Today's News & Comment
Copyright © 2002-2009 Sporting Shooter's Association, New Zealand. All Rights Reserved.
February/March 2009
Some of you may have seen this already - if so ignore. If you are a member of WSRA or ASRA you should contact Steve Bain or myself if you need to. This is aimed mainly at NZSRA members who may not have seen an update since the beginning.
If any of you who do not plan to attend and want a rifle - and want to be on a ballot for the 5 rifles the club/association may buy let me or Steve know as above. ASRA intend to offer whatever we can get to members at cost plus a little (not sure what yet but $10-20).
Stuart Hayman on the NZCF Rifle auction
NZSRA members - re Cadet Rifle Auction
My reliable informant tells me that as at yesterday 220 people/clubs had so far registered for the NZCF Rifle auction, so this changes the game in terms of what one may need to pay and it could be a hotly contested auction.
Remembering the numbers – 260 No8, 141 No9 and 197 No4 and the 1:1:1 rule, it is looking as though there may well be more bidders than rifles, so the prices could go quite high. It will depend how serious people are about having one or are they looking for a cheap bargain. Serious collectors may push the prices quite high, but clubs need to be careful if they plan to onsell them. At the moment I would not like to predict prices, but we consider No8 @ $400 -600, No 9 @ $600-800 and a DP @ $200-300 to be reasonable levels given the numbers on offer.
While some people may want to pay well above this perhaps the majority will not want to and this is an unusual auction in that there are large numbers of only 3 items and so at least on the face of it, many opportunities to bid. Could be the event of the year and having been there will be something to remember for time to come!
Be in touch. Equally please let me know what you are doing (as many of you have, thanks).
The Battle of Trafalgar -- re-visited ...
Nelson: "Order the signal, Hardy."
Hardy: "Aye, aye sir."
Nelson: "Hold on, that's not what I dictated to Flags. What's the meaning of this?"
Hardy: "Sorry sir?"
Nelson (reading aloud): "'England expects every person to do his or her duty, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious persuasion or disability.' - What gobbledegook is this?"
Hardy: "Admiralty policy, I'm afraid, sir. We're an equal opportunities employer now. We had the devil's own job getting 'England' past the censors, lest it be considered racist."
Nelson: "Gadzooks, Hardy. Hand me my pipe and tobacco."
Hardy: "Sorry sir. All naval vessels have now been designated smoke-free working environments."
Nelson: "In that case, break open the rum ration. Let us splice the mainbrace to steel the men before battle."
Hardy: "The rum ration has been abolished, Admiral. Its part of the Government's policy on binge drinking."
Nelson: "Good heavens, Hardy. I suppose we'd better get on with it, full speed ahead."
Hardy: "I think you'll find that there's a 4 knots speed limit in this stretch of water."
Nelson: "Damn it man! We are on the eve of the greatest sea battle in history. We must advance with all dispatch. Report from the crow's nest please."
Hardy: "That won't be possible, sir."
Nelson: "What?"
Hardy: "Health and Safety have closed the crow's nest, sir. No harness, and they said that rope ladders don't meet regulations. They won't let anyone up there until a proper scaffolding can be erected."
Nelson: "Then get me the ship's carpenter without delay, Hardy."
Hardy: "He's busy knocking up a wheelchair access to the fo'c'sle Admiral."
Nelson: "Wheelchair access? I've never heard anything so absurd."
Hardy: "Health and safety again, sir. We have to provide a barrier-free environment for the differently abled."
Nelson: "Differently abled? I've only one arm and one eye and I refuse even to hear mention of the word. I didn't rise to the rank of admiral by playing the disability card."
Hardy: "Actually, sir, you did. The Royal Navy is under represented in the areas of visual impairment and limb deficiency."
Nelson: "Whatever next? Give me full sail. The salt spray beckons."
Hardy: "A couple of problems there too, sir. Health and safety won't let the crew up the rigging without hard hats. And they don't want anyone breathing in too much salt - haven't you seen the adverts?"
Nelson: "I've never heard such infamy. Break out the cannon and tell the men to stand by to engage the enemy."
Hardy: "The men are a bit worried about shooting at anyone, Admiral."
Nelson: "What? This is mutiny!"
Hardy: "It's not that, sir. It's just that they're afraid of being charged with murder if they actually kill anyone. There's a couple of legal-aid lawyers on board, watching everyone like hawks."
Nelson: "Then how are we to sink the Frenchies and the Spanish?"
Hardy: "Actually, sir, we're not."
Nelson: "We're not?"
Hardy: "No, sir. The French and the Spanish are our European partners now. According to the Common Fisheries Policy, we shouldn't even be in this stretch of water. We could get hit with a claim for compensation."
Nelson: "But you must hate a Frenchman as you hate the devil."
Hardy: "I wouldn't let the ship's diversity co-ordinator hear you saying that sir. You'll be up on disciplinary report."
Nelson: "You must consider every man an enemy, who speaks ill of your King."
Hardy: "Not any more, sir. We must be inclusive in this multicultural age. Now put on your Kevlar vest; it's the rules. It could save your life"
Nelson: "Don't tell me - health and safety. Whatever happened to rum, sodomy and the lash?"
Hardy: "As I explained, sir, rum is off the menu! And there's a ban on corporal punishment."
Nelson: "What about sodomy?"
Hardy: "I believe that is now legal, sir - if not actually compulsory."
Nelson: "In that case ... Kiss me, Hardy"
The Rifles on offer ...
The Number 8's at left in two different lengths and a Number 9 immediately below.
A few relevant quotes:-
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the State." (Dr. Joseph Goebbels)
"Ideas are more dangerous than guns. We don't let our people have guns. Why should we let them have ideas?" (Josef Stalin)
In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing. (Mark Twain)
If you will not fight for your rights when you can easily win without bloodshed -- if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly -- then you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. (Winston Churchill)
"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise." (Adolf Hitler)