January 20, 2009

 

 

"...There's talk on the street; it sounds so familiar

     Great expectations, everybody's watching you

     People you meet, they all seem to know you

     Even your old friends treat you like you're something new

 

     Johnny come lately, the new kid in town  

     Everybody loves you, so don't let them down

 

     You look in her eyes; the music begins to play

      Hopeless romantics, here we go again

      But after awhile, you're looking the other way

      It's those restless hearts that never mend

 

      Johnny come lately, the new kid in town

      Will she still love you when you're not around?

      There's so many things you should have told her,

      but night after night you're willing to hold her,

      Just hold her, tears on your shoulder..."

 

                            - Partial lyrics from the song

                              "New Kid in Town", from the Eagles

 

To All,

     Would you buy a "pre-owned" 2004 Prius from this man?

 

 

New Kid In Town:

     Glenn Thrush reports over at Politico.com about recent maneuvers by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-PRSF) to keep Barack Obama "in his place".

 

     Thrush notes that Pelosi has taken issue with the professed Obama policy of allowing the Bush Tax Cuts to "expire" naturally, as well as Obama's current position of avoiding show-trials-cum-purges of Bush Administration officials who have pissed off the ACLU while winning battles in the War on Terror.

 

      These kinds of turf wars are familiar with the bad old days of Donkey Dominion. Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson cut their eye teeth on walling off Congressional prerogatives from Presidents of both parties.

 

      But one must remember that such "salt and pepper" team tactics are also useful in extracting fundraising and concessions from targeted groups, with Lady Nancy playing the part of the bloodthirsty Liberal and Obama playing the part of the "reasonable" centrist. More insidious than the normal kind of kabuki one sees in such state venues as Sacramento or Albany, it represents the latest attempt by American Liberalism to bring Orwell's worst case scenarios to fruition.

 

     It will take hard work and perfect timing on the intermediate beat to intercept the worst that the New Administration will have to offer. It will be helpful to remember that there will be times when their own failures and disunities can, and should be, exploited when it comes to defending the individual right to keep and bear all arms, modern as well as antique.

 

Link at:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17650.html

 

 

Culture Shock:

     The young woman had flown all the way from Manchester, England, to partake of Guru Eleanor Academia's "Women's Self-Defense" seminar of the weekend of January 16, 2009.

 

     She had come to learn practical techniques from such styles as silat, muy thai, kali, and jeet kune do to take back and help establish similar programs for women in an England confronted by a burgeoning crime rate. With the right training, Guru Eleanor's methods can give otherwise disarmed women a good fighting chance when confronted in close quarters combat.

 

     But strangely enough for a student of such knife oriented systems as those taught by the Magda Institute's eclectic and international base of instructors, she was surprised at the widespread presence of knives being openly carried by many of the instructors and students. She noted to this poster how "...We are not allowed to have knives..." back in England, and seemed (almost) taken aback at this simplest of precautions when walking the mean streets of the San Fernando Valley.

 

     Remember, this is a young woman who has decided to take her own security precautions into her own hands, rather than rely on a constabulary and a British justice system long on platitudes and short on effectiveness when it comes to understanding the plight of the victims. After all, stories from the British media abound about the "downside" of some UK crime victims trying to defend themselves, even in their own homes.

 

    On the other hand, being exposed to a large group of other women attending the seminar who would rather endorse their signatures on the chest of a would-be assailant with a Spyderco folder than endure victim-hood might just be "the ticket" in this case. As in politics, it often requires educating folks one person at a time to eventually build a movement. Let us hope the message is spread far and wide.

 

Link at:

http://www.cassmagda.com/07website/

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1323758/A-quarter-of-English-are-victims-of-crime.html

 

http://www.reason.com/news/show/28582.html

 

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/07/16/basic-right-of-self-defense-restored-in-britain/

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/dec/07/crime.penal

 

http://www.davekopel.com/2a/Foreign/The-Gold-Standard-of-Gun-Control.htm

 

http://www.secondamendmentlibrary.com/JFPP%20WEBSITE%20FILES/16/Gun%20Control%20in%20England.pdf

 

 

 

We Told You So...:

     Faster than the crack of a 22-250 "Blitz" on the way towards a prairie dog, the White House website is offering up the new Administration's preferred policy initiatives on gun control in the near future.

 

Proposals include:

 

Subjecting all private party transfers of firearms at gun shows to backround checks (so much for Sarah Brady's ability to give hunting rifles as gifts to the grandkids without having law enforcement involved).

 

Permanent private firearms possession information by local law enforcement.

 

Permanently banning possession of certain types of semiautomatic rifles.

 

"Child-proofing" all firearms.

 

Uh, yeah.

 

    Oh well, time to light up the phone trees to all those "Blue Dogs" out there. Otherwise, their political careers might just have to end up resembling that prairie dog mentioned at the top of the post.

 

Link at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/urban_policy/

 

 

Sucker:

     Al Reuters (UK) is reporting about the latest deal to keep the Grey Lady herself, the New York Times, afloat in the face of declining ad revenues and reduced usage by cat owners (It seems that the "green-ink" in the Times causes rashes to the delicate derriere's of the nation's mouse-hunters).

 

     Somehow "Little Pinch" Sulzberger has convinced Mexican Gazillionaire Carlos Slim to loan them a quarter of a billion samolians at the credit card-style rate of 14% (APR).

 

     In other words, that most antigun of major newspapers has just hosed one of the world's richest men (Calling Bernie Madoff- you should have gotten into the news game rather than the investment game, it's not illegal to practice journalism in the US of A).

 

    After all, what are the odds that the Times can sell enough ad space for Saks (cutting back), Macy's (cutting back), Mervyn's (Chapter 7), and Circuit City (room temperature) so as to make next month's minimum payment? Zilch, at this rate. Kind of reminds this poster what happened to the Japanese when they bought Pebble Beach and Radio City Music Hall.

 

    On the other hand, it will be nice to see recipes for posole, menudo, and the proper way to grind leached corn in a metate in the Time's Food Column, instead of all those insipid recipes involving French sauces and novelle cuisine. Perhaps the exposure to salsa made with arbolitos and habaneros will liven things up a bit as well. Hopefully the New York Times' sportswriters can learn to love futbol (soccer to all you gringoes) by the next World Cup. Until then, Stay tuned.

 

Link at:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/companyNewsMolt/idUKN2039256320090120

 

 

This Just In...:

   Per none other than David Gergen, Obama's Inaugural Speech apparently went over like a SCI goose hunt in downtown Manhattan (which might have actually saved US Airways an A320 the other day).

 

   Gergen's polite way of saying that the O-Ster's impression of IL Duce was "dud" comes in the following blog comment:

 

                "...It was not as lofty as I would have anticipated..."

 

 

Well, duh.

 

Take heart, it only goes downhill from here...

 

 

Link at:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/01/gergen-says-spe.html

 

 

Change We Can Hope For:

     David Brauer reports at Minnpost.com that the Minnesota Star Tribune (known affectionately as the "Red Star Tribune" to the folks at FreeRepublic) is bouncing five figure severance checks to a variety of Tribune employees who had the foresight to bail before a Chapter 7 filing.

 

    In other words, that Lefty entity most dedicated to putting Al Franken into the US Senate has apparently run out of shekels to continue pontificating with.

 

    Add to that the dire straights of the LA Times, NY Times, Chicago Tribune, and a host of other Chapter 7 media types who just a couple of months ago were slapping "high fives" in the newsroom over the Obama victory, and one gets the impression that Liberalism's victory is sort of like the one Rommel enjoyed on the outskirts of El Alamein (out of gas, short on ammo).

 

    Oh well, Minnesotans will just have to get their propaganda from Garrison Keillor, PBS, and that one Air America hold out in St. Paul. Too bad, so sad....

 

Link at:

http://www.minnpost.com/braublog/2009/01/20/6003/star_tribune_some_buyout_checks_will_bounce

 

 

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Anthony Canales

SFVMC-NRA