New Route to Marxism
Posted here for 6-22-09

"[T]he most important debate in the history of the United States is about to begin -- it's the battle over a completely new economic system based on climate change called Cap and Trade.

"It should be called Tax and Trade as it will force up the price of every item created or run by energy from gasoline to toothpaste to natural gas to hotel rooms.

"Cap and Trade will throw out the old system of a free market based on goods and services and operate on the idea that C02 is a pollutant.

"Instead of money, wealth will be determined on how many government-issued emission permits you own to allow you to operate your business.

"In short, it's all about wealth redistribution. Your wealth into a green rat hole.

"During the Cold War, communists tried to get us to surrender our liberties and way of life for the wisdom of Karl Marx. Americans didn't buy it.

"But now, they have taken the same clap trap and wrapped it all in a nice green blanket, scaring us with horror stories about the human destruction of the environment -- and so we are now throwing our liberties on the bon fire like a good-old-fashioned book burning -- all in the name of protecting the planet.

"It sounds so friendly. So meaningful. So urgent. But, the devastation to our liberty and way of life is the same as if Lenin ordered it."

-- "A New Economy Based on Carbon," by Tom DeWeese, The DeWeese Report, April 2009, page 3, published by the American Policy Center, 13873 Park Center Road, #316, Herndon, Virginia 20171. Phone: 703-925-0881. Fax: 703-925-0991. E-mail. Website.

American Exceptionalism
Posted here for 6-15-09

"'At a stop on his grand global apology tour this spring, President Obama was asked by a reporter in France if he believed in American exceptional. This is the notion that our history as the world's oldest democracy, our immigrant founding, and our devotion to liberty endow the United States with a unique, providential role in world affairs,' James Kirchick writes in the Los Angeles Times.

"'Rather than endorse the proposition -- as every president in recent memory has done one way or another -- Obama offered a strange response: I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.

"'This is impossible. If all countries are exceptional, then none are, and to claim otherwise robs the word, and the idea of American exceptionalism, of any meaning. Besides, American exceptionalism is demonstrable -- [People around the world] look toward the U.S. and nowhere else to defend freedom. [. . .]

"'Since swearing the oath of office, our president has traveled the world criticizing his predecessor, confessing America's supposed sins, and otherwise flagellating the nation he leads on the altar of international public opinion.'"

-- "Odd Response," Inside Politics, compiled by Greg Pierce, The Washington Times National Weekly Edition, May 4, 2009, page 14. Address: 3600 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002. E-mail. Website.

Freedom Versus Servitude
Posted here for 6-8-09

"Americans no longer know what freedom is. Historically, the definition of a free person is one who owns his own labor. Serfs and slaves were not free because they [did] not own all of their own labor.

"An income tax is inconsistent with the historical definition of freedom. Today in America, government has a claim on every person's labor, just as feudal lords, the government of that time, had claims on the labor of serfs and 19th century plantation owners had on slaves.

"Understanding that an income tax was serfdom, our Founding Fathers wrote the U.S. Constitution in a way that prevented an income tax. This was altered in 1913 with a constitutional amendment that some claim was not properly carried out.

"This first step in the enserfment of the American people was taken in envy. The rich were the targets of the income tax. Once in place, the income tax was extended by law and by inflation until ordinary people were being taxed at rates several times as high as the original top rate for the rich.

"After almost 100 years of income tax, generations have been born into serfdom and accept the government's claim on their labor as normal, even just. Some say they don't mind paying taxes to help the poor. They should look to see what share goes to the poor and what share to war, armaments and the bailout of the treasury secretary's rich friends. [. . .]

"Americans work 42 percent of the year for the government, a higher tax rate than was endured by medieval serfs and one approaching that of a 19th century slave."

-- "How Freedom Was Lost," by Paul Craig Roberts, Middle America News, May 2009, page 19. Address: We the People Institute, Incorporated, PO Box 17088, Raleigh, North Carolina 27619. Phone: 919-839-1001. Fax: 919-839-2181. E-mail. Website.

The Death of the American Dream
Posted here for 6-1-09

"With little fanfare, the Government Accountability Office released a document that points to the day when the American dream dies and is buried beneath a middle class welfare state.

"You can see death coming for the American dream as surely as you can see cirrhosis coming for a drunk.

"We are bringing it upon ourselves -- although not all Americans deserve what is going to happen. For one, our children don't deserve it. Neither do Americans who have tried to live independent, self-reliant lives.

"What the document said is that what the GAO dryly calls the 'federal fiscal gap' may now equal as much as $62.9 trillion. [. . .]

"[A]ccording to the Census Bureau, there were 112,377,977 households in the United States in 2007. If every one of these households were charged an equal amount to cover a $62.9 trillion federal shortfall, they would each need to pay $559,778. [. . .]

"The Census Bureau says there are 13.8 million American households living below the poverty line. Exempt these poor people, and the 98,527,917 non-poor households would need to pay $638,397 apiece to cover a $62.9 trillion federal shortfall [. . . .]

"If these politicians [those who remain in power by sustaining the welfare state] win -- if they succeed in creating a society where those who work and sacrifice and save their entire lives can see the fruits of their labors confiscated to pay government benefits to someone else -- that will be the day the American Dream dies."

-- "The Day the American Dream Dies," by Terence P. Jeffrey, Human Events, May 11, 2009, page 8. Address: 1 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001. Phone: 202-216-0600. Website.

Power Grab
Posted here for 5-25-09

"The right of parents to authority and autonomy in the rearing of their children has always enjoyed consensus in the United States. This principle -- that 'parents have a fundamental constitutional right to rear their children, including the right to determine who shall educate and socialize them' -- was unanimously reaffirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000 in Troxel v. Granville.

"Over the past 30 years, there has been a steady erosion of this fundamental right by liberals who believe that various so-called experts are better able to make decisions about children than mere parents. These experts can be teachers, school counselors, pediatricians, psychiatrists, social workers, custody evaluators, or judges. This denial of the fundamental role of parents is illustrated by the slogan 'it takes a village to raise a child.'

"Public schools have been taking over many responsibilities traditionally in the domain of parents such as providing meals, health care, and pre-kindergarten services. Public schools notoriously assert their right to override parental decisions about the assignment of books that parents find immoral or profane, the use of privacy-invading questionnaires, the teaching of sex and evolution, the provision of contraceptives and abortion referrals, the use of school counselors, and demands that children be injected with vaccines or put on psychotropic drugs.

"This widespread campaign to give the 'village' (speaking through the public schools or the family courts) -- instead of parents -- the authority to make major decisions about the care, upbringing and education of children is taking place despite the fact that no scientific basis exists for 'village' methodologies, for the tests used, or for the recommendations and decisions made. There is no agreement among professionals on how to conduct a proper examination, what standards to use if any, or what should go into any assessment. The reports are not scientific findings but expressions of personal preference. Often the practices are wrapped in the expression 'the best interest of the child,' but the use of people other than parents to determine the best interest of a child cannot be justified by science, law, morality, or common sense."

-- "The 'Village' Is Taking Over," by Phyllis Schlafly, The Phyllis Schlafly Report, December 2005, page 3. Address: PO Box 618, Alton, Illinois 62002. E-mail. Website.

Central Banks
Posted here for 5-18-09

"Central banks are villains in most countries; ours is just not as bad as others. In 1946, Hungary's central bank gave it the world's highest inflation rate. Prices doubled every 16 hours creating an annual inflation rate of 13 quadrillion percent. Last October, Zimbabwe's central bank produced history's second highest rate of inflation. Prices doubled every 25 hours, giving it an annual inflation rate of 80 billion percent. By comparison, Germany's inflation rate, which brought about the social disruption responsible for Hitler's rise to power, was a mere 30,000 percent that saw prices double every four days. [. . .]

"Knowing the dangers posed by central banks, we might ask whether our country needs the Federal Reserve System. [. . .]

"[F]rom 1836, when President Andrew Jackson closed the Second Bank of the United States, to 1913 when [the] Federal Reserve Act was written, [. . .] we prospered and became one of the world's major economic powers.

"The justifications for [the] Federal Reserve Act of 1913 [were] to prevent bank failure and maintain price stability. Simple before-and-after analysis demonstrates that the Federal Reserve Bank has been a failure. In the century before the Federal Reserve Act, wholesale prices fell by 6 percent; in the century after, they rose by 1,300 percent. Maximum bank failures in one year before 1913 were 496 and afterward, 4,400. During the 1930s, inept money supply management by the Federal Reserve Bank was partially responsible for both the depth and duration of the Great Depression.

"It is not wise for us to permit a few people on the Federal Reserve Board to have life and death power over our economy."

-- "Was the Federal Reserve Bank a Mistake?" by Walter E. Williams, The Washington Times National Weekly Edition, December 22, 2008, page 36. Address: 3600 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002. E-mail. Website.

The Government Describes Domestic Terrorists
Posted here for 5-11-09

"Are you on some government list as a possible 'domestic terrorist' suspect because you have exercised your First Amendment right to express opposition to a government program or a proposed piece of legislation?

"Have you, like millions of your fellow Americans, expressed outrage over the trillions of dollars being poured into the unending series of government bailouts?

"Are you concerned about the escalating violence in Mexico and upset over the refusal of our government to secure our border and stop the continuing deluge of illegal aliens entering our country?

"Do you support the Second Amendment and oppose the prohibition, restriction, and confiscation of privately owned firearms and ammunition?

"Do you criticize and/or oppose the United Nations?

"Does your automobile sport any politically incorrect bumper stickers?

"If you answer yes to any of these questions, you already may have been singled out as an 'antigovernment' terrorist suspect. A report issued on February 20 [2009] by the Missouri Information and Analysis Center (MIAC), a branch of the state's Highway Patrol, tells law-enforcement personnel that these indicators are characteristic of 'right-wing extremists' and 'militia members' whose 'mindset' poses a 'threat to law enforcement.'"

-- "Do You Fit the Terrorist Profile?" by William F. Jasper, The New American April 13, 2009, page 44. Address: PO Box 8040, Appleton, Wisconsin, 54912. Phone: 920-749-3784. Fax: 920-749-3785. Website.

Has Obama Perjured Himself with His Claim He's a U.S. Citizen?
Posted here for 5-4-09

"According to much legal research, at the time of Obama's birth he could be a 'natural born citizen' in one of three ways: by being born in the United States, by being born to two U.S. citizen-parents (not possible because of his father), or, if only one parent was a U.S. citizen at the time of the birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least 10 years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16.

"The problem is, Obama's mother was only 18 when she gave birth, so his only apparent route to 'natural born' citizenship status would have been to be born in Hawaii.

"[. . .] Even if Obama was born in the state, would he have inherited citizenship from his Kenyan father, a British subject, or from his American mother, a juvenile?

"If he was born overseas, as some critics contend, is there any way he would have acquired U.S. citizenship at birth? Statements from members of his extended family in Kenya, including some from his paternal grandmother, seem to indicate his birth location was in Kenya, not Hawaii.

"At the time Obama moved to Indonesia as a child, only citizens of that country were allowed to attend school there. He was registered there as Barry Soetoro, his citizenship listed as Indonesian and his religion listed as Islam. There was reportedly no dual citizenship with Indonesia at the time. [. . .]

"Also, some critics contend it is likely Obama traveled to Pakistan in 1981 on a passport other than a U.S. document, raising the question of the status of his citizenship at that point. Could one obtain another nation's passport while being an American citizen? [. . .]

"Among other claims being raised in the various lawsuits [that have been filed]: That Congress didn't property determine whether Obama is qualified, that state officials failed to properly qualify Obama as a candidate (California previously had removed ineligible candidates from the ballot), that his college records should be released to reveal whether he attended school as a U.S. citizen, and that members of the military -- especially those on active duty and in harm's way -- have a legitimate and compelling need to know his qualifications to be commander-in-chief."

-- "Why Questions Persist Regarding Obama's Qualifications," by Bob Unruh, Whistleblower magazine, April 2009, pages 11-12. Address: PO Box 2450, Fair Oaks, California 95628. Phone: 916-852-6300. Fax: 916-852-6302. Website.

Lessons to Learn from Zimbabwe
Posted here for 4-27-09

"The tragedy now unfolding in Zimbabwe provides the latest example that a government cannot create prosperity simply by cranking up the printing presses and creating previously unimaginable sums of money. All that course of action ever does in the long term is destroy the value of the currency. But this tragedy is not limited to inflation of the currency, as horrific as the inflation has been. It also shows the devastating effects of share-the-wealth politics, which become control-the-wealth politics wherever [they are] put into practice. [. . .]

"Zimbabwe has shattered all previous records for inflated currency, effectively bringing the nation's economy to a halt. The nation's annual inflation rate rose from 1,000 percent in 2006, to 12,000 percent in 2007, to an immeasurable figure in 2008. Last August, the government devalued the currency by chopping off 10 zeros from bills. Had they not done so, the conversion rate would have risen to 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars to one U.S. dollar! [. . .]

"The seizure of farms without compensation was prohibited by Zimbabwe's original constitution, so [President Robert] Mugabe initiated a referendum to amend the constitution to remove that prohibition. [. . .] A majority of Zimbabwean voters defeated [the referendum], but parliament disregarded their wishes and passed legislation authorizing uncompensated seizure of farms, which Mugabe signed into law on April 18, 2000. [. . .]

"As in all socialist governments, governmental micro-management of the economy produced a steady decline in the nation's productivity, gross domestic product. and standard of living. [. . .]

"With its economy killed by socialist mismanagement, the 'solution' implemented by Zimbabwe's government was more socialist mismanagement, this time of the nation's money supply. [. . .]

"That the issuing of new money is the economic cause of price inflation is not widely understood in Africa (and probably not in the United States, either, judging by congressional support for President Obama's 'stimulus' package). [. . .]

"Among the most important lessons that can be learned from Zimbabwe's economic and social crisis is that too much government will destroy both prosperity and freedom." [Americans ought to take note.]

-- "From Riches to Rags," by Warren Mass, The New American March 30, 2009, pages 13-17. Address: PO Box 8040, Appleton, Wisconsin, 54912. Phone: 920-749-3784. Fax: 920-749-3785. Website.

Following the Communist Plan
Posted here for 4-20-09

"A recent directive from the New York State Department of Health is one of the latest examples of the deterioration of America's culture. Sent to the offices of the 900-plus cities and towns in the Empire State, it contained a newly created 'Certificate of Live Birth' along with a single-page explanation of why it had been sent. The official document noted that a New York State court had ruled that same-sex 'marriages performed in 'other jurisdictions' (such as in neighboring Massachusetts) 'must be recognized.' Therefore, stated the directive, 'any married woman that gives birth in your district will have her spouse -- male or female -- listed in the birth certificate as the second parent.'

"Samples of the new form accompanying the directive contained space for the entry of the name of "Mother" and a second space for entry of another "Mother." No space for any father is provided. That's on another form available from the state to use in registering the newly born child of a heterosexual couple.

"New York State now dignifies homosexuality to the point of considering two females as the parents of a newborn. [. . .]

"The transformation of America's culture has much to do with the strategy laid out by a communist theoretician named Antonio Gramsci. [He] proposed attacking the West's cultural foundations, thereby weakening the structure of those nations he wanted to conquer. If communists could undermine faith in God and love of family and country, he believed, the Christian West would become rootless and would be an easy prey for conquest. [. . .]

"Gramsci recommended that communists should ridicule morality, decency, and virtue. He said that real heroes should be replaced by adulation of the equivalent of to day's decadent rock stars and Hollywood favorites. [. . .]

"Consider the harmful effect on America's cultural base of such forces as feminism, the homosexual lobby, extreme environmentalism, liberal historians who trash our nation's founders, and jurists and legislators who operate on the false doctrine that the U.S. Constitution was written only for a bygone age and modern government has all the answers for today's needs. [. . .] While it is true that many Americans shrink in horror at the erosion of culture that so marked our nation, few seem to understand why it is happening."

-- "Undermining Our Culture," by John F. McManus, The New American March 2, 2009, page 44. Address: PO Box 8040, Appleton, Wisconsin, 54912. Phone: 920-749-3784. Fax: 920-749-3785. Website.

Clash of Values
Posted here for 4-13-09

"If enough people break the law and trespass our borders, in time society will not penalize them, but will reward them with jobs, education for their children, and drivers' licenses. [. . .]

"Integrity and virtue, instead of acting as boundaries, become speed bumps, and are rolled over in pursuit of some higher good. Once morals are on a sliding scale, the end completely justifies the means. And if some, like the liberals, see themselves on the moral high ground, their consciences will permit them to do whatever they need to if they decide it is for everyone's ultimate best.

"A liberal president, for example, might carry on an adulterous relationship in the White House, and have no qualms about lying under oath to cover it up. And when exposed, he will feel no shame nor be tempted to resign, because he believes that the good he offers the country outweighs his 'mistakes.' His supporters may acknowledge that adultery and lying are not good, but will mercifully overlook the indiscretions, because they, too, believe the country needs his liberal leadership.

"Their elevation of expedience over integrity is why they easily forgive the failures of liberal leaders, but have no tolerance for conservatives who fail. Besides, conservatives are the ones who claim to represent faith and values, while the liberals claim to represent free-spirited living. That means a conservative who falls is a hypocrite, but a liberal who falls was just careless. In their minds, the man who fails to live up to his own morals is worse than a man who makes no claim to have morals at all. The fact is, both should cause us concern.

"When morality is arbitrary, society's standards get lower and lower. The scenario I just described occurred in 1998, just ten years after Gary Hart had been forced out of the 1988 presidential race for a comparatively minor scandal. Back then, the American people expected the president of the United States to have character. After all, it was reasoned, if a man lacks the character to keep his wedding vows to his wife, spoken before God and other witnesses, why should he be trusted to keep his oath of office? If a man would betray his own wife for personal pleasure, why would we expect him to be faithful to the American people? But because the liberal influence is so predominant in our society, in only one decade America's morals went from 'character wins our trust' to 'character doesn't count.'"

-- "Freedom to Be Enslaved," by Reb Bradley, Whistleblower magazine, January 2009, pages 36, 38. Address: PO Box 2450, Fair Oaks, California 95628. Phone: 916-852-6300. Fax: 916-852-6302. Website.

Fossil Fuel? Maybe Not.
Posted here for 4-13-09

"The study published in Science Magazine earlier this year [2008] presents new evidence supporting the abiotic theory for the origin of oil [. . .]

"The abiotic theory [. . .] directly challenges the conventional scientific theory that hydrocarbons are organic in nature, created by the deterioration of biological material deposited millions of years ago in sedimentary rock and converted to hydrocarbons under intense heat and pressure. [. . .]

"In stark contrast, the abiotic theory argues that hydrocarbons are naturally produced on a continual basis throughout the solar system, including within the mantle of the earth. [. . .]

"In 2003 and again in 2005, [lead scientist Giora] Proskurowski [of the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington in Seattle] and his team descended in a scientific submarine to collect liquid bubbling up from Lost City sea vents. [The Lost City is a hypothermal field some 2100 feet below sea level that sits along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at the center of the Atlantic Ocean.]

Proskurowski found hydrocarbons containing carbon-13 isotopes that appeared to be formed from the mantle of the Earth, rather than from biological material settled on the ocean floor.

"Carbon 13 is the carbon isotope scientists associate with abiotic origin, compared to carbon 12 that scientists typically associate with biological origin. [. . .]

"'Our findings illustrate that the abiotic synthesis of hydrocarbons in nature may occur in the presence of ultramafic rocks, water and moderate amounts of heat,' Proskurowski wrote."

-- "Discovery Backs Theory Oil Not 'Fossil Fuel'," by Jerome R. Corsi, Whistleblower magazine, August 2008, pages 34, 42. Address: PO Box 2450, Fair Oaks, California 95628. Phone: 916-852-6300. Fax: 916-852-6302. Website.

The Environmental Movement Exposed
Posted here for 4-6-09

"The liberal environmental movement is a religion with a smothering political agenda. A leftist agenda that is bad for the economy and, ironically, bad for the environment. [. . .]

"[Environmental] groups are led by people who subscribe to a modern Marxist view of the world where, in the pursuit of power and control, concerns for 'the environment' have replaced concerns for 'the worker.'

"The solutions environmentalists promote for environmental problems, many of these problems grossly and intentionally exaggerated by environmental groups to create the required alarm in the public, are the same as those on offer from Marx and V.I. Lenin: Government control of the economy and of people's personal behavior. It's no accident that April 22, Earth Day, is Lenin's birthday. That date was deliberately chosen because the enviro-Marxists who began Earth Day were convinced that capitalism destroys the environment. It doesn't. In fact all capitalist societies are cleaner than socialist societies. [. . .]

"The environmental movement is grounded in the idea that freedom is detrimental to the environment. [. . .] The dogmatic ideologies and restrictive policies pushed on us by the environmental Left have harmed nature more than helped it, but environmentalists have never borne the blame . . . . Laws and policies that were introduced in the name of saving the environment are hurting it, and we can expect more of the same if liberal environmentalists continue to have free run."

-- "Environmental Hazards Caused by Self-Appointed Eco-Leaders," a review, written by Larry Thornberry, of the book The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don't Want You to Know About -- Because They Helped Cause Them, by Iain Murray, The Washington Times National Weekly Edition, June 23, 2008, page 26. Address: 3600 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002. E-mail. Website.

Stealth Jihad
Posted here for 3-30-09

"It's like something out of a science-fiction film, a vision of a future American dystopia ruled by religious fanatics:

Large cities and urban enclaves are deemed 'sensitive' zones where secular law isn't recognized, and local police cannot enter.
Women are chattel, allowed to divorce only if permitted by their husbands, and receiving only small portions of their inheritance.
Adulterers and gays are put to death or imprisoned for lengthy sentences.
Alcohol is forbidden even to nonbelievers, and business contracts can be entered only on the terns of the faithful.

That's the nightmare scenario of some leading thinkers who believe that America and the West are succumbing slowly to a 'stealth jihad' by radical Islamists infiltrating communities, courts, and schools in Europe and the United States.

The experts point not only to a series of decisions and decrees across Europe permitting Islamic law, or Shariah, to govern marriage and other family law, but the increasing implementation of Islamic practices in banking and finance. [. . .]

"[S]ays Robert Spencer, author of the new book, Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam Is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs, "The aim is to insinuate Islamic law into the United States so that Islamic law takes precedent over American law where the two conflict."

-- "America Faces 'Stealth Jihad'," by Tim Collie, NewsMax (the magazine), January 2009, page 8. Address: Sequoia Digital Corporation, 224 Datura Street, West Palm Beach, Florida 33401. Website.

Throwing Gas on the Fire
Posted here for 3-23-09

"The economic crisis imperiling America and the rest of the world is not one that was caused by deregulation or under-regulation.

"It was not one caused by laissez faire capitalism.

"It is not one caused by banks and financial institutions simply running out of money.

"And it is not one that will be fixed by infusing those institutions with more money at taxpayer expense.

"The problem is debt.

"And the problem was caused by government.

"Government agencies and officials actively pressured banks to write more loans to people who were poor credit risks. The idea was to make home ownership a national right, rather than a benefit of hard work, savings and achievement. Two government-sponsored enterprises -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- were at the forefront of this political scheme.

"Not only did these two corporations engage in improper and fraudulent accounting practices, but they also became major political contributors -- giving millions of dollars to political candidates, especially Sen. Barack Obama, who shared their agenda and were considered likely to back increasingly risky practices. [. . .]

"The $700 billion bailout is nothing more than a temporary bandage placed on an acutely hemorrhaging patient. It didn't address the root of the problem -- government's active encouragement of unsustainable public and private debt. [. . .]

"Americans intuitively understand [the bailout] is a giant rip-off -- perhaps the biggest scheme to loot taxpayers in the history of the world. [. . .]

"Election Day comes and goes, and the vast majority of the incumbents, including those who betrayed [the citizens] and the Constitution with the bailout, go back to Washington.

"That's why we'll not have a sound economy again in America in our lifetimes. That's why we'll not have a return to dollars based on gold. That's why we'll not have constitutionally limited government. That's why we'll continue down the road of socialism, globalism and ultimate collapse."

-- "The Problem Is Debt," by Joseph Farah, Whistleblower magazine, November 2008, page 7. Address: PO Box 2450, Fair Oaks, California 95628. Phone: 916-852-6300. Fax: 916-852-6302. Website.

If It's Ratified, We're LOST
Posted here for 3-16-09

"The United States Senate may vote very soon on one of the most far-reaching and dangerous treaties our government has ever considered for ratification: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (also known as the Law of the Sea Treaty, or LOST). The treaty, which has simmered on the back burners of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for decades, would give the United Nations control and jurisdiction over the world's oceans, nearly three-quarters of the surface of our planet. [. . .]

"Its scope is vast: it covers all ocean space, with all its uses, including navigation and overflight; all uses of all its resources, living and nonliving, on the high seas, on the ocean floor and beneath, on the continental shelf and in the territorial seas; the protection of the marine environment; and basic law and order. . . . The Convention is widely recognized by the international community as the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and the seas must be carried out. [. . .]

"[T]he claims go even far beyond this to include global regulations that will override domestic laws covering not only coastal waters and shorelines, but also human activities in rivers and inland waterways, and land-based activities that may be claimed -- no matter how far-fetched -- to be harming the marine environment.

"Moreover, LOST may confer upon the UN, for the first time, the ability to tax Americans directly, without congressional approval. [. . .]

"Senate ratification of LOST is a 'top priority' for the new Obama administration. [. . .]

"Sen. Clinton [said]: 'The President-Elect and I both supported ratification of the Law of the Sea Convention as senators. . . . If confirmed, its ratification will be one of my top treaty priorities at Stale, and the new administration will work with the Senate to secure approval."

-- "LOST -- Law of the Sea Treaty," by William F. Jasper, The New American March 2, 2009, pages 10-11. Address: PO Box 8040, Appleton, Wisconsin, 54912. Phone: 920-749-3784. Fax: 920-749-3785. Website.

The Change Obama Promised
Posted here for 3-9-09

"Simply put, we came into this administration as free-enterprise, market-dominated, laissez-faire America. We soon will become like Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Sweden: a socialist democracy in which the government dominates the economy, determines private-sector priorities, and offers a vastly expanded range of services to many more people at much higher taxes.

"Obama will accomplish his agenda of 'reform' under the rubric of 'recovery,' Using the electoral mandate bestowed on a Democratic Congress by restless voters and the economic power given his administration by terrified Americans, he will change our country fundamentally in the name of lifting the depression. His stimulus packages won't do much to shorten the downturn, although they will make it less painful, but they will do a great deal to change our nation. [. . .]

"[Obama] will create a permanent electoral majority that does not pay taxes, but counts on ever-expanding welfare checks from the government. The dependency on the dole will grow to a clear majority of Americans. [. . .]

"He will legalize all those who have been in America for five years, albeit illegally, and smooth their paths to citizenship and voting. He will weaken border controls in an attempt to hike the Latino vote as high as he can to make red states like Texas into blue states like California. By the time he is finished, Latinos and blacks will cast a combined 30 percent of the vote. [. . .]

"[B]y 2010[,] the Republican Party will make big gains and regain much of its lost power. But it will be too late to reverse the socialism, the demographic change in the electorate, the rationing of healthcare by the government, the surge of unionization, and the crippling of talk radio."

-- "The Obama Presidency: Here Comes Socialism," by Dick Morris with Eilleen McGann, NewsMax (the magazine), March 2009, page 38. Address: Sequoia Digital Corporation, 224 Datura Street, West Palm Beach, Florida 33401. Website.

The Un-United States of America
Posted here for 3-2-09

"I don't see a way to unite a people as divided as Americans are today. We are trying to pretend we're one nation when we are really two.

"One of those two nations clings to the promises and covenants of the past, the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, as the guiding principles. The other believes in and lives with no immutable standards. [. . .]

"My vision of the world is one in perfect harmony with the Bible, the Declaration and the Constitution. But these standards have been run over, obscured, distorted, demolished, nullified, undone, vandalized. Since, historically, it was the Bible, the Declaration and the Constitution that held us together, what binds us today? Shouldn't those of us who upheld the commitment to those standards have the right, in fact, the duty, to separate ourselves from those who have gutted them?

"America was founded as a sovereign, independent nation. The vandals want to yield sovereignty to global authorities and make America interdependent.

"America was founded with a federal government that was to be constitutionally limited in scope. The vandals have already succeeded in obliterating the enumerated powers.

"America was founded as a nation of self-governing free people and sovereign states with significant authority reserved to them. The vandals have placed America under the shackles of a central government to which the states and people are subordinate.

"America was founded as a nation of people 'endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' The vandals deny the Creator, invent man-made rights and deny life and liberty are sacred values. [. . .]

"I don't want to live under the consequences of the actions of the vandals. I don't want my children to do that. There ought to be a choice. Maybe we can live side by side in peace as two nations, but we can't live freely as one people any longer."

-- "How Much Are You Willing to Bend?" by Joseph Farah, Whistleblower magazine, January 2009, page 5. Address: PO Box 2450, Fair Oaks, California 95628. Phone: 916-852-6300. Fax: 916-852-6302. Website.

ACORN and the Mortgage Crisis
Posted here for 2-23-09

"[T]he mortgage crisis [. . .] has sent a shock wave through Wall Street and panicked world financial markets like no other since the stock market crash of 1929. But this is a problem created in Washington long ago. It originated with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), signed into law in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter. The CRA was Carter's answer to a grassroots activist movement started in Chicago, and [it] forced banks to make loans to low-income, high-risk customers. Ph.D. economist and former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm has called it 'a vast extortion scheme against the nation's banks.' [. . .]

"ACORN showed its colors [. . .] in 1991, by taking over the House Banking Committee room for two days to protest efforts to scale back the CRA. [Barack] Obama represented ACORN in the Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 1994 suit against redlining. Most significant of all, ACORN was the driving force behind a 1995 regulatory revision pushed through by the Clinton administration that greatly expanded the CRA and laid the groundwork for the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac-borne financial crisis we now confront. Barack Obama was the attorney representing ACORN in this effort. With this new authority, ACORN used its subsidiary, ACORN Housing, to promote subprime loans more aggressively. [. . .]

"On the Web, you can still find CRA loans available via ACORN with '100 percent financing . . . no credit scores . . . undocumented income . . . even if you don't report it on your tax returns.' [. . .]

"Since these loans were to be underwritten by government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the implicit government guarantee of those loans absolved lenders, mortgage bundlers and investors of any concern over the obvious risk. As Bloomberg reported: 'It is a classic case of socializing the risk while privatizing the profit.' [. . .]

"Democrats have insisted ACORN benefit from bailout negotiations! Sen. Lindsay Graham reported on Sept. 25, 2008, in an interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox's 'On the Record' that Democrats wanted 20 percent of the bailout money to go to ACORN!"

-- "Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis," by James Simpson, Whistleblower magazine, January 2009, pages 31-32. Address: PO Box 2450, Fair Oaks, California 95628. Phone: 916-852-6300. Fax: 916-852-6302. Website.

Orchestrated Crisis
Posted here for 2-16-09

"Before the 1994 Republican takeover, Democrats had 60 years of virtually unbroken power in Congress -- with substantial majorities most of the time. Can a group of smart people, studying issue after issue for years on end, with virtually unlimited resources at their command, not come up with a single policy that works? Why are they chronically incapable? [. . .]

"Either the Democrats are unfathomable idiots, who ignorantly pursue ever more destructive policies despite decades of contrary evidence, or they understand the consequences of their actions and relentlessly carry on anyway because they somehow benefit. [. . .]

"For many it is simply a practical matter of eliciting votes from a targeted constituency at taxpayer expense; we lose a little, they gain a lot, and the politician keeps his job. But for others, the goal is more malevolent -- the failure is deliberate. [. . .] This method not only has its proponents, it has a name: the Cloward-Piven Strategy. It describes their agenda, tactics, and long-term strategy. [. . .]

"David Horowitz summarizes it as:

The strategy of forcing political change through orchestrated crisis. The "Cloward-Piven Strategy" seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.

"Cloward and Piven were inspired by radical organizer [and Hillary Clinton mentor] Saul Alinsky:

'Make the enemy live up to their (sic) own book of rules,' Alinsky wrote in his 1989 book Rules for Radicals. When pressed to honor every word of every law and statute, every Judeo-Christian moral tenet, and every implicit promise of the liberal social contract, human agencies inevitably fall short. The system's failure to 'live up' to its rule book can then be used to discredit it altogether, and to replace the capitalist 'rule book' with a socialist one.

"Barack Obama, the Cloward-Piven candidate, no matter how he describes himself, has been a radical activist for most of his political career. That activism has been in support of organizations and initiatives that at their heart seek to tear the pillars of this nation asunder in order to replace them with their demented socialist vision."

-- "Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis," by James Simpson, Whistleblower magazine, January 2009, pages 27, 28, 34. Address: PO Box 2450, Fair Oaks, California 95628. Phone: 916-852-6300. Fax: 916-852-6302. Website.

The Radicalization of Education Is Nearly Complete
Posted here for 2-9-09

"The public schools took a major left turn in the 1960s when Humanist John Dewey and the teachers he trained at Columbia Teachers College began their putdown of objective truth and authoritative notions of good and evil. In the 1970s, Sidney Simon's best-seller Values Clarification taught students to cast off their parents' values and make their own choices, often aided by Kinsey-trained sexperts determined to change our sexual mores.

"By the 1980s, many radical antiwar activists of the 1960s had become tenured college professors, so teachers colleges and public schools opened their doors to 'social justice' teaching. Among these '60s radicals was Weather Underground William Ayers, who escaped prosecution [and later] emerged as a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. [. . .]

"Mr. Ayers became a leading advocate of 'social justice' teaching, i.e., getting students to believe they are victims of an unjust, oppressive and racist America. Community organizers can then use these young people to vote and otherwise to carry out Mr. Ayers' 'revolution.'

"Mr. Ayers' has been on a decades-long mission to transform education into anti-American indoctrination and to get young people to demand government control of the economy, politics and culture. We see the result in the 2008 postelection surveys: Seven in 10 voters between ages 18 and 29 now favor expanding the role of government and agree that the government should do more to solve the nation's problems. It's obvious which party and which candidate will get their vote.

"Mr. Ayers worked closely with Barack Obama in the 1990s when Mr. Obama headed the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which gave $160 million in grants to so-called school-reform projects. Mr. Ayers and Mr. Obama guided some of this Annenberg money to community organizers such as ACORN.

"The National Association of Scholars reports that use of the term 'social justice' is today understood to mean 'the advocacy of more egalitarian access to income through state-sponsored redistribution.' That is academic verbiage for Barack Obama's assertion that he wants to 'spread the wealth around.'"

-- "The Radicalization of Education," by Phyllis Schlafly, The Washington Times National Weekly Edition, January 5, 2009, page 35. Address: 3600 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002. E-mail. Website.

Choosing Popularity over Peace and Prosperity
Posted here for 1-26-09

"Historians will look at 2008 and say it was the year that America ceased to be a great superpower. A war-weary public threw in the towel against Islamic fascism, and embraced President-elect Barack Obama's policy of appeasement. Groveling in fear of a recession, Americans also overthrew their free-market ideals. This was the year of false hope by an Obama prophet who will only accelerate our demise. [. . .]

"The American electorate has buried its collective head in the sand, hoping that Mr. Obama can somehow -- through his slick rhetoric, artificial 'cool' demeanor, and worldwide celebrity status -- convince our enemies to lay down their weapons. He will not succeed. Our celebrity-in-chief does not frighten or inspire the murderous, anti-American thugs in Tehran, Pyongyang or Caracas. They see him for what he is: a weak, naive and oscillating leader, who does not understand the growing threat against the West. In fact, he is even part of the problem. [. . .]

"The biggest threat, however, comes from revolutionary Iran: 2008 was when Tehran reached the point of no return in its quest for the bomb. Iran's mullahs are now within reach of possessing the capability for a nuclear weapons program.

"In the face of this gathering storm, Mr. Obama pledges diplomatic carrots and negotiations. He fails to recognize we are at war not only with terrorist-sponsoring states, but a totalitarian fascist ideology that seeks to impose a global Muslim caliphate. [. . .]

"Americans think they have brought themselves peace and prosperity with Mr. Obama. Yet neither peace nor prosperity has previously been secured by cowering to the enemies of freedom.

"The year 2008 was the year of surrender."

-- "The Year American Greatness Collapsed," by Jeffrey T. Kuhner, The Washington Times National Weekly Edition, January 21, 2009, page 31. Address: 3600 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002. E-mail. Website.

January 19: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Posted here for 1-19-09

"The federal government has made space available on The Mall in Washington [DC] for a national monument for [Martin Luther] King, not far from Lincoln's. Only four men in American history have national monuments: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt; and now King will make five.

"King is the only American who enjoys the nation's highest honor of having a national holiday on his birthday. There are other days of remembrance such as Presidents' Day, but no one else but Jesus Christ is recognized with a similar holiday." [. . .]

"As a young man, King started plagiarizing the work of others and he continued this practice throughout his career. [. . .]

"An extensive project started at Stanford University in 1984 to publish all of King's papers tracked down the original sources for these early papers and concluded that his academic writings are 'tragically flawed by numerous instances of plagiarism.' [. . .] [O]ne paper show[ed] 'verbatim theft' in 20 of a total of 24 paragraphs. [. . .]

"King plagiarized one-third of his 343-page dissertation, the book-length project required to earn a PhD [. . . .] King's Nobel Prize Lecture was plagiarized extensively from works by Florida minister J. Wallace Hamilton; the sections on Gandhi and nonviolence in his 'Pilgrimage' speech were taken virtually verbatim from Harris Wofford's speech on the same topic; the frequently replayed climax to the 'I Have a Dream' speech -- the 'from every mountainside, let freedom ring' portion -- came from a 1952 address to the Republican National Convention by a black preacher named Archibald Carey; and the 1968 sermon in which King prophesied his martyrdom was based on works by J. Wallace Hamilton and Methodist minister Harold Bosley. [. . .]

"King lived a double life. During the day, he would speak to large crowds, quoting Scripture and invoking God's will, and at night he frequently had sex with women from the audience. [. . .] According to King biographer Taylor Branch, during a long party on the night of January 6 and 7, 1964, an FBI bugging device recorded King's 'distinctive voice ring out above others with pulsating abandon, saying, 'I'm f***ing for God!'" [. . .]

"King justified his adultery this way: 'I'm away from home twenty-five to twenty-seven days a month. F***ing's a form of anxiety reduction."

-- "The Unknown Martin Luther King, Jr.," by Benjamin J. Ryan, American Renaissance, January 2009, pages 1, 3. Address: PO Box 527, Oakton, Virginia 22124. E-mail. Website.

Media Gone Amuck
Posted here for 1-12-09

"[W]e somehow expect the press in a free country like America to be fair, right-thinking and courageously truthful.

"And yet, no institution in America today is more guilty, complicit and responsible for making evil look good and good look evil than the news media. [. . .]

"We never heard a word about [Hillary Clinton's] radical socialist views. We never heard about her scandals and notoriously shady enterprises -- many would say criminal enterprises -- with Bill Clinton, including Whitewater, Travelgate, Pardongate, the Tyson Foods $100,000 bribe camouflaged as futures trades, about her repeated episodes of obstructing justice, hiding and shredding subpoenaed documents, lying to investigators and ordering subordinates to lie as well. We never heard about her incredibly foul mouth or her legendary abuse of secret service agents.

"Everyone in the Washington Press Corps knows about all of these scandals and more. And yet, they never saw fit to communicate to the public what this person-who-would-be-president is really like. So, we would watch, and be swept up with the speeches and debates and high drama of a presidential election, always shielded by the media from the truth -- that Hillary's record is one of a pathological liar and ruthless opportunist just like her husband.

"The media superficially report on Obama's 'controversial' associations, but never hammer home the truth that he has spent his entire adult life associating with and being mentored by communists (Frank Marshall Davis), terrorists (William Ayers), crooks (Tony Rezko) and America-hating racists (Rev. Jeremiah Wright). All we hear about is 'hope' and 'change.' [. . .]

"Let's sum up: The greatest nation on earth is saddled with a secular, elitist, globalist, atheistic media full of activists pretending to be objective journalists."

-- "Is the Press Evil?" by David Kupelian, Whistleblower magazine, October 2008, pages 26, 31. Address: PO Box 2450, Fair Oaks, California 95628. Phone: 916-852-6300. Fax: 916-852-6302. Website.

Creating a Strong Leftist Society
Posted here for 1-5-09

"For most liberal news reporters, [. . .] the purpose of news reporting is not to report news as objectively as possible. The purpose of the media in general and of reporting specifically is to promote social justice and the social transformation of society.

"For most liberal judges, the primary purpose of being a judge is to promote social justice and transform society. That is why liberal judges are so much more likely to be judicial activists than conservative judges. Most liberal judges do not see their roles as merely adjudicating a dispute according to the law. They see their role primarily as using the law and their power to rule on the law to promote social justice.

"For most university professors outside of the natural sciences and math, the same holds true. The task of a teacher is to teach, i.e., to convey the most important information as honestly as possible. But, again, this conflicts with the social justice goal of the left. History teachers who merely teach history are of little use to the left. History -- and English and political science, and sociology and other liberal arts -- teachers must use their classroom to produce young people who will wish to engage in society-transforming work for social justice.

"For most liberals in the arts (there are very few conservatives in the arts), there is no denial of their having an agenda. They state quite candidly that the purpose of the arts is to challenge the (conservative) status quo, to raise political and social consciousness by advancing a 'progresive' political and social agenda. The artist whose agenda is merely to produce beautiful art is looked upon as a reactionary buffoon, and is not likely to be taken seriously -- no matter how talented -- in the worlds of music, dance, painting, and sculpture."

-- "Why Reporters, Judges and Professors Are So Biased," by Dennis Prager, Human Events, December 8, 2008, page 11. Address: 1 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001. Phone: 202-216-0600. Website.