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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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July 28, 2004
"...But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've
changed
Well something's lost, but something's
gained
In living ev'ry day
I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all..."
-Partial lyrics
from the song
"Both Sides Now", by
Joni Mitchell
To All,
The Elves of News Briefs are working very
hard to confirm the rumor that the song "Both Sides Now" has been nominated
as the official theme song of Kerry/Edwards campaign.
In other news:
Don't Piss On My Back And Tell Me It's
Raining:
Now that John Kerry and his Donkey Party have
dug in on Beacon Hill, a little edification as to what the Knight of the
Woeful Countenance stands for is needed.
Of especial interest to voters-cum-firearms
owners and activists is the following proposed passage to the 2004 Platform
Report of the Democrat Party-
"...Crime and violence. While terrorism
poses an
especially menacing threat to our
nation, a
strong America must remain vigilant
against
the scourge of homegrown crime as
well. We
are proud that Democrats led the
fight to put
more than 100,000 cops on the beat
through
the COPS program, and we will
continue our
steadfast support for COPS and
community
policing. To keep our streets safe
for our
families, we support tough punishment
of
violent crime and smart efforts to
reintegrate
former prisoners into our communities
as
productive citizens. We will crack
down on
the gang violence and drug crime that
devastates so many communities, and
we
will increase drug treatment,
including
mandatory drug courts and mandatory
drug
testing for parolees and
probationers, so
fewer crimes are committed in the
first place.
We support the rights of victims to
be
respected, to be heard, and to be
compen-
sated in the first place. We will
help break the
cycle of domestic violence by
punishing
offenders and standing with victims.
We will
protect Americans' Second Amendment
right
to own firearms, and we will keep
guns out of
the hands of criminals and terrorists
by
fighting gun crime, reauthorizing the
assault
weapons ban, and closing the gun show
loophole, as President Bush proposed
and
failed to do..."
Of course, the above passage reveals much
about the way in which today's Democrat Party views things. For example, a
Party that aspires to run the country and protect the Republic from all
enemies foreign and domestic clearly classifies the international terrorist
threat much as it would classify domestic crime (In other words, with John
Kerry as Commander in Chief, Americans face the spectacle of our troops trying
to "Mirandize" al Qaeda terrorists prior to trying to snap the cuffs on them.
Doesn't that not just make one feel safe and warm, hmmm?).
Likewise with drug crimes, which appear to be
of a like priority to terrorism, there is a suggestion that the existence of
mandatory drug courts and testing will somehow cause fewer drug crimes to be
committed. Short of the kind of invasion of privacy that would be opposed by
every sports and talent agent in the country, one is hard put imagine this
"Minority Report" approach having any real effect. (It's tough enough for
movie stars with certain kinds of criminal records to make action films
without them worrying about being "busted" for being in possession of a
working firearm while on the set.).
Last, but not least, the Democrat's attempt
to resurrect the Forlorn Hope of DiFi and Chuck Schumer is despite the sound
of donkey hooves making haste into the tall grass. Given the Left's proclivity
of denying that American's have an individual right to keep and bear
arms in the first place, it should not be difficult for gun owners to be able
to measure the full sincerity of this particular platform proposal.
Of course, there is still a chance that John
Kerry will somehow reject this platform position for one that recognizes the
individual right to keep and bear arms. After all, it is often commented by
the punditocracy that candidates commonly "run away" from their party's
platforms for the sake of political exigency. Senator Kerry thus has one last
chance, with his speech on Thursday, to demonstrate that he truly intends
to put his community property share where his sanctimony is. Anything less
would simply confirm what Red Staters and William Weld have maintained for
quite a while-
"...Boston Brahmin Speaks With Forked
Tongue..."
Story basis can be found at:
Deadlier Than A Speeding Bullet:
Scott Allen of the Boston Globe wrote
yesterday about one of the more interesting statistical factoids to come along
since the gun confiscation movement started shucking and jiving (mostly
jiving) in 1968.
It seems that, in an attempt to estimate
future market share for the nation's tort attorney's, a health care ranking
group has "determined" that some 195,000 people per year die due to
"preventable" medical errors. Allen reports that this is roughly double that
of the previous determination that some 95,000 people per year die due to
medical error by the nation's hospitals, doctors, and other caregivers.
By way of comparison, less than 10,000 persons
are killed by criminals per year where the weapon used was a firearm (This is
separate from firearms-related suicides, where the gun confiscation movement
has yet to establish that substitution of other lethal methods would not
occur.).
Now, it is certain that such a report would
warm the cockles of John Edwards' heart. But it is clear that the order of
magnitude between the two causes of mortality should be taken into account
when assigning priorities of relative importance for legislative and
administrative purposes. But if doctors, hospitals, and other caregivers are
not pro-active now, at this moment, they face a future of more stringent
oversight by government bureaucrats and a lack of self-determination of their
chosen pursuits. After all, gunowners can speak with the voice of experience
where these things are concerned.
Story basis may be found at:
Northworst:
Audrey Hudson wrote for the Washington Times
yesterday about the strange case of 14 Syrian musicians whose "antics" aboard
Northwest Airlines Flight 327 resulted in fear among at least two passengers,
and a Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation.
As was previously written about by
writer-cum-passenger Annie Jacobsen, the Syrians spent much time out of their
seats in proximity to the lavatories and the cockpit door. What is more, it is
reported that near the end of the flight that one Syrian made a "cutting of
throat" sign to another and muttered "no".
Hudson reports that certain flight crews and
air marshals have been reporting activity that may be described as "dry runs"
by groups of Arabic-appearing men. In addition, she also reports that the
Federal Air Marshal's Association has apparently issued a statement "...backing
the family...".
On the other hand, spokespersons from the
Homeland Security Department, including an Immigration official, have declared
that they believe that the activities of the Syrians were not
terrorist-related, and that they were not terrorists.
Of additional interest in Hudson's story is
the determination that 13 of the 14 men were traveling on expired visas, and
thus were illegally in the country. What is more, those officials that
questioned the 14 men at the end of the flight in Los Angeles were unable to
determine upon inspection that the visas had expired. If it is determined that
the expiration dates were on the face of the visas, it would seem that all of
the concerns about "bureaucratizing" the Homeland Security officers might bear
out.
Stranger still is that the flight crew of
Northwest 327 was unable to keep the Syrians in their seats in the first
place. Mass movements by groups of men as described are not permitted by
flight crews on other airlines such as United Airlines, where Los
Angeles-to-Maui crews recently gave specific instructions to passengers that
the number of passengers out of their assigned seat would be kept to a
minimum, and that "loitering" near the cockpit door would be a security
concern.
In a way, the Syrians were lucky. In the post
9-11, post-Flight 93 environment, they could just have easily run into some
"Let's Roll"-type passengers who were more interested in survival and freedom
from fear than they were in observing certain social graces. What is certain
is that as harassment of Arabic-appearing persons simply over their appearance
is intolerable, so is any kind of perceived threat (joking or not) by anyone
which could be misconstrued as such in a flight situation. As such, the
Syrians should have been more concerned as to how their individual or group
actions appeared, especially any gestures or motions that could be considered
to be a threat. There are currently Americans serving Federal prison time for
making simple, but unfortunate, comments to passengers and flight crew, let
alone making a cutting-of-throat gesture.
It is well within the American experience
that we take self-defense seriously. From the earliest days of the armed
colonies to the current civilian trend towards concealed carry of defensive
firearms, Americans wear the "Don't Tread On Me" label much better than the
"Kick Me" sign that the Internationalist Hootenanny crowd would seemingly
prefer. And whether it is with a comped Government Model .45, or a simple
piece of hickory, it will be a frozen day in the Underworld before Americans
will go down with a whimper, rather than a sock in the teeth. "Furriners"
and/or liberals should take this last to heart.
Story may be found at:
Respectfully,
Anthony Canales
SFVMC-NRA
Copyright 2004 Anthony Canales
All rights reserved.
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