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Heads Up
A Weekly View from the Foothills of Appalachia
August 20, 2000 #195
by: Doug Fiedor [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Previous Editions at:
http://209.15.142.23/reports/headsup/list-hu.htm
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GORE BOMBS BADLY
An elderly Democrat asked an interesting
question at the local greasy spoon the other day: "Who are
the Democratic heroes today?"
After a little thought, I came up with a smart-
aleck answer: "How the hell am I supposed to know, I'm a
Constitutionalist, not a liberal. I can't think of any
liberal heroes."
"Exactly!" she said. "Back when I was teaching
school, at least there were a few national Democrats we
could look up to. Now there is no one. Gore does not
stand a chance in this election."
Nevertheless, they had a convention anyway.
Slick Willie and the Misses took their campaign
time to toot their own horns and, of course, lie a lot. He
was as slick as a prosperous used car salesman; she couldn't
even speak as well as the artificial intelligence software
in my computer can read aloud my e-mail in the morning.
One interesting development was that Fox
News went to a split screen format while Bill Clinton was
completing his self-indulgent speech. They used half of the
screen to show the riots outside the convention center and
even talked over Clinton for a while describing the action.
Then, of course, there was the brouhaha about
holding a fund-raiser at the Playboy mansion. One worry
was that they wouldn't be able to get Bill Clinton out of
there. Another problem is that Gore and Lieberman are
trying to give the appearance that the Democratic Party
suddenly sprouted some "family values."
Of course, all that is in the face of the fact
that they had a quota system to insure there were the
proper mix of each race, sex, religion and sexual
orientation (including transgendered) on the convention
floor. Go figure.
Anyway, when the Boy Scouts went up on stage to
do their thing, a large contingent of conventioneers joined
together to loudly boo the Scouts because of their moral
creed. That's the "family values" of the Party of the Ass.
One little inconvenient problem with Gore's new
"moral" thing, though: Clinton, Clinton & Gore have this
big spender friend who also publishes a girlie magazine.
It should be interesting to watch Lieberman when Larry
Flynt pops up with a cool half-million or so campaign
donation. And don't forget Bob Guccione of Penthouse.
Anyway, over the Clinton years, Playboy gave $6,500 to Al
Gore to play with, $26,000 to the Democratic Congressional
Committee; and $85,239 to Democratic candidates. None of
these girlie magazine publishers gave to Republicans.
Incidentally, Lieberman already said Gore should
keep the Playboy contributions. "I don't think that he has
to [return the money] and I don't think that he should,"
Lieberman said when asked about the glaring inconsistency.
That's politics.
According to New Democrats Online
[http://www.ndol.org] the platform of the Party of the Ass
was "largely drafted by former Progressive Policy Institute
(PPI) Senior Fellow Elaine Kamarck and former Blueprint
Magazine editor Andrei Cheney" and is a New Democrat
document. Which means, it is also a "Third Way" socialist
document. http://www.ppionline.org
And, how about that Jesse "where's the camera"
Jackson, eh? Someone sent him up to the stage with a
script -- not knowing, evidently, that Jesse reads about as
good as he speaks. He sounded like he was doing a parody
of a bad politician. Enough said.
Teddy Kennedy was also allowed to speak.
Typical far-left babble from another limousine liberal.
Isn't it about time we start rejecting politicians who
acquired their family wealth through organized crime
activities?
Joe Lieberman was a surprise. For the most
part, he stuck to the script given him. But, we learned
something about Lieberman: He is perfectly willing to
waste time telling mistruths, half-truths, cheap shots, and
complete lies. And, as we note with humor, people noticed.
By Wednesday night, the Democrats had insured
that their sycophants in the media did not show the riots
outside, so people started listening to the LA police calls
over the Internet.
We also got a kick out of hearing about the
$50,000 to $100,000 dinners given to Democratic Members of
Congress by lobbyists. They do it at the convention because
that is an unrecorded bribery zone -- nothing needs to be
reported.
Then, along came Al Gore. Apparently, they
finally got Gore looking like they want him: sort of like a
cross between Ronald Reagan and Howdy Doody.
Gore gave his normal lackluster stump speech,
laced with "feel good" social programs and a lot about his
family. Actually, he could have phoned it in because all
it boiled down to was: 'I love my family and friends and I
will work to help certain American families -- by giving
them stuff paid for by others -- so vote for me.'
Not one thing Gore mentioned throughout the
whole speech concerned a function authorized by the
Constitution to the federal government. Not even one. . . .
Such is the shame of today's government. Personified.
Many reports from in and around that convention
center seemed to show Democrats in their true color.
Inside, they had a strict quota system for delegates.
Outside, they lived and acted like a bunch of rich
limousine liberals and were often harsh to the service
people. One waitress complained that the people were very
demanding but the tips were positively awful.
Ah yes, but Democrats are working to help the
poor in society. Apparently, though, they mean "all" of
the poor "collectively" -- and help them with other people's
money -- not the poor who are actually standing in front of
them at any particular moment.
ANOTHER GOVERNMENT RIP-OFF
Number crunching is not one of our most favorite
things to do. However, I have been examining government
budgets for quite some time and no longer get fooled easily
by the devious tricks often used to hide things from the
general population.
So, I was very skeptical when I received messages
from two normally credible sources that the administrations
of State governments were hiding many billions of bucks
from both the people and the State legislators in a "secret
set of books." In truth, this sounded much too much like
yet another urban rumor or Internet conspiracy floated out
for whatever reason people do such things.
Compounding the issue was the fact that they
were targeting Kentucky as having nearly $9.5-billion in
unallocated funds just sitting around. But, two things are
wrong with that statement: First, the Kentucky General
Assembly was controlled by liberal Democrats for over 200
years. Second, the governor's office has also been held by
liberal Democrats most of that time. So, let's face it; if
they could find money, they would have spent it.
Nevertheless, I asked a State Senator for a copy
of the often pointed to Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report (CAFR) and eventually got around to taking a look.
The CAFR is more or less an audit of the State's
assets reported to the federal government. Part of the
State's budget is in there, too, but the CAFR is different
than the budget because it also lists all assets.
After the third hour of studying the report,
I had two basic impressions: First, whoever wrote the
report did not take the job very seriously. The writing is
contradictory in parts and there were major accounting
errors -- one major error of $280-million and others of a
million bucks or more each. Second, I doubted that anyone
ever read the report, and certainly not federal government
accountants or auditors.
Generally speaking, I could see how others -- like
CAFRman at http://www.cafrman.com/Articles/Art-KY-S1.htm --
came up with a figure of $9.436-billion in unallocated funds
for Kentucky, but I did not agree with the specifics.
Because of a mishmash of old and new laws (and a clause in
the State Constitution), much of that $9.436-billion was not
available funds. It could be in other States, but not in
Kentucky.
Nevertheless, what I did find is about $2.4-
billion in immediately free funds that could and should be
returned to the people of Kentucky. It was also easy to
identify another $3-billion, or so, that could also be
returned to the people after a few minor law changes by the
General Assembly.
Therefore, without comment, I handed the Kentucky
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report off to David Buck,
MBA, who is a good accountant. We agree on many of the
same items for the same reasons and a few minor items for
slightly different reasons. Better yet, we both agree
that, with just a couple minor changes in the law, a total
of about $4.7-billion could and should immediately be
returned to the people. That equates to about $1,300 for
every man, woman and child in the State.
This also presents a major problem for the
Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Governor and General
Assembly are bound by Section 53 of the Kentucky
Constitution to, "provide by law for monthly investigations
into the accounts of the Treasurer and Auditor of Public
Accounts. ... The reports received by the Governor shall,
at the beginning of each session, be transmitted by him to
the General Assembly for scrutiny and appropriate action"
Section 53 has quite obviously not been faithfully
followed, else the General Assembly would know that the
Commonwealth of Kentucky has many billions of dollars in
unallocated funds and that there is absolutely no reason to
raise our taxes. In fact, there is enough money currently
available to run the Commonwealth for at least a year with
no taxes. Furthermore, based on the current State budget,
if all the $34-billion identified in the CAFR were properly
invested, there is a great chance that the Commonwealth of
Kentucky could operate, perpetually, from just the interest,
and no further taxes or fees would ever be necessary.
-----------------------------
NOTE: This is the first in a series of articles
on this topic. We recommend that readers get a copy of the
CAFR for their own State and see what is available. And,
we are happy to report, there is great precedence for
returning money such as this to the people. According to a
December 1999 article in the Wall Street Journal, within
his first six months in office, Minnesota Governor Jesse
Ventura returned $1.3 billion in surpluses to the residents
of Minnesota. For more information, visit:
http://www.cafrman.com
OF MEN DISPOSED TO USURP
As the federal government goes about its
unassigned function of regulating every aspect of the life,
liberty and property of American citizens, we sometimes
point to the Bill of Rights for protection. So, herein we
excerpt a passage from The Federalist Papers #84, written
by Alexander Hamilton.
This excerpt is worth reading, and studying.
It tells the forgotten story of the American Rule of Law.
And it also points out that it is again time We the People
have a little job description discussion with our public
servants in government. Hamilton wrote:
"I go further and affirm that bills of rights,
in the sense and to the extent in which they are contended
for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed Constitution
but would even be dangerous. They would contain various
exceptions to powers which are not granted; and, on this
very account, would afford a colorable pretext to claim
more than were granted. For why declare that things shall
not be done which there is no power to do? Why, for
instance, should it be said that the liberty of the press
shall not be restrained, when no power is given by which
restrictions may be imposed? I will not contend that such
a provision would confer a regulating power; but it is
evident that it would furnish, to men disposed to usurp, a
plausible pretense for claiming that power. They might
urge with a semblance of reason that the Constitution ought
not to be charged with the absurdity of providing against
the abuse of an authority which was not given, and that the
provision against restraining the liberty of the press
afforded a clear implication that a power to prescribe
proper regulations concerning it was intended to be vested
in the national government. This may serve as a specimen
of the numerous handles which would be given to the
doctrine of constructive powers, by the indulgence of an
injudicious zeal for bills of rights."
The Constitution authorizes very few powers
to the federal government. Anything not listed belongs to
the States. So, when the federal government wished to
regulate alcohol, they first passed a Constitutional
amendment.
There has been no amendment passed allowing
the federal government to regulate drugs, guns, education,
food, medications, medicine, or dozens of other things.
They just do it on their own, unencumbered by the need for
any type of Constitutional authority.
So, because many of us now fear speaking up, we
sit back and accept losing our rights one unconstitutional
law at a time.
That's the way things are today, but that is a
world apart from what the Founding Fathers intended when
they wrote the Constitution.
REP. LUCAS IS A LIBERAL
Kentucky made political news last week and it
positively infuriated many Northern Kentucky Republicans.
In a diabolical scheme to win reelection in a
strongly conservative district, U.S. Representative Ken
Lucas, the sole Democrat from the Blue Grass State, leaked
to national reporters that he would not vote for Al Gore at
the Democratic convention in LA. Lucas said he disagreed
with Gore on issues, like abortion and firearms.
That's ridiculous, of course, because when he was
Boone County Judge Executive, Lucas lobbied the General
Assembly against passing a concealed carry law and passed
the only gun control law in the history of Boone County.
Also, just the week before Lucas' newly contrived brouhaha,
he was seen in the Lexington area supporting another
Democrat for Congress who is a rabid supporter of partial
birth abortion.
But, never mind. They don't call this the
"silly season" for nothing. It's all just politics.
Many Northern Kentucky Republicans who have
followed Lucas' deeds for years are finding it humorous
that the Democratic Congressman calls himself a
"conservative."
In truth, Ken Lucas failed to win the last
Congressional election in the area where people know him
best -- his own county. Second, if Mr. Lucas were known by
the company he keeps in Congress, he probably would never
win another election anywhere in Kentucky again. A little
research in the Federal Election Commission records tells
the story:
The Lucas campaign fund received money from
Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), John Lewis (D-GA), George Miller
(D-CA), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Charles Rangel (D-NY),
among others on the far-left. But, those five names stand
out because they are all members of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus -- a group closely aligned with the
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The DSA, of course,
is the domestic arm of Socialist International of London,
England. Now, why would they support Lucas if he's not one
of them?
The Lucas campaign also received $5,000 from
Al Gore and big checks from at least one Kennedy and a host
of other liberals. He got many thousands of dollars from
the liberal unions, $15,000 from the NEA, and even a big
check from a certain Cincinnati lawyer with a strong
propensity for suing tobacco companies and gun manufacturers.
Yet, the facts-impaired media generally label
Lucas as a "moderate" and even a "conservative" and let
Lucas get away with calling himself a "common sense
conservative." That's baloney. He should be known by the
company he keeps when the people of Kentucky are not
looking.
In Washington, Lucas joined the New Democrat
Network (NDN), which is closely aligned with the Democratic
Leadership Council (DLC) and the Progressive Policy
Institute (PPI). The goal of these groups, of course, is
to promote "Third Way" socialism in the United States -- and
launder money back and forth to keep their members elected.
These are the far-left groups sponsoring "open
trade, USA" and pushing permanent free trade relations with
China, Vietnam and Africa. They gave Ken Lucas a score of
100% for his work with them. That's certainly not
"conservative."
The NDN was founded in 1996 by Senator Joe
Lieberman, chairman of the DLC. "NDN acts as a political
venture capital fund," a special type of political action
committee among political action committees. NDN raises
PAC money from many sectors, which they then distribute to
their top federal candidates -- Lucas received $10,000 from
them. NDN also provides a mechanism for fat-cats to donate
directly to candidates without worrying about all those
pesky Election Commission limits. Clinton campaign aide,
Simon Rosenberg, is now NDN's President. Joe Lieberman is
chairman.
The DLC does the same thing, actually. But,
by forming the NDN, Lieberman, Clinton, Gore and friends
could contribute more than twice as much to favored
candidates. And, they do not contribute to conservatives.
So, the truth is that, in his two years in
Congress, Ken Lucas burrowed right in with all the rest of
the limousine liberals and the Washington insider fat-cat
establishment. Election Commission records show that Lucas
received most of his campaign contributions from many of
the far-left PACs and lobbyists in Washington. That's what
the NDN and DLC does for its members: gets them lots of
money so they are willing to vote correctly when needed.
This latest news cycle about Lucas not
supporting Gore is, therefore, but a contrived scam to
trick the people of Kentucky into believing Lucas is a
conservative. That even some Republicans around the
country fell for the trick is simply because they spoke
without first checking Lucas' record.
Or, to put it a little clearer: Ken Lucas is
to conservative as Alan Keyes is to liberal. No matter
how you look at it, there just ain't a fit there.
-----------------------------
We suggest that everyone check out the Election
Commission records to see who is contributing to their
Congress critters. Below are a few addresses of liberal
groups. Is your Member of Congress a member of one of
these groups? You should know.
http://imgsrv.sdrdc.com/fecimg/norcansea.html
http://www.newdem.org/
http://www.dlcppi.org/tnd.html-ssi
http://www.ppionline.org
http://www.netprogress.org/legis/index.htm
http://www.dsausa.org/dsa.html
http://www.fabian-society.org.uk
~ End ~
"Government is not the solution, but rather the
cause of our problems." -- Ronald Reagan
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