-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! * Veritas Vos Liberabit * THE FEDERALIST(r) DIGEST The Conservative e-Journal of Record 30 March 2001 Federalist #01-13/14.dgst Combined Edition (PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Once each quarter, The Federalist is published as a combined edition. We suspend publication for one week to provide our editorial and technical staff the opportunity to set the next quarter's topical and technical priorities. Federalist #01-15.brf will be in circulation on April 10th. You will receive an important message next week concerning new Web site features and operations.) Retrieve today's Digest as HTML printer-friendly text or PDF -- it's much easier reading than e-mail text! Link to: http://www.Federalist.com/current2001.asp Support and sponsor The Federalist! Link to: http://www.Federalist.com/support.asp CONTENTS: The Founders Federalist Perspective Insight Upright Editorial Exegesis Second Opinion Dezinformatsia Leftovers Village Idiots Short Cuts ______--------********O********--------______ THE FOUNDERS "A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a ice." --Thomas Paine ______--------********O********--------______ FEDERALIST PERSPECTIVE In the news this week, President George Bush continued to rally the nation on behalf of tax relief. "I believe the economy has slowed down and we better do something about it. The debate no longer is whether we're going to have tax relief. It is how much money we're going to pass back to the people and how quickly." Paving the way for Mr. Bush's tax cut, the House of Representatives passed his $1.94 trillion federal budget for next year. Rep. J.C. Watts notes, "This is a budget that generously funds our nation's commitments while giving real tax relief back to those who were overcharged. It offers relief from the marriage and death taxes, doubles the per-child tax credit and gives the across-the-board relief to all taxpayers." The House also pa ssed additional components of Mr. Bush's family tax relief package. The budget and tax reduction measures now face much more formidable obstacles in the Senate, but Heritage Foundation Economist Dan Mitchell concludes, "The good news is that politicians are now under enormous pressure to enact a much-needed tax cut. The Bush administration can take advantage of this situation, but only if it uses this opportunity to expand the president's tax cut. In short, a good tax package can be made even better." Winning the award for the dumbest comment (yet) in the tax reduction debate, Demo Senate Leader Tom Daschle offered this bit of wisdom this week: "Genetically, more Republicans are rich than Democrats." Sen. Joseph Lieberman is leading the Demos' call for an immediate $300 tax refund for every taxpayer -- a populist effort to use $60 billion of current revenue surpluses in an effort to derail the president's $1.6 trillion, 10-year plan in favor of their $408 billion, 11-year plan.. The Federalist supports an accelerated version of Mr. Bush's plan -- but not Lieberman's "risky scheme." That having been said, it is difficult -- almost beyond comprehension -- to contemplate how much better Americans in every walk of life would be if the central government dramatically reduced the amount of our income it confiscates to squander as political fodder for special constituencies. In other news, the Leftists are threatening to block Mr. Bush's judicial nominees in the wake of his disbarment of the American Bar Association in the judicial vetting process. "It's outrageous," said Sen. Joseph Biden. "This changes the whole ball game." Ms. Barbara Boxer was more succinct: "It's war. [Bush] will have a much, much harder time passing judges." Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, responded to the ABA's defenders, saying, "If Democrats want to vote against nominees because of the ABA, that's their privilege. It's a ridiculous argument. We senators are elected to do the vetting and the confirmation -- not the ABA." Quote of the week... "Tax cuts do not have to be justified. It's government spending that that has to be justified." --Sheldon Richman Open query... "Are the sort of men who rule this country today the sort of men who built this country in the first place?" --Joseph Sobran The BIG lie... "I think in retrospect if we could have done one thing differently, I would have started the campaign off in Tennessee. Perhaps that would have allowed us to spend more resources in the Vice President's home state and given the people there a better opportunity to see him as one of their own and not as an outsider." --Gore campaign chief, Ms. Donna Brazile. Memo to Donna: If Tennessee was really Gore's "home state," why would any money have to be spent to convince Tennesseans that was true? History recorded for all to see that Tennessee's 11 electoral votes went for George Bush! Perhaps the best thing Mr. Gore could have done to convince Tennesseans he was one of them would have been to select someone other than an extreme Leftist race-baiting lesbian to run his campaign! News from the Swamp... In the executive branch, President Bush declared he will not support the Kyoto "global warming" treaty. "We will not do anything that harms our economy. First things first for people who live in America -- that's my priority. I'm worried about the economy." Mr. Bush went on to say that he is very concerned about where the last eight years, without any coherent energy policy under Clinton-Gore, have left the nation. "We're now in an energy crisis," he declared. "I'm worried about the lack of an energy policy. I'm worried about rolling blackouts in California." Vice President Dick Cheney has convened a working group to establish a plan of action to deal with the current crisis. In the House of Lords, as the economy continues to weaken, the Senate continues to defer the tax relief debate while whittling away at First Amendment rights under the aegis of "campaign finance reform." The debate gets more convoluted as each day passes, and has degenerated into what should be called the "Incumbent Self-Protection Act." Of the current Senate shenanigans, former Labor Secretary designee Linda Chavez concludes: "Campaign finance reform is dead, no matter what finally happens on the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill. So long as unions can spend several hundred million dollars in unreported and involuntary funds to elect candidates of their choice while others' hands are tied, political abuse will follow. And none of the proposed bills begins to deal with the problem." Speaking of campaign finance, last week we reported on the passage of "a measure to increase funding options for candidates who run against the self-financed campaigns of wealthy Leftists (formerly an oxymoron) like Corzine, Dayton, Cantwell and Kohl." Now comes news that Ms. Rodham-Clinton will host a major fun-raiser for Ms. Maria Cantwell because Cantwell, who secured $4.3 million of her Senate campaign loans with her personal assets, is in financial trouble. It seems those assets were mostly stocks -- worth much less now than during her campaign. Judicial Benchmarks... Voting 9-4, the full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Ohio's motto, "With God, all things are possible," is constitutional and is not an endorsement of Christianity. The appeals court agreed with a lower court's 1998 ruling that Ohio's motto is constitutionally acceptable if the state did not attribute the words to their source -- Jesus Christ. On the Left... "Members of the black clergy have begun suggesting publicly that the Rev. Jesse Jackson's role as the pre-eminent African-American figure is on the wane and that the time is right for new leadership." --New York Times Memo to Je$$e: The fat lady has sung! Memo to Rep. Je$$e, Jr.: We are still waiting on your tax returns! Sincerely, The IRS. Speaking of outstanding civil rights leaders, former Washington mayor Marion "Crack-Attack" Barry is being sued by a female airport custodian who says Barry shoved her and then exposed himself. Hey -- even young Patrick Kennedy doesn't expose himself when shoving airport personnel! News from the American Labour Party... Clintonista Terry McAuliffe, DNC Chairman, may have been the kingpin in a money-laundering scheme, which got former Teamster boss Ron Carey indicted. The Philadelphia Inquirer cites sworn testimony from Demo and union operatives that McAuliffe was a "prime mover" and "main intermediary" in the scheme. >From the "Clinton Presidue" Files... >From "Slick's Speaker Bureau"...Don Walker, president of the Harry Walker Agency, which books Clinton's speaking engagements, notes, "I've never seen anything close to this in 29 years. The offers [for Clinton to speak] are piling up like airplanes over LaGuardia on a foggy day." One such booking: St. Joseph's Catholic Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, booked Clinton to speak at a fund-raiser May 2, though Father Luc Payette is protesting: "In the case of St. Joseph's Hospital, the guest speaker must be pro-life.... Mr. Clinton should never have been invited as a guest speaker since his widely known defense of abortion directly contradicts St. Joseph's Catholic moral code." (Contact Reverend Gerard Bergie, Chancellor, Diocese of Hamilton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) We should note that our objections regarding Clinton's $100,000 speaking engagements are not about silencing him -- but de-funding his Leftist machine. We hope Clinton continues to rant in public forums for years -- lest some forget how bad he really was. But institutions paying him for his drivel must answer to their constituents. By the way, Ms. Rodham-Clinton will be giving the commencement address at Yale. The Commissars... In Fairfax County, Virginia, Mr. John Thorburn has been in jail for six weeks. After spending $125,000 on trees and shrubs the local zoning board insisted he plant on his golf driving range, it seems he planted some shrubs where the zoning board wanted trees -- a property boundary between the driving range and a homeowner -- and Mr. Thorburn has refused to comply. The homeowner in question is Mr. Thorburn's father, Robert, who did not request the trees and, moreover, says the matter is ridiculous. "[The zoning board] wants...my children to screen their own property from their own property. We own all the property across the street, too, every bit of it. So, it doesn't make any sense." Of course, the Oakmar driving range down the road from Mr. Thorburn's range -- built and operated by Fairfax County -- was subject to no requirements to add trees and shrubs. Speaking of government intrusion on land use, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton said recently, "A prime example of government not listening to people happened a few months ago, when -- in their final hours -- the previous administration suddenly designated over one million acres of national monuments. In 2000, the total amount of monument land designated equaled the size of the state of Connecticut." For more on the constitutionality of such designations, see this week's Second Opinion, "The Same Roots." Regarding your IRS overpayment... During his eight years as president, Bill Clinton made 54 trips abroad, visiting 133 nations -- more than any other president, according to a review by the National Taxpayers Union. The estimated cost for Mr. Clinton's 229 days abroad: more than a half-billion dollars. In other words, for about $5.5 billion more, we could have shipped Clinton and company out of the country for the whole eight years -- we think that would have been a bargain! >From the department of military readiness... Frank Gaffney, Jr., Director of the Center for Security Policy, has just completed a review of our military inventory, and the news is not good: "As a result of years of sustained operational tempos that were, in some cases, as high or higher than those of the Vietnam War, much of the equipment currently in the Pentagon inventory is not only reaching the end of its design service life; it is proving very difficult and hugely expensive to maintain at the safety and reliability standards we expect -- and that our military personnel deserve." >From the states... In the People's Republic of Maryland, retired Georgetown professor Alfred Muller, now mayor of Friendship Heights, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy in the restroom of Washington National Cathedral, the Episcopal church where Muller was head usher. The boy was visiting the Cathedral with an out-of-town school group. This is the same Mayor Muller who made headlines in December when he imposed a law forbidding smoking OUTSIDE in Friendship Heights (since repealed). We presume his guilty plea for a homosexual assault on a child was a hint that he will now move to Massachusetts and run for Congress! The Oregon House of Representatives joined legislatures in Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, and Utah, approving a resolution calling on their state's congressional delegation to support President Bush's tax cuts. The vote was 43 to 14, with 12 Democrats supporting the measure. Similar resolutions are pending in a dozen other states. In economic news... The Commerce Department reports that last year's economy grew at the slowest pace in five years, as tight money supplies and high energy costs caused a contraction in consumer demand. Stephen Roach, chief economist at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, says of the equity collapse, which began in March of 2000, "Americans were framing spending decisions based on the belief that 25-percent-a-year gains were their God-given right." We are reminded of this admonition from Samuel Johnson: "Whatever you have, spend less." The "Dumb and Dumber" Department... >From chicken fingers and paper guns, to guns on paper. A third grader at Lenwil Elementary School in West Monroe, Louisiana, drew a suspension after drawing a G.I. Joe figure. Principal Edward Davis said, "It had hand grenades, knives and guns. We have zero tolerance for drawings with guns. We can't tolerate anything that has to do with guns or knives." The boy's father, Raleigh Walker, said his son's picture was a tribute to a relative serving in the Army. "My son was upset all yesterday. I had to explain to him that owning guns and being in the Army is not bad." (To see the offending picture, link to -- http://www.federalist.com/info/soldier.html) Not to be outdumbed, West Annapolis Elementary in Maryland has banned tag because, as principal Joan Briscoe declared, it violates the school's "no touching" policy. Congratulations, Ms. Briscoe. Court Jesters... In the case of the torture/rape/murder of 13-year-old Jesse Dirkhising, a crime The Federalist has covered since the arrest of the two homosexual predators charged with Jesse's murder, lawyers for the defendants actually argued this week that the sex was "consensual," thus the death should be considered accidental. Must have been the "North American Man-Boy Love Association" defense. Ah -- the slippery slope of homosexual "normalization." Culture comment... The "Commissars of Correctness" never sleep! This month's "Gender Disorientation Disorder" Award goes to the "enlightened" City of Berkeley, California, which is requiring all 324 members of its police department -- uniformed and civilian -- to attend 6 hours of "diversity training" on homosexual, bisexual and transgender issues, with emphasis on the transgendered. Faith Matters... In news from the "Village Church" bulletin, elsewhere on the Left Coast, the Simi Valley United Church of Christ will offer a weeklong "sex education" course for teens, which will ask participants to do such things as create "gay pride slogans" and conjure sexual fantasies involving whipped cream or various unmentionables. And last, concerning "PC creep" -- the infiltration of common vernacular with PCisms -- the European outbreak of "Foot-and-Mouth" Disease is being reported by the netwonk talkingheads 'round the clock. For the record, this bovine disease was called "Hoof-and-Mouth" Disease, but apparently some "mad cows" over at PETA headquarters decided that calling the cloven bottoms of bovine legs "hooves" rather than "feet" was depersonalizing -- implying that cows are, somehow, less than human! Udderly ridiculous -- and a sure case of "Foot-in-Mouth" Disease. *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
