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In order to enter the contest, one must give their full name, email address, and agree to receive one of their daily digests. Oh, and agree to the terms and conditions of the contest, too. Here's the promo:

The Daily Caller will be giving away one gun per week until Election Day – November 6, 2012.

The FMK9C1 is an American-made high capacity 9mm designed by Jim Pontillo and manufactured in
California. Each gun is engraved with the Bill of Rights and comes in one of three colors.

To enter this week’s contest, simply sign up below to receive updates from The Daily Caller. Our DC
Morning emails are an informative and amusing way to keep up with the latest news.

According to the terms and conditions, contestants must undergo a background check and file the necessary forms with the ATF in order to actually receive their custom-colored, high-powered pistol.

W.T.F.? Media Matters has more on Jim Pontillo, manufacturer of the spiffy prize:

Pontillo has also published some creepily bizarre stuff that transcends mere fringy-ness and is actually pretty alarming. Like his one-act play about the Virginia Tech massacre (written from the point of view of the murder weapon). And his belief that "we should send the U.S. Military down to Mexico, seize their oil fields, and confiscate the proceeds until the Mexican government changes its policy of encouraging their population to come here for work and send money home, all subsidized by American taxpayers."

Dave Weigel:

So far, only the wags at Media Matters have explored beyond the stunt to find out more about Pontillo. He's the kind of gun manufacturer who likes to write Human Events columns about how Arizona's SB1070 was " a warning to a despotic administration that the American people are only going to tolerate a limited amount of assault on their sovereignty." But that was two years ago, and Pontillo, like most conservatives who talk this way, decided that winning the 2010 midterms was probably better than open rebellion. I showed Carlson the Arizona column, just to check. "A little rebellion once in a while isn't a bad thing," he said.

This aligns with the much-touted conservative belief that in the day and age where "liberals" are in charge, conservatives need their guns because otherwise their freedoms will die in the fire of liberal socialism. Yet, it's conservatives who are killing our freedoms with their assault on women, schools, libraries, and universities.

Remember when they wail about gun shortages that all they have to do is agree to receive right-wing pap in their inbox to have a chance to be one of the lucky rebels that can jam a gun in their pants and tell the rest of us what to do.

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It's confirmed on a national basis now. Fox News really does make you dumber, as if those of us who have had to watch it for even a few minutes haven't figured that out. Not only does it make viewers dumber, but they'd be more informed and better off if they watched no news at all.

That's a stunning conclusion, because it proves they actually succeed at indoctrinating their audience with falsehoods. Via Huffington Post, news of an updated study to the one last year, this time on a national basis:

Researchers at Fairleigh Dickinson University updated a study they had conducted in late 2011. That study only sampled respondents from New Jersey, where the university is located. This time, the researchers conducted a nationwide poll.

The poll asked questions about international news (Iran, Egypt, Syria and Greece were included) and domestic affairs (Republican primaries, Congress, unemployment and the Keystone XL pipeline.)

The pollsters found that people were usually able to answer 1.8 out of 4 questions on foreign news, and 1.6 of 5 questions on domestic news, and that people who don't watch any news were able to get 1.22 of the questions on domestic policy right.

As the study explained, though, people who watched only Fox News fared worse:

The largest effect is that of Fox News: all else being equal, someone who watched only Fox News would be expected to answer just 1.04 domestic questions correctly -- a figure which is significantly worse than if they had reported watching no media at all. On the other hand, if they listened only to NPR, they would be expected to answer 1.51 questions correctly; viewers of Sunday morning talk shows fare similarly well. And people watching only "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" could answer about 1.42 questions correctly.

According to the study, Fox News is more likely to make conservatives dumber, proving that they reinforce factless assertions:

The study showed that the effects of ideologically-pitched media, like Fox News, MSNBC and talk radio, depend on who is listening or watching. On the whole, MSNBC, for instance, had no impact on political knowledge one way or the other. However, liberals who watched MSNBC did better on the knowledge questions, answering correctly 1.89 of the domestic questions and 1.64 of the international questions correctly. Similarly, while moderates and liberals who watch Fox News do worse at answering the questions than others, conservatives who watch Fox do no worse than people who watch no news at all. Talk radio also had differential effects depending on the ideology of the listener, but they were much smaller. None of the other news media had effects that depended on ideology.

The real bottom line? Watch Jon Stewart. Those viewers were better informed than any of the others except NPR listeners.

As the time for new business at the Amazon shareholder meeting Thursday morning arrived, the audience grew restless. For those of us holding legal proxies or actual shares, a confrontation was coming on issues around political disclosure, climate change, ALEC funding, workplace conditions and Amazon's corporate taxes.

Two shareholder initiatives had qualified for the official ballot: Climate change transparency and accountability and transparency about corporate political contributions to candidates and organizations.

In addition to Jeffrey Bezos, Amazon's board of directors consists of venture capitalists and corporate CEOs, which is fairly typical for a public company. That group, for whatever reason, decided to recommend against political transparency and a climate change disclosure and transparency policy.

Amazon and Political Transparency

Bruce Herbert is founder and CEO of Newground Social Investment, and he was the author and filer of the political disclosure resolution, which he read aloud at the meeting. The resolution called for disclosure and review of all corporate political contributions, who they were paid to, identification of the Amazon official authorizing the disclosure with a statement of their purpose in authorizing it, and for all information on these expenditures to be posted on the Company website.

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But really, all of that was just the pre-game show for the rollout of the Iowa Republican Party proposed platform, which is so completely bizarre it is only worthy of a man like Steve King. Here are some highlights:

• 18 separate anti-abortion planks: Everything from the personhood amendment to a 3-day waiting period with ultrasound at the woman's expense before an abortion can be performed which may not be paid for with state funds and in the case of an underage girl, must require parental consent before her ladyparts may be touched by any doctor to statistical reporting of all abortions to the state to banning Planned Parenthood and RU-486.
• Bizarre federal budget restrictions - Yes, a demand for an immediate $1 trillion reduction to the budget but that reduction will not be from the defense budget, bans on spending to build bike paths, but only a 10% salary cut to Congresscritters who actually fail to balance the budget.
• Free passes to all businesses in all things!
• Prison reforms! These include making inmates work for their room and board (in the fields, perhaps?), reinstating the death penalty and juror nullification.
• Free markets for education! Because you know, those education free markets? They're just what the country needs to make sure Republicans remain in power because the electorate is too stupid to know what they've done to the country. Also? Just say no to compulsory preschool. Can't have the kiddies learn to read too awfully early. (They haven't privatized preschool yet?)

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All politics is local, and my particular district is a battleground for the June 5th California open primary. Our Democratic candidate is Julia Brownley and the tea party corporate Republican is thug Young Gun Nominee Tony Strickland. Tony is definitely the preferred corporate candidate, and corporate donors who supported Gallegly have flocked to Tony, building his war chest up to five times the amount of any other candidate. Still, Republicans are hedging their bets with an "independent" candidate, and Gallegly's individual donors have stepped up to support that alleged independent.

Meet Linda Parks. She loves rocky road ice cream and will make everything warm and fuzzy in Congress, being a centrist, compromising sort running a campaign where she stands for pretty much nothing. We also have a couple of corporate Democrat vanity candidates, but at least they call themselves Democrats. Parks, on the other hand, wants voters to think she's a true "independent." Also? She won't say who she would caucus with if elected.

I decided to see if I could figure it out.

In her first ad (above), Parks tells voters she doesn't take corporate money and she doesn't do their bidding. Period. Sure, she doesn't. I went and had a look at Parks' donors, and to my great surprise...no, I really wasn't surprised...many of Parks' individual donors were Elton Gallegly's individual donors. Her political consultants orchestrated the Schwartzenegger defeat of Gray Davis, not to mention Pete Wilson's election over Jerry Brown. Her pollster (hired right out of the gate) lists Voter ID as one of the "sensitive" issues they poll "discreetly.

This is why I loathe the California Open Primary law passed in 2010. This was always the strategy. Put a well-known hard-right Republican in the primary against a Republican "independent" and try to knock the Democrat out of the top two. It's why Parks came running hard right at the outset and why she's playing coy with her true colors, which are red and darker red.

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Credit: hart williams

When the first disclosures were filed, the address reported for CRG was easily trackable to Chris Kliesmet and his attorney-wife Mary. Subsequent filings have used a PO Box instead of a street address, but Kliesmet is still a director of the organization and there is no reason to suspect that anything has changed.

When I started looking at this group in connection with the sleazeball tactics they employed against teachers, I started with this post by Hart Williams, which is long and goes through many twisty passages, but also has documentation for everything. Williams was able to link up CRG with the Wisconsin Club for Growth and Eric O'Keefe, who we know is connected to American Majority (the Ned Ryun effort out of Kansas), the Sam Adams Alliance, former executive director of the National Libertarian Party, and more.

Eric O'Keefe is one of the Kochtopus' best operatives, and so, it should come as no surprise to discover that the Wisconsin Club for Growth gave CRG a grant in 2009. Here's what that grant was for, according to the Wisconsin Club for Growth tax filing:

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Just in case it's not easy readable, I'll quote:

Grants were given to promote education and mobilize support for a fiscally responsible budget in Milwaukee County including proposals to lower costs by outsourcing services. A fiscally responsible budget passed that included outsourcing of custodial and security services and a minimal tax levy increase.

That grant to CRG was for $126,500. It was, according to the Club for Growth return, all paid in 2009. The identification number on the postcard filing matches the identification number on the Club for Growth filing.

CRG filed a postcard return with the IRS for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2009, just as it had for 2008, 2010, and 2011. There are special rules connected with the postcard filing. For example, an organization could receive more than $50,000 in one year, (the usual threshold for the postcard filing) and still file via postcard as long as their average receipts were less than $50,000 over a three-year period.

Let's see if they qualified. In 2007, CRG received 40,959. In 2009, CRG received at least $126,500. Assuming no receipts in 2008, the average receipts comes out to $55,819.67, which exceeds the permissible threshold for filing an information-free return. Oops!

Why is this important? It's important because it seems clear that the Wisconsin Club for Growth used CRG and other allied right wing groups as funnels and fronts to avoid accountability for purely evil acts like publishing an enemies list of public school teachers, for example. It's important because there might have been at least a shred of accountability for their prior bad acts. And yes, there have been many.

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President Obama spoke at the high school commencement Monday night about the power of community, the "bigness of spirit," and the value of unity.

The gist of his message centered on how a community set aside its differences to come together and rebuild after the tornado that nearly wiped out the entire city. His themes touched on the "power of shared effort," and forging a new vision when everything seems hopeless. His primary themes of hope and community are woven throughout the entire twenty minutes. I thought it was an inspiring and touching speech. If it needs a summation, it is his statement that "we are better together than on our own."

At one point in the speech, he mentioned that right after the tornado, the community came together for a meeting and each person was given a Post-it note to write down what their vision was for the community. 1500 Post-its later, there is a wall with all of them on it, and architects are following the suggestions for the rebuilding process. The President quipped, "I'm thinking of trying it with Congress! Give them some Post-it notes."

In a climate where cynicism and negativity seems to rule the day, it's worth taking the twenty minutes to watch this and no matter what you think of the man, his message is true, and it does not depend on him. For me, it's worth remembering that I do this thing, writing, researching, sharing -- blogging -- because I want a record that says we truly are better together than we are alone, and working toward that goal every day is worth enduring the negative and the cynical.

I hope it inspires you today, at least a little bit.

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That image is of a full-page newspaper ad taken out in the Janesville Gazette, the local newspaper in Paul Ryan's district. What it is, is thuggery in typeset letters. The names you can't read in the image are the names of teachers in Janesville who signed the petition to recall Scott Walker. Next to their names, is their salary. At the bottom of the ad, there is a space to sign to "opt-out" of any teacher's classroom who signed the petition.

This is part of the strategy the Heartland Institute laid out for breaking the teachers' union and holding onto the their water boy, Scott Walker. According to Blogging Blue, this is part of an intimidation strategy to suppress enthusiasm, free speech, and the right to have a voice in one's government. Cognitive Dissidence outlines the strategy as outlined in Heartland's 2012 Funding Plan, released in January:

The recall elections of 2012 amount to a referenda on collective bargaining reform at the state level, making them of national interest. Successful recalls would be a major setback to the national effort to rein in public sector compensation and union power. Heartland is the largest and most influential national free-market think tank in the Midwest, so we are in the right place and with the right resources to help defend and secure Wisconsin’s recent gains.

We are contemplating five projects:

1. Recruit and promote superintendents who support Act 10
2. Explain the benefits of Act 10
3. Document the shortcomings of public schools in Wisconsin
4. Expose teacher pay in key districts
5. Create blogs that shadow small town newspaper coverage of the controversy

We anticipate that this project will cost about $612,000. Maureen Martin, Heartland’s legal counsel, with be the chief researcher and writer for this project. The anonymous donor has pledged $100,000 toward this project. We are circulating a proposal to other potential funders.

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Republicans have settled on a strategy for extending the Bush tax cuts that seems counterintuitive and destructive to the economy: Revive the debt ceiling battle. John Boehner tossed the first salvo this week when he held a press conference to declare that there would be no further increases in the debt ceiling without one-for-one spending cuts. This is his declaration after he also declared that the triggers in the last "deal" weren't ones he was willing to abide by. In other words, he will renege on the deal made last summer in order to try and kill Social Security and Medicare.

Mitch McConnell played that card in his interview with Bob Schieffer this morning where he dropped a few bombs into the dialogue. He begins with his usual snide comments about how President Obama "needs to act like an adult", which is nothing other than code for calling the President to heel to Republicans' demands. And what are those demands?

McConnell told host Bob Schieffer that the president has had three-and-a-half years to tackle the deficit, but "we could not get this president to do anything serious about entitlement reform, for example, the single biggest threat to future generations."

This is, of course, untrue, but McConnell doesn't stop with that generalization. No, he elaborates, saying that US national debt exceeds the US economy, which "makes us like Greece." Not so much, Senator McConnell.

Here are some questions Bob Schieffer should have asked and didn't:

1. Why are Republicans intent on cutting Medicare and Social Security when the bulk of our national debt is the result of Bush tax cuts?
2. Why are Republicans ignoring the FACT that federal spending and the deficit are lower today than they were at the end of the Bush administration?
3. Why is Republicans' word worthless? They agreed to the "deal" made at the last debt ceiling raise, and they're reneging. Who's the adult again?

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Mitt Romney's time at Bain Capital is one of the few quantifiable ways voters can see how he intends to approach employment issues and corporations, and the Obama campaign has done a terrific job of pointing out the "vulture capitalist" Romney so desperately tries to hide. In fact, they launched a new website this week highlighting the swath of devastation Romney left behind. It gives details about the different companies they stripped of all assets in order to maximize profit to investors.

Also this week, Joe Biden gave a speech where he was on fire -- as on fire as I've ever heard him -- about the differences between the middle class and the 1 percent and why Romney's Bain Capital profit model was guaranteed to benefit only the rich while further destroying the middle class and leaving them farther behind. It was a speech for the ages. It also had Republicans on the run, scurrying to counter the message in the Wall Street Journal and wherever else they could spread the word.

So this morning on Meet the Press Mayor Cory Booker just managed to undo all of that work with a few measured sentences. Start at about 5:31 of the video clip embedded above and watch until you hear Booker tell the panel that he's "uncomfortable" with the attacks on private equity. Via TPM:

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday, Newark Mayor and Obama bundler Cory Booker said he was “uncomfortable” with the Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s career with Bain Capital.

“It’s a distraction from the real issues,” Booker said, of both attacks on Bain and Rev. Jeremiah Wright. “It’s either gonna be a small campaign about this crap, or it’s gonna be a big campaign about the issues the American public cares about.”

“I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity,” Booker added. “If you look at the totality of Bain Capital’s record, they’ve done a lot to support businesses — to grow businesses. And this to me, I’m very uncomfortable.”

Well, Mayor Booker. Thank you so much for that false equivalence. The Bain Capital issues strike right at the heart of what this campaign is about. Are we a country of financialists or a country of opportunity and growth for the middle class? Is the goal to maximize profit at the expense of workers or is the goal to simply strip the value from companies in order to reward the private equity investors.

To be clear, there is absolutely no equivalence between the bogus Reverend Wright revival and Romney's actions while at Bain Capital.

Digby:

If Romney can't be criticized for his vulture capitalism and we can't "indict" private equity then what does he think this campaign should be about? The deficit? Some abstract notions of "jobs" and "the economy" without any reference to the fact that it was the financial sector and "private equity" that caused this situation in the first place? Sounds perfect. For Wall Street.

Sadly, this is exactly the kind of concern trolling that will make the Village declare that the Democrats are hitting below the belt by criticizing Bain Capital and the Dems will fall in line. Indeed, the fact that it's Cory Booker who's saying it today indicates that it's the Democrats themselves saying "stop us before we hurt the Masters of the Universe's feelings again."

Yes, this. Exactly this. Already the RNC has popped out with their version of "even Democrats agree with us" on this issue, thanks to the careless remarks of Mayor Booker, and even though he attempted a halfhearted walkback via Twitter, he did a terrific job of stepping on the success of last week's campaign messaging.

Please, politicians. Stop being so darn polite on these shows. Stop assuming that people like David Gregory will actually try to insert facts into factless discussions. Bain Capital and Romney's conduct while there is absolutely relevant to this election and no one should think otherwise.

Update: Mayor Booker responds to the criticism: