Neil Heslin Smeared By Connecticut Carry Gun Lobbying Group

WASHINGTON -- A Connecticut gun lobbying group on Wednesday personally attacked the father of a Sandy Hook school massacre victim, accusing him of "profitting off of the tragedy" and saying a decade-old drug arrest makes him a "poster boy" for background check ineffectiveness.

Connecticut Carry, a nonprofit gun lobbying organization, singled out Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse Lewis was killed in the December school shooting, in a press release. Heslin has testified before Congress and attended events at the White House with President Barack Obama in support of increased background checks for gun purchasers.

Steve King CPAC Speech: Congressman Speaks At Annual Conservative Conference

In a brief speech to the CPAC faithful, Saturday morning, Iowa Rep. Steve King was heavy on religion, asserting that while many of the "pillars of American exceptionalism" involve secular ideas and legal notions -- including free markets -- there was still a "lot more to this country than buy, sell, trade, make, gain."

King discussed his steadfast anti-abortion stance -- casting himself as standing against not just liberal Democrats, but also the "rebranding" effort taking place in the GOP and "political expedience." Where former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels once famously called for a "social truce" -- in which conservatives table social issues to discuss fiscal matters -- King reminded the crowd that he's been winning elections while never quieting on social issues. "Some want to rebrand the GOP," King said, "but they will never rebrand conservatives."

King also has no great love for the comprehensive immigration reform plan working its way through Congress -- calling it a "deconstruction" of the rule of law.

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.com
Author:  Jason Linkins 

Scott Walker CPAC Speech: Governor Speaks At Annual Conservative Conference

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took the stage Saturday at CPAC, praising the assemblage for its support during the fraught Wisconsin recall fight, which Walker won, allowing him to stay in power. His speech was themed around the idea that the states are the laboratories of policy -- "Real reform does not happen in Washington, it happens in the statehouses throughout this country," he said -- and that he, in particular, was leading the way to end "government dependency."

If future GOP presidential runs depend on silver-tongues articulation of dorm-room "makers vs. takers" arguments, then Walker's future is pretty bright.

Liberals vow to ‘fight fire with fire’ over Tory ad attacking Bob Rae

The federal Liberals are vowing to “fight fire with fire” in response to a new Conservative ad attacking interim Liberal leader Bob Rae that will hit television screens this week.

The ad, posted to YouTube on Monday, criticizes Rae’s record when he was premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995 — a period marked by high deficits and one of the worst recessionary periods in the province’s history.

“If he couldn’t run a province, why does he think can run Canada?” says the announcer in the ad, which also claims that Rae turned Ontario into the “welfare capital of Canada.” The ad begins by stamping the word “failure” in red across Rae’s face.

On Monday, Rae defended his record as leader of the provincial NDP and as premier, compared with the Conservatives.

“I started subways; they destroyed them. I build social housing; they destroy it. I build people up; they tear them down,” Rae said. “Plus the Blue Jays won the World Series twice when I was premier.”

CBC lashes out at Quebecor’s $500-million in public subsidies

The CBC is fighting back against Quebecor’s attacks on its $1-billion in annual federal funding, accusing the private broadcaster of receiving $500-million in public subsidies over the last three years without being accountable to taxpayers.

Having been accused for months of being a “money drain,” the CBC is going further than ever in a bid to defend itself, accusing Quebecor Media Inc. of using public subsidies to “make record profits.”

The CBC added that Quebecor president Pierre-Karl Péladeau has “sent over a dozen letters to the Prime Minister and others in government to complain that Radio-Canada does not spend enough money advertising in his newspapers.”

CBC officials refused to release their copies of the letters, adding their goal was simply to correct the impression that Quebecor gets nothing from the public while the CBC receives $1-billion a year in federal funding.

Quebecor publishes newspapers across Canada, runs the dominant TVA network in Quebec and has recently launched the all-news Sun TV, which is in competition with the CBC News Network.

Conservative Complaint Over Sponsorship At NDP Event 'Groundless,' Union Head Says

OTTAWA — The Conservative Party launched a "groundless, strategic assault" against the labour movement, the head of Canada’s largest private sector union said Sunday after the Tories accused the NDP of accepting improper sponsorships from trade unions.

Wayne Hanley, the national president of UFCW Canada, issued a press release Sunday evening after The Huffington Post Canada first reported that the Conservative Party had asked Elections Canada to investigate whether the NDP had broken the law by accepting money from unions to advertise at its national convention in Vancouver last June.

The allegations, Hanley said, are "a groundless, strategic assault on the labour movement, and on ordinary Canadians who are fed up with the vicious, partisan politics the Harper Conservatives are so proud of."

Hanley said the Tories are well aware that ads at fair market value are allowed and there was no election law breach.