* WHITE HOUSE TO REWRITE FEDERALISM ORDER...New July 30, 1998
It's too early to rest easy, however it looks as though Executive Order 13083, which would have established federal supremacy over state and local governments, will not stand. In yesterday's Washington Post article, "White House to Rewrite Federalism Order, Now With State-Local Input," Senators and Representatives from Congress, Governors, Mayors and other leaders were quoted in united, bipartisan opposition to Clinton's power grab. These leaders are particularly incensed that Clinton signed Executive Order 13083 on May 14, 1998 while attending a "Group of Seven" meeting in Birmingham, England.
Nation's Governors Blast Clinton quotes Utah Governor Mike Leavitt complaining to the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Economic Growth, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs:
"Given the secrecy surrounding this order and the complete turnabout of its language and scope, one can only conclude the Clinton administration deliberately set upon a course to expand the role of the federal government...Not exactly the end of the era of big government."
* SAVING PRIVATE RYAN...New July 27, 1998
Steven Spielburg's Saving Private Ryan exploded across American screens this weekend, graphic testimony to what must happen when tyrants come to power. This is a simple film, and its power lies in its lack of pretense--it does not attempt to say too much.
Saving Private Ryan is not political, nor does it belong to the "anti-war movie" genre. This film simply shows what war is like. It shows what courage is, also what it is not. It shows with superb clarity the price ordinary, decent men and women must pay when they are called upon to defend freedoms that have been surrendered by scoundrels.
This editor could not watch Saving Private Ryan without feeling anger at the scoundrels who empowered Hitler. The short list would include American and European bankers and industrialists, who supported Hitler's military build-up for their own profit, ignoring the danger; it would include the German people, who allowed the suspension of their own constitution; it would include all those "good Germans" who did not rise up and overthrow Hitler once his Third Reich had been established; and certainly it would include Neville Chamberlain, who in 1938 sacrificed Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland in an attempt to appease Hitler, and who afterwards declared "I believe it is peace for our time...Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."
If you go to see Saving Private Ryan, please notice how every bullet, every grenade, every charge, every scrap of information counted. Notice how tenuous the victories of World War II really were. And please remember that the Germans did not develop atomic weapons for only one reason--despite their clear technical superiority, German scientists had been denied access to the latest American and British thinking regarding critical mass.
So when Clinton officials fail to mention that 7-8 million young Chinese political prisoners toil in the China's laogai slave labor camps (echoing the "Arbeit Macht Frei" slogan of Hitler's concentration camps); when William Reich, Undersecretary in Charge of Export Technology for the Clinton Commerce Department, dismisses the sale of supercomputers to China because "if we don't sell to them, someone else will;" when lap dog White House advisors dismiss as "negligible" the advantage Loral provided China in its quest to perfect the Long March intercontinental ballistic missile; when Clinton signals that he is willing to appease China by sacrificing Taiwan; when our Commander in Chief grants yet another waiver, this time allowing a company owned by China's People's Liberation Army to occupy a naval base at Long Beach, California--when these things happen we hope you will not "...go home and get a nice quiet sleep."
The cost to ordinary, courageous men and women--the sons and daughters we have worked so hard to nurture and raise--is simply too great.
Perhaps we run the danger of quoting him too often in these pages, but Winston Churchill's words, spoken on the eve of Britain's entry into World War II, seem especially apropos with the release of Saving Private Ryan:
If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may be even a worse fate. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.
TOLL-FREE NUMBER DISCONTINUED...New July 16, 1998 P.M.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform informs us that the number we posted for the Capitol Switchboard, (800) 504-0031, is not for general use. They have discontinued the number and asked us to remove the posting. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.
* U.S. TOLD TO CURB CONGRESS...New July 16, 1998
It is difficult even to describe an article that appeared in the July 15, 1998 issue of the Hong Kong Standard, "U.S. Told to Curb Congress." We quote:
BEIJING: China demanded on Tuesday the Clinton administration take steps to rein in the U.S. Congress to put a stop to resolutions it sees as hostile...
``We are strongly opposed and express our dissatisfaction'' at the Senate resolutions that were aimed at ``interfering in China's internal affairs'', Foreign Ministry spokesman Tang Guoqiang said...
Some members of the US Congress are ``tabling anti-China resolutions one after the other, trying to obstruct the improvement and development of China-US relations. They will not succeed in their attempts''.
``We hope that the U.S. government will adopt effective measures to eliminate interference and prevent Congress from passing anti-China resolutions so that Sino-US relations will not be harmed.'' The US constitution entitles the government ``to adopt effective measures to prevent the Congress from passing such resolutions.''
So, the People's Republic of China wants President Clinton to muzzle Congress. To those of us who still cherish the idea that our Constitution defines three branches of government--the executive, the legislative and the judicial--it seems almost absurd that a foreign government would believe that Clinton could constitutionally "adopt effective measures to eliminate interference and prevent Congress from passing anti-China resolutions."
Of course this may just be ignorance on the part of the People's Republic of China. After all, the Chinese routinely use the oxymoron "democratic dictatorship" to refer to their own form of government--hardly indicative of great sophistication in the political arena. They may not understand that each U.S. Senator and each House Representative has his or her own power base. Our Senators and Representatives serve at our pleasure, because they depend on our votes; no member of Congress serves at President Clinton's pleasure.
On the other hand, the People's Republic of China may know something we don't. They may have the goods on Clinton, and they may have every reason to believe that Clinton must comply with their demands. Even worse, could it be that some prominent U.S. Senators and Representative are similarly compromised...?
* LOTT ACCUSES CLINTON ON TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO CHINA...New July 16, 1998
"Lott Accuses Clinton on Technology Transfer to China," refers to an interim report issued by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. This interim report, based on the findings of 13 separate Senate hearings, confirms that transfers of sensitive U.S. satellite technology approved by the Clinton administration benefited the Chinese military.
A related article, U.S. Technology Builds 'Bridge' for China Missile: Beijing Could Deploy Multiple Warheads, refers to a classified Air Force National Air Intelligence Center report which says that in 1996 Motorola helped the Chinese to build an upper-stage booster, called a "smart dispenser," for the Long March 2C/SD rocket. Combined with 1996 Clinton administration approval to ship supercomputers to China, Motorola's technology transfer means the People's Republic of China has very likely developed the ability to mount multiple nuclear warheads on their Long March missiles.
A CAUTION REGARDING AN UNUSUAL SOLAR EVENT...New July 16, 1998
An anticipated coronal mass ejection from the Sun impacted Earth early today and will continue for the next twenty-four hours. James Berkland, a professional geologist who accurately predicted both the 1989 Northern California "Loma Prieta" quake and the 1994 Southern California "Northridge" quake, anticipates that this event will cause geomagnetic activity and intense magnetic storms.
Berkland suspects that such magnetic changes will have moderate to severe climatic repercussions and could add to the already high probability of a major seismic event. Berkland has documented the correlation of major seismic events to El Nino years.
In addition, some researchers warn that solar emanations can be dangerous to people during such events. There is the usual caution regarding overexposure to ultraviolet radiation, but the more serious concern is that solar emanations with which we are quite unfamiliar may cause physiological damage--especially to the eyes. Individuals who observe periods of visible solar "flaring" should avoid exposing their eyes during these events.
* CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL CHURCH LEADER AS CONGREGATION SWELLS...New July 11, 1998
Yesterday's South China Morning News published "Crackdown On Illegal Church Leader As Congregation Swells." This article makes a mockery of President Clinton's photo-op attendance at a downtown Beijing church, which was intended to convey the impression that the Chinese people enjoy religious freedom. Church leader Li Dexian, who started a successful congregation in South China's largest city, Guangzhou, knows better. As the article blithely states:
Mr Li had become a formidable influence...and had repeatedly defied their "education and warnings"....
The Guangzhou Public Security Bureau is prepared to send Li Dexian to labour re-education as prescribed under the law in order to hit hard on the fast proliferation of illegal religious activities....
Police can send anyone to a labour camp for up to three years for "re-education" without going through the courts...
The circular accused Mr Li of being an "illegal missionary" preying on "village women and students with little education".
Police and religious officials collected extensive evidence of the "illegal religious activities"...last June, They used "advanced video equipment" to record services.
The pastor is a respected preacher who has refused for years to register his church with the authorities.
"Li has been detained and educated many times but his nature is unchanged," the circular said.
Sources said that police might have postponed their action against Mr Li because of the visit to China last week by US President Bill Clinton, but could now move at any time.
Guangzhou is a scenic city of 3 million located north of the Pearl River delta in South China. The city actively promotes tourism on its very attractive Web site and encourages tourists to visit the lovely Mausoleum of the Martyrs of Guangshou Uprising, built in 1951 to honor revolutionary peasants who gave their lives in the fight against oppression.
Indeed, as George Orwell wrote, "Some animals are more equal than others." Please read our Constitution Study Piece, which illustrates how constitutional guarantees of "freedom of religious conscience" can be used by government officials to subvert individual rights.
* TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS CRITICIZED...New July 10, 1998
A new Associated Press article, "Technology Transfers Criticized," confirms that technology transfers to China have compromised national security. The article begins:
China has obtained weapons-capable technology from the United States that goes far beyond that of satellite exports, Congress was told Thursday by the former director of the Pentagon agency that oversees technology security.
``The export-control system is falling apart'' under the present jurisdiction of the Commerce Department, Stephen Bryen, director of the Defense Technology Security Administration during the Reagan administration, told a hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In particular, he cited Commerce Department approval of exports to China of supercomputers, machine tools, jet engines and high-tech furnaces. ``China has been able to get technology that was forbidden to the Soviet Union,'' he said.
* EXECUTIVE ORDERS USHERING IN SOCIALIST DICTATORSHIP: The Constitution Is What I Say It Is...New July 10, 1998
The Winds brings us an expanded discussion of Executive Order 13083 and Bill Clinton's stated determination to use the power of the executive branch to "help the people"--even if it means doing an end-run around Congress.
* SINO-U.S. MILITARY TIES REACH NEW HIGH...New July 9, 1998
* THE PERVERSION OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION...New July 9, 1998
Item One: A story that bears watching--"Sino-U.S. Military Ties Reach New High." Why exactly has President Clinton, charged with protecting what remains of our liberty, invited the military of a totalitarian police state--especially one with obvious global ambitions--to observe our military exercises? Perhaps providing China's People's Liberation Army with supercomputers, missile guidance and stage separation technology, satellite encryption technology and other know-how has not been enough; we need to teach our enemy military tactics as well.
Item Two: Joseph Farah of World Net Daily continues his unveiling of "Bill Clinton--Budding Dictator." Please read "The Perversion of the U.S. Constitution", which deepens Farah's discussion of Executive Order13083 and explains how Clinton could use other executive orders to become a full-fledged American "Fuhrer."
* THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY ...New July 7, 1998
Joseph Farah of World Net Daily has written an incisive piece, "The Imperial Presidency," which deals with the implications of Executive Order 13083, published in the Federal Register on May 14, 1998. This executive order, innocently titled "Federalism," guts Tenth Amendment guarantees of individual rights and the rights of the states.
The critical section of Executive Order 13083 is in Section 3 "Federalism Policymaking Criteria", (d.) (1-9), where "matters of national or multi-state scope that justify Federal action" are discussed. These "justifications" directly violate well-established Constitutional principles.
As always, the devil is in the details. Please refer to "Clinton's Executive Order From Hell," which compares Clinton's Executive Order 13803 line-for-line to Executive Order 12612, which it replaces. The two are diametrically opposed.
Congress had only 30 days to respond to, and/or reject, Executive Order 13083. Since no objection was filed, it becomes the law of the land on August 12, 1998.
Our "Constitution Study Piece" discusses a similar sort of sophistry by comparing parts of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution line-for-line to relevant parts of the 1977 Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
* TOP TEN REASONS GARY WEBB IS AMERICA'S MOST IMPORTANT JOURNALIST...New July 3, 1998
Today Daniel Hopsicker of The Drug Money Times brings us "Top 10 Reasons Gary Webb is America's Most Important Journalist," a hard-hitting interview with Gary Webb.
Reporter Gary Webb authored the August, 1996, "Dark Alliance" series of articles, published in The San Jose Mercury News. These articles documented clandestine funding of the Nicaraguan Contras during the mid-1980's and CIA complicity in allowing massive quantities of cocaine to be smuggled into the ghettos of Los Angeles, California.
Mr. Webb began reporting for The San Jose Mercury News in 1988, and in 1989 he was part of a team that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for News. Webb's "Dark Alliance" series was exhaustively researched, and no factual errors were ever discovered in his reporting.
Nevertheless, the ensuing controversy was too much for media moguls at Knight Ridder, which owns The San Jose Mercury News--Mr. Webb was demoted and transferred from News headquarters in Sacramento, California, where he makes his home with his wife and three children, to a bureau in Cupertino, California, 120 miles away.
Without contesting the accuracy of Webb's reporting or his basic thesis linking the CIA-backed Nicaraguan Contra War to drug trafficking in Los Angeles, Executive Editor Jerry Ceppos authored a seeming "retraction" of the "Dark Alliance" series on May 11, 1997. Ceppos questioned the credibility of one source (since proved credible) and ventured his opinion that some of the articles' conclusions were "overdrawn" (though subsequent research has shown that they were, if anything, understated).
In return for bowing under pressure, Mr. Ceppos was awarded the Ethics in Journalism Award by the Society of Professional Journalists in October, 1997.
Gary Webb's employment with The San Jose Mercury News ended in December, 1997.
Mr. Webb has since published a new book, Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion (Seven Stories Press, May, 1998), which expands on the theme of his original "Dark Alliance" series. This new book documents primary involvement of U.S. government agencies (The Central Intelligence Agency, The Drug Enforcement Agency and others) in international drug smuggling operations, including the shipment of massive quantities of cocaine and heroin into the United States, a practice which continues to this day.
For more details regarding this general subject matter, please reference Daniel Hopsicker's new resource, The Drug Money Times.
NEW EVIDENCE IN McVEIGH LETTERS OF U.S. INVOLVMENT IN INTERNATIONAL DRUG DEALING AND OTHER CRIMES...New July 1, 1998
Today's New York Times publishes excerpts from a letter Timothy McVeigh wrote to his sister Jennifer on October 20, 1993. In that letter, McVeigh confided that he was stunned by what happened in 1991, when he arrived at Fort Bragg, North Carolina after being accepted for elite Special Forces training:
Out of a group of 400, one day in formation, 10 Social Security numbers were called out (no names) and told to leave formation. Mine was one. The 10 of us were told that out of the select group of 400, we had scored highest on certain tests. We had been selected because of our intelligence, physical make-up, and physical abilities. We were to feel special, part of a hand-picked group...We were all asked to volunteer to do some work for the government on the domestic, as well as the international front...1./We would be helping the CIA fly drugs into the United States to fund many covert operations, and 2./ Military "consultants" were to work hand-in-hand with civilian police agencies to "quiet" anyone who was deemed a "security risk."...We would be government-paid assassins....gives you new insight on things like Waco, etc.--they were murdered by hit men.
One might dismiss the content of McVeigh's letter (after all, he has been convicted of commiting the worst terrorist act in U.S. history), except that there is considerable evidence to support the notion that for many years our "secret government" agencies (read the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and other more obscure federal agencies) have been primary players in international drug dealing, terror, and assassination. There is also considerable evidence that reporting on these issues by any mainstream American publication has been systematically suppressed.
So what's the point? Simply this:
During the past fifty years, the government of the United States has, through its implementation of a "secret government" (which is to say a government not answerable to the American People through their elected Senators and Representatives in Congress), abandoned the legitimacy of its Constitutional authority. Furthermore, during the administrations of our past three American Presidents--Reagan, Bush, and Clinton--this illegitimate secret government has been involved in international drug dealing and other major international crimes. A federal government that has turned against its People does not deserve the support of patriotic Americans.
Since the pathological apathy of most Americans (please see article "Clinton's Visit, China's Military Build-up, and American Apathy") will prevent them from speaking out, it is incumbent on the rest of us to respond with appropriate outrage to the crimes of our own government.