-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! * Veritas Vos Liberabit * THE FEDERALIST(r) BRIEF The Conservative e-Journal of Record Date: 13 February 2001 Federalist #01-07.brf To retrieve today's Brief as HTML printer-friendly text, link to -- http://www.Federalist.com/current2001.asp To support or sponsor The Federalist, link to -- http://www.Federalist.com/support.asp ______--------********O********--------______ THIS WEEK'S FEATURED SITE "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union." --Abraham Lincoln in 1862 on his justification for the Northern War of Aggression against the constitutional secession of the South. For a different perspective on Abraham Lincoln and the cause of the Civil War, take a minute and read this commentary by economist Walter Williams. Visit -- http://www.scvcamp469-nbf.com/Q&A/civil_war_wasn.htm CONTENTS: The Founders Insight Good News ICTUS Imprimis Faith & Family Culture Liberty Opinion in Brief The Gipper Government Political Futures For the Record Policy Pages Reader Comments The Last Word The Top Ten ______--------********O********--------______ THE FOUNDERS "...Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed...so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger." --Patrick Henry "No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles." --George Mason ______--------********O********--------______ INSIGHT "The Gettysburg speech was at once the shortest and the most famous oration in American history...the highest emotion reduced to a few poetical phrases. Lincoln himself never even remotely approached it. It is genuinely stupendous. But let us not forget that it is poetry, not logic; beauty, not sense. Think of the argument in it. Put it into the cold words of everyday. The doctrine is simply this: that the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg sacrificed their lives to the cause of self-determination -- that government of the people, by the people, for the people, should not perish from the earth. It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue. The Union soldiers in the battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of their people to govern themselves." --H.L. Mencken ______--------********O********--------______ GOOD NEWS "Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away." (Psalm 1:4) "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." (Proverbs 16:9) "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:6) ______--------********O********--------______ ICTUS IMPRIMIS "A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things." --St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) ______--------********O********--------______ FAITH & FAMILY "Like it or not, American Jews -- like American Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and atheists -- ARE different from their neighbors. This IS a Christian country -- it was founded by Christians and built on broad Christian principles. Threatening? Far from it: It is in precisely this Christian country that Jews have known the most peaceful, prosperous, and successful existence in their long history. In America, a non-Christian need not answer 'Amen' to an explicitly Christian prayer. We are free to remain silent -- a freedom that countless Jews, living in far less tolerant times and places, could only dream of. This is a society where members of minority faiths live and worship without fear, secure in the hospitality and liberty that America extends to all religions. ... Religious diversity does not mean that no American should ever have to listen to prayers that are different from his own. On the contrary: It means that no American is entitled to try to suppress the prayers of others. 'Jesus' should not be a forbidden word in this land. Not even at a presidential inauguration." --Jeff Jacoby "In the 1990s, the Oxford English Dictionary added 'trophy wife' to its official lexicon. The term refers to 'a wife regarded as a status symbol for a usually older man.' It won't be long before 'trophy wife' spawns a new linguistic offspring: 'Trophy baby' -- a newborn child regarded as a status symbol for a usually young, single and wealthy Hollywood starlet. ... Now that no family arrangement is better than any other, why not accept lonely single starlets who want to role-play parents? Because moral relativism and make-believe mommyhood have dire consequences. Babies should not be exploited as trendy accessories, draped across an actress's shoulder like last year's pashmina shawl. These are real lives, not stage props." --Michelle Malkin ______--------********O********--------______ CULTURE "Tough standards that mean something develop strong character. ..Whether for soldiers in foxholes, or the rest of our culture, for that matter, arrogance and ego do not hold us together. Rather, we need a commitment to one another, a regard for the common good, and the old-fashioned virtues of 'duty, honor, and country'." --Charles Colson ______--------********O********--------______ LIBERTY "The Civil War wasn't just a victory of North over South; it was a victory for centralized government over the states and federalism. It destroyed the ability of the states to protect themselves against the destruction of their reserved powers. Must we all be happy about this? [Abraham] Lincoln himself -- the real Lincoln, that is -- would have deprecated the unintended results of the war. Though he sometimes resorted to dictatorial methods, he never meant to create a totalitarian state. It's tragic that slavery was intertwined with a good cause, and scandalous that those who defend that cause today should be smeared as partisans of slavery. But the verdict of history must not be left to the simple-minded and the demagogic." --Joseph Sobran ______--------********O********--------______ OPINION IN BRIEF "Religious groups will be making a deal with the devil if they accept the 30 pieces of silver from the federal government. Accepting federal funds will put religious groups at the mercy of government bureaucrats, make them more dependent on government handouts, and politicize what should be very personal religious decisions. Jesus Christ wasn't a government bureaucrat -- and the religious groups that have been inspired by his ministry shouldn't become government bureaucrats, either. And the same is true for Jews, Muslims, and every other religious faith that may be tempted by this proposal." --Libertarian Steve Dasbach Worth Repeating... Rep. Ron Paul on President Bush's "Faith-Based Initiatives" President Bush announced his plan to allow private charities and religious organizations a greater role in delivering social services currently provided mostly by the federal government. He certainly is correct in his assertion that private groups do a better job of running food banks, day care centers, drug treatment centers, and other social programs. I applaud his desire to transfer funds away from government agencies and into the private sector. I certainly disagree with critics who misunderstand the First Amendment and view the President's proposal as a sinister endorsement of religion. Bush especially should be credited for offering an alternative to the status quo, because federal agencies simply do a terrible job of providing social services. The proposal has risks, however. First, the federal welfare state simply may expand in size and scope. Congress seemingly is incapable of reducing spending, instead adding billions to the budget every year. This excessive spending may expand to fund private organizations in addition to current funding for federal agencies. I doubt seriously that savings created by the substitution of efficient private organizations for inefficient federal agencies will ever be reflected in the federal budget. The more likely scenario is that government spending will grow more than ever. Second, religious organizations risk the sanctity of their faith when they involve themselves with government. The government will have to decide what religious organizations qualify for federal funds, which puts it in the untenable position of deciding which faiths are legitimate. Would the pro-abortion Health and Human Services department ever surrender funds to a strongly pro-life Catholic charity? Would American taxpayers support funding for an organization viewed by many as a cult, if it ran an efficient soup kitchen? These uncomfortable questions suggest that some faiths would be tempted to change their message to win favor with the government. The liberal collectivists have the argument against the President's proposal all wrong: the danger is not that government will be influenced by religion, but rather that religion will be influenced by government. The better approach is to abide by constitutional strictures and get the federal government completely out of the business of providing social services. Private charities and religious organizations will flourish in this country if we simply get government out of the way. First and foremost, we must exempt such organizations from regulations which constantly thwart their efforts. Second, we must endorse the proposal by President Bush to allow all Americans a deduction for charitable contributions, regardless of whether they itemize deductions or not. The majority of taxpayers apply the standard deduction, and they should enjoy a tax benefit for giving to charity even in small amounts. We should allow a 100% deduction for all contributions, regardless of whether to a standard charity, a charitable foundation or trust, or a religious organization. Finally, we must massively reduce government spending, so that income taxes can be lowered drastically. Americans are charitable by nature, but they rightfully resent losing nearly half their incomes to various levels of government. American charities would see huge increases in their budgets for providing social services if taxes were reduced to sane levels. ______--------********O********--------______ THE GIPPER "Having seen the domination of governments by a religious order and/or those nations where religious belief was dictated by the government, the framers of our Constitution made sure that our new nation would enjoy a separation of church and state. They simply meant that individuals would be free to worship as they chose; that government could not favor or discriminate against particular religions or denominations, nor could any denomination assume a role in government. .. I challenge anyone to prove that a clear and present danger to that Constitutional protection has ever existed, for even one moment, in all the years since the Constitution was ratified. And yet a few years ago, egged on by an avowed Atheist, voluntary prayer was banned in our schools. Have we let some among us make Atheism a religion and impose that religion on those of us who [uphold] our Judeo-Christian traditions?" --Ronald Reagan ______--------********O********--------______ GOVERNMENT "Faith-based institutions that become government's partners must brace themselves to resist incessant government pressure to dilute and mask the very messages that...are effective in healing dysfunctional lives. [For example:] A few years ago the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development wrote to the Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles concerning federal aid received by his St. Vincent de Paul Shelter for the homeless. HUD asked whether it would be possible to rename it the 'Mr. Vincent de Paul Shelter.' Because of court-created hypersensitivity, government often seems to bristle with hostility toward religion. [Professor John] DiIulio's [the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives] daunting task is to facilitate government cooperation with institutions where, he says, 'You can say "God bless" even when no one has sneezed'." --George Will ______--------********O********--------______ POLITICAL FUTURES "The disarray, so evident among Democrats in these first weeks of the Bush presidency, is the result of their not knowing where they are or who they are. While George W. Bush advances his own agenda and pushes his outreach to the opposition, the Democrats are struggling to find their footing." --David Broder In late November, after George Bush had won his presidential bid for the THIRD time, The Federalist noted, amid all the Demo-babble to write off Mr. Bush, that he was going to eventually surprise his opponents and win the hearts of a majority of Americans much the way he had the majority of Texans. (Mr. Bush won reelection in Texas by a historic margin of 70%.) Thus, this may be the earliest prediction in print on election 2004, but in order to beat the TV talkingheads to the punch, we are now declaring Mr. Bush the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes. This does NOT mean that we think Mr. Bush is going to be an articulate advocate for conservative themes in his first term. It does mean that we believe his opponents significantly underestimate the "common appeal" of this candidate. ______--------********O********--------______ FOR THE RECORD Enemies List... Regarding the House resolution extending birthday greetings to President Reagan last week, it passed by 410-0. Of note, however, seven Clintonistas, including the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, only voted "present" in protest. They are Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Loretta Sanchez, Pete Stark, Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee, Peter DeFazio and Maxine Waters. ______--------********O********--------______ POLICY PAGES & POINTS OF INTEREST (NOTE: For our subscribers with WWW access, if the URL line breaks, please select, copy and paste the entire link address into your browser's target address field.) Rebuilding America's Military Strength HERITAGE http://www.heritage.org/library/lecture/hl694.html Tax Plan Talking Points HERITAGE http://www.taxation.org/answers.html Media Violence Does Harm Kids FRC http://www.frc.org/press/index.cfm?get=oped&id=AR00J2 ______--------********O********--------______ READER COMMENTS (To submit an editorial comment or read other comments, link to: http://www.Federalist.com/postededs.asp) "I consider myself a libertarian conservative. I believe in minimalist government and maximum individual liberty/responsibility. I am uncomfortable with the Christian element pervading many of the articles in The Federalist." Editor's Reply: Veritas vos Liberabit! "I have to admit to being a disenfranchised radical from the '70's but I truly do enjoy The Federalist. I read The Federalist to gain insight into the conservative perspective and try to remain open minded and free thinking. I also like The Federalist because you don't proclaim to be anything more or less than you are. You are upfront about your perspective and don't use misleading garbage slogans like 'Fair and Balanced' or 'We Report -- You Decide.' I appreciate your honesty!" "The Federalist publications are usually meticulously proofread and edited so you can imagine my surprise when I read '...Clinton is billing taxpayers...' -- shouldn't that be 'bilking taxpayers'?" Editor's Reply: A grievous error indeed! "Effective Defense spending cut: Paint all service helmets blue and issue white hankies." "Israel and PA want the same thing.... Sharon wants a peace for Jerusalem; Arafat wants a piece of Jerusalem." "We suppose, after all the Demo-goguery on class warfare, that Marc Rich's pardon could be considered a tax break for the wealthy!" "Bravo Zulu to everyone associated with The Federalist." ______--------********O********--------______ THE LAST WORD A message from Philip J. Purcell, Chairman, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., about his firm's $140,000 fee paid to Bill Clinton. "I fully understand why you are upset that former President Clinton spoke at one of our conferences. We clearly made a mistake. ... We should have been far more sensitive to the strong feelings of our clients over Mr. Clinton's personal behavior as President. ... In this case, we should have thought twice before the speaking invitation was extended. Our failure to do so was particularly unfortunate in light of Mr. Clinton's actions in leaving the White House." Memo to Phil: NO -- you still got it wrong! First, sensitivity is not the issue -- common sense is, but then, "le sens commun n'est pas si commun." Second, you should have thought at least THREE times before issuing the invitation. And last, your decision was "particularly unfortunate in light of Mr. Clinton's actions" WHILE he was in the White House! (If you want to send Phil your own memo of appreciation, his e-mail address is <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) Next on the Clinton lying tour: Salem State College in Salem, MA, on March 26 -- for another cool hundred-large! ______--------********O********--------______ THE TOP TEN The Federalist's Top Ten In Brief 01-06, we asked members: What contemporary song title would make a good theme summary for the Clinton-Gore era? Here are your "Top Ten" responses: "Bad to the Bone" "Sympathy for the Devil" "Money" "Cocaine" "Fight for Your Right to Party" "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" "Lyin' Eyes" "I'm My Own Grandpa" "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" "Thank God and Greyhound You're Gone" Honorable Mentions: "Runnin' Down a Dream" "It's the End of the World as We Know It" "Pop Goes the Weasel" "We Really Shouldn't Be Doing This" "Take This Job and Shove It" "The Party's Over" "Highway To Hell" "Breakin' The Law" "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" "Punky's Dilemma" "That Smell" This Week's Leftoons: http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/garner.htm http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/welcome.asp -- 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 ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions 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, CTRLgives 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://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== 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
