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Tidbits Got an item about liberal lunacy? Conservative success? Send it in to ESR's Tidbits section! web posted April 1998 Bush wins Southern Republican straw poll Notably, Bush decided to skip the Houston's Harris County Republican Party convention on March 28. To the bewilderment of conservatives, Bush was in Austin campaigning for candidates and in San Antonio attending the NCAA basketball tournament semifinals. He is facing re-election in November. Conservatives who did make it included Forbes and Washington activist Gary Bauer. Brock apologizes to Clinton Former conservative attack dog David Brock has been attacking less and kissing up more with the Clintons recently. In the April issue of Esquire, Brock apologized to U.S. president Bill Clinton for his 1993 American Spectator piece which exposed the alleged encounter between Clinton and Paula Jones. "I wasn't hot for this story in the interest of good government or serious journalism. I wanted to pop you right between the eyes," writes Brock. Brock has defended himself and the piece since it was published, but of late he has made overtures to the First Family. Besides this apology, Brock also wrote a flattering book about First Lady Hillary Clinton. The turnabout on the Jones story? It turns out that Brock is now having doubts about the credibility of the Arkansas State Troopers who fed him the information for his piece. Years after they helped him make his name, Brock now calls the troopers "slimy" and "greedy." Brock does, however, still defend his original piece as accurate. So what maybe the real reason for Brock's apology? Once dismissed as a fringe writer with a right-wing agenda, he is working hard to win newfound respectability as a mainstream journalist. Brock is on the right track. Since the rest of mainstream journalism displays a startling level of sycophancy towards the president, it can't hurt your career to mimic the rest of the field, right? Brock should be happy now. In introducing the story, CBS anchor Dan Rather stated."President Clinton got an unusual public apology today from the journalist whose 1993 article in a Republican-connected journal, helped set in motion, among other things, the Paula Jones case." Balanced budget? Don't count on it says Greenspan Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said March 4 the performance of the U.S. economy in 1997 would be hard to match and urged lawmakers not to become too optimistic about projected budget surpluses. "We must remember that projections of surpluses are based on an extrapolation of steady economic growth and subdued inflation in coming years," he told the House Budget Committee in prepared remarks. "Achieving such a performance in these uncertain times, with the U.S. economy now subject to a fine balance of powerful forces of expansion and restraint, will provide policy-makers with a considerable challenge," Greenspan said. The reason for Greenspan's cautious pessimism is the continuing economic crisis in Asia. He was too polite, however, to reveal the U.S. budget surplus for the scam it is. Take money from Social Security, throw it into general revenues, use that money to save Social Security. Far too polite. Who is really responsible for the America's economic strength? The Congressional Budget Office says that for the fiscal year 1998, the deficit has been eliminated and the United States is now operating with an $8 billion surplus. Bill Clinton scurried to a podium to take credit for the fictional surplus, even though his original 1993 budget proposal would have bequeathed the nation with a current deficit of between $202 and $250 billion. Once again...there is no “budget surplus” unless you count excess revenue from the Social Security Trust Fund, the one Mr. Clinton is trying to “save.” Without such “smoke and mirrors,” the projected budget deficit would be $95.7 billion. And, since only Communist governments can legitimately claim credit for a nation’s economic condition, the credit for America's booming economy and thus, overflowing tax coffers, is due to the prolific creativity and industry of working citizens. Ban dead white male authors, pushes school board Shakespeare, Melville, Chaucer and Dickens may be on the way out
in San Francisco, where school board officials are considering a proposal
that up to 70 percent of school reading should be books by "authors
of color." Politics in geography? Thank Bill Clinton for this latest intrusion into science Most school children are taught that there are five Great Lakes...Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Lake Huron. Without fanfare or even a routine announcement, President Clinton signed a bill March 6 giving Lake Champlain official designation as one of the Great Lakes. The measure allows Lake Champlain to be considered one of the Great Lakes for the purposes of competing for research funds under the National Sea Grant Program. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, got a line inserted into the legislation to expand the eligibility to Lake Champlain. "If Lake Champlain ends up as a Great Lake, I propose we
rename it 'Lake Plain Sham,'" Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, co-chairman
of the Congressional Great Lakes Task Force, said. More proof that politics doesn't enter into the funding of research....right? right? That's not the end of the story. On March 24, the Senate agreed unanimously to revoke Lake Champlain's short status as the nation's sixth Great Lake. "I understand the symbolic issue that this has become with our friends in the Midwest," said Sen. Leahy, the very man who created the furor in the first place -- and helped undo the confusion. What's in a name? Plenty, Michigan Sens. Carl Levin, a Democrat, and Spencer Abraham, a Republican, told the Senate. "This is not just a tempest in a teapot. This is a matter of identity," Levin said. "The designation of any lake beyond the original five is simply unacceptable," said Abraham. Their compromise with Leahy: a sentence added to the spending bill asserting that the term "Great Lakes" would apply only to the historical five: Michigan, Superior, Huron, Eire and Ontario. At the same time, the amendment makes the University of Vermont on the shores of Lake Champlain eligible for the Sea Grant money. "And in the meantime, this has all ben a great tourism ad for Vermont," Leahy said. The amendment was attached to a $2.8 billion spending bill. It must also be approved by the House and signed by the president for Lake Champlain to officially lose its Great Lake designation. Are you in American? You paid good money for this stupidity? Cuban-American legislators attack Canada for support of slave labour Canada is guilty of a racist double-standard on human rights because it embraces a white dictator in Cuba while condemning black tyrants in Africa, charge Cuban-American members of Congress. They said this was in addition to employing "slave labour" in Cuba. "Canadians were the outspoken leaders in speaking against the Nigerian dictatorship" but show hypocrisy by supporting Cuban President Fidel Castro, Florida Republican Lincoln Diaz-Balart said in early March. "Certainly in a slave economy, it is very cheap to operate the way Canadian investors pay the Castro regime in (U.S.) dollars (then) the Castro regime pays the worker in undervalued pesos," Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican. "It's as though it's evil for a black man to impose a dictatorship on a black population, but it seems as though by the Canadian policy, it's all right for a white man . . . to enslave a racially mixed population," Diaz-Balart told a news conference called by Indiana Republican Dan Burton, co-author of the Helms-Burton Act. "There's a total double-standard in the Canadian policy," Diaz-Balart said. While Diaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen are entirely right about Canadian hypocrisy, Americans shouldn't rush to judgement over the subject of slave labour, lest all their possessions made in China by enslaved political prisoners burns their hands. UT administration ignores First Amendment, attempts to
muzzle student group Will they be taught freedom? Never trust your opponents to use the real numbers...a
Canadian gun control example There are a few notable tax plans being circulated around Congress, and the authors of those plans should take note of a recent public survey on taxation of family income. The statistical survey asked, "How much, as a percentage of their weekly income, should a family of four pay in taxes?" Fifteen percent of the respondents said 5 per cent should be the maximum tax rate while the largest block of respondents, twenty-six percent, indicated that 10 per cent of income was the maximum a family should pay in taxes. Twenty four percent of respondents said 15 per cent of income should be the maximum, and seventeen percent said 20 per cent of should be the maximum rate. Thus a sixty-five percent majority of Americans think tax rates should not exceed 15 per cent of income. (One percent of respondents chose a rate higher than 35 per cent. Apparently a few Democratic legislators ended up in the random sample.) The Tax Foundation recently reported that the combined federal, state and local taxes in 1997 for the median two-income family earning $54 910, will be 38.2 per cent of their income. Enemy of the Week, says American Spectator From the AS' website. Howard Kurtz was named American Spectator Enemy of the Week for March 4-10, 1998 In any event, what ultimately concerns us are those who know more than they let on, particularly if they're a journalist working for a major daily who decides to keep hot scoops out of public reach for a year or two until he can publish them in a book that will win him new fame and fortune. Someone like Washington Post media critic and author of the hot new book Spin Cycle Howard Kurtz. Lately Mr. Kurtz has spent a great deal of his time questioning the ethics, morality, and professionalism of such figures as the Internet's Matt Drudge. So it was a surprise to learn a few weeks ago that he'd known for well over a year that Hillary Clinton has commissioned a taxpayer-funded attack report on the Clinton-scandal reporting of the Washington Post's Susan Schmidt. Where was the outrage? It was being saved up for Kenneth Starr, who was close to subpoenaing a former journalist who now works as chief attack dog at Clinton guerrilla headquarters. Now we learn that Kurtz was on to other information -- e.g., press secretary Michael McCurry's crack that the 500-year-old Inca mummy that Clinton had said he was tempted to make a pass at was preferable to the mummy he was currently, er, seeing (and McCurry wasn't referring to the first lady). Is it any surprise that stonewalling and suppressed evidence are a Clinton staple when key journalists do their part to keep the public in the dark? Ultimately, though, it's people like Kurtz who are left blind. And so we have him writing on page 89 of Spin Cycle that "the first lady was portrayed as a broomstick-riding witch in The American Spectator." Look again, Howard: she wasn't riding a broomstick; she was flying atop Air Force One, this in a drawing for a cover story on the Travel Office firings. If you missed the meaning of a picture, that may explain why you miss the meaning of much else. But here's your first award for Spin Cycle: Enemy of the Week honors; hope they don't shrink your earnings or leave you covered in lint. An elected Senate, demand Western Canadians While American's likely couldn't imagine a country where their Senate was chosen by the President, Canada and England know exactly what it is like. In Canada, the Senate is named by the Prime Minister, making it yet another patronage hole...another place for those who can buy influence with an administration. On March 5, Alberta Reform MPs announced a campaign to force Prime Minister Jean Chretien to appoint one of their own for the next vacancy in the Senate. "It's time he starts listening to Alberta," said Edmonton MP Rahim Jaffer. "Alberta wants an elected Senate. Alberta and the rest of the country want representation in the Senate. No more is this going to be a haven of patronage and irresponsibility and unaccountability." Jaffer said Senate election legislation similar to Alberta's has been passed in British Columbia and is being considered in Ontario. Alberta Tory caucus members, many of whom are Reform supporters, agreed to change the Senatorial Selection Act to allow a slate of potential Senate candidates on municipal ballots this fall. "We're looking at the notion of electing two senators-in-waiting and if a vacancy becomes open, we'll be pressing the prime minister to appoint one of those individuals," said Alberta Premier Ralph Klein. While it is a bit silly to have senators-in-waiting, especially considering the next vacancy for Alberta in the Senate likely will not open until 2001, the idea of elected senators is a worthy one. Now we just have to see if Canada's leadership really believes in representation directly decided upon by the people. Firefighters take heat for speaking English on radio If you caught the 60 Minutes story about Quebec's jihad against English signs, then this next tidbit shouldn't surprise you. Two volunteer firefighters in the Outaouais region of western Quebec are the latest people to come under fire from Quebec's language police, for holding a brief two-way radio discussion in English. Michel Charbonneau, mayor of the town of Cantley, has been taking heat from pro-francophone Quebecers since November over town employees using English at work. Now Charbonneau has once again sent a letter to volunteer firefighters in the town, about 15 kilometres north of Ottawa, reminding them that Bill 101 stipulates French be used at all times by municipal employees. The letter followed a complaint lodged in late February by a Radio Canada reporter who overheard firefighters speaking English on two-way radios while answering an emergency call. What was the heinous crime committed? Deputy fire chief Garry Blackburn was overheard giving a street number in English. Jean-Paul Perrault, president of the francophone rights group Imperatif Francais, says the use of English at work by municipal employees is a security issue because some people don't speak it. "The city is obliged to ensure that the rights of employees are upheld," said Perrault, who pressured Charbonneau to reprimand employees. "What surprises me in all this is that Quebec municipalities hire people who are unable to speak French." Ironic to hear Perrault speak of rights... One more argument for Newt Gingrich to leave... Underscoring division among Republicans, House Speaker Newt Gingrich said March 5 that federal surpluses should for now be used to strengthen Social Security but not for tax cuts. The remarks by Gingrich, R-Ga., amounted to a shift in position and put him at odds with many GOP conservatives, who want to use expected surpluses to help finance big tax reductions this year. It also demonstrated how President Clinton's call in his State of the Union address to "save Social Security first" has weakened and divided Republicans. Though many Republicans, including Gingrich, consider tax cuts one of the GOP's defining issues, many of them worry that Clinton's proposal to use surpluses to strengthen Social Security is too politically appealing to challenge. Gingrich reiterated that he wants a tax cut this year, paid for with spending reductions and what he said is likely tobacco money, either from a settlement with the tobacco industry or a cigarette tax boost. "We should focus the surplus on Social Security," he told reporters, until the government achieves black ink without the big Social Security trust fund surpluses it now relies on. If we get an operating surplus (without using Social Security surpluses), I want the operating surplus to go back to the taxpayers," he said. Senate votes to keep some minority set-asides...one more reason why a whole whack of Republicans need to go... On March 6, the Senate killed an attempt to eliminate "set-asides"
for minorities and women in the awarding of federal highway and transit
contracts. The McConnell effort, the first congressional test of such preferences
this year, gained support from only one Democrat, Sen. Ernest "Fritz"
Hollings of South Carolina, with the other 36 votes in favor all Republican.
Progress would be that color-blind society we've been hearing about... Memo to Pat Buchanan, Ross Perot and unions in general: Free Trade does create jobs The vast majority of North American firms surveyed by a Canadian bank say the North American Free Trade Agreement hasn't hurt wages or jobs as feared. About half say they've actually hired more workers. A Bank of Montreal survey released in early March shows 47 per cent of companies said their workforce has grown since the pact between Canada, the United States and Mexico took effect Jan. 1, 1994. Another 41 per cent said their workforce has remained stable and 11 per cent said they had lost workers. One per cent said they didn't know if the size of their workforce had changed. ``Instead of the giant sucking sound we were warned about, what we hear now are the winds of opportunity for millions of workers across the continent,'' bank vice-chairman Jeffrey Chisholm said. ``The race to the bottom was more rhetoric than reality.'' Despite warnings that NAFTA would funnel American and Canadian jobs to Mexico, 50 per cent of Canadian firms surveyed said they've hired more workers and 39 per cent said the size of their workforce hasn't changed since 1994. The figures for U.S. companies were virtually identical. In Mexico, 40 per cent of companies have hired more and 40 per cent said their workforce is the same size. Most firms said NAFTA didn't affect wages at all - 91 per cent in the U.S. and 89 per cent in Canada - and 8 per cent or less reported trade-related wage drops. While NAFTA can't take all the credit, economic indicators are proof of its success, said the bank's chief economist, Tim O'Neill. Economic growth in NAFTA nations has improved since 1994 and forecasts are for continued prosperity, he said. Unemployment has decreased and is expected to keep dropping in the three countries; and in each, real wage gains are continuing, O'Neill added Declining popularity forces Greenpeace to change tactics...kind of Greenpeace plans to keep international attention on logging British Columbia's central coast, but is changing its tactics. The environmentalist organization came under fire last year when it brought in people from foreign countries to protest near Bella Coola. Greenpeace plans to concentrate on promoting economic alternatives for the local communities that depend on forestry, Greenpeace spokeswoman Tzeporah Berman said in Vancouver, though she wouldn't rule out future use of blockades and demonstrations Direct action tactics aimed at physically blocking B.C. logging last summer backfired spectacularly when anti-Greenpeace protests began. Angry workers turned the tables on the environmentalists and blockaded their vessel, Arctic Sunrise, in Vancouver's harbour. Greenpeace International, which collected $136.8 million US in donations worldwide in 1996, made campaigning against logging on B.C.'s central coast one of its priority causes more than a year ago. Patrick Moore, a spokesman for the pro-industry Forest Alliance of B.C., was in London to try to counter Greenpeace publicity. Studies show only 11 per cent of the central coast is even amenable to commercial forestry over a 100-year period, he said. "Greenpeace has no science on its side." A little knowledge is a dangerous thing In the case of U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, it's also an expensive thing too. Gore announced March 13 that NASA will develop and launch an innovative new satellite that offers a 24-hour-a-day picture of the earth that would be available to internet users and television viewers. The sources say the endeavor is a pet project of the vice president's and that he persuaded NASA officials to embrace it. The satellite is estimated to cost $20 million to $50 million and is projected for launch in 2000 aboard a NASA rocket. So what does this innovative new satellite do? Not much apparently. Officials involved in the project said the satellite would orbit at a point of equal gravity between the earth and sun - so that unlike traditional satellites that orbit the earth, this one will provide a constant picture of the sliver of Earth that is getting sunlight. Gore's primary purpose in pushing the project was his belief that science buffs would be fascinated by the chance to access an around-the-clock snapshot of Earth. "I believe there is tremendous scientific value in having constant live television pictures of the Earth," said Mr. Gore. "With global warming a growing concern...this will be of tremendous value." What do the feminists do now? Have boys killed? Removing boys from the classroom fails to improve girls' performance
in school even though it leaves them more confident, according to a new
study. The AAUW's original study found that boys and girls begin school
with equal skills, but that girls fall behind by high school, particularly
in math and science. The report found girls faced routine discrimination
by teachers, in textbooks and by male students. So what's the cure? "We went in with an open mind, and what the research shows is that boys and girls both thrive when the elements of good education are there, elements like smaller classes, focused academic curriculum and gender-fair instruction," said Janice Weinman, executive director of the Washington-based group. Gender-fair instruction? Is there a feminist math and science on the way? Teamster leaders: Free speech for me, but not for thee If you are pro-life you're anti-environment, says group Union bosses fight workers rights From a recent Political Money Monitor publication... Strong Support for "No Taxpayer Money for Politics";
Labor Unions Assess Members $60 to Fight Oregon Initiative Polling indicates that over 60% of likely voters would cast their ballots for the initiative. To counter this overwhelming support, the Oregon Public Employees
Union (OPEU) board of directors endorsed a $5-a-month special dues
assessment to be collected during 1998 to raise $1.4 million to fund its
"Fight Back in '98" campaign against the initiative.
Other unions joining OPEU's opposition include the Oregon Education
Association, Oregon School Employees Association and the American Federation
of State, County and Municipal Employees. Some Greenhoax scientists are more equal than others... As reported in Still Waiting for Greenhouse "Based on public reports, it appears that Monica Lewinsky gave different versions of her relationship with President Clinton in a deposition and on tape to a co-worker. We will watch the evidence closely as it becomes available to ensure that Ms. Lewinsky is not (and has never been) coerced by any involved party, including President Clinton, Vernon Jordan, Linda Tripp and Kenneth Starr, among others. If credible evidence of wrongdoing by any party emerges, we will speak out and urge women's rights supporters across the country to make their voices heard." National Organization for Women press release, January 28, 1998 Perhaps NOW's newfound caution can be traced the group's reaction
to the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas affair. Ms. Hill, too, gave conflicting
accounts of her alleged harassment when initially interviewed by the FBI
and when later testifying before Congress. The notorious anecdote about
a pubic hair found on a coke can, for example, was not part of her original
account. If that's true, then why did a North Carolina NOW chapter threaten to leave over the Anita Hill/Paula Jones -- Monica Lewinsky double standard? Now all we have to do is mock Clintonista Gloria Steinhem into living up to her philosophy. Censorship is not dead (warning this item contains racist language) I would add comments to this story, but CNN's piece illustrates beautifully the insanity of this incident. Instead, I'll italicize certain parts for emphasis. CNN - Swamped with complaints and a threatened boycott about the definition of "nigger" in its dictionaries, Merriam-Webster is reviewing how it defines offensive words. The 150-year-old publisher for the first time in its history has assigned a task force to consider whether to change the practice of listing definitions historically, with the oldest -- and often the most objectionable -- uses coming first. Still, there are no plans to remove words the publisher concedes are offensive and derogatory -- such as "queer," "redneck" and "white trash" -- from its adult dictionaries. "That would be censorship," said Deborah Burns, marketing director for the Springfield-based publisher. "As a reference tool, the dictionary would not be a comprehensive tool if it did not list the words used in our language." Merriam-Webster's most recent Collegiate Dictionary defines "nigger" first as: "a black person -- usually taken to be offensive." Other definitions refer to "a member of any dark-skinned race," and "a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons." An accompanying paragraph on usage notes that "nigger" is "perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English" and is "expressive of racial hatred and bigotry." Burns said that the company has fielded about 2,000 letters, notes and phone calls about the word's definition since two Michigan women launched a protest last fall. One of the women, Kathryn Williams, curator of the Museum of Afrikan American History in Flint, Michigan, suggested that Merriam-Webster omit the word from the dictionary. And the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People threatened to lead a boycott against the publisher if the word wasn't revised. In response, a special review committee of senior editors, as well as outside linguists and other language experts, began reviewing offensive words this year for Merriam-Webster. The publisher has also received a number of complaints recently about its definitions of "honky," "cracker," and "kike," Burns said. Other words being reviewed include: "Chink," "fairy," "gringo," "half-breed," "Kraut," "Paddies," "pig," "Polack," "queer," "redskin," "spic" and "whitey." Any changes could be included in the 1999 update to its Collegiate Dictionary, Burns said. The style of listing definitions historically might be a problem, she said, because some readers have "become so angry that they haven't read beyond the first entry." Revising that policy, however, would mean changing all entries in the dictionary to conform. By comparison, the American Heritage Dictionary flags the word at the beginning of the entry, which may be why it has received few complaints, said Joe Pickett, executive editor for the dictionary published by Houghton Mifflin. The American Heritage Dictionary's Collegiate edition defines "nigger" this way: "offensive slang. Used as a disparaging term for a Black person." Merriam-Webster officials were surprised at the public reaction to their listing, given that the dictionary entry emphatically warns that the word "nigger" is inflammatory and insulting. After hearing of Merriam-Webster's task force, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said, "We are gratified that Merriam-Webster finally got the message." But he said the NAACP will ask for company records on buying, employment, promotion and the makeup of the board of directors "to determine if a culture within the company has made it difficult for them to recognize why this definition is unacceptable to millions of Americans." Williams, the museum curator, approved of the publisher's move, but said she would prefer that all racial and ethnic insults be expunged from the dictionary. "If the word is not there, you can't use it," she said. Black teen suicide study alarming, yet misleading; African-American Leadership Network says youth are not killing themselves because their families are doing better financially Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 reject a recent Center for Disease Control and Prevention study on teen suicide that says African-American teens reared in upwardly mobile families are not able to cope with the "stressful" environment created by black prosperity. The study shows the suicide rate of African-Americans between the ages of 10 and 19 has increased by 114% since 1980. In southern states, the rate has grown by 214%. Some scholars and the study's authors say that a consequence of rising prosperity and social integration for blacks over the last few decades has caused a loss of racial identity and a distance between families, children and the community. Members of Project 21 say the situation is not so simple. Project 21 Director Roderick Conrad said, "Headlines on the increase in the black teen suicide rate, while troubling, are hardly 'news.' While many loud, liberal and radical voices have decried the (quote) genocide (unquote) perpetrated by mainstream society, clearly the larger problem has always been an internal cultural suicide. How can we really be shocked at [these] numbers when 'black-on-black' crime -- often an extension of drug and gang-related activity -- has been raging for years?" "The root cause is the chaotic result predicted decades ago by Democrat Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan," states Phyllis Berry Myers, president of Black America PAC's Leadership and Training Institute. "It is a liberal bureaucratic welfare state, which has eroded the most effective tools to producing stable, nurturing environments for young black Americans -- an intact family and safe, effective educational learning systems." Robert George, a Project 21 member and adjunct fellow at the Washington-based Center for New Black Leadership says, "Given the collapse of urban family and educational institutions, should we be surprised at the spiritual emptiness which causes our young people to make often fatal choices? Whether they passively drift into the gang-war lifestyle or defiantly turn deadly weapons on themselves, the result is the same: A lack of self-esteem turning into self-hatred turning into self-destruction. Clearly, these are not factors of race -- they are factors of culture, spirituality and morality. Unless a commitment is made to strengthening the basic family unit, reforming our urban schools and re-energizing the spirit of our communities, these awful numbers will only increase." Clinton's "dialogue" on race continues to net results...or how the world is beginning to sound like a nightmare Ayn Rand once had A town hall meeting on race relations turned into a shouting match March 23, when Native Americans protested the exclusion of a representative on President Clinton's race advisory board. Energy Secretary Federico Pena tried unsuccessfully to restore order when about 20 protesters, some wearing handkerchiefs and ski masks, refused to let board member John Hope Franklin speak, demanding to know why no Indians were on the board. "This is serious business," Pena told the jeering crowd. "We can either have a dialogue or a shouting match." Actor Edward James Olmos, a member of the town hall panel, took the microphone and said indigenous people of North America, including the Indians of Chiapas, Mexico, have been ignored for too long by the U.S. government. "We're really not able to understand the root of this problem because indigenous people are not being given a voice," Olmos said. "The people of Chiapas and indigenous people in this room must be heard," he said to shouts and beating drums from the crowd. The meeting was organized as part of the President's Initiative on Race, in an effort "to help us become One America in the 21st Century." The board had hoped to inspire dialogue, said spokeswoman Lydia Sermons. Denver's recent struggle with hate crimes made it an ideal place to examine ethnic stereotyping, she said. Judith Winston, executive director of the Race Initiative, angered the protesters when she said there was no room for them on the board. "It was not intended to represent the composition of the United States, we can't have that with only seven people," she told the crowd in reference to the size of the panel. How to protect yourself against competition On a 5-0 vote, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) rejected on March 24, Texas billionaire Ross Perot's claim that he was illegally excluded from the 1996 presidential debates. The commission overruled a report by the FEC's own general counsel, Lawrence Noble, which concluded the Commission on President Debates and the campaigns of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole violated the law by excluding Perot and a fourth candidate, the Natural Law Party's John Hagelin. FEC commissioners offered no explanation for their decision. Russell Verney, chairman of the Reform Party, told The Washington Post the decision showed that "the Republican and Democratic political appointees on the FEC turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to justice." Verney said Perot's lawyers would seek a court ruling to reverse the decision. I've heard racists say a lot of things...but never this After losing to Martina Hingis at the Lipton Championships on March 24, Serena Williams -- whose sister Venus went on to win the championships -- declared her loss would teach racists a lesson. "A lot of people think that black people can't rally and just think they're athletes and can't think," she said. "As you can see, that's not true. I can rally. Venus can rally." The civil rights movement must be proud...years of struggle so Williams can refute those who believe "black people can't rally." Majority would drop health coverage if patient protection bill is approvedMore than half of America's small businesses are likely to stop offering health coverage for workers and dependents if new patient protection legislation currently before Congress becomes law, according to a recent survey. The poll, conducted for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also shows 57 percent would be "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to drop coverage if a liability provision in the legislation is also approved. The provision, part of the Patient Access to Responsible Care Act, would allow covered employees to sue their employers if they disagreed with health benefit decisions. U.S. Chamber President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Donohue said the survey showed it's vital for Congress not to take employer-sponsored health coverage for granted. "Any action by Congress which puts these workers' coverage in jeopardy isn't about patient protection or consumer rights," he said. The survey, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies Inc. of Alexandria, Va., also showed 46 percent of employers would be likely to stop providing coverage if legislated mandates hiked premiums by 20 percent. Sixty-three percent said employees would have to pay a greater share if costs rose as much as 10 percent. Also, 61 percent of those surveyed would be less likely to support their Congressional delegation if the member supported legislation. Proving that people who work at Barnes & Nobles, Verso
Publishers and Barney's should be slapped repeatedly Philosophy teacher banned from campus after anti-Christian
comments Just in case you thought things changed... From The Federalist Digest (March 27, 1998) "Mega Demo-donors have anted up to $175,000 for a free pass on Air Force One with Mr. Clinton [in regards to the recent twelve country African tour], who is peppering his tour with apologies for various and sundry infractions committed by “European-Americans.” Among the ride-a-longs is AFL-CIO President, John Sweeney. We expect that, in honor of the $119 million in union dues he has schlep over to the DNC since 1996, he can sit anywhere on the plane he chooses!" Wyoming is freer today The Wyoming legislature approved a bill on March 12 making it illegal for labor unions to force their members to make contributions to political campaigns or causes without their written consent. Governor Jim Geringer’s signature on the bill makes Wyoming the second "Paycheck Protection" state. Washington State also has a similar law. California Gov. Pete Wilson is predicting that voters will pass a similar initiative, Prop. 226, in California in June. Wyoming is a right-to-work state where labor union membership is voluntary. Proponents of a paycheck protection ballot initiative in Nevada, which is also a right-to-work state, see the passage of the Wyoming legislation as significant since its opponents say such a protection is unnecessary where union membership is not mandated. A recent lawsuit filed against the "Workers Rights Initiative" by organized labor and supported by Nevada Governor Bob Miller (D) argues that "because no worker is required to belong to any union ... the voluntariness of workers' contributions to their union?s political activity does not justify its impairment of the membership contract between union and workers." Drew Carey lights up for freedom If business ran like the government...you know the rest |
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