Wayne LaPierre, the CEO of the National Rifle Association, delivered what appeared to be his stock speech, saying the media exploits grief produced by violence by making it about gun control. He read the names of a dozen Americans, all victims of mass shootings, shaming the media for making their killers famous while they are forgotten. His presentation took on the drama of America's Most Wanted as he played the 911 recording of an unarmed woman trying to resist an armed intruder. How safe, he asked women in the audience, do you feel in a dark parking lot? "And these clowns want to ban magazines? Are you kidding me?"
He left no ambiguity about where the NRA stands on congressional efforts to ban large-size magazine clips like the shooter in Tucson used. He patted himself and his organization on the back for maintaining a "respectful silence" in the face of calls for more of what he considers ineffective laws that penalize law-abiding gun owners. "As soon as you leave this hotel, your life is in jeopardy," he said, reciting a laundry list of alarming statistics on the number of Americans who would soon be murdered, maimed, robbed and forcibly raped. He showed a clip out of Cairo with a correspondent reporting on the breakdown in order, and how Egyptians were taking matters into their own hands. "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun," he said.
There was a lot of talk at CPAC about American exceptionalism, and how the elites in Washington, Manhattan, and San Francisco don't believe in it, and how President Obama doesn't command respect in the world the way that, say, Ronald Reagan did. Every speaker paid homage to Reagan; on whatever the subject, and sometimes despite the facts, Reagan is the benchmark for success. But when you translate the American specialness conservatives cite into policy, the results can be disquieting. It apparently means more God, with one display inquiring, "Why are you a conservative?" The most succinct response, "Because God is." It means cracking down on immigration, conveniently forgetting that President Reagan signed an amnesty bill, and of course repealing Obama's health-care law, which Iowa Republican Steve King calls a cancer tumor that must be pulled out by its roots and eradicated before it metastasizes.
A panel on "political correctness" in the military assailed the recent overturning of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy on gay soldiers. Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness claimed the survey of troops was faulty because it relied too heavily on respondents who said they knew and had worked with someone who was gay. That, she said, didn't mean they were ready to overturn DADT.
“As soon as you leave this hotel, your life is in jeopardy.”
Clockwise from left: The audience at CPAC. National Rifle Association Executive Vice President/CEO Wayne LaPierre, Center for Military Readiness President Elaine Donnelly, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. (AP Photo)
Ilario Pantano, a former Marine and a fiery speaker, said that America is a Christian nation, and that's being denied because we have to be tolerant of everybody else's worldview. "It's time to start offending and start talking about God's truth," he declared, concluding to thunderous applause, "The ultimate founding document is the Bible."
A panel on immigration featured Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who wants the federal government to stop sending money to "sanctuary cities" like San Francisco that don't enforce immigration laws, and states that give tuition breaks to illegal immigrants. Another panelist deplored the notion of granting citizenship to illegal immigrants in exchange for military service, wondering how you can trust people to defend the country when they broke the law to get here.
The hearts of many CPAC activists seem to be with the social issues, and among the speakers, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is the embodiment of those issues. Santorum, who is running for president, implored the CPAC audience to join with him in an army anyone can join, one in which they don't need a uniform. After his remarks a questioner asked, "We're all ready to fight, but how do we know when we've won?"
When we repeal Obamacare, reduce the size of government, and get the courts to stop attempting to redefine life and marriage, Santorum responded.
A panel in support of traditional marriage featured two of the very few African Americans attending this conference. Michael Faulkner got a big round of applause for having run against Democrat Charles Rangel in the last election. Bishop Harry Jackson of the Hope Christian Church in Maryland implored the audience to seize the opportunity to bring blacks, Hispanics, and others into the conservative movement based on their shared conservative social values. "Don't throw us under the bus, don't push social issues over to the corner," he declared. "Stand with me and decide if this is a multicultural, multiracial movement. We can change America!"
• Howard Kurtz: Romney Tries MockeryHe brought the almost all-white crowd to their feet, and then a questioner brought everyone back to reality. Noting the shared commitment to traditional marriage and the antiabortion agenda that conservatives share with black Americans, she asked, "Where do we lose them?" Faulkner, who lives in Harlem, took a stab at answering. "It's not our values, it's our message.... It's a disconnect we need to work on."
Conservatives built their movement on a set of social issues and have regularly capitalized on them. These issues took a backseat during the 2010 elections, but their power to motivate these voters is undiminished.
Eleanor Clift is a contributing editor for Newsweek.
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Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today:
Twitter's sky-high valuation. Is the microblogging start-up really worth $10 billion? The eye-popping figure is being bandied about in Silicon Valley, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reports that both Google and Facebook have engaged in "low-level talks" recently to snap up Twitter. Could such rich valuations—Facebook at $50 billion, Groupon at $6 billion and the Huffington Post at $315 million—lead to another tech bubble? A warning from Ethan Kurzweil of Bessemer Venture Partners: "Are these prices justifiable based on financial multiples? No."
Turning your site into a profit center. Ben Lerer, founder of Thrillist.com and Inc. TV veteran, knows a thing or two about making money off of digital content. After all, Thrillist has millions of subscribers, a devoted following, and, following the recent acquisition of JackThreads.com, a bona-fide commerce arm. In a recent post for OPEN Forum, Lerer discusses the need to monetize your site, even if that means going outside your traditional business model. "In the future, the smartest content companies are going to find ways to leverage their big audience to make money in commerce," Lerer writes. "What those guys would be well-served to think about is how best to otherwise monetize the audience they have, and I don't think selling content on the iPad is the answer." The same theory can be applied to commerce companies, that is, building legitimate content to keep audiences interested, Lerer says.
Unemployment reaches lowest levels in three years. Even with severe weather and snowstorms causing temporary layoffs over the last month, unemployment levels continue to steadily decrease. The New York Times reports unemployment applications sunk to their lowest point since July 2008. Unemployment applications currently stand at about 383,000, significantly lower than the recession's low point in March 2009, when applications peaked at 651,000. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, unemployment applications are a good barometer of companies' willingness to hire, but applications would need to sit consistently below 375,000 to indicate a significant decline in the unemployment rate. Nearly 14 million people remain out of work, and 9.4 million people continue to receive unemployment aid.
Maybe the clothes do make the business woman. Months ago, the media had a field day after Swiss Bank UBS AG crafted a detailed 43-page employee code instructing staff members on how to "dress to impress." Now, Harvard Business Review reports that the Center for Work-Life Policy has produced new research showing that the Swiss bank wasn't too far off by suggesting a dress code for women. After surveying over a thousand males and females working in corporate America, more than half of the women agreed that not only does a woman in a high position need to dress conservatively, but that clothing and success go hand-in-hand. The question is who's responsible for providing business women with "constructive feedback" on what to wear and how to wear it. Perhaps their male colleagues? Yeah, right.
From penalty box to corporate suite. It's an unspoken truth: professional athlete entrepreneurs are usually just glorified spokespeople. But today's OPEN Forum has the story of Zenon Konopka, a center for the New York Islanders, who, according to the story, is as passionate about his two businesses, Prime Wine Products and Pure Press Oil, as he is about hockey. As one colleague tells OPEN Forum, "He calls before his pregame naps to talk business, and he texts me at two in the morning with ideas. If he didn't put money in, I would have paid him to be a part of this." Konopka first learned about business as a kid growing up in Ontario, selling produce at a local market, and later, buying a local pub with his family. Now, Konopka is hoping to keep the tradition of running a family business alive. He tells OPEN Forum, "I want to build a business big enough and profitable enough that I have the luxury to have my friends and family involved in the business, working in the business, and able to grow with the business."
BBC's unnoffical archivist. In a effort save money, the BBC announced a couple of months ago that it has plans to cut 172 websites. But fear not. An anonymous good samaritan has taken the time to archive the doomed sites in a BitTorrent file for public access. The cost for copying, archiving, and redistributing the online content from all 172 websites? A mere $3.99. "The purpose of this project is to show how the entire 172 public facing websites that are earmarked for deletion have been copied, archived, distributed and republished online - independently - for the price of a cup of Starbucks coffee," according to the anonymous archivist.
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Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
Hello and welcome back to '7 Days of Search and Social'. Another week, another drama. While I've not looked historically to past years, one does have to wonder.
CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>
CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.
Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.
bench craft company credit card
Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
Hello and welcome back to '7 Days of Search and Social'. Another week, another drama. While I've not looked historically to past years, one does have to wonder.
CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>
CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.
Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.
bench craft company me
Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
Hello and welcome back to '7 Days of Search and Social'. Another week, another drama. While I've not looked historically to past years, one does have to wonder.
CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>
CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.
Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.
bench craft company me
Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
Hello and welcome back to '7 Days of Search and Social'. Another week, another drama. While I've not looked historically to past years, one does have to wonder.
CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>
CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.
Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.
bench craft company me
Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
Hello and welcome back to '7 Days of Search and Social'. Another week, another drama. While I've not looked historically to past years, one does have to wonder.
CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>
CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.
Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.
bench craft company credit card
Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
Hello and welcome back to '7 Days of Search and Social'. Another week, another drama. While I've not looked historically to past years, one does have to wonder.
CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>
CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.
Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.
bench craft company me
Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
Hello and welcome back to '7 Days of Search and Social'. Another week, another drama. While I've not looked historically to past years, one does have to wonder.
CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>
CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.
Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.
bench craft company me
Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
Hello and welcome back to '7 Days of Search and Social'. Another week, another drama. While I've not looked historically to past years, one does have to wonder.
CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>
CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.
Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.
bench craft company credit card
Weekly Search & Social <b>News</b>: 02/15/2011 | Search Engine Journal
Hello and welcome back to '7 Days of Search and Social'. Another week, another drama. While I've not looked historically to past years, one does have to wonder.
CBS <b>News</b> reporter Lara Logan sexually assaulted in Egypt - From <b>...</b>
CBS says Logan was the victim of “a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” while covering the events in Egypt last week.
Small Business <b>News</b>: Happy Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day is here. Talk about a recognizable brand! But what can this day of love teach you about improving your business by building better customer.
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