The presidential primary season is finally over, and it is now time for gun owners to take a careful look at just where apparent nominee Barack Obama stands on issues related to the Second Amendment. During the primaries, Obama tried to hide behind vague statements of support for “sportsmen” or unfounded claims of general support for the right to keep and bear arms.

But his real record, based on votes taken, political associations, and long standing positions, shows that Barack Obama is a serious threat to Second Amendment liberties. Don’t listen to his campaign rhetoric! Look instead to what he has said and done during his entire political career.
Obama

FACT: Barack Obama voted against the confirmation of 2 of the 5 Justices that affirmed an individual right to keep and bear arms.

FACT: Barack Obama voted to allow reckless lawsuits designed to bankrupt the firearms industry.1

FACT: Barack Obama wants to re-impose the failed and discredited Clinton Gun Ban.15

FACT: Barack Obama voted to ban almost all rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting and sport shooting.3

FACT: Barack Obama has endorsed a 500% increase in the federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition.9

FACT: Barack Obama has endorsed a complete ban on handgun ownership.2

FACT: Barack Obama supports local gun bans in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities.4

FACT: Barack Obama voted to uphold local gun bans and the criminal prosecution of people
who use firearms in self-defense.5

FACT: Barack Obama supports gun owner licensing and gun registration.6

FACT: Barack Obama refused to sign a friend-of-the-court Brief in support of individual Second Amendment rights in the Heller case.

FACT: Barack Obama opposes Right to Carry laws.7

FACT: Barack Obama was a member of the Board of Directors of the Joyce Foundation, the leading source of funds for anti-gun organizations and “research.”8

FACT: Barack Obama supported a proposal to ban gun stores within 5 miles of a school or park, which would eliminate almost every gun store in America.9

FACT: Barack Obama voted not to notify gun owners when the state of Illinois did records searches on them.10

FACT: Barack Obama voted against a measure to lower the Firearms Owners Identification card age minimum from 21 to 18, a measure designed to assist young people in the military.11

FACT: Barack Obama favors a ban on standard capacity magazines.12

FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory micro-stamping.13

FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory waiting periods.2

FACT: Barack Obama supports repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment, which prohibits information on gun traces collected by the BATFE from being used in reckless lawsuits against firearm dealers and manufacturers.14

FACT: Barack Obama supports one-gun-a-month handgun purchase restrictions.16

FACT: Barack Obama supports a ban on inexpensive handguns.9

FACT: Barack Obama supports a ban on the resale of police issued firearms, even if the money is going to police departments for replacement equipment.9

FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory firearm training requirements for all gun owners and a ban on gun ownership for persons under the age of 21.9

By Dirck Edge

Beautiful Sonoma, California was the staging area for our test of several 2009 Harley-Davidson models. Our focus was on the significantly redesigned touring bikes and the stunning new V-Rod Muscle.

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Mac PC Linux Truth

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If you haven’t heard of gOS yet then you’re missing out. Its an Ubuntu based version of Linux that relies heavily on Google products. The “g” in gOS doesn’t stand for Google though, it stands for “Good”, don’t get confused and think that Google makes it, because they don’t. It comes pre-installed on those cheap Everex computers that Walmart sells. Read on after the jump to find out more.

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For the first time, IBM and leading Linux distributors Canonical/Ubuntu, Novell and Red Hat will join forces globally with their hardware partners to deliver Microsoft-free personal computing choices with Lotus Notes and Lotus Symphony in the one billion-unit desktop market worldwide by 2009.

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Lenovo (former IBM OEM manufacturer) also entered the fast growing Netbook market with their Ideapad S10. Like the Eee PC 1000 this Netbook also features a 10-inch widescreen LCD. In the US it will be available with Windows XP Home & at other parts of the world also with Linux.

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A modified version of the latest Ubuntu for the EEEPC.

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Only a week after the bad press coverage regarding the Linux-related bugs in a number of motherboards released by Foxconn (Which turned out to be the AMI BIOS that several board makers use), Foxconn is the first vendor out with a publicly released test patch that fixes the bulk of the problems, allowing kernel 2.6.26 to run well on the G33M series.

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Switzerland is an open source software tool for testing the integrity of data communications over networks, ISP’s and firewalls. It will spot IP packets which are forged or modified between clients, inform you, and give you copies of the modified packets.

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It affects MSI and ASUS boards that have an American Megatrends (AMI) BIOS as well. The issues prevent Linux from functioning properly on these systems. Foxconn says they expect the update before the end of the week.

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Why I Left Linux
I’m writing this thread to show how someone like you moved from being exclusively Linux for years to being exclusively Microsoft. This isn’t because I love Microsoft, or hate Linux, but because I assessed my option and chose which one suited me most.

A quick bit of history: I started using Linux with Red Hat 9 and was exclusively Linux not long after. Since then I have tried every major distribution and some of the smaller ones. Where I remained for the last couple years was on Ubuntu due to its large user base, professional releases and support.

Recently I realised I was being too fundamentalist about many things in my life. I was very much set in my ways and was not open to different options. I discovered that I was doing this and made a lot of changes. Then I realised that I hadn’t given Windows a chance in many years. Linux was great and had been a lot of fun, but I wanted to spend more time using my computer than tinkering with it.

So I took the plunge, wiped Linux and installed my old copy of Windows XP for a trial. Were there issues? Absolutely, but as a Linux user they were no problem to solve. Not only that, but learning the quirks wouldn’t benefit me for one 6 month release cycle, but for several years and on countless computers. I had become clueless about the vast majority of computer systems out there and needed to relearn a lot of it.

So after years I played around on the seven year old Windows XP. I installed Windows versions of Firefox, Skype, Flash and Opera. They all worked better. Firefox supported more plugins, Skype was a generation ahead, Flash didn’t have Z-Index issues and Opera didn’t have a mismatched menu bar. I then installed software (trials) that I hadn’t used in years: Office 2007, Photoshop CS3 and some games. Their capabilities were phenomenal. Of course they’re not free and cost a fortune to produce, but that’s the point. They are a better product for a higher price.

I soon took the plunge and bought Vista. It sure isn’t perfect, but it is still fantastic due to what it enables me to do. I can still support free software, but when it is advantageous for me to do it. I use Firefox because it is better, not because it is open source. That is also why I use Office 2007 over OpenOffice.org.

I love computers and marvelling at the new things that software can do. I used to think that the best way to pursue this hobby was with Linux but now I’m not so sure. Just playing around with the free, integrated voice recognition in Vista demonstrates that.

Linux is a massive testament to collaboration and what it can achieve. All I’m saying is keep your options open. Sure it costs more money, but considering how much time some of us spend on our computers it may be worth the investment.

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My Response:

Well, I have been using Linux for almost 12 years. Exclusively for over 3. I don’t miss Windows one bit. Sadly, there are a couple of pieces of hardware the force me to pull out the spare hard drive for my laptop that has XP on it to only update my Garmin and TomTom GPS’. Other than that I have no other need or desire to use Windows. I find that Linux, Ubuntu, Mint, eLive, and Debian all do what I need with aplomb. I love the fact they are community supported and that I get security fixes as they are discovered and coded not months later because the board decided it wasn’t a big enough issue to release a patch for and in the meantime, my system is wide open to exploit for anyone with the know how on how to do so.

Sure Linux and all it’s derivative distros aren’t perfect but the chances of it being more perfect are far greater with the model they use to make, distribute, and support it. Unlike any other OS available out there - IMHO of course.

Similarly, the fact that I have 3 kids, a dog, turtle, cat, and two birds, along with a wife, an ex-wife truck and a motorcycle oh yeah and and a healthy mortgage payment, all contribute substantially to my need and desire for Linux. However, after using it as long as I have I find I love the challenge of trying to find an open source alternative to all of the pay software you find for Windows. To me this isn’t as much about Windows vs. Linux but about what works for me as an individual consumer. It’s also about the principle of the whole hacker mentality which spawned the computer age as we know it. I don’t refer to hacker in the “exploit you bank records” type but to the hacker that believes all information should be free and that we should be able to hack anything we own for learning and informational purposes.

I’ll keep using Linux until they pry it from my cold dead hands.