June 11, 2008

 

 

   "... I sat in on a late-night party once in which the subject of friendship came up,

    and I listened in dumbstruck incredulity as one man explained that his

    friends had to like the same things he did-- that they must not only read

    the same books and magazines he did, and listen to the same music, but

    pretty much share his opinions of all those things. He was followed by an

    attractive young woman who insisted that her friends had to be of her social

    and economic class. At that point I made all of them shut up while I explained

    that a friend is someone who will give you a drink from his canteen and watch

    while you sleep...."

 

                                            - Excerpt of a forward written by Gene Wolfe for the book

                                              "The Complete Hammer's Slammers- Volume One",

                                              by David Drake, Nightshade Books, 2006, detailing

                                              some of the realities of life and combat.

 

 

To All,

     Rise and Shine folks, Election 2008 is here and there is work to be done. One does not win elections against professional street pols-cum-gun-grabbers by walking away from the patronage table in a huff-

 

Reds:

 

     Barack Hussein Obama.

     John Forbes Kerry.

     Albert Arnold Gore, Jr.

     Michael Stanley Dukakis.

     Walter F. Mondale.

     James Earl Carter, Jr.

     George Stanley McGovern.

    

     What is it about almost all of the Presidential Nominees of the Democrat Party since the Watergate Scandal that they pretty much adhere to the Henry Wallace-side-of-the-playpen? (This short list also does not even deal with the nearly- and also-rans, like Howard Dean, Gary Hart, and Ted Kennedy).

 

     Not even when types like McGovern go into the private sector (hotels) and get shorn down to the fascial layer by some of the very laws he voted for as Senator do they reconsider the error of Marx's Ways (Karl, not Groucho, though sometimes it is hard to tell the difference when liberal-themed bills go into the hopper).

 

     Add to this calamity that otherwise loyal pro-gun Congress-critters are constrained to make obeisance to the whip-wielding Lady Pelosi, or face her displeasure and leather-harness-like discipline, and one gets a distinct impression that pro-Second Amendment principles are going to be stuffed away from view in some Mission Street iron maiden.

 

    Thus here we are again, facing off against a Presidential Nominee like Senator Barack Obama who will promise (with a straight face yet) change to voter blocks with interests diametrically opposed from one another.

 

     And one does not even have to talk about the foreign policy problems (What else can one say about the only Presidential candidate possibly ever to be endorsed by Hamas?).

 

     For example, Obama's promise of jobs and an improved economy to voters runs smack dab into an environmentalist agenda that opposes any material lifestyle that rises above that of a subsistence or "sustainable" one. (Don't ask me how they truly intend this to work, after all their failed ecosphere experiences from the 6th grade).

 

     And, of course, his preferences for the kind of health care system that is maintained in Merry Old England (rationing, anyone?) must surely "wow" them down at the AMA.

 

     Still, this is a political column for firearms rights activists, so the Second Amendment is a paramount issue to those gun-owners who may be tempted to vote for change over illusory strawberries. One perhaps should remember that Senator Obama's college and post-graduate education involve Occidental College, Columbia University, and Harvard, ivory towers of the kind that will support the D.C. Gun Ban to the death despite it's failed historical record. Add to that a general antipathy expressed towards handgun ownership, hunting rifle ownership, and even muzzle-loader ownership (Harvardians must be surely aware that Massachusetts's curators of Revolutionary flintlocks generally put trigger locks on any on display to the public), and one gets a generally clear idea that Senator Obama does not truly "grok" the Second Amendment and how we gunowners feel about it.

 

     It is clear, so far, that Senator Obama is the worst of mainstream candidates on the firearms issue. In addition, he would be the President most likely to encourage the kinds of "encroachment" on the civil liberty of firearms ownership that the Brady Bunch and Co. could only dream about after smoking a shipping container full of Maui Wowie.

 

     But it will take " a whole lot of educatin' goin' on out there" to make sure that the worst thing to happen to American gun ownership since George III stays in the Senate, making late night pontifications on C-SPAN. Let's get ready, oil up the (political) Winchesters and light up the phone trees, because the alternative is spitballs at 20 paces against gang-bangers sporting the latest from Izmash.

 

Link at:

http://www.ohiogop.org/misleading-ohio/obama-misfires-guns

 

 

 

Condor Pasa Update- Grand Theft Rancho:

     Folks familiar with the Ahmanson Ranch episode with Washington Mutual, or even the current fracas over water and the delta smelt in Northern California, will recognize the latest happenings in Lebec for what they truly are.

 

    It seems that condors found and captured a mountain range away at the (closed to the public) Bitter Creek National Reserve were found to have elevated blood lead levels. One captured bird apparently even "passed on" while on the treatment table at the LA Zoo (though whether this will mess up their success statistics or not remains to be seen) despite valiant attempts by zoo staff (Hope they sprayed for West Nile, and double-checked the bird for avian influenza).

 

     But even though there are a number of lead-contaminated Superfund sites much closer to the capture area than the hunt zones at Tejon Ranch, and that Tejon Ranch banned the use of traditional ammunition containing lead in 2007, the Center for Biological Diversity, Fish & Wildlife Service, and others were quick to blame Tejon Ranch anyway. This was also despite not having objective evidence that that the lead consumed was from ammunition at Tejon, rather than wheel weights next to a road kill in Frasier Park.

 

     Of course, the upshot of the unsupported claim by "pro-condor" forces is that hunting is suspended at Tejon Ranch for at least 30 days, and possibly longer given recent regulatory changes by the Fish & Wildlife Service making Tejon responsible for any condor mortality in the ranch area slated for development (That is, if Tejon Ranch gets the permits through a review process slated to make the Disney-Topanga Ranch debacle look like a brief interlude).

 

    Now, it is interesting to note of how much "cooperation" Tejon Ranch has extended to the Fish & Wildlife Service and other Greenie factions (Hiring National Audobon's own condor scientist, as well as letting contracts to such pro-preservation academics as Bob Risebrough for EIR review, are part of the "deal".). But it is also interesting to note how much The Center for Biological Diversity and others such as Noel Snyder are holding out for a complete ban on development anywhere on the 289,000 rancho-cum-bird sanctuary-to-be by slamming the work product of their erstwhile colleagues.

 

     That said cooperation has a very similar appearance to the kind of "cooperation" that Colt, Smith & Wesson, and others "extended" (under duress, mind you) to Deval Patrick when Clinton II tried to impose a smart-guns requirement in the late 1990's also does not go unnoticed.

 

     Suffice it to say that if things keep going the way they are currently, hunting opportunities on the largest single piece of private property in Southern California will most likely go the way of hunting opportunities in the East Mojave, Santa Rosa Island, and other locations where the jackboot of preservationism decided to (goose) step down on "permissible" and traditional uses of land and wildlife. Given that Tejon Ranch is almost 100 times larger than Ahmanson was, this could also signify one of the  largest environmental condemnations and attacks on a publicly-traded stock (TRC, http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=trc  ) in the modern era. Given this kind of foothold, and this kind of precedent, no private land is safe from environmental taking in the Coastal Range from Newhall to Carmel. Stay tuned.

 

Link at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24820418/

 

 

 

Respectfully,