-Caveat Lector-
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite
you.
This is the principle difference between a dog and a man."
--Mark Twain
Passing the Buck
One day Mr. Edwards fell unconscious with a heart attack. His wife quickly
called 911. The ambulance delivered Mr. Edwards to the nearest emergency
room, which was located in a Catholic hospital. Immediately the ailing man
was taken to the operating room for heart surgery.
The operation went well. When Mr. Edwards regained consciousness, he was
reassured by a Sister of Mercy, who was waiting by his bed.
"Mr. Edwards, you�re going to be just fine," said the nun, gently patting
his hand. "We do need to know, however, how you intend to pay for your stay
here. Are you covered by insurance?"
"No, I�m not," the man whispered hoarsely.
"Then can you pay in cash?" asked the nun. "I�m afraid I cannot, Sister."
"Well, do you have any close relatives?" the nun persisted.
"Just my sister in New Mexico," Mr. Edwards answered. "But she�s a humble
spinster nun."
"Oh, I must correct you, Mr. Edwards," said the Sister of Mercy. "Nuns are
not spinsters. You sister is married to God."
"Wonderful," said Mr. Edwards. "In that case, please send the bill to my
brother-in-law."
� a joke going around
Lucent Corp. Board Votes No on Company Anti-Slave Labor Policy
Stock owners of Lucent Corporation cast 71 million shares in favor of
creating an anti-slave labor policy for Lucent�s China dealings, but the
Board of Directors voted against the share owner proposition at their Feb.
17 annual meeting of stockholders, citing their current policies already
contained such guidelines.
"This vote of no confidence in Lucent�s management over an obvious human
rights abuse is very heartening for real reform," Carl Olson commented.
Olson is the Chairman of State Department Watch, a public interest group in
Washington, D.C.
The problem of the Chinese laogai slave labor system confronts Lucent in its
multi-million dollar deals with China. Its close connection resulted in a
visit by President of China Jiang Zemin to its headquarters in New Jersey
during October 1997. President Zemin�s regime continues with its dictatorial
crackdown on numerous human rights and businesses in China.
The massive laogai, a system of more than 1000 prison camps in China,
imprisons 8 million men, women and children in factories, farms and other
facilities producing a wide range of products, including many for export to
the United States. It also presents unfair competition to free labor in
China and elsewhere, including the United States.
The laogai system was set up to deal with the millions of suspected and real
opponents of the Chinese dictatorship. Lucent management claims they would
never do business in a country with "excessive" human rights violations.
The stock owner sponsor of the proposal to establish an anti-slave labor
policy, Mark Seidenberg, vice chairman of State Department Watch, had
sponsored a similar proposal last year. His statement for this year�s proxy
statement pointed out that Lucent has nothing about slave labor in any of
its board resolutions, contracts, agreements with joint ventures or by-laws.
Lucent�s management says that it is doing enough.
Speaking on behalf of Seidenberg at the annual meeting in Wilmington, Del.,
human rights activist Thor Halvorssen pointed out, "It is unsettling that
Lucent�s management has accepted the repressive aspects of the Communist
Government of China instead of standing up for our American values of
freedom, equality before the law and human dignity."
Although the proposal did not pass, the 71 million shares in favor showed a
leap of 7 million from last year. "Our campaign to stop supporting slave
labor has received a big boost today," Olson stated. "It will be expanded to
other companies enmeshed in China which have equally compromised policies."
The campaign to boost the stock voted in favor has been hampered by large
stock owners who always vote against stock owner resolutions regardless of
the subject.
� State Department Watch
Prosperity Hindered by Soc. Security
Average American families are losing $1 million by having to participate in
Social Security compared to what they would earn by placing the money they
give up in Social Security taxes into the stock market, said Peter Ferrara
of Americans for Tax Reform.
This would be three times the amount that Social Security promises but
cannot pay. Ferrara said that average income people would have a whole new
realm of prosperity opened to them by adopting one of the reforms being
promoted by the Cato Institute or Senator Phil Gramm, changes that could
also eliminate the $9.5 trillion unfounded liability of the Social Security
trust fund.
The only way to keep Democrats from blocking tax cuts with calls to save
Social Security is to address the two in tandem, said Ferrara. "There�s
nothing more we could do to increase the freedom and prosperity of working
people in America," he said, and to achieve the long-term goals of
conservatives, than to privatize Social Security.
� Human Events
Can I See Some ID, Junior?
Teen-agers wanting to get in the door at the movie theater to see an R-rated
film will now have to produce an ID first. The movie industry brought the
plan to the White House June 8 to limit adolescents� exposure to violence, a
move partially influenced by the recent school shootings. The owners of the
nation�s movie theaters said they would begin enforcement of the policy
immediately, one action in the latest of the president�s reactions to combat
youth violence.
Since 1968, the movie industry has had a rating system in place, requiring
movie goers to be at least 17 years old or accompanied by an adult if they
wish to view an R-rated film. In the June 8 ceremony, however, movie
industry companies admitted that those under 17 do get into these films
unescorted.
Questions were raised about the policy�s effectiveness, being that it is
voluntary, and no penalties await those theater owners and employees who
allow underagers into R-rated films. Video rental outlets are also not
covered by the anti-violence proposition.
Another concern from theater companies is how to prevent underage viewers
from buying a ticket for a PG or PG-13 movie, then sneaking into an R movie.
A spokesman for Blockbuster, Inc., the nation�s largest video rental
retailer, said underage patrons are deterred from renting R-rated movies due
to membership cards being issued to those at least 18 years old. Even with a
parent�s card, a child cannot rent R-rated movies or M-rated video games
unless the parent gives permission when signing up.
Clinton said that for rating systems to work, they must be enforced not only
by parents, but by retailers and theater owners. He said parents should not
have to worry that when they drop their child off at the movie theater, that
they will not be allowed into violent or suggestive R-rated movies.
Some theater managers, however, say parents are to blame. Parents will buy
the tickets to an R-rated movie and send the kids in. When cinema employees
don�t allow the kids in, parents get upset.
Entertainment industry executives argue that the checking of ID's has little
practical meaning, given that theater owners have obeyed industry policies
on preventing youth from entering R-rated movies. They feel the guidelines
are just a smoke screen and will blow over when the next big issue arises.
� MB Staff Report
Proposed House Resolutions Would Threaten Your Privacy
Several house resolutions in the works for proposal could threaten your
privacy. Below are listings of a few.
A new federal law encourages states to build a nationwide, computerized
database of infants with birth defects - a chilling proposal that smacks of
government eugenics research.
Attorney General Janet Reno has ordered a federal commission to study the
legality of collecting DNA samples from millions of Americans who have never
been convicted of a crime.
The FBI continues to seek additional power to conduct roving wiretaps
without a court order, force telecommunications companies to disclose
information about their customers and expand its ability to confiscate cars
and other property.
The White House and members of Congress continue to push various schemes to
turn your driver�s license into a national identity card by mandating the
inclusion of your Social Security number and biometric identifiers like
fingerprints.
�www.defendyourprivacy.com
Fetal Alcohol Case Thrown Out
A woman accused of trying to drink her fetus to death found that the state
appeals court in Madison, Wisc., does not see a fetus as a human being. The
case was thrown out. The ruling stated that she could not be charged with
attempted murder, though a trial-level judge had previously refused to
dismiss the charges.
The Second District of Appeals ruled in favor of Deborah Zimmerman on May
26, whose daughter was born in 1996 with a blood alcohol level of 0.199
percent, twice the legal limit recognized as intoxicated under Wisconsin
law.
The court ruled that the term "human being" did not refer to an unborn
child, and Zimmerman's prenatal conduct did not constitute attempted
first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless injury.
Authorities argued that she should have been prosecuted using Wisconsin's
"born alive" rule, which states that a person can be charged with murder if
they harm a pregnant woman and the fetus is born alive, then dies.
Prosecutors also argued that the born alive ruling should extend to
attempted murder if a fetus is born with injuries but survives.
The girl, now three years old and living in foster care, was close to being
born in a bar, where Zimmerman had spent the day drinking, her blood alcohol
level exceeding 0.30 percent at the time of the baby's birth. Once at the
hospital, Zimmerman allegedly told a nurse that she was going to go home and
keep drinking and drink herself and the baby to death because she didn't
want it. She said her abuse of alcohol during the pregnancy was directed
toward her own body and the fetus she carried, not another human being.
� MB Staff Report
Tax Fighter Loses Home to IRS
With guns drawn, federal and local government law enforcement agents forced
80-year-old Floyd Wright, a U.S. veteran of World War ll and a writer, out
of his Grass Valley, Calif., home, taking his property and forcing Wright
and his wife to find temporary housing in a local hotel room. On the morning
of April 15, a team of armed agents from the U.S. Marshal's office, as well
as a local sheriff's deputy, came into Wright's home and seized his house of
25 years. Wright, who currently is a mortgage broker, told WorldNetDaily
that he never saw a search warrant, but he did vividly remember the five
drawn guns.
According to Wright, his house was seized because the Internal Revenue
Service claimed he owed money. In fact, the agency had filed a lawsuit
against Wright earlier in the Federal District Court in Sacramento, Calif.,
claiming that he had mishandled a trust of which his estate was a part.
However, Wright and his current wife, Ruth, believe that, in reality, it was
for political reasons that his house was taken from him.
Ruth Wright told WorldNetDaily that before her husband had a stroke on Dec.
28 of last year, he would spend hours in the federal law library
researching, among other things, tax laws. From his research, Wright
published three books with titles including Beat the IRS: I Did and How to
Become a Non-Taxpayer.
Regarding these books, Wright believes that the IRS has been out to quiet
her husband and that the eviction tactics of the U.S. marshals were a "get
even" tactic. "The IRS can't afford to ever let him win his case," she said,
"He's very vocal."
Mirroring his wife's belief about the eviction and reflecting on the day it
happened, Floyd Wright said, "They (the IRS) picked April 15 on purpose."
Ruth Wright expressed much frustration about the situation and said that she
didn't have the energy to pursue a lawsuit against the IRS. However, she
said that her husband is planning on filing suit.
"He's a tough cookie," Wright said of her husband. "He will go down with the
last breath."
The possibility of her husband going down "with the last breath" is
something that Ruth Wright seems to be preparing for too, as she believes
that the IRS is unbeatable.
"I dealt with the IRS long before I met this man," she said. "They do as
they darn well please. They're the Gestapo of the United States. There isn't
anybody at this point in time that's been able to stop them or control
them."
The "mishandled" trust, for which the IRS officially reclaimed Wright's
property, was made out by Wright's former wife, now deceased, who originally
owned the house. The "living trust," as it was called, willed the home to
Wright, his daughter, his granddaughter, and a favorite charity. According
to a living trust, Wright could legally live in the home until he died.
� Stephan Archer at www.WorldNetDaily.com
USAF Sued Under FOIA
The United States Air Force has been sued in U.S. District Court for South
Carolina, Docket #8:97-1882 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by
national patriotic leader Robert Clarkson.
Clarkson filed suit against the USAF Special Operations Command (AF SOC) at
Hurlbut Field, Fla., and other locations over a military training course
called "Dynamics of International Terrorism."
The course is based on materials purchased from Morris Dees and Joe Roy of
the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of Montgomery, Ala. Although the
materials are more fund raisers for the SPCL than educational materials,
Dees and Roy have with full government approval distributed them to various
military bases where they have been used to dangerously misinform American
troops.
Among SPLC items distributed are the booklet "False Patriots" and a
brochure, "Keeping Watch." Both documents include fund raising requests for
the SPLC, a well-known private political organization of extreme left-wing
orientation.
In response to a FOIA request by Clarkson, the AF SOC released the class
materials including records of payment for them. However, none of the
released material had anything to do with any "international" operations,
and nothing about real terrorism by international groups. The booklet and
pamphlet were strictly leftist-oriented scare propaganda targeting religious
and political organizations, many of whom call for a return to government
accountability.
"False Patriots" encourages the public to trust the Clinton administration.
Since the military failed to produce anything documenting the "international
terrorism" it associates with these patriotic organizations, Clarkson filed
an administrative appeal to the Secretary of the Air Force under the FOIA,
filed a barrage of supplemental FOIA requests for release of documents and
finally the FOIA lawsuit. With it he plans to put a stop to programs which
teach American soldiers to treat innocent people as terrorists.
Robert Clarkson graduated from Clemson University in 1969 and from
University of South Carolina Law School in 1974. He served in Vietnam with
the 22nd Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division as a 1 Lt infantry
platoon leader.
Robert Clarkson is Executive Director of the Carolina Patriots, a
Constitutional study group which is libeled in the SPLC booklet. Clarkson is
a nationally recognized expert on the Freedom of Information Act, Privacy
Act and tax procedure law. He has written several books and is editor of The
Patriot Cannon, a tax reform magazine. He was co-founder of the both the
Libertarian Party and the U.S. Taxpayers Party in South Carolina.
For 20 years, Dr. Clarkson has been speaking and writing about the United
States Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence,
plus the danger to our rights and liberties from the IRS, income tax and
Federal Reserve. In the SPLC suit, Clarkson is making use of what are known
as the "sunshine" laws because they give citizens access to what government
is doing as financed by taxpayers.
The Freedom of Information Act, Title 5 US. Code 552, was passed by Congress
in 1966 and requires that federal agencies release records and documents
upon request. Requesters can file suit when they discover something improper
and collect costs and attorneys' fees for calling the government to account.
The FOIA is a "private attorney general" statute.
Dr. Clarkson needs more patriots to participate and send in FOIA forms. For
information on the AF SOC class on "international terrorism," contact Col.
Eugene Ronsick, USAF SOC, Hurlbut Field, FL 32544.
For a copy of the lawsuit and other information, write to the Patriot
Network, POB 2368, Anderson, SC 29622. Phone 8641225-0882; email,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
How Not to Die: The Dumbest Deaths in History
Attila the Hun: One of the most notorious villains in history, Attila's army
had conquered all of Asia by 450 A.D. � from Mongolia to the edge of the
Russian Empire � by destroying villages and pillaging the countryside.
How he died: He got a nosebleed on his wedding night.
In 453 A.D., Attila married a young girl named Ildico. Despite his
reputation for ferocity on the battlefield, he tended to eat and drink
lightly during large banquets. On his wedding night, however, he really cut
loose, gorging himself on food and drink. Some time during the night he
suffered a nosebleed, but was too drunk to notice. He drowned in his own
blood and was found dead the next morning.
Tycho Brahe: An important Danish astronomer of the 16th Century. His
groundbreaking research allowed Sir Isaac Newton to come up with the theory
of gravity.
How he died: Didn't get to the bathroom in time.
In the 16th Century, it was considered an insult to leave a banquet table
before the meal was over. Brahe, known to drink excessively, had a bladder
condition � but failed to relieve himself before the banquet started. He
made matters worse by drinking too much at dinner, and was too polite to ask
to be excused. His bladder finally burst, killing him slowly and painfully
over the next 11 days.
Horace Wells: Pioneered the use of anesthesia in the 1840s.
How he died: Used anesthetics to commit suicide.
While experimenting with various gases during his anesthesia research, Wells
became addicted to chloroform. In 1848 he was arrested for spraying two
women with sulfuric acid. In a letter he wrote from jail, he blamed
chloroform for his problems, claiming that he'd gotten high before the
attack. Four days later he was found dead in his cell. He'd anaesthetized
himself with chloroform and slashed open his thigh with a razor.
Francis Bacon: One of the most influential minds of the late 16th Century. A
statesman, a philosopher, a writer, and a scientist, he was even rumored to
have written some of Shakespeare's plays.
How he died: Stuffing snow into a chicken.
One afternoon in 1625, Bacon was watching a snowstorm and was struck by the
wondrous notion that maybe snow could be used to preserve meat in the same
way that salt was used. Determined to find out, he purchased a chicken from
a nearby village, killed it, and then, standing outside in the snow,
attempted to stuff the chicken full of snow to freeze it. The chicken never
froze, but Bacon did.
Jerome Irving Rodale: Founding father of the organic food movement, creator
of Organic Farming and Gardening magazine, and founder of Rodale Press, a
major publishing corporation.
How he died: On the "Dick Cavett Show," while discussing the benefits of
organic foods.
Rodale, who bragged "I'm going to live to be 100 unless I'm run down by a
sugar-crazed taxi driver," was only 72 when he appeared on the "Dick Cavett
Show" in January 1971. Part way through the interview, he dropped dead in
his chair. Cause of death: heart attack. The show was never aired.
Aeschylus: A Greek playwright back in 500 BC. Many historians consider him
the father of Greek tragedies.
How he died: An eagle dropped a tortoise on his head.
According to legend, eagles picked up tortoises and attempt to crack them
open by dropping them on rocks. An eagle mistook Aeschylus' head for a rock
(he was bald) and dropped it on him instead.
Jim Fixx: Author of the best selling "Complete Book of Running," which
started the jogging craze of the 1970s.
How he died: A heart attack...while jogging.
Fixx was visiting Greensboro, Vt., when he walked out of his house and began
jogging. He'd only gone a short distance when he had a massive coronary. His
autopsy revealed that one of his coronary arteries was 99 percent clogged,
another was 80 percent obstructed, and a third was 70 percent blocked, and
that Fixx had had three other attacks in the weeks prior to his death.
And finally there's LULLY, one of our favorite 16th-century composers, who
wrote music for the king of France.
While rehearsing the musicians, he got too serious beating time with his
staff, and drove it right through his foot. He died of infection.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite
you. This is the principle difference between a dog and a man."
-Mark Twain
Don't miss the rest of our must-read August 99 Issue.
Subscribe to Media Bypass today!
http://www.4bypass.com/life×.htm
Bard
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