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| Dr. David Marlett, Editor | 23 January 2001 | Vol. II #11 | ||
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| Dr. David Marlett, Editor | 23 January 2001 | Vol. II #11 | ||
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Pastor Dixon and the good people of IBT are still hanging on to the Lord's property. The US marshal is still being pressured to seize the buildings even as the senior Pastor Dixon and several people from the church are in DC attempting to make contact with President Bush. While several cabinet posts have been turned over to the incoming administration, DOJ is still in the hands of Clintonistas.
Pastor Dixon was able to make contact with Dick Armey and Ron Paul after they arrived on Monday and Rep. Paul was able to provide them with office space to serve as a base for lobbying congressman.
It may be a while before Pastor Dixon is able to meet with the president. He arrived to find 1,600+ other preachers all looking for a "faith based" hand out. If Bush sees one he has to see them all, so he isn't meeting with preachers. Pastor Dixon has stated that he will stay as long it takes.
[ Dr Ed DeVries ]
On Monday's anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, President Bush signed a memorandum reinstating the full abortion restrictions on U.S. overseas aid that his father and former President Reagan had instituted before him.
"It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion either here or abroad,"' Bush wrote in his executive memorandum to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversees family-planning aid to foreign countries.
It was Bush's first major policy action since becoming president on Saturday.
It reverses the Clinton administration's position on unrestricted family-planning aid and bars U.S. money to international groups that use their own money to support abortion - either through performing the surgery, counseling on abortion as a family-planning option or lobbying foreign governments on abortion policy.
[ AP ]
TCN Comment - Great news if it is enforced as stated in this AP article. The list of "international groups" should include not only Planned Parenthood and a dozen other PACs, but also the UN, The People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation. That should save American tax-payers a bundle! In fact though, it only covers NGO's, but that should save a sizable chunk of tax dollars.
Don't expect the liberals to stop crying about this anytime soon. Pro-abortion NGO's are MAJOR contributors to the DNC and their candidates (which may explain why so many tax dollars have been going their way under the Clinton/Gore administration). "It's the economy stupid."
(begin text)
The Mexico City Policy announced by President Reagan in 1984 required nongovernmental organizations to agree as a condition of their receipt of federal funds that such organizations would neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations. This policy was in effect until it was rescinded on January 22, 1993.
It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion, either here or abroad. It is therefore my belief that the Mexico City Policy should be restored. Accordingly, I hereby rescind the "Memorandum for the Acting Administrator of the Agency for International Development, Subject: AID Family Planning Grants/Mexico City Policy," dated January 22, 1993, and I direct the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development to reinstate in full all of the requirements of the Mexico City Policy in effect on January 19, 1993.
GEORGE W. BUSH
(end text)
** How Presidents Have Come to "Run the Country"
During the recent presidential scandals, concluding with the impeachment of President Clinton, many people were heard to say that the investigations should end so that the president could get back to "the business of running the country." Under a constitution dedicated to individual liberty and limited government-which divides, separates, and limits power-how did we get to a point where so many Americans think of government as embodied in the president and then liken him to a man running a business?
The answer rests in part with the growth of presidential rule through executive orders and national emergencies. Unfortunately, the Constitution defines presidential powers very generally; and nowhere does it define, much less limit, the power of a president to rule by executive order-except by reference to that general language and the larger structure and function of the Constitution. The issue is especially acute when presidents use executive orders to legislate, for then they usurp the powers of Congress or the states, raising fundamental concerns about the separation and division of powers.
The problem of presidential usurpation of legislative power has been with us from the beginning, but it has grown exponentially with the expansion of government in the 20th century. In enacting program after program, Congress has delegated more and more power to the executive branch. Thus, Congress has not only failed to check but has actually abetted the expansion of presidential power. And the courts have been all but absent in restraining presidential lawmaking.
Nevertheless, the courts have acted in two cases-in 1952 and 1996-laying down the principles of the matter; the nation's governors have just forced President Clinton to rewrite a federalism executive order; and now there are two proposals in Congress that seek to limit presidential lawmaking. Those developments offer hope that constitutional limits-and the separation and division of powers, in particular-may eventually be restored.
[ www.cato.org ]
In 1996, the Kentucky legislature authorized duly licensed and trained residents of the Bluegrass State to carry concealed weapons. More than 51,000 have opted to do so. The dire consequences predicted by anti-gun zealots have failed to materialize. Covington Assistant Police Chief Bill Dorsey is among those law enforcement authorities who are pleasantly surprised. The Cincinnati Post for September 9, 1999 quoted him as saying, "I thought we would have increased incidents of people using weapons and we haven't seen that. To that end, I think it speaks highly of those who have the license."
There have been a number of instances in which armed Kentuckians have exercised their right of self-defense responsibly and effectively. A Bowling Green woman, who had just received her permit and completed the required firearms-safety course, shot a man who broke into her house. In September, Avondale shopkeeper Eugene Clifford shot three thugs (one fatally) who threw his wife to the floor at gunpoint and tried to rob his store early one morning. And on August 19th, while walking in a park, Covington resident Joe Megerle was approached by a man who drew a pistol and demanded money. Megerle turned the tables by pulling out his own .25-caliber pistol and seriously wounding the would-be robber.
Representative Bob Damron (D), who is credited with pushing the 1996 law through the legislature, told the Kentucky Post, "That's what the law was intended to do: Let a legal citizen protect himself." Conceal-carry permit holders, Damron contends, "are showing that you can trust law-abiding citizens who actually own and keep firearms."
[ The New American ]
"California is famous for starting American fads. Surfing. Hula Hoops. Cool custom cars. High taxes. Herpes. Now, California is about to start a new 'thing.' Ten years ago, in a blissful attempt to commune with Mother Earth, California outlawed new power plants. No more burning that icky fossil fuel and stuff. Those tree-chopping, coal-belching, ozone-depleting, Bambi-killing, money-grubbing industrialists were brought to their knees! Hooray!
"Then came seven million more people. And Silicon Valley. And an economic revolution. Since 1990, California power usage has doubled. So, where does more power come from? Good question. There's no more nukes. No more coal. No more oil and no more gas. Unfortunately, there's also no more electric. California now faces massive rate increases and third-world electric blackouts. Cowabunga!"
[ Tom Adkins - The Common Conservative ]
"Three years ago, a more enlightened San Francisco school board signed a contract with Edison Schools, a for-profit company that helps run 113 schools in a dozen states with a total of 53,000 students. The company agreed to take over a failing elementary school coincidentally called Edison Elementary. It received the same per-pupil funding as any other public school in exchange for flexibility in curriculum and management. Now Edison is a public school that emphasizes results rather than red tape.
"Under new management, Edison has made steady gains in nearly every subject and grade. Last fall, 49% of fifth graders scored at the national average or better in math, compared with 28% the year before. In reading, 35% of fifth graders performed at national levels. That's up from only 2% of students before Edison Schools took over. In all, Edison has the third most improved showing on statewide tests of all of San Francisco's 71 schools.
"The problem with Edison's success is that it could spread, and that has prompted incoming school board president Jill Wynns to declare that she will move to revoke Edison Schools' five-year contract at a January 23 board meeting. 'This charter has been a destructive force, shattering our sense of community,' she declares. Ms. Wynns admits the district 'won't be able to maintain some of the things the school now has,' but that must take a back seat to the fact that a narrow majority of board members are 'philosophically opposed to for-profit management.'"
[ Wall Street Journal editorial, 1/17/01 ]
Hundreds of California gun owners are taking their assault-style weapons out of state or putting them in hiding to avoid a registration deadline that took effect Jan 1.
At the same time, sales of several hundred handgun models have been halted under terms of another new law requiring they be tested and certified by state officials before being put on sale.
As of Dec. 29, the last weekday before the registration deadline, just 10,000 gun owners had signed state forms and paid the $20 fee, reported the California Department of Justice.
gun owners fear the sales ban and registration law are the first steps in an effort to disarm them. The National Rifle Association and the California Sporting Goods Association said they would sue to have the registration deadline extended indefinitely because owners didn't get enough notice of the new rules. Registration regulations were published on Dec. 5, less than a month before the Dec. 31 postmark deadline for sending registration cards to the state.
Meanwhile, hundreds of gun owners reacted by moving their guns to nearby states without registration laws or sales bans on assault weapons. Many are sending weapons to relatives or friends in other states for storage. Others are paying to keep them closer by, where they still can be used for recreational shooting.
More than 400 California gun buffs so far have placed weapons at the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute outside Las Vegas, where a $500 fee covers storage and weapons training and maintenance of a gun for up to two years. Other centers in Reno and Carson City, Nev., and several small Arizona cities just across the Colorado River from California reportedly are about to begin accepting guns....
[ News Forum ]
"On June 23, 2000, you were informed by letter that you would not receive an offer of employment with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) based on the results of your criminal background check. Based on your subsequent presentation of documentation that your 1984 charge for Uniformed Controlled Substance Act, Cannabis was no papered [not prosecuted]; that your 1984 charge for shoplifting was nolle prosequi; that your 1984 charge for assault with a dangerous weapon, razor was no papered; that your 1984 charge for destruction of government property was nolle prosequi; that your 1986 charge for assault with a deadly weapon was dismissed; that your 1987 charge for soliciting for prostitution was nolle prosequi; that your 1989 charge for assault with a dangerous weapon, razor was no papered; and that your 1992 Uniform Controlled Substance Act, possession with intent to distribute cocaine was dismissed. You are eligible for employment with DCPS."
[ Letter, published by Washington City Paper, from Delores Hamilton, acting director of human resources for the District of Columbia public schools, to a job applicant, reprinted in OpinionJournal.com, 1/17/01 ]
** I Beg Your Pardon
When it came to handing a pardon to Webster Hubbell, it wasn't Bill Clinton who got the final word. It was Hillary who pulled the pen out her hubby's hand. Under no circumstances would Sen. Clinton have allowed her husband to pardon Hubbell. "She blames him for almost all of her legal problems," says a former White House staffer, who said Clinton's decision not to pardon his once-close friend was the talk of a Saturday brunch held by outgoing White House staff in Georgetown. "The president had Hubbell down for a pardon, but when John Podesta told her Hubbell was on the list, she went into the Oval Office and had a talk with the president." Hubbell's testimony relating to his activities in the Rose Law Firm were central to the Independent Counsel's ability to focus much of his attention on Hillary Rodham
Clinton during his investigation of Whitewater. "She has never hid her animosity toward him," says the former White House aide.
** Let's Make a Deal
It was also Hillary Clinton who forced her husband to agree to the deal offered by special prosecutor Robert Ray. Ray was insistent that Clinton sign it before leaving office, but the now-former president was inclined to not take the deal. "He wanted to take his chances. He didn't think Ray would prosecute, and even if he did, he didn't believe he'd be convicted." says a former White House communications aide. "But David Kendall isn't just Bill Clinton's lawyer, he's Hillary's lawyer and the two have become extremely close. When the president decided to just let the deal die, Hillary went to Kendall and told him to keep the negotiations alive."
Hillary Clinton is said to have thought that killing any chance her husband might be prosecuted was critical to her own political future. "She didn't want it hanging over her head two years from now when she might be thinking of forming a presidential exploratory committee. She didn't want her husband to be what John Zaccaro was to Geraldine Ferraro."
** Plane Bolsheviks
On the Clintons' post-inaugural flight up to New York on the aircraft previously known to them as Air Force One, stewards could barely control the frenzied passengers on board who were grabbing everything and anything on the plane that had the presidential seal on it. Napkins, snack containers, pens, and anything that moved ended up snatched and stored for souvenirs. "At one point [new DNC boss] Terry McAuliffe joked, 'Relax, we're going to have it back in four years, no problem. We'll all be riding it again,'" says a DNC source.
[ Washington Prowler ]
Monday night ABC, CBS and NBC characterized Bush's abortion order as a "controversial" decision in which he "did something to quickly please the right flank." But eight years ago to the day Clinton's executive orders on abortion reflected how he had "delivered on his campaign promise" by taking non-ideological action which demonstrated how he "keeps his word."
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