October 17, 2006

"...But don't waste your breath telling that to the leaders of

     my party today. In their warped way of thinking America is

     the problem, not the solution.

 

    They don't believe there is any real danger in the world except

    that which America brings upon itself through our clumsy and

    misguided foreign policy.

 

    It is not their patriotism- it is their judgment that has been so

    sorely lacking. They claimed Carter's pacifism would lead to

    peace.

 

    They were wrong..."

 

                        -Excerpt from the 2004 Republican Convention

                         Speech by Gov. Zell Miller (D-GA)

 

 

"...Memries,

    Like the corners of my mind

    Misty water-colored memories

    Of the way we were.

    Scattered pictures

    Of the smiles we left behind

    Smiles we gave to one another

    For the way we were

    Can it be that it was all so simple then?

    Or has time re-written every line?

    If we had the chance to do it all again

    Tell me, would we? could we?...

 

                        - Partial lyrics from the song

                          "The Way We Were", by

                          Alan Bergman and Marilyn

                          Bergman

 

 

To All,

     A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

 

 

The Way We Were:

     It was 1992, early November.

 

     The Missus and I were sitting on the second floor veranda of the Swiss Hotel in Sonoma, spending the last days of our honeymoon in the California wine country before heading back to Los Angeles. We were enjoying the cool morning air while looking out over the square.

 

     The country had just come through a tumultuous year, capped off by the election of a relatively unknown governor from Arkansas as President of the United States.

 

     My wife, knowing that I was a political junky of a sort, asked me as to what I thought it was going to be like with the new president in power.

 

     My response, tinged with resignation, was something to the effect that "...Well, he couldn't be as bad as Carter...", or some such flippancy.

 

     Boy, was I wrong.

 

     In politics, as well as history, memories can sometimes be short. But it would behoove us all to go back to those less-than-thrilling days of yesteryear, when Democrat Speaker Tom Foley of Washington State reigned over a 259 to 176 vote margin in the House. And over in the Senate, Democrat George Mitchell of Maine started with a 57 to 43 vote margin, 3 votes shy of having filibuster-proof control of the World's Most Deliberatively Obtuse Debating Society.

 

     The 103rd Congress was to be the proving ground for modern Democrat governing theory. Topics of the day included nationalized healthcare, family and medical leave, a "moderated" NAFTA, and the taxes to pay for the shifting over to a European model of socialism.

 

     And, of course, on the mind of Democrat leaders back then was gun control. The Brady Bunch were pushing for national registration of all firearms, back-round checks on firearms and ammunition transactions, and even were hinting at having a national firearms owner identification card.

 

     Firearms activists remember well those tumultuous 2 years. Despite their best efforts, including a massive "re-awakening" of gun owners grown complacent from the Reagan years, Democrat leaders in the House and Senate pushed through bans on military-style semiautomatics and higher capacity magazines, as well as the now-famous Brady back-round check requirement.

 

    Many of us on the edge of the firearms movement, kibitzers who had yet to get involved, were becoming more incensed every day at the actions of a Democrat Party leadership that obviously did not trust the people to have firearms of types that had been around for generations.

 

    But with that spit in the eye, the passing of the so-called "Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act", in September of 1994, it became crystal clear as to what Democrat Control of Congress meant to firearms rights in these United States.

 

    It should not take any special talents in mathematics to figure out that, despite all the protests, letters, and phone calls, the Democrat leadership passed a major gun ban a scant 7 weeks before a Congressional Mid Term Election. But after some 43 years of continuous rule, perhaps they felt that they had "a lock" on the "true" pulse of the American voter.

 

     Boy, were they wrong.

 

     Perhaps it was that last realization by gun-owners, that the Democrat Leadership in Congress cared not a bit for firearms rights. It had become evident that they had become more beholden to a select special interest bent upon re-enforcing the failure of urban gun control nostrums by completely disarming everyone, everywhere. Many of us thus jumped into the campaign of 1994 in any way we could, and did what we could.

 

     When the dust was settled, the votes counted, and the shock measured on the faces of the Fourth Estate, the 104th Congress was to have a Republican speaker with a 230 to 205 vote margin to work with. In the Senate, after some shifting around, the balance stabilized with a 53 to 47 Republican lead. And this new Republican leadership was fairly cognizant of the pulse of the voter, when it came to firearms rights and freedoms here in these United States.

 

     What was more, Democrat leaders such as Tom Foley were handed their walking papers by their constituents. Foley, who had been a moderately reliable pro-gun Democrat through most of his career, had drunk the Kool-Aid of the Democrat Party's adherence to the national gun ban plank. And, of course, he paid the price, a political death as sure as sunrise.

 

     Fast forward to the Mid Term Election of 2006, and we are confronted with an interesting situation. The Democrats over the past 12 years have learned not to "talk about" gun control. They are even running candidates who, for all appearances, have gotten religion about the right to keep and bear arms.

 

     But the Democrat Leadership has yet to purge the insidious tyranny of gun control and confiscation from their plank and leadership philosophy. And it is clear that, if given the chance again, they will sell out the likes of tomorrow's Tom Foley's without batting an eyelash. Barring a change in the Democrat Party Leadership, whether by a "miraculous" turn at the polls or by a reform revolt from within by savvier, more practical newbies, a vote for even a "pro-gun" Democrat is a vote for the policies of Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, George Soros, and a host of others bent upon diminishing American's abilities to effect self-determination.

 

     It is said that a week is forever in politics. With three weeks to go until November 7, there is still much that is to be done. Given that the so-called public "polls" amount to a concerted effort by a donkey's rump of an Old Media to dissuade certain voters from turning out, anecdotal evidence exists that voter turnout models may confound the public polls yet again. Activists and gunowners should be talking with their friends and neighbors, asking them them search their memories for what it was like the last time the Democrat Leadership was in power. Upon due consideration, it should be clear that without reform within the Democrat Party, the risks are too great to countenance change for only change's sake.

 

Links at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_
Federal_Legislation#103rd_United_States_Congress

 

http://uspolitics.einnews.com/news.php?wid=99466319

 

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/
archive/200610/NAT20061017b.html

 

http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?
secid=1501&status=article&id=245890694091422

 

http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=5547642&nav=8fap

 

http://www2.townonline.com/allston/localRegional/view.bg?
articleid=595665

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8123-2403523,00.html

 

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/kstrassel/?id=110009100

 

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/article_1211439.php/
Stryker_siblings_face_GOP_allegations

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061015/ap_on_bi_ge/coal_power_plants;
_ylt=AraFGsAzYysnlv3SSkRC38myBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

 

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=24939

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15268408/site/newsweek/

 

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/219-10152006-727295.html

 

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2006/10/15/columns/
columns01.txt

 

 

"...And Now, For Something Completely Different..."

     Newsmax.com is reporting that Actress Bo Derek is currently lobbying to halt horsemeat exports to Europe and Japan from the United States.

 

     Given that it is more apropos to sensibly retire and care for horses in their old age, especially those horses that worked all their lives to carry hunters and fisherman up into the highest peaks of the Rockies, it is perhaps best that such exports be halted. Honor, at least, demands it.

 

     Also, it will truly upset the French to have to rely on higher cost European suppliers of horsemeat. And upsetting the French should be high on every Red State American's "to do" list.

 

    Lastly, it will make "Bo" very happy. And that, as Martha Stewart would say, "...is a good thing...".

 

Link at:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/10/16/130615.shtml?s=ic

 

 

 

Respectfully,