From nealknox at nealknox.com Fri Jul 2 09:02:50 2004 From: nealknox at nealknox.com (Neal Knox Alerts List) Date: Mon Jul 5 01:28:21 2004 Subject: [Fcalerts-list] AW Ban Amendment May Be Up Next Week Message-ID: <4118.4.8.139.118.1088780570.squirrel@my.modwest.com> July 2 Neal Knox Report ? Handgun Control Inc. has sent the ?Million Moms? an ?action alert? stating that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) intend to offer their ?assault weapon? reenactment bill (S. 2109) as an amendment to S. 2062, a bill to make class action suits more difficult. The ?class action fairness? bill is supported by most Republicans and the Bush Administration, and strongly opposed by the American Trial Lawyers Association and, therefore, most Democrats. According to the Brady Bunch, which last week had a conference call with Feinstein, Democrats are intending to plant ?poison pill? amendments to kill the class action bill. What Feinstein wants to do is convince her fellow D?s to ?hold off on their amendments and only allow her AWB to be attached (making it) conceivable that the entire bill would pass.? Fat chance. While the Dems may want the AWB, class action suits bring their generous trial lawyer donors real money. The Dems might seek to add an AWB to the bill as one of their ?poison pills,? but that alone, or with several other bills they want, wouldn?t be nearly enough to cause them to swallow the rest of the class action bill. Theoretically, enough Senators from both parties opposed the ban reenactment in March to kill the amendment with a filibuster, but Republicans don?t do well on filibusters. While flailing around for a ?vehicle? to which her bill might be attached, Feinstein is reportedly looking at H.R. 218, which roared through the House June 24 with 297 co-sponsors. Its Senate companion, S. 253, has 70 co-sponsors. Both bills would exempt ?qualified? current law enforcement officers from state or local carrying laws, and retired officers who have met ? at their expense ? agency firearms training requirements. Already on the Senate calendar, the AWB might very well be offered as an amendment. Though filibuster-proof, there?s enough strong opposition to anyone carrying, I suspect the Kennedy types will attempt to broaden the ban and make it permanent. NRA-ILA has been quiet about these goings-on, so they are probably confident they can strip off any ?assault weapon? ban in conference committee. Even anti-gun Democrats like Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas) have made it clear that they don?t want a recorded vote on any version of the Clinton Gun Ban. They haven?t forgotten that in 1994 the ban Clinton talked them into supporting gave Republicans control of the Senate for the first time in 40 years. ------------------- Yesterday former Sen. John Danforth was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. That?s bad, for a U.N. group has just begun developing a policy on firearms marking and ?tracing? of illicit international firearms trafficking. But get this: The paper they?re working from says that countries should be forced to identify and track legal ownership, since many illicit guns were originally licit. You?ll recall that after Danforth announced his retirement from the Senate he renounced his previous support for gun rights ? causing him to be praised by the Brady Bunch for his ?courage? -- and later was in charge of the sham ?reenactment? of infrared films of the FBI raid on the Branch Davidians at Waco. Originally the FBI had opposed a ?reenactment? to determine whether they had fired on Davidians escaping the blazing church, claiming it couldn?t be valid unless ground and air temperature exactly matched the conditions on the day of the raid. But what Danforth approved was the ground being wet down the night before, and temperature-sensing infrared cameras photographing men when the ambient air was 20 degrees colder than during the raid. ------------------------------ The most-effective propagandist since Hitler?s Joseph Goebbels ? ?documentary? filmmaker Michael Moore ? has turned his lying lenses away from gun rights to what he considers a bigger target: driving President George W. Bush from the White House. The tool, what friend Dave Hardy calls a ?crockumentary? film entitled ?Farenheit 9/11,? received a 20-minute standing ovation at the premiere showing in France. Naturally. Dave and Jason Clarke (MooreLies.com) have just published a book whose title is a spin on the title of Moore?s book, ?Stupid White Men?: ?Michael Moore Is A Fat Stupid White Man.? According to an email from Dave a few days ago, it details Moore?s deceptions and lies as demonstrated in his screed against guns, ?Bowling For Columbine.? (See www.hardylaw.net/Truth_About_Bowling.html) (I haven?t, and won?t, see ?Bowling For Columbine? but I?ve seen innumerable clips on television, like the one supposedly showing then-NRA President Charlton Heston waving a flintlock over his head at a ?political rally? in Denver ?only days after? the Columbine High School horror. In fact, the clips were deceitfully spliced together from the legally-required but subdued 1999 annual meeting in Denver [most of which was cancelled because of Columbine, to my dismay] and film from the annual NRA Members a year later at Charlotte, N.C. I know; I was at both meetings.) Dave?s latest book couldn?t have been better timed to eviscerate the 320-pound Moore. It went on sale three days ago at bookstores across the country (some, including a Tucson Barnes & Noble clerk, falsely denied having it, according to friend Phil Murphy at Arizona Brassroots). But Dave and Clarke won?t have the media hype that most of an adoring press is giving Moore. ----------------------------- Another good friend and brilliant researcher, Dave Kopel, yesterday posted on his website (http://www.davekopel.com/Terror/Fiftysix-Deceits-in-Fahrenheit-911.htm) a draft copy of a lengthy National Review Online article that focuses on Moore?s lies in Fahrenheit 9/11, including both those he spotted and quotes from critics across the political spectrum. You really must read the criticisms from former NYC Mayor Ed Koch (who called it a propaganda film), Christopher Hitchens, Newsweek?s Michael Isikoff and many others. Earlier today I was surprised to hear a radio news report that Moore, during an interview in France, had called Americans ?The dumbest people on earth.? He must have been talking about his lefty idolaters ? including a flood of Democrat Congressmen who rushed into a pre-screening a few days ago, and came out gushing about how the film would destroy President Bush ? which Moore freely acknowledges is the film?s objective. ---- From nealknox at nealknox.com Sat Aug 28 22:40:25 2004 From: nealknox at nealknox.com (Neal Knox Alerts) Date: Sat Aug 28 22:44:27 2004 Subject: [Fcalerts-list] SportsmenForKerryEdwards.com Site Peels Away Camouflage Message-ID: <41315E39.2040902@nealknox.com> Aug. 28 Neal Knox Report For a fresh and different look at John Kerry?s Senate record on firearms, and his "support for the Second Amendment as interpreted in this country," I urge you to look at www.SportsmenForKerryEdwards.com. And please encourage your gun-owning friends who are Kerry supporters or leaning toward Kerry to take a look. There are a lot of them. According to NRA?s polling 42 percent of gun owners think Kerry would protect their gun rights. They are believing Kerry?s camouflage, the fact that he shot two pen-raised pheasants for reporters on an Iowa game farm last fall, and broke 17 of 25 trap targets this summer. They sure aren?t paying any attention to his Senate record. The administrator of SportsmenForKerryEdwards.com has used some Kerry-type camouflage to get Kerry-backers to take a look at that Senate record. He tells them so, right up front: "If you are looking for a puff piece on how John Kerry is a great friend of hunters and those that believe in the whole Constitution, I suggest you go to www.johnkerry.com. "On the other hand, if you want to find out what the Democratic candidate says and how he votes on hunting and gun control, you are at the right place. "If you want more information on the 2nd Amendment and gun control, go to www.guncite.com." I had seen the excellent GunCite.com, which is a straightforward, no spin, "just the facts, Ma?am" discussion of gun issues, but until today I hadn?t seen his SportsmenForKerryEdwards.com. The Administrator doesn?t say who he is, or who he represents, though from the content of his page I was certain he wasn?t tied with any of the gun groups. Frankly, it was too well done. As I suspected, the fellow who put together all this mass of data and everything I saw is highly accurate is an individual who does this as a labor of love for our gun rights, and does it on a shoestring, out of his own pocket. About a half-hour after I left him a note, he called, and told me who and where he is. I congratulated him on his work, and thanked him. It?s guys like him who make the gun lobby powerful and a thorn in the flesh to our foes. From nealknox at nealknox.com Thu Oct 14 12:02:19 2004 From: nealknox at nealknox.com (Neal Knox Alerts List) Date: Thu Oct 14 12:57:43 2004 Subject: [Fcalerts-list] Bush misses his chance with gun owners Message-ID: <20431.12.10.219.38.1097776939.squirrel@my.modwest.com> Oct. 14 Neal Knox Report -- George W. Bush last night blew the only gun question of his three debates with John Kerry ? in gun-owning, gun-toting Arizona. It may have cost him re-election. It wasn?t what he said that hurt him so much ? the gun laws John Kerry supports go far beyond the ?moderate? positions that the President took ? it was what he didn?t say. In recent weeks I?ve tried, through various channels to get the word to Mr. Bush?s key campaign people that he has allowed Kerry to become the ?more pro-gun candidate? ? which is ludicrous. He needs to reclaim that ground and mobilize America?s gun owners for him, but he didn?t. Last night, even while supporting the same things he said during his 2000 campaign, he could have and should have spelled out where he stands as a for-real hunter and gun owner. But he didn?t. Everything Pres. W. said last night was defensive. It was designed to placate the ?moderates? and neutralize the nasty editorials ? and advertisements from Handgun Control Inc., like the one they unveiled yesterday. That won?t work. He?ll be hammered on the gun issue by the Michael Moores and Sarah Bradys of the world, no matter what he does or says. Attempting to stake out a ?moderate? position will likely cost more votes than it gains. And what he said will not energize gun owners to get to the polls Nov. 2. He?s clearly counting on yesterday?s endorsement by NRA ? and their multi-million dollar political effort ? to get gun guys to the polls. That may not work. NRA needed some help from the White House. Gun owners are restive ? and W.?s comments last night will make them more so. He said, personally, for the first time since 2000 that he would have signed the reenactment of the Clinton Gun Ban if it had reached his desk ? but that Republican leaders told him that it didn?t have the votes to pass, so they wouldn?t bring it up. But the Bush White House sent clear signals that a renewal bill was not wanted. As a parliamentary maneuver it worked, but as a political move, that level of subtlety is lost on most gun owners. Kerry responded that he would have fought House Majority Leader Tom DeLay ? the one who said it ? to make sure the re-enactment of the ban on semi-autos and over 10-shot magazines did get to the the floor, and did pass. The very first vote Kerry cast this year was to extend that ban ? on March 2, as a killer amendment to S. 1805, the bill to protect the gun industry from ruinous law suits. For the record ? which Bush didn?t bring up ? President Bush?s White House formally opposed all those killer amendments, and endorsed the gun licensee protection bill. Other things he could have said to energize gun owners would have been to point out the fact that he signed the Texas Concealed Carry licensing law ? not a perfect bill, but one that was a tremendous victory for us. John Kerry opposes all such laws. Mr. Bush let Kerry get away with saying he?s a hunter ? though Kerry thinks deer hunting is done with a ?trusty double-barrel? while crawling on his belly, which isn?t the way the rest of us do it. Kerry may have gone hunting as a kid, but I?d like to compare the number of years that the two have them have been licensed, and have them cite the number of times and places they can recall hunting. Kerry claims to be a gun owner, but his armory consists ? his staff says ? of a double barrel shotgun and a bolt action ?assault rifle.? Mr. Bush owns seven or eight guns, about normal for a Texas rancher. The President could have said that the Bush Justice Department, under Attorney General John Ashcroft, didn?t merely mouth the words ?I support the Second Amendment,? as Kerry did again last night, but specifically and formally declared that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. Kerry limits his support of the Second Amendment to ?as it has been interpreted? ? as applying only state-approved militia, not individuals. The fact that Kerry thinks the Second Amendment is meaningless is evidenced by his support for over 50 anti-gun bills during his 20 years in the Senate. As you know, I don?t rate George W. Bush as perfect, but not one anti-gun law has passed on his watch ? and he?s the first since Richard Nixon to be able to say so. And unlike even Nixon, the Bush Administration has never called for passage of even one anti-gun bill. In looking at each of these men, remember the adage: ?Pay no attention to what a politician says, watch what he does.? Keep in mind that it cuts both ways. ### From nealknox at nealknox.com Sat Oct 23 00:46:06 2004 From: nealknox at nealknox.com (Neal Knox Alerts) Date: Sat Oct 23 00:46:28 2004 Subject: [Fcalerts-list] Kerry again dons camouflage along with hunting clothes Message-ID: <4179FE2E.3090005@nealknox.com> Oct. 22 Neal Knox Report ? Democrat Presidential Candidate John Kerry went hunting yesterday, allegedly for geese, but mainly for votes in the hard-fought battleground state of Ohio. It was properly hyped, with a well-announced visit Wednesday to a gun store, where he bought a camouflage hunting coat and non-resident license. Then 35 reporters and photographers headed out early for the hunting grounds. Kerry said it was a successful hunt for ?we all four got one.? Well, maybe. I recall that when Bill Clinton went duck hunting during the ?96 campaign, only one duck was bagged ? and, surprise, the President got it. I?ve seen a lot of guides and seasoned dog handlers swear that the guests had dropped the birds while they had missed. The photogs had to do their shooting with long-lens cameras; they had an opportunity to get shots of him carrying the gun ? an over/under double ? but weren?t allowed to get a pic of him shooting, or carrying a goose, and no ?pool reporter? was allowed to accompany him to the blind. He was seen tucking a bloody hand up his sleeve, but a campaign official who was asked if he had been injured said Kerry had cut himself, but it was ?mainly goose blood.? Kerry?s hunt must have caused some gritting of teeth among his political base ? he has been formally endorsed by some of the most-radical anti-hunting organizations including Humane USA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Fund for Animals ? but they haven?t said a word about his campaign hunts, nor has the Brady Bunch withdrawn their endorsement despite his repeated promises to uphold the Second Amendment ?as interpreted.? Those groups know he?s just kidding, and will tolerate anything to get rid of President Bush. Sadly, a lot of lulled and gulled hunters think he means it. -------------------- Also in Ohio yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney said Kerry's new hunting coat was "an October disguise ? an effort he's making to hide the fact that he votes against gun ownership rights at every turn." "My fellow sportsmen, this cover-up isn't going to work," the Vice President said. The Second Amendment is more than just a photo opportunity." Mr. Cheney also hunts, but without a covey of reporters and photogs, and not just in election years. Last November after a South Dakota pheasant hunt with my brother and some of our friends, I was startled to drive up to the small Pierre airport and see the glistening blue and white Boeing 767 known as Air Force 2. Marlin, the airport manager, told me Mr. Cheney and a group of friends had come up every year for years. Former Sen. Phil Gramm, a member of the party who was flying out in the opposite direction, told me they had been hunting only a few miles from where we had been, stomping through the same early snow, and cold, biting wind. And having a grand time. -------------------- There?s been a lot of comment in the press in the past few days about a topic that has been much ignored ? the number of judges and justices the next President will select, and how they will lean politically. The median age of the nine Supreme Court justices is 71. Chief Justice Rehnquist is 80 (and a likely vote for gun rights) and John Paul Stevens (almost certainly against) is 84. Two Justices are in ill health ? Ruth Bader Ginsberg (opposed) and Sandra Day O?Connor (probably against, based on recent decisions). Justice Clarence Thomas, probably the strongest vote for gun rights, is merely 56. There are reports that the White House has talked to him about becoming Chief Justice when Rehnquist retires. Justice Antonin Scalia, who usually votes with Thomas, and vice versa, is 68 and another possible nominee for Chief Justice. Those two have been cited by Pres. Bush as his model Supreme Court Justices. They are anathema to John Kerry and the left. Kerry has said repeatedly that he will impose a litmus test of ?abortion rights? support and opposition to the Second Amendment as an individual right for his nominees ? despite last week?s third debate claim that he wouldn?t ?tinker with the Second Amendment.? President Bush rejects ?litmus tests? for nominees, saying only that he will name ?strict constructionists? to the courts ? as evidenced by the Circuit Court judges he has named, only to have them blocked by Senate filibusters. Traditionally, Senators haven?t opposed judicial candidates except for supposedly egregious flaws. But at a weekend retreat in April 2001, Democrat Senators adopted an aggressive policy of opposing even nominees with strong credentials. That effort has been orchestrated by Sen. Charles Schumer, claiming President Bush intended to ?create the most ideological bench in history.? Kerry, too, wants an ideological bench ? but he wants leftists, like himself. With the probability that the next President will name three and possibly four justices, pray that it isn?t Kerry ? and if your Senator is one of the 34 running this year, make sure that he or she will support President Bush?s choices. In the next four years, either Bush or Kerry will set the course of the Supreme Court for a generation. Some gunowners have expressed understandably mixed feelings about Bush, but the issue of the courts should settle the quesion. -------------------- NRA-ILA caused dismay among Idaho Republicans when they gave a ?D? rating to Republican Tim Corder Sr. ?only? because he supported a ban on semi-auto ?assault weapons,? supports gun show background checks, and wants to ban firearms ownership for people convicted of ?violent misdemeanors? (which the law defines as a fine for a fist fight 40 years ago). ILA was right. But their grades have caused questions in several states, none greater than in Indiana House District 76, where they endorsed the recently appointed incumbent instead of Jim Tomes ? founder and leader of the Second Amendment Patriots and recipient of ILA?s Grass Roots Organization of the Year. I was there a couple of years ago when, after hearing what Jim had accomplished legislatively and in signing up NRA members, the Board of Directors gave him a standing ovation. Originally, Jim and his opponent were both graded as ?A? based on his opponent?s questionnaire, and on Jim?s tremendous efforts as a volunteer. They made no endorsement in the NRA magazines going to Indiana or on the NRAPVF.org web page. But ILA Liaison Mary Ann Bradfield sent Tomes? opponent an endorsement letter, which Jim didn?t learn about until the middle of a radio debate. In attempting to grade some 10,000 candidates nationally, mistakes will happen, but this one should never have happened. -------------------- My wife, Jay, told me a couple of days ago that she had been trying to figure out who John Edwards reminded her of: it came to her when a trailer for the latest of the ?Child?s Play? horror movies came on the television. Edwards reminds her of Chucky, the evil, living, knife-wielding doll. Somehow, it all fits. From nealknox at nealknox.com Mon Nov 1 19:50:20 2004 From: nealknox at nealknox.com (Neal Knox Alerts List) Date: Mon Nov 1 19:52:34 2004 Subject: [Fcalerts-list] Vote your gun rights! Message-ID: <4186F5EC.7070307@nealknox.com> Neal Knox Election Eve Update -- Chief Justice William Rehnquist?s absence from the Supreme Court hearings this morning told us precisely what tomorrow?s election is all about. Last week, the Chief Justice announced he had thyroid cancer, but expected to be at today?s hearings. He wasn?t. He is being treated with both chemotherapy and radiation, which the medical editor for the American Cancer Society, Dr. Herman Kattlove, told Bloomberg Press indicates he has anaplastic thyroid cancer ? an aggressive form ?rarely, if ever, curable, and most patients die within a few months.? So there you have it. Either George W. Bush or John Kerry is likely to send a Chief Justice Nominee to the Senate within a year. Pres. Bush?s nominees, particularly to the Circuit Courts, have been staunch conservatives, some of them known to be solid defenders of gun rights. None of John Kerry?s will be. Kerry has said so. John Paul Stevens, the 84-year-old senior justice, sat in Mr. Rehnquist?s chair today, and will until the Chief Justice resigns or dies and his replacement has been confirmed by the Senate. Stevens is anti-gun to the core. So is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who also suffers from a serious illness, and is anti-gun. She and Justice Sandra Day O?Connor are both in their 70?s. O?Connor was reared on an Arizona ranch, although some of her recent decisions indicate she has been in Washington, D.C. too long. She was treated successfully for breast cancer in 1988 but has not had good health over the past few years. So either Bush or Kerry could well nominate replacements for all of them, changing the course of American Jurisprudence for the next generation. Keep in mind that Rehnquist was appointed by Nixon in 1972, nearly 33 years ago. That?s a long time. A lot of gun owners, many of them my friends, some living in the most critical states to be decided tomorrow, refuse to vote for Bush because he hasn?t been as overtly pro-gun as they had expected him to be. By not voting, or voting for Libertarian Michael Badnarik, they will be voting for John Kerry. Nothing George W. Bush can enact in the next four years will do so much to destroy gun rights as John Kerry?s judicial appointments. ----------------------------------- Even if a sitting member of the Supreme Court is nominated for Chief Justice, that appointment must be confirmed by the Senate ? just like any new justice or Federal judge. Republicans angry over Democrat filibusters of President Bush?s Circuit Court nominees might use the same tactics if Kerry becomes President. But I don?t think they would. If Mr. Bush squeaks in, and Republicans don?t increase their numbers in the Senate, Democrats led by Sen. Charles Schumer will continue to block his nominees, from Supreme Court Justice on down. So gunowners better give some serious thought about whom they elect to the Senate ? even if it means holding their noses while voting for a Republican ?moderate? to replace a Democrat who will block Bush appointments, or unquestioningly support an anti-gun Kerry judicial appointment. ----------------------------------- The polls will open in a few hours. If you haven?t already voted, be there. Cast your vote for those who will defend our gun rights, for our rights have never been in such danger. From chris at nealknox.com Wed Nov 3 01:23:50 2004 From: chris at nealknox.com (Chris Knox) Date: Wed Nov 3 07:45:53 2004 Subject: [Fcalerts-list] Word of the Day: schadenfreude Message-ID: <41889596.3030900@nealknox.com> schadenfreude: n. delight in another person's misfortune No doubt an unseemly emotion, but it's what I felt watching Jim "The Hatchet" Carville and the other glum talking heads on CNN reminding each other that it wasn't over yet. The exuberant Fox News called Ohio for Bush since around 11:00 PM MST. CNN still hasn't called it as of 1:20 AM Arizona time. But it seems that the handwriting is on the wall. I just hope it lasts. -- Chris Knox From nealknox at nealknox.com Thu Nov 18 14:19:30 2004 From: nealknox at nealknox.com (Neal Knox Alerts List) Date: Thu Nov 18 14:20:03 2004 Subject: [Fcalerts-list] Praise Be! Kerry Defeated Message-ID: <419D11E2.3020500@nealknox.com> Neal Knox Report Praise Be! Kerry Defeated By Neal Knox WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 10) It was wonderful to see John Kerry go down, along with the judges he would nominate, the Attorney General and other agency heads he would choose to harass law-abiding firearms owners, and the people he would select to represent the U.S. at next summer?s United Nations conference on international firearms controls. We made gains in the House and for the first time in years won a pro-gun majority in the Senate with a net gain of four seats -- replacing retiring anti-gunners in Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina with pro-gunners, and defeating Democrat Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. Republicans and pro-gunners now *own* both state houses in Georgia for the first time since the Civil War, and took houses in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Indiana. Democrats won both houses in Colorado and one in Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont and Washington My satisfaction with the re-election of President George W. Bush was damped by his game-playing over the Clinton gun ban, saying he would sign an extension of the law if it came to his desk -- while making sure it didn?t. Though Sen. Kerry staged two canned hunts and attended a claybird shoot with the press in tow, made ludicrous claims about his hunting skills, accepted a shotgun from the union workers who made the gun, and said he wouldn?t ?tinker? with the Second Amendment -- despite his dozens of Senate votes to do just that -- Mr. Bush said nothing about gun laws except restrictions he supported. Pres. Bush didn?t challenge Kerry?s perfect anti-gun record, or mention having and using more guns than Kerry, signing the Texas concealed carry law, or supporting the bill to protect the gun industry from frivolous lawsuits -- which Kerry helped kill last March. Had the President not run to the left of leftist Kerry on guns, had he said half as much about defending the Second Amendment, guns and hunting as Kerry did, Bush would have picked up far more votes -- perhaps the needed 1-2 percent needed to win narrowly lost gunowner-abundant states like Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, winning an electoral landslide. Karl Rove, ?the architect? of Mr. Bush?s campaign, is the prot?g? of my one-time friend, the late Lee Atwater, who infamously said while directing Papa Bush?s 1992 re-election campaign, ?Where else do gun owners have to go?? Spurred by two major anti-gun actions by George H.W. Bush, gun owners made up much of the 19 percent who went with Ross Perot and elected Bill Clinton. Rove didn?t get that message. However, the Rove and Ken Mehlman Republican grass roots campaign, and NRA?s Federal campaign, were outstanding ? with few exceptions. The March votes for the ?assault weapon? extension and Sen. John McCain?s (R-Ariz.) bill requiring background checks on private transfers at gun shows and elsewhere showed we needed three more votes. Pro-gunners won a net four. It was a delight to see the defeat of Daschle, who played a major role in torpedoing the firearms industry liability protection bill he ?co-sponsored? earlier this year. And we got proven pro-gunner John Thune in the bargain. Also particularly significant were the Senate wins of Rep. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), proven pro-gunners who are known as mavericks likely to upset the collegial atmosphere in the Senate. Republicans were expected to lose votes in the House, despite a gerrymandered redistricting of Texas -- engineered by Majority Leader Tom DeLay to reverse a 1990 pro-Democrat gerrymander engineered by anti-gun Rep. Martin Frost (a fact never mentioned by the press). Frost was defeated, as were three usually pro-gun Democrats. Only anti-gun Rep. Chet Edwards survived, winning his new district by a greater margin than he did in 2002 against an underfunded pro-gun challenger who received no support from the party or Pres. Bush, whose ranch is in Edwards? district. Overall, Republicans did well in the House, increasing their margin by two, to 231. Gun owners did even better, moving up to 235. Two seats must still be decided in Louisiana runoffs, but all four candidates are ?A?-rated by NRA. Much of gun owners? gain was due to the replacement of three retiring anti-gun Republicans with pro-gun Republicans. The Senate gains, should allow much reform legislation, some of it already in the works. Neither we nor Republicans have the 60 votes to stop a Senate filibuster, but with the defeat of obstructionist Daschle fresh in Democrats? minds, filibusters are less likely -- even in the soon-to-come fight over terminally ill Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Rehnquist?s replacement. ====================================================================== I apologize that this note is belated. As you can imagine,I have many distractions these days. My health outlook is not as good as I?d like, although not as bad as it could be. My thanks for the many expressions of concern and support, and especially for your prayers. -- Neal Knox From chris at nealknox.com Fri Dec 24 16:00:54 2004 From: chris at nealknox.com (Chris Knox) Date: Fri Dec 24 16:06:26 2004 Subject: [Fcalerts-list] Holiday Greetings Message-ID: <41CC9FA6.9050301@nealknox.com> As you know, this has been a challenging year for our family. Dad is actively fighting colon cancer. It's uncomfortable and time-consuming, so our friend Clayton Cramer, my brother Jeff, and I have stepped up to write some of the Shotgun News column and to keep the alerts coming. Dad is still taking a hand -- he edited my piece in the upcoming Shotgun News and made it sound like I knew what I was talking about. As you're probably aware, we are Christians and this is a special season for us when we focus on the fulfillment of God's promises and on a hope that transcends this life. Those things are especially important at a time like this. This alert goes to a lot of friends and supporters who are not Christians. That number includes Jews, Muslims, and Hindus that I'm personally aware of. Regardless of your religious background -- or lack of it, we wish you all the blessings of this season and a happy and prosperous new year. From the entire Knox family, Neal Jay Chris Shan Jeff Stacey And all our younger crowd Jason Cody Amanda Torey Brandon Sydney Abigail