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| Dr. David Marlett, Editor | theconservative@usa.net | Number 44 |
http://www.wilderness-cry.net/tcn | ||
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| Dr. David Marlett, Editor | theconservative@usa.net | Number 44 |
http://www.wilderness-cry.net/tcn | ||
3 November 2000
"Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: 'We the people.' 'We the people' tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. 'We the people' are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which 'We the people' tell the government what it is allowed to do. 'We the people' are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past eight years." --Ronald Reagan
"Last year, some 54 federal departments and agencies and more than 130,000 federal employees spent over $18.7 billion writing and enforcing federal regulations. During the Clinton/Gore administration, the number of full-time positions in regulatory agencies reached an all-time high. The era of big government is not over. According to renowned economist Thomas Hopkins, federal regulations were estimated to cost the American people $721 billion this year, which is equal to about 40 percent of all federal spending -- representing a hidden tax of more than $6,800 per year for each American family. This figure only represents direct compliance costs, not indirect costs such as the cost of lost productivity, the increased cost of goods and services (as we are seeing with gas prices right now), and lower wages. ...In fact, the average number of pages of regulations in the Federal Register is sky-rocketing. Currently, the Clinton-Gore administration is placing an average of 210 pages of regulations per day in the Federal Register. The last time there was such a flood of regulations was at the end of the Carter administration -- when the Federal Register had an average of 200 pages of regulations per day.
In addition, the Clinton-Gore administration is attempting to bypass the safeguards of the Administrative Procedure Act which require federal agencies to provide opportunities for informed and meaningful public participation as part of the regulatory rulemaking process. It is doing so by making liberal use of interim final rules, guidance documents, and policy statements that do not require public comment and are not subject to review by the courts. ...This is irresponsible and wrong. It is another egregious abuse of power in the long list of abuses that constitute the real legacy of the Clinton-Gore years." --Sen. James M. Inhofe
"Joseph Lieberman's reputation for integrity was expected to help deflect the character question from the Democratic ticket. With Joe Lieberman, it was thought when he was picked, Al Gore would get a running mate closely identified with the president's policies who was also an outspoken critic of Mr. Clinton's ethical lapses. ... Sen. Lieberman's earliest champions have had to swallow deeply as they watched him waffle on tort reform, affirmative action, school vouchers, Hollywood and Social Security privatization -- issues on which he had shown a refreshing willingness to stand up for what he believes. But nowhere is the change more apparent -- and dismaying -- than in Mr. Lieberman's pandering to the Nation of Islam leader, Minister Louis Farrakhan. Mr. Lieberman has put his reputation for principled behavior at serious risk by becoming the first candidate of any major party presidential ticket to express a desire to meet with Mr. Farrakhan, a man who openly scapegoats Jews and espouses bigotry of the worst kind. Was it an attack of amnesia -- or cowardice -- or a morally backward desire to ingratiate himself with followers of Louis Farrakhan that made Joe Lieberman embrace the leader of the Nation of Islam?
Whatever the explanation, it was pitiful to watch. Sen.Lieberman said, with no credible evidence, that Mr. Farrakhan 'wants to change.... He wants to be more constructive.' The only change we've seen is in Sen. Lieberman. And it's been for the worse." -Washington Post
By Paul Craig Roberts, CREATORS SYNDICATE
http://www.conservativehq.com/chq/displayarticle?articleId=5017
Will the United States disappear on Nov. 7 -- not physically, of course, but morally and ethically as a nation of law? Everything would still look the same, but personal rule would supplant the rule of law. We could become what we never before have been -- a land of arbitrary power.
Americans are preparing to vote without having heard any debate on the critical issue at stake. Al Gore has bet his future on instilling fear of Republicans in the elderly and in racial minorities. George W. Bush has bet his chances on coming across as a compassionate, reasonable person.
Choose Al Gore and vindicate eight years of lawlessness: Whitewatergate, Filegate, Travelgate, Monicagate, Campaign Finance and Buddhist Templegate, "missing" Rose law firm and Al Gore e-mail documents, Justice Department stonewalling of law and investigations, the Waco massacre -- the list goes on ad nauseum.
Topping it all off is the latest Gore scandal -- a secret deal between our vice president and a Russian prime minister. Did you know that Gore illegally exempted Russia from the economic sanctions that the U.S. imposes on all countries that sell arms to Iran? In addition, Gore violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act by keeping Congress in the dark about Russia' nuclear cooperation with Iran. Is this another instance of "no controlling legal authority"?
Here we see the true colors of Clinton Gore: The law means nothing if a political purpose is served by ignoring it. No matter how powerful his office, no U.S. official has the power to grant exemptions to U.S. law, regardless of the end served. As deplorable as Clinton's morals are, the real beef Americans have with his administration is its lawlessness.
This lawlessness is dictatorial in character. The dictatorial inclinations of the Clinton Gore administration manifest themselves in the ways the executive branch ignores the powers of Congress and federal courts and in the use of propaganda to silence facts. This administration has financed the implementation of treaties that Congress has not ratified, and it has made presidential appointments in open defiance of the Senate's right to confirm the appointments of sub-Cabinet officers. The Clinton Gore administration hides its illegalities by ignoring subpoenas and by issuing executive orders that assert new powers for the president.
Wherever one looks in the Clinton Gore administration, one finds illegalities perpetrated in the name of one Clinton Gore cause or another. Take for example, gun control. Under orders from the White House, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is abusing its power, and using intimidation and harassment to create a de facto federal registration of gun owners. Despite protests from Congress and a U.S. District Court order, BATF is using raw power to force gun dealers to comply with BATF's illegal collection of surveillance data.
This is the way the National Socialists turned Germany into a dictatorship during the 1930s. When German courts ruled against a policy of Hitler's government, the government ignored the court. Similarly, defendants acquitted in court trials were seized and carried away by police when they left the courtroom.
Annoyed by judicial resistance to his policies, Hitler did what Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to do: He "packed" the court system by creating new courts that would do his bidding.
Hitler did not come to power in a coup that overthrew democracy. Germans elected Hitler because of unemployment and disgust with the Weimar Republic. Hitler was not elected to be a dictator or to start World War II and conduct a genocidal policy against Jews. He became a dictator because the German parliament gave the executive branch the power to make laws. Hitler then made the laws that made him a dictator.
Once government becomes large in size, the executive branch gains the upper hand, because it has the bureaucracies that make the rules and the enforcement agencies that interpret and implement the rules. Other branches of government can protest but are impotent unless the legislature takes extreme measures, such as impeachment or refusal to fund an offending agency.
Such extreme measures are unlikely to succeed. Democrats in the House and Senate have made it clear that their loyalties are party loyalties, not loyalty to the institution of Congress or the Constitution. Unlike Republicans three decades ago, congressional Democrats stand firmly with their president, at great expense to the prerogatives and powers of Congress.
The United States cannot become a dictatorship overnight like Hitler's Germany. But eight years of Clinton Gore have created, both in attitude and deed, an executive branch that is becoming independent of law. After another term or two of Clinton Gore, law would issue from the mouth of the executive.
On Monday, Oct. 30, the Indianapolis Baptist (IBT) filed a Motion directly with Judge J. Flaum, Chief Justice of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to Stay an Order given by District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker, Indianapolis, on Sept. 28 for the church to vacate their property at high noon Nov. 14. Barker's order was to satisfy approximately $6 million in uncollected employee and FICA taxes including penalties and interest from 1987-93. Judge Barker's order said that the federal marshal is to use whatever force is necessary. The property, which was purchased with the tithes and offerings of God's people include a sanctuary which seats 2000, educational facilities, four parsonages and 22 acres of land ten minutes from downtown Indianapolis. Even though the evidence shows that the taxes in question have been paid by those who serve the church, the Internal Revenue Service insists that it is the function of a New Testament Church to collect and pay taxes to the IRS. According to some First Amendment advocacy groups across the nation, this may be the first time that a church has ever been seized for alleged taxes and penalties.
The APPLICATION FOR EMERGENCY ORDER TO STAY JUDGMENT prepared by Attorney Albert F. Cunningham of the Biblical Law Center of Redding, CA., emphasized three main points:
1) There is a strong showing that IBT is likely to succeed on appeal;
2) IBT will suffer irreparable injury absent the grant of relief including depriving more than 1,000 congregants their chosen place to worship God.
It would also deprive several hundred children (grades K-12) of a Christian education at Indianapolis Baptist School. Many have never known another school. If the church should prevail on appeal, there would be no way for IBT to ever recover the loss; and
3) The issuance of the grant of relief will not substantially injure the US government. The church property will still be here after the appeals process is over.
Considering the fact that the District Court in the Microsoft case granted a Stay pending appeal, it would be unconscionable for the Federal Courts to destroy a church and school ministry without giving opportunity for due process. This is all the more suspicious considering the fact that only approximately $200,000 is the alleged tax liability owed. The rest is penalty and interest. Also, it is most strange that according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the IRS has forgiven many large corporations in America untold millions in back taxes, but a church and school ministry must be destroyed without an opportunity of the most basic of rights....DUE PROCESS!
A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced the altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted. "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."
The woman replied, "You are in a hot air balloon approximately 30 feet above the ground. You are between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."
"You must be a Republican," said the balloonist.
"I am," said the woman. "How did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help so far."
The woman below responded, "You must be a Democrat."
"I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?" "Well," said the woman, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."
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