Cdn-Firearms Digest Wednesday, May 7 2008 Volume 11 : Number 409 In this issue: COHA instead of the OFAH More broken promises O'Reilly-Clinto Interview Shows Democrats Flaw? BBC News: Government hosts firearms summit Hillary Has No Shot at the Nomination ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 16:20:50 -0400 From: Stephen Redgwell Subject: COHA instead of the OFAH I wonder if Ontario could rid themselves of the OFAH and substitute it with COHA? www.coha.net Safe Shooting! Steve Redgwell 303british.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 22:16:45 -0400 From: Lee Jasper Subject: More broken promises The politics of tobacco By CHIP MARTIN, SUN MEDIA > http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/2008/05/06/5487881.html They're making political hay these days in Southwestern Ontario's tobacco belt about the federal government's refusal to help growers get out of the business. Political opponents of Conservative MPs Joe Preston (Elgin-Middlesex-London) and Diane Finley (Haldimand-Norfolk) are churning the stuff out by the bale. Liberal rivals for both are blasting Preston and the Conservatives for voting down a Liberal motion in Ottawa last week to immediately implement an exit strategy for hard-pressed tobacco producers. Suzanne van Bommel in Elgin-Middlesex-London is accusing Preston of preferring to vote with his party than to support his constituents. In Haldimand-Norfolk, Liberal Eric Hoskins, who's been selling party memberships to angry growers, said the Liberals are attuned to the plight of farmers and wants to help them now. Both issued press releases criticizing Preston for joining three other Conservatives late last week to oppose the Liberal motion of support for tobacco farmers introduced at the Commons standing committee on agriculture and agri-food. Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz had earlier ruled out funding an exit plan for producers. Note: Dianne Finley is the lady you see wearing the dark prescription glasses in the H of C on TV, sitting behind/near Harper. During the last election campaign all sorts of promises were given to growers about what a New Guvmint would do to assist the farmers that the Old Guvmint had been bleeding and beating up on for years. Now these same politicians are in Ottawa, the helping hand has been replaced by a slap alongside the head. I returned from my Northern junket to messages and Emails from many (as Al would say) 'CONservative' friends who were holding a baccy bale burn along with CPC campaign signs and CPC membership cards. Talk about burin' yer PAL, these folks are pissed off. This not just some 'cultural heritage' deal; this IS their livelihood. One lad just sold his still mortgaged low tar kilns and planted his farm in ginseng which has a 3-year maturation period. These folks are left after a previous fed/prov buyout several years ago. Locals are so ticked off they have held a previous tobacco burn protest, donated a large quantity of tobacco to First Nations cigarette manufacturers which gets sold as tax free cigs and many have vowed to back the Libs. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 May 2008 02:18:23 -0600 From: Joe Gingrich Subject: O'Reilly-Clinto Interview Shows Democrats Flaw? http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354014,00.html O'Reilly-Clinton Interview Shows Democrats Flaw Friday, May 02, 2008 By Dick Morris & Eileen McGann Bill O'Reilly asked Hillary Clinton the key question about the war in Iraq: What happens if we pull out and the Iranians move in? She talked around the issue, but never gave a convincing answer to O'Reilly's question. She said she would replace force with diplomacy. But, as Frederick the Great said, "Diplomacy without force is like music without instruments." If our troops are long gone from Iraq, the Iranians will snub our diplomacy and laugh at our entireties. They will add Iraq to their other trophies in the region: Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. Hillary's inability to answer O'Reilly's question reveals a larger flaw in the Democratic arguments as the election approaches. Obama will be the Democratic nominee (take that to the bank). How will the Iraq War play in the race? On the surface, it would appear to be a disaster for the Republicans. With American deaths now over the 4,000 mark and the seriously wounded at around 15,000, we are sick and tired of this war. It has destroyed George W. Bush and could well do the same to John McCain. But maybe not. McCain's position is simple: win in Iraq. The experience and the success of the past year indicate that it may be quite possible to do so. But, whatever you may think of it, his is a simple solution. What do the Democrats propose? Obama and Hillary both want to pull out as soon as technically feasible. OK. But what happens if Iran moves into the vacuum and takes over Iraq? And what if Al Qaeda takes advantage of the American absence and sets up a permanent base and sanctuary in Iraq, beyond our reach - a situation akin to the Taliban in Afghanistan where they could develop the capacity to hit us on 9-11 in their privileged, protected home territory? And what if hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who used to work with us start to be killed as happened when we pulled out of Vietnam? And what if the Iraqi oil falls into Iranian hands, sending the price even higher? And what if . The list goes on. Obama really has no answer for these questions. Once he pulls out of Iraq, it will be politically impossible to go back in. Iran and Al Qaeda both realize this just as North Vietnam knew it when they negotiated an end to American troop presence in the South. In the context of an election debate, Obama is going to look weak and confused and without a clue as he tries to address these "what ifs." Americans will sense the uncertain hand on the helm and will begin to second guess their decisions and move toward McCain. If, by some chance, Hillary is the nominee, then the same problem will land in her lap and she showed in trying to parry O'Reilly's thrust, that she won't be any better at answering the doubts than Obama would be. The truth is that the Democrats are cashing in on a mindless impatience with Iraq and an unwillingness to think through the consequences of pulling out. They are capitalizing on an emotional "no" in reaction to the war. But when the alternatives are carefully explained and examined, as they will be in a presidential debate, they are not going to embrace the answers Obama or Hillary will have to the "what ifs." They will see the Democratic position as extremist and unworkable and will come to see the Democratic candidate who is pushing them as unprepared and unrealistic. If the candidate is Obama, their concerns will resonate with their perception that he is inexperienced and doesn't know his way around foreign policy. This will raise more and more doubts about his ability to lead us in a time of crisis. This unholy mess in Iraq, which has almost destroyed the Republican party and has destroyed the Bush presidency, may yet rebound and work against the Democrats in the election this year. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dick Morris served as Bill Clinton's political consultant for twenty years, guiding him to a successful reelection in 1996. He is the author of New York Times bestsellers Because He Could, Rewriting History (both with Eileen McGann), Off with Their Heads, and Behind the Oval Office, and the Washington Post bestseller Power Plays. Copyright Eileen McGann and Dick Morris 2006. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 May 2008 07:41:56 -0600 From: Dennis & Hazel Young Subject: BBC News: Government hosts firearms summit BBC NEWS - Government hosts firearms summit http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7386360.stm Page last updated at 11:51 GMT, Wednesday, 7 May 2008 12:51 UK 'New tack' sought on gun control Quote "We cannot be complacent, communities are crying out for action " - -Alex Salmond First Minister First Minister Alex Salmond has said his administration will seek new ways of tackling the problem of guns. He was speaking at the start of a firearms summit hosted by the Scottish Government in Edinburgh. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith declined to take part in the event, saying that firearms legislation was reserved to Westminster. Those attending included police, shooting representatives and gun control campaigners. Holyrood ministers insisted Scotland has a distinct problem, especially in relation to airguns. Mr Salmond said recorded firearm casualties had risen by a quarter last year, one in three of them were children and 58% involved airguns. "We cannot be complacent," he said, "communities are crying out for action." He added: "While we have supported changes to the law passed at Westminster, so far as they go, what we need is a spring-clean not a sticking-plaster. "We want to start again - to produce an unambiguous, modern and enforceable system that protects the people of Scotland." Among those due to attend the event were the parents of Andrew Morton. The death of the toddler in Easterhouse, Glasgow, three years ago met with widespread shock. Mark Bonini, 27, was jailed for his murder and Andrew's parents, Sharon McMillan and Andy Morton, have campaigned for a change in the law. Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill wrote to the home secretary in January inviting her to join the Scottish Government for the summit on firearms misuse. Ms Smith said she did "not believe it would be timely to hold a joint national firearms summit" and dismissed calls for an immediate review of the 1968 Firearms Act. Mr MacAskill said he would let her know about the discussions and decisions which emerged from the summit and how the Scottish Government planned to proceed. © BBC MMVIII ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 May 2008 13:38:30 -0600 From: Joe Gingrich Subject: Hillary Has No Shot at the Nomination http://www.newsmax.com/morris/Obama_hillary_clinton/2008/05/07/94165.html Hillary Has No Shot at the Nomination Wednesday, May 7, 2008 1:51 PM By: Dick Morris & Eileen McGann She lost hard in North Carolina, and barely held on to win Indiana. Hillary Clinton just doesn't have enough straws left to clutch. The best (or worst) she can hope to do the rest of the way is bloody Barack Obama enough to make him lose in the fall, allowing her to come back in 2012. In fact, Obama basically clinched the nomination with his string of 11 straight primary and caucus wins in February, many by wipe-out margins - giving him a lead in elected delegates that Clinton couldn't hope to close, especially given the nutty proportional-representation rules that govern the Democratic Party. Do the math. Last night's results leave him with a lead among elected delegates of 150 or so, and among all delegates of around 130. Only a handful of states are left to vote, with a combined total of about 230 delegates. She'll probably win West Virginia, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico, and lose Oregon, North Dakota, and Montana. She most likely could pick up a net 10 delegates, leaving him with a lead of at least 130 (110, counting in superdelegates). If Hillary manages to get Florida and Michigan seated (which she won't), she'll net another 47 delegates. So Obama, worst case, will have a lead of at least 60 delegates. Most likely, it'll be more than 100. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Democratic Chairman Howard Dean have all made it clear that they expect superdelegates to decide who to support within (in Reid's words) "days, not weeks" after the last ballots are cast on June 3. In that environment, Obama - who'll be only about 100 delegates short of a majority - will be an irresistible choice. Few superdelegates will want to risk civil war by overruling the verdict of the voters, and almost all will want to climb aboard the victory bandwagon so as not to get shut out of the White House for four (or eight) years. In the past few months, Obama has closed Clinton's lead among superdelegates from 60 to 20. The trend will accelerate after popular voting ends; he'll probably pass the 2,025 threshold in the first two weeks of June. Clinton may stay in, hoping to can seat Florida and Michigan. But she won't win there, either. The Credentials Committee, which will make the key report, consists of three votes for each state or territory. The remaining contests will leave him with, at worst, a 10-state lead. Howard Dean names 25 committee members, but she can't prosper unless he stacks them all for her, and, if anything, he'll go the other way. Having lost there, her only option would be to appeal to the convention floor where neither of the contested delegations can vote on their own credentials, virtually assuring an Obama victory on the credentials fight and the nomination. Clinton may well fight all the way; she's stubborn and dedicated. Moreover, she's farsighted and devious: She could hope to so bloody Obama that he can't beat John McCain. If McCain wins, she could get the Democratic nomination in 2012 and, with McCain closing in on 76 and after 12 years of GOP rule, win. But one thing is clear: Obama has this nomination sewn up. © 2008 Dick Morris & Eileen McGann ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V11 #409 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:drg.jordan@sasktel.net 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".)