Cdn-Firearms Digest Saturday, April 17 2010 Volume 13 : Number 810 In this issue: America's Constitutionalist Revolt Halifax Chronicle-Herald - Latest shooting near premier's home U.S. : Hating the government finally goes mainstream Ontario: Developer's $2M donation helps open outdoors centre Re: 10x nails it: [Clarification of FPC, PAL/POL] LETTER: Paperwork, bureaucracy no deterrent to criminals Canadian Seal Hunters Come Home Early, But The Hunt Was Brutal Why the gun is civilization Obama launches America's Great Outdoors conservation initiative ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:37:49 -0600 From: Joe Gingrich Subject: America's Constitutionalist Revolt http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/lkudlow/2010/lk_04161.shtml America's Constitutionalist Revolt "The No. 1 issue is protect the Constitution." By Lawrence Kudlow April 16, 2010 So much is being written in the mainstream media about who the tea partiers are, but very little is being recorded about what these folks are actually saying. We know that this is a decentralized grassroots movement, with many different voices hailing from many different towns across the country. But the tea-party message comes together in the "Contract From America," the product of an online vote orchestrated by Ryan Hecker, a Houston tea-party activist and national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots. With nearly 500,000 votes recorded in less than two months, this Contract forms a blueprint of tea-party policy goals and beliefs. Of the top-10 planks in the Contract, the No. 1 issue is protect the Constitution. That's followed by reject cap-and-trade, demand a balanced budget and enact fundamental tax reform. And then comes number five: Restore fiscal responsibility and constitutionally limited government in Washington. Note that two of the top-five priorities of the tea partiers mention the Constitution. Filling out the Contract, the bottom-five planks are end runaway government spending; defund, repeal and replace government-run health care; pass an all-of-the-above energy policy; stop the pork; and stop the tax hikes. What's so significant to me about this tea-party Contract From America is the strong emphasis on constitutional limits and restraints on legislation, spending, taxing and government control of the economy. Undoubtedly, the emphasis is there because no one trusts Washington. As I read this Contract, tea partiers are reminding all of us of the need for the Constitution to protect our freedoms. They're calling for a renewal of constitutional values, including -- first and foremost -- a return to constitutional limits on government. The tea partiers who responded to this poll are demanding a rebirth of the consent of the governed. The government works for us, we don't work for it. All this makes me think of President Reagan, who never quite succeeded in gaining a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget, or for limits on spending, or for a two-thirds congressional majority for any new tax hikes. But throughout his presidency, and for many years before, the Gipper argued for constitutional limits on government, especially government spending. And now this message is being echoed perfectly in the tea-party Contract From America. In effect, it picks up where Reagan left off. The tea partiers, whom I call free-market populists, desire a return to Reaganism. In particular, their demands for a balanced budget (third plank), for restoring fiscal responsibility (fifth plank), for ending massive government spending (sixth plank), and for stopping the pork (ninth plank) all underscore the populist revolt against runaway government spending, and therefore runaway government power. There are mentions in the Contract of tax reform and stopping tax hikes. But it is pretty clear to everyone nowadays that the massive run-up in spending of recent years will inevitably result in an equally massive tax-hike movement -- that is, unless the spending is strictly curbed and reduced. Yet the tea partiers don't trust Congress to do this, so they want to bring in constitutional restraint. A recent survey by the Brookings Institution spells out this spend-and-tax problem with great clarity. Under current spending trends, tax-the-rich efforts to bring the deficit to just 3 percent of gross domestic product -- not balance, mind you, but 3 percent deficit -- would require a nearly 80 percent marginal tax rate on the most successful earners. And if taxes are raised across-the-board, the marginal rate would rise to nearly 50 percent for the top earners, with state and local tax burdens bringing it up to 60 percent. Otherwise, a European-style value-added tax (VAT) would become necessary. The tea partiers know this, and they don't like it one bit. And so, at bottom, they have formed a constitutionalist movement to revolt against big government and big taxes -- and oh, by the way, to stand against big-government control of large chunks of the economy, such as energy and health care. Harking back to the Founders' principles of constitutional limits to government is a very powerful message. It's a message of freedom, especially economic freedom. The tea partiers have delivered an extremely accurate diagnostic of what ails America right now: Government is growing too fast, too much, too expensively and in too many places -- and in the process it is crowding out our cherished economic freedom. It's as though the tea partiers are saying this great country will never fulfill its long-run potential to prosper, create jobs and lead the world unless constitutional limits to government are restored. Now, as the tea partiers rally across the country, the big question is only this: Will the political class get it? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:59:31 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Halifax Chronicle-Herald - Latest shooting near premier's home http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1177512.html Latest shooting near premier's home Metro shooting total reaches a dozen; no charges laid By DAVENE JEFFREY, KELLY SHIERS and DAVID JACKSON Staff Reporters Fri. Apr 16 - 4:54 AM A man was shot in the back last night in the region's 12th shooting in a month. And it happened on Premier Darrell Dexter's street. He was just getting home from the Halifax Rainmen playoff game at about the time of the incident and said he only heard about it on the radio news this morning. "These things are disturbing. It doesn't matter really where they happen," he said at Province House. "Our neighbourhood is obviously not immune, and it's part of the ongoing difficulties we see as the propensity for these kinds of incidents takes place." Late last evening, a man showed up at the Dartmouth General Hospital with a bullet wound in his back, said Staff Sgt. Richard Gilroy of Halifax Regional Police. "It's too early to say whether he is co-operating," the officer said. The victim's age, name and condition were not known at press time. A short time earlier, at about 10:40 p.m., police were called to a Dartmouth neighbourhood to a report of shots fired at a house, Gilroy said. Officers found a bullet had entered a home on Stewart Harris Drive, but no one inside was injured, he said. By midnight, investigators were still at the scene. A number of shell casings were reported to have been found outside some duplexes near 75, 77 and 79 Stewart Harris Dr. near Lillian Drive. Dexter, also the MLA for Cole Harbour, said the shooting happened down a hill and around a corner from his house, about 500 metres away. The premier said he didn't know the people who live in the house where the shooting occurred. The rash of shootings seem to be related to drug conflicts, which he said are mobile and mean there's a chance of something happening just about anywhere. "My neighbourhood, I think, would be considered a pretty quiet neighbourhood, and it's just middle-class families going about their lives. The reality is these kinds of incidents can happen no matter where you are in the province." Dexter said the police are on top of the issue. Justice Minister Ross Landry just met with Mayor Peter Kelly, the police chief, and RCMP commander on Wednesday. "I'm satisfied that the full attention of the appropriate departments and the police authorities are being devoted to it," Dexter said. By 11 p.m. there were also reports that the Dartmouth General Hospital's emergency department was in lockdown. Similar security measures have been imposed in metro-area hospitals in the past when shooting victims were being treated. During a lockdown, visitors to emergency departments are restricted. A number of police officers were at the hospital late Thursday evening. It’s the second time in two days a shooting victim has shown up at the hospital. On Wednesday, just before midnight, police were called to the Dartmouth General to find a 22-year-old man had been shot in the foot. Police said the victim wouldn't give them any details about what had happened. They don't even know where the shooting took place. Although his injuries are non-life-threatening, the victim was taken to Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre for further treatment. "Despite his lack of co-operation, we're going to continue our investigation in hopes to lay charges," Const. Brian Palmeter, Halifax Regional Police spokesman, said Thursday. Justice Minister Ross Landry said the police are working hard on their investigations, but they need the public to step up. "I put the onus back on the community here," Landry said at Province House. "One of the missing ingredients is the public coming forward with information that they have and victims speaking up." He said people who are afraid to speak should go to police and it’s the police's job to protect them. Landry said he's satisfied with the work the police are doing. "I'm very optimistic with what they're doing. What I'm not so pleased with is the fact that I feel people need to come forward with information that they have, and I believe as a police officer and as a citizen of Nova Scotia, it's our responsibility," he said. djeffrey@herald.ca kshiers@herald.ca djackson@herald.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:54:31 -0600 From: Joe Gingrich Subject: U.S. : Hating the government finally goes mainstream http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Hating-the-government-finally-goes-mainstream-90852389.html Hating the government finally goes mainstream By: Chris Stirewalt Political Editor April 15, 2010 Three years ago, the Republican establishment piled scorn on the presidential candidacy of Ron Paul. Today, he is in a statistical tie with President Obama in 2012 polling. His son, an ophthalmologist who has never run for elective office, is well ahead of not only the GOP's handpicked candidate for Senate in Kentucky but also both Democratic contenders -- all statewide officeholders. What happened? Did America suddenly develop an insatiable appetite for 74-year-old, cranky congressmen from Texas? Is the gold standard catching on? Paul will not likely be the next president. And his son still faces the most arduous part of his journey as Democrats spend millions to paint him as soft on defense, lax on drug enforcement and too radical on welfare programs. But there's no doubt that hating the government and the powerful interests that pull Washington's strings has gone from the radical precincts of the Right and Left to the mainstream. It turns out that watching Goldman Sachs, the United Auto Workers, public employee unions and a raft of other vampires drain the treasury at America's weakest moment in a generation will make a person pretty hacked off. After Barack Obama's election, Democrats assumed that the American people were battered, bruised and ready for a morphine drip of European-style socialism. Republicans, shocked by their stunning reversals, figured the Democrats were right and started looking for technocrats of their own. And in a political system fueled by special-interest money, it was hard for the leaders of major parties to imagine anything other than an activist government. After all, if you pay for someone to get elected, you don't expect him to just sit there. Just 18 months ago the leaders of both parties were quite sure that Obama would be the popular, transformative president he aspires to be. The Republicans who emerged from the wreckage of November were certain to look a lot more like Charlie Crist and Mitt Romney than Marco Rubio and Ron Paul. But Crist's embrace of Obamanomics seems to have utterly destroyed his chances at a Senate seat that was once his for the taking. Romney, considered a near lock for the 2012 Republican nomination, has seen his candidacy badly damaged by a populist revolt against the passage of a national health care plan that looks like the one he designed for Massachusetts. Obama, who said that passage of his health plan proved that Washington could still do big things, finds himself deeply at odds with an electorate that is not confident of government's ability to do anything at all. His election has turned out to be not the result of a national lurch toward government intervention but his own skill at disguising his policies, the failures of the Republican Party and the bursting of the lending bubble. A year ago, the tea parties caught most everyone by surprise. It was a conservative flash mob and hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets. Republicans scrambled to get to the head of the parade and Democrats claimed that it was all a put-up job by their enemies in the special interest wars. The press tried to treat what had been a spontaneous outburst as if it were a traditional political party and asked all the questions they teach in journalism school: Who's in charge? Who are they opposed to? Is it racist? This year, the political parties and the press will not be caught off guard. Republican politicians will address tea party rallies, Democrats will denounce the supposed puppeteers of the movement and the press will look for hate speech. But few will glean the real meaning of the protests or the booming support for Ron and Rand Paul. It's not about the Pauls themselves or the guys with the "Don't tread on me" flags It's about the people at home who might not be willing to march in the park or join the next Paul money bomb, but who don't blame the folks who do. Libertarian sentiment has finally gone mainstream. A movement that said that people should do whatever they wanted as long as it didn't hurt anyone else couldn't compete during the culture wars that began in the 1960s. But after two wars, a $12 trillion debt, a financial crisis and the most politically tone-deaf president in modern history, Americans may have finally given up on big government. Chris Stirewalt is the political editor of the Washington Examiner. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, April 16, 2010 10:51 am From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: Ontario: Developer's $2M donation helps open outdoors centre PETERBOROUGH EXAMINER - APRIL 16, 2010 Developer's $2M donation helps open outdoors centre By KENNEDY GORDON, EXAMINER STAFF WRITER http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2537318 Two ospreys circled overhead as the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH)/Mario Cortellucci Hunting and Fishing Heritage Centre was officially opened Thursday. As guests heard about the centre's focus on Canada's angling and hunting heritage, the ospreys did a little hunting of their own, one of them flying off with a snake dangling from its talons. Living off the land is a natural part of life, said Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro. "One of the truly great parts of our Canadian heritage is how it was founded," he said. "Before we knew what was under the ground, there were people here, a lot of Europeans and certainly our First Nations, who were making their living off what was on top of the ground. Anglers, hunters, that's our heritage as a country." The centre, which had a preview opening last weekend, is an outdoors education centre. It was built adjacent to the OFAH offices on Guthrie Dr. and funded entirely through donations, including $2 million from Cortellucci, a developer in Concord, just north of Toronto, and OFAH member. "I hope in the future this place (serves) an educational purpose for our kids and families and their kids to learn about the beautiful country of Canada, how vast it is and how beautiful it is," Cortellucci said. "We're a part of it and we have to work together and keep maintaining it." Several dignitaries were on hand for the official opening, which ended with a ribbon cutting and a tour of the facility. "It is a wonderful facility, a marvellous facility. We've watched it, babied it, under construction for 2 1/2 years," said Mike Reader, the OFAH's executive director. Guests were able to see the exhibits, which range from mounted wildlife to high-tech touchscreen displays. There is also a sportfish aquarium sponsored by Shimano and an amphitheatre sponsored by the Toronto Sportsmen's Show. "That will be a great tourist attraction for this part of Ontario," said federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. NOTE: Until Sept. 1, the centre will be open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. It will also be open on holidays.... The centre's website is www.huntingandfishingheritagecentre.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:06:54 -0400 From: "mred" Subject: Re: 10x nails it: [Clarification of FPC, PAL/POL] I agrre ~1 but then get rid of your home because the "state" owns that TOOO. just stop paying your taxes and see. We all, in Canada just rent our properties from the queen. Thats why ~!! property rights are so important. Ed/on - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Al Muir" To: Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 11:00 PM Subject: Re: 10x nails it: [Clarification of FPC, PAL/POL] >> Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:55:37 -0400 >> From: Lee Jasper >> Subject: Re: > 10x nails it: [Clarification of FPC, PAL/POL] > >> The FPC name was adopted by Rock because he knew that some gun owners >> were sensitive to the word 'licence'. > > A licence by any other name is a licence and therefore NOT ACCEPTABLE. I > will not ask the state to borrow property from them that has been my, > bought and payed for property, for decades. > > Al ------------------------------ Date: Fri, April 16, 2010 1:19 pm From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: LETTER: Paperwork, bureaucracy no deterrent to criminals THE BELLEVILLE INTELLIGENCER - APRIL 16, 2010 LETTER: Paperwork, bureaucracy no deterrent to criminals http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2536529 Re: Gun control works, saves lives (letter, April 9) Let me get this straight: letter writer Barb Kane said we should keep wasting money on the long gun registry because some business run by criminals were able to divert firearms to illegal markets ... even though the super dooper billion-dollar registry wasn't able to stop them. If paperwork and bureaucracy wasn't an effective deterrent for these criminals, I doubt more paperwork and more bureaucracy will be a deterrent for the next batch of criminals. Michel Trahan Verdun, Que. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, April 16, 2010 1:26 pm From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: Canadian Seal Hunters Come Home Early, But The Hunt Was Brutal Canadian Seal Hunters Come Home Early, But The Hunt Was Brutal by: Sharon Seltzer, April 15, 2010 http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/canadian-seal-hunters-come-home-early-but-the-hunt-was-brutal/ The 2010 Canadian Harp Seal hunt was the smallest one in recent years with 6,000 seal hunters choosing to stay at home. And now due to a warm winter and lack of sea ice, the sealers that did venture out are returning early. But even with an unproductive season, this year's hunt was particularly brutal for the seal pups. Animal activists like the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Humane Society International/Canada that fight against seal hunts, are in agreement that the best way to stop the seal industry is through financial pressure. And this season proved their point. Earlier this year the European Union banned all seal imports and this has critically impacted the market for buyers. Seal pelts that once sold for $100 or more, now bring in $15 - 20. This led to less than 50 ships participating in the hunt. In 2009 there were 306 ships and up to 500 ships have launched in past years. But the Canadian government and the sealers don't plan to go down without a fight. And in an act of defiance over the ban in Europe, Canada's Fisheries Minister Gail Shea increased the quota of Harp Seals this year from 280,000 to 330,000. "This government is united in its support of the thousands of coastal Canadian sealers who rely on the seal hunt for their livelihood," Shea said in an interview with AFP last month. The Canadian vessels will now be returning with less than 15 percent of the quota allotted to them. Canada also plans to change its focus from seal fur to seal meat and the country's Fur Institute will soon market a seal cookbook that ironically was published by the European Union three years ago. The Fur Institute also has plans to expand the sale of seal fur in Asia. Brutality of the Hunt Both IFAW and Humane Society International/Canada documented that although the hunt was small this year, it was particularly brutal and the sealers did not abide by the Marine Mammal Regulations that protect the seal pups from suffering. Seal hunters are prohibited from killing newborn pups that are between 12 - 14 days old. They are identified by their solid white coats. The infants become prey when this coat begins to shed during their first month of life. The statistics show that 97 percent of the Harp Seals are killed while they are under 3 months of age and the majority are less than 1 month old. The Royal Commission on Seals and the Sealing Industry in Canada approved a system for killing the pups that they compare to "as humane a method as used in commercial slaughterhouses." That of course says a mouthful about the suffering endured by the infant Harp Seals. The method endorses a combination of shooting the seal to injure it and then clubbing it to death with a weapon called a Hakapik. Rebecca Aldworth of the Humane Society said in her blog, "Sealers are flagrantly violating the few inadequate rules that exist to protect seals. There were no government enforcement officers in the area we were filming. One baby seal was shot in the face, and was shaking her head in agony as she crawled across the ice for several minutes.before a sealer clubbed her. Sealers were not checking to ensure seals were unconscious before impaling them on hooks and throwing them onto boats. In the 12 years I have observed the commercial seal slaughter in Canada, this is some of the worst cruelty I have witnessed." Both activist groups know the seal industry is a "shadow of its former self." But still tens of thousands of seal pups were slaughtered. They continue to ask supporters to put pressure on the industry by boycotting fur and other seal products. Click Here to Sign the Petition to Stop Seal Hunting. (Provided by Care2 member.) Read more: animal welfare, baby seals, seal hunt, harp seals, canada seal hunt ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:15:24 -0400 From: Bill Subject: Why the gun is civilization It wasn't written by a Marine, or anyone named "L. Caudill." It was written by a German-born U.S. citizen named "Marko Kloos." This wrong attribution is making the rounds of the internet faster then the real essay. see http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/a-gunny-g-excerpt-why-the-gun-is-civilization/ Marko's blog is here http://munchkinwrangler.wordpress.com/ Bill ------------------------------ Date: Sat, April 17, 2010 8:48 am From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: Obama launches America's Great Outdoors conservation initiative THE WASHINGTON POST - APRIL 17, 2010 Obama launches America's Great Outdoors conservation initiative By Juliet Eilperin and Scott Wilson, Washington Post Staff Writers http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041505 766.html?hpid=moreheadlines President Obama launched the America's Great Outdoors initiative Friday, an attempt to reshape U.S. conservation policy at a time when the nation is facing new environmental threats but the government is hard-pressed to afford new spending programs. In a brief speech at the Interior Department, Obama said he intends to build on "a breathtaking legacy of conservation that still enhances our lives." He said the tradition began with Theodore Roosevelt, whom he described as "one of my favorite presidents," although he added, "I will probably never shoot a bear." Obama said the nation's growing population, pollution and other factors are "putting a rising strain on our lands." He said government cannot address conservation issues alone, and he urged private industry, local communities, Native American leaders and volunteers to help protect the outdoors. "Even in times of crisis, we're called to take the long view to preserve our national heritage, because in doing so, we fulfill one of the responsibilities that falls to all of us as Americans and as inhabitants of this same small planet," Obama said. "And that is the responsibility that we are rising to meet today." Obama signed a memorandum sketching out broad goals that the administration hopes to pursue in the next few years: forming coalitions with state and local governments and the private sector; encouraging outdoor recreation by Americans; connecting wildlife migration corridors; and encouraging the sustainable use of private land. Four administration officials -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and Nancy Sutley, who chairs the White House Council on Environmental Quality -- will spearhead the effort. "It's really about getting people to think about the great outdoors again and recognize what a tremendous asset it is to our country," Vilsack said in an interview. American children are spending half as much time outside as their parents did, according to the Interior Department, and the country loses 2 million acres a year to development. Government officials worry about the effect of land conversion on natural resources: The Maryland Office of Planning projects that more land in the region surrounding the Chesapeake Bay will have been converted to housing between 1995 and 2020 than in the previous 3 1/2 centuries. Sierra Club Chairman Carl Pope, who was among the environmental leaders attending Friday's day-long conference to launch the initiative, said he hoped a broad coalition of partners will be encouraged to reengage on public-lands issues. It remains unclear how much the government can afford to spend on such programs in the future. The National Park Service alone estimates that it would need an extra $9.5 billion to clear a backlog of repairs and improvements. - ---------------------------------- MEMORANDUM CREATING THE INTERAGENCY AMERICA'S GREAT OUTDOORS INITIATIVE http://thehill.com/images/stories/blogs/outdoorsmemo.pdf - ----------------------------------- THE HILL - APRIL 17, 2010 Obama launches conservation plan, admits he won't replicate Roosevelt's bear hunting By Ben Geman http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/92693-obama-launches-conservation-plan-admits-he-wont-replicate-roosevelts-bear-hunting ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V13 #810 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca Moderator's email: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca FAQ list: http://www.canfirearms/Skeeter/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://www.canfirearms.ca CFDigest Archives: http://www.canfirearms.ca/archives To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next four lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".)