-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! * Veritas Vos Liberabit * THE FEDERALIST(r) DIGEST The Internet's Conservative Journal of Record http://www.Federalist.com Date: 04 February 2000 Federalist #00-05.dgst To retrieve today's Digest as printer-friendly text or PDF, link to: http://www.Federalist.com/PDFdigest99-10.asp To support or sponsor The Federalist, link to: http://www.Federalist.com/support.asp ______--------********O********--------______ THE FOUNDATION "The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason." --Thomas Paine ______--------********O********--------______ FEDERALIST PERSPECTIVE PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Sunday, 6 February, will be President Ronald Reagan's 89th birthday. Nancy Reagan says his health has taken a marked downturn in recent months. Your Editorial Board requests your prayers for President Reagan and his family this Sunday. In his honor, The Federalist will be launching Reagan2000, the Internet's most comprehensive resource on President Reagan's life and achievements, and a touchstone for all conservatives going forward. We will release details on the site in next Tuesday's Brief. In the news this week, you may have heard that there was a primary held in New Hampshire Tuesday. The big winners: Just one, John McCain. The big losers: Mr. Bush and all the media pundits and pollsters. Mr. McCain quipped, "I think we finally have a poll without a margin of error." A Bush staffer noted, "You can't spin this one. This was an old-fashioned [butt] kicking." Mr. Forbes helped Mr. McCain eat into the Bush "lead" but could not break 15%. Alan Keyes picked up 6% and, by a wide margin, conducted the least expensive campaign-per-vote received. Ambassador Keyes continues to elevate the Republican debate and prevent too much stray constitutional mischief from others on the stage. Gary Bauer, who collected only 1%, said, "It's obvious I'm going to have to win some of these." Mr. Bauer has done some of his life's best work as president of the Family Research Council. We encourage him to find his way back there soon! For more on Mr. McCain's victory and Mr. Bush's problem, see this week's Second Opinion, "Road Bumps Ahead?" Comment... "Commenting on how he raised money for liberal Democrats, television producer Norman Lear observed, 'The relationship between Hollywood and Washington is as natural as a marriage.' That may explain why so many Americans are as skeptical about Washington politics as they are about Hollywood marriages." --Natasha Clerihue Query... Why did not a single justice of the Supreme Court show up for Mr. Clinton's final State of the Disunion address? The big lie... "My fellow Americans, the state of our union is the strongest it has ever been." --Bill Clinton, still looking for a legacy. On the political front... Mr. Bush picked up strong military endorsements going into the South Carolina primary. Gen. Charles C. Krulak called Bush "a man of character and leadership" with "a solid experience base." Mr. Bush also received the endorsement of the national Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Coalition (a federation of 102 veterans groups), and the Coalition of Retired Military Veterans. Mr. Keyes picked up some high-profile endorsements, particularly from David Schippers, a registered Democrat who was chief counsel to the House Impeachment Panel. "There are many good and decent men seeking the office of President of the United States," said Schippers. "There is, however, only one who will be able to lead this country back to the status of Moral Leader of the World that it once enjoyed. And once that goal is achieved all else will follow. That man is Alan Keyes." After a brief detour through Delaware, the South Carolina primary is 19 February, followed by Arizona and Michigan on the 22nd. The Confederate Battle Flag, which has flown over South Carolina's capitol building for 38 years (as first ordered up by then-Governor Demo Fritz Hollings), remains a hot point of debate between the left and right -- and a point of irony it is. It was Jefferson's old Democratic Party, which fought for states' rights under the Confederate flag, while Lincoln's old Republican party fought against states' rights to preserve the union. Now, Clinton's New Democratic Party candidates advocate an all-powerful central government, while Ronald Reagan's New Republican Party candidates advocate the restoration of federalism's historic context (a central government with very limited authority by today's standards). Thus, Republicans say the Confederate flag flies over the state house in Columbia at the sole discretion of the people of South Carolina, while the Democrats want to nationalize the issue. The world turned upside-down! >From Bore2000 -- The "Family Values" Campaign... Al Gore's new mantra: "I'm for a woman's right to choose!" Choose what -- hair color? The Federalist can find no transcript of candidate Gore ever completing this sentence. Memo to Alan Keyes (since no one else will do it): Ask Gore, "Choose what?" Celebrating his marginal win in New Hampshire, Gore said, "During the day today, some people said this was going to be like the Super Bowl -- that we were going to fall a yard short. Well, let me tell you, this Tennessean is in the end-zone, and it feels good. And you ain't seen nothing yet!" First, Gore "ain't" no Tennessean. Second, this was the first game of the season, not the Super Bowl. And third, for all those concerned that Al Gore lost a heap of change on the Tennessee Titans last weekend, fear not. He already lost it on his home-team -- the Redskins. It is no surprise that the one of the most contentious issues in this campaign is, again, the willful slaughter of unborn children. Amazingly, though, the most heated abortion debate is between Bradley and Gore: Who is the MOST pro-abortion? Mr. Bradley says the Vice Prevaricator is running his campaign on lies. "This is not an issue that you can straddle," Bradley told Gore in debate. "I've always supported Roe v. Wade," responded Gore. "I have always supported a woman's right to choose. And let me say that if you entrust me with the presidency, I will guarantee that a woman's right to choose is protected." But Bradley contends he has not always been pro-abortion. in 1976, Gore said in an interview, "I don't believe a woman's freedom to live her own life, in all cases, outweighs the fetus' right to life." Gore voted for a 1984 bill that sought to amend the Civil Rights Act to define "the term 'person' [to] include unborn children from the moment of conception." In 1987, Gore said abortion is "arguably the taking of a human life." In 1988, he wrote constituents about his opposition to abortion. "If you lie about this, what else will you lie about?'' asked Bill Bradley. Gore said Bradley is trading "character, courage and commitment" for "manipulative attack after manipulative attack." As the battle got hotter, Gore's hometown hacks, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, went public: "We urge Senator Bradley not to end his New Hampshire campaign with personal negative attacks on a fellow Democrat." Also rushing to defend Gore's integrity was that stalwart of personal responsibility, Teddy Kennedy, who said, "The standard for public service in the Democratic Party has been established by the Gores of Tennessee!" Elsewhere in New Hampshire, Senator Bob Kerrey, a Bradley man, showed up at a Gore event and was greeted by Gore's union thugs, who kicked mud on him while calling him a quitter and a cripple. (You know, one of those former Navy SEAL "Medal of Honor" recipient ... quitters!) When Mr. Kerrey, who lost a leg in Vietnam, was asked about Gore's thugs calling him a "cripple," he responded, "I am a cripple. That's the first honest thing they've said in 10 days." Gore campaign spokesman Chris Lehane said of the assault: "First Amendment. They have the right to say what they want." Stay tuned! On the Rodham-Clintonista trail... The Federalist has hired renowned Martha's Vineyard private detective Chappaqua Dick (infamous for his "deep cover" assignment as one of Teddy Kennedy's "fixers" back in the early 1970s) to follow "Executive One Foxtrot" around New York State. Chappy is on assignment this weekend for Ms. Rodham-Clinton's surprise announcement that she is seeking the U.S. Senate from her home state du jour. He will be establishing his new "cover" as her coiffeur. Regarding the high energy costs and property taxes, Ms. Rodham-Clinton says, "Now that I'm a resident, I can share your pain." Clever. News from the Swamp... In the House of Commons, Speaker Dennis Hastert says of Mr. Clinton's umpteen gazillion dollars worth of new spending, "We will sift through the [his] requests and make a determination of what is necessary and what is not: Fiscal responsibility is still the hallmark of this Congress, and we will not use the current surplus as an excuse to go on a government spending spree." We'll let you know. In other legislative news, after checking with his Chinese handlers, Mr. Clinton threatened to veto congressional legislation bolstering military ties with Taiwan. Despite the threat, 140 Demos broke ranks and helped Republicans overwhelmingly pass the bill, 341-70. "Any mixed signals by our government can easily be read by Communist China as complacency, so we must erase all doubt that we are fully committed to Taiwan," said Rep. Tom DeLay. And it's about time! The intruders... The Federal Communications Commission reversed its new guidelines limiting religious content on noncommercial public television in a 4-1 vote. The guidelines had required noncommercial broadcasters to devote at least one-half of their programming hours to topics not "primarily devoted to religious exhortation, proselytizing, or statements of personally-held religious views and beliefs." Perhaps they will have better luck with other noncommercial entities like, say, places of worship that utilize PA systems. Regarding your IRS overpayment... We received this Seminar Announcement from the USGCRP: " 'The Earth's Surface Temperature in the 20th Century: Coming to Grips with Satellite and Surface-Based Records of Temperature.' Tuesday, January 25, 2000 3:15-4:45 PM Dirksen Senate Office Bldg., Room G-11, Washington, DC." The conference was forced to reschedule due to ... snow! >From the states... In the wake of Columbine, the Colorado Legislature is considering a proposal to require schools to post the Ten Commandments and offer a moment of silent reflection on our "heritage as a free people in one nation under God." And none too late! In related news, the Virginia Legislature passed a law mandating a "moment of silence" in their schools this week. In the halls of justice... A few weeks ago, we told you about the ABA proposal to let "non-lawyers" serve as partners in law firms, we estimate, a ploy to allow Mr. Clinton to earn a handsome salary though he may be disbarred. Now, the Supreme Court of Arkansas has ordered its bar ethics committee to start formal disciplinary proceedings against Clinton for lying to protect himself in the Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. >From the annals of the politically challenged... Atlanta Braves relief pitcher John "PC-phobic" Rocker has been benched, fined $20,000 and subjected to "sensitivity training" (AKA "re-education camp") for what ABCnews.com described as "a series of xenophobic, homophobic, racist comments." Rocker said, "Imagine having to take the 7 train to the ballpark, looking like you're [riding through] Beirut, next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time, next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing." ABC left out "lebanaphobic, bronxaphobic, graffitiphobic, punkaphobic, xconaphobic and illegitaphobic." Fortunately Rocker was not a Braves owner making highly publicized jokes about the Pope ("Ever seen a Polish mine detector?") or disparaging remarks about Christians ("Christianity is for losers."). If so, he might have been eligible for a billion-dollar windfall from the merger of Time Warner and AOL! In economic news... "We are now in our 107th month of economic expansion, breaking all records!" exclaimed Al Gore in his New Hampshire victory speech -- somehow claiming credit for the Clinton administration. Oops! The 107th month part is right, but that puts the beginning of the current economic boom well back into President Bush's administration. Cato Institute economist Stephen Moore notes that "arguably Bill Clinton's greatest economic achievement has been that almost all of his cockamamie policy ideas were never enacted into law. Remember the BTU tax? Remember Robert Reich's $50 billion fiscal stimulus package? Remember most of all, Hillary's health care plan? Thankfully, we dodged all of these economic wrecking balls." (The Republican Congress does deserve some credit after all!) Around the world... Bill Clinton was nominated for the fifth year for a Nobel Peace Prize. It's a resume "must" for the big job at the U.N. Oh for a legacy.... And last, "Punxsutawney Phil" -- stew! ______--------********O********--------______ INSIGHT "Love truth, but pardon error." --Voltaire {} "What is today supported by precedents will hereafter become a precedent." --Cornelius Tacitus {} "First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others." --Thomas � Kempis {} "In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king." --Desiderius Erasmus {} "I remember that a wise friend of mine did usually say, 'That which is everybody's business is nobody's business'." --Izaak Walton {} "A good mind possesses a kingdom." --Lucius Annaeus Seneca {} "Treat your friends like family and your family like friends." --Cotton Mather {} "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks." --Phillips Brooks {} "A fool must now and then be right, by chance." --William Cowper {} "Great actions are not always true sons Of great and mighty resolutions." --Samuel Butler {} "God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder the source of which is beyond all reason." --Dag Hammarskjold ______--------********O********--------______ THE GOOD NEWS "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm." (Proverbs 4:25-26) ______--------********O********--------______ UPRIGHT "The sum of his farewell State of the Union address is merely the reminder that a presidency is a terrible thing to waste -- something like wasting a duck, even a lame one, on mere soup." --Wesley Pruden ++ "After Bill's latest and last State of the Union address one can only conclude that the era of the era of big government is over is over. ... I've figured out why the justices didn't attend [Clinton's final State of the Union speech]: Ethics. They may have to participate in his disbarment hearings." --Lyn Nofziger ++ "Sometimes, what is not said is more telling than what is said. That is the case with this speech; it contained not a single reference to explicit constitutional limits on what this government can legally do, nor did it acknowledge that our rights and freedoms come, not from the state, but from our Creator." --Linda Bowles {} "For several years George W. Bush assembled a campaign apparatus capable of backing his candidacy with even more marketing power, relative to competitors, than Ford Motor Company put behind the Edsel. Now he has 16 days, until South Carolina votes, to prove that he is not, like that car, a product designed in disregard of changing market forces." --George Will {} "Whatever else may come of the Elian Gonzalez case, it has served as a timely reminder of realities that many have been at pains to obscure." --Mona Charen {} "When Bill Clinton and Al Gore try to claim credit for this (economic) expansion, it's like the rooster taking credit for the dawn -- and about as believable as Al Gore's claim he invented the Internet." --Jim Nicholson {} "Liberals love to redefine 'true conservatism' so it means 'conserving last year's liberal gains'." --Maggie Gallagher {} "No people should allow political sleaze to rewrite their country's history." --Charley Reese {} "If science is going to find the truth, it must be open to all the possibilities." --Charles Colson ______--------********O********--------______ SECOND OPINION ROAD BUMPS AHEAD? "New Hampshire is a bump in the road for front runners and this year is no exception." --George W. Bush Last Tuesday, the "bump" was a fleet of Straight Talk Express buses running over something in the middle of the road. And John McCain's 18% margin of victory, deep and broad though littered with independents, was something more than a protuberance on Mr. Bush's road to the White House. By Wednesday morning, even the Mars Polar Lander had gotten an earful of punditry about why Mr. Bush fared so poorly -- to the surprise of every media talkinghead. But now that the confetti has settled and the din of competing spin is subsiding, unfettered reasoning and analysis can emerge. The Federalist noted last week: "The most compelling analysis of the Iowa vote is that the candidates to the right of Mr. Bush, who has positioned himself as an establishment centrist, collected 54% of the votes cast." That constituted a rejection of the "establishment" candidate, setting the stage for further rejection in New Hampshire. Indeed, the net result was that Bush's 41% showing in Iowa dropped to 31% in New Hampshire, where McCain had placed all his bets. To hear McCain tell it, his victory was all about his Johnny-one-note message -- campaign finance reform. He told his supporters Tuesday night, "The Washington triangle of big money, lobbyists and legislation...for too long has placed special interests above the national interests.... Thanks to you, we've sent a powerful message to Washington that change is coming...it's the beginning of the end of the truth-busting politics of Bill Clinton and Al Gore." While a plurality of Americans are ready to dispense with the Clinton/Gore regime permanently, perhaps viewing McCain as the "anti-Clinton," fewer than 1% of Americans list campaign finance reform as a major concern. So if it was not McCain's message, what was it? Let's examine two points of conventional wisdom about McCain and the liberal media who have, arguably, given him much more favorable coverage than Mr. Bush. 1. "McCain is the darling of liberal media because he is an easier target for Gore than Bush." Perhaps some liberal pundits view him as an easier opponent, but most know that if you put straight-talkin' McCain mano a mano with Clinton's enabler, Gore will look like a convict at a parole board hearing. McCain is no pushover. 2. "McCain is the darling of liberal media because his 'campaign finance reform' proposals will effectively protect the media's 'Fourth Estate' from the Constitution's First Amendment." Make no mistake about it. The only obstacle to a virtual liberal monopoly on public opinion, and thus public office, is the ability of "special interests" -- conservative special interests -- to purchase marketing for their message. The liberal message is distributed free-of-charge via the Brokaw/Rather/Jennings cartel, in cooperation with King, O' Donnell, Rivera et al. (The Sociocrats do, of course, occasionally purchase airtime with "contributions" from unions, Buddhist nuns, and the Peoples' Liberation Army.) McCain's reform prop gets plenty of coverage by an admiring media. So the media likes McCain more than Mr. Bush. Are we suggesting that accounts for his outstanding performance in New Hampshire? It certainly counts for something, but McCain's real appeal is not driven by his message or friendly media. It is something much deeper in the conscience of conservative voters. McCain's victory was a rejection of the status quo. Though George Bush and Al Gore are differentiated ideologically, they both look like two sides of the same coin -- silver spoon boarding school boys, Yale and Harvard men, inheritance beneficiaries of political dynasties, establishment candidates tapped by the elites of their respective parties, with all the cash, accoutrements and political spinners to prove it. In short, they look like Republicrats, a hybrid breed of establishment Republicans and Democrats no longer distinguished by principled character. Thus, "establishment politics" and "principled character" are seen as antithetical. Therein lies the McCain appeal. He is viewed as the anti-establishment pro-character candidate, a warrior who can stand up to Clinton and his prot�g�. This is not to suggest Bush and Gore are, by any means, moral equivalents. Mr. Bush's integrity handily eclipses that of Mr. Gore. It is simply to say that conservative voters are capable of rejecting the status quo because of their disdain for the current GOP establishment. After all, Mr. McCain's message is just that: Reject "the Washington triangle of big money, lobbyists and legislation...." Republicans in New Hampshire gave McCain a nod the way they did Pat Buchanan in 1996 -- who tanked shortly thereafter. They again rejected the anointed establishment guy -- and who could blame them after hearing the abysmal response to Mr. Clinton's diatribe last week by Bill Frist and Susan Collins? But -- we cannot overemphasize this point -- McCain is no conservative maverick like Buchanan, which is to say, conservative voters are so dissatisfied with establishment Republicans that some number of them will even vote for a candidate like McCain with a very dubious ideological pedigree but perceived to be long on character. McCain got the message in New Hampshire. To wit, his new mantra: "All of the establishment is against me and I'm proud of it. If you want business as usual, you don't want me as president." As for his prospects in South Carolina, a state with a strong military heritage, he can stay afloat there. If he expands his "reform" message to include, say, scrapping the tax code -- a far more insidious mechanism of liberal special interests than campaign contributions -- and replacing it with a flat or national sales tax, all bets are off. Alternately, though Mr. Bush is a formidable opponent with coffers full and a well-oiled machine, if he continues to straddle the line in the middle of the road, continues to be perceived as a "kinder, gentler, compassionate conservative" of the "establishment roll-over " variety, he may again find himself of the "establishment run-over" variety. ______--------********O********--------______ EDITORIAL EXEGESIS "Why did the Arkansas boy who shook Jack Kennedy's hand and then achieved the dream inspired by that moment not do more with his hard-won opportunity? ... With seven years gone, he seems to have no guaranteed hold on the affections of the American people. [**Understatement!] He has not established a trademark leadership style that other presidential aspirants are eager to embrace. [**Understatement!] He will, to be sure, be remembered for stirring speeches and good intentions. But the betting today would have to be that the rooms and hallways that Mr. Clinton says he is trying to fix in his memory will always be haunted by sad questions about what might have been." --New York Times ______--------********O********--------______ DEZINFORMATSIA The "dezinformatsia" monopolies: ABC and the New York Times announced plans to form an editorial partnership for the coverage of news events. This after NBC joined the Washington Post/Newsweek consortium a few months back and AOL's link up with Time Warner. {} "Well, they're both basically centrist Democrats." --ABC political analyst George Stephanopoulos on Messrs. Gore and Bradley. {} "[Gore was looking] buff in a particularly snug pair of jeans." --ABC's Ted Koppel, competing with Geraldo for a date with the creep's veep. ______--------********O********--------______ SOCIOCRATS "We are fortunate to be alive at this moment in history [and must form] a more perfect union." --Mr. Clinton **We suppose he means AFL-CIO. {} "What I have gained more than anything else is a certain humility in recognizing how important forgiveness is, but how it doesn't count and it can't count unless you can give it as well as ask for it." --Mr. Clinton **Not to be confused with repentance. ______--------********O********--------______ VILLAGE IDIOTS "I started licking doorknobs. The front door, office doors, even a bathroom door. When that was done, I started in on the staplers, phones and computer keyboards. Then I stood in the kitchen and licked the rims of all the clean coffee cups drying in the rack." --Salon webzine's homosexual "activist" Dan Savage on how he tried to pass his "virus" to Garry Bauer while posing as one his "gay bashing" volunteers in Iowa. **Somebody call the "hate-crime" police!" ("If there's been a low in American journalism, it is Salon magazine." --Mort Kondracke) ______--------********O********--------______ SHORT CUTS "Gun control people don't know what they're talking about. They're ignorant. They believe things without researching or understanding." --Jesse Ventura on the "gun problem" folks. Ventura went on to say that he had a sign posted in his home reading "We Don't Dial 911." {} " 'In Washington, you get one flake and forget it,' [Al Gore] sneered in New Hampshire. Really? When's the last time he shoveled snow?" --Paul Bedard in U.S. News & World Report. **And we thought Washington, D.C., was up to its elbows in flakes year-round! {} "I'm probably the most normal, down-to-earth human being you've ever seen." --Tammy Faye Bakker-Messner {} "I've learned not to put things in my mouth that are bad for me." --Monica Lewinsky discussing her Jenny Craig weight-loss program. Night Lines: Leno.... Baltimore Ravens backstabber, I mean linebacker, Ray Lewis charged with murder for allegedly stabbing 2 men after a Super Bowl party in Atlanta. Now how can 1 football player stab 2 people? O.J.'s lawyer told us over and over that was not physically possible. .... You know, the Rams, they left LA. It's hard for LA to watch that. It's like watching your ex-wife winning the lottery. .... Did you see that stupid Mike Tyson fight? What a rip-off that was. Even people with illegal cable hookups were demanding their money back. At the pre-fight, they put a toe tag on [Julius Francis]. {} Letterman.... Applaud if we have tourists in the audience. (Applause) It's nice to have out-of-towners that aren't running for Senate. .... Here's a program reminder. I think it's tomorrow night right here. Hillary Clinton, "I'll Be Jewish For Christmas." (**) Denotes Editor's Comment -- PUBLIUS -- **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
