Free Republic

We’re talking hundreds of thousands of Americans. From Gun Owners Of America: With the stroke of a pen, the U.S. Justice Department has just subjected hundreds of thousands of Americans to a lifetime gun ban. In an open letter to all licensed firearms dealers, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) unilaterally decided that any person who is prescribed marijuana for medical purposes is prohibited from possessing a firearm. That means over 300,000 people in the states that allow medical marijuana suddenly cannot buy or possess a gun. Oh yeah, and for the many who already own firearms,...

NEW ORLEANS – BP gas station owners across the country are divided over whether the oil giant stained by its handling of the Gulf spill should rebrand U.S. outlets as Amoco or another name as part of its effort to repair the company's badly damaged reputation. Some who have seen their sales plunge because of protests say BP has already sought a fresh start by naming an American to replace its gaffe-prone British CEO, so why not change the name on gas station marquees to Amoco, which once stood for American Oil Co. Others worry that a name change is...

DETROIT — President Obama’s auto task force pressed General Motors and Chrysler to close scores of dealerships without adequately considering the jobs that would be lost or having a firm idea of the cost savings that would be achieved, an audit of the process has concluded. The report by Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program of the Treasury Department, said both carmakers needed to shut down some underperforming dealerships. But it questioned whether the cuts should have been made so quickly, particularly during a recession. The report, released on Sunday, estimated that tens...

About 600 GM dealerships are getting a second life. Of the 1,160 dealers who appealed orders to shut down as part of bankruptcy proceedings, approximately half will be allowed to stay open. But one dealer tells the Detroit News that it's no cause for celebration until the conditions are made clear, possibly as soon as today. "They could make it cost-prohibitive or they could set conditions like they need 30-year site control of our properties, which is what Chrysler is doing," she said. "It should be as simple as if the dealerships are viable and sustainable, they should be reinstated."

RLANDO, Fla. — As he walked out of an auditorium Sunday afternoon, Grant Irwin Sr. pretty much summed up the feelings of Chrysler dealers who had just spent two hours listening the automaker's new management. The 73-year-old dealer from Northwest Oklahoma said he's impressed by the executives installed by Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, and optimistic about new cars and trucks that are coming. But he's also wondering about the short-term, which he and other dealers somehow must survive with an aging model lineup that pushed sales down 36 percent last year.

Nobody’s beating the door down to get into this place,” is how John Willis, an employee at A-Art’s Antiques & Appraisers on Sutter Street in Folsom, describes business during a recession. He said a key signal of a bottoming of the economy’s decline is consumer spending and it’s very apparent right now. “The bottom line,” he said, “is people have been without money for so long that if they had something to sell, they’ve already sold it.” Similar woes are heard from Judy Hansen, manager of the Folsom Mercantile Antique Mall, also in the Folsom Historic District, where more people...

I had a dream the other night. Shopping for a new car, I logged on to a manufacturer's Web site. I found the model I wanted and clicked on my options. Days later, a deliveryman showed up with the car and the relevant paperwork. But then I woke up, back in the real world, where the only way to get a new car is to go to a dealer and haggle with a salesman who keeps ducking out to "check with the manager." In the real world, my dream -- ordering straight from the factory -- is illegal. State laws...

Jim Press, Chrysler's charismatic deputy chief executive, went to Capitol Hill last week and spoke solemnly about the "very difficult decision" of terminating 789 of the automaker's dealers across the country. He assured members of a House committee that the company's executives had "taken every step to make this a soft landing for the dealers involved" and promised to help them as much as possible. *snip* "You have two choices," Press told the group, according to reports. "You can either help us or burn us all down." Many dealers would long remember the warning that followed to those who refused...

"My grandfather paid for Carlisle Chevrolet from his labors. My father paid my grandmother for Carlisle Chevrolet through his efforts. It took me nearly 20 years to pay my parents for Carlisle Chevrolet. It took GM and Chrysler a mere 24 hours to take Carlisle Chevrolet from me."

(Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved Chrysler's motion to reject 789 dealers. The bankruptcy judge said the order rejecting dealership contracts was effective immediately.

Video - Rep. Ted Poe

Why would there be a significant and highly positive correlation between dealer survival and Clinton donors?... it seems clear that something is going on here. Then we got to thinking. Steven Rattner, the Car Czar, is married to Maureen White, one-time national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee..National Finance Chair of the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign.

The investigation into how the apparent redistribution of Chrysler dealer franchises we reported on here and here continues. Joey Smith, Gateway Pundit, Reboot Congress and Libertarian Republican are just some of the blogs that are on the case. What the intrepid bloggers are sifting through is the toxic fallout from the Obama administration's journey to the dark side of corporatist policy - economic fascism: From an economic perspective, fascism meant (and means) an interventionist industrial policy, mercantilism, protectionism, and an ideology that makes the individual subservient to the state. "Ask not what the State can do for you, but what...

More Hope and Change... Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla) lost his Chrysler dealership in Florida. He found out from a fellow colleague. News 10 reported: Even a member of Congress is on Chrysler's dealership hit list. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., a businessman who has owned car dealerships since 1992, learned Thursday that his Venice, Fla., Dodge dealership was among those scheduled to be terminated. "It's an outrage. It's not about me. I'm going to be fine," said Buchanan, the dealership's majority owner. "You're talking over 100,000 jobs. We're supposed to be in the business of creating jobs, not killing jobs." Chrysler...

** Earlier it was reported that the Obama Administration may have targeted GOP donors in deciding which Chrysler dealerships would have to close their doors. ** Last night it was discovered that a Big Dem Donor Group was allowed to keep all 6 Chrysler dealerships open.... And, their local competitors were eliminated by Obama's task force!! 2008 Red and Blue Counties (Flickr) Now here is the latest on the Chrysler closings-- I was sent this earlier today: I have obtained two pdf files from the bankruptcy court. One is the list of dealers to close and the other is the...

Doug Ross has done a little digging and discovered a disturbing pattern in the choices Chrysler (and the Obama administration) made in closing dealerships. It appears there is a real possibility that if you contributed to Republican candidates or the RNC, your number came up and your dealership was yanked.

Chrysler's car dealership network is on the verge of collapse, a U.S. bankruptcy court heard on Monday, as hundreds of dealerships have closed their doors this year and uncertainty about the company's future is driving consumers away. "A lot of these guys right now are just trying to survive," James Arrigo, the co-chairman of Chrysler's National Dealer Counsel said of the company's dealers at a hearing on Monday in U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan. Arrigo, who is one of the company's top-ten selling dealers, according to court papers, says that even he has seen a drop off of about 50...

updated 6:18 p.m. ET, Sun., March. 2, 2008 HIDALGO, Texas - Some are dented, scratched and rusty. Others rattle and belch under faded paint jobs. But the "'98" soaped onto their windshields and a surprise change in Mexican import rules have turned a single year's worth of used cars into pick of the used-car lot. Beginning Monday, only cars built in 1998 — none older and none newer — can be legally imported into Mexico. Car dealers were given notice only a month ago....

The U.S. government will not pursue charges against a Summerville pawnshop owner and 14 other gun dealers accused in a New York City lawsuit of illegally selling weapons, a newspaper reported.Various U.S. attorneys' offices and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined New York's findings against the dealers "do not rise to a level that would support a criminal prosecution," according to a U.S. Department of Justice letter sent to New York City Hall on Tuesday, the New York Daily News reported.The agencies also warned New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration that it could face legal liabilities if...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The FBI is investigating "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade and company executives over allegations that they fraudulently induced investors to open galleries, then ruined them financially. Relying on information from former Kinkade dealers contacted by federal agents, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that the FBI is focusing on issues raised in civil litigation by at least six former Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery owners. At least 10 former dealers in Michigan, Virginia and other states have alleged in arbitration claims that Kinkade - a California native beloved by some but reviled by the art establishment -...

For decades, the Kreuzberg district in Berlin has been a marketplace for all kinds of drugs and recently it has only gotten worse. But now, a group of Turkish mothers have banded together to take back the street. It's "Mothers Without Borders" against the drug dealers.

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombian congressmen are not only using cocaine but buying it in the Congress building, a senior Colombian senator said on Wednesday. "I know names of people who distribute cocaine here in Congress," Sen. Edgar Artunduaga told local RCN television. "There are important officials who distribute and senators and representatives who consume," said Artunduaga, who is deputy speaker of the Senate. Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine but the government has received more than $3 billion in mainly military U.S. aid since 2000 to stamp out the drug trade so Artunduaga's remarks are likely to...

        John Kerry's Crack the Vote Address (Satire)Presidential candidate John Kerry addresses thousands of addicts, many holding signs "WILL VOTE FOR CRACK" at a Crack the Vote rally in Washington D.C. on Saturday.My friends, I have a plan. It's a good plan.  I was talking to Marion Barry (the b*tch set me up) just the other day. He asked me what my drug plan was. I told him that the President's drug plan was the wrong plan at the wrong place at the wrong time.  The president refused to change his policy. The President made drug importation...

No smoking . . . Dr Bolton with his hemp crop. Photo: Jeff Dawson If Keith Bolton has his way, hemp - the great symbol of the hippy North Coast - will be coming to a sewage treatment plant near you very soon. And to your wardrobe, your pantry, your car and your medicine cabinet. Interestingly, the strongest opponents of the Southern Cross University academic's dream are the drug dealers in nearby Nimbin. Man has cultivated hemp for fibre, food and medicine for at least 6000 years and Dr Bolton says that, after a 70-year "blip in history" caused...

THIS IS FROM NRA-HQ --- PLEASE CIRCULATE ==================================== Recent Internet alerts from some "pro-Second Amendment" groups have suggested that the National Rifle Association has either accepted a compromise that would include reenactment of the 1994 Clinton Gun ban and/or the McCain-Reed gun show restrictions, or will not actively fight against their passage in the Senate. Not only are these claims completely false and ridiculous but they are also extremely counterproductive to our legislative strategy and agenda. Gun control groups are spreading the same rumors in hopes of confusing pro-gun senators as to our position in hopes of gaining their support....

NRA Members' Councils of California Please Distribute Widely To All Gun Owners/Groups ----------------------------------- NRA MEMBERS' COUNCILS OF CALIFORNIA02/26/2004 ----------------------------------- NRA Determined To Pass S.1805 The following is a message from H. Paul Payne, NRA Liaison to the Executive Vice President (Wayne LaPierre) and Program Administrator for the NRA Members' Councils of California: ----------------------------------- I have spoken to our NRA Leadership in NRA-HQ and am assured that, contrary to some rumors on the Internet, the NRA is determined to pass S.1805 (the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act") without an extension of the Clinton (so-called Assault Weapon) Gun Ban...

<p>Heroin dealers who target children as young as 12 with free samples and drug packets decorated with cartoon characters have spawned an epidemic of illicit heroin use in Massachusetts and New England, which now has the highest rate of illegal drug use among teenagers in the nation.</p>

<p>A lawsuit filed by Detroit and Wayne County government against what they claimed were irresponsible gun dealers and manufacturers has been thrown out by the Michigan Court of Appeals.</p> <p>In a decision released today, a unanimous, three-judge panel of the court found that legislation enacted in 2000 to bar such suits applied to the action filed amidst great fanfare by former Mayor Dennis Archer and County Prosecutor John O'Hair in 1999.</p>

A West Milwaukee store tops a national gun control group's list of what it calls the nation's worst gun dealers. But the owner of Badger Outdoors Inc., 2339 S. 43rd St., said his store goes out of its way to cooperate with law enforcement authorities. "We run a straight, honest shop here," owner Mick Beatovic said. "If we break the law in this store, I go to prison." Using U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives records regarding guns sold between December 1989 and January 1996, the Washington-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence listed the 10 dealers nationwide...

Ellett Brothers, one of the largest firearm distribution companies in the U.S., has suddenly instituted a new policy for all firearms dealers who do business in any state which borders Kalifiornia! They are calling all licensed dealers who have accounts with them and DEMANDING that the dealers send them pics of the inside and out side of their stores. They are allowing dealers thirty days to provide them with the pics. There is NO federal law requireing anything like this, I do not know if they came up with this on their own, or in response to some effort of...

LOCAL NEWS Thursday, January 16, 2003 Dealers warn of contaminated oil By John Briggs Free Press Staff Writer As many as 53 households in central Vermont may have received a delivery Wednesday of fuel oil contaminated with gasoline. The contaminated home heating oil went to homes in South Burlington, Essex, Jericho and the Montpelier areas, said Moe Forcier of the state's Emergency Management office. He stressed that only Wednesday deliveries were at issue. Forcier said several home-heating fuel dealers received the oil from their bulk dealer, Ultramar in Essex Junction, which had received the contaminated mixture in a railroad car...

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