Someone should do a mental health check on Roger Ailes before letting him do any more damage. It's not bad enough that the Fox News anchors have gone utterly crazy over Joe Biden's declaration that executive orders could well be part of a
January 10, 2013

Someone should do a mental health check on Roger Ailes before letting him do any more damage. It's not bad enough that the Fox News anchors have gone utterly crazy over Joe Biden's declaration that executive orders could well be part of a package of gun control measures, but now we have Fox touting a gun owners' coalition putting on Gun Appreciation Day on January 19th.

These people have some serious obsessions with weapons of human destruction. Gun appreciation ranks right up there with worshipping at the drone altar as something I would not be caught dead doing.

According to the Fox News website, "the coalition behind the gun appreciation day includes the Second Amendment Foundation, Special Operations Speaks, Revolution PAC and the Conservative Action Fund." They're a bit hot under the collar and shaking their fists with threats:

“We need to ban politicians who assault our rights, not firearms that are used thousands of times a day to protect lives and property from criminal attack,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

I decided to have a look at these organizations a bit more closely, given that I was sure they were "educating the public about conservative values like liberty and gun ownership." If I had a quarter for every time I've read that phrase in federal disclosures lately, I'd be wealthy beyond belief.

The Second Amendment Foundation

The Second Amendment Foundation had an interesting disclosure buried on the back pages. It seems they have nearly $1.5 million invested in "radio and TV station ownership" and an internet media website. Like Glenn Beck's outfit, maybe?

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That's sort of scary, don't you think? No wonder we can't have nice things, when gun nuts own media? Here's the list of what they own. Each station is owned 50 percent by this foundation.

  • KSRN Radio, Inc. Bellevue, Washington
  • KITZ Radio, Inc, Bellevue, Washington
  • KBNP Radio, Inc, Bellevue, Washington

KBNP Radio seems to be the big money maker, with around $135,000 in income for 2011. It's billed as The Money Station, and features Bruce Williams and Lou Dobbs as the big names, with a lot of money tips in between. Awesome that they can send all that free advertising for gun appreciation over to the radio stations.

KITZ Radio is all talk, presumably all right wing talk. KBNP is another Money Station, but it broadcasts in the Portland, Oregon market.

The SAF is the brain child of Alan Gottlieb, shown above in an interview with Bill O'Reilly. He also runs the radio stations.

Special Operations Speaks

This is a far right PAC led by Retired Brigadier General Joe Stringham, who has an interesting past. Via the Center for Public Integrity:

By 1993, the company was active in Angola, providing aerial surveillance operations to oil companies. AirScan’s mission is to patrol oil pipelines and installations to detect and counter guerilla activity by the secessionist Front for the Liberation of Cabinda (FLEC) and by UNITA forces.

AirScan’s commander in Angola was U.S. Brigadier General Joe Stringham, a decorated Special Forces veteran who commanded U.S. military advisors engaged in the unacknowledged war in El Salvador.

Revolution PAC

RevolutionPAC is run by Dan Backer and Lawrence Hunter, PhD. From their "About" page:

Dr. Hunter was a White House policy advisor to President Ronald Reagan. He was also Chief Economist and political advisor for Jack Kemp at Empower America between 1996 and 2005. During the 1996 presidential campaign, he served as a member of Senator Bob Dole’s Task Force on Tax Reduction and Tax Reform and on the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform. He currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board of "Gold Standard 2012," the monetary reform initiative of American Principles in Action (APIA).

Revolution PAC was created to help Ron Paul's bid for the presidency. Now it's joining the parade to worship guns! Yeeeeha.

Finally, the Conservative Action Fund is exactly what the name implies. Their next event according to their website, gun worship day notwithstanding, is an evening with Ann Coulter.

There you go. The groups are lining up to worship AR 15s even as I write, I'm sure. Because you know, there's nothing quite as warm and comforting as a gun in your hand and another on the altar.

Body armor optional, I'm sure.

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