Like that nagging ex-wife

Piggy-backing on yesterday’s front page article declaring Arizona has an “image problem” because a legally armed man showed up at a street protest when President Obama addressed the VFW Convention last month, we are treated to yet another editorial today. Arizona’s Tarnished Image is a relentless, full-strength, nagging rehash.

For the few masochistic men wandering among us, Linda Valdez must be a real treat. No doubt she makes them long for the ex-wife who made an art form of breathing new life into wearisome old arguments. They divorced her once. Try it again without the hassles — and this time, keep your money in the bargain. Feel the blissful freedom: Unsubscribe.

The tough truth is, Linda never did love you.

Shooting holes in the Republic’s gun skew

Newspaper decries Arizona’s “image problem”

The daily is at it again. Today’s Page One, above-the-fold article, features a 3-column by 9-inch photo of a gun carried by Phoenix resident Christopher Broughton. A conservative proponent of Second Amendment rights, Broughton is concealed in the much-used, cropped photograph depicting him from a back view, showing just his gun and shirt. Nowhere in the article is it revealed that he is black and does not support Barack Obama.  Such facts wouldn’t fit the configuration of the article.

President Obama was attending the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Phoenix on August 17, when the incident in which Broughton was one of several exercising his constitutional rights took place.

Instead, the left-leaning newspaper focuses on a denunciation from “world-renowned travel writer” and “travel icon,” Arthur Frommer, 80, who says he’ll boycott Arizona because he fears for his personal safety after reading accounts of protesters carrying weapons on the streets of Phoenix.  Frommer, who sold his company 32 years ago, told NPR he was disturbed that police officers stood around “like scared rabbits” while armed protesters tried to “threaten” and “intimidate” Obama supporters.

Interesting assessment from a man who was not here and doesn’t intend to travel to Arizona. The article also omitted the fact that octogenarian Frommer has been a lifelong liberal who has donated to Democrats and the DNC for decades and was a high-dollar Obama supporter.

Although the newspaper refers to our laws as “lax,” Arizona joins the majority of states in allowing for open carry of firearms. There are also laws allowing for concealed carry for licensed owners who have taken the requisite classes.

Last year, Forbes magazine listed Phoenix among America’s 15 most dangerous metropolitan areas, no doubt due to the fact that Arizona is the most traveled portal for illegal aliens gaining entry through our southern border.

“Every time we loosen gun laws to make it easier for citizens to carry guns in Arizona, we see a drop in the crime rate,” said Tucson resident Todd Rathner, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. “These people have to get over the emotional, ignorant and insane reaction to law-abiding citizens with firearms.”

Was gun toter at Obama rally a black supremist? Not a chance!

An unexpected twist on the usual rant.

The original photograph of Christopher Broughton, receiving wide circulation, was a rear shot, concealing his face and hands. In this video Broughton says he is exercising his rights as an American in Arizona, a state where open carry is legal.

The daily reports that Broughton said during the rally several people told him that he should be supporting Obama because he is Black. He called the idea preposterous. “I am an American. The color of my skin shouldn’t even matter.”

Bravo, Mr. Broughton.

AZ “thugs” and “extremists” give travel-pro Frommer fits

 Joining the Republic’s boorish clamor, travel expert Arthur Frommer, 80, says he is “shocked beyond measure” by the gun-toting “thugs” and “extremists” in Arizona, and is now refusing to travel to our beautiful state. In his blog, Frommer repeatedly raises the question of a national boycott of the Grand Canyon state.

The Republic used the word “thugs” in yesterday’s editorial, describing Arizonans who openly carry firearms.

“I not only believe such practices are a threat to the future of our democracy, but I am firmly convinced that they would also endanger my own personal safety there,” he added.

“And therefore I will cancel any plans to vacation or otherwise visit in Arizona until I learn more. And I will begin thinking about whether tourists should safeguard themselves by avoiding stays in Arizona.”

Frommer should stick to recommending cut-rate lodging and occasionally pick up a copy of the U.S. Constitution.

Upon hearing the news of Frommer‘s dismay, Mayor Phil Gordon rushed back  to Phoenix from whatever trip he was currently on, to say he planned to call Frommer immediately and invite him to Phoenix to clear up any misperceptions that his city is not safe. “I want to show him the perceptions of what he saw in the news are not a reflection of what Phoenix and the state are all about,” Gordon said.

UPDATE:

What a non-surprise to find that Arthur Frommer is a longtime, high-dollar donor to the Democrat Party, giving thousands to the DNC and the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, John Kerry and Bill Clinton. Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, another committed liberal, is also a recipient of his generosity. ActBlue has also received funds from Frommer.

No wonder Phil Gordon is currying his favor.

 Check Frommer’s contributions out here.

The Arizona Republic views the Second Amendment as an “embarrassment”

In an absurd editorial demeaning those who are legally permitted to carry firearms as “Yankee Doodle zealots,” the daily opines Arizona citizens should keep their guns at home.

Swell. That’s their expected anti-Constitutional view.

Editorialists Linda Valdez and Phil Boas succumb to their leftist proclivities by calling supporters of the Second Amendment “attention-starved exhibitionists,” “wannabe Patrick Henrys,” “lazy,” and “thugs.” As journalists, they should have a better command of the English language.

Bet’cha they don’t care for the people speaking their minds at the Town Hall meetings around the country, either.  The First Amendment is every bit as galling to these liberals as the Second.

All over the place on the Second Amendment

In a headlined article titled, McCain champions gun rights, the daily covers Sen. John McCain’s speech to the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) 138th annual meeting in Phoenix yesterday.  He is described as the man who ”once proposed cracking down on gun-show sales.” 

Now taking a different angle, he declared to the thousands of NRA attendees that he will oppose any “separate agenda” to rein in gun owners’ rights as part of an effort to stop illegal gun-running to violent Mexican drug cartels.

While agreeing with his statement: “The claim made by administration officials that 90 percent of the arms seized from the Mexican drug cartels came from the United States is not true,” we also have keen recollections of his not-so-long-ago position on curtailing gun sales at gun shows.  McCain often referred to this as a “loophole” that required immediate remedy.

The professional equivocator often aligned with his close Senate colleague, Democrat-turned-Independent, Joe Lieberman, to restrict Second Amendment rights. 

Ironically, the Second Amendment restrictive Brady Campaign took after the NRA’s endorsement of John McCain during last year’s presidential race by pointing out the organization’s “years of acerbic attacks on his gun policy positions” which they list here.

Of course, McCain doesn’t need to be front and center on the “loophole” issue any longer. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Reps. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Mike Castle (R-DE) have introduced legislation, (endorsed by President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder), to do the deed.

The House version H.R. 2324  was introduced May 7, 2009. Senate bill S. 843 was introduced April 21, 2009.

Guess who’s addressing the NRA?

As far back as 2001, Americans for Gun Safety, a Second Amendment restrictive organization, commended Arizona Sen. John McCain for his stance on “closing the gun show loopholes.”

Their website says, “Americans for Gun Safety (AGS) is pleased to join with….Senator McCain, and the people of Colorado and Oregon in supporting these common-sense solutions that will help keep guns out of the hands of kids and criminals.” 

That was when McCain ventured into the two states via slick television ad campaigns linking mass murders to gun show sales.

The site acknowledged AGS will spend at least one million dollars on an advertising and organizing campaign to support new bi-partisan legislation sponsored by Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman.

 Helen Thomas, matriarch of the left-wing press bastion commended him in Hats off to John McCain effort to close gun-show loophole.

During his 2008 presidential campaign, U.S. News and World Reports ran a Washington Whispers piece titled, John McCain still backs closing gun show loophole, in which they gift him with praise no genuine Republican would desire: “McCain’s comments will likely lead to some grumbling among the NRA crowd, but the organization’s officials say that McCain is a better supporter of the Second Amendment than either of the Democratic candidates.”

Some compliment!

Now The Hill quotes the Brady Campaign’s president Paul Helmke lamenting President Bush’s past support of gun owner’s rights and extolling Obama and the Democrats, joined by McCain, for implementing legislative restrictions:

“For the last eight years we haven’t had anyone in the White House who supported this. The president supports it, Sen. (John) McCain has supported it.”

McCain is signed on with Homeland INsecurtiy Chieftain Janet Napolitano, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Joe Lieberman (D/Ind.-CT) Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

 Napolitano told Lieberman that she could not wait for Congress to take action.

“Anecdotally a number (of the guns used in Mexico drug violence) have been purchased at (U.S.) gun shows,” she said. “The issue for me … is that we need to act now and as you know that sort of a statute would take a while to wind its way through. I (have) to play the hand of cards I have, and the hand of cards I have allows me to do southbound seizures.”

And, if you guessed the speaker at the NRA annual meeting is Sen. John McCain, you win the prize of having your Constitutionally protected Second Amendment rights winnowed down.

The National Rifle Association is coming to Phoenix!

Thousands of gun owners from across the country are expected to attend the 2009 138^th NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits May 15-17, 2009 at the Phoenix Convention Center.

The NRA works to ensure protections of our Second Amendment freedoms.

Read Big Brother’s New Target: Tracking Firearms for an idea of what the Obama administration has in store for American gun owners as they attempt to gut our constitutionally enshrined rights. Since the bill was introduced in January, the NRA has been closely monitoring this draconian proposal and is keeping members informed of any developments, if they materialize.

The bill was introduced by one of the most liberal congressmen in the county, Illinois Democrat Bobby Rush, a close political ally of Barack Obama. Last month, joining members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rush traveled to Cuba to meet with repressive dictator, Fidel Castro. Rush’s background includes co-founding the Black Nationalist and Marxist Black Panther Party.

Another good reason to join the NRA.

The First Hundred Days: Can America endure the next 1,360?

Ralph Peters has written an insightful piece on Obama’s first 100 days in office. Titled The Obama doctrine: Hugging foes, hurting friends. Peters’ New York Post article gives a spot on assessment of the Obama administration and policies, beginning with these words:

The combination of dizzying naiveté, dislike of our allies, disdain for our military, distrust of our intelligence services and distaste for our own country promises the worst foreign policy of our lifetimes. That includes President Jimmy Carter’s abysmal record of failure.

Read the rest here.

Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin’s 100 Days of Reckless Photo-Op Hubris provides yet another fine overview of the disaster named Obama. We highly recommend her Townhall column, available here.

Janet Napolitano’s non-apologetic apology and a Savage lawsuit

Radio talk show host Michael Savage has teamed up with the Thomas More Law Center to file a lawsuit against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The complaint can be read here.

“It is a civil rights action brought under the First and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution, challenging the policy, practice, and custom of the United States Government that targets for disfavored treatment those individuals and groups that are considered to be ‘rightwing extremists.”  Read the full report on WorldNetDaily

Napolitano has inflamed people across the country with release of a Department of Homeland Security report in which she warns against the possibility of violence by unnamed “right-wing extremists” concerned about illegal immigration, increasing federal power, restrictions on firearms, abortion and the loss of U.S. sovereignty — singling out returning war veterans as particular threats

Seeing Red AZ previously covered her ill-advised report.

Her not-quite-an-apology, (“To the extent veterans read it as an accusation … an apology is owed.”) was greeted by the liberal taxpayer-subsidized National Public Radio (NPR) questioning whether an apology was even necessary.

“It wasn’t an apology in my view,” said Iraq Army veteran Pete Hegseth, chairman of Vets for Freedom. “It was one of those non-apology apologies. She was sorry that veterans were offended. She should either apologize for the content of the report as it stands or they should rewrite the report and reissue it.”