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A former Republican candidate for Agricultural commissioner in Alabama, who once waved a rifle in a campaign ad about "thugs and criminals," said on Thursday that he had been a victim of "conspiracies" after his second shoplifting arrest in six months.

According to the blog Yellow Hammer, Dale Peterson was arrested at a Sam's Club in Hoover on Wednesday for stealing cashews. Security personnel reportedly observed the former candidate eating the nuts without paying for them.

Hoover police spokesperson Capt. Jim Coker said that Peterson was arrested for third-degree theft of property and then released from the Hoover City Jail on $1,000 bond at 6:39 p.m. on Wednesday.

In October of last year, Peter had also been charged with third-degree theft of property after he pushed his cart containing paper towels and beer through a checkout line at Walmart without paying.

The Republican later told WAPI radio host Matt Murphy that he intended to pay for the items but left the checkout line when he could no longer resist going to the restroom.

"I had no intention of stealing," Peterson said. "The only intention when I crossed that line was going to pee."

Peterson took to Twitter late Thursday night to explain his side of the story.

"Sometimes there are coincidences. Sometime there are conspiracies. And sometimes there are just facts. #SomethingAintRight," he wrote.

Sometimes there are coincidences. Sometime there are conspiracies. And sometimes there are just facts. #SomethingAintRight

— Dale Peterson (@Dale_Peterson) March 28, 2013

How, exactly, did @yhpolitics know about my day & my handful of cashews before my wife did?

— Dale Peterson (@Dale_Peterson) March 28, 2013

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Almost as soon as it went up yesterday the knives --or guns-- were out for Jim Carrey with this one.

via NBC

In a biting "Hee-Haw" themed Funny or Die spoof, the outspoken comedian takes aim at America's "heartless" gun enthusiasts -- including Charlton Heston, the late actor and former NRA president.

Carrey performed double duty in the video, as both Heston and the twangy lead singer of the band performing the catchy "Cold Dead Hand." (The title is an allusion to Heston's rifle-toting 2000 NRA address, in which he referenced the famous slogan "I'll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.")

"Charlton Heston movies are no longer in demand, and his immortal soul may lay forever in the sand. The angels wouldn't take him up to heaven like he planned, because they couldn't pry the gun from his cold dead hand," Carrey sings, with help from famous peace advocates Mahatma Gandhi, John Lennon and Abraham Lincoln -- all peace promoters assassinated by gunmen.

The lyrics also hit male gun owners below the belt, suggesting that they are overcompensating for an anatomical deficiency:

"You're a big, big man with a little bitty gland, so you need something bigger with a hairpin trigger."

Carrey seems unrepentant.

'Cold Dead Hand' is abt u heartless motherf%ckers unwilling 2 bend 4 the safety of our kids.Sorry if you're offended… say.ly/jtu5rar

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) March 24, 2013

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In his New Rules segment this Friday, Bill Maher took a shot at all of the "gun nuts" out there who are so worried about their 2nd Amendment rights being stripped away, but who, along with a lot of liberals, haven't said anything about the National Defense Authorization Act quietly being passed by Congress, which actually is a threat to our civil liberties in this country.

Maher's right that this is a bi-partisan political problem, but I think the bigger problem with the complacency is that we've got a corporate media out there which for the most part is completely ignoring the problem. It's a shame we'll see it discussed on a comedy show like his but ignored on the "news."

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A New York newspaper this week said that it would hire armed guards because it was sent "suspicious white powder" after publishing the names and addresses of gun owners in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties.

"The Journal News staff is back at work this evening after officials deemed an envelope, containing a suspicious white powder and found with the mail, was not a threat," the paper reported on Wednesday.

White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong said his department would investigate if the incident was related to a map of pistol permit holders that was published late last month after the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

"That would only be conjecture on my part right now," Chong said. "We'll investigate this as we would any similar threat."

New York State Rifle and Pistol Association President Tom King, however, told CNN on Thursday that there was no way a gun owner would have threatened the paper.

"Your assuming that the powder and the threats came from us, I don't believe that they did," King explained. "I think that whoever perpetrated that should be found and should be prosecuted. But what I'm saying is, I don't think you'll find it's anyone from the gun community that did it."

The Rockland County Times reported on Monday that The Journal News had hired armed security guards after receiving an alarming amount of "negative correspondence" by email and phone.

To make matters worse, blogger Christopher Fountain retaliated against the paper by publishing the names and home addresses of Journal News staff. That information was seen by thousands after popular conservative blogger Instapundit linked to the post.

"What's good for the goose is good for the gander," King insisted to CNN. "And if our information is public knowledge, well, then their information is public knowledge."

"I'm sure that the blogger will take down the list as soon as the gun names come down."

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If anyone thought the NRA's Wayne LaPierre's rambling, bizarre speech wasn't quite bad enough this Friday morning and needed just one more dose of right wing crazy to make it through their day, the producers at MSNBC's Hardball managed to find some nut to bring on the air to one up him. Guest host Michael Smerconish and guest David Corn seemed equally appalled when fellow guest, author Steve Siebold, came on and not only defended LaPierre's push to have more armed guards in our nation's schools, but he wants the teachers and students armed as well.

When Smerconish asked him what would happen if a teacher did not want to be armed, Siebold's response was that he wouldn't want his kid going to that school. And when he asked him why he didn't think we should arm all of the children as well if he actually believes that more guns make everyone safer, Siebold responded that they shouldn't be arming children. When Smerconish pointed out that seniors and college students are adults, Seibold was all in for arming them as well.

I don't know where MSNBC found this nut job, but shame on them for giving him an ounce of air time.

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A tea party group in North Carolina is being criticized by local residents after it held a "machine gun social" to raise funds for conservative candidates.

WLOS reported that members of the tea party gathered in Brevard on Saturday to fire various machine guns for donations ranging from $25 to $50. The group said that the money raised would go to political advertising.

"Many attended included [sic] folks from SC, PA and FL and from across the state," Asheville Tea Party/PAC Chair Jane Bilello wrote on Facebook. "Economically, it brought needed dollars to the area. It was done with experts, with the proper equipment, and in a safe location. And, above all, we exercised our second amendment rights to help Constitutionally conservative candidates, iCaucus endorsed, to get elected."

"I believe in the many things that they are doing to try to keep America, 'America' with a capital 'A,'" attendee Rick Gilgis told WLOS. "They are patriotic and they want to preserve the freedoms that we enjoy, that our forefathers envisioned many years ago when they wrote that invaluable, timeless document, the U.S. Constitution."

But not everyone in Brevard was happy about the event.

"We live in a free country, we have the right to do many things that other people don't have the right to do," resident Ann Dergara said. "But, yes, I was shocked. Go join the Army if you want to shoot a machine gun. You're not going to shoot it around your house."

"I understand Second Amendment rights and that but I think, again, we need to do a little bit more to control guns in America," resident Howard Johnson opined.

(h/t: Ashvegas)