The first phase of a new state law designed to prevent the hiring of illegal immigrants by government entities takes effect Jan. 1. Other phases that apply to private businesses will get underway in mid-2009.

 

Over the next year and a half, South Carolina gradually will begin pushing all employers to use the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's e-verify program, a Web-based system run by the federal government.

Untold thousands of illegal immigrants live in public housing at a time when hundreds of thousands of citizens and legal residents are stuck waiting years for a spot.

 

Illegal immigrants make up a tiny portion of the 7.1 million people in federal housing, according to government statistics. But authorities may be unaware of thousands more, and critics say no illegal immigrant should get housing benefits.

 

The issue made headlines in November with news that Zeituni Onyango, an aunt of President-elect Barack Obama, was living in Boston public housing while in the country illegally.

If you think the bad economy has “solved” America’s immigration problems, welcome to your end-of-the-year reality check. It’s certainly true that illegal crossings from the south are down and that many foreign workers are returning to their native lands as work dries up. But border chaos, haphazard enforcement, massive backlogs, and deportation negligence remain the order of the day.

 

A half-million citizenship applications have been pending for more than nine months. Some 700,000 illegal alien absconders — fugitives from deportation like Barack Obama’s aunt Zeituni Onyango — are free. An estimated 4-5 million illegal visa overstayers from around the world remain in the country. Both Big Business and left-wing ethnic groups have colluded to prevent an employer verification program for workers’ citizenship status from getting implemented nationwide. And the borders are still largely borders in name only.

Read the rest here.

http://www.israeliproducts.com/

"Conscious spending for everyday needs in this way helps good people keep their jobs. It is a simple way to help counter the economic damage done by terrorists.

 

Our warehouse is in Baltimore, so you wont have to wait weeks or pay exhorbitant shipping rates to buy MADE IN ISRAEL items. Please browse through our wonderful selection of THOUSANDS of useful, affordable and beautiful items, with favorite brands like Ahava, Premier, Elite, Osem, Halutza, Neca 7, Ayala Bar, Yair Emanuel, Natural Formula, Safed Candles, and with hard-to-find items from small manufacturers and artists too."

http://www.israelmilitary.com/

Israel military surplus offers the best, finest and widest selection of army surplus. Israel Military Products or Israel Military Online Store defines all that is the Israel Defense Forces IDF in your orders to buy and purchase IDF hats, IDF shirts, IDF boots, Israel Defense Force emblems,IDF videos, IDF sweatshirts, IDF t-shirts, IDF bullet proof body armor, IDF pins, Israel maps, Israel flags, news, Israel Defense Force bags, IDF watches, IDF insignias, Israel Krav Maga, IDF car stickers, Israel collectibles Our on-line Holy land store also offers fast and reliable service for all Israel gifts that you buy.

http://www.buyisraelgoods.org/

"A consumer guide for the retail purchase of Israeli products. Use this site to identify Israeli products likely to be available in retail stores in your market area, and the stores that carry them in stock."

http://www.whiteplainsforisrael.org/

"By purchasing Israeli products and services, we can each help keep the Israeli economy vibrant and growing. We have created this website to make this process easy for you. We have begun scouring the web and the local shopping resources in Westchester to find products and services that you already use. Simply choose to buy Israeli!"

http://www.shopinisrael.com/

"Life is tough in Israel at the moment, even more stressful than usual. Many of us living outside the country feel helpless witnessing the awful acts of terror that Israelis are forced to deal with on a daily basis. We have all said, and heard people say, 'If only there was something we could do...' We have all asked and heard others ask: 'What can we do to help?'"

One of the most tangible ways you can help the Israelis is to buy Israeli goods, and to encourage others to buy her goods.

A simple way to encourage others to buy Israeli goods is to post this button in the sidebar of your blog or website:

The HTML code for the button is here:

<a href="http://sammenhold.org/2398/" > <img src="http://sammenhold.org/userdata/sammenhold/supportisrael-160.gif" alt="" /> </a>

Sporting a gorgeous pair of oversized cannons, Angelina Jolie kicked ass and took names as Lara Croft in ''Tomb Raider.''  Although we haven't seen the numbers, we're wondering if sales of H&K USPs were up in the wake of Jolie's performance as the impetuous young adventurer.

Ms. Jolie's experience with guns extends beyond her acting experience.  In real life, Ms. Jolie is a gun owner and an unapologetic believer in self defense.  Potential intruders beware:

"If anybody comes into my home and tries to hurt my kids, I've no problem shooting them...I bought original, real guns of the type I used in 'Tomb Raider' for security. Brad and I are not against having a gun in the house, and we do have one. I'd be able to use it if I had to."

(More photos of Angelina Jolie below the fold)

Previous Arsenal Gun Babes:

Gov. Sarah Palin        Jessica Alba       Hayden Pannetierre

A recent Research 2000 poll of likely voters put [Reid's] approval rating at 38% and his disapproval rating at 54%, a possible reflection of voters' displeasure with gridlock and partisanship in Washington. And while Nevada broke for President-elect Barack Obama by 12 percentage points in November, the state voted for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

The SKS rifle in a lot of ways reminds me of a classic Rodney Dangerfield act, it gets no respect.  No respect from the “mainstream” Gun press.  No respect from the guys who hunt deer once a year.  No respect from gun collectors.  No respect from the Mainstream media.  Sometimes it even gets no respect from the people who own them. 

 

Most of the above mentioned people don’t get my respect anyway, the mainstream media for instance.  I swear, the next time I hear of another terrible gun crime committed with an “SKS Assault Rifle” I’m going to pitch my TV right out of the window.  Most of the press could look at a stock, unmodified Norinco SKS and not think of it as anything but an “old wooden rifle. ” Most of these idiots couldn’t even recognize an SKS if it was right in front of them but if it gets used in a crime it’s an “assault rifle.”  But anybody reading this editorial probably already knows that. 

May a nonlicensee ship a firearm through the U.S. Postal Service?

A nonlicensee may not transfer a firearm to a non-licensed resident of another State. A nonlicensee may mail a shotgun or rifle to a resident of his or her own State or to a licensee in any State. The Postal Service recommends that long guns be sent by registered mail and that no marking of any kind which would indicate the nature of the contents be placed on the outside of any parcel containing firearms. Handguns are not mailable. A common or contract carrier must be used to ship a handgun.

 

[18 U.S.C. 1715, 922(a)(3), 922(a)(5) and 922 (a)(2)(A)]

May a nonlicensee ship a firearm by common or contract carrier?

A nonlicensee may ship a firearm by a common or contract carrier to a resident of his or her own State or to a licensee in any State. A common or contract carrier must be used to ship a handgun. In addition, Federal law requires that the carrier be notified that the shipment contains a firearm and prohibits common or contract carriers from requiring or causing any label to be placed on any package indicating that it contains a firearm.

 

[18 U.S.C. 922(a)(2)(A), 922(a) (3), 922(a)(5) and 922(e), 27 CFR 478.31 and 478.30]

May a nonlicensee ship firearms interstate for his or her use in hunting or other lawful activity?

Yes. A person may ship a firearm to himself or herself in care of another person in the State where he or she intends to hunt or engage in any other lawful activity. The package should be addressed to the owner. Persons other than the owner should not open the package and take possession of the firearm.

I strongly endorse Ken Blackwell to be the next Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Ken served with distinction with my home-state Senator John McCain and with Georgia Republican National Committeeman Alec Poitevint on the International Republican Institute (IRI). He also replaced Vice President Dick Cheney on the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA).

 

Ken has been a strong supporter of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and respects every individual's fundamental right of self-defense. I strongly support his candidacy and urge my friends on the Republican National Committee to join me in supporting Ken Blackwell.

 

Sincerely, Sandy Froman

Elected Position:

Former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland

Policy Organizations:

Chairman, GOPAC

 

Member, Republican National Committee

 

Member, National Federal Election Reform Commission

 

Member, NAACP Blue Ribbon Commission on Election Reform

Awards:

2005 Aspen Institute–Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership

 

2005 Bethune-DuBois Institute Award

Elected Positions:

Former Ohio State Treasurer

 

Former Ohio Secretary of State

 

Former Mayor of Cincinnati

Policy Organizations:

Member, Board of Directors, National Rifle Association

 

Member, Board of Directors, Club for Growth

 

Member, Board of Directors, National Taxpayers Union

 

Chairman, Coalition for a Conservative Majority

 

Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow for Public Policy, Buckeye Institute

 

Senior Fellow, Family Research Council

 

Former Fellow, Heritage Foundation

 

Visiting Fellow, American Civil Rights Union

 

Visiting Fellow, Texas Public Policy Foundation

Writings:

Co-Author (with Jack Kemp) IRS v. The People: Time for Real Tax Reform

 

Co-Author (with Jerome Corsi) Rebuilding America: A Prescription for Creating Strong Families, Building the Wealth of Working People, and Ending Welfare

Quote:

The RNC needs a more basic and more comprehensive change of course than my competitors have thus far presented or, frankly, envisioned.

It is time to completely remake the Republican Party by returning to our core philosophy (limited government, traditional values and a strong defense), reaching voters more effectively (by better utilization of technology, targeting and voter identification and turnout), and reorganizing the RNC itself (spending smarter, replacing staff and consultants and modernizing our fundraising infrastructure).

In short, the old promise that you've received from candidates for chairman every two years that you will have "more input" ... just isn't going to cut it anymore. You must demand specifics.

A 25-year-old federal rule severely restricting loaded guns in national parks is being holstered. The Bush administration last Friday announced it is overturning the 25-year-old Reagan-era regulation that severely restricted loaded guns in national parks. Under a rule to take effect in January, visitors who have the proper permits for carrying a concealed weapon will be able to carry a loaded gun into a park or wildlife refuge.

 

The new regulation allows individuals to carry concealed firearms in federal parks and wildlife refuges to the same extent they can lawfully do so under state law. The previous regulation required that firearms be unloaded and placed somewhere that is not easily accessible, such as in a car trunk.

Nearly six months after the Supreme Court put an end to the District of Columbia’s decades-old ban on handgun possession, the City Council here passed a sweeping new ordinance on Tuesday to regulate gun ownership.

 

The legislation would require all gun owners to receive five hours of safety training and to register their firearms every three years. In addition, they would have to undergo a criminal background check every six years.

 

Councilman Phil Mendelson, who helped draft the bill and shepherd it through the Council, called it a “very significant piece of legislation that borrows best practices from other states.”

 

Opponents said the legislation flew in the face of the Supreme Court ruling in June.

The Los Angeles City Council approved a package of gun control laws Wednesday, placing new requirements on ammunition sellers and banning the sale of military-style ammunition in the hopes of further reducing the city's gun and gang violence.

The measures ban the sale of .50-caliber ammunition, capable of penetrating a car's engine, and would require the city's ammunition vendors to be licensed, to sell ammunition face-to-face instead of over the Internet and require gun dealers to report a full accounting of their inventory twice a year to the Police Department.

Unfortunately, Steele has been less than 100% supportive of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.  I'm particularly troubled by this interchange:

Q: Should people have access to buy assault weapons or any gun that they want?

 

A: Well, I mean you draw the line.  I mean, what do you need an assault weapon for?  I mean, if going hunting, I think that's a little overkill or whatever, but the reality of it is, I think it's important for a society, a community to draw the lines as we've drawn in a number of other constitutional areas, but I don't think that that means that you go to a total ban for those who want to use guns for skeet shooting and hobbying and hunting and things like that.

Sad to say, but this same quote could've been spouted by Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.  It's the LEFTIES who think the Second Amendment has something to do with hunting.

Michael Steele's weakness on gun rights has had me looking elsewhere for a candidate to support.

One of the names mentioned as an alternative to Michael Steele is Ken Blackwell.

After reading some of Blackwell's writing on the Second Amendment, I am happy to report that Ken Blackwell is not at all equivocal in his support for the Second Amendment.

Here's Ken Blackwell on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms:

h/t: Michelle, who pleads, "Stop me before I hurl a shoe."

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

 

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX)

 

Rep. John Culberson (R-TX)

 

Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY)

 

Rep. Mary Fallin (R-OK)

 

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ)

  

Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ)

  

RSC Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)

 

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO)

 

Rep. Robert Latta (R-OH)

 

Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL)

 

Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC)

  

Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA)

 

Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK)

  

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)

h/t : the Republican Study Committee

In a letter sent to the White House on Monday, the Republican governor says Bush would be committing a "very great mistake" that would "open the floodgates to federal monies for every distressed industry across this country -- and there will be many in this economic slowdown."

 

Sanford, a potential 2012 contender for the GOP nomination, is siding with the anti-bailout wing of his party that is furious with Bush for trying to prop up the Detroit automakers and help distressed banks. He also is siding with his fellow Southern politicians who have sparred with Northern Republicans who hail from manufacturing states that are heavily unionized and have a significant Big Three presence.

Kudos to Gov. Sanford.  Let's hope this move will inspire other Republicans to stand up for the free market.

Specter let loose with a stream of Polish jokes. The Post said he recounted the old one about a person who tells another person that he knows a good Polish joke. The man responds, "Hey careful, I'm Polish!" Specter delivered the punchline: "That's OK, I'll tell it more slowly."

I'm not big on political correctness, myself, but a whole lot of folks make their voting decisions on items of even less consequence than a politician's fondness for ethnic jokes.

Not that Pennsylvanians don't already have PLENTY of reasons to vote against Arlen Specter in 2010.

In a meeting yesterday afternoon, John Boehner informed Rep. Don Young that Boehner would not support Young’s candidacy to remain Ranking Member on the House Natural Resources Committee.

 

It is very unlikely the Steering Committee will support Young either, which means he is toast.

 

This is a great, great sign from the Republican leadership.

He reports this afternoon:

House sources tell me Don Young has decided to withdraw from consideration for the position. This is great news.

Boo-yah!!!  Don Young's profile is here.

At the time, I took a look at Duncan Hunter and determined that he was great on defense, guns and borders, but really bad on federal spending.

Given many, many chances to restrain the size and scope of the federal behemoth, Duncan Hunter all-too-often went the other direction.

Case in point : Duncan Hunter's 2007 Club for Growth rating was 26%.

He did receive an 82% rating from Citizens Against Government Waste in 2003, but the rest of the years, Duncan Hunter has failed to live up even to that mediocre standard.  His 2004 CAGW rating was a dismal 51%. Overall, Hunter has a lifetime average of 65% from these two groups--which places him in the LOWER HALF of the California Republican delegation. (More data here).  Hunter's ratings from the National Taxpayers' Union echo the numbers from Club for Growth and CAGW, with Hunter's NTU ratings hovering around the 50% level in most years (more here).

I suspect we can expect to see more of Duncan Hunter in the coming years, but his recent vote in favor of the ginormous automaker bailout should confirm to his supporters that he is not the kind of leader true, limited-goverment conservatives should be supporting for higher levels of leadership within the GOP.

Barton (TX)
Buyer
Camp (MI)
Capito
Castle
Ehlers
Emerson
English (PA)
Frelinghuysen
Hoekstra
Hunter
King (NY)
Knollenberg
LaHood
LaTourette
Lewis (KY)
Manzullo
McCotter
McCrery
McHugh
Miller (MI)
Murphy, Tim
Porter
Ramstad
Regula
Rogers (MI)
Ryan (WI)
Smith (NJ)
Souder
Upton
Walsh (NY)
Young (AK)

Even with all the offerings available in the larger calibers, however, there continues to be a market for the noble 9mm short (.380 ACP).  For some, the size of a medium-frame 9mm Luger is an issue.  For others, the recoil of the relatively-powerful 9mm Luger may be a little bit stout. 

In terms of ballistics, the .380 acp comes in between the .22 Long Rifle and the .38 Special in muzzle energy.  Although fans of the .45 acp have been known to look down their noses at .380s (and just about everything else, for that matter,) the high number of police agencies and military organizations who have equipped their officers and troops with .380s as primary service weapons belies any claim that a .380 is not a serious option for self defense.

Despite the buzz surrounding the 9mm Luger, the .380 acp and the weapons that shoot it continue to have a very loyal following.  For a variety of reasons, shooters continue to buy .380s, and the gun makers continue to produce them.

There are tons of .380 acp pistols on the market.  For the following shootout, I limited my review to guns that are available on the market new at this time, and to guns with at least a 3" barrel.  There are some really tiny "mouseguns" available on the market, but these guns weren't included in this shootout.  The models meeting the above criteria include the Walther PP/PPK and its clones along with guns which might accurately be referred to as "Baby Berettas."

The results of my research are posted below the fold.

(More below the fold)

Other Arsenal Gun Babes:

Angelina Jolie        Jessica Alba       Hayden Pannetierre

As near as we can tell, a great time was had by all.

Pictures here.

Let me clarify. . .I am in favor of improving the overall energy and vitality of the party and its members as well as recruiting new members and motivating them to be active.  Now that we have that out of the way, let's look at the concerns.

h/t : GunPundit

In this instance our Court of Appeals has squarely upheld the constitutionality of a ban on handguns a quarter century ago in Quilici v. Village of Morton Grove, 695 F. 2d 261 (7th Cir. 1982). And in reaching that conclusion, Quilici relied on the Supreme Court's decision in Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252, 265 (1886):

 

It is difficult to understand how appellants can assert that Presser supports the theory that the second amendment right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right which the state cannot regulate when the Presser decision plainly states that "(t)he Second Amendment declares that it shall not be infringed, but this ... means no more than that it shall not be infringed by Congress. This is one of the amendments that has no other effect than to restrict the powers of the National government...."

 

In doing so, Quilici rejected arguments (1) that later Supreme Court decisions that had incorporated other Bill of Rights provisions into the Fourteenth Amendment had effectively overruled Presser and (2) that the entire Bill of Rights had been implicitly incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment to apply to the states.

Overall, this is a setback for the the NRA--but perhaps only a minor one.  In a case like this, where there is appellate precedent directly on point, many--likely most--judges will consider themselves constrained by the appellate precedent.  This is true even where there is a Supreme Court decision moving generally in a different direction, but not directly on point.  In this case, the recent decision in the Heller case did not reach a contrary position on any of these points of law, and if I recall correctly, expressly carved such questions out from the scope of its opinion.  Heller was a case against the District of Columbia, which is an arm of the federal government.  This is a case against Chicago, a locality which is a creation of the State of Illinois.  Thus the earlier appellate decisions as to the scope of the Second Amendment can reasonably be considered controlling.  The district court went out of its way, in fact, to emphasize that very point: 

This Court should not be misunderstood as either rejecting or endorsing the logic of plaintiffs' argument — it may well carry the day before a court that is unconstrained by the obligation to follow the unreversed precedent of a court that occupies a higher position in the judicial firmament.

In other words, the judge is saying, in essence, "I did my job and applied the existing law to the facts.  It is not my job to revisit the decisions of the appellate court--but the appellate court may want to think about doing so.  *WINK* *WINK*"

This case will now move up to the Seventh Circuit, which may feel no compulsion to follow the earlier precedent, on the grounds that Presser has since been indirectly overruled by general Supreme Court incorporation law.  The Seventh Circuit could, however, follow the path taken by the district court and the Quilici panel and decide that its decision is still controlled by Presser--i.e., Supreme Court precedent directly on point.  If the panel determines that the Second Amendment does not apply to the states, it will have a burden to explain why that amendment--and only that amendment--is to be treated completely differently than the remainder of the Bill of Rights.

What will the Seventh Circuit do?  Anybody's guess.  Stay tuned.

(MORE PICS OF JESSICA AND HER GUNS BELOW THE FOLD)

Today 710 KURV joins the massive effort to petition President George W. Bush to commute the sentences of Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean before he leaves office.

 

710 KURV believes that these decorated agents have been punished enough for the shooting of an admitted and now convicted drug smuggling illegal alien.

 

President George W. Bush has already granted pardons to 14 individuals and commuted the sentences of two more.

 

710 KURV is asking you to sign our Ramos/Compean Commutation of Sentence Petition and join forces with national leaders such as Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA).“Ramos and Compean have been living in the torture of solitary confinement for almost two years for something they never should have been prosecuted for in the first place,” said Rohrabacher.

 

To get your name added to the petition, go to KURV.com and click on the Ramos/Compean Commutation of Sentence Petition.  You’ll also find a list of a number of locations in the community that will have petitions to sign, or just stop by the 710 KURV studios located at 1201 N. Jackson, Suite 900 in McAllen, TX.

 

710 KURV is the Rio Grande Valley’s only News/Talk radio station.

"No later than January 1, 2011, all non-coded ammunition for the calibers listed in this chapter, whether owned by private citizens or retail outlets, must be disposed..."

 

[T]he Ammunition Accountability Act is being introduced across the country. Below is a summary of legislation that has been introduced throughout the United States. To view the bills' status click on the links to the individual bills.

Sample Legislation: The Ammunition Accountability Act

 

Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington.

Stand up, or pucker up.  Your call.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A city alderman frustrated with the police response to rising crime called Tuesday on residents to arm themselves to protect their lives and property.

 

Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe said police are ineffective, outnumbered or don't care about the increase in crime in his north St. Louis ward. St. Louis has had 157 homicides in 2008, 33 more than last year at this time.

 

"The community has to be ready to defend itself, because it's clear the economy is going to get worse, and criminals are getting more bold," Troupe, 72, said Tuesday.

Amen to that.  Kudos to Alderman Troupe!

Because its thanksgiving and everyone is off, we have not made contact with HS [Precision]. We have taken any reference to HS from our web site..

When you first emailed me I honestly did not recall horiuchi's name so you caught me unawares. I also do not read the blogs so the fact there was an issue came as a surpise.

In any event, HS makes a great product and we are a large customer of theirs. Why they would pick a super controversial spokesperson is beyond me. Doing this violates pure business common sense. Early next week we will use whatever persuasive powers at our disposal to get HS to do the right thing..

Do me a favor and tell those on the bolgs that Remington and I are now fully aware of the issue, in full agreement with the outrage, and will do what we can [to] exert pressure on HS to reverse course.

Thanks

Tommy [Millner]

Good to hear this from Remington.

If all this controversy is new to you, you can catch up here.

The anonymous, treacherous lies McCain's advisers have been launching against former VP candidate Sarah Palin since the clothing allowance story was leaked several weeks ago is truly reprehensible, but not unexpected. Whenever liberal Republicans and their allies in the Old Media stumble into a true conservative believer, they go right to their Saul Alinsky socialist playbook – conservatives are stupid, naïve, Christian fanatics, sexist, homophobes, racists, hypocrites, etc.

 

Some of the more memorable slanders and libels include:

 

Palin thought that Africa was a country, not a continent;

Palin didn't know the countries that signed the NAFTA treaty;

Palin went overboard in her shopping spree. 

What is that sound you hear? No, not a strong denunciation by John McCain in support of Palin …it's crickets chirping. McCain by his silence is tacitly supporting the hateful slander against Palin. In my opinion, McCain is a bitter, jealous political hack whose days in the spotlight have long passed (i.e., his defeat by Bush in 2000)...

 

Palin was right to refer to these gutless hacks of the McCain campaign as "cowards." When will the GOP grow a pair and follow her lead?

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has some Republican-to-Republican advice for Gov. Sarah Palin: If you want to make a run at the White House, keep your hands off my Senate seat.

Murkowski, up for reelection in 2010, is nervously awaiting word on whether John McCain’s former running mate will run against her in the GOP primary. But she says Palin is the one who should be nervous.

“I can guarantee it would be a very tough election,” Murkowski said in an interview.

Sen. Murkowski's RINOHunter rating is 56.58%.

Senator Mel Martinez of Florida, one of the Republican Party’s most prominent Hispanic leaders, announced Tuesday he will not seek a second term in 2010.

 

His seat was widely seen as vulnerable here in a state that has been trending Democratic, particularly among Latinos. And though Senator Martinez said in a statement that his decision was not based on re-election prospects, he also acknowledged that he was making public his decision now “to give the many qualified individuals who might choose to try to succeed me an opportunity to organize and gather support.”

Mel Martinez' RINOHunters profile is here.  While not bad on guns and money, Martiez was atrocious on immigration issues.  Can an immigration hawk win in Florida?

Palin looks to be stealing Huckabee’s thunder among Republican religious conservatives and working class voters. Huckabee is an ordained Southern Baptist minister, and his highest GOP totals still come from Born-Again Christians (15%) and weekly churchgoers (18%), but those numbers are about half of those drawn by Palin. Despite his populist economic message, he wins only 10% of blue collar Republicans.

It's a Saiga 7.62x39 with a synthetic "skeleton" stock.  Saigas are built at the Izhevsk machine-building plant ("Izhmash") in Russia under the supervision of an engineering team that includes Mikhail T. Kalashnikov (yes, that Mikhail T. Kalashnikov).  Although opinions vary, the Saigas seem to have built up quite a fan base owing to their reputation for accuracy, reliability and affordability.

Critics point out that the Saigas are not "true" AK clones, owing to certain design changes which prevent the use of standard AK parts, including standard AK pistol grips and standard AK magazines.  (High-capacity Saiga mags are available--for a fairly dear price (~$50)).

Fans respond that a Saiga can, if desired, be converted to a "true" AK with a $120 parts kit, a hand drill and a little elbow grease, thereby allowing the use of standard AK parts in a Saiga.

There's one of the above models available at the local gun shop for $400, and I'm leaning toward picking it up.

Your thoughts, pro or con, are appreciated.

“I was scratching my head, saying, ‘Hey, wait a minute. She’s wonderful, but the only difference was she looks better in stilettos than I do, and she has better hair.’ It wasn’t so much a gender issue, but it was like they suddenly decided that everything they disliked about me was O.K. . . . She was given a pass by some of the very people who said I wasn’t prepared.”

Okay, Huckster, as soon as you show me the evidence of Sarah Palin kissing up to the NEA, blowing the state budget through the roof with new spending, begging the Alaska state legislature for huge tax increases to pay for said new spending, salivating all over Al Gore's global warming bullshit, fighting for cheaper college tuition for illegals at taxpayer expense and begging for a national tobacco and fat-assed tranny ban, I'll give it to you that Sarah Palin is every bit as squishy as you are.  Unless you can do that, you should admit that you don't have a damn clue what you're talking about when it comes to who is--and who is not--conservative.

Sarah Palin isn't perfect, but what we see in her tells us that she understands, like Reagan understood, that conservatism is fundamentally about liberty, and about a bias of power toward the individual citizens as against the state.  Sarah Palin is, at worst, center-right on most, if not all, issues.  She is definitely to the right of McCain.

Conversely, very little of what we've seen in Huckster's track record disabuses us of the idea that he is a center-left squish who sees our nation as a group of people who need to be "fixed" by means of a laundry list of new do-gooder government programs.  He is, in general, to the LEFT of McCain.  DO NOT WANT.

UPDATE: I've been informed that Mike Huckabee did not, in fact, call for a national "fat-assed tranny" ban.  Turns out it was a trans fatty acid ban.  Fat-assed trannies will apparently be safe under a Huckabee Adminstration.  Apologies for the confusion.

The tactics used by Democrats to secure at least 58 Senate seats may have damaged their chances of winning vital support from Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in key votes in the 111th Congress...

 

Collins and her home-state colleague, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R), have voted with GOP Senate leaders less often than any other Republicans. They are the two Republicans whom Democrats are expected to court most often.

 

Before Congress adjourned, Collins voted with Democrats and against her own leaders to advance an emergency stimulus bill. She also recently voted with Democrats to quash a Republican filibuster of the defense authorization bill.

 

Yet her willingness to cross the aisle from time to time didn’t stop Democrats from lobbing attacks during her recent campaign for reelection. Collins received her hardest shots from Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio).

I'll believe it when I see it.  Collins' voting profile is here.

In the House of Representatives, John Boehner should use his influence and leadership position to appoint Rep. Jeff Flake to the Appropriations Committee. Flake fans may recall the Arizona representative’s pursuit of an appropriations seat nearly a year ago. Though conservatives rallied to Flake’s cause, the House Republican Steering Committee rejected his bid. …

 

In the same vein, Senator Mitch McConnell should appoint Senator Jim DeMint to the Senate Finance Committee — one of the most powerful committees with jurisdiction over all tax issues and entitlement programs. … With no disrespect to Sens. Enzi and Voinovich, Senator DeMint is exactly the kind of leader the GOP could use at this low point in its history. Not only does DeMint have a business background, he has demonstrated a sophisticated grasp of the country’s tax and entitlement problems. He is one of the few members of Congress to think creatively about solving these problems in a manner that increases personal freedom and prosperity.