August 22, 2005

"...Larry King: ' What do you make, Madame Secretary, of

                     violence as an answer? Well, we were born in

                     violence, right? We had a...'

 

    Secretary Rice: ' Yes. '

 

    Larry King: ' That fellow- When in the course of human

                     events---'

 

    Secretary Rice: ' Right, yes. '

 

     Larry King: ' By the way, what do you think about gun

                      control? '

 

     Sec. Rice: ' Well, Larry, I come out of a -- my own

                      personal experiences in which in Birmingham,

                      Alabama, my father and his friends defended

                      our community in 1962 and 1963 against white

                      nightriders by going to the head of the community,

                      the head of the cul-de-sac, and sitting there

                      armed. And so I'm very concerned about any

                      abridgement of the Second Amendment. I'll tell

                      you that I know that if Bull Connor had had lists

                      of registered weapons, I don't think my father and

                      his friends would have been sitting at the head of

                      the community defending the community. '

 

    Larry King: ' So you would not change the Second Amendment?

                     You would not...'

 

   Sec. Rice: ' I also don't think we get to pick and choose in the

                    Constitution. The Second Amendment is as

                    important as the First Amendment of the....'

 

    Larry King: ' But doesn't having the guns, while its protection,

                     also lead to people killing people? '

 

    Sec. Rice: ' Well, obviously, the sources of violence are many

                    and we need to get at the sources of violence.

                    Obviously, I'm very much in favor of things like

                    backround checks and, you know, and controlling

                    gun shows. And there are lots of things we can do.

                    But we have to be very careful when we start

                    abridging rights that our Founding Fathers thought

                    very important. And on this one, I think that they

                    understood that there might be circumstances that

                    people like my father experienced in Birmingham,

                    Alabama, when, in fact, the police weren't going to

                    protect you. '

 

    Larry King: ' Did you see him take the guns? '

 

    Sec. Rice: ' Oh, absolutely. Every night, he and his friends

                     kind of organized a little brigade.'

 

    Larry King: ' How old were you? '

 

    Sec. Rice: ' I was eight-- eight years old. '

 

    Larry King: ' You remember that? '

 

    Sec. Rice: ' I remember it very, very well...'  ..."

 

 

                    - Partial transcript of an interview between

                      Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and

                      CNN's Larry King on May 11, 2005.

 

 

To All,

    Once again one can find the same old story- terrorists are terrorists, but they can be successfully resisted when the Second Amendment is in force:

 

Hen's Teeth:

     Chip Johnson wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle on August 15 about a problem with a partial solution, involving one Patrick McCullough.

 

     It seems that McCullough, whose personal "castle" is in Oakland, has had a run-in with local toughs who want nothing more than to illegally purvey controlled substances and displace lawful authority within their personal "turfs".

 

    Unfortunately for these juvenile offenders, McCullough is a man with a mission, and the means to carry it out.

 

    In a scuffle with the juvies, McCullough resorted to armed self-defense so as to preserve himself, his family, and his personal liberty. Without having a firearm at that particular moment, it is hard to imagine how McCullough could have withstood an assault outnumbered by youths with a little respect for their fellow beings.

 

    The current standoff is not without it's moments. McCullough's homeowner's insurance carrier decided to settle with the teenager wounded in the assault, rather go to court and prove that the kid was engaging in illegal behavior. And numbers of the local hoodlums periodically stand outside his home and gesture in a way to demonstrate "hostility".

 

    But the good side is that Patrick McCullough is now the proud owner of a rare document in Oakland- a concealed carry permit. McCullough can now come and go without having to feel as helpless against street hoodlums as many other citizens have to feel in other locales from San Ysidro to the Oregon Border. And it will be most interesting to see whether possession of such a permit by McCullough will help prevent any increase of one of the more pernicious of statistics, that of "black-on-black" crime, where his address is concerned.

 

 

    In a state that values the patronage power of a small number of  law enforcement leaders over the ability of citizens to defend themselves, it is heartening to finally see even a limited number of liberal pols finally give at least one individual a chance to defend himself. Perhaps this experiment in Oakland can lead to additional relief on the embargo of carry permits currently being enforced in some of the most crime-ridden of counties. It is time to give the citizenry a fighting chance at protecting their neighborhoods. Stay tuned.

 

Link at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=
/c/a/2005/08/15/BAGDHE7T5D1.DTL

 

 

Nobody Here But Us Citizens:

     Fred Ortega of the Glendale News-Press and Leader wrote a piece  on August 15th about a little gathering of like-minded souls, otherwise known as the Glendale Gun Show.

 

     Since there has been a Glendale Gun Show ever since saber-tooths chased Manfred the Morose Mammoth down Prehistoric Melrose Avenue, one would think that the Fourth Estate would heartily ignore such a banal event as a gun show where families and other lawful sorts congregate without hope of covering some bust of domestic lawbreakers.

 

    But face it, Conrad LaGrasta and Steve Friesen run a show where the rules are enforced, lawful commerce carried out, and citizen groups such as the NRA can hand out material, sign up members, and carry out electronic "real-time" petition drives in the never-ending battle to protect the Second Amendment (Kudos belongs to the San Gabriel Valley Member's Council, for organizing the NRA booth at the show and signing up a number of new members. ).

 

     Now, that is not to mean that the press has given up it's "What Second Amendment?" ways. There was one member of the Fourth Estate present who considered her Canon digital press camera to be "...her weapon of choice..." (The riposte- " Yah, we know") while at the same time admitted that a number of family members also belong to the NRA.

 

    But it is clear from Ortega's coverage of the event that he viewed favorably the focus at the show on gun safety training, secured storage devices (gun safes at reasonable prices), and a transfer dealer that had a prominent location displayed on the top floor of the show.

 

    In short, it was a gun show heavy on lawful citizens, and short on Hollywood-style stereotypes one finds in such scripts as for "Deliverance" or "Natural Born Killers". With gatherings such as these, and having a decent shot at "fair and balanced" press coverage now in the age of the Blog (and real-time "debunking" of Lamestream propaganda), it is perhaps an indicator of future success of the right to keep and bear arms here in the Fool's Golden State.

 

Links at:

http://www.glendalenewspress.com/front/story/
21595p-30526c.html

 

http://www.glendalegunshow.com/

 

 

 

Call To Arms:

     Josephine Hearn reported over Hillnews.com on August 17th that some Blue City Liberal Democrats are "gunning" for Representative Henry Cuellar (D-Texas, CD 28) in next year's Congressional election.

 

    Cuellar, who was an NRA-PVF "A"-rated candidate in the 2004 Cycle, has apparently incurred the wrath of some members of the Party of the Flying Jackass over his positions on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and his support for controlling illegal immigration. Hearn reports that such party luminaries as Charles Rangel and Ted Strickland are planning to support former 28th CD Congressman Ciro Rodriguez in the upcoming Democrat Primary, with fundraising efforts already in the works.

 

    Rodriguez was only able to garner a "C" -rating from the NRA-PVF after four cycles of tenure, which ended in 2004.

 

    Given the popularity of the white-tail hunt in and around Laredo, Texas, there is something kind of "eeeeuw" about Rodriguez's tepid support for the Second Amendment after such a long stint in Congress. It may be that, as long as Cuellar stays loyal to his salt in the Lone Star State, CD 28 voters-cum-gun-owners should have an easy choice in the 2006 Democrat Primary. Stay tuned.

 

    

Links at:

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/
Frontpage/081705/out.html

 

http://www.nrapvf.org/Elections/State.aspx?y=2004&State=TX

 

http://www.nrapvf.org/Elections/State.aspx?y=2002&State=TX

 

 

Respectfully,