Brian Koenig

Using a catastrophe to push an agenda. That’s what Obama and the Democrats have been doing ever since the horrific school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. But gun control is an emotional reaction, not a sensible one.

Sure, guns ocassionally become mediums to a person’s death. However, evidently the NRA’s pro-gun ideology is less fatal than Home Depot’s murderous product line.

That’s right, according to FBI statistics, in 2011 there were 173 more deaths caused by hammer assaults than rifle assaults.

Oh, what to do! Banning hammers altogether, I believe, may be a little extreme. Instead, I say we make it so a hammers’ handle does not exceed six inches. Less range might curb the number of deadly impacts.

We need to focus on the real problems, people.

It’s apparent, Al Gore’s ultra-leftist Current TV is a tumultuous failure. Consequently, Gore’s selling off his tele-boondoggle for a $100 million. But that’s not the story. The climax involves who he is selling his network to.

It’s Al Jazeera, the network owned by the Qatari government, which is operated by the Al Thani family. Here’s how the U.S. State Department describes Qatar: “Qatar is an hereditary constitutional monarchy governed by the ruling Al Thani family in consultation with a council of ministers, an appointed advisory council and an elected municipal council.”

In effect, it’s a kingdom, comprised of a royal family that suctions mountains of wealth from its expansive oil and gas reserves.

Interestingly, most reports on the sale have alleged that Al Jazeera is purchasing Current TV not for its programming per se, but for instant access to some 42 million cable TV households that currently carry the network. If communication providers permit Al Jazeera to simply take the place of Current’s channel ranking, that inflates its audience nearly tenfold.

It’s an odd deal, particularly considering the unlikely chance of Al Jazeera even broadcasting Current TV-themed programming. After all, the channel is run by the Qatari government — meaning, Islamic beliefs and tribal traditions, the foundation of the nation’s laws and customs, will rule the network. Shariah law is a staple of Qatar.

Furthermore, these scumbags are hardly tolerant in the area of American “lifestyle.” The network’s openly gay hosts, such as Stephanie Miller, will surely be put to the axe, metaphorically speaking, of course. Homosexuality is a criminal offense, and, according to the State Department, those convicted of such offenses “may be sentenced to lashings, a prison sentence, and/or deportation.”

So why the hell is Al Gore selling his network to Al Jazeera? Isn’t he a tolerent liberal?

I guess the $100 million he’s making off of the deal trumps any self-righteous position Gore claims to uphold.

Back from the holiday extravaganaza. I have a lot of ground to make up. Ought to start with the Fiscal Cliff deal, which the House voted 257-167 on Tuesday to pass the Senate-sponsored “Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012.”

The deal, so the story goes, steers the nation away from the “doomsday” fiscal cliff scenario by enacting a blend of year-end spending cuts and tax hikes. There’s a lot of losers. But there’s also a hell of a lot of winners. (If you want The Blaze’s full list of winners and losers, check out this article. It’s pretty comprehensive.)

The bill gives the wind-energy industry a nudge with a one-year estension of tax credits that will cost taxpayers a whopping $12.1 billion.

Naturally, Hollywood got it’s share:

Even though:

The original tax incentive applied to productions costing less than $15 million to make ($20 million in low-income areas). The 2008 extension applies to all films, up to a deduction of $15 million (or $20 million in low-income areas). The incentive is especially generous to television series; it applies to each TV episode.

Yeah, it’s about $150 million a year for us lowly, non-Hollywood types.

And don’t think Goldman Sachs didn’t snatch a piece of the congressional pie. “Section 328 of the bill extends tax-exempt financing for the ‘Liberty Zone,’ the area around the former World Trade Center, for another year,” the Washington Post reports. “[T]his tax provision was supposed to help fund reconstruction after 9/11. Yet a recent Bloomberg investigation found the bonds have mostly helped finance new luxury apartments, not to mention the construction of Goldman Sachs’ new headquarters.”

As far as the losers go, the obvious one is the conservative/libertarian (aka, Tea Party) base.

But the most important loser, of course, is the American taxpayer. Rich, poor, middle of the road, your taxes are heading north.

The bill did not reinstate the payroll tax holiday, which has been around for the past two years. So regardless of what income tax bracket you are, take home pay will plunge.

The State Department is freakin’ out after former United Nations surrogate John Bolton suggested that Hillary Clinton feigned illness, specifically, an alleged concussion spurred from a fainting-induced flu, to play hooky from a potentially embarrassing appearance before Congress to explain the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

In an appearance on Fox News, Bolton said that Clinton’s claim that she had fainted because of the flu, hitting her head and suffering a concussion, was what foreign service officers call a “diplomatic illness,” intended to free a diplomat from an unpleasant duty. Clinton was supposed to appear before congressional foreign affairs committees on Thursday to respond to questions about whether security failures opened the way for the Sept. 11 attack.

“This is a diplomatic illness to beat the band,” Bolton asserted. “I mean, I hope it’s nothing serious. But this was revealed in a way that I think was not transparent and I think there is an obligation here.”

Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the State Department, told reporters Tuesday that accusations that Clinton faked her concussion are “completely untrue.”

She said Bolton and others who have made such suggestions “are people who don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s unfortunate that in times like this people make wild speculation based on no information.”

I don’t know whether she’s faking or not, but Bolton’s wordage I find amusing. After all, beware of those “diplomatic illnesses,” ought not to take them lightly.

During a press conference Wednesday, Barack Obama outlined his plan for an executive gun law task force, giving Joe Biden free reign to administer it. Included under his directives are background checks for everyone and an initiative to remold the country’s mental health and gun control laws.

“This time words must lead to action,” Obama said from the White House, offering his directives in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut. “The fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing.” The Wall Street Journal adds:

Mr. Obama’s call for background checks for all gun buyers would close a legal loophole, a move long sought by gun-control advocates and opposed by gun-rights backers. Currently, an individual can sell a weapon to another person, such as at a gun show, without a background check—which gun-control advocates say has allowed firearms to fall into the wrong hands.

The president also said he wants Congress to pass an assault-weapons ban to keep military-style guns off the streets.

It was one of the, if not the most, obnoxious Obama press conferences to date. Which, I suppose, isn’t all that notable, considering the President fears difficult questions from the press, and avoids such events like the Bubonic plague.

His typical strategy was implemented, that is, ramble for several minutes about the same old crap so he can keep the questions to a minimum. And, of course, he was in defense mode, whining about those evil Republicans when questioned about the fiscal cliff. It was five minutes of bitching about John Boehner, and how his “Republican friends” are not compromising over taxes.

While George W. Bush was far too liberal for me — at least, in terms of spending — I’ll give him props for his abstinence from incessant whining, unlike Barack Hussein Obama.

The Sandy Hook elementary shooting in Newtown, Connecticut has, rightfully so, monopolized the news. And now, predictably so, the anti-gun Democrats — or as USA Today describes it, “even the pro-gun Democrats!” — are screaming for gun control, you know, to divert another shooting crisis. Because by tightening gun laws, we will somehow keep guns out of the hands of criminals, or mentally disturbed individuals who have already made up their mind that they are going to go on a shooting spree.

Simply put, if they want ‘em, they’ll find ‘em. Still, political punks like Harry Reid are igniting the topic:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Congress would conduct a “meaningful conversation” about gun laws over the next few weeks to help prevent another tragedy like the one that took the lives of 20 children and 8 adults, including the shooter, in Newtown, Conn., on Friday.

“In the coming days and weeks, we will engage in a meaningful conversation and thoughtful debate about how to change laws and culture that allow this violence to continue to grow,” Reid said. “We have no greater responsibility than keeping our most vulnerable and most precious resource, our children, safe. And every idea should be on the table as we discuss how best to do just that.”

I understand that politicians feel like they have to “do something” after tragedies such as these. But Reid’s remarks about “meaningful conversations” simply indicate a discussion to violate the U.S. Constitution, or specifically, the Second Amendment.

The Sandy Hook shooting was tragic and devastating. No adjective can accurately describe the heartbreak that the families of the deceased are going through. Earlier, I saw an interview with two of the parents of a child that was slain, and it brought tears to my eyes.

But slapping despotic restrictions on Americans’ right to keep and bear arms will not magically cure these disturbed individuals.

It’s like trying to keep a bomb from a Muslim extremist. It just ain’t happening.