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Jimmy Page's announcement of new signature Telecasters comes almost exactly 30 years since Fender released its very first signature models, although even then the idea of a signature or artist model was hardly a new one. Way back in the 1920s, it was Gibson who jumped on the popularity of Nick Lucas, the first American to become a big star through guitar-and-vocal hits. Nick's bestsellers included "I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover" (1927) and "Tip-Toe Thru The Tulips With Me" (1929), and he also cut some fine guitar-centric stuff like "Pickin' The Guitar" and "Teasin' The Frets." Gibson's Nick...

I interviewed Don Randall in 1992, when I was researching my first book about Fender. In the beginning, Don had worked for Fender's distributor, Radio-Tel, but in the early '50s he joined Fender as the head of sales, staying there until a few years after CBS' takeover in 1965. I met Don at his office in Tustin, California, and spent a couple of enjoyable hours chatting about the old days, necessarily concentrating on his view from the business side of Fender—and, in particular, discussing the controversial CBS purchase. Sitting in his wood-paneled office, he looked to me a little like...

https://youtu.be/7xX_KaStFT8 Eliminate 2 existing regulations for every new one enacted? That alone could fix miles and miles of our national problems.

(CNSNews.com) – Almost 100,000 Somali refugees have been resettled in the United States since 9/11, including 8,619 so far during the current fiscal year. The largest number – some 16 percent of the total over the past 15 years – have been resettled in Minnesota, home to the nation’s biggest Somali-American community. Of the 97,046 Somali refugees admitted to the U.S. since the fall of 2001, 99.6 percent were Muslim, and 28,836 (29.7 percent) were males between the ages of 14 and 50.

(CNN) -- Their job is to keep air travelers safe in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks. But just how good of a job are they doing? A new government report says misconduct by Transportation Security Administration workers has increased more than 26% in the last three years. Some of the most serious violations include: Employees sleeping on the job, letting family and friends go without being screened, leaving work without permission and stealing. The Government Accountability Office report released this week says more than 9,000 cases of misconduct were documented over a three-year span.

SAN BERNARDINO - Exactly six months after 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a small group from Organizing for Action stood here Friday with 26 flags and signs calling for stricter gun control. "On Flag Day growing up, I used to always wave a flag with my grandson, and it hit me that the victims of that horrible tragedy won't ever be able to do that," said Curtis Lewis, the group's gun violence prevention coordinator. "We need people to stand up and write to Congress to say they want laws that...

President Obama shrugged off Friday what he coined Republican "fearmongering" and said the healthcare law is working the way it's supposed to, The Hill's Healthwatch reports. Obama criticized the GOP for using scare tactics over the effects of the healthcare law. He says early results indicate the system is working as intended, although industry experts say the true measure of the law's success will be known once new insurance marketplaces open this fall in states across the country and enrollment for the new coverage options begin. But Obama pointed to California, as one of several states that shows early success,...

The White House recently came to Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) rescue, defending her 2013 assault weapons ban against a seething White House petition to have her tried for treason. The petition, which was created on December 27th, 2012 and has more than 41,000 signatures, opposed Sen. Feinstein’s 2013 assault weapons ban and called for the California Senator to be tried by a federal court for treason against the Constitution. “The Constitution was written to restrain government. No amendment is more important for this purpose than the second amendment,” the petition reads. “[It] was written so the power could be kept...

More wild and crazy adventures in Barack Obama’s command economy,

Despite fierce controversy, existing physician-assisted suicide or death with dignity programs in the United States appear to be well-accepted by patients and clinicians, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In their report, lead author Elizabeth Trice Loggers, MD, PhD, medical director of palliative care at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and colleagues explain that Washington's program "allows patients with cancer who wish to consider this option to do so within the context of their ongoing care." Guidelines in Washington—one of three states to allow some form of physician-assisted suicide—also accommodate variation in clinicians' willingness to...

President Obama can't see how Congress could buck public opinion to vote against new gun laws, he said in an interview released Tuesday. “The notion that Congress would defy the overwhelming instinct of the American people after what we saw happen in Newtown I think is unimaginable,” he told "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie in an interview conducted before Monday's explosions at the Boston Marathon. The Senate is expected to vote on gun legislation later this week, though it's not yet clear whether there will be enough votes for it to pass. Obama has been calling lawmakers to try to...

Grassley on the Treasury Secretary Nomination M E M O R A N D U M To: Reporters and Editors Re: Nomination of Treasury secretary Da: Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today made the following comment on the President’s nomination of Jacob Lew as Treasury secretary. Grassley is a senior member and former chairman and ranking member of the Finance Committee, which will consider the nomination. “I intend to reserve judgment on the nomination until the vetting process is completed. The Finance Committee has a tradition of thoroughly vetting nominees, and the process works. The Treasury...

A Florida man is facing a misdemeanor charge after he went to a Democratic Party headquarters and threw a penny at workers there, claiming that the change was "all he has left after being taxed by Obama," cops report. The protest Friday evening ended with the arrest of Gary Root, a 71-year-old Naples man (and registered Republican). Root, seen in the adjacent mug shot, was charged with trespassing at the Collier County office where he offered his impromptu donation. According to a Collier County Sheriff's Office report, Root explained to deputies that he "tossed in a penny as a contribution...

(CNSNews.com) – New York and Massachusetts are administering food stamps to 2,000 dead people, according to Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) catalog of government waste. The 2012 Waste Book, released earlier this week, documents $4.5 billion in waste in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. Among his findings, Coburn said that, “The USDA Inspector General found roughly 2,000 dead people are still receiving food stamps in New York and Massachusetts combined.” SNIP “Marijuana has been linked to an increased appetite, known as getting the ‘munchies,’ so perhaps it is no surprise the states of Maine, New...

Hartford -- A new TV ad by Republican U.S. Senate nominee Linda McMahon gleefully points out a gaffe in her opponent’s latest ad that confused a diesel submarine of the Royal Norwegian Navy with a Groton-built sub. In the ad by the Democrat Chris Murphy, a narrator tells how “the Connecticut jobs Chris Murphy’s helped create...launched new subs in Groton.” Meanwhile, a short video clip of a surfaced submarine flashes on the screen. McMahon’s new ad does a close-up of the sub’s flag, revealing that it is indeed a Norwegian flag and not a U.S. vessel. Her campaign staff announced...

(CNSNews.com) -Only 8 percent of Americans say they have a "great deal" of trust in the news media, according to a new Gallup poll. That is down from 11 percent a year ago and is a record low for the 40 years that Gallup has been polling on the question. See Gallup's analysis of the survey here. Since 1972, Gallup has periodically asked respondents: “In general, how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media--such as newspapers, T.V. and radio--when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately, and fairly--a great deal, a fair amount, not very...

(CNSNews.com) – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that the policies of the Bush administration created an economy that was so bad that it was in the "depths of hell"--a description she said Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson used in a Sept. 18, 2008 meeting with congressional leaders. During a Capitol Hill press conference on Thursday, a reporter asked Pelosi, “I wonder if you could describe for us in as much detail, sort of regionally or race by race, exactly the scenario that makes you believe that this is a realistic process for Democrats? Pelosi outlined how she thought the...

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), speaking at the Values Voter Summit last week in Washington, D.C., said that President Barack Obama needs to cancel his upcoming interview with David Letterman and instead meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “And President Obama needs to get his priorities straight. What he needs to do is cancel his planned interview with David Letterman, cancel his meeting with Beyonce, cancel his meeting with Jay Z, and instead agree to meet with the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, because you see, America and Israel have a commonality of interests,” Bachmann said. Obama...

<p>JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insinuated in an interview published Friday that Israel cannot entirely rely on the U.S. to act against Iran’s suspect nuclear program, a sign that the Israeli leader is not backing down from the sharp rhetoric that strained relations this week with the Obama administration.</p>

It would be laughable if it weren't tragic. This week Surgeon General Regina Benjamin introduced a plan to stem the nation's growing suicide rate without addressing the nation's growing use of suicide-linked drugs. Antidepressants like Prozac and Paxil, antipsychotics like Seroquel and Zyprexa and anti-seizure drugs like Lyrica and Neurontin are all linked to suicide in published reports and in FDA warnings. (Almost 5,000 newspaper reports link antidepressants to suicide, homicide and bizarre behavior.) Asthma drugs like Singulair, antismoking drugs like Chantix, acne drugs like Accutane and the still-in-use malaria drug Lariam, are also linked to suicide. The US's suicide...