Letter to the Editor
Obama’s gun plan
Published Tuesday, August 19, 2008
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To the editor:
People from everywhere want to come to the United States so they may live their lives protected by American freedoms. Those freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution! Sen. Obama talks about change, yet he doesn’t tell us what changes he envisions! In April of this year, Obama described Americans like you and me as people who, “get bitter, they cling to religion or guns.”
One only has to look at his voting record when it comes to our freedoms and our guns. Here are a but a few of his visions, proposals and bills he has either sponsored/co-sponsored or voted for: ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns; close down 90 percent of the gun shops in America; ban rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting; increase federal taxes on guns and ammunition by 500 percent; ban the use of firearms for home defense; eliminate the right to carry from even law-abiding citizens; and (here are two really good ones), restore voting rights for 5 million criminals, including those who have been convicted of using a gun to commit a violent crime and, if elected, appoint judges to the U.S. judiciary who share his views regarding the Second Amendment!
I don’t know about you, but these are changes I certainly don’t want to see in my lifetime!
Community Discussion
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Hello folks stop and think its the best way out we must vote for MR JOHN MCCAIN or it won't be long and country is done use your head for once we cannot afford 8 more years of the clintons because they are now calling the shots for barrick ombana hilory is now heading for vic presdent so vote them out and vote for mc cain
Scary stuff Denny!
Well, clearly it's all part of the Grand Islamicist Conspiracy to invade the United States by weakening our defenses prior to the grand invasion by hiding in crates of couscous.
Seriously, folks. I'm not wild about Obama's track record on gun control, but as president, he'll be forced to moderate his positions on more than a few issues -- gun control will be one of those. And that's why we have a system of checks and balances. And worst-case scenario, you vote against him in 2012.
Frankly, I'm tried of Republican administrations. I don't know if a Democratic one will be any better -- it probably won't -- but I'd like to see a change.
Hah -
change! You used his line...very clever....
after all, who could be against change. What you don't want change??? What red-blooded American wouldn't want change??? You must be nuts if you don't want change!!!
Maybe he should CHANGE his message a little - he was horrible in the 'debate' they just had...maybe a little less change and a little more substance...
or maybe it's not too late for the Dem's to CHANGE their candidate?
I loved the line about Clarance Thomas having too little experience when he became a Supreme Court Justice! Is Barry high? He has been in the senate less than a term and he is criticizing others for lack of experience! Maybe he should CHANGE his mind and let Hillary run
Instead of being tied with McCain she would probably have a lead of a few points right now...
Obama is scary indeed. For the first time in my 64 years I have been seriously afraid of what's ahead for this country. Read his books. He is socialistic, will tell you anything you want to hear to get elected and the Muslim world considers him a friend. The great USA without developing our own natural resources AND developing alternative energy at the same time will continue to go more into debt to nations that hate us. The right to own guns will go down the tube, taxes under Obama will go sky high and we will be quite vunerable to be taken over by foreign nations. Look around at who owns most of America now - it's not Americans.
CPW
What's really scary is the shape this nation is in after 8 years of the Bush administration.
"...he'll be forced to moderate his positions on more than a few issues..."
And who, may I ask, is going to force this moderation?
But if asked, Sen. Obama will say "...well, I support the 2nd Ammendment, except...". The Senator takes both sides of an issue on an individual question, as he showed Saturday night at the presidential forum.
Yes, please tell us why he will moderate his position.
LadyNYC, in your opinion, what is our state of the nation after 8 years of Bush? Is it any better compared to Clinton? Be honest, I'm not picking, just want to hear your side.
Reading some of your gripes from the idiotic left makes one want to hurl. You wouldn't know bad times if it bit you in the rear end.
The financial state of this country scares the bejeezus out of me.
Bush inherited a budget surplus from the previous administration. The next administration, regardless of who wins, gets to inherit a *crippling* budget deficit.
Thanks for asking politely, grouchyolman.
Oh man I tried to stay off the post on this subject, but "CPW151" was the last straw on the Presidential Election involving Candidate(s) Obama and McCain.
"For the FIRST TIME in your 64 years you have been seriously afraid of what's ahead for this country."
All because of a proposed plan brought forth by Candidate Obama?
No disrespect, because if you are 64, you're my elder, and I was always taught to respect that (seriously!)....but it seems to me this country has headed to Hell in a handcart long before Candidate Obama made a bid to run for office.
Have you "looked outside" lately at the state of our country?
And you're just now becoming "afraid?"
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Candidate Obama is a politician!
Telling people what they want to hear is what they do.
McCain is doing the very same thing.
Question is will they come through on what they say they will do, and in the long run, will it be of benefit to us.
It's a "no win" situation, because somebody is always going to disagree, while others agree.
My opinion is that we as a society have followed some "real winners" who either have been, or who are still (at least for a few more months) "manning" the controls of this country.
I would think change would be a welcome reprieve, instead of continuing in the very same direction.
Do I think Candidate Obama has all the answers?
We'd be fools to believe that.
But neither does McCain.
What I appreciate is that Obama can AT LEAST relate to the struggles of ordinary people though.
Hell, our choice has been narrowed down to just two anyway.
And whether you like it or not.....one's going back to the U.S. Senate, the other (in late January of next year) is moving into 1600 Pennyslvania Avenue. for at least the next four years.
This is just a bunch of fear mongering, seeing as how the U.S. Supreme Court just verified the right of every American to own guns. Find a legitimate reason to oppose Obama.
LadyNYC -- The *crippling* budget deficit will continue to grow, as promised, under the Obama tax plan. He proposes no spending cuts, transfers more ownerhsip of government to the wealthy, and will still be forced to continue our obligations in the Middle East. In fact, he promises to escalate hostilities in Afghanistan and Pakistan (does this now make him the very definition of a "chickenhawk"?). For Obama's tax plan see this morning's WSJ:
Obama's Tax Plan
Is Really a Welfare Plan
By PETER FERRARA
Barack Obama's tax plan is the opposite of supply-side economics. He proposes to raise marginal rates for just about every federal tax. He also proposes a raft of tax credits that taxpayers can receive if they engage in various government-specified activities.
Moreover, the tax credits would mostly go to those who pay little or nothing in federal income taxes. His trick is to make the tax credits "refundable." Thus, if the tax credit is for $1,000, but the taxpayer would otherwise only pay $200 in taxes, the government would write a check to the taxpayer for $800. If the taxpayer pays nothing in federal income taxes, the government would pay him the whole $1,000.
Such credits are not tax cuts. Indeed, they should be called The New Tax Welfare. In effect, Mr. Obama is proposing to create or expand a slew of government spending programs that are disguised as tax credits. The spending on these programs is then subtracted from the total tax burden, in order to make the claim that his tax plan is a net tax cut overall.
On the tax side of the ledger, the details released by his campaign last week confirm what a President Obama has in mind for our most productive citizens. The top individual income tax rate, for example, would be increased by 13%, to 39.6%; the next-highest rate would be raised to 36%. The top rates on capital gains and dividends would rise by a third, to 20%
The Social Security payroll tax would be raised between 16% to 32% for families making over $250,000 a year. This means that the real returns these people get from their lifetime payments into the retirement program will be driven below 0%, according to my own previous research, which was published by the Cato Institute and elsewhere.
Mr. Obama also wants a permanent federal estate tax, with a top rate of 45%; his health-insurance plan includes a new payroll tax on employers; and he also contemplates several increases in the corporate income tax, including a new so-called windfall profits tax on oil companies.
Ferrara... continued:
Then there is the spending side of the ledger. Mr. Obama proposes a fully refundable Making Work Pay Tax Credit, which would have the government pay out $500 to each worker and $1,000 to couples -- reminiscent of George McGovern's 1972 election proposal for the government to send a $1,000 check to everyone.
His American Opportunity Tax Credit would provide a $4,000, fully refundable tax credit for college tuition expenses. His Mortgage Interest Tax Credit would provide a 10% credit -- refundable -- to offset mortgage interest payments for lower- and middle-income families. His Health Care Tax Credits, which the campaign says "will ensure that health insurance is available and affordable for all families," include "a new refundable 50 percent health tax credit on employee premiums paid by employers."
Currently existing tax credits would also become spending programs in the Obama tax program. The Savers Credit would be made fully refundable, and would be expanded, according to the campaign, "to match 50% of the first $1,000 of savings for families that earn under $75,000." The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit would be made refundable and expanded to allow "low-income families to receive up to a 50 percent credit on the first $6,000 of child care expenses."
The Earned Income Tax Credit is already refundable. Mr. Obama would expand it to "increase the number of working parents eligible for EITC benefits, increase the benefits available to noncustodial parents who fulfill their child support obligations, increase benefits for families with three or more children, and reduce the EITC marriage penalty, which hurts low-income families." In short, welfare spending is to be increased by paying more money out to low-income income tax filers.
The latest Congressional Budget Office data shows the bottom 40% of income earners already pays no income taxes. Indeed, they receive a net payment from the federal income tax system -- meaning from the taxpayers -- equal to 3.8% of all federal income taxes, because of the refundable tax credits under current law. The middle 20% of income earners, the true middle class, pays 4.4% of federal income taxes.
Overall, the bottom 60% of income earners pay less than 1% of federal income taxes on net. When "tax credits" primarily go to this group in the form of checks from the government (rather than a reduction in their tax burden) it is simply an abuse of the language to call the spending a tax cut.
Consequently, to say, as the campaign does say, that the candidate's tax plan is a tax cut on net -- and that it would limit taxes to 18.2% of GDP -- is grossly misleading. The Obama tax plan would sharply increase real taxes. It also would come nowhere near to paying for the massive increases in federal spending he has proposed, including the spending that is disguised in the form of refundable tax credits.
First, I am a Air Force vet and a proud Alaskan and US patriot! I DO NOT like Obama very much, and I admire and respect John McCain to the highest heavens. With that said, I DO NOT want John McCain as our next President!! It will be four more years of Bush's failed policies and no end in sight to this horrible, tradgic war. If we had attacked Saudi Arabia on 9/12/2001, I would have tried my best to reenlist, even at my age, but we did not. Instead, we went after a country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. It has trashed our economy, killed over 4,000 of our young heros and accomplished nothing but made terrorist more confident that they have defeated the mighty satan. Like I said, I am no fan of Obama, but he cannot be any worse than what we have had for the last 8 years!! By the way, my brother, a lifetime NRA member, said that Bill Clinton was going to take his guns away too....him and I both still have every gun we had in 1992 unless we sold it.
Being able to protect our second amendment rights through the supreme courts last ruling will not stop the anti gun industry ( and I do think they are a money making industry at this point) from finding different ways to tax, inhibit and challenge these rights. This is only one more reason I am leary of Obama. I am disgrunteled at the fact we all dislike chosing from the lesser of two evils and as a nation here we are again.
What junk, just don't vote for him instead of creating paranoid lies.
OH! By the way did you hear that Mcain is actually an ALIEN? Yes, and he wants to take away our uh... right to own shoes!! Yeah you heard it here first. Tell the world the "truth" now.
REMEMBER : The person that doesn’t learn from history “Will repeat it “
The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms.
History shows that all who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.
Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty.
So let's not have any native militia or native police.
German troops alone will bear the sole responsibility for the maintenance of law and order throughout the occupied Russian territories, and a system of military strong-points must be evolved to cover the entire occupied country."
Adolf Hitler, dinner talk on April 11, 1942, quoted in Hitler's Table Talk 1941-44: His Private Conversations, Second Edition (1973), Pg. 425-426.
Adolf Hitler
Reminds me of the Kennedy/ Goldwater race, the world will come to an end if the one who is unfamiliar gets elected. Seems to me we forget that there are over 400 representatives and 100 Senators that have a say in these decisions, not to mention the Supreme Court. You can not lay the blame solely on the President on any one issue. There is a reason why the founding fathers developed a system of checks and balances into our government.
We're screwed either way.
Prospector, The article you posted makes a good argument but, I ask you then; How in the world is McCain going to take care of the budget problems when he is going to increase spending on the war, eliminate nothing from the budget because he can't, and cut taxes? At least Obama is addressing that there is a problem. Will his solution help? Some economists say yes some say no but every economist says that McCain has no solution whatsoever.
Ouch! That's the only choice? Obama X McInsane?
Boy, we are in trouble with one of those two clowns as a president. By the way, how did McCain got the GOP nomination? Republicans don't like him neither. Do you know any supporter of him? If we were not in America, I would think we had voting fraud.
Let's see,
Harry Reed - leader of the senate - anti-gun
Nancy Poliski - leader of the house - anti-gun
Obama - president - anti-gun
the supreme court - 5 to 4 decision - 2 or 3 judges will be replaced in the next few years
take a guess what will happen. There will be nothing to stop the goverment from doing ANYTHING it wants to!
They can take away my 2nd amendment rights "from my cold dead hands" - Charlton Heston
People always say that the power actually lays in the Congress and not the President. So all those people who say we are worse off with Bush as president need to say that we are worse off since having Democrats running Congress. If you really want change, then vote to get Republicans back in charge of Congress. There is your change! As for the President, you have to look past the nice words of Obama and really get to issues like his gun policies. Thank you Dennis for shedding some light on a very important topic.