Gun Nuts Media

But wait, I thought that Obama was the candidate of the little people, and that he was so proud that he had raised all his money by collecting jillions of piddling internet donations?  Obama couldn’t have…lied to me, could he?  I mean, it can’t be true that over 1/3 of his total donations have come from Washington special interest groups?  I thought he said he wasn’t going to take money from special interests.

Behind those large donations is a phalanx of more than 500 Obama “bundlers,” fund-raisers who have each collected contributions totaling $50,000 or more. Many of the bundlers come from industries with critical interests in Washington (emphasis mine). Nearly three dozen of the bundlers have raised more than $500,000, including more than a half-dozen who have passed the $1 million mark and one or two who have exceeded $2 million, according to interviews with fund-raisers.

Now, I don’t have a problem with taking money from special interests, actually – that’s how the game is played.  What I have a problem with is Obama saying that he’s not going to do something, and then turning around and doing that exact thing that he said he’s not going to do.

Now, I’m that the Obama Disciples out there will cry and shout out that “but Ahab, he’s not taking money from registered lobbyists or PACs”, to which I would say “so what, he’s taking huge chunks of money from people with serious special interests in Washington”.  In fact, I’d actually rather he took money from lobbyists and PACs, because then their agendas are clearly defined – whereas the over 100 million dollars he’s received from CEOs and bigtime corporate execs (wait, I thought he was about helping the middle class, why is he courting all these corporations?) obviously has string attached, but we don’t know what strings they are.

This is part of my big problem with Obama – I believe that he’ll say and do anything to get elected, and he has no problem telling you and me that he’s going to stick it to the “corporate fatcats” while at the exact same time he’s rolling around in over 100 million dollars of their money.  I should note again that I actually don’t have a problem with him taking these donations – there’s nothing unethical about that.  What I find unethical and well, kind of scummy, is that he’s essentially found a way to keep his promise about not taking money from PACs and lobbyists on paper and has instead just decided to take money from people with serious agendas who don’t happen to be registered lobbyists.

An analysis of campaign finance records shows that about two-thirds of his bundlers are concentrated in four major industries: law, securities and investments, real estate and entertainment. Lawyers make up the largest group at about 130, with many working for firms that also have lobbying arms.

To everyone who says that he’s going to bring “change” to Washington and the country, I actually agree with you.  But I don’t think that it’s the kind of change that we’re going to want or need to make our country a better place.  The last thing we need is a guy who says one thing, and then finds loopholes in his own statements to skate through to be our leader.

In case you missed last night’s show on Extreme Gun Activism, you can listen to the entire show here at the link above.  Thanks to Kurt and Sebastian for coming on the show, your contributions were very much appreciated.  It was a very lively show, we had a couple of callers with good questions, all in all a pretty good show.

One of the best questions was how exactly we define “extremism”, because my beliefs on the right to keep and bear arms are probably seen as extreme in plenty of quarters.

Again, click here to listen to the podcast of our Extreme Gun Activism show, or click below to download the .mp3 file.

[display_podcast]

It’s hard to sum up all the salient points made in the show, I think both Kurt and Sebastian had excellent points.

It has been suggested that tonight’s show is a set-up, i.e. that Sebastian and I are going to gang up on Kurt.  I have maintained that I fully intend to stay neutral on tonight’s show, despite any accusations to the contrary.  In the interest of full disclosure, here’s the email I sent to both Kurt and Sebastian inviting them to be on tonight’s show:

Subj: The Mike V. Thing

Gents,

After the whole bruhaha surrounded the Mikey V. post on Sebastian’s blog, I wanted to invite both you guys to come on Gun Nuts: The Next Generation and talk about both sides of the issue.  Kurt, I’m emailing you because you were able to conduct yourself with courtesy during the entire debate, despite the fact that you and Sebastian came down on opposite sides.

The way this will work is you guys will both be on the air at the same time, and we’ll conduct it more like an two-sided interview and not a debate.  Squeaks and I will serve as moderators, and despite any personal feelings we may have about the debate, those will be set aside for the duration of the show.  The show is live at 11pm Eastern time on Tuesdays, we were looking to schedule this show for Tuesday, August 5th.  Let me know if you’re interesting in doing this.

Regards,

Caleb

Additionally, at this link, Sebastian has published the Instant Messenger transcript which was the genesis for the show – we had been planning a show on extreme gun activism for a while, and it just sort of came together after that Uberthread at Sebastian’s.

Of course, I can only say so much in defense of my credibility.  I invite anyone who doesn’t believe me, or thinks I’m up to tricks to listen in to tonight’s show.  It’s going to be a lively discussion anyway, and everyone is welcome to participate in the chat session and call in once the initial questions are finished with.

The URL for the show is www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts and the call number is (347)-539-5436.

At 11pm Eastern, we’re doing our show on Extreme Gun Activism – this promises to be one of our better shows, and I encourage everyone to listen in at 11pm Eastern at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts.  We’ll have the usual chat sessions going, as well as being available for call ins starting at 11:30 eastern time.

The call in number for the show is (347) 539-5436, and we look forward to hearing from you tonight!

The full text of HR 6691 is available for download – check out the Gunnuts: The Next Generation blog for more info on this bill.

I’m pimping this week’s podcast again, and for good reason – the topic of extremism in pro-gun activism absolutely refuses to die, and because I think that we have a really interesting show lined up for tomorrow night.

We’ll have both Kurt of Armed and Safe and Sebastian from Snowflakes In Hell on the show, discussing pros and cons of Mikey V. style extremism when it comes to fighting the battle (proverbial or otherwise) to keep and bear arms.

Now, in the original discussion that spawned this show, I came down on Sebastian’s side, primarily because I don’t yet believe that our system is irreparably broken and that I believe we can accomplish much more by working within the system and with the “sheeple” than we can by working against it.

That being said, there is a certain attractiveness to the positions of the opposite side of the debate, because I honestly look around and feel sometimes that even though we’re currently winning the RKBA battle, we’re losing on practically every other front.  It is extremely frustrating to me to see people embracing the nanny-state as though it will save them; every day I feel like I talk to another deluded Obama convert who believes that more government will solve all our problems – and I tell you, it kind of pisses me off.

Despite any opinions that I or my co-host hold, we’re not going to be joining the debate per se, but will rather serve to ask the questions and remain neutral.  Essentially, we’ll be ring-masters – serving only to drive the questions in directions that our listening audience wants.

Tune in live tomorrow night at 11pm to www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts to listen to the show – I promise you won’t be disappointed.  The call in number is (347) 539-5436 – during the first 20 minutes we won’t be taking callers, but after that we’ll open up the lines to call in questions for Kurt, Sebastian, or Bonnie and me.