The Scribbler of Arizona

Capitol police ask for arrest warrant for McKinney

2006-04-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

The Capitol police officer didn't recognize her and she didn't have herlapel pin showing she is a member of congress on. All the policeofficer did was touch or grab her arms after not stopping when asked to.

He was doing his job when she spun around and struck him. I don't careif it was a punch, slap or poke. She struck him. If it had been me ora regular civilian we would have been arrested right away.

Why should we give her any special privileges because she is black or amember of congress.

Its wrong. Take a look at the story

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/0403mckinney.html

Patient Dumping

2006-03-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

You seen the title and wondered what I was talking about this time. Well I found a story about how hospitals and maybe even governmental authorities are dumping (dropping off) patients at shelters instead of getting the help they need.

I want to know how they figure this is new. I mean I have been reading about this for years. To read more about this, go here.

Outsourcing our Security

2006-03-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

Once again I come across an article on the internet that just amazes me. A few weeks ago it was the Dubai port scandal, now its how the U.S. is going to hire a Hong Kong company to scan cargo containers in the Bahamas for Nuclear Material. This was done through a no bid contract. What is a no bid contract you ask? Well as far as I am concerned the government picks a company to do the job they want done. I am sure there is more to it, but when you get down to brass tacks that is it. If you want to read about this story, go here.

"International Taxes?"

2006-03-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

If the United States Government allows the United Nations to tax American People to pay for that corrupt organization, then it will be time for a 2nd American Revolution and forcibly kick them our of office....

April 15th is once again approaching and with it the necessity of filling out your tax return. It is a good time to reflect on the taxes you pay -- and especially on the taxes you may soon be forced to pay."

Congressman Ron Paul's Column, read more here... 3/6/06

Another example of Big Government wasting Taxpayer dollars...

2006-03-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, just another example of government wasting taxpayer dollars...I skimmed through this article and I am blown away at where some of the money goes....

Spending Your Anti-Terrorism Money

The federal government and state governments are spending billions of dollars to prepare for bioterrorism. Among these expenditures are $600 desk chairs; a $46 mahogany tape dispenser; gift bags; letter openers; stress balls; a $4,675 teleprompter; a $3,393 microphone; four copies of the book "The leadership secrets of Santa Claus"; and many other such items.

"County Aims Anti-Terrorism Cash at Some Unusual Targets"

(more...) L.A. Times, 3/6/06

Ahhh...the hypocrites of congress....

2006-03-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

...It amazes me how members of the House in Washington DC tells the nation we need to tighten the belts yet they go ahead and spend the taxpayers dollars like its nothing....

CONGRESS

Luxury cars are leased on public's dime

Many members of Congress lease cars -- sometimes more than one -- at taxpayers' expense. Sometimes they lease expensive foreign luxury models or flashy SUVs.

BY MATT STEARNS
Knight Ridder News Service (MORE.....)

FDA Threatens To Raid Cherry Orchards

2006-03-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

I always find it interesting when I read articles about how the government that is supposed to help keep us safe and healthy does just opposite.

As Americans struggle to eat a healthier diet, the FDA has taken draconian steps to suppress information about foods that reduce disease risk.

While various agencies of the federal government encourage us to eat more fruits and vegetables, the FDA has issued an edict that precludes cherry companies from posting scientific data on their websites. This censorship of published peer-reviewed studies denies consumers access to information that could be used to make wiser food choices.

Tobacco products kill 450,000 Americans each year.1 Few people understand, however, that poor dietary habits are responsible for more deaths than tobacco. Considering the plethora of toxic foods advertised on television, it is easy to understand why so many consumers eat themselves to death. Just imagine if all you ate is what you saw advertised in the mass media.
The government stopped protecting the tobacco companies long ago, but the FDA continues to take actions that steer Americans away from certain fruits and vegetables that have proven disease-preventive effects. (more)

Switzerland's cantonal system

2006-03-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

Walter E. Williams has written an article titled "How to Create Conflict" over at Townhall.com its an article more about how he (as well as I am) is annoyed about President Bush calling the United States a democracy. We are not a democracy, we are a Republic. If you don't believe me, research our founding fathers papers. I think we should listen to him and redo our country the way the Swiss have their country set up. Anyways here is Prof. Williams article "How to Create Conflict."

High up on my list of annoyances are references to the United States as a democracy and the suggestion that Iraq should become a democracy. The word "democracy" appears in neither of our founding documents -- the Declaration of Independence nor the U.S. Constitution.

Our nation's founders had disdain for democracy and majority rule. James Madison, in Federalist Paper No. 10, said in a pure democracy, "there is nothing to check the inducement to sacrifice the weaker party or the obnoxious individual." During the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Edmund Randolph said that "in tracing these evils to their origin every man had found it in the turbulence and follies of democracy."

John Adams said, "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." Chief Justice John Marshall added, "Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos." The founders knew that a democracy would lead to the same kind of tyranny suffered under King George III. Their vision for us was a republic.

But let's cut to Iraq and President Bush's call for it to become a democracy. I can't think of a worse place to have a democracy -- majority rule. Iraq needs a republic like that envisioned by our founders -- decentralized and limited government power. In a republican form of government, there is rule of law. All citizens, including government officials, are accountable to the same laws. Government intervenes in civil society to protect its citizens against force and fraud but does not intervene in the cases of peaceable, voluntary exchange.

Democracy, what the Bush administration calls for, is different. In a democracy, the majority rules either directly or through its elected representatives. The law is whatever the government determines it to be. Laws aren't necessarily based upon reason but power. In other words, democracy is just another form of tyranny -- tyranny of the majority.

In Iraq, Arabs are about 75 percent of the population, Kurds about 20 percent and Turkomen and Assyrian the balance. Religiously, Shia are about 60 percent of the population, Sunni 35 percent with Christian and other religions making up the balance. If a majority-rule democracy emerges, given the longstanding hate and distrust among ethnic/religious groups, it's a recipe for conflict. The reason is quite simple. Majority rule is a zero-sum game with winners and losers, with winners having the power to impose their wills on the minority. Conflict emerges when the minority resists.

The ideal political model for Iraq is Switzerland's cantonal system. Historically, Switzerland, unlike most European countries, was made up of several different major ethnic groups -- Germans, French, Italians and Rhaeto-Romansch. Over the centuries, conflicts have arisen between these groups, who differ in language, religion (Catholic and Protestant) and culture. The resolution to the conflict was to allow the warring groups to govern themselves.

Switzerland has 26 cantons. The cantons are divided into about 3,000 communes. Switzerland's federal government controls only those interests common to all cantons -- national defense, foreign policy, railways and the like. All other matters are controlled by the individual cantons and communes. The Swiss cantonal system enables people of different ethnicity, language, culture and religion to live at peace with one another. As such, Switzerland's political system is well suited to an ethnically and religiously divided country such as Iraq.

By the way, for President Bush and others who insist on calling our country a democracy, should we change our pledge of allegiance to say "to the democracy, for which it stands," and should we rename "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" to "The Battle Hymn of the Democracy"?

Since 1980, Dr. Williams has served on the faculty of George Mason University in Fairfax, VA as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics.

My comments on "PORT Gate"

2006-02-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

"I can understand why some in Congress have raised questions about whether or not our country will be less secure as a result of this transaction," the president said. "But they need to know that our government has looked at this issue and looked at it carefully."

What government? It was looked at by the government of the people! It was “reviewed by a secretive U.S. panel that considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry. The panel includes representatives from the departments of Treasury, Defense, Justice, Commerce, State and Homeland Security.” How is this group the government? They are EMPLOYEE’s of the government.

I just don’t understand how this man can be thinking that this is ok? I mean the company is owned by the UAE government. The UAE has had terrorist groups linked to it! So how can we trust them with our ports?

And some critics point out, “a port operator complicit in smuggling or terrorism could manipulate manifests and other records to frustrate Homeland Security's already limited scrutiny of shipping containers and slip contraband past U.S. Customs inspectors.” All it takes is one person, or one small group of people to cause this to happen. Having this company running these ports will just make it easier for terrorists to slip something in.

You can read the whole article where I pulled these quotes at:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PORTS_SECURITY?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-02-21-16-26-11

Immigration Opinion piece in the Arizona Republic...

2006-02-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

...written by Linda Valdez.....

Get real: Migrants aren't our enemies

Linda Valdez
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 19, 2006 12:00 AM

You're being had, America.

You're being scared about a made-up enemy.

The big boys in Washington hope you won't notice what's going on. Their useful idiots, the xenophobic anti-immigrant activists, want you to get drunk on a little covert bigotry. After all, the overt kind just isn't acceptable anymore.

So "illegal immigrant" becomes code for Mexican. And Mexican - well, you know.

You know.

They're not like us. Illegal immigration is part of their grand plan to take over the country. Just look at how they take pride in their heritage!

Give it rest. They're just like us, only poorer. They're here to bus tables. Illegal immigration is about American industry's addiction to cheap labor.

But a busboy makes an unconvincing villain, so the immigrant bashers tell you there's something sinister about the way Juan cuts your grass.

And it isn't just undocumented immigrants who are suspect.

A Web site of the USA Border Alert lists efforts by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to oppose the House's goofy immigration bill under the heading "Hall of Shame."

Can you imagine! Using the democratic process to oppose bad legislation. Oh, the shame.

The Web site doesn't mention others who spoke against the strident House Bill 4437.

Like Grover Norquist of the Americans for Tax Reform and Bishop Thomas Wenski of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Both urged the House to reject the bill.

But it passed, and George Bush praised it. You'd think a Christian man would know God is on the migrants' side.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Justice for Immigrants project says "immigrants earn about $240 billion a year, pay about $90 billion a year in taxes and use about $5 billion in public benefits."

More than 40 religious groups, representing Judaism, Islam and a roll call of Christian denominations from Lutherans to Episcopalians to Mennonites to Baptists to Methodists, signed a statement calling for immigration reform that includes everything the House bill doesn't.

They want Congress to bring America's 11 million undocumented immigrants into legal status, create a guest-worker program, reunite families and set border policies that are "consistent with humanitarian values."

As opposed to current border policies that have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of migrants a year in Arizona's deserts.

As opposed to a fence, which experience shows won't work. There's a strip of high steel fence that runs for 2 1/2 miles between Arizona and Sonora at Nogales. Border Patrol agent Sean King said a team of five agents spends every day fixing the holes that are cut into that fence every night. Five tunnels were found last year. No telling how many haven't been found.

In addition to building a wall for migrants to cut through and tunnel under, the House bill would make felons of those who are here illegally and slap criminal penalties on those who would give water to migrants in the desert.

This bill is touted as the necessary strong medicine. That's where the immigrant bashers and their pals in Congress want to keep you intoxicated on their xenophobic brew.

The word is out that business has been getting a free pass to hire the undocumented. People are wise to that. Bush's director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Julie Myers, told The Republic's Mike Madden that one of her priorities is work-site enforcement.

She pointed to the Wal-Mart settlement as an example of the "name and shame" publicity that companies want to avoid. Wal-Mart last year agreed to pay $11 million as a result of charges that it contracted with cleaning companies that used undocumented workers.

But wait. The House bill, the one that's as supposed be so tough, wouldn't allow such fines. It exempts companies from fines for the hiring practices of subcontractors. It also caps fines for any company that hires undocumented immigrants and gives companies a free pass for first-time offenses as long as they had made a good-faith effort to follow the law.

What company wouldn't say it made a good-faith effort to follow the law? Millions of undocumented workers? Gee, whiz, how did that happen?

The House sticks it to the migrant as cover for business as usual. The anti-immigrant crowd would like the Senate to follow suit this spring.

So the relentless vilification of migrant workers continues by those who hope you won't notice what's going on.

You're being had, America.

Reach Valdez at Linda.Valdez@arizonarepublic.com

=====================================================

I emailed her a response to her article. Now I don't necessarily responde to everything thing she brings up. I feel I get my point accross.

Subject:
Sunday commentary on Immigration

Ms. Valdez

I like to believe that I am not anti-immigrant, but anti-law breaker. Immigrants is what made our country. The Statue of Liberty states on her tablets (and I am para-phrasing here)"Give me your poor and unwanted."

Any time anyone crosses our southern OR northern borders with out following the proper procedures to do so is breaking the law. Hence the "illegal immigrant" title. We as a country need to get tough not only on the people crossing the borders, but on the companies hiring them!!

I read where some critics state that these illegal immigrants are just doing jobs that americans don't want to do. And to some extent I agree with that. But that is our societies own fault. We as a people have to understand that if we want to stop the tide of illegal immigration, we have to stop giving them a reason to come.

We have to force the companies that hire them from hiring them. We have to levy large, crippling fines on them. If we don't the people will keep coming. And I am disgusted that the law you talk about would keep that from happening.

To me that is just another sign or our Republic decaying as the Roman Republic did century's ago! I agree with you in so far as your statement that the American public is being had!

I do not agree with the "guest worker" program, because to me that is just another amnesty like the federal government gave in the late 80's. Supposedly that was to stop the tide of illegal immigration. I don't know the figures, but I do know that it didn't work.

While I may disagree with some of things you did say in your opinion piece, I do feel it was very well written.

Sincerely,

Robert

“Liberty is the prevention of control by others. This requires self-control and, therefore, religious and spiritual influences; education, knowledge, well-being.” Lord Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834—1902)

Philosophy

2006-02-19T00:22:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last couple of hours looking at websites about philosophy. I think one of the reasons why is I have been curious about it for a long time. I sometimes wonder if I could be a philosopher. But then I think about my education, I have a high school diploma, but not much college.

I would like to think that you don't need a college degree, but when I read the bio's on different philosophers it seems like that they all have extensive educations. Is that really needed?

I wonder.

Freedom isn't free

2006-01-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

Posted: January 21, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Henry Lamb
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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

It could take a hundred years, or as little as a generation, to rediscover the freedom our Founders hammered into the U.S. Constitution. Much of our freedom has already been lost, but the rediscovery cannot even begin to emerge until the weight of government oppression grows too heavy to bear. Early Americans felt the weight of King George's oppression, until they could bear it no more. Then, they acted.

Not all of the early Americans had reached the tipping point in 1776. In fact, many, if not most of the people, preferred to suffer oppression by the king rather than pay the cost of freedom. Many, if not most, of the people in America today prefer to suffer governmental oppression rather than pay the cost of freedom. So far, governmental oppression is not too heavy; people can still do almost anything they wish – if they can get a permit.

"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech. ..." But Congress has made laws that abridge the freedom of speech, calling the effort "campaign finance reform." The law forbids political speech – for certain people – 60 days before an election. Many "reformers" in government want to extend the prohibition of political speech to all individuals who use the Internet.

Cities and counties around the country routinely abridge free speech by forbidding the use of political yard signs and billboards. And in many public places, any reference to God is absolutely forbidden. The loss of freedom has been quite dramatic over the last decade – and the rate of loss is increasing.

"... Nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation ..." But government routinely takes private property, not for public use, but to be given or resold to other private owners. From thousands of property owners government has taken away the right to use their private property, not for public use, but for use by bugs, bats and beetles. Freedom, indeed, is racing into the history books.

Most of the people in the world prefer, even expect, their government to provide for their basic needs. The people who created and ratified the U.S. Constitution demanded that their government provide nothing more than the Constitution required. They preferred to meet their own basic needs and worked to produce much more.

Two centuries ago, these people reflected a narrow majority; now, the majority prefers, and many demand, that government provide far more than the Constitution allows. Government reflects the will of the majority.

As this majority continues to erase the freedom earned by the blood of our ancestors, the weight of governmental oppression grows. The inevitable outcome will be total collapse of the economy that sustains both the government and its citizens. The collapse of the Soviet Union is a classic example of what's in store for America as government continues to erase freedom to meet the demands of this majority.

The cost of freedom is whatever it takes to convince the majority of people that government must be contained in its constitutional cage. Every election is an opportunity to re-cage the government; it is also an opportunity for more government to escape. Simply casting a ballot, however, doesn't begin to cover the cost of freedom. Still, most people fail to pay even this small price.

There are nine months left during which every community will hold primary and run-off elections before the general election in November. Those who are willing to pay the cost – to do whatever it takes – will find candidates who prefer freedom over government. These people will talk to their circle of friends and recruit them to help convince their friends and neighbors to support freedom candidates. They will write letters to the editor, they will erect yard signs and billboards – if their government will allow it. They will contribute to campaigns, volunteer to work phone banks, hand out literature, hold barbeques and public meetings. And they will try to get everyone they know to vote for the freedom candidates.

But that's work. It takes time, effort and commitment. Yes, that's the cost of freedom, and the cost will never be less than it is now. Unless the people who prefer freedom over government convince the majority to reverse the trend, freedom will be lost. It could take a hundred years, or as little as a single generation.

Once lost, the cost of rediscovering freedom and retrieving it from the rubble of what once was the land of the free will be much greater for our children than the cost paid by our Founders.

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Henry Lamb is the executive vice president of the Environmental Conservation Organization and chairman of Sovereignty International.

Rep. Murtha is causing casualties

2005-12-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

WorldNetDaily
Friday, December 16, 2005

Posted: December 16, 20051:00 a.m. Eastern

Editor's note: David Bellavia is a former U.S. Army staff sergeant who served in the First Infantry Division for six years. He has been recommended for the Medal of Honor by his leadership, and has been nominated for the Distinguished Service Cross. He has received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Cross (New York state's highest combat valor award) and was recently inducted into the New York State Veteran's Hall of Fame. His Task Force 2-2 Infantry has fought on such battlefields as Al Muqdadiyah, An Najaf, Al Fallujah, Mosul, and Baqubah. His actions in Fallujah, Iraq, were documented in the Nov. 22, 2004, cover story "Into the Hot Zone" by award-winning journalist Michael Ware. He is 30 years old.

By LETTER OF THE WEEK

As the debris continues to settle from the explosion detonated by Representative John Murtha's, D-Pa., continued rapid fire defeatist comments this past week, I wonder how he expected his statements to be perceived. As an infantryman whose boots are still caked with blood and dust from Iraq, I am beyond confused with the Democratic Party's "Prada Pant Suit Posse" of Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Louise Slaughter's insistence that he preserve his title as a combat visionary.

As rancor and hyperbole have reached its peak, we continue to be fed bastardized statistics and a complete denial that Iraq – according to al-Qaida intercepts – is indeed the front line in the War on Terror. Murtha's outrage seems to be concerned with the massive amount of American youth far from home and in harm's way. There is no outrage that we have 1,700 troops patrolling Kosovo's tranquil streets. No complaints from the left when asked about the 3,000 troop presence in Bosnia or why there is a need for 1,754 troops in Iceland. "Mr. President, bring home our boys from Iceland NOW"!

When President Clinton sent 15,000 troops into post-hostile Bosnia to get the job done, it was the equivalent of keeping 585,000 troops in Iraq post invasion, when equating terrain and population. Tellingly, the silence from the left is deafening. To the leftists in America, Clinton understood war like no other. The template is simple: Pull out when the blood starts to flow (Somalia) and over commit when there is no chance of loss (Kosovo and Bosnia).

As Congress jockeys for their individual credibility in who has eaten more meals at Halliburton chow halls, Murtha stands and wears his lone Bronze Star with Valor (BSV) as his badge of authority. On behalf of every veteran of Iraqi Freedom who has exchanged hot lead with this enemy, allow me to state: "Mr. Murtha you don't know 'Jack' about the mujahadeen."

Rep. Murtha quotes an unscientific poll that concludes arrogantly that "80 percent of Iraqis want us out." I am no John Zogby, but I conclude 100 percent of Iraqi's want us out ... eventually. They very much want us there while Islamo-fascists continue to blow them up as they worship and apply to serve the cause of freedom.

My peers are not appreciative of the Sen. Kennedy and Kerry elitists who daily attempt to uncover mistakes made by this administration, while my brothers under fire bleed to death thousands of miles from their homes. In the era of digital satellite, these senators have put us on daily trial for executing a war as it unfolds, without delay and in its entirety.

Iraqi veterans are without apologies for not finding weapons of mass destruction today in Iraq. As former administrations ignored the present danger in this region for years before 9-11, we in the trenches pay the price for our past inability to confront our brazen enemies. Each day, the enemy hopes that one more 10-plus death toll inflicted against the coalition via a roadside bomb will be the last straw of the American collective will.

Voting against the immediate pull out of the troops and then carpet bombing every TV program that offers an invite by supporting Murtha's ignorance is a political attack that is aiding the enemy. Congress has had multiple opportunities to pass official articles of war against al-Qaida and her assets to end once and for all the bipartisan bickering of why we fight in Iraq today. They have yet to act.

Make no mistake: This is a middle- to lower-class war, fought by volunteers of the greatest generation of American Warriors ever born. I personally have written over 47 Bronze Stars with Valor awards for the members of my 34-man infantry platoon. The BSV is alarmingly growing more and more common during this fight and yet my peers cannot use their awards as a platform to defend their noble struggle, because they are still deep in the fight. Neither Mr. Murtha, nor any other congressional representative, has held a position in a skirmish line under fire in Iraq, yet they pontificate to the masses from "their war" experience.

Not one has borne witness to the extreme close quarter nature of this fight or commented on the tearful thanks from a deserving and proud people who need us to stay the course. Yet Rep. Murtha has the extreme audacity to call my peers "broken."

The testament to the American soldier is the attrition on the other end of the battlefield in Iraq, and it is almost biblical in proportion. Hundreds of thousands of Iranian-trained Hezbollah, Chechnyan, Wahabbi and local mujahadeen militants have been pacified by our young patriots and their continuation of the legacy of the American Warrior Ethos. Funny how a man like Murtha – who made his career on detailing his heroism under fire – is the first to chip at away at my generation's valor.

As my peers continue to bleed for the acceptance from a growingly cynical media, it must be stated: We are not "broken," we have never "terrorized Iraqis in their homes" and we are most certainly not "living hand to mouth."

Each day, the Iraqi War veteran grows closer to the embarrassing disrespect of the Vietnam warrior. Each day, legislators like Rep. Murtha move us closer to losing a winnable war and abandoning a worthy ally. Democratic leadership feels the need to apologize for our nation's ability to deliver unrelenting prudent lethality onto our deserving enemies. Instead of supporting the cause of my peers, they stoke the fires of the al-Jazeera faithful, who would see a pullout in Iraq as a greater victory than the Soviet retreat in Afghanistan.

Though soldiers bleed for the very right to dissent from the truth, we must remember that at times our dissent will embolden our desperate Islamo-fascist enemy when they read accounts of the growing fecklessness of the American people and her policymakers.

"Staying the course" isn't a campaign slogan – it is a life-support message to my peers. Congressman Murtha – above all others – should know the perils inherent in dictating military policy from across the Potomac in a time of war. I imagine he can still taste the hated partisan spittle of the war protestors 30 years ago. Like Vietnam, the American soldier cannot be defeated on the field of battle, only by the failure of the political class to stomach the hardships of combat.

David Bellavia

It's Time!

2005-12-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

Time for what you say? Time to take our freedom back. But we have freedom you say. Well if you really think that is true, read this article.

http://www.coastalpost.com/05/12/28.html

It's very scary.

Last Marine in Unit Mourns 11 Lost Friends

2005-10-01T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have been a big supporter of the war, I am a big supporter of our troops and I always will be. When I read stories like the following, I begin to wonder what is the point of staying there if the people that we are trying to help don't want it? Its a confusing situation.

Last Marine in Unit Mourns 11 Lost Friends
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 15 minutes ago

Cpl. David Kreuter had a new baby boy he'd seen only in photos. Lance Cpl. Michael Cifuentes was counting the days to his wedding. Lance Cpl. Nicholas Bloem had just celebrated his 20th birthday.

Travis Williams remembers them all — all 11 men in his Marine squad — all now dead. Two months ago they shared a cramped room stacked with bunk beds at this base in northwest Iraq, where the Euphrates River rushes by. Now the room has been stripped of several beds, brutal testament that Lance Cpl. Williams' closest friends are gone.

For the 12 young Marines who landed in Iraq early this year, the war was a series of hectic, constant raids into more than a dozen lawless towns in Iraq's most hostile province, Anbar. The pace and the danger bound them together into what they called a second family, even as some began to question whether their raids were making any progress.

Now, all of the Marines assigned to the 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, based in Columbus, Ohio, are gone — except Williams. They died in a roadside-bomb set by insurgents on Aug. 3 that killed a total of 14 Marines. Most of the squad were in their early 20s; the youngest was 19.

"They were like a family. They were the tightest squad I've ever seen," said Capt. Christopher Toland of Austin, Texas, the squad's platoon commander. Even though many did not know each other before they got to Iraq, "They truly loved each other."

All that is left are photos and snippets of video, saved on dusty laptops, that run for a few dozen seconds. As they pack up to return home by early October, the Marines from Lima Company — including the squad's replacements — sometimes huddle around Williams' laptop in a room at the dam, straining to watch the few remaining moments of their young friends' lives. Some photos and videos carry the squad's adopted motto, "Family is Forever."

In one video, Lance Cpl. Christopher Dyer, who graduated with honors last year from a Cincinnati area high school, strums his guitar and does a mock-heartfelt rendition of "Puff the Magic Dragon" as his friends laugh around him.

In a photo, Kreuter rides a bicycle through a neighborhood, swerving under the weight of body armor and weapons, as Marines and Iraqis watch and chuckle.

Each video ends abruptly, leaving behind a blank screen. Some are switched off as soon as they start — some images just hurt too much to see right now.
___
The August operation began like most of the squad's missions — with a rush into another lawless Iraqi city to hunt insurgents and do house-to-house searches, sometimes for 12 hours in temperatures near 120 degrees.

On Aug. 1, six Marine snipers had been ambushed and killed in Haditha, one of a string of cities that line the Euphrates, filled with waving palm trees. Two days later, Marines in armored vehicles, including the 1st Squad, rumbled into the area to look for the culprits.

Like other cities in this region, Haditha has no Iraqi troops, and its police force was destroyed earlier in the year by a wave of insurgent attacks. Marines patrol roads on the perimeter and occasionally raid homes in the city, which slopes along a quiet river valley. Commanders say insurgents have challenged local tribes for control and claim Iraq's most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, once had a home here.

Since their arrival in February, the Marines had spent nearly all their time on such sweeps or preparing for them, sometimes hurrying back to their base to grab fresh clothes, then heading off again to cities that hadn't seen American or Iraqi troops in months.

The intense pace of the operations, and the enormous area their regimental combat team had to cover — an expanse the size of West Virginia — caught some off guard.

The combat was certainly not what the 21-year-old Williams had expected.

"I didn't ever think we'd get engaged," said the soft-spoken, stocky Marine from Helena, Mont. "I just had the basic view of the American public — it can't be that bad out there."

In some sweeps, residents warmly greeted the Marines. But in others, such as operations in Haditha and Obeidi near the Syrian border, the squad members met gunfire and explosions. In the Obeidi operation in early May, another squad from Lima Company suffered six deaths. Williams himself perhaps saved lives, once spotting a gunman hidden in a mosque courtyard, said Toland, the platoon commander.

The night before the Aug. 3 operation, an uneasy Toland couldn't sleep. Instead he spent his last night with his squad members talking and joking, trying to suppress worries the mission was too predictable for an enemy that knew how to watch and learn.

"I had concerns that the operation was hastily planned and executed, with significant risks and little return," Toland said.

The road had been checked by engineers and other units, Marine commanders say. But insurgents had been clever — hiding the massive bomb under the road's asphalt.

Several Humvees first drove over the bomb, but the triggerman in the distance apparently waited for a vehicle with more troops. Then, as the clanking sound of their armored vehicles neared, a massive blast erupted, caused by explosives weighing hundreds of pounds. It threw a 26-ton Amphibious Assault Vehicle into the air, leaving it burning upside-down.

The blast was so large that Toland and his radioman, Williams — traveling two vehicles ahead and not injured — thought their vehicle had been hit by a bomb. They scrambled out to inspect the damage, but instead found the blazing carnage several yards down the road.

A total of 14 Marines and one Iraqi interpreter were killed.
___
There was no time for grieving — not at first. There was only sudden devastation, then intense anger as the Marines pulled the remains of their friends from the vehicle.

Then there was frustration, as they fanned out to find the triggerman. Instead, they found only Iraqis either too sympathetic toward the insurgency, or too afraid, to talk.

Although the bomb had been planted in clear view of their homes, residents claimed they had seen nothing of the men who had spent hours digging a large hole several feet deep and concealing the bomb.

It was a familiar — and frustrating — problem.

"They are totally complacent with what's going on here," said Maj. Steve Lawson of Columbus, Ohio, who commands Lima Company. "The average citizen in Haditha either wants a handout, or wants us to die or go away."

In a war where intelligence is the most valued asset, the Marines say few local people will divulge "actionable" information that could be used to locate insurgents.

Some Iraqis apparently fear reprisal attacks from militants. Many just want to stay out of the crossfire. Others hate the Americans enough to protect the insurgents: Marines say lookouts in cities would often launch flares as their vehicles approached.

In this region ruled by Sunni tribal loyalties, few voted for the new central Iraqi government, and many suspect the U.S. military is punishing them and empowering their longtime rivals, the Shiites of the south and the Kurds of the north.

"From a squad leader's perspective, the intelligence never helped me accomplish my mission," said Sgt. Don Owens, a squad leader in Lima Company from Cincinnati, who fought alongside the 1st Squad throughout their tour.

"Their intelligence is better than ours," Owens said.
___
The first night after the attack, Williams couldn't sleep. He stayed near his radio, listening to the heavy sobbing of fellow Marines that punctured the night around him.

He thought of his best friend, Lance Cpl. Aaron Reed, a 21-year-old with a goofy demeanor and a perpetual smile, now dead.

A world without his second family had begun. The young men Williams had planned to meet up with again, back in the States, had vanished in a matter of minutes. He was alone.

Yet from a military standpoint, it was important to press on to show the enemy that even their best hits couldn't stop the world's most powerful military. The Marines were ordered away from the blast site, to hunt insurgents, just one hour after the explosion.

They stayed out for another week, searching through dozens of homes in the nearby city of Parwana and struggling to piece together intelligence about who had planted the bomb.
"I pushed them back out the door to finish the mission," said Lawson. "They did it, but they were crying as they pushed on."

As word spread back in the United States that 14 men had been killed, the Marines on the ongoing mission couldn't even, at first, contact their families to let them know they had survived.
___
Marine commanders say the large-scale raids in western Anbar province have kept the insurgency off-balance, killing hundreds of militants and leaving a dwindling number of insurgent bases in the area.

They say the sweeps are critical to beat back the insurgent presence in larger cities such as Ramadi and Baghdad, where suicide bombings have been rampant.

But, among some Marines and even officers, there are doubts whether progress has been made.
The insurgents lurk nearby — capable of launching mortars and suicide car bombs and quietly re-entering cities soon after the Marines return to their bases on the outskirts.

"We've been here almost seven months and we don't control" the cities, said Gunnery Sgt. Ralph Perrine, an operations chief in the battalion from Brunswick, Ohio. "It's no secret."

Even commanders acknowledge that with the limited number of U.S. and Iraqi troops in the region, the mission is focused on "disrupting and interdicting" the insurgency — that is, keeping them on the run — and not controlling the cities.

"It's maintenance work," said Col. Stephen W. Davis, commander of all Marine operations in western Anbar. "Because this out here is where the fight is, while the success is happening downtown while the constitution is being written and while the referendum is getting worked out. ... If I could bring every insurgent in the world out here and fight them all day long, we've done our job."

For Williams, the calculation is much more visceral and personal.

"Personally, I don't think the sweeps help too much," he said quietly on a recent day, sitting in a room at the dam, crowded with Marines resting from a late mission the night before.

"You find some stuff and most of the bad guys get away. ... For as much energy as we put in them, I don't think the output is worth it," he said.

Williams, a Marine for three years, has decided not to re-enlist.

Instead, in these last days in Iraq, he thinks of home and fishing in the clear streams of Montana. He hopes to open a fishing and hunting gear shop once he returns and complete his bachelor's degree in wildlife biology. He looks forward to seeing his mother, his only surviving parent, and traveling to her native Thailand this fall.

He said his "best memory" will be the day he leaves Iraq. His only good memories, he said, are of his friends:

Of Dyer, 19, an avid rap music fan who would bop his head to Tupac Shakur. He played the viola in his high school orchestra and had planned to enroll in a finance honors program at Ohio State University.

Of Reed, his best friend. He was president of his high school class from Chillicothe, Ohio, and left behind a brother serving in Afghanistan.

Of Cifuentes, 25, from Oxford, Ohio. He was enrolled in graduate school in mathematics education and had been working as a substitute teacher when he was deployed.

"I think the most frustrating thing is there's no sense of accomplishment," Williams said. "You're biding your time and waiting. But then you lose your friends, and it's not even for their own country's freedom."
___
EDITOR'S NOTES:
Associated Press reporter Antonio Castaneda spent three weeks in western Anbar province in Iraq with Marines in Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, 4th Division, earlier this year. He was with the unit when they led an offensive into the city of Haditha in late May.

And he returned to the area after an August blast killed 14 Marines — and shortly before the unit began demobilizing to return to the United States by early October.

The ranks listed for the Marines were those they held when they were killed. Some of the men were promoted posthumously.

What is an Abusive Government?

2005-09-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

I am quoting from a book called Bardic Voices: The Lark and The Wren by Mercedies Lackey. It is a Fantasy book, but its amazing what you can find. This quote is from a conversation between the main characther, Rune, and her music teacher, Tonno.

"In general, though, I would say that when a government is more concerned with keeping itself in power, and keeping its officials in luxury, whether they were elected to the posts, appointed, or inherited the position, then that government is abusive as well."

It is towards the end of Chapter Ten, they are discussing taxes. A little further down, when they are talking about corruption and people that work in the government Tonno says the following:

"a good government is one where you have a manageable level of corruption"

Makes you wonder don't it?

09/11/2001

2005-09-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it has been 4 years since the USA was attacked. My heart goes out to the families of all those who were lost! Hopefully we never forget.

But to be honset I think the left is forgetting the people that were lost. They are using it as a political tool gut the right.

Our country needs to move away from the two party political system. We need to have more political parties in order for our country to survive other wise the USA is going to go the same route as the Roman Republic.

Invasion!!!!

2005-09-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

We are being invaded and it just doesn't seem like the federal government gets it., the following is from an Email I get from Team America:

2. We knew it all along and these studies prove it!Two new studies examine the role of immigration control in our efforts to prevent further terrorist attacks on American soil. Both point to the profound security challenges posed by a federal government policy of mass immigration and lax enforcement of the law. Read them both here. If you want further proof of the danger of our lax enforcement of the law read how four people were killed by illegal immigrants. Miguel Padilla is accused of shooting three men in Altoon, PA. He has been here illegally for sixteen years despite ICE being notified of his prior arrests and assault. Story. In Annandale, VA a suspected illegal alien is accused of murdering and burning the body of a contractor he worked for. Story. Both of these murders could have been prevented, if immigration was enforced.

3. Pat Buchanan suggests the threat of impeachment might be what this president needs "Some courageous Republican, to get the attention of this White House, should drop into the hopper a bill of impeachment, charging George W. Bush with a conscious refusal to uphold his oath and defend the states of the Union against "invasion." says Pat Buchanan. The reason: the crisis on the border. The ally-ally-in-free immigration policy of George Bush and Vicente Fox, beloved of corporate America , has created a hell on our southern border. Those Southwestern states are being inundated by illegal aliens trashing ranches, killing cattle, committing crimes and eating up tax dollars. The traffic in narcotics and human beings from Mexico is a national scandal and a human-rights disgrace. more

The following is The Presidential Oath of Office:

The oath to be taken by the president on first entering office is specified in Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

I honestly feel that the Federal Government, not just the president (although he has the power to fix this), is failing to protect the United States and I believe they all need to step down (won't happen) or the Second American Revolution needs to happen.

Just my two cents

"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards."- Claire Wolfe, 101 Things to Do 'Til the Revolution

The Tri-State Manifesto

2005-08-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

For some time I have had this theory that we should start from scratch. Gather up a group of people who are colorblind and as free of hate and prejudices as possible and say, All right, folks, here it is:

---We are going to wash everything clean and begin anew.

---We will create a simple, easily understood system of laws.

---We will live by the letter of these laws.

---We will enforce these laws equally, to the letter!

Those of you who feel you can live in a society that eradicates prejudices, hatred, hunger, bad housing, bad laws, and will not tolerate crime, please stay. Those of you who don't feel you could live under such a system---get the hell out!
-Ben Raines

The Tri-StateManifesto

As advocates and supporters of the TRI-STATE PHILOSOPHY, we believe:

 That freedom, like respect, is earned and must be constantly nurtured and protected from those who would take it away.

 In the right of every law-abiding citizen to protect his or her life, liberty, and personal property by any means at hand without fear of arrest, criminal prosecution, or law-suit. The right to bear arms is central to maintaining true personal freedom.

 That liberal politicians, theorists, and socialists are the greatest threat to freedom- loving Americans and that their misguided efforts have caused grave injustices in the fields of criminal law, education, and public welfare: Therefore in respect to criminal law:

An effective criminal justice system should be guided by these basic tenets:

--Our courts must stop pampering criminals

--The punishment must fit the crime

--Justice must be fair but also be swift and, if necessary, harsh

--There is no perfect society only a fair one

Therefore in respect to education:

Education is the key to solving problems in the society and the lack of it is the ROOT CAUSE of America's decline.

An effective system of Education:

--Must stress hard discipline along with arts, sciences, fine music, and basicskills in reading, writing, and mathematics

--Must teach fairness and respect

--Must teach morals, the dignity of labor, and the value of family

Therefore in respect to welfare:

Welfare (we prefer workfare) is reserved only for the elderly, infirm, and those who need a temporary helping hand and the welfare system must also:

--Instill the concept of honest work for honest pay

--Instill the concept that everyone who can work must work and be forcedto work if necessary

--Instill the concept that there is no free lunch and that being productivecitizens in a free society is the only honorable path to take

 That racial prejudice and bigotry are intolerable in a free and vital society

--No one is worthy of respect simply because of the color of their skin.

--Respect is earned by actions and by deeds, not by birthright.

--There are only two types of people on earth, decent and indecent. Those who are decent will flourish, and those who are not will perish.

--No laws laid down by a body of government can make one person likeanother.

 A free and just society must be protected at all costs even if it means shedding the blood of its citizens. The willingness of citizens to lay down their lives for the belief in freedom is a cornerstone of true democracy; without that willingness the structure of society will surely crumble and fall into the ashes of history.

Therefore:

--Along with the inalienable rights to bear arms, and the inalienable rightsto personal protection, a strong skilled, and well-equipped military isessential to maintaining a free society.

--A strong military eliminates the need for "allies," allowing the societyto focus on the needs of its citizens.

--The business of citizens is not the business of the world unless therights of the citizens are infringed upon by outside forces.

--The duty of those who live in a free society is clear, personal freedomis not negotiable.

IN CONCLUSION:We who support the Tri-State Philosophy and live by its code and its laws pledge to defend it by any means necessary. We pledge to work fairly and justly to build and maintain a society in which all citizens are truly free and are able to pursue productive lives without fear and without intervention.

Tri States Coalition

Boredom

2005-08-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary boredom means the following: The state of being weary and restless through lack of interest.

I think it means more than that though, I think boredom is more than a lack of interest. I think it is also not knowing what it is you were meant to do. Its having interest in many things but not knowing which is right for you. Boredom is frustration in trying to be good at one thing but knowing its not what was meant for you.

To me this is just a small sample of what boredom really is.

Liberty

2005-08-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it.The history of Liberty is a history of resistance.The history of Liberty is a history of limitations of Governmental power, NOT the increase of it.

Woodrow Wilson - 1912 28th President of the United States, 1913-1921

Misfortune and the Unarmed man

2005-08-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

You are bound to meet misfortune if you are unarmed because, among other reasons, people despise you....There is simply no comparison between a man who is armed and one who is not. It is unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain safe and secure when his servants are armed. In the latter case, there will be suspicion on the one hand and contempt on the other, making cooperation impossible. — Niccolo Machiavelli in "The Prince."

America is dying!!!

2005-08-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

People, when are we going to get a clue? America is DYING!!! The more freedoms "our" government takes away, the more we DIE!!!!!

Just read an article at Sierra Times titled "America Will Die" at the end of the article a visitor to the United States the following:

“My first sight of these American peoples were them standing in lines, by the hundreds, shoes in their hands waiting to be searched by the police. Old women, children and pregnant mothers were pulled aside to be privately searched while Middle Eastern men were allowed clear passage through their airport security checkpoints.”

Yeah an old woman is going to blow up a plane with the bomb stuck in her girdle!! Come on people get a clue!!! It is time we took back our country, by force if neccessry!!!!

Before we know it, we will be under martial law and we will be asking ourselves "How did this happen?"

Images From the Battleground

2005-08-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

The Tucson Weekly has a very long article by Leo Banks called “Images from the Battle Ground.” And that is what our border with Mexico, it’s a Battle Ground. But a lot of people don’t see it that way, they fill we should have open borders. Hell our own President called the Minutemen vigilantes when they took up watching a stretch of border here in Arizona this spring. So obviously our government doesn’t care about the people that live along the border. People along the border aren’t even allowed to protect their property, if they do then the FBI shows up at their house telling you it’s a federal crime to threaten an illegal!! As proof read the quote from the story:

“We’ve all been warned to not even show a gun to an illegal,” she says. “A woman here did that a while ago, just showed it, didn’t point it, and the FBI came to her house and warned her not to do it again, because it’s a federal crime to threaten an illegal. But if I’m alone, what am I supposed to do? I can’t scream, because no one will hear me.”

People that are illegal immigrant supporters want you to believe that everyone crossing the border are just harmless workers, well not according to Border Patrol statistics listed in the same article:

Border Patrol statistics show that the common assumption about who is sneaking across the line and why--the harmless illegal only looking for work--has shifted significantly in recent years.

From Oct. 1, 2004, through July 24 of this year, Tucson sector agents arrested 375,000 illegals--37,000 a month. Of that 10-month arrest total, more than 28,324 had criminal records, 283 for sexually related crimes. Given this, and the effort it takes to reach their isolated house from the road, the Kays consider anyone who shows up at their door at night a threat. But they also know that should a confrontation go bad, American law enforcement will probably come after them.

Let me repeat those numbers, 37,000 a month, again thirty-seven THOUSAND illegals crossed the Tucson sector a month. In that ten month period listed over twenty-eight thousand illegals had criminal records!! 28,000!!! 283 for sexually related crimes!!! Two-hundred and thirty-eight!!!

If our country isn’t facing a crisis then I don’t know what the hell you want to call it!!!! Something needs to be done!!

Bush administration objects to .xxx domains

2005-08-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

The Bush administration is objecting to the creation of a .xxx domain, saying it has concerns about a virtual red-light district reserved exclusively for Internet pornography.

So instead they want to make it easy for all the porn websites to target children by having names that are similar in URL addresses. Does the administration not realize that if there is .xxx domain, that they would then be able to force all porn websites to that domain suffix? Do they not also realize that if they do that then software could be easily modified that would not allow .XXX websites be brought up by a child’s computer? Makes you wonder whose side the administration is on?

I personally think it’s a great idea to have the .XXX suffix for porn sites. I don’t really have a problem with adults viewing pornography. What I do have a problem with is those sites out there that do target children, and they are out there.

President Bush needs to pull his head out of his ass and get out of the way, if he really wants to protect children from pornography!!!

Cindy Sheehan, the true Maniac!!

2005-08-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

"Quit saying that U.S. troops died for a noble cause in Iraq, unless you say, 'well, except for Casey Sheehan.' Don't you dare spill any more blood in Casey's name. You do not have permission to use my son's name.

Actually he does have the right, when your son joined the military he became government property. SO the President does have the right.

UPDATE:

Michelle Malkin reports on her blog that their is uncomfirmed reports that Cindy Sheehan's husband has filed for divorce.

Is it time?

2005-08-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards."
- Claire Wolfe, 101 Things to Do 'Til the Revolution

I think its time for them to be pulled kicking and screaming out into the streets and shot! Then maybe we will get our country back. If they know that if they don't listen to the people who put them there and that we are willing to pull them kicking and screaming into the street to be shot, maybe they will get a clue!

Did you know part 12?

2005-08-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, it is very hard to understand why there is such a mess about having the Ten Commandments on display or "In God We Trust" on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Did you know part 11?

2005-08-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

How, then, have we gotten to the point that everything we have done for 220 years in this country is now suddenly wrong and unconstitutional?

Chamber, US House of Representatives

Did you know part 10?

2005-08-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

DID YOU KNOW?

The very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said:

"Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers."

Did you know part 9?

2005-08-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

Did you know?

Thomas Jefferson worried that the Courts would overstep their authority and instead of interpreting the law would begin making law an oligarchy, the rule of few over many.

Mr. Jefferson, I think you are probably rolling in your grave because what you have feared, is coming to pass.

Did you know part 8?

2005-08-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

Did you know?

Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established orthodox churches in the colonies.

Did you know part 7?

2005-08-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

DID YOU KNOW?

Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.

Did you know part 6?

2005-08-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

DID YOU KNOW?

Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country said:

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ".

Did you know part 5?

2005-08-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

Did you know?

James Madison, the fourth president, known as "The Father of Our Constitution" made the following statement:

"We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

Did you know part 4?

2005-08-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

DID YOU KNOW?
There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington, D.C.

Did you know part 3?

2005-08-10T16:57:00.000-07:00

DID YOU KNOW? As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall, right above where the Supreme Court judges sit,! a display of the Ten Commandments!

Did you know part 2?

2005-08-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

DID YOU KNOW? As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door.

Did You Know?

2005-08-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

DID YOU KNOW? As you walk up the steps to the building which houses the U.S. Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers and each one is facing one in the middle who is facing forward with a full frontal view ... it is Moses and he is holding the Ten Commandments!

Zero Tolerance Makes Zero Sense

2005-08-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

If you don't believe that United States is becomeing a police state little by little, then read this story and maybe it will change your mind. The Scribbler

August 10, 2005

Zero Tolerance Makes Zero Sense

by Radley Balko

Radley Balko is a policy analyst for the Cato Institute and author of the study "Back Door to Prohibition: The New War on Social Drinking."

Imagine for a moment that you're a parent with a teenage son. He doesn't drink, but you know his friends do. You're also not naive. You've read the government's statistics: 47 percent of high school students tell researchers they've had a drink of alcohol in the previous 30 days. Thirty percent have had at least five drinks in a row in the past month. Thirteen percent admitted to having driven in the previous month after drinking alcohol.
So, what do you do with regard to your son's social life? Many parents have decided to take a realist's approach. They're throwing parties for their kids and their friends. They serve alcohol at these parties, but they also collect car keys to make sure no one drives home until the next morning. Their logic makes sense: The kids are going to drink; it's better that they do it in a controlled, supervised environment.

That's exactly what a Rhode Island couple did in 2004. When they learned that their son planned to celebrate the prom with a booze bash at a beach 40 miles away, William and Patricia Anderson instead threw a supervised party for him and his friends at their home. They served alcohol, but William Anderson stationed himself at the party's entrance and collected keys from every teen who showed. No one who came to the party could leave until the next morning.
For this the Andersons found themselves arrested and charged with supplying alcohol to minors. The case ignited a fiery debate that eventually spilled onto the front page of the Wall Street Journal. The local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving oddly decided to make an example of William Anderson, a man who probably did more to keep drunk teens off the road that night than most Providence-area parents.

In fact, the Andersons were lucky. A couple in Virginia was recently sentenced to 27 months in jail for throwing a supervised party for their son's 16th birthday, at which beer was made available. That was reduced on appeal from the eight-year sentenced imposed by the trial judge. The local MADD president said she was "pleasantly surprised" at the original eight-year verdict, and "applauded" the judge's efforts.

In the Washington area, several civic groups, public health organizations and government agencies have teamed up for a campaign called Party Safe 2005. You may have heard the ads on local radio stations in prom season, warning parents that law enforcement would be taking a zero-tolerance approach to underage drinking. The commercials explicitly said that even supervised parties -- such as those where parents collect the keys of partygoers -- wouldn't be spared. Parents would risk jail time and a fine of $1,000 per underage drinker.
Not only do such uncompromising approaches do little to make our roads safer, they often make them worse. The data don't lie. High school kids drink, particularly during prom season. We might not be comfortable with that, but it's going to happen. It always has. The question, then, is do we want them drinking in their cars, in parking lots, in vacant lots and in rented motel rooms? Or do we want them drinking at parties with adult supervision, where they're denied access to the roads once they enter?

The Virginia case mentioned above is troubling for another reason: The cops raided that home without a search warrant. This is becoming more and more common in jurisdictions with particularly militant approaches to underage drinking. A prosecutor in Wisconsin popularized the practice in the late 1990s when he authorized deputies to enter private residences without warrants, "by force, if necessary," when there was the slightest suspicion of underage drinking. For such "innovative" approaches, Paul Bucher won plaudits from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which awarded him a place in the "Prosecutors as Partners" honor roll on the MADD Web site.

The Post reported a while back on a party in Bethesda in which there was no underage drinking at all. Police approached the parents at a backyard graduation party and asked if they could administer breath tests to underage guests. The mother refused. So the cops cordoned off the block and administered breath tests to each kid as he or she left the party. Not a single underage guest had been drinking. The police then began writing traffic tickets for all of the cars around the house hosting the party. The mother told the Post, "It almost seemed like they were angry that they didn't find anything."

Surely there are more pressing concerns for the Washington area criminal justice system to address than parents who throw supervised parties for high school kids. These parents are at least involved enough in their kids' lives to know that underage drinking goes on and to take steps to prevent that reality from becoming harmful. We ought to be encouraging that kind of thing, not arresting people for it.

This article appeared in the Washington Post on August 9, 2005.

These are the Times that Try Men’s Souls

2005-08-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; be that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem lightly.

Thomas Paine, 12/23/1776

Its just as true now as it was then!!

I've said it before and I will say it again. Our country has moved to far from the founders original concept. They would be horrified at how much power the federal government has now.

United States sovereignty has been Compromised.

2005-07-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like President Bush is getting his way of compromising US Security. Last night the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) passed the House of Representatives by two votes. The Senate had already passed the CAFTA bill on June 30th to approve their version of the CAFTA bill.

To see how your Representatives voted, go here.

While I am all for Free Trade, I am against anything that will Compromise our country’s sovereignty and security. President Bush tried to say that CAFTA will help in securing the security of the United States. I don’t buy it.

CNN reports that Rep. Walter Jones, R-North Carolina, told his colleagues that “200,000 jobs in his state have been lost since in the decade since passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and "CAFTA is NAFTA's ugly cousin."

Which doesn’t really surprise me at all, I honestly feel that big business’s are moving their operations down to Mexico because of NAFTA agreement because of the cheaper labor, I also believe the same thing is going to happen because of the CAFTA agreement.

Bush is trying to say that once trade expands and lifts people out of poverty that CAFTA will address the problem of illegal immigration. My question is how? And why do we have to wait? We should be doing something about illegal immigration NOW!!! Not later.

I honestly believe that it may be time for a Second American Revolution. One way or another we as a people need to get rid of the people that are in Washington and replace them with people that will follow our founding fathers original intent. We need to take the power away from the federal government and give it back to the states. We need to start over or we are going to go down the same path as the Roman Republic.

Why should we tolerate these Islamofascists who hate us all?

2005-07-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

Julie Burchill makes a very good point in the following article. I agree with her that the white working-class is the only group that may now be abused and maligned with impunity, its big news when a minority is attacked. Its big news when minoritys are part of the attack. It seems like the news agencys both here in American and in Britian fall all over themselves to let us know how many of which minority is hurt or how we just don't understand what they are going through, to quote Ms. Burchill...Bullshit!!!

July 16, 2005

AT THE ROOT of my friend Michael Collins’s quite brilliant book The Likes of Us: A Biography of the White Working Class, and the recent TV show on the obliteration of the same, one truth hit home with agonising ease. And that was his righteous anger not with immigrants — as many seat-sniffing, mosque-bothering critics have accused him — but with the ruling and chattering classes who dared to criticise the working-class attitude towards them.

From the word go, the white working class have been portrayed as the fat white fly in the joyous rainbow ointment of cultural diversity, SPOILING EVERYTHING FOR EVERYBODY ELSE, set up against noble, chaste, hard-working immigrants as the undeserving or deserving poor.

Of course, it is all very well to spend your days lecturing others to “celebrate diversity” when you go home each night to Hampstead. But surely the faces of the people who were killed last week told their own story — if this is such an unwelcoming, racist place to live, why do all races continue to flock here, as they do to evil, imperialist America?

We are told to celebrate the diversity of life, but the diversity of death has a totally unforced, unbossed, unmanaged poignancy, a million miles away from English toddlers being forced to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid when they are still trying to get their heads around the Easter Bunny. The capital city gave much to immigrants — freedom — as they themselves gave much to it, and now they have given their lives for that city and that freedom.

Still, there was something a little creepy about the way in which certain people went on about the diversity of the dead. For one thing, it showed a willingness to believe the best of the bombers: that if only they had known that they had murdered delegates of all creeds and colours, they wouldn’t have done it.

Bullshit. This sort of Islamofascist hates multiculturalism. Just you try building a church in Saudi Arabia! They won’t even let our troops out there celebrate St Valentine’s Day. And as for any idea of the races being equal . . . it is the Muslim world that keeps slavery alive, and Muslim governments, as in Sudan, that see nothing whatsoever wrong with ethnic cleansing. Recently a Muslim columnist wrote sorrowfully of how in her culture a Muslim girl marrying a black man was the greatest shame that could fall upon a family. So much for equality under Islam.

There was also the implication from some quarters that if all the dead had been white Christians, the tragedy and abomination would have been somehow less. This seemed particularly inappropriate at a time when we were celebrating this country’s wartime suffering and resilience. We were white then — but did we bleed less because of it?

In an effort to fight racism, certain people like to pretend that there was no fun, no culture, no nobility here before multiculturalism — but there was. And to follow that weird logic, you’d also have to say that the Third World also had none of the above before the white man went there and interfered. And before you know it, you’re making all sorts of mad claims.

What we have learnt recently is that diversity is not just to be celebrated mindlessly, but also navigated and negotiated. We, the host community, have accepted multiculturalism; the issue now is whether hardline — and I stress hardline — Muslims can do the same.

To my eyes at least, “live and let live” seems to be a concept they have a problem with; until they can grasp it, as the Sikhs and Hindus have (who have at least as strong and rich a culture, but feel no need to burn books, form parliaments, set up separatist schools and kill their fellow Britons to demonstrate this), the jury is still out on whether hardline Muslims can truly live happily in non-Muslim countries. And, after all, they have 56 — count ’em! — of their own to go to if they don’t like it. They are spoilt for choice.

Or will they not be happy until every last country in the world is composed of veiled women, bearded men and dead infidels, of all creeds and colours?

Rag-hags follow new fashion

FASHION designers say the funniest things. Such as “Fashion is Art”. And sometimes, when seeking to seem more than a gaggle of giggling gay pattern-cutters, “Fashion Cares”. Few things, as I recall, were more comic in the attempt to position the “Nice Nineties” firmly opposite the “’Ateful Eighties” than the rag trade’s bleatings that “Fashion cares about ecology”.

They could send as many models wearing babies and carrying unbleached cotton (or was it the other way around?) as they liked down the catwalks, but before long the jig was up and clothes were filthy with fur and dripping with diamonds. A new label, Noir, promises “meaningful luxury fashion” and includes, alongside “African suits” and Third World sourcing, an “iconic” mink jacket. That’s fashion — red in tooth, claw and bank account too.

Of course, it is as silly to accuse fashion of being frivolous and wasteful as it is to blame a dog for barking. But in return for our benevolent blind eye, could they please cease acting as if they care about anything more than their own profit margins? When thespians and crooners lecture about making poverty history and generally saving the planet it’s bad enough, but to pretend that fashion, which inherently depends on chucking out perfectly good clothes to buy more that you don’t need, can in any way do anything more constructive than promote profligate waste and pollution, is madness.

The attitude of the designers to the women at whom their clothes are aimed is similarly ill-sorted and paradoxical. For instance, not one of the clowns can resist the temptation to squeal “I LOVE WOMEN!” approximately ten times a day for the benefit of the media. To which the only sensible retort is surely, a) then why do you never have sex with them? and b) then why is the only choice women are offered by haute couture the difference between dressing like a £5,000 a night hooker, a £500 a night hooker or a £5 a night hooker?

Amazingly, the proportion of women buying cheap and cheerful clothes at supermarkets has gone from 60 to 73 per cent in the space of a year, according to a survey, which has put huge pressure not just on high-end fashion — in crisis for years, most of the houses clawing back a profit only through the sale of make-up and fragrances — but on fashion chain stores too. (Many of whom allow you the honour of dressing like a whore on a nurse’s wages, bless ’em.)

Women — the ungrateful bitches. Buying clothes when they need them. Treating them as if they were food or books rather than the Holy Grail, which is going to change their lives forever. Outrageous. In fact, it’s so “revolutionary”, you should look out for the new dumb rag-hag slogan any day soon: “Fashion Hates Fashion”.

It’s true — the white working-class is the only group that may now be abused and maligned with impunity. Regard Big Brother. White girl takes top off, has sex with boy: filthy slag. Black girl takes top off, has sex with boy: strong woman. Rude white kids: bullies. Rude ethnic kids: divine divas, darling. Let’s hear it for inverted racism!

2005-07-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

While I understand that 90% of the Illegal Aliens that cross our borders are hard working people that just want to make a better life for their familys, they are still law breakers and they need to be stopped and sent back to where they come from.

Now the other 10% of illegal's that come into our country are the ones gives a really good reason to put the military on our borders; if the following commentary by Jim Kouri is any indication.

Invasion USA: More Illegal Alien Killers Busted

by Jim Kouri, CPPIn less than a year, from September 1, 2004 through June 23, 2005, CBP Border Patrol agents have identified 102,024 illegal aliens involved in major crimes that include: 391 homicide suspects; 136 kidnapping suspects; 525 sexual assault suspects; 849 robbery suspects; 5,154 suspects for assaults of other types; and 10,394 suspects involved with narcotics.

For instance, US Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol agents arrested a 31 year-old undocumented Mexican national wanted in connection to a homicide in Florida.

Border Patrol agents stopped a 1993 Aerostar van with Tennessee license plates east of Albuquerque New Mexico. After questioning, it was determined that the driver and the 10 passengers were illegally in the United States. They were all transported to the Albuquerque Border Patrol Station for processing.

Using biometric identification technology, it was determined that the driver, Alberto Hernandez-Ortiz, had an outstanding felony warrant in connection to a 2004 murder that occurred in Fort Myers, Florida in which the victim was stabbed to death. The suspect is currently in custody pending extradition to Florida. The remaining 10 illegal aliens were granted a voluntary return to Mexico.

The technology, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, or IAFIS, enables CBP Border Patrol agents to search fingerprint databases simultaneously using the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) and the FBI fingerprint database. It provides rapid identification of individuals with outstanding criminal warrants by electronically comparing a live-scanned fingerprint with a nationwide database of biometrically indexed fingerprints.

In another case, CBP officers at the Paso Del Norte port of entry encountered 29-year-old Alex Daniel Vasquez-Fuentes as he entered the US as a pedestrian Friday morning. CBP officers asked for identification and he presented a birth certificate but no additional documents.

During questioning, Vasquez-Fuentes admitted that the certificate was not his and he was wanted in the Phoenix area. CBP officers obtained a ten-print digital image of his fingerprints and ran the data through the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System and discovered his true identity and that a warrant existed for his arrest. After confirming the warrant with authorities in Maricopa County, CBP officers turned Vasquez-Fuentes over to the El Paso Police Department.

In still another case, CBP officers at the Bridge of the Americas port of entry encountered 37-year-old Jose Guadalupe Reveles Barbosa as he entered the US as a pedestrian Friday afternoon. CBP believed he was attempting to live and work in the US illegally so they sent him to a secondary inspection area. During the secondary inspection, CBP officers performed a National Crime Information Center query on Reveles Barbosa and learned that he was being sought by authorities in Maricopa County for homicide/attempted second degree murder and interfering with judicial proceedings. He was taken into custody and turned over to the El Paso Police Department.

Sources: US Customs and Border Protection, US Border Patrol, National Association of Chiefs of Police

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. He writes for many police and crime magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer, Campus Law Enforcement Journal, and others, and he's a columnist for TheConservativeVoice.Com. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com, Booksamillion.com, and can be ordered at local bookstores. Kouri holds a bachelor of science in criminal justice and master of arts in public administration and he's a board certified protection professional.

Scotty has been Beamed up.

2005-07-21T19:09:00.000-07:00

Scotty otherwise known as James Doohan has passed on to his next mission, he was my favorite character of the whole Star Trek series. That includes all incarnations of the Star Trek universe.

Mr. Doohan's widow plans on blasting some of his ashes in to space. I think he would have liked that. Its sad the way he had to pass, but he had a long wonderful life. Hell he had his last child at 80 years of age. That is something else.

Rest in Peace James, Rest in peace.

"May you continue to boldly go where no man has gone before" Joe Doody, Glasgow

The Senate Breaks their Word...Again.

2005-07-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

But does that really surprise you? I remember last year all the big talk about adding 2000 Border Patrol agents when President Bush's budget only called for like 200. The 9/11 Commission report if I remember correctly recommended 2000. The Senate and the House of Representatives were in an uproar that President Bush didn't find money for that.

But as a Washington Times article shows the Senate has turned their back on their promises once again. http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050715-121229-7851r.htm Sen. Charles Schumer said the following, “That's the problem here. It's not in strengthening the borders. It's in taking away money from the people every day who defend us and, since 9/11, have new duties”

What gets me is that they don't realize that if there was more Border Patrol agents on the borders then local law enforcement and fire fighters and EMT's wouldn't have as hard as a job they have now.

Mrs. Clinton made a big deal out of cracking down on illegal immigration but then votes against an amendment that would have help do just that. But what do you expect from her. She has always been a two faced person, and there are some out there that want her to be President of the United States. But then people like that are usually the same type of people.

Sen. Santorum's spokes person said the following “The senator is for border security, but he would like for us to spend it in a responsible and approriate way”

I don't get it, what would be more appropriate than spending money on keeping our border safe and keeping illegals from coming into our country? Especially with the stories of Al Queda possible having nukes!

America's Destruction

2005-07-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

The Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) are a bunch of tratiorus dogs. They all need to be pulled out of their cush offices and lined up along a wall someone where and shot for treason!!!

If the founding fathers had wanted the type of country that this council is talking about they would not have rebelled against the British. We would still be part of the British empire!! I am sure that George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin are rolling in their graves right now.

To find out exactly what I am talking about, go to the following website and read the following article:

http://www.alipac.us/article-539-thread-1-0.html

If President Bush continues to push this through to try and make it law, then the true everyday American needs to take up arms and show that we are not going to put up with it. When it happens, not if, but when it happens we will either be called Hero's or terroists, it will depend on who wins and who is writing the history books!

Contact your representatives in that place we laughingly call our country's capital and tell them that we do not want the CFR's plans to put into action.

Murder charges dropped against Marine

2005-05-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

OOOOORAAaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!

Murder charges dropped against Marine

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- A former Wall Street trader who rejoined the Marines after the Sept. 11 attacks will not be tried on murder charges for killing two suspected Iraqi insurgents, a Marine general decided Thursday.

The decision by Maj. Gen. Richard Huck, commander of the 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, ends the prosecution of 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, whom prosecutors accused of killing the men without justification.

"Down at the unit level, there was never a question about Ilario's conduct and whether or not he did the right thing,"

Charles Gittins, Pantano's civilian lawyer, said. "It was up in the higher echelons. The people removed from combat situations needed to put more trust in their officers rather than assuming they're guilty."

"That's exciting, isn't it," said Pantano's mother, Merry Pantano of New York, who said she hadn't yet spoken to her son about the decision. "Needless to say, we are quite ecstatic."
The two Iraqis were killed during an April 2004 search outside a suspected terrorist hideout in Mahmudiyah, Iraq. Pantano, 33, contended he shot them in self-defense after the men disobeyed his instructions and made a menacing move toward him.

Prosecutors alleged Pantano intended to make an example of the men by shooting them 60 times and hanging a sign over their bodies-- "No better friend, no worse enemy," a Marine slogan. While citing self-defense as his motive, Pantano did not deny hanging the sign or shooting the men repeatedly.

An Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury session, was held in April. In a report dated May 12, the hearing officer, Lt. Col. Mark Winn, had recommended that the murder charges be dropped.

While finding some problems with Pantano's behavior, Winn concluded that one witness' accusation that Pantano shot the detainees while they were kneeling with their backs to him was not supported by other testimony or evidence.

Witnesses testified the sergeant who was Pantano's main accuser was a weak Marine who was bitter about Pantano removing him from a leadership role within the platoon.

More than a half-dozen Marines who served with Pantano in Iraq praised him in testimony, saying he was an able leader who remained cool in combat and was amiable with Iraqis.
Winn wrote in his recommendation that Pantano should face nonjudicial punishment for allegedly desecrating the bodies by reloading his weapon and repeatedly shooting them. Pantano said he shot the men until they stopped moving.

Huck could have accepted Winn's recommendation, given some form of administrative punishment or gone ahead with a court-martial. He decided that Pantano should face no punishment for any of his actions.

"The best interests of 2nd Lt. Pantano and the government have been served by this process," the Marine Corps said in a statement.

Pantano training troops

Supporters of Pantano said troops should not be second-guessed for decisions made in fleeting seconds of combat. A North Carolina congressman had urged President Bush to intervene and dismiss charges.

Pantano also has become a popular subject for conservative radio hosts, and his mother started a Web site in his defense.

Pantano is now helping to train troops at Camp Lejeune, but his attorney said he hopes the decision will clear the way for the Marine to return to a combat unit.

"I think (the decision) demonstrates that Ilario acted honorably in combat and the suggestion that he didn't that tarnished his reputation was unjustified," Gittins said. "I'm pleased for Ilario and his family because the nightmare is over."

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/26/pantano.charges.ap/index.html

Church sign sparks debate

2005-05-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

It amazes me how Americans are supposed to have religious tolerance, and that we are supposed to take the moral high road. Yet if you go into muslim countrys Christians are treated lower than the cockroaches of that country. The Bible is disrespected by muslims left and right, got God forbid an American disrespects the Quran/Koran oh no, that isn't allowed at allowed at all.

By JOSH HUMPHRIES Daily Courier Staff Writer

FOREST CITY -- A sign in front of a Baptist church on one of the most traveled highways in the county stirred controversy over religious tolerance and first-amendment rights this weekend.
A sign in front of Danieltown Baptist Church, located at 2361 U.S. 221 south reads "The Koran needs to be flushed," and the Rev. Creighton Lovelace, pastor of the church, is not apologizing for the display.

"I believe that it is a statement supporting the word of God and that it (the Bible) is above all and that any other religious book that does not teach Christ as savior and lord as the 66 books of the Bible teaches it, is wrong," said Lovelace. "I knew that whenever we decided to put that sign up that there would be people who wouldn't agree with it, and there would be some that would, and so we just have to stand up for what's right."

Seema Riley, a Muslim, who was born in Pakistan and reared in New York, was one of those upset by the sign.

She moved to Rutherford County for the "small town friendly" atmosphere, she said. When she saw the sign on the side of the highway Saturday she felt angered and threatened.
"We need a certain degree of tolerance," said Riley. "That sign doesn't really reflect what I think this county is about."

She said that according to Islamic faith, a follower does not even touch the Koran without going through a ritual cleansing. Muslims believe the physical book to be a sacred item that is treated with respect and reverence, much like the image of Jesus in Christianity, according to a report on National Public Radio.

"For someone to put that sign up -- the person just didn't understand -- didn't take into consideration what putting up that sign means," said Riley. "I don't think it should be posted on a sign in public viewing on the highway to create a hostile environment for me."

The appearance of the sign follows a national news story from last week. Newsweek magazine retracted a story reporting that military guards at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay flushed a copy of the Koran down the toilet during interrogation of a detainee. The Newsweek story sent Washington in a frenzy and was blamed for igniting Muslim riots and deaths abroad, including a particularly violent outburst in Afghanistan.

"Our creed as a Christian, or a Protestant, or a Baptist church -- of course we don't have a creed but the bible -- but we do have the Baptist faith and message that says that we should cling to the 66 books of the Holy Bible and any other book outside of that claiming to know the way of God or claiming to be God's word is automatically written off and is trying to defeat people from the way of true righteousness inside of our viewpoint in how we view the word of God," Lovelace said.

"Putting such a sign in a public place is an un-American example of intolerance, of aggressive disrespect for other citizens' deeply held views," said Donald Searing, Burton Craige Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "This is the sort of attitude and action that seriously endangers the liberty which lies at the heart of our democracy. It is also a good reminder that just because one may have the legal right to say something, doing so may not be morally, socially or politically desirable."

When Lovelace was asked whether he considered before he put the sign up that there may be some consequences or that some people may be angered, he said he was aware of the likelihood of angering some people.

"Well, I thought about it and I said there may be people who are offended by it but the way I look at it, Jesus told his followers that if the world hates you, don't feel bad because they hated me first," said Lovelace. "If we stand for what is right and for God's word and for Christianity then the world is going to condemn us and so right away when I got a complaint I said 'well somebody's mad, somebody's offended, so we must be doing something right.'"

Danieltown Baptist Church belongs to the Sandy Run Baptist Association and the association's Director of Missions the Rev. Jim Diehl said that Lovelace's opinion does not necessarily reflect that of that organization.

"Each of the churches of the Sandy Run Baptist Association are autonomous bodies," said Diehl. "Each church can develop a stance on doctrinal issues and can develop its own stance on moral issues."

The Rev. Billy Honeycutt, of the Green River Baptist Association said that he hopes that those who see the sign keep tolerance in mind.

"Respecting religion is important and respecting other people is important," said Honeycutt. "Hopefully, a lot of people will have that thought when they see the sign."

Following the religious controversy at a church in Waynesville where several members were asked to leave in what was termed a dispute over politics, several groups threatened to boycott the entire town due to the actions of one preacher.

Director of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce Bill Hall said he does not think that the Danieltown sign will have a negative impact on the county's tourism or economic vitality.
"It is unfortunate that things like that happen and it certainly doesn't represent Rutherford County," said Hall. "I think that most people will understand that that is not a common attitude in this community."

Lovelace said he felt it was the work of God to display the sign and that no one in the church has spoken up against it to him.

He said the church has 55 members on the roster and he has only received one angry phone call since the sign was posted.

"We have a good group of people," said Lovelace.

Lovelace said the sign changes every week.

"About Friday or Saturday we will have a new sign," he said. "It should state to some effect 'Where are your treasures? Are they at the flea market or are they in heaven?'"

Lovelace said that he does not have anything against the flea market that recently opened up down the street from the church.

"I enjoy a good flea market, but if people can be down there at eight o'clock why can't they be at church at 11," he said.

Contact Humphries via e-mail at jhumphries@blueridge.net

Sisters give birth at 12, 14, 16.

2005-05-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

I think this mother needs to have her head examined. Since when is it the schools responsibility to teach children about sex? Oh wait, I forget we live in a society where people seem to think that government is our parent and they are supposed to teach us everything.

BBC News

Sisters give birth at 12, 14, 16.

Three schoolgirl sisters have given birth aged 12, 14 and 16. The Williams sisters, who live with their mother in a council house in Derby, feature in a BBC3 documentary called Desperate Midwives.

Natasha, the oldest, Jade and Jemma, the youngest, are reported to receive £600 a week in benefits. Their mother Julie Atkins, 38, who said the girls were too young and had ruined their lives, blamed schools for providing poor quality sex education.

Mother defiant Jemma was first to give birth, to T-Jay in February last year, and weeks later Jade and Natasha discovered they were pregnant.

Natasha had daughter Amani in November and Jade followed with Lita in December. The younger sisters are still at school.

Mrs Atkins told the Sunday Mercury: "I don't care what people say about me. I blame the schools - sex education for young girls should be better."

The sisters feature in the BBC3 series Desperate Midwives: The real truth about childbirth, starting from 9pm on Monday.

Episode seven follows a midwife from the Derby City hospital as she helps the family prepare for the third child. No going back Mrs Atkins told the Sun that she still found it difficult to believe what had happened. "They are still little girls and now they have babies of their own," she said. "But I don't care what people say, I love my kids and I'm here to help them.

"If I could turn back the clock, I would prefer them not to have children. Their education is so important." Two of the girls are no longer in contact with their children's fathers. Jemma is quoted in the Sun as saying: "I only told my boyfriend David, who was 14 at the time, but I didn't want to have an abortion.

"He was my first love but now I'm gutted because he doesn't want to have anything to do with me or T-Jay."

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/4572219.stm

Sex offenders get Viagra paid for by Medicaid

2005-05-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

Only in America can rapists and perverts get the medication they need to help them hurt our loved ones on the public's dime.

Sex offenders get Viagra paid for by Medicaid

NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York's comptroller urged the nation's top health official Sunday to ban high-risk sex offenders and convicted rapists from receiving Viagra paid for by Medicaid.

"Federal, state and local reimbursement for the cost of erectile dysfunction drugs for sex offenders raises serious policy considerations and has the potential to place the public at risk," Comptroller Alan Hevesi wrote Michael Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services.

"I am asking that you take immediate action to ensure that sex offenders do not receive erectile dysfunction medication paid for by the taxpayers. I urge you to take administrative action to remedy the situation or draft an amendment to the underlying statute as appropriate," Hevesi wrote.

Hevesi said his office found that from January 1, 2000, through March 31, 2005, 198 Level 3 sex offenders received Medicaid-reimbursed Viagra after being convicted of a sex offense. Sex offenders are those convicted of crimes such as rape, sexual abuse, and sexual conduct against a child.

Level 3 offenders are those considered by the courts most likely to commit crimes again.
According to Hevesi, his office determined in its audit that the victims of the sex crimes during the five-year period ranged from toddlers to a woman as old as 90; and the crimes included first-degree rape.

Hevesi said he also has alerted the State Department of Health, which administers the Medicaid program in New York.

The review has not yet examined whether any of the Level 3 offenders are receiving prescriptions for other erectile dysfunction drugs which came on the market after the 1998 directive.

Hevesi said his office did not look at Level 1 (low) and Level 2 (moderate) offenders.
The New York Sex Offender Registration Act requires the Division of Criminal Justice Services to maintain a Sex Offender Registry, and post a list of Level 3 offenders on the Internet.

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/23/offenders.viagra/index.html

Gun Safety Classes In Arizona Schools

2005-05-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

Critics seem to think teaching our kids how to handle firearms properly and safely is askin for trouble. Arizona recently made it legal for schools to offer gun safety classes, which I think is great, because I know a lot of parents won't take the time to show their children the proper way to handle a fire arm, even if the parents own one. My children know the difference between a toy gun and a real one. Does yours??

Gun Safety 101 Sparks Debate

Saturday, May 21, 2005

LOS ANGELES — Arizona schools have added a fourth "R" to reading, writing and arithmetic — rifles.

Students who choose to enroll in this new course learn the safe way to handle a gun and earn one credit — the equivalent to ceramics or photography electives. Critics are gunning the debate; they say handing teenagers loaded weapons equals trouble.

“I'm afraid these programs are really geared more toward increasing peoples interest in guns rather than safety,” said Dr. Mary Rimsza, director of the Student Health Center at ASU.
This tells me she doesn't own a gun or even know how to use one. Of course I could be wrong on both counts, but I doubt it.

Click in the box near the top of the story to watch a report by FOX News' William La Jeunesse.
However, some students say it is on target with their curriculum. You will actually need to click on the link in this paragraph to go the website this story comes from to view the video.

“We learn life skills, like when we miss [a shot], not to get mad. You learn a lot of cooperation with your team members,” said student Kim Peters.

And many parents argue they would rather their children learn how to handle a gun and be safe, than be sorry.

“It is very important for a child to be proficient responsible with a firearm as a hobby or just practical shooting, he should know how to operate it just like you would teach a child how to operate a saw or any hand tool,” said parent Scott Marx.

Arizona's State Game and Fish Department said it will dispatch qualified, trained instructors to every school that signs up.

Arizona Boycott a Joke

2005-05-21T11:58:00.000-07:00

The Hispanic leaders in Arizona are threatening to Boycot Arizona in July by asking all Hispanics not to purchas anything between July 2 and July 4t h. You know what will happen, they will all just buy their party supplys befort then. So it won't really do anything in the long run. What these morons should be doing is supporting Prop 200 and all the other laws that will make it harder for ILLEGAL's to do anything in this country. They broke the LAW when they crossed the border of the United States with out proper paper work. Do these so called rights activists even understand what a law abiding citizen is??

Another thing I keep hearing how the Mexicans or Spainards were here first, it was their land. Well if you really want to get picky about who was hear first, it was the Indians, if this land belongs to anyone it belongs to them. But even if we go there it doesnt matter, because it is the white man who came into this part of the country after the United States received it from Mexico that built it up. It was the white man who built the city's. But people forget that.

Now this post will sound racist to some, but you know what I am the furthest thing from being a racist. I am just tired of being told I should be ashamed that I am white.

Here is the story that brought on this post:

Hispanic groups plan national boycott of Arizona businesses
By AMANDA KEIM
Associated Press Writer
05/19/2005

http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=108730

PHOENIX -- Civilian border watch groups. Laws that limit government services illegal immigrants can use. Lawmakers trying to declare English as the official state language and require government functions be conducted in English.

Immigrant rights activists say the recent groundswell of anti-immigration measures in Arizona is making the lives of immigrants, and anyone who looks like one, miserable and must be countered in kind: by making the lives of Arizonans more difficult through lost business and tourism.

To do that, activists are planning a national boycott of Arizona businesses and tourism sites in early July to draw attention to the contribution undocumented immigrants make to the state.
The national effort follows a Phoenix-area boycott of businesses last week that caused a few businesses to limit their services and at least one to close for the day.

Activists say the recent groundswell of anti-immigration measures are making the lives of immigrants miserable. They hope the planned boycotts -- one a long-term national effort to divert conventions and sporting events elsewhere and the other a three-day economic protest of local businesses -- will put political pressure on Arizona legislators to take a more moderate stance on immigration issues.

Breaking the Chains, the group organizing the national boycott, hopes to kick off its campaign July 1. Organizers plan to convince groups sponsoring large sporting events, conferences and other events that generate a lot of revenue, to take their activities to other states.

"We tried to have meetings, we tried everything, but we found it is impossible to go through the legislative process," said organizer Salvador Reza. "There was no dialogue. It was just a one way street."

Reza said the boycott will be ongoing until Proposition 200, an initiative voters approved in November that limits the government services illegal immigrants can use, is repealed.
Activists say the immigration enforcement measures affect not just immigrants, but everyone who looks like one. "It's the way I look, it's the language I speak. That's racial profiling," said Elias Bermudez, director of Phoenix's Centro de Ayuda, or Center of Help, and organizer of the local boycott.

Bermudez's group is asking Hispanics around Arizona to not spend any money from July 2-4. By closing their wallets for three days, the Hispanic community will show local businesses how vital they are to the state economy, according to Bermudez.

"We are saying if we are needed, come to our side and help us live without being harassed," he said. The two protests are not directly related, although Bermudez said his group is supporting Reza's boycott. These efforts follow a Phoenix-area work stoppage last week that caused a few businesses to limit their services and at least one to close for the day.

Arizona last saw a large-scale boycott of tourism and convention sites in the late 1980s, after former Gov. Evan Mecham rescinded an executive order signed by his predecessor, Bruce Babbitt, to create a holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

At that time, Arizona was a contender to host the Super Bowl in 1996 and angry executives threatened to take Arizona off the short list unless the state enacted a King holiday. Voters approved the holiday a few years later.

Alberto Gutier, a longtime state government worker, said he doubts the planned boycotts will have be as effective as the Super Bowl threat. Most national organizations probably won't avoid bringing national conferences to Arizona unless they want to make a political statement, he said.
But Brent Wilkes, national director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said his organization is paying close attention to Arizona's legislative actions and activities like the Minuteman project -- a controversial civilian patrol group that has been monitoring the Mexican border for illegal immigrants.

While LULAC had not decided whether to participate in the boycott, Wilkes said he doubts his organization or other large Hispanic groups would host national conferences in Arizona until anti-immigration sentiments die down.

Earl de Berge, a pollster from Phoenix's Behavior Research Center, said that if organizers are able to run a long-term campaign, these boycotts may be the first step in bringing both sides of Arizona's immigration issues to the national stage.

The Real Iraq

2005-05-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

If you want to hear the truth about what is going on in Iraq, click on this link for Michael Yons blog, he is imbedded with an Army unit over there and he tells it as he see's it. At the end of his most recent post he states there is to many success's to write about, but I think he should so the word gets out there. Here is his most recent post:

05/21/2005

The Battle for Mosul: Dispatch II

The PlayersThere is the perception that fanatical insurgents bubble like oil from the Iraqi sands. Yet, having traveled in Iraq for nearly half a year, I have seen little real desert, and true fanatics are rare.In an effort to be culturally sensitive and almost compulsively polite, we've mangled the meanings of words like: "martyr," and "suicide" to such a degree that we're using them to label mass murderers. While American and foreign media collectively increase the suffering of babes through their current fashion of cynicism, others seem to have a case of parents' guilt--unable to give the Iraqi suffering the undivided and ameliorative attention it requires. Instead, reporters rush at any sign of distress to hyper-focus on the negative, and thereby create yet more problems than originally existed. They shovel out body counts masquerading them as reports. A major US magazine recently published an unsubstantiated piece about the desecration of the Islamic Holy Book by US Forces. This story led to riots and many deaths. The magazine has apologized, but it’s too late. The people are dead.

I have participated in, perhaps, one hundred raids. I lost count long ago. In practically every Iraqi home, I have seen the Quran. Soldiers have been trained to leave the Quran alone. American soldiers rarely will even touch the green tome, they leave it where it sits, in special places in many homes. Nevertheless, one story—for which the magazine quickly apologized—spelled death.

Yet, against the wishes of the enemy, and even much of the media, somehow the Iraqis continue to progress. I am amazed at the strength of the Iraqi spirit. These people keep trying, and they love their children.

The combined pressures of an increasingly engaged Iraqi populace, coupled with an increasingly effective Coalition military response, are working to cordon and curtail the insurgency in some areas, while it flares in others. The insurgents’ tactics are backfiring in many areas; their ranks are thinning in Mosul.

The Business of Insurgency

Insurgents are in the disruption business. Bombs and bullets are their main currency. Like every enterprise, they must control costs. Distant viewers who acquire perceptions of bombs from movies or the nightly news might have a false idea that explosives are high-end items, requiring specialized technical skills and scarce raw materials. Actually, making bombs—such as car bombs—is simple.

In most cases, in Iraq, the enemy collects munitions such as unexploded artillery shells—available by the truckload, and cheap—then rigs the shells to explode by one of several easy methods. These are loaded into a car, where a switch is added. A switch that a clever junior high-schooler could make. That’s it. The bomb is ready. The size of the device is limited primarily by the capacity of the vehicle.

The Chinese first began using gunpowder a thousand years ago, and quickly realized that making a bomb and using it effectively are different problems. They made rockets from bamboo, and invented grenades. The real challenge comes in making the explosions connect with a target at the right time, in the right way, meaning there is an optimal point and moment for initiation. Achieving both of these simultaneously can be extremely difficult.

What's true for simple IEDs also holds for large car bombs against armored targets—if the timing is off, by as little as a quarter-second as the vehicle drives by… BLAM! …everyone inside the vehicle might be fine. When the timing is spot on, everyone can be killed. For armored targets, if the bomb doesn't make direct contact, or nearly direct contact, the effect is usually minor. (Unless the bomber is highly sophisticated; there are few of these in Iraq.) The enemy in Iraq is mostly relatively crude. What they lack in engineering finesse, they try to overcome with more explosives, often resulting in shattered neighborhoods.

The enemy’s operating practices for overcoming delivery and timing problems speaks volumes about their predatory nature. They use human bomb delivery devices—the miss-labeled "suicide bombers"—who become organic elements of primitive weapon systems. They call these temp workers "martyrs," in a shameless exploitation of the naïveté and narcissism of certain young men. These so called “martyrs” are not unlike men volunteering to steer torpedoes into the hulls of ships. The "martyrs" allow themselves to be used as targeting and acquisition systems. More than just "allowing" they actually see the act of mass murder as the fulfillment of a glorious plan.

Let's start with the BIG words: suicide-bombers and martyrs. Suicide is a term that should evoke empathy, if not sympathy, for a lonely and despairing act. A distressed soul, harboring a crushing, agonizing lebensmude, weary of the strain of a terrestrial existence, perhaps seeking mere relief, or just an end to psychic pain, may be contemplating suicide. If this person straps a bomb to his or her chest and walks out into the solitude of the desert and detonates, they would then be properly called a "suicide bomber." But when the media reports every day on "suicide bombers," they are talking about different people.

A fanatic who straps a bomb to his chest and walks into a market crowded with women and children, then detonates a bomb that is sometimes laced with rat poison to hamper blood coagulation, is properly called a "mass murderer." There is nothing good to say about mass murderers, nor is there anything good to say about a person who encourages these murders. Calling these human bomb delivery devices "suicide bombers" is simply incorrect. They are murderers. A person or media source defending or explaining away the actions of the murderers supports them. There is no wiggle room.

Calling homicide bombers martyrs is a language offense; words are every bit as powerful as bombs, often more so. Calling murderers “martyrs” is like calling a man "customer" because he stood in line before gunning down a store clerk. There's no need to whisper. I hear the bombs every single day. Not some days, but every day. We're talking about criminals who actually volunteer and plan to deliberately murder and maim innocent people. What reservoir of feelings or sensibilities do we fear to assault by simply calling it so? When murderers describe themselves as "martyrs" it should sound to sensible ears like a rapist saying, “It’s God’s will.”

The word martyr is derived from the word "to witness." It is used to describe a person who is killed because of a belief or principle. Given the choice to recant, martyrs chose instead to face their murderers and stand in witness to their beliefs. True martyrs do not kill themselves, but stand their ground and fight in the face of death to demonstrate the power of their convictions, sometimes dieing as a result, but preferably surviving.

The only martyrs I know about in Iraq are the fathers and brothers who see a better future coming, and so they act on their beliefs and assemble outside of police stations whenever recruitment notices are posted publicly. They line up in ever increasing numbers, knowing that insurgents can also read these notices. The men stand in longer and longer lines, making ever bigger targets. Some volunteer to earn money to earn a living. This, too, is honorable. Others take risks because they believe that a better future is possible only if Iraqi men of principle stand up for their own values, for their country, for their families. Theses are the true martyrs, the true heroes of Iraq and of Islam. I meet these martyrs frequently. They are brave men, worthy of respect.

Enemy Forces

In Mosul, the enemy has two main faces: The Former Regime Elements (FRE), and the extremists. The extremists here in Mosul can be divided into five groups—more or less—one of which would be the local chapter claiming affiliation with the so-called Al-Queda gang.

The goals of the FRE and the extremist gangs are at stunning variance. In fact, they mostly hate each other, often kill one another, and work together only as needed. If the Coalition and new Iraqi government were not here, conveniently located as a central target, the FRE and other terrorists would almost certainly be at war.

The main goal of the FRE is simple: Under the former regime, they were in charge. They want to be in charge again. In Saddam Hussein's regime, the Cynic's Golden Rule—"He who has the gold, makes the rules"—worked both ways: "He who makes the rules gets all gold." The bandits made the rules and controlled the gold. The FRE have an understandable nostalgia for the good old days. They liked being in charge. They despise the prospect of people they once persecuted, such as the Kurds, suddenly acquiring any voice whatsoever. It’s not as if the FRE are totally disenfranchised, but that they are no longer in complete control.

Whether or not someone might agree with the FRE, there is little dispute that these people have rational goals. Yet rational does not imply tenable in a newly democratic Iraq. This situation is not burdened with nagging grey areas where battle-scarred former combatants can work to some diplomatic compromise. This is an either/or situation. If the new democratic system takes hold, mathematics dictates that the FRE are not going to be in charge; they are outnumbered two to one. The FRE are Sunni Ba’athists while the majority of Iraq is Shia. The FRE is trying to destabilize the new government while simultaneously leveraging their position. Their primary strategy for both is to use violence against government officials and the civilians who elect them.

The FRE—being essentially rational but also essentially brutal—are simple to understand. They are serious, often deadly, but are not fanatical in the degree of their personal commitment to the cause. If they die, they will not regain control. It's a fact here on the Iraqi battleground—though seldom mentioned—that the majority of FRE insurgents are climate-sensitive. They almost never attack when it’s cold, raining or even muddy. As a rule, if conditions are such that the Little League baseball game back home would be canceled due to inclement weather, the insurgents will stay home and wait for the skies to clear.

Of the two groups, the more intractable and irrational enemy wraps their rebellion in a flag of fundamentalist fervor. Although the press routinely lumps all of these similar groups under the banner "Al-Queda" (whatever that really is) there are actually five main extremist groups operating in Mosul. They have common ground. Some members seek fulfillment in apocalyptic visions of a world at war, wherein everybody except them—or even including them—dies. In other cases they see the war shaping a new world, one that is entirely Islamic. The word "extremist" is not an overstatement.

These extremist are irrational, dangerous, often highly emotional, and cannot be trusted with large weapons. Every day they kill innocent people in Iraq. The FRE and most of the Iraqis tend to hate the extremists, realizing that if the Coalition were to leave, they would face the full wrath alone.

Friendly Forces

The friendly forces in Iraq are also an amalgamation. In Iraq as a whole, the Coalition is comprised of soldiers from many countries. But here in Mosul, the "Coalition" is almost entirely US, charged with building the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), while simultaneously keeping the insurgents at bay until the ISF can take over. Building the ISF is part of a larger plan that will allow our people to come home, but without leaving a wounded Iraq victim to septic fundamentalism from within, or invasion from opportunistic neighbors.

Some definitions: The ISF includes the Iraqi Police (IP), Iraqi Army (IA), Iraqi National Guard (ING), Border Patrol (BP), and sundry other groups, each with their own initials. Every month the ISF becomes a greater and more proximate threat to FRE and extremists groups throughout Iraq. This is borne out in a most ironic fashion; evidence of the growing competence and capability of ISF shouts from the headlines as the Iraqi government becomes the primary focus of insurgent attacks.

Gone are the days when the FREs and extremists in Mosul chased police from their stations and ravaged entire neighborhoods at will. Today, the ISF kills and captures enemy every day in Mosul, something that seldom makes news.

In my own dispatches I rarely mention these successes, yet I see or hear about small operations every day, collecting in ever larger pools of confidence and stability. There's no time to write about each event; this would be like trying to describe every raindrop that hits the windshield while keeping up with a fast moving storm. Eventually, a competent witness must stop taking mere notes, and step back to see the storm for what it is.

The next dispatch will explain how Deuce-Four has captured nearly one-hundred insurgents in the past three weeks, and how three drugged-up foreign suicide bombers were caught last night.

Constitutionality

2005-05-19T06:06:00.000-07:00

What I find amazing how one person has the gall, the audacity to think they know better than the will of the people. You would think that the people would know what the term "constitutional" means to them. And the passing of any law by the majority of the people should make it "constitutional"

If you want to see what I am talking about, click on the link below.

http://www.cwfa.org/printerfriendly.asp?id=8169&department=legal&categoryid=misc

Schwarzenegger: Illegal Immigrant Bashing is not a Bad Thing – breaking the law is the bad thing

2005-05-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

Steve Yuhas makes a very interesting statement in this article, I have bolded it so you can find it with ease. I have also interspaced a couple of comments of my own in italics.

April 30, 2005

Schwarzenegger: Illegal Immigrant Bashing is not a Bad Thing – breaking the law is the bad thing

Steve Yuhas

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in hot water with Democrats in California and with pro-illegal immigrant groups after he said that the Minutemen, a group of civilians doing all that they can to stop the flow of illegal immigrants from entering the country, were a good thing. During the John and Ken Show, out of KFI radio in Los Angeles, Schwarzenegger is being bashed from advocates for illegal immigrants and being called an immigrant basher. Oh if it were true.

So what did Schwarzenegger say that has Assemblyman Hector De la Torre so upset that he said, “George Bush called these people what they are – vigilantes; they are outside the law.
Arnold Schwarzenegger who took an oath to uphold the law is supporting these people who are outside the law."

De la Torre went on to say that “bashing immigrants” was just a way to sure up his (Schwarzenegger’s) poll numbers, “Scapegoating and immigrant-bashing is the last refuge of a wounded politician."

All Schwarzenegger said was that the Minuteman project in the Arizona desert has created an atmosphere where illegal immigrants were no longer crossing in the area that the Minutemen were securing.

Said the Governor of California to the radio duo, “"I think they have done a terrific job and they have, look, they have cut down the crossing of illegal immigrants by a huge percentage, so it just shows that it works when you go and make an effort and when you work hard." When pressed, his spokesman clarified that when the government fails it has always been the Governor’s belief that the people will step in and do the job.

What is missing from the debate, and from De la Torre’s cry baby response, is the fact that the people not crossing the border are illegal immigrants, breaking the law to break into the country, and whether or not President Bush and the Border Patrol like it or not – the Minutemen are not breaking any laws, if they were they would be arrested, and even if they were – what is wrong with stopping illegals from crossing into the United States?

About three weeks ago on my radio program, on KOGO AM 600 in San Diego – so close to the border I can see the Mexican flag waving in the breeze – I stood on the side with President Bush and the Border Patrol saying that what the Minutemen were doing was wrong and unnecessary because it was my belief that people were going to cross anyway because where the Minutemen were not patrolling, the Border Patrol was unable to patrol either.

I was wrong.

The Minutemen have been patrolling the border and in the place they’ve patrolled there has been a decrease in crossing by illegal immigrants – so much so that Border Patrol agents have been able to all but leave the area and have been permitted to patrol outside that area. The Minutemen have not had any problems at all and in their screening process they made sure that unwanted people – people with psychological problems, etc. – were kept out of the process.

Now the Democrats in California and those who want illegals to drive legally, vote and do all of the things that people who wait their turn to get into the greatest country on the earth are apoplectic that the Governor would say that illegal aliens, who cost the state of California over $2 billion per year, should be kept out of the country.

Well, shouldn’t they?

Illegal immigrants, something that Democrats and pro-illegal immigrant groups, conveniently leave out the word illegal as if they crossed the border legally in the dead of night and broke no laws while entering the country and act as if their presence is without bad consequence. Those people, like De la Torre, are wrong and depend on illegal immigrants for their votes, in California it is illegal to ask for identification when someone votes or signs up to vote, and people like him believe that it is more important for illegals to be in America and California than for the government to secure the borders to keep them out.

I was once on the side of President Bush and the Border Patrol, but now I’m on the side of Governor Schwarzenegger and the Minutemen. There ought not be a bad word to be said for people who pay their way to help secure the United States and any politicians who doesn’t believe that the border should be secured lest we be attacked by someone crossing the border from the north or the south, should be thrown out of office.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican; liberal or conservative – if you don’t want to secure the border the people will and you will be out of a job. The cost of illegal aliens is too high for us not to spend as much as it costs to patrol the border effectively and there is little more that the government should be doing than securing the borders. Tell me how the government manages to find millions of dollars to build museums and put on musicals, but can’t find money to secure the entry and exit of millions of people into the United States every year?

You know, I would like the to know the same thing. How can the goverment not find the money to hire more Border Patrol agents??? HOW???

No other country in the world has an open border and the United States should secure ours, but in the event that it will not because it fears that Hispanics will not vote for them or that lettuce or strawberries would cost more – throw those people out of office and put people like Tom Tancredo of Colorado in. If more people cared about the border and stopped illegals from crossing – we would be more secure, have less in the way of cost in housing, schooling and providing medical care for illegals and people like De la Torre would be out of office because illegals couldn’t vote.

There is nothing more important than securing the United States – if government can’t or will not do it then I applaud those who spend their own money in order to do it. I was wrong when I sided with the President and the Border Patrol when I should have been siding with the people working to secure the border.

At the very lease we should secure our borders in the same way Mexico does her southern border – try to get into Mexico illegally down there: you end up in camps along the border and prison: if it is good enough for Mexico’s southern border sure it is good enough for America’s border with Mexico.

That is a very good question?? How come it is ok for Mexico to secure its southern border and keep illegals out but the United States can't?

Steve Yuhas is a columnist and radio talk show host on KOGO AM 600 out of San Diego. He may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com

Soldier overwhelmed by support since arrest

2005-04-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

Sherriff Arpaio needs to think long and hard about pushing for proscecution of Patrick Haab. Mr Haab a war veteran and patriot did the right thing when he made what equates to me a Citizens arrest when he forced illegals out of a vehicle and called the authoritys. Arpaio thinks because Mr. Haab's military training kicked in that Mr. Haab was breaking the law.

Reading stories like this more and more makes me think that there needs to be a serious change in government. A violent one if necessary. Its sad when things like this happesn. Read the whole story for yourself. I honestly believe I have the right to make a citizens arrest when it comes to something like this. Does anyone know what the defination of vigilante is? If you go to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary you will find it means the following: a member of a volunteer committee organized to suppress and punish crime summarily (as when the processes of law appear inadequate); broadly : a self-appointed doer of justice, notice how the word inadequate is part of the defination? Click on the word if you really need to know what the word means. Its a great adjective to describe the federal governments lack of pursueing the tens of thousands that cross the American border illegally on a monthly basis.

We need more people like Mr. Haab and The Minuteman Project and the Yuma Patriots are true defenders of our country. If you can't see that, then I pity you and feel sorry for you.

Soldier overwhelmed by support since arrest

Robert Anglen The Arizona Republic
Apr. 16, 2005 12:00 AM

Patrick Haab, the Army reservist arrested on suspicion of holding seven undocumented immigrants at gunpoint at an Arizona rest stop, said he is overwhelmed and encouraged by an outpouring of legal, financial and moral support.

On Thursday night, a Cave Creek locksmith put up $10,000 to free Haab on bail from a Maricopa County jail, where he had been held since Sunday on seven felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Offers of money, room and board, free legal assistance and pledges of solidarity are coming from sources who are not only upset about illegal immigration but others who say Haab acted in self-defense and are angry that authorities want to prosecute him.

"I think he is getting a raw deal," said Bisbee resident Ronald Stone, a retired Army chief warrant officer and Vietnam veteran. "I want to do all I can for him . . . As far as I am concerned, he was defending his country.

"Haab's arrest comes as tensions build along the Arizona-Mexico border between law enforcement and residents who say the government isn't doing enough to stop illegal immigration.

Haab, who turned 24 this month, said Friday that he was not trying to make any statements about illegal immigration when he ordered seven men out of their vehicle and told them to lie face down on the ground at the Sentinel rest stop on Interstate 8.

He said his military training took over when the seven men "rushed" him out of the darkness at the rest area, where he had stopped to relieve his dog. He explained this week that the men climbed inside a Chevrolet Suburban when they saw his gun and he followed them to the SUV, took the vehicle keys and forced them out. Haab said he called 911 as soon as he had the situation under control and a dispatcher told him to do what he thought was best until authorities arrived.

"I have put out the real story," he said, adding that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has made this out to be a case of vigilante justice. "I was acting in self defense."

Arpaio has said repeatedly that Haab's story doesn't make sense and has noted several contradictions. Among those: Haab's claim that he was being attacked even though none of the men made aggressive moves; Haab's claim that he was afraid for his life even though he followed the men to their car; Haab's claim that he did not know the men were undocumented immigrants though he later said he believed they thought he was a Border Patrol agent.

Arpaio has said Haab's actions were illegal and dangerous and he had no right to take the law into his own hands.

All seven immigrants, who were being held at a detention facility in Yuma, asked to press charges against Haab. The driver has also been charged with human smuggling.

Bill Weingard, a locksmith at Cave Creek Lock, said he felt compelled to help Haab and waited for hours at the jail Thursday to post his bail. He believed Haab was a scapegoat and said he didn't want authorities to make an example of him because of the border issues.

"I really appreciate it," said Haab, an Iraq war veteran assigned to the 415th Civil Affairs Battalion from Kalamazoo, Mich. "It makes me feel better about this country.

"Haab, who has lived in Arizona since January, was only weeks away from a volunteer tour of duty in Afghanistan when he was arrested. Now, he said the military has put his deployment on hold.

He faces 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Haab's father, Dave, of New Paris, Ind., said he was torn between hiring a lawyer and bailing his son out of jail. He said he is grateful for the support.

"I think he has been maligned," the elder Haab said. "There is a lot of stuff in (news) reports about Patrick being a vigilante. He's not. He was trying to do what is right.

"Dave said his son, who has acknowledged taking drugs to fight depression since the death of a friend in a bombing, acted with a clear head and did not use excessive force.

He said the family is building a Web site to keep supporters informed about the case and provide details for donations to Haab's defense. The address is http://www.k9mc.com/.

"We've had offers of support from D.C. to Los Angeles," Dave said. "And if there is any money left over, we're not going to keep it. . . . It is going to go to another person caught in a similar situation."

Illegals Blocking Marine Training

2005-04-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Here is another example of Illegal aliens interfering with our country. Now they are interfering with important training that the Marines need before they go over to Iraq or Afghanistan. When are the politicians going to get a clue and put the people we need on the border. They are so worried about the Minutemen causing problems. What they should do is ask for volunteers to help the Border Patrol. Do like Sheriff and Police departments do all over the country. Create a volunteer force give them some basic train and use them as spotters. Let them spot the Illegals and then contact the Border Patrol to come pick them up. If the Minutemen are an example I am sure we could find hundreds of volunteers. Now read the story that has caused this post.

Illegals Blocking Marine Training

Marines getting ready for combat in Iraq or Afghanistan are having their training time shortened because hordes of illegal aliens from Mexico are wandering onto their firing ranges in Arizona while crossing the border illegally.

According to the Boston Globe, the commanding officers of the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona explained that virtually every Marine squadron headed to Iraq or Afghanistan receives combat training at the station, which for nearly 40 miles touches the U.S.-Mexico border in the southwestern corner of Arizona.

Colonel James J. Cooney, the base's commanding officer, told the Globe that since July 2004, the training range has been shut down more than 500 times because of immigrants spotted on the range, causing a loss of more than 1,100 training hours.

"We're getting overrun here. Any moment we take away from a Marine's experience base could cost him his life in combat," Cooney said.

He added that his Marines intercepted more than 1,500 undocumented immigrants on the training range last year and, in the first three months of this year, more than 1,100. He said that base personnel detain the immigrants and call in Border Patrol agents to pick them up.

"I have to use Marines that aren't trained in that to do that, which puts me at a liability," Cooney said. "It's completely counterproductive to our whole training operation.

"We just don't want them to come here, because we're firing lasers, we're shooting machine guns, we're shooting 209-millimeter cannons, and we're dropping practice bombs."

The Globe reported that last summer a Marine pilot dropped a practice bomb on a target and seconds later, a few feet away, a small group of illegal immigrants scrambled from underneath a bush and ran down the range. The near miss was caught on a training tape that Cooney has reviewed.

So far the Marines said there have been no deaths of immigrants in the training exercises.
"My overall concern is that we'd have an unfortunate incident out there where we'd inadvertently harm an illegal entrant that we did not spot or see, and that in turn would cause a moratorium on training until we sorted out what exactly happened," said Cooney.

And it's not just the Marines having the problem. According to the Globe one Army base and another the Air Force base, have experienced similar problems. At the Army Yuma Proving Ground, near the Marine Corps Air Station but about 30 miles north of the border, an increasing number of undocumented immigrants have invaded military space and disrupted training.

"The smugglers just drive them up the highway and dump them off, and these illegal immigrants stumble right onto our testing range," said Chuck Wullenjohn, spokesman for the Yuma Proving Ground, one of the largest military installations in the Western world which constantly conducts tests for ground forces on artillery and ammunition, including tank rounds, mines, mortars, and helicopter guns.

"Having anyone on this range that doesn't belong here is extremely dangerous," Wullenjohn told the Globe. "The illegal immigrant issue is becoming a bigger problem all the time."

The Air Force told the Globe it has had to interrupt exercises with F-16 pilots after undocumented immigrants were spotted on a bombing range east of Gila Bend, north of the border. "In 2004 we suspended range operations 55 times for a net loss of 122 hours," said Jim Uken, director of the 56th Fighter Wing range management office.

There is the additional concern that foreign terrorists could cross the Mexican border and infiltrate the Arizona bases to conduct intelligence gathering or commit acts of sabotage. "The potential exists, and that is a key reason we are vigilant about securing our training ranges," Col. Cooney told the Globe.

Among the Few and the Proud

2005-04-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Amoung the Few and the Proud

By Martin Morse Wooster

PARRIS ISLAND, South Carolina -- It's a lovely March day here in the Carolina Lowcountry. The sweet spring winds are sweeping down from the north, caressing the live oaks and palmettos. It would be a good day to stroll the streets of Beaufort for antiques, or get 18 holes in at Hilton Head Island.
But for the recruits at Parris Island, it's time to do what the Marines here have done for nearly a century: prepare young men and women for war.

The Marines present themselves as a service whose warrior virtues are timeless and unchanging. When new recruits show up here in the dead of night, their first task is to leave their buses on Panama Way and stand in formation in a series of painted "yellow footprints." The recruits are told that all the Marines who trained here -- the men who captured Tarawa and Iwo Jima in World War II, fought ferociously at the Chosin Reservoir in Korea and Hue in Vietnam, and marched into Kuwait City during the Gulf War -- started their military careers at the same spot the raw recruits are standing in.

The road the recruits are standing in hasn't changed much, but the building the recruits spend their first 48 hours in is less than a decade old. In 1980, the building was a fading Quonset hut. In 1940, it was a giant tent, slightly bigger than the barracks the men slept in, (Back then, one veteran told me, if you were bothered by the bugs that flew past your bed every night, well, then you just weren't tough enough for the Corps.)

The Marines are also affected by many other kinds of trends. Like many military bases, Parris Island is increasingly privatized. Sodexho runs the mess halls. (The chow, I'm told, is about the same, but service is a little less snappy.) The laundry is about to be contracted out. The officers' housing is also being built privately; the shingled-roof brick single-family homes are being burned down by local fire departments as part of their training. In their place are shining yellow apartment complexes that would not be out of place on more expensive parts of the Carolina coast.

And yes, even in the middle of Parris Island there's a Seattle's Best cappuccino shop.

The role of the drill instructor (or DI) has also changed. By all accounts, the drill instructors of the 1940s and 1950s were notoriously tough. Dick Chambers of Watkins Glen, N.Y. went through basic training in 1952. He vividly recalled an exercise where two platoons met on Elliott's Beach. The DI took off his pistol belt and placed it in the middle of the beach. The two platoons fought with savage fury to get the belt to one end of the beach by any means necessary. The point of the exercise was to remind the recruits they were subject to the DI's iron will.

The hard men who trained the Marines who served our country in World War II and Korea would have been appalled at the female DI I heard tell a female recruit who wasn't screaming hard enough on an obstacle course, "You've got to do a better job with the sound effects."

But after several recruits died in the late 1950s, Congress restricted the authority of the DI's to use physical force against recruits. More importantly, the mission the Marines fulfill today has changed. Unquestioned obedience to an officer might have been necessary when the mission was to storm a German machine gun nest in the Ardennes or capture an island in the south Pacific. But the recruits who may serve in Iraq face a highly volatile battlefield, where orders may change rapidly as a lance corporal in the field continually downloads up-to-the minute intelligence about the enemy from the Marines' intranet.

So Marines today are being trained to be flexible, adaptable soldiers who work well in teams. Training is still hard. Marines still have to learn how to rappel down a 40-foot tower and accurately shoot an M16A2 rifle at a range of 500 yards. And Marines have to be competent swimmers -- a test that's particularly challenging for inner-city recruits who have never been near a pool.

Moreover, recruits have to adapt to a world where everything's planned for them, except for an hour of "square-away time" at night. Most of the teenagers who show up at Parris Island have a hard time adapting to a world where reveille is every morning at 5 and when you're allotted ten minutes to shower, shave, and dress and five minutes to wolf down your chow in the mess hall. Staff Sergeant Patrick Wiley, who processes new recruits, says that many of the new recruits have been misled by action-adventure shows. "What do they see on TV?" Wiley says. "Obstacle courses and weapons. They don't see anyone saying, 'Yes, sir.' 'No, sir'."

The drill instructor is still boss. Talk back to him or her too many times and you're still likely to get the boot (although you may receive psychological counseling first). But if the old DIs were tough guys, today's DI's practice what Staff Sergeant Joe Wilborn calls "tough love."

Staff Sergeant Wilborn has been a Marine for ten years, seven of which were spent as a DI. " I am a mean instructor, " he says. "But I am also a caring instructor. You can't be mean to your recruits all the time. "You have to relate to them."

For at least the first few weeks, Staff Sgt. Wilborn has to be tough, in order to show that recruits can only succeed through "discipline, hard work, and effort." Many of the recruits, for example, thought they'd only have to do physical training once or twice a week, and are flummoxed when they have to exercise every day.

But once the recruits become used to the pace of training, Staff Sergeant Wilborn relaxes a bit, becoming more like a coach and less like an iron man. He tells the men something about his life and why he decided to become a Marine. "I tell them my family is number one," he says, "and they're number two."

Staff Sgt, Wilborn, like the other DIs, also tries to teach the three "Corps values" all Marines are supposed to learn: courage, honor, and commitment, "We try to teach them how to be successful in life," he says. "You've got to be committed to something. You've got to have honor to be faithful to your wife."

The climax of training at Parris Island is an event called "The Crucible," where Marines go into the field for 54 hours and complete a series of exercises. If they're successful, they are rewarded by the "Warriors' Breakfast," a giant pig out where recruits can chow down on all the steak, eggs, potatoes, and omelets they can consume. And for the first time in their training, recruits are given up to an hour to eat their chow.

Part of the goal of The Crucible is team building. Recruit Michael Dixon of Silver Spring, Maryland thought the most challenging part of The Crucible was an exercise where he and his team from 2018 Platoon had to get themselves and their gear over a 12-foot wall. There were ropes on the other side, but someone had to get over the wall first. How should this be done? One member of Dixon's team was 6'6", so they formed a human stepladder, with the tall recruit lined up against the wall with two other shorter men behind him. A fourth recruit then used his three colleagues to climb over the well and get the ropes.

Another section of The Crucible teaches Corps values. The recruits perform various tasks, after being told a story about a Marine who earned the Medal of Honor. One station tells about Corporal James Mackie, who was blown up in a gunboat steaming up the James River during the siege of Richmond in 1862. A second describes the heroism of Sgt. Louis Cukela, who single-handedly charged and captured a nest of German machine-gunners in the Forest Du Prez in 1918. A third honors Sgt. Alfredo Gonzalez, who died on the fifth day of the battle for Hue in 1968 after he had carried two Marines to safety. Sgt. Gonzalez saved the second Marine's life after he was severely wounded by North Vietnamese fragmentation grenades.

The lessons these stories teach are simple, but important: These Marines started out as men like you. They sacrificed themselves to save their friends. They served their country with honor.

The climax of training is the graduation ceremony. Since over 21,000 Marines leave Parris Island each year, ceremonies are held nearly every Friday at Peatross Arena. The gunmetal-grey stands fill with parents, grandparents, cousins, friends, and lovers. Many spectators wear shirts with every variant of the Marines' scarlet-and-gold colors that the market offers. Other spectators show up with their dress uniforms. One man has a splendiferous powder-blue tunic and a snappy wide-brimmed leather hat. His uniform, it turns out, is the dress uniform of the Maine State Prisons.

"You look very Canadian," I say.

"If my tunic was red, I'd be a Mountie," he responds.

The event begins with the presentation of Mac, the Parris Island mascot. Mac is a bulldog. In 1923 Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Smedley Butler declared that the bulldog was the official Marine mascot, because in World War I the Germans called Marines "Devil Dogs" for their toughness. Mac, we're told, is a Marine, who enlisted in November 2002 and completed his training in March 2003. There's no word on what Mac did to become a Marine, or if his training involved cats.

As for the ceremony, it consisted of marching, awards presentations, and more marching. The camp commander reminds the new Marines of a comment once made by President Ronald Reagan. "Some people go through life without knowing if they made a difference," President Reagan observed. "Marines don't have that problem."

Finally the ceremony is over, and the new Marines march off the field, for seven days of liberty, six months of advanced training at Camp Lejeune, and a career of military service.

Martin Morse Wooster is a former editor of The American Enterprise and The Wilson Quarterly.

I am a Hollywood Marine, that is a Marine that went to boot camp at MCRD San Diego. Doesn't matter where we trained we are all Marines.
Semper Fi

Sign the One Declaration

2005-04-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

Please go to this website and sign your name to the declaration to help put an end to poverty and Aids. Thank you.

ONE

Apr 06 2005

HOLLYWOOD - April 6, 2005 - ONE announced today that it has enlisted ABC and MTV Networks in the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty. The networks will support ONE's efforts by donating air time for the world premiere of a new public service announcement starring some of the biggest names in music, movies, politics, and religion.

Lax Immigration Enforcement Leads to Tragedy

2005-04-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

I keep getting on this soap box about illegal aliens. The following article will give you a couple of real good reasons. While 95% of the illegal aliens in this country are not murders or rapists they are all still LAW breakers. The second they cross the border with out going through proper channels they are a law breaker and it needs to STOP!!! The Federal govermnet needs to put the military on our borders. People say they aren't trained for that. But you know what, the military does have MP's (military police) they are trained policemen. And the non-mp's can be trained. Read the following article and tell me if you don't agree.

Lax Immigration Enforcement Leads to Tragedy
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By Michael Lynch

Imagine this… Your 18 year-old daughter graduates from high school and enrolls at a local college. It’s quite an exciting time for her and the whole family. Your daughter completes her first semester, adjusts well and enjoys college life.

But one day while you are at work, a man breaks into your house and finds your daughter home alone, studying. The man orders her to strip. Terrified, she complies. He duct tapes her mouth, binds her hands behind her back and forces her down onto the bed where he stabs her to death.

Sound frightening? It’s not fiction. This is exactly what happened to Jenny Garcia. In February 2004, Jenny’s two little sisters found her lifeless body in her bed, the knife still sticking out of her chest. Police later arrested David Morales and charged him with Jenny’s murder.

Shockingly, Jenny’s murder should have been prevented. Morales was an illegal alien who had been previously arrested in Austin, Texas, for molesting a 12-year-old girl more than a year before he killed Jenny.
Common sense says that Morales should have never been in the United States long enough to kill Jenny. He should have been deported when he was caught the first time. And his status as an illegal alien should have been an automatic one-way ticket out of the country. But Austin is a “sanctuary city,” meaning that local authorities do not inquire about a criminal suspect’s immigration status after an arrest. So instead of being deported, Morales was let go — put back on the street to commit another horrible crime.

Sanctuary City?? What the hell is this!!! Oh wait I know, its a piece of feel good law that allows the left to think they are doing something good, all the while putting American citizens in danger!!!

Jenny’s father is now considering a lawsuit against the City of Austin, alleging that the city is responsible for his daughter’s death because of its “sanctuary” policy. Meanwhile, dozens of cities across the country are protecting illegal aliens who commit heinous crimes by adopting “sanctuary city” status, and the results of these policies are as disturbing as they are tragic.

Consider these other examples.

In February 2005, an illegal alien raped and murdered 16-year-old Brittany Binger, beating her so badly that the authorities needed dental records to identify her body. The perpetrator, Oswelda Martinez, had been in custody months earlier in 2004 for drunk driving, driving without a license and possessing a fake Social Security card. Yet Martinez stayed in the United States in spite of his arrest.

In July 2004, Roberto Martinez-Ruizan knocked Justin Goodman off his motorcycle with a Ford Explorer, leaving him to die in the street. Driving on a revoked license, Martinez-Ruizan was also in the United States illegally. Upon his arrest months later, police learned that Martinez-Ruizan had six known aliases and a long rap sheet, with offenses ranging from careless driving to driving under the influence. He even served jail time in 2000, but the authorities either never required him to produce proper identification or never reported his illegal immigration status. Not surprisingly, by the time he hit Goodman, Martinez-Ruizan was not only illegally in this country, but he was wanted for violating probation and failing to appear in court, too.

The primary duty of government is to protect its citizens — “Establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,” in the words of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. But the failure of federal, state and local authorities to enforce our immigration laws is putting both Americans and America at risk. The tragedy in Austin is but the latest example.

To be sure, most illegal aliens aren’t murderers or rapists, but they have all broken the law. And political expedience is not a reason to ignore it. State and local law enforcement should enforce the immigration laws already on the books. And Congress shouldn’t make matters worse by rewarding millions of illegal aliens for their law-breaking with a massive amnesty grant, an idea now under consideration in Washington.

Our elected representatives and law enforcement officials shouldn’t need a reminder that we are nation of laws, but if they do, let them hear it now. American citizens should not have to endure even one more preventable tragedy.

One of these days citizens are going to seriously fed up and take the law into thier own hands. And I can promise you the illegals won't be the only ones feeling the effects!!!

Michael Lynch is a Research Associate for the Center for Individual Freedom

Border Militia Divides Arizona Residents

2005-04-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

When did the Minutemen become a Militia? Forget the Federal law that states everyman between 17 and 34 are part of the American militia. The Minutemen is a group of like minded indiviuals who are doing what they consider thier civic duty to protect this great country.

Border Militia Divides Arizona Residents

Wed Apr 6, 1:02 PM ET
By Tim Gaynor

BISBEE, Arizona (Reuters) - A right-wing militia patrolling the Mexican border to catch illegal immigrants is pitting some residents in favor of old-style frontier justice against critics who say the militiamen are the real threat.

Between 300 and 400 "Minuteman" project volunteers, some of them armed, have come to Arizona to stake out a 23-mile section of the border throughout April. They say it is a peaceful political protest, although some are armed with pistols, and a number of local residents have joined the patrols or turned out to support them.

Others, however, have held protests and watch with suspicion the volunteers' arrival in camper vans and four-wheel drive vehicles, some decked out with gun racks. In the old copper mining town of Bisbee, which reinvented itself as a refuge for writers and painters after the mine closed in the 1970s, many eye the vigilantes with suspicion.

"I had a Salvadoran work for me for six months, and it's not uncommon for people here to drive a migrant north in their car rather than hand them over to the U.S. Border Patrol," said cafe owner Charles Lewis.

Then those indiviuals need to be prosecuted for breaking the law. To me this is about the rule of law, not about denying someone who is going to do work I won't from being able to do it. It's about them coming into this country legally.

Lewis and some other residents in this town in the Mule Mountains just north of the border say they fear the Minuteman volunteers much more than the migrants who trek across ranches and public land on the way north. "I'd rather take my chances with the Mexicans than one of these U.S. military type idiots taking part in the patrols," local truck driver John Porter told Reuters, as he took the sun on a sidewalk table outside the Daily Diner. "Migrants pay their taxes and I don't have a problem with them," he added.

How do they pay taxes? Most of them are paid under the table in cash! People that employ them are using them, not paying enough. They know they are breaking the law when they hire them!! They are not going to leave a paper trail for the Feds to trace. Mr. Porter is nuts if he thinks that illegal migrants pay taxes, the only taxes they pay is when they buy groceries and thats it!! They don't pay income taxes.

GUNSLINGERS BACK IN TOWN

However, a few miles up the road in Tombstone, where the Minutemen volunteers come to register for the patrols at a local newspaper, gunslingers have been a part of tradition since Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday gunned down the Clantons and McLaurys in a legendary gunfight at the OK Corral.

The sight of volunteers from across the United States treading the sidewalks with pistols riding on their hip, raises no eyebrows in the one-time silver mining town. "We have 500 people a day with guns on their hips, so for us it's nothing unusual," Tombstone Mayor Andrew Dejournett told Reuters.

"The Minuteman fall within that long American tradition that includes freedom of speech and the right to bear arms, and I don't have a problem with that," he added. Standing tall in a Stetson hat in the main street outside the OK Corral site, Arcangelo Coco says he applauds the group of volunteers who have come into the area with their brand of frontier justice.

"I support the Minutemen, and if I see them I'll shake their hand," Coco said, adding that they are not "gunslingers" but are just "out to defend themselves." Others in the town, which hosts re-enactments of the famous gun fight each day at two o'clock sharp on the site of the long vanished corral, feel at ease with the Minuteman goal of sealing the U.S. border to illegal migrants from Mexico.

"I think they'll help, as there are so many people coming over who shouldn't be here," said retiree Vinnie Boxx, as he munched on popcorn in a gift shop selling cowboy souvenirs. "Something needs to be done about the border as it's wide open."

Here is another reason why the Minuteman are guarding our borders. Six Iraqis Detained on Mexican Border click on the link and read how these Iraqis were trying to sneak into our country and they were trying to do it with fake passports through a port of entry. Read it and then tell me the Minutemen don't have a right to protect our country.

MEXICO: RIDING ROUGHSHOD OVER AMERICA’S COURTS

2005-04-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

The United States needs to pull out of any treaties or conventions that takes it's citizens rights away from them and puts foreign nationals rights above ours.

MEXICO: RIDING ROUGHSHOD OVER AMERICA’S COURTS

by William Perry Pendley
April 1, 2005

On March 28, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Medellin v. Dretke, where the “questions presented” boil down to whether international law provides foreign citizens greater access to U.S. courts than that granted U.S. citizens under the Constitution. New York City lawyer Donald Francis Donovan argued for Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican citizen; Texas’ Solicitor General, R. Ted Cruz, appeared for Doug Dretke of Texas’ Department of Criminal Justice; and U.S. Solicitor General, Paul D. Clement, represented his client. Amidst the Court Chamber’s marble columns, the argument proceeded in gracious and genteel tones. It was a far cry from what brought these nattily attired lawyers before the nation’s nine robed Justices.

The night of June 24, 1993, in Houston, Texas, Elizabeth Pena, 16, and Jennifer Ertman, 14, took a shortcut home from visiting a friend. Passing through a wooded area, they came upon Jose Medellin, 18, and his “Black and White” gang, which was involved in an evening of drinking and the ritual beating of an initiate. Jose Medellin and the others attacked the girls, raped them, and then strangled (using a shoelace), beat, and kicked them to death. Medellin and four others were charged with capital murder; all were convicted and sentenced to death.

In April 1997, after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Medellin’s appeal, Mexico learned that Medellin was a Mexican citizen. Mexico immediately provided him legal assistance contending that, under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, his rights had been violated. With New York City’s Donovan as its lawyer, in January 2003, Mexico sued the U.S. in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on behalf of Medellin and 53 other Mexican nationals on Texas’ death row. On March 31, 2004, by a vote of 14-1, the ICJ ruled that the U.S. had violated the Vienna Convention as to Medellin and 50 other Mexican nationals.

Meanwhile, Medellin appealed in federal court; however, in May 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled, pursuant to Supreme Court precedent, that Medellin had waived his Vienna Convention rights, just as a U.S. citizen might waive his constitutional rights. Medellin sought Supreme Court review, which was granted on December 10, 2004.

On February 28, 2005, the Bush Administration filed a friend of the court brief noting that President Bush had asked Texas to conduct new hearings for Medellin and the 50 other Mexican nationals in the ICJ ruling, which, “the president has determined is an appropriate means to fulfill this nation’s [Vienna Convention] treaty obligations.” A week later, Secretary of State Rice advised the U.N. Secretary-General, the U.S. “hereby withdraws” from the Vienna Convention. The same day the Supreme Court authorized the Solicitor General to participate in the March 28 oral arguments.

Maybe the Bush Administration embraced the ICJ ruling in Medellin v. Dretke to prevent the Court--after its shocking juvenile death penalty ruling, which saved two of Medellin’s co-defendants from execution--from ruling that foreign nationals facing criminal prosecution have more rights than do U.S. citizens. Meanwhile, Secretary Rice emasculated the ICJ for all future criminal proceedings by withdrawing from the Vienna Convention.

Regardless, the U.S. must soon deal again with Mexico and international law on an even more controversial issue. Arizona, frustrated with Congress’ failure to prevent illegal immigration—the media just reported there are 11 million illegal aliens now in the U.S.—and the $1 billion a year Arizona spends annually on their “benefits,” adopted remedial legislation. Immediately the ACLU and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) sued to bar enforcement of the statute, Proposition 200. Days ago, Mexico’s top diplomat, proclaiming that Mexico is assisting the law’s opponents, vowed that if the ACLU and MALDEF lose in court, Mexico would again haul the U.S. before the ICJ. After losing 14-1 in Medellin’s case, the result in such a “trial” is predictable.

Should Secretary Rice send another letter to the U.N.?

Six Iraqis Detained on Mexican Border

2005-04-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

And people wonder why we need to secure our borders better. My question is; How many don't get caught?

NewsMax.com WiresTuesday, April 5, 2005 MONTERREY, Mexico – Four Iraqis were detained at an airport in the border city of Mexicali for allegedly carrying false passports, and two more were caught at a highway checkpoint, authorities said Tuesday.

The four Iraqis arrived Friday at the airport in Mexicali, across from Calexico, California, on a flight from Mexico City and were detained after immigration officials discovered the Dutch passports they were carrying were false, said Abraham Sarabia, an attorney general spokesman in Baja California state, where Mexicali is located. Alya Kiryakous Dawood Sako, an American citizen and the sister of one of the Iraqis, was also detained and questioned. Dawood was released after immigration officials determined her passport was legitimate but she was turned to immigration officials and is awaiting deportation, Sarabia said.

Sarabia said immigration officials noticed the men became nervous during routine questioning and once in custody of federal authorities they confessed their true identities.

The men were carrying Dutch passports under the names of Richard Richters, who Mexican officials say is Yacer Yoser Hana; Mikel Leewen, who turned out to be Basam Kiryakous; Jan Pieter Drijfhout, who is Basam Toma Jou and Robert Schurtman, whose real name is Sabham Kamel.

"Once in custody they told authorities they intended to sneak into the United States," Sarabia said. "They said they started their journey in Greece, traveled to Spain and then to Mexico City."

The men were being held at a prison in Mexicali pending charges for using false documents. Also Tuesday, soldiers detained two Iraqi men traveling on Greek passports at a roadside checkpoint near Mexicali.

The two men were traveling aboard a bus bound for Mexicali. However, the photo on one of the men's passport's had been altered; he was also held pending charges, while the other man was held pending deportation.

Mauricio Juarez, a spokesman with the Migration Institute, said none of the men appear on terrorist watch lists.

It was not clear whether the Iraqis were linked to the Chaldean Christians, who have a sizable community in Southern California and frequently try to enter the United States through Mexico, claiming they face persecution in Iraq.

© 2005 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:Immigration/Borders War on Terrorism

Quote by Thomas Jefferson

2005-04-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

"The Constitution...is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please." --Thomas Jefferson

Even over two hundred years ago Thomas Jefferson knew what would happen. I think we should take a closer look at some of the things that our countrys founding fathers had to say about the judiciary.

Mother Arrested in Attempt to Save Her 14 Year-old Daughter from Unwanted Abortion

2005-03-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

I want to know why Illinois does not have a law requiring parent permission to allow an underage girl get an abortion. The last time I checked you were still considered underage if you weren't 18.

Mother Arrested in Attempt to Save Her 14 Year-old Daughter from Unwanted Abortion
Receptionist denied the girl was there, even though her mother saw her name on the roster.

An Illinois woman was arrested last week after trying to remove her 14 year-old daughter from an abortion clinic where she had been brought by the mother of the man who impregnated her.The girl and her parents had been involved in a dispute with the baby's father, a sixteen-year old boy, and his parents. The boy and his parents wanted to abort the baby but the girl, who had undergone an ultrasound, decided to keep the baby whom she had already named.

According to pro-life activist Jill Stanek, on the morning of March 17, the girl was taken out of school by a woman who claimed to be her grandmother, even though the school had been warned not to release the girl to anyone but her parents or grandfather. The 'grandmother' took the girl to Hope Clinic, an abortion facility in Granite City.

The girl's mother was close behind. She told the Illionis Leader, "My husband and I rushed to the abortion clinic where we saw our daughter's name on the roster and the time she had checked in." The receptionist, however, denied the girl was there. After searching for her daughter, she demanded to be allowed to speak with her.

The mother said, "I was told I could not prove my daughter was there so I began calling her name. A medical tech at the clinic told me , 'It's your daughter's rights, it's her body. You have no rights.' " (Since when???)

When the mother persisted in calling out her daughter's name the police were called and she was arrested.

While this was going on, the daughter could hear her mother calling and when she asked staff to relay a message, she was told her mother had left.

A pro-life activist who was present said that as she was being arrested, the girl's mother was begging police to help retrieve her daughter.

"Exactly one hour later at 10:35 a.m., the 14-year old emerged from the clinic looking disheveled," said Angela Michaels of Small Victories Ministry. "The 14-year old told us that employees kept her in a quiet room until the procedure was performed and she was told that her mother had left."

While this was going on, witnesses say, the 'grandmother' was slipped out the back door by staff of the facility.

Illinois is one of 17 states that have no laws requiring parental notification of abortion for a minor. The girl's parents are expected to press charges. (Again Why??)

The Mexican Insurgency

2005-03-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

Gunny Bob makes a very good point in this article. I personally feel we should deploy the National Guard on our borders, not all the units, just the MP's, they are trained in law enforcement. To Gunny Bob, keep up the good work.

March 29, 2005
by Bob Newman

After reading and deleting the usual liberal hate email this Easter morning (hate email on Easter from frothing-at-the-mouth liberals was not a surprise), I was reminded how border security and immigration reform are such contentious issues on both sides of the ideological aisle. But I continue to be surprised at the mishandling of the situation by the Bush administration and Congress.

As a registered independent and a terrorism & national security analyst, I am able to look at America’s border-security situation objectively and analytically. What I see is a disaster with cataclysmic potential. And I see a president who, with the help of a complacent Congress and Department of Homeland Security, is rolling the dice in a voluntary craps game that, if we lose, could cost hundreds of thousands of American lives in a worst-case scenario.

Since President Bush took office, an average of 485,000 illegal aliens have successfully infiltrated America from Mexico every year. These nearly two million immigrants consist mostly of people looking for work who have no intent to break our laws other than entering America illegally. However, an unknown percentage are criminals who intend to commit more crimes, and there’s no doubt in any genuine (there are plenty of frauds; just turn on any cable news channel to see some of them) terrorism analyst’s mind that terrorists or terrorist enablers are among the swelling crowd (approximately 15 million illegal aliens are in America).

Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 is a deadly, especially brutal international gang with a heavy presence in several states and every Central American country plus Mexico. Among other things, they operate smuggling routes to move people and drugs into the United States. There is evidence that MS-13 has, is or is attempting to do business with al Qaeda by smuggling terrorists into America. Stacks of intelligence says al Qaeda is keenly aware of our porous border. And more intelligence from a multitude of independent sources indicates al Qaeda is trying to acquire nuclear weapons for delivery to America.

When you put it all together, you have to wonder why President Bush and the Congress refuse to secure our borders, even though the technology and equipment are readily available, and even though we could produce the manpower to install, operate and maintain a vigorous border protection system.

Instead, because some politicians believe our economy would be harmed if we secured the border, and because some believe rewarding illegal aliens with amnesty is a good idea, we remain at extreme risk.

If you want to see an economy suffer, watch what happens when Phoenix (TheScribblers Home) vanishes in a bright flash courtesy of an al Qaeda team with a big one easily smuggled in from Mexico.

And Mexican head honcho and bandito-in-chief Vicente Fox, who was recently basking in the luxury of the Bush ranch in Crawford, says he will do everything in his power to stop the Minuteman Project next month, which will see more than 1,000 American civilians helping the Border Patrol secure a 20-mile stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border by radioing and phoning the Border Patrol to tell them where illegals are crossing. Fox is the man running this insurgency, of course. And he is calling for President Bush to totally dismantle what border security we have and go to an open-border situation such as that found in Europe.

An American who was instrumental in the capture of an al Qaeda operative crossing the border would be given the Medal of Freedom by President Bush. But an American who tells the Border Patrol where Mexican or other Hispanic illegals are crossing our border is called a “vigilante” by the president with Fox standing right beside him.

Why? (Yes Why?)

And now the Mexican state of Yucatan has published and is issuing an 87-page, detailed manual including a DVD that tells its citizens how to break U.S. laws. This manual follows the official Mexican government manual that teaches the same thing. Yet President Bush embraces and praises Fox after greeting him in Spanish.

The war on terror can not be successfully prosecuted unless we secure our borders. The president must cease this extraordinarily dangerous façade immediately. Mexico is running nothing short of an insurgency that, if we fail to stop, could result in the unthinkable.

Bob Newman

Bob Newman, a decorated, retired US Marine, is host of the “Gunny Bob Show” on Newsradio 850 KOA in Denver, and host of “Inhuman Newman’s Anger-Management Hour” on 630 KHOW, also in Denver. His “Global Positioning Statement,” a daily insider’s update on the war on terror, is carried by various Clear Channel radio stations from coast to coast. A ground-combat veteran, he is the director of international security & counterterrorism services for The GeoScope Group and is the military science & terrorism columnist for The Denver Daily News. He can be reached at bobnewman@clearchannel.com.

Gang will target Minuteman vigil on Mexico Border

2005-03-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

vigilante: a member of a volunteer committee organized to suppress and punish crime summarily (as when the processes of law appear inadequate);

The only difference between this Merriam-Webster dictionary meaning of the word and what the Minuteman is doing, they are not punishing the criminals, they are reporting them to the Border Patrol so the Border Patrol can take them into Custody. I tell you what, if this gang attacks the Minuteman, there will be war. Count on that.

By Jerry Seper

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Published March 28, 2005

NACO, Ariz. -- Members of a violent Central America-based gang have been sent to Arizona to target Minuteman Project volunteers, who will begin a monthlong border vigil this weekend to find and report foreigner sneaking into the United States, project officials say.

James Gilchrist, a Vietnam veteran who helped organize the vigil to protest the federal government's failure to control illegal immigration, said he has been told that California and Texas leaders of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, have issued orders to teach "a lesson" to the Minuteman volunteers.

"We're not worried because half of our recruits are retired trained combat soldiers," Mr. Gilchrist said. "And those guys are just a bunch of punks."

More than 1,000 volunteers are expected to take part in the Minuteman vigil, which will include civilian patrols along a 20-mile section of the San Pedro River Valley, which has become a frequent entry point to the United States for foreigner headed north.

About 40 percent of the 1.15 million foreign nationals caught last year by the U.S. Border Patrol trying to gain illegal entry to the United States were apprehended along a 260-mile stretch of the Arizona border here known as the Tucson sector. Many of the Minuteman volunteers are expected to be armed, although organizers of the border vigil have prohibited them from carrying rifles. Only those people with a license to carry a handgun will be allowed to do so, Mr. Gilchrist said.

An operational plan calls for teams of four to eight volunteers to be deployed along the targeted 20-mile stretch of border at intervals of 200 to 300 yards, along with observation posts and a command center. Mr. Gilchrist said some of the patrols and posts will be right on the U.S.-Mexico border, while others will be located farther north. The volunteers also have been told to "make lots of noise and burn campfires at night to be very visible."

According to guidelines issued to the volunteers earlier this month, organizers said they expect that they will be targeted by various protest groups and others and that some protesters would try to provoke confrontations. "If we are to send the message loud and clear to President Bush and Congress, it is imperative we stay within the law," Mr. Gilchrist said. "If one single person steps over the line for their personal gratification, we are all stained with that irresponsible behavior and labeled forever as a fringe element that embarrasses all who are counting on us to make this historic statement," he said.

The MS-13 gang has established major smuggling operations in several areas along the U.S.-Mexico border and have transported hundreds of Central and South Americans -- including gang members -- into the United States in the past two years. The gang also is involved in drug and weapons smuggling. Gang members in America have been tied to numerous killings, robberies, burglaries, carjackings, extortion, rapes and aggravated assaults. Authorities said that the gang has earned a reputation from the other street gangs as being particularly ruthless and that it will retaliate violently when challenged.

The MS-13 gang, with 20,000 members nationwide, has risen in recent months to such prominence that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, has begun a nationwide crackdown on gang members in this country -- as part of a sweeping law-enforcement initiative known as Operation Community Shield.

ICE agents arrested more than 100 members of the gang during limited raids that began in January in just six cities, including 35 who were taken into custody in Virginia and Maryland. The authorities said MS-13 gang members originally moved into the Los Angeles area in the 1980s.

Apologize for the Crusades? Never!

2005-03-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

Been over a month since I posted. I think what I will do is post articles I find of intrest. Don't know if I will comment on them though. Enjoy.

Apologize for the Crusades? Never!

by Robert SpencerPosted Mar 25, 2005

As part of its effort to portray the West as the guilty party in today's global jihad, Al-Azhar (the most respected Sunni Muslim authority in the world), has asked the Vatican for an apology for the Crusades. Sheikh Fawzi Zafzaf, President of the Interfaith Dialogue Committee of Al-Azhar, explained that "Al-Azhar is only asking for a similar treatment" following Vatican apologies to other groups. According to the Vatican ambassador to Egypt, the Holy See is thinking it over.

This is just the latest indication that the Crusades have grown into a myth that little resembles reality, and remain politically charged over three years after President Bush was roundly criticized for labeling the war on terror a "Crusade." Former President Bill Clinton even explained 9/11 as fallout from the Crusades: "Indeed, in the first Crusade, when the Christian soldiers took Jerusalem, they first burned a synagogue with 300 Jews in it, and proceeded to kill every woman and child who was Muslim on the Temple mound…. I can tell you that that story is still being told to today in the Middle East and we are still paying for it.

"The West has questioned the Crusades -- something probably not possible if the shoe were on the Islamic foot -- almost since they took place. Virtually all Westerners have learned to apologize for the Crusades, but less noted is the fact that the Crusades have an Islamic counterpart for which no one is apologizing and of which few are even aware. I am working on a new book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades, which will out from Regnery Publishing in a few months. In it, I am clearing away propaganda and telling what really happened.

Islam originated in Arabia in the seventh century. At that time Egypt, Libya, and all of North Africa were Christian, and had been so for hundreds of years. So were Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Asia Minor. But then Muhammad and his Muslim armies arose out of the desert, and -- as most modern textbooks would put it -- these lands became Muslim. But in fact the transition was cataclysmic. Muslims won these lands by conquest and, in obedience to the words of the Koran and the Prophet, put to the sword the infidels therein who refused to submit to the new Islamic regime. Those who remained alive lived in humiliating second-class status.

Clinton may be right that Muslims still seethe about the sack of Jerusalem, but he and they are strangely silent about similar behavior on the Muslim side. In those days, invading armies were considered to be entitled to sack cities that resisted them. On May 29, 1453, Constantinople, the jewel of Christendom, finally fell to an overwhelming Muslim force after weeks of resistance by a small band of valiant Greeks. According to the great historian of the Crusades Steven Runciman, the Muslim soldiers "slew everyone that they met in the streets, men, women, and children without discrimination. The blood ran in rivers down the steep streets from the heights of Petra toward the Golden Horn. But soon the lust for slaughter was assuaged. The soldiers realized that captives and precious objects would bring them greater profit.

" The first Crusade was called because Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land were being molested by Muslims and prevented from reaching the holy places. Some were killed. "The Crusade," noted the historian Bernard Lewis, "was a delayed response to the jihad, the holy war for Islam, and its purpose was to recover by war what had been lost by war -- to free the holy places of Christendom and open them once again, without impediment, to Christian pilgrimage.

" Thus if Al-Azhar really wants to demand that the Vatican apologize for the Crusades, it should be ready to apologize for the Islamic conquests of the Middle East and North Africa. But the most disturbing element of this sorry exercise of historical revision is that their "request" may well be granted by the Vatican. And if it is, it would be just one more link on a long chain of double standards by which Western authorities seem ready to bend over backwards to grant concessions to the Islamic world, while asking for and receiving nothing in return. For example, Al-Azhar itself has praised suicide bombers as martyrs and declared that Islamic states have a religious obligation to acquire nuclear weapons. Yet no one in the West is demanding an apology from them for these approvals of very contemporary menaces. It figures.

Mr. Spencer is director of Jihad Watch and author of Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West (Regnery -- a HUMAN EVENTS sister company) and Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World's Fastest Growing Faith (Encounter); and editor of The Myth of Islamic Tolerance (Prometheus).

Copyright © 2004 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.

Clue Found to How HIV Invades Cells

2005-02-23T13:02:00.000-07:00

Pray for the scientist's in this story, pray for them to find the information they need to help find a cure for HIV/AID's.

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists said Wednesday they have discovered a key clue to how HIV mutates to evade the immune system that could advance the search for new drugs and a vaccine.

USA, Inc: Executive Clemency for Executive Killers

2005-02-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

When you read this you can get scared, I know I did. It's scary to think of how much power our government is getting on a daily basis. And we are letting it happen, we are at fault because we elect people who can't seem to control their desire for power. They may start out with the goal to curb the power that big goverment is getting but then they get seduced by it. We need to pray for them, so this will stop. Or there will be blood on the streets by Patriots trying to take back our freedoms.

Posted by: soficrowOn: Tue February, 22 2005 @ 06:31 GMT

US democracy is going down the tubes, and taking Canada along for the ride. First, individual civil liberties were sacrificed to the US Patriot Act. Then, Bush signed the Anti-Class Action bill into law last week. This so-called "Class Action Fairness Act" closes the doors of justice on ordinary people, and guarantees international corporations full freedom to prey on Americans without fear of legal consequences. As Greg Palast says, it is "nothing less than executive clemency for executive executioners." Drug maker Merck is now "safer from the widows and orphans of Vioxx victims" - CEO's like former Enron chief Ken Lay are laughing all the way to the bank - and Vioxx soon will be back on the street thanks to another pro-corporate ruling from the FDA, also last week. It all works together, part of the legal package for the coming corporate takeover of North America. Negotiations between the US, Canada and Mexico likely will be finalized within weeks, and Patriot Act II is waiting in the wings. It's gonna be a turkey shoot.

A key clause in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), often overlooked, calls for the "harmonization" of US, Canadian and Mexican laws. Because the concept of "trade" was legally expanded, the laws to be harmonized go well beyond traditional 'trade' laws. Unknown to most people, laws that protect civil liberties and limit corporate freedoms are on the table. NAFTA is corporate driven. Ordinary people are not represented in 'trade' talks, and no one negotiates to protect civil rights. As it happens, Mexico's legal system protects corporate rights over ordinary peoples' individual civil liberties, so the legal 'harmonization' leans toward Mexican law. Civil and corporate laws in the US and Canada are being changed to harmonize with Mexican laws, and meet the legal obligations for NAFTA's coming expansion. Soon, we all will enjoy Mexican-style "democracy."

Harmonization Alerts
Pesticide Harmonization
US Brokers Continental Corporate Takeover

Most Americans are confident their system will serve them, taught from grade school about the vaunted "checks and balances" built into US democracy. Few realize those checks and balances were dismantled when Bush declared war. He's been bypassing normal checks and balances and calling the shots with few contraints for almost his entire Presidency - by claiming "emergency" war measures - and using his freedom to permanently dismantle democratic and civil freedoms protected by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Want to know whats in the Patriot Act 2?
America and its last free breath
freedom-abridging and bottom line-enhancing "emergency" war measures

There also are financial consequences when a president operates without checks and balances, and with a wallet full of taxpayer "credit cards." The USA is now in debt for over $7.7 trillion dollars. Every man, woman and child in America now owes upwards of $26,000 on behalf of the government, in addition to their private debt. On top of that, lenders rightly think the US national debt is out of control, so they keep raising the interest rates, and pushing the debt even higher. Interest payments are now 2.2 billion dollars every day, and jumping every time the debt is renegotiated.

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

Many Americans think the new Anti-Class Action law is a good thing, and believe it protects the system from "frivolous" lawsuits. In fact, the old system protected the system from frivolous lawsuits; the new law protects corporate freedom, at the expense of the individual states' autonomy and Americans' civil liberties.
quote:

Executive clemency for executive killers

You think my accusation is over the top? Well, please talk with Elaine Levenson.

Levenson, a Cincinnati housewife, has been waiting for her heart to explode. In 1981, surgeons implanted a mechanical valve in her heart, the Bjork-Shiley, "the Rolls-Royce of valves," her doctor told her. What neither she nor her doctor knew was that several Bjork-Shiley valves had fractured during testing, years before her implant. The company that made the valve, a unit of the New York-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, never told the government.

At Pfizer's factory in the Caribbean, company inspectors found inferior equipment, which made poor welds. Rather than toss out bad valves, Pfizer management ordered the defects ground down, weakening the valves further but making them look smooth and perfect. Then Pfizer sold them worldwide

....as Mrs. Levenson told me, without her lawyer and the threat of a class action tort, Pfizer would not have paid her a dime of compensation.

The tort reformers' line is that fee-hungry lawyers are hawking bogus fears, poisoning Americans' faith in the basic decency of the business community, turning us into a nation of people who no longer trust each other. But whose fault is that? The lawyers? Elaine Levenson put her trust in Pfizer Pharmaceutical. Then they broke her heart.

...A decade ago, after eighteen buildings blew up in Chicago and killed four people, I searched through the records of the local private gas company on behalf of survivors. What I found would make you sick. I saw engineers' reports, from years earlier, with maps marking where explosions would be likely to take place. The company, People's Gas, could have bought the coffins in advance.

Management had rejected costly repairs as "not in the strategic plan." It's not planned evil at work here, but the enormity of corporate structures in which human consequences of financial acts are distant and unimaginable.

Also see: Bush Pushes to Limit Class-Action Suits

The deed is already done. Bush turned his back on America - on civil liberties, public health, veterans, farmers and jobs - and turned the USA into a corporate haven that rivals the Caymans. Corporate rights and freedoms are now enshrined as federal law, and about to be shored up under international law. Americans have few civil liberties left, and no legal recourse to fight back. Voters' rights are practically worthless - roughly equivalent to a minority shareholder's vote.

So is it time to throw in the towel? Not at all.

There are precedents. A recent Texas lawsuit shows us how to deal with corporate predators. Last October, when two companies over-charged on flu vaccines, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sued. He asked for all the profits to be returned, sought civil penalties under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and requested temporary and permanent injunctions.

quote:

Texas AG Sues Drug Distributors

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed suit against two distributors of the scarce flu vaccine for allegedly charging exorbitant prices to hospitals in Houston, Dallas and Sherman, in violation of state law. The suit contends the companies offered 10-dose vials, which would typically cost between $65 and $80 each, for as much as $950 and demanded cash on delivery.

The Attorney General's suit asks the court to order the companies to relinquish all profits realized from this unconscionable pricing scheme against providers. It also seeks civil penalties under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, as well as temporary and permanent injunctions.

So the solution is simple: Impeach Bush, get our money back, and tell all the corporate predators to take their mortgages on our nation and shove'em where the sun don't shine. If we don't, we are handing our nation over free to a small pack of corporate wolves. And turning our children into indentured servants.

A Military-Governmental-Industrial Conspiracy?

No, it's not a conspiracy. It's just business - and a damn good marketing strategy. Built on a special kind of free trade: people for profits.

Democrat Leadership Threatening 'Retribution'

2005-02-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

This is wrong. Our parties in government should be cooperating. Not fighting. By fighting the way the parties are our society our form of government is going to go down the tubes:

Congressman: Democrat Leadership Threatening 'Retribution' for Dems Who Cooperate with White Houseby Allan H. Ryskind

Rep. Paul Ryan (R.-Wis.) was asked at a CATO conference in Washington yesterday whether he had persuaded any Democrats to back his plan to rescue Social Security from its financial troubles. Under his legislation (HR 4851), no new taxes would be needed to pay for "transition costs," participation in the new system would be voluntary and individuals would be allowed to divert a portion of their payroll tax into a mutual fund.

A questioner from the audience, stressing his own Democratic credentials, said he believed Ryan's plan should attract members of his own party and wondered whether the Wisconsin lawmaker had secured any Democratic sponsors. Ryan said he had been working with friends on the "other side of the aisle" who were favorable toward his solution, but he faced an enormous problem: intense pressure on his colleagues from the minority leadership.

"We were in planning stages [with friendly Democrats]," said Ryan. But each essentially told him: "I like what you're doing. I like this bill. I think it's the right way to go. But my party leadership will break my back. The retribution that they are promising us is as great as I have ever seen. We can't do it."

Ryan said he believed the only thing that can assure passage is an outpouring from America's grassroots.

-----------Read more articles like this at HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE!

Iraqis With Fake Passports Detained In Mexico

2005-02-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

According to the following article "A federal judge in Mexico will determine whether to pursue the charges against the men. They were being held in a Tijuana state prison." You know what I think? I think the Mexican judge will let them go. Thats what I think. But this is just another reason why I feel we need to lock out borders down.

Read the rest of the story...

The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America

2005-02-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

Honestly I don't or haven't heard of most of these people but I will keep them in mind. This list also gave me three books I need to go buy and read.

The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America

Our Allies????

2005-02-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

These are supposed to be our allied? Who needs enemys with allies like these.

Saudis Distributes Anti-Christian/Jewish Materials In American MosquesFebruary 3, 2005 – A new report published by Freedom House says that the Saudi government is distributing anti-Christian and anti-Jewish hate materials to Mosques throughout the U.S. The Washington Times recently reported on this story.The report, “Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques,” is based on a study of 200 original documents, all published and distributed by the Saudi government. The texts promote the extremist Wahhabi sect of Islam, the official religion of Saudi Arabia and a source of teachings espoused by Osama bin Laden. The materials call upon Muslims to reject Christians and Jews and even call upon Muslims to kill other Muslims who convert to another religion.

This Article can be found here....

Religious Intolerance

2005-02-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

Even back in the time of our Founding forefathers they knew what Religious Intolerance was. That is one of the reasons they fought for Independence from England.

"Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Letus restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection withoutwhich liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let usreflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained littleif we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, andcapable of as bitter and bloody persecutions." --Thomas Jefferson

But now instead of us fighting against Religious Intolerance we are now fight against Intolerance of Religion. In this day an age. There are many who are intolerant of religious freedom, telling us that we cannot worship where and when we want to.

We need to fight hard and quickly against people of this ilk.

Democrats contradict themselves again...

2005-02-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

In one breath they state that we need to turn Iraq over to its own security services to protect its own citizens but then in the next breath say there isn't enough of them trained. So to me they want to set up the Iraqi security services up to fail.

Pelosi is an idiot.

NAYSAYERS TIGHT-LIPPED SINCE SUCCESS OF IRAQ VOTE

2005-02-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

Its amazing how all the doom and gloom mouth pieces are quiet now that the vote is over and for all intents and purposes was a success!!

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown, who has consistently opposed Mr. Bush and the war in Iraq, wrote for yesterday's edition that "it's hard to swallow," but "what if it turns out Bush was right, and we were wrong?"

Read the second link and then go to the first if you must.

No Sex? No Pizza? What Is This, a Prison?

2005-02-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

If we let it, this will happen in our prisons. Prisons are meant as punisment for men and women who fail to follow societys laws. Prisons need to be strict, they need to be a place where a prisoner that will get out is taught a trade. And ones that are in for life are restricted in what they do.

Read the story and you will see what I mean.

Arizona will back Texas in Commandments battle

2005-02-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

I think Gov. Janet Napolitano is doing the right thing by signing onto this. I personally feel that organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union are just doing this to get publicity. Plus I feel they are trying to make us a secular nation. We are not a secular nation, we were born as a country with deeply held reglious beliefs, read your history and you will see this. Read the article.

Arizona will back Texas in Commandments battle
State to file brief in highest court
Michael Clancy

New test might help detect Alzheimer's in early stages

2005-02-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this will pan out, it will help a lot of familys out there including my own.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A highly sensitive new test could lead to a different way to diagnose people with Alzheimer's disease, possibly helping find the illness in its early stages when there might be time for treatment.

Property Rights

2005-01-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

We need more politicians like the Governor of Texas. We need politicians that are will to stand up the jurists that want to trample our property rights. Read and tell me what you think.

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Gov. Perry's Appeal for Property Tax Relief Is "Music to Our Ears," AFPF Says

Dad's A Real Stunner

2005-01-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

Florida man arrested for using shocking discipline on son, 14

JANUARY 27--Meet Douglas Dycus. The 40-year-old Florida man was charged yesterday with felony child abuse and domestic battery for allegedly using a stun gun to discipline his 14-year-old son. Dycus, an engineer with a Palm Beach firm, admitted to cops that he used the electrical device on the boy when the child was wrestling with a brother and holding up the family's departure from their home last month. Instead of pulling the boys apart, Dycus--who said the children were "not listening"--went to his dresser drawer and pulled out the stun gun, which he used to zap his son on the arm. The child let out a scream and then "got into the vehicle," according to a Martin County Sheriff's Office report. The victim told a child welfare investigator that Dycus shocked him twice, pointing to marks the device left on his arm and abdomen. The stun gun was recovered from Dycus's Palm City home after sheriff's investigators filed the below search warrant affidavit. (3 pages)

Drug War Shrinking Bill of Rights

2005-01-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that if you're pulled over by the police for speeding or, say, not wearing your seatbelt, they may bring out drug-sniffing dogs to investigate your car without violating the Fourth Amendment. More....

=============================================
The above is the start of this article. I just want to say a couple of things. The Fourth Amendment protects against "against unreasonable searches and seizures, " and to me that includes search's by drug dogs. Justice John Paul Stevens states we do not have property rights over illegal drugs. That may be true, but we do have a right to not have our private property searched. I feel that there is a buffer zone around our private property that unless they have probably cause they have no right to bring in drug dogs.

25 Top Jobs for 2005

2005-01-27T17:45:00.000-07:00

Fast Company based this year's list of the top jobs on four criteria: job growth, salary potential, education level, and room for innovation. Relying heavily on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Salary.com, Fast Company has assembled a list of the 25 Top Jobs for 2005

Wheres the outrage?? And other comments

2005-01-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

Hate Crime???

When I read this story I was horrified as to what happened to this family. I remember hearing about it on the tv news networks, but I don't remember them describing what happened to the family. I won't go into it because you can read it in the story yourself. Then I got to thinking, if this had been a Muslim family instead of a Coptic Christian family there would be and up roar of outrage by the liberal left! They would be screaming for the FBI to find the murders. Of course as we know there isn't. Why, you might ask? Well its because they were Christian. Being Christian isn't the in thing in this country anymore, even though this country was founded by Christians. Its an outrage, and its a shame. Read the story and tell me what you think.

=====================================
Company Fires All Employees Who Smoke

Ok, do I smell a lawsuit? I mean what right does any company have to tell you what you can and cannot do away from the job place unless its connected with the job?? NONE!!!

Read the story and tell me what you think.

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Illegal Immigration.

2,000 new border agents aren't part of budget, Ridge says

Tom Ridge said the following in a 45 minute interview:

Although it would be more difficult now for terrorists to attack the United States, "I am no less concerned that an attack will occur. ... I still accept the inevitability." He said it may take "a generation or two" to defeat the terrorist threat against the United States.

I have one question for Mr. Ridge. WHY? Why should it take "a generation or two" to put more guards on our border? Why should it take "a generation or two" to protect our country from not only possible terriosts but illegal aliens who put a strain on our health system and our legal system?! Why??

Read and tell me what you think!

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Career

I want the paycheck of the new CEO of Krispy Kreme.

Read the story and tell me if you agree.

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'C' SICKNESS ON THE SUBWAY

Is it just me or does this just seem like something Terroists would think up? That seems to be a way to really destroy new york. how do they know for sure it was started by vagrant. Or (to be a conspiracy theroist) was it a terroist, who's to say, not me.

Read and tell me what you think.

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THE NEW WORLD DISORDER

Sovereignty-sapping U.N. accord gets new life

I wrote about this last year on my old blog. At that time I thought it was dead, but it looks like President Bush wants to bring the LOST treaty back and get it approved. Hopefully Congress, both the House and the Senate will se that this treaty is not whats good for the Country. Here is just a piece of the article:

The international treaty, which gives a U.N. agency called the Seabed Authority control of over 70 percent of the earth's surface and natural resources,

The U.N. is not a country, why should they have control over this? WHY????

Read the article and click on the link for Law of the Sea Treaty and tell me what you think.

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High School's Rainbow 'Diversity' Flag Doesn't Fly With Some Parents

I agree with Robert McNaughton the parent in this story:

"I pointed out to her that flags are very specific and have a strong symbology," McNaughton says. "Everything that's on a flag relates to something to that group, individual, community, or country." And in the case of the Diversity Club's flag, he has no doubt the members who hung the flag had a specific meaning in mind.

He is right flags are meant for a specific reason. The rainbow flag is represents the homosexuals of the world, not diversity. It does not represent straights. Don't get me wrong, even with my personal beliefs I still fill that homosexuals have the same rights as us, ie. the right to marry. As I have said before, its not up to us to judge them, that is God's decision.

Read the story and tell me what you think.

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And finally I want to thank all that read my blog. Please post your comments, I look forward to them. Thanks again.

Daily News story's that catch my eye

2005-01-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

Education

Bill addresses book selection
State would pick schools' textbooks

I am not sure how I feel about this one. In one hand I understand and can agree with making the books our kids use in school universal, but on the other hand, I think the local school districts should keep control. Read the story and and tell me what you think.

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Law

Prop. 200 spurs efforts nationwide
Groups seek to duplicate migrant law

As you will read in this story, people are getting tired of illegal aliens crossing our borders to the south and invading our country and puting a strain not only on our health system but our legal system. Other states are taking what happened in Arizona and applying it to where they live.

Read the story and tell me what you think.

More Law

Drug-sniffing dogs can be used at traffic stops, high court rules

Of course law enforcement feels this is a win for them, but I feel its just another erosion of the Bill of Rights. Amendment 4 of the Bill of Rights states the following:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I believe the decision by the US. Supreme Court is eroding this amendment.

Read the story and tell me what you think

Funny Law

Seattle Senator Wants to Repeal Slander Law

This story is just funny. I agree with why the Senator is doing it, but its still funny

Read and tell me what you think.

Sad Law

LIFE AND DEATH TUG OF WAR
U.S. Supreme Courtrefuses Schiavo caseJeb Bush sought to reinstate 'Terri's Law'to block Florida woman's forced starvation:

Now the US Supreme court is commiting Euthanasia by proxy. I just don't understand what this country is comeing to.

Read it and tell me what you think.

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Politics??

Lawmaker says he shares homes with 2 women

Personally I could care less if a politician lives with two different women as long as he is taking care of them (which the story says he does) and he doesn't try to make or pass any laws that would make what he is doing illegal. Depending how this story turns out will decide how polygamists and polyamorist will use it.

Read it and tell me what you think.

More Politics

Gay Marriage Ban Still in Senators' Sights

Why does it not surprise me that congress is going to keep pursuing an Amendment to determine what constitutes a marriage. Yes the bible says being gay is a sin. But that still doesn't give us the right to keep them from being happy. If God is going to condemn them when judgement day comes. That is decision. Not ours.

Read the story and tell me what you think.

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Well thats it for today. Thanks for reading.

Len Savage Evidence File

2005-01-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

The following is from "Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership, Inc. " website it talks about how the BATF sets out to destroy anyone that disagrees with their decisions. The BATF needs to be destroyed pure and simple. But you and I both know this will probably never happen. Not with the current government as it sits. Please read and comment and help Mr. Len Savage in his battle against the BATF's illegal persecution!!

Len Savage Evidence File

Len Savage is the owner of Historic Arms LLC, which makes semi-automatic replicas of famous firearms like the Bren he donated to JPFO as a fundraiser . He is also the man who provided JPFO with the explosive footage for "BATFE Fails the Test," which shows a BATFE agent trying to prove an ordinary, legal, semi-automatic rifle is a "illegal machine gun." .

On January 3, JPFO announced the existence of this one-of-a-kind footage to the world. On January 5, Sterling Nixon sent Len a letter decreeing that Len's latest creation was an "unlicensed machine gun." The BATFE confiscated the firearm and effectively prevented Len from completing and delivering the rest of a $50,000 order.

Has the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms decided to conduct a personal vendetta against one courageous American gun maker -- simply because he confirmed their notorious ineptitude? Read our January 24, 2005 alert, see the documentation below ... and decide for yourself.

The letters are in PDF format, so you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them.

Letter to Len Savage

Response by Len Savage

More letters from BATFE

Another example of over criminalizing of Society

2005-01-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

In a prior blog post of mine I talked about how society is making everthing a crime. This is just another example of how we as a society is getting out of control. Even mooning someone at school is a crime now.

They what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Well it doesn't look like it this time.

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Here is another example of zero tolerance is getting out of hand. School administrators need to have some restraint when it comes to discipline and they need to be trained to know when restraint is the better part of valor.

Controversy over 'zero tolerance'

Click on the link to read the story.

New Espionage Branch Delving Into CIA Territory and other stories

2005-01-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

The concern I have with this following story is if the Dept of Defense has this capability whats to say they don't use it here in the United States? As far as I know there is no law stating they couldn't use it against US citizens! Makes for a scary thought, read the article yourself and tell me what you think.

Secret Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain
By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 23, 2005

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Family Ties Playing A Big Role On the Hill

Nepotism is alive and well in the Congress of the United States. Of course those involved won't see it that way. It's no wonder congress is out of touch with the people. According to another story at the Washington Post website there are kinds of examples of children succeding their parents in Congress or where wives have followed their husbands when they have died.

Go and read the story here.

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Mental Screening & Parental Consent Act

2005-01-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

Please support this act. Read the information and and click on the link to sign the petition. Thank you!

January 22, 2005Last year, Congressman Ron Paul led the charge in Congress to keep federal funds from paying for universal or mandatory mental-health screening of children. Our efforts were successful in exposing the undermining of parents' right to decide what is best for their children.

Recognition of the absence of parental consent and the potential for abuse through forced drugging of children created quite a stir in the House and Senate. Senators Sam Brownback (KS) and James Inhofe (OK) hastily sent a letter to supporting of our position to the House/Senate conference committee that would decide the issue. Despite the outpouring of public support we were able to generate (thank you!) and the media's coverage, Congress did not find the political will to protect the family as the 108th Congress came to a close.

But this is a new Congress, and as promised, we are not giving up.

Congressman Paul, a practicing physician for over 30 years, introduced the Parental Consent Act of 2005 (H.R. 181) on the first day of the new 109th Congress. Simply and directly, this bill would prohibit the use of federal funds for any universal mental-health screening.

We have a petition urging House Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to quickly schedule a vote on H.R. 181. Please sign that petition. Also, urge your U.S. representative to cosponsor H.R. 181 and work for its passage.

Congress and President Bush can act quickly when they want to act. In 2003, the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in less than six weeks.

They acted quickly to stop telemarketers from calling people at home. They should act just as quickly now to block the forced mental screening of children.Link to

Petition in Support of H.R. 181 -- Parental Consent Act of 2005

Thank you for your help!

Kent Snyder
The Liberty Committee

More Story's from 01/22/2005

2005-01-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

Illegal Immigration

I found this article linked at EducationNews.org the article deals with illegal immigration and our nations schools, the article is at AgapePress:

Former Teacher Says Illegal Alien Influx Hurting U.S. Schools
By Jim BrownJanuary 20, 2005

(AgapePress) - An education columnist and retired school teacher says massive illegal immigration, in particular from Mexico, poses complex problems for public education systems across the United States.

To read the rest of the article go here.

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Health

Hopefully the FDA will approve the Morning after pill for over the counter use. Critics are afraid that if it becomes available over the counter its going to push teens into unsafe sex. For those that don't know the Morning after pill keeps conception from happening. Some critics call it an abortion pill. I don't see it as that because thousands of women have fertilized eggs everyday, but a fertilized egg doesn't complete conception, conception is completed when the egg attaches itself to the wall of the females uterus. The morning after pill keeps the egg from attaching, thus keeping conception from happing and life starting. Life doesn't start until the egg attaches itself.

Critics think it should be only prescription available. Let me ask the critics this. The pill has to be take with in the first 72 hours if not, then it doesn't stop conception. If it was your daughter and she made the mistake of having unprotected sex for what ever reason, wouldn't you want to have this option open for her?

To read the story go here.

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Discrimination or Diversity

Activists Want to Create Gay Neighborhood

After reading this story, the first thing that came to my mind was reverse discrimination. Gay Activists want to create a special neighbor hood that would have housing for homosexuals only, homosexual owned business's and night life.

Now don't get me wrong, I believe that they have as much right to their lifestyle as well as heterosexuals do. But I do think that this is going a little far in the name of Diversity.

To read the rest of the story go here.

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Well there is three more stories for today. I am going to try and post them with my comments in this format for now own. Save them up and post them all at once. Please comment and tell me your views.

Guyana Asks U.S. Military to Help Evacuate Flood Victims

2005-01-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

I found this story at Above Top Secret.com the link to the actual story is here. I agree with the writer at abovetopsecret.com, I am perplexed as to why the military is considering the request! I guess its because Guyana doesn't have a significant military need by the US Government. According to the writer at abovetopsecret.com Guyana was still able to donate $150,000 for the Tsunami Relief effort, even though they are a small country and can ill afford the money.

Come on people all they are asking for is some boats. Hell if I had the moneyI would go down and buy 10 and take them there myself.

'Federal Police Power'

2005-01-22T00:23:00.000-07:00

When you click on the link to this story "Federal Police Power" you will see what the founders of our country want the power in the Federal government to be limited. But over the last 200 years especially in the last 50 the Federal government has passed so many laws, a normal everyday citizen doesn't know which way to turn. Here is an excerpt from the story;

The Cato book points to Edward Hanousek Jr., who in 1994 was sentenced to six months in prison, six months in a halfway house and six months under supervised release, when an independent contractor working under him accidentally broke an oil pipe while operating a backhoe on an Alaskan railroad project. He was prosecuted under the federal Clean Water Act.

Another story at Reason.com also discusses how the Federal government has gotten out of hand. It also mentions the excerpt that I quoted above. Washington’s Biggest Crime Problem was written in April of 2004.

"When Congress creates a federal penalty for actions traditionally prosecuted at the state level, it violates the core constitutional principle of federalism, which prohibits Congress from legislating on local matters."

With a little research one can find out for themselves that Congress is butting in where it doesn't belong. I have to correct myself, according the article over 40% of the 3300 federal crimes have been enacted within the last 30 years!! That means from the time I was 8 years old, Congress has produced so many laws that we as citizens of the once great United States don't really know if we have broken a federal law in our day to day life.

Today when someone goes to prison there is a good chance that they are going to come out of it with enough knowledge to be a bigger criminal than when they went into it. Now this doesn't mean they will, just means they have the capability to.

I guess at this point I only have one question.

When does the revolution start? The second one that is?

Some US Airlines Outsource Maintenance to Central America

2005-01-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

Some US Airlines Outsource Maintenance to Central AmericaThere's more outsourcing of jobs -- now it's the airlines industry.
The latest, preferred location for airline maintenance? El Salvador.
The Wall Street Journal reports at least two airlines -- Jet Blue and America West -- send their planes to El Salvador for "long distance" maintenance, outsourcing the work to cut costs.
Air safety experts are said be concerned that it jeopardizes safety and makes scrutiny by regulatory agencies more difficult.

I will post more as I find it.

Sponge Bob is Gay!!!

2005-01-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

As John Stossel says "Give me a Break!!!" I am getting so tired of Christian Groups finding homosexuality in everything out there. I think there is better things they can do with their time that trying to link everything to homosexuality. For the story go here:

San Francisco Chronicle

PS: 01/22/05; Just wanted to let everyone know that I consider myself a Christian, but not in the way of these groups.

You're too stupid to manage your own money

2005-01-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

Thats the title of an article by Larry Elder, the whole basis of the article is the talk about Social Security. But what got me about this article was in the first paragraph:

Former Democratic vice-presidential contender Geraldine Ferraro inadvertently revealed the real reason behind Democrats' resistance to the president's proposal of Social Security partial privatization. " . . . [I]f you don't have the knowledge [emphasis added] and the wherewithal [emphasis added] to manage your own private funds," said Ferraro, "well, you know, you're gonna be out of luck."

I want to know know who the hell this broad is??? I don't need a nanny telling me what to do with MY money. If I screw up then it is my fault. No one elses!!! Ferraro sure does have balls.

If you would like to read the complete article, go here.

Great News!!

2005-01-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

I was at work when I read this so I couldn't woop in joy:

Supreme Court Rejects Atheist's Inauguration Prayer Bid

New way to get power

2005-01-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

I read this article and found it funny and interesting at the same time, click the link and find out for yourself:

Vermont cows help power 330 homes
Manure-to-electricity project is first to reach grid

Moore 'embarrassing' to high school

2005-01-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

I think this is funnier than hell.

Moore 'embarrassing' to high school

DAVISON, Mich. -- Oscar on the shelf or not, Michael Moore is not getting much respect at his old high school. Despite his fame and many honors, the filmmaker has been rejected all four times that he has been nominated for Davison High School's Hall of Fame.

"Would you want him as a role model? Would you want your son or daughter to be like him?" asked Don Hammond, a member of the Hall of Fame selection committee. "I haven't talked to anybody yet who's for him. The word to describe Michael Moore is embarrassing. He embarrasses everybody."

Ryan Eashoo disagrees. The 1997 Davison High graduate has spent 80 hours the last two weeks and $600 of his own money trying to get Moore elected.

"We've been blacklisted," Eashoo, 25, told the Detroit Free Press. "I'm a huge Michael Moore fan. He's a great producer, great filmmaker, always sticking up for minorities. He's kind of an underdog."

So far, Eashoo has 300 signed nominations of Moore. His goal is 2,000 by Feb. 1. The committee meets Feb. 11 to choose its inductees.

Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11" attacked President Bush's rationale for the war in Iraq and accused him and his administration of fostering fear for political gain. Moore spent the weeks before the election traveling across the country to urge Americans to vote Bush out of office.
His "Bowling for Columbine" won the Oscar for best documentary in 2003.

AP

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