – a law that requires schools to allow access to the Boy Scouts if they allow access to outside groups.

SNIP!

On March 16 two Latino parents contacted Clara after the principal informed them the Cub Scout pack would no longer be allowed to meet at the school.

Three days later the school board member received a telephone call from the principal confirming that directive.

“(He) confirmed that the Cub Scouts were prohibited from meeting in the building because they will not allow gay scout leaders,” he said.

Clara, who describes himself as a Christian conservative Republican who supports gay rights, said he was very concerned by the ban.

“Why on Earth would we want to remove something positive from the school,” he asked. “Where does this end? It’s a form of discrimination in the name of intolerance.”

The Cub Scouts had been meeting at the school for three years – but since their eviction – meetings have ceased.

What is happening to this great country? How are such people as this principal even promoted to such positions in a country that was founded on sensible morality, and Judeo-Christian principles?

This sleazeball certainly illustrates the fact that there are two different meanings between principal and principle!

This video, featuring NRA commentator Colion Noir, is right to the point and 100% spot-on….