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 Copyright ©2003-2008 Anthony Canales |
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 Anthony Canales is the President of the San Fernando Valley NRA Member’s Council. He works as a Quality Control Manager in Glendale, California. He is married with one son. The opinions expressed in 'News Briefs' belong soley to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Rifle Association of America or the NRA Members' Councils of California. |
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03-20-2008
12-31-2007 |
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May 19, 2004
"...Oops..."
-Rumored Quotation from Demolition
Experts in Baghdad after an Iraqi IED
containing a 155mm chemical round
containing Sarin detonated during
their
attempt to disarm it.
"...Thank God..."
-Rumored Quotation from the White
House
after being informed that the IED
failed to
properly disperse the sarin, thereby
not killing
the Demolition Experts and innocent
bystanders.
"...Oh, @#$%&*%$#..."
-Rumored Quotation from the Kerry
Campaign
after said additional evidence of
Iraqi weapons of mass
destruction was confirmed by DoD
testing to have
had about 3 liters of Sarin in it
when it detonated, but
which would have been a more
appropriate in reaction
to recent Kerry Family Fashion
Statements from
the Cannes Film Festival.
To All,
It has been an interesting week, what with
the continued demise of a number of Kerry campaign issues:
What Goes Around....:
Fox News continues on the reporting of this
past weekend's discovery of a conventional 155 mm chemical gas round being
used by Iraqi terrorists in an Improvised Explosive Device.
The report by Liza Porteus notes that the
device failed to disperse the estimated 3-4 liters of Sarin, a nerve agent
capable of killing an individual by skin contact alone. The two bomb disposal
experts are reported to have suffered initial symptoms of sarin exposure, but
have apparently responding to treatment and are doing better.
Of course, the Bush Administration will have
been proven correct on the WMD issue all along to even it's harshest
critics if additional components or precursor chemicals can be identified to
have remained in country. Suffice it to say that reasonable Americans are able
to accept this latest find as evidence, along with the al Samoud missiles and
the documented storage of "agricultural pesticides" adjacent to weapons depots
as sufficient proof of Iraqi WMD's.
Aspects for further consideration by the "Cut
And Run Crowd" is that it is generally not safe under normal military
conditions to leave charged chemical rounds buried in hidden arms caches
(Should there be an accident, the weapons cache and surrounding area would be
heavily contaminated.). If it can be established that the shell was "charged"
over a year ago, then the possibility of Iraqi preparedness to use chemical
rounds during the 2003 invasion may be indicated. This, in turn, would
establish the WMD issue as a casus belli.
On the other hand, indications that the round
was "charged" more recently would seem to indicate the continued availability
of the precursor chemicals and the specialized artillery gas container
projectiles, all of which were banned to Iraq under previous UN regulations.
Whether this is due to the secreting of Iraqi WMD's in hidden caches, or the
hypothetical return of Iraqi WMD components from "friendly" neighboring
states, remains to be seen. In any case, these are the very same items that
Hans Blix and his minions have "certified" as not being in evidence in Iraq
(Of course, if scrap metals contaminated by sarin, VX, zyklon-b or other
organo-phosphates, and mustard show up in the scrap yards of Europe like the
recently reported finds of radiological contamination, then part of the
explanation of what happened to Saddam's stash may be evident.).
The relative dearth of Lamestream Media
coverage on the sarin shell issue is, of course, to be expected. Blame for
this state of affairs must be attributed, in part, to the Lamestreamers being
forced to cover Kerry's stump speeches (Beats counting sheep any time,
anywhere.). But given the Lamestreamers general inclinations to "commit
journalism" on a mass scale, one cannot discount the normal rationale of
philosophical bias. It is thus left to the more conservative outlets in the
traditional media, aided by it's friends in the Blogosphere, to carry the load
in the search for balance in the information wars.
This being said, it is certain that one shell
does not a WMD program make. But it can be finally said that a "smoking gun"
has finally turned up, one enough to lend credence to the intelligence
estimates found throughout the Western World. As such, the Boys and Girls at
Langley might finally be seeing some light at the end of a tunnel that could
have otherwise led to the Mother of All RIFF's. Now, if they can only discover
the next place Osama decides to barbecue some goat, all would be made right in
the world.
Story basis may be found at:
Speaking of Lamestream Bias...:
Nigel Hunt waxes poetic in a Reuters story
yesterday that President Bush may lose "evangelical" support in the upcoming
election.
This latest "Professor Trelawney"-style
prognostication appears to be mostly on the say-so of the safely "liberal"
President of Fuller Seminary, Richard Mouw. Mouw has been the recent recipient
of laudatory articles in the Los Angeles Times's Sunday magazine, which is as
sure a sign of Left-wing bona fides as exists this side of Andromeda. The
advent of "post-evangelicals" such as Mouw in the universities promises a
furtherance of Hegelian principles among the nation's seminaries, which in
turn promises a lack of goal congruence between lay leadership and the
certificated clergy for the forseeable future.
In contrast to this opinion, one is directed
to the interesting by-play happening among American Catholic bishops of late,
who seem to be finally imposing some standards of adherence to the faith on
such "wayward" pols as John Kerry. Kerry had to come all the way to the Left
Coast to visit with Cardinal Mahoney, of the Los Angeles Diocese, before he
would be possibly subject to "gentle" admonishment on matters related to the
Catechism.
It does not take much to envision that the
religious sentiments of the voters have an effect on how they choose
candidates for office. One only has to go back to the heyday of the Christian
Coalition to know that such things can have an important political effect. But
one must maintain an up-to-date scorecard on political players, especially
those surreptitious attempts that may mislead less informed souls as to true
beliefs and objectives. As with used cars and long-distance wireless plans,
the operative rule remains caveat emptor. Stay tuned.
Story basis may be found at:
Stand and Deliver:
Imagine what Western Civilization would have
been like if Charles Martell had not stood firm against the Saracens at
Poitiers.
Imagine what American History would have been
like if the Colonials had dispersed at Concord's North Bridge, or if Union
Forces had not held the line at Gettysburg.
Imagine Modern History if Churchill had
negotiated a separate peace with Hitler, or Reagan had caved at Reykjavik (or
even with former Fed Chairman Arthur Burns, on the tax cut issue as noted by
Peter Robinson).
In essence, any of the above would have
dynamically changed history as we know it. If it were not for a certain amount
of adherence to principle at Poitiers, otherwise known to some as "rigidity",
Gloria Steinem, Hillary Rodham, Barbara Streisand, and Karen Hughes might to
this day be constrained by Islamic custom to a status what Western liberals
would perceive to be second-class.
Yet it is also common for those used to
political expediency to miss the signals as to when it is time to make a
stand. An example of this type of thinking can be found in the latest Dick
Morris article. Here the adroit political tactician calls for tossing the
Iraqis into the Inferno, as well as showing the rest of the world that the
same country that produced the soldiers that held at Guadalcanal, Omaha Beach,
Bastogne, and Chosin Resevoir can somehow not face up to bandits and
terrorists. This noble deed is apparently predicated upon Morris' reliance
upon public polling with relatively small samples sizes and "push-type"
questions.
Of course, it is logical to wonder about the
Iraqis, as to whether they will be able to peacefully govern in a post-Saddam
era. After all, a country so demonstrably full of arms caches as Iraq was
somehow not blessed by a people with the fortitude to depose the Butcher from
Tikrit (Yet are able to produce enough street thugs to bite the hand that is
trying to help it come into the civilized world).
But it is somehow untoward, almost
Un-American, to pull out yet again on a people that Americans had offered the
hope of democracy to. In fact, if anything would confirm the Left-Wing's
portrayal of the current situation in Iraq as another Viet Nam, it would be
for the sight of another American evacuation from a foreign capital. And this
time, with less than 2% of the casualities. Perhaps this time it is best to
put calculation in the cupboard, and to toss partisan gain into the trash
compactor. If the USA stands and delivers in Iraq this time, the message that
it is unwise to "mess with" the United States will have been sent to those
fools who think they have the measure of free men and women.
And if it is hard for some to stand by the
nation's word for the sake of some people in a far away land, then perhaps
they would best stand fast for the sake of the memory of those who have so
recently paid the price. At least for the memory of these Americans can the
order to stand and deliver mean something besides dishonor and waste.
Story basis may be found at:
Respectfully,
Anthony Canales
SFVMC-NRA
Copyright 2004
Anthony Canales
All rights
reserved
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