DNC Traitors - Chinese Intelligence Units infiltrate
Josh J Fielek
In article <33283F...@stt.msu.edu>, Martin Fox <f...@stt.msu.edu> wrote:
>Gordon Breault wrote:
>
>Snip earlier.
>
>>
>> Too bad the Democrats haven't been able to find the Republicans doing
>> anything illegal. You know they've been searching for it.
>> --
>> GB
>> (Reading Usenet in alt.fan.newt-gingrich...)
>> Take the 'Z' out of my e-mail address and you'll get me.
>
>How can you honestly ask that question when it turns out that Bush also
>called from the White House asking for money. Is it or isn't it
>illegal?
It depends upon which room it took place in. Clals form teh private
quarters for the president would be just fine, albeit he'd best be
using a personal or campaign credit card. Calls form the Oval office,
or any other office in teh white house, whould be illegal. Go back and
read the law; it's very clearly phrased.
>The real campaign finance mess is not just what is illegal, but also
>what is completely legal, the soft money. Are the Republicans prepared
>to support Feinstein-McCain? Not so far.
I would question anything put forth by Feinstein. Can you supply the
text of the bill, or a pointer to it?
J
--
Joshua J. Fielek DoD#385 AMA#517381 WERA#968 The Garage of Xanadu:
j...@inri.com 1981 R80G/S-PD* 1990 906 Paso(Ayeka)*
Strive to avoid the mistakes of the 1975 RD350 1990 EX500(cold backup)
past -- come up with new ones on your own! 1988 EX500* 198X Aero 80(Turbo)*
Steve Schulin
S. 25 is the Feingold-McCain campaign finance bill number. Full text as
introduced was published in Congressional Record of January 22, 1997, pp
S656-S665, titled "BIPARTISAN CAMPAIGN REFORM ACT".
Best wishes,
---
Ref: In article <5gbupo$3...@gozer.inri.com>, j...@inri.com (Josh J Fielek)
wrote:
> Can you supply the text of the
> [Feingold-McCain campaign finance] bill, or a pointer to it?
- nuclear.com is home of "daily full text in a single file" editions of
Congressional Record, Federal Register and Commerce Business Daily
Gordon Breault
Lew Glendenning wrote:
>
> Van wrote:
> >
> > >Gordon Breault wrote:
> >
> > >>
> > >> Too bad the Democrats haven't been able to find the Republicans doing
> > >> anything illegal. You know they've been searching for it.
> > >> --
> >
> > guess he got off easy, but that still seems like a pretty hefty
> > wrong.
> >
> > Van
>
> In the immortal words of Dear Abbie, "Wake up and smell the coffee."
>
> There are no winners in this argument. There are no winners in the
> political game it fronts for.
>
> The nation is the loser in this affair, as it has been by parisan
> wrangling for much of my life. Have we, after all of the left-right,
> Democratic-Republican fights of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s received a
> better government? One delivering less crime, less gov corruption,
> better law enforcement, better justice, more "bang for the buck"
> generally?
>
> Do either of you think you are helping to attain these goals?
>
> Think again, and step outside from your "us against them" mindset, back
> from your ideology. Think it through again, starting from the
> Constitution and the limits to government.
>
> No hurry, the Gestapo hasn't mobilized just yet.
>
> Lew
Fortunately, our government was set up to be an "us against them"
system. It's the way the constitutional framers developed to keep the
government from being a monolithic entity (although I can't say it's
100% successful). In re the current fund raising scandal, we can't let
the Democrats obfuscate the real issue: illegal campaign fundraising.
We've _got_ to speak out against such abuses or the balance of the
system will be destroyed as it was in the 1996 election.
Lew Glendenning
The workings of an efficient gov are an entirely different issue than an
individual's understanding of the under-lying reality.
You can't understand very well with partisan shades on. What you do,
based upon your understanding, I wasn't and am not trying to prescribe.
I was pointing out that our past experience with these particular
partisan organizations has been unfortunate.
There are other partisan groupings which we could imagine.
Lew
Gordon Breault
If I follow you, you're suggesting that the formation of other parties
with different philosophies would serve the work of the government
better. I used to believe that supporting neither of the major parties
was the best course of action (I have a lot of libertarian tendincies).
But you can take as an example the Libertarian or Perot parties. Both
groups of well-meaning people that have very little effectiveness in the
actual workings of the federal government. So, I'd rather pick the
major party that most closely matches my philosophy.
Steve Schulin
CRISIS TODAY - March 13, 1997
Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
CRISIS OF ETHICS
Sen Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID) ... Mr. President, I recently chaired an
Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee hearing in which the issue of
character was prominent. During the hearing I was deeply disturbed to hear
that the lack of character, values, and discipline is making it harder and
harder for the Armed Forces to recruit the high quality people we need to
serve in our military. Testimony supplied at the hearing indicated that an
ever- increasing number of potential recruits are unacceptable, in terms
of ethics, education, and values, for the armed services. I am not talking
about difficult kids who simply lack discipline, the military has always
done a fine job handling those recruits. I am talking about young people
who have no respect for authority, no respect for their peers, no respect
for our society, and often, no respect for themselves. As a result, they
lack basic values such as compassion, honesty, and integrity. Our military
commanders cannot be expected to instill those kind of values in
individuals who have lacked them throughout their entire lives. That
process must begin at birth and in the home... Recognizing a national week
to stress the importance of character is but a small step in addressing
the crisis of ethics the Nation faces.
TEENAGE ILLEGITIMACY CRISIS AS EXAMPLE OF MORAL BREAKDOWN
Sen Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT) ... The reality, Mr. President, is that the
state of our values is not well. The American people are deeply concerned
about the abundant evidence they see of a real moral breakdown in our
society--so much so that polls taken over the last few years routinely
show that the public is more worried about the country's moral decline
than its economic decline. What's driving this concern, which many of us
in this Chamber share, is an understanding that our growing inability to
make moral distinctions, to draw lines about right and wrong and set
boundaries about what is acceptable behavior, is having real consequences.
We are recognizing that this moral breakdown is contributing to and
exacerbating some of our society's most profound social ills, such as the
rising tide of ever more random and vicious violence committed by ever
more younger killers, the disintegration of the family, the crisis of
teenage illegitimacy, the coarsening of our culture, and the loss of
civility in our polity and our everyday lives. More and more these days
there is a sense that our country is spiraling out of control, and at the
root of that feeling is what might be called a values vacuum. The
traditional transmitters of values that we have depended on for
generations to build character and bind our moral safety net have lost
much of their power. One of those transmitters is the family, which is
under enormous economic pressure these days and is prey to divorce and
other forms of breakdown. Another transmitter is the community and the
loose connection of local civic institutions we refer to as civil society,
which has weakened to the point that an entire movement has sprung up to
renew it.
INFANT MORTALITY CRISIS
Rep Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) ... constituents [should] reach out to their
Members of Congress to make them aware of the fact that this is a crisis
and that it needs to be addressed. I do not like to give out what I would
consider unfavorable statistics about our country, because I am so proud
of our country, but you mentioned about our situation here in America
versus other countries. If you look at, again, this is from the Children's
Defense Fund, this report we have been talking about this evening, they
point out that in every industrialized country children get better health
coverage than in the United States. Every other industrialized country
provides health coverage to all its people. America, of course, does not
even cover all its children. The United States ranks 18th in overall
infant mortality. Only Portugal does worse. And if the United States
matched Japan's infant mortality rate, more than 15,000 American babies
who died before their first birthday in 1994 would be alive today. The
United States ranks 18th in the percentage of babies born at dangerously
low weight. No industrialized country does worse. Again, it is not because
we want to point out bad things about our country, but it is really
shocking and it is really shameful that in the greatest country and the
wealthiest country in the world that we have to point out those statistics
with regard to infant mortality and health care. ... we are talking about
working people who are willing to pay either all or some of the cost of
the health insurance for their children. But unless we establish some
system, as the gentleman from New York said, to build on the existing
plans that are out there, they just do not have access to it, or it is too
costly for them because they do not get it through a group plan, through
their employer or whatever. We are talking about working people. We are
going to continue to do this over the next few weeks and the next few
months, I hope not the next few months because I hope our colleagues on
the Republican side of the aisle will be willing to bring this up at some
point in the next few months. But we have to keep talking about it because
it really is a crisis, as the Children's Defense Fund report points out.
CHILD HEALTH INSURANCE CRISIS
Rep Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) ... Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Children's Defense
Fund released its annual state of America's children. The news is
heartbreaking; 1 out of every 7 American children are living today without
health insurance; 1 out of every 7 kids. It is a national disgrace. The
vast majority of these kids live in families where one or both of their
parents work. Their folks work hard and they play by the rules, but they
are caught in the middle, not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, but
unable to afford private health insurance for their families. It is time
for the Republican leadership to focus on this problem. There are 10
million reasons why we must do this: For the 10 million children in this
country who are living without health insurance. But we only need one, the
fact that the American people are counting on us to make this world a
better place for their families. We cannot have healthy families without
healthy kids. We need to address this crisis, we need to move this issue
on to the top of the legislative agenda.
THE CRISIS OF ILLICIT DRUGS
Rep Benjamin A. Gilman (R-NY) ... For those critics who might say nothing
works, and the United States demand is the major factor in the crisis of
drugs, let me remind them of a little recent history. Not long ago, this
nation was able to reduce monthly cocaine use by nearly 80 percent during
a sustained period from 1985 to 1992. We went from 5.8 million monthly
cocaine users down to just 1.3 million cocaine users, each month. Few
Federal programs can point to such success. Nancy Reagan's ``Just Say No''
policy, combined with tough eradication, interdiction, and strong law
enforcement on the supply side, along with education, treatment, and
rehabilitation on the demand side, worked.
Rep Randy Cunningham (R-CA) ... America's young people are in danger.
Alarming new statistics show drug use skyrocketing among teen-agers. Drugs
have invaded our classrooms, our homes and our communities. They have
destroyed promising young lives, torn families apart and crushed hope. We
can continue to go down this destructive path, or we can act now to save
our children's future. Illustrating the depth of this crisis are reports
from the Department of Health and Human Services that show overall drug
use among 12- to 17-year-olds has increased an appalling 78 percent from
1992 to 1995. Among 14- and 15-year-olds, marijuana use has jumped 200
percent. Use of LSD and other hallucinogens has nearly tripled among young
people during the same time. In 1994, emergency-room reports of
cocaine-related episodes were at their highest level over. And emergency
room reports for methamphetamine (``meth''), a powerful and deadly drug
widely popular among teens in San Diego and the western United States, are
up a whopping 308 percent. These are not mere statistics. Behind every
number is a young person whose life has taken a dangerous turn. We must
take this crisis seriously. We must strengthen America's families by
having a real war on drugs at our borders, in our communities, schools and
homes. We can win this war, but only with a serious commitment from
everyone--parents, teachers, clergy, local police, entertainers, the
media, Congress and the president of the United States.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM CRISIS
Sen Jack Reed (D-RI) ... we are facing a crisis of public confidence in
the democratic order in the United States with respect to campaign finance
reform. If the Constitution and the Court had remained silent on this
issue, we would not be here today. But the Court has spoken, first in the
case of Buckley versus Valeo, several years ago, and in its progeny. Their
voice has concluded, and some would argue not correctly, but concluded
that the first amendment prevents Congress from imposing limits on
campaign expenditures. If the Court refuses to reassess its ruling, we
have no choice but to propose to the people of the United States that in
their wisdom they consider an amendment to the Constitution of the United
States, and that is why we are here today. We are not doing this in a
vacuum. We are doing this because of a crisis in confidence by the public.
To be kind, the public is disenchanted with the American political system,
particularly the American political campaign finance system. They see far
too much money going to campaigns. They are concerned that this money is
extracting special interest favors. All of this undermines a sense of
democracy, a sense of participation, a sense of what it is to be a citizen
in this great country. Last year's election saw record fundraising and
record expenditures. An unprecedented $2.7 billion was spent in Federal
elections last year, three times the amount that was spent the year the
Buckley versus Valeo case was decided. As this money is poured in, the
public is becoming increasingly disenchanted and increasingly
disenfranchised from the process. In a 1992 poll, 84 percent of the
electorate stated that Congress was owned by special interests, a direct
reflection, I think, of the perception of how the campaign finance system
may work. For the first time in decades, last year's Presidential
elections saw less than half of the eligible voters going to the polls to
register their votes. The American public sees a great problem. Months
ago, in the Washington Post, 80 percent of those surveyed indicated there
was too much money in campaigns and favored the adoption of campaign
spending limits.
Rep David E. Bonior (D-MI) ... how do we solve this crisis that we have
with campaign finance reform? I do not believe, Mr. Speaker, that there is
much disagreement on either side of the aisle that the way we finance our
political campaigns in this country is broken. We all know that. The
American people are increasingly becoming aware that it is broken. Each
and every election demonstrates that it is broken. In 1996 an estimated
$2.7 billion, with a B, was spent on political campaigns. Now with recent
court rulings, we know that the rules are wide open. We can spend what we
want the way we want to spend it, virtually. We have got to do something
to limit the influence of money in our campaigns. We need to fix the
system. We need to limit the amount of money. We need to stop the negative
advertising. We need to get on with voting again.
DIPLOMATIC CRISIS WITH MEXICO, CAUSED BY MEXICO'S POLITICAL CRISIS
New York Times editorial, Mar. 12, 1997, "Mexico Without Illusions",
entered into the record by Mr. GILMAN ... Congress and the Clinton
Administration appear headed for a collision over Mexico. Just weeks
before President Clinton is scheduled to visit Mexico, Congress is moving
to override the Administration's disingenuous certification that its
Government is fully cooperating in the fight against illegal drugs. A
successful override would invite a diplomatic confrontation with Mexico.
But the crisis would be worth enduring if it led Washington to a more
realistic appreciation of Mexico's problems and of President Ernesto
Zedillo's failure to address them with sufficient resolve. The
Administration invited a Congressional rebuff when it pretended all was
well with Mexican drug enforcement. It acted immediately after a series of
embarrassing incidents made plain that pervasive corruption in Mexico's
police, military and ruling party has blunted drug enforcement and led
Mexican officials to withhold vital information from American authorities.
Only days before the certification decision came word that Mexico's
recently appointed drug enforcement chief had been arrested for
corruption, and that news of his downfall had been kept secret for nearly
two weeks. Largely because of this breakdown of enforcement and
cooperation, well over half the cocaine entering the United States now
passes through Mexico. Mexico has become the principal conduit for South
American cocaine as well as a supplier of homegrown marijuana and heroin.
Mexico already resents the idea of a Washington report card on its law
enforcement efforts. The insult would be far greater if Mexico received a
failing grade, even if the Administration, as it surely would, waived the
economic penalties that decertification could bring. The annual drug
certification review is of a useful process. But as long as it is required
by law, Washington does best to tell the American people, and itself, the
truth. In Mexico's case, that truth is cause for considerable concern. The
drug enforcement problems are symptomatic of a deeper crisis in Mexican
political life. The old regime, represented by the Institutional
Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has used patronage networks and, on occasion,
electoral fraud to monopolize Mexico's presidency and dominate its
politics for nearly seven decades. It is now in deep disarray, unable to
reform itself and unwilling to give way to a more democratic and
accountable system. President Zedillo is a weak but decent leader,
apparently too beholden to the PRI establishment to reform it. He has
failed, for example, to move aggressively to clean up the notoriously
drug-corrupted Federal Judicial Police. Mr. Zedillo has instead relied on
regular army generals who are themselves proving vulnerable to bribery and
other abuses. New reports link army drug fighters to a series of
mysterious kidnapping incidents. Mr. Zedillo has failed to challenge
federal and state politicians whose failure to halt drug trafficking in
their areas of jurisdiction suggests either active complicity or
incompetence. With a long common boarder and a wide array of common
interests the United States has compelling reasons to maintain
constructive relations with Mexico. But such relations can only be based
on an honest assessment of Mexican conditions, including the obvious
problems now afflicting its drug enforcement programs. Unless President
Zedillo attacks these problems boldly by initiating a thorough
housecleaning of corrupt officials, Congress should override Mexico's
certification.
Mark J Brader
In article <steve.schulin-1...@spg-as22s50.erols.com>,
steve....@nuclear.com (Steve Schulin) wrote:
>CRISIS TODAY - March 13, 1997
>Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
>
>CRISIS OF ETHICS
>
>Sen Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID) ... Mr. President, I recently chaired an
>Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee hearing in which the issue of
As Hayek pointed out, in order to seize our goods, take away our liberties and
otherwise further enslave us, the political establishment needs to provoke
fear in the populace by creating and manipulating 'crisis'. Then the
politicians may fleece the public. This post show our Congress working
overtime, and bi-partisanly, to promote such crisis. Thanks to Steve Schulin
for posting this revealing record.
Mark J Brader
Chuck Hensey
K. Dustin Grant wrote:
>
> On Fri, 07 Mar 1997 22:29:00 GMT, pla...@erols.com (Claude Du Bois)
> wrote:
>
> >Republicans/conservatives have spent enormious amounts of money
> >attempting to find something ( Anything ) they could find to discredit
> >him, to the point of not having a Federal Budget for 1996 ( First time
> >in the history of the U.S.)
>
> Is this supposed to be a bad thing?
Yes, when it is their consitutional job to pass a budget which is
signable within a given amount of time. Maybe I'm just strange in that
respect, but I vote my representatives and senators in to do a job, and
not try and mug the camera and win cheap partisan points (which both of
the NC Senators did during 1994-1996... Jesse on Foreign Relations and
Lauch on Whitewash... er Whitewater).
I don't have any trouble with making sure that Congress exercises the
role of oversight when necessary, but that role does not take priority
over the budget and the numerous other problems which come up.
Steve Schulin
In article <332B81...@ntwrks.com>, sha...@ntwrks.com wrote:
> ... it is [Congress'] consitutional job to pass a budget which is
> signable within a given amount of time.
Oh yes, the "signable" clause. I've noticed a lot of folks adding this
clause since the '94 Republican majority!
The President used his veto power to deflect relatively minor cuts in
spending, and repeatedly stated that he would never sign budget bills
with the kind of social spending levels that Republicans sought. No
Republican argues that the President abused his power by vetoing. And he
was accountable for his exercise of the veto. He was reelected. Yet many
Clinton supporters do argue that Congress abused their power by not
presenting a "signable" budget. Well, Congress was accountable in the
same election, and the Republicans held on to their majority.
Most folks who think federal spending is way out of line (as do I)
probably didn't vote for Clinton, but the difference between he and Dole
on spending wasn't vast. Neither candidate proposed cutting spending
enough to avoid adding to the debt. So let's cut the demagoggin' and root
out a budget we can agree on.
Granting line item veto authority to the President was a courageous act by
the Republican congress. If it survives judicial review, it will allow
the President to be held more responsible for budget control. It's been
25 years since Congress nipped Nixon's impoundment practices, yet the
huge debt that's been run up is still blamed on Reagan. If Reagan had
been able to use line-item veto, then it would be fair to blame him for
the budget mess we're in.
Best wishes,
-----
There was a young lad from Hope
who thrived in the days of free dope
"I never inhaled,
I'll never be jailed."
Y'think he's been given 'nuff rope?
John W. Tibbs
But when the Justice Dept won't do their job because they're obviously
in bed with the high level perpetrators it becomes a high priority.
jwt
Lew Glendenning
Unless you are part of a large, cohesive group, you can't change the
direction of one of the major parties. The Christian Coalition is doing
this for both parties.
If you part of a small group which probably won't ever have a mainstream
following, or at least not for a lot of years, e.g. Libertarians or
Socialists, you have concentrate your forces outside of both parties,
and be the deciding factor in races between them.
Socialists never had more than a dozen members in congress, all from a
few states. Republicans now advocate a philosophy of gov which is more
socialist than the socialists ever dreamed of.
Libertarians, with a consistent 3-5% of the vote, could have the same
effect, in the other direction.
The Zeitgeist is changing, the technological basis of everything is
changing. The major parties don't want to change; they like the corrupt
bed they have been sharing.
Lew
Tom Vincent
You people- you "patriotic americans" DISGUST me!
Under the guise of "loving America" you promote CRAP like this topic, while
running through your midst are the real traitors- these idiotic, wild eyed,
bomb weilding wanna be nazis like the NA (National ASSHOLES?).
Why... WHY do you post bullshit threads like this, yet keep your mouths
shut and ignore the real traitors advocating the killing of fellow
americans, intimidation of their fellow americans with their so called
"militias"
You "conservatives"- I offer you a challenge:
If you truly DO love your country, and I think many of you do, then SHOW
IT! Don't allow these racist, anti semetic bastards defile the memories and
deeds of those young american men who fought and defeated the nazi regime a
half century ago.
Put your partisanship aside for ONE DAY and express to these evil bastards
that the hatred they spew IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!
Many of you, your fathers, or grandfathers were willing to sacrifice their
lives to rid the world of nazism. You do a disservice to their sacrifice if
you do not speak out against the evils of nazis in america.
Or are you too chicken?
---Tom Vincent proud son of a proud and brave WWII vet, whose memory
deserves far, far better than silence....
--
"... I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American
people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,'
thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." -
President Thomas Jefferson
"There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the
Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it
anymore." Pat Robertson, November 1993
"Well, somebody's lying." Tom Vincent, November 1996
Giovanni 8
> Mark J Brader wrote:
>> Steve Schulin wrote:
>>CRISIS TODAY - 1997 March 13
>> Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
>>
>> CRISIS OF ETHICS
>>
>> Sen Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID) ... Mr. President, I recently chaired an
> As Hayek pointed out, in order to seize our goods, take away our
> liberties and otherwise further enslave us, the political
> establishment needs to provoke fear in the populace by creating
> and manipulating "crisis"...
"It is natural for men, who wish to hasten the adoption of a measure,
to tell us, now is the crisis -- now is the critical moment which
must be seized, or all will be lost; and to shut the door against
free enquiry, whenever conscious the thing presented has defects
in it, which time & investigation will probably discover. This has
been the custom of tyrants & their dependants in all ages."
--- The Federal Farmer 1787-10-08
$$$
"Jefferson's response to the international problems that had plagued
the nation over the 1790s proved to be a national disaster itself.
Jackson's response to the economic grievances that had been
festering since the Panic of 1819 prompted a panic of its own in
1833, & if his policies did not actually cause the great depression
of 1837, they did little to stave off its portents. Lincoln's
response to the sectional crisis of the 1850s plunged the nation
into a civil war, & Roosevelt's New Deal failed to pull the nation
out of the Great Depression." --- Stephen Skowronek 1993
_The Politics Presidents Make_ page 37
$$$
"If during the life time of a generation no crisis occurs sufficient
to call out in marked manner the energies of the stronger leader,
then of course the world does not & cannot know of the existence
of such a leader." --- Theodore Roosevelt 1903-01-27 at Canton, OH
(quoted in Albert Shaw 1904 _The Works of Theodore Roosevelt_ pp231-232,
quoted in Stephen Skowronek 1993 _The Politics Presidents Make_ pg 479)
While all of these crises may not have been intentionally created,
even the classical Greeks knew of the scam of creating a crisis
as a tool for taking power, but, in this case
"In the present crisis, gov't is not the solution to our problem;
gov't is the problem." --- Ronald Reagan 1981-01-20 inaugural
(quoted in Stephen Skowronek 1993 _The Politics Presidents Make_ pg 414)
--
copyright 1997 jgo all rights reserved
Permission to down-load solely for purposes of reading
once and responding via usenet news is hereby granted.
Motorola inside -- I've got the power.
Jill k. Pawl
Giovanni 8 wrote:
>
> > Mark J Brader wrote:
> >> Steve Schulin wrote:
> >>CRISIS TODAY - 1997 March 13
> >>
> >> CRISIS OF ETHICS
> >>
> >> Sen Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID) ... Mr. President, I recently chaired an
I guess the ozone scare has been milked for all its worth....
Harry K.
Steve Schulin
CRISIS TODAY - March 14, 1997
Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
FEDERAL JUDGE VACANCY CRISIS
Sen Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) ... There has not been one single judge
confirmed yet this Congress. You know, there is a heck of a lot more
effort given to somehow influencing the appointment of an independent
counsel or special prosecutor, by this body, than there is to considering
and confirming Federal judges. Not one single Federal judge has been
confirmed by this Congress. Not one court of appeals judge was confirmed
in the last session of Congress. The Chief Justice of the United States, a
conservative Republican, appointed first by one Republican President as a
member of the Supreme Court and subsequently by another Republican
President as Chief Justice, has said we have reached a crisis situation.
There are nearly 100 vacancies in our Federal courts. Justice is not only
delayed, justice is denied to American people--all American people,
Republicans and Democrats alike. Everybody knows it is a crisis. But this
Senate, with all the talk about bipartisanship, has not confirmed one
single Federal judge. In fact, I think there is only one scheduled for
consideration by the Senate. At this rate--I am 56 years old--through
normal attrition and all, if we keep on at this rate, when I am 156,
instead of 100 vacancies we will have 300 or 400 vacancies.
THE COMING ENTITLEMENT CRISIS
Sen Daniel R. Coats (R-IN) ... Beginning with his State of the Union
Address, the President has been telling the Congress and the American
public of his desire to sit down and work out a solution to the coming
entitlement crisis, and we have responded on our side by saying that we
are willing to do this. In fact, in our budget last year, we recommended
and voted for doing this. But now it seems obvious that, for some reason,
the administration, the President and his party--and, frankly, a number of
interest groups who have so much influence among those who oppose
entitlement reform--plan to return to the same kind of rhetoric on
Medicare and Social Security, and the same political tactics that serve to
undermine the very health of the programs that they purport to protect.
Steve Schulin
CRISIS TODAY - March 17, 1997
Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
MISSILE DEFENSE NEEDED BEFORE CRISIS
Rep Newt Gingrich (R-GA) ... it is vital that we protect American
territory from missiles from terrorist states or from dictatorships. We
need to be honest about the threat to this country. There are missiles
today that can reach America and eliminate our greatest cities literally
in 30 minutes. Some of those missiles are held by states that may not be
favorable to us. Within a decade other countries that we know are not
favorable to us are going to have similar missiles. Whether the weapon of
mass destruction is nuclear or chemical or biological, we are faced with a
tremendous threat in the next 20 years. The time to begin to defend
America from that threat is now. Just as Britain had to have the foresight
to build radar in the 1930's to survive the Battle of Britain, the time to
prepare to defend ourselves is not when the crisis occurs, not when we are
blackmailed, but now. And every evidence, I think, of every independent
observer is that the threat is real, it is already here and that we should
be building today a national missile defense system capable of protecting
the United States, capable of protecting Europe and Israel, and capable of
protecting our allies in the Far East, if necessary, so that no one who
has a missile can think that with impunity they can blackmail the free
countries of the world.
FEDERAL JUDGE VACANCY CRISIS
Sen Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) ... We have not seen one single judge get
confirmed. We have been voting them out of the committee at the rate of
three-quarters of a judge a month, and none has come to the floor, not in
6, 7, or 8 months, and there are 100 vacancies in our Federal judiciary.
The Chief Justice calls it a crisis. Yet, even though we are paid and
elected to do that, to consider and confirm judges, we have not confirmed
a single judge.
FBI CRIME LAB IN STATE OF CRISIS
Whistleblower Dr. Frederic Whitehurst's attorneys, letter to FBI Director
Freeh, dated March 17, 1997, entered into the record by Sen Charles E.
Grassley (R-IA) ... It is fundamentally wrong for you to challenge Dr.
Whitehurst's right to ``overreport,'' and ridicule his allegations as
``conjecture'' in the face of these legal mandates and in the face of the
severe crisis that has gone unaddressed within the crime lab. To make
matters even worse, you were fully aware of many of these problems in
1994, yet you failed to approve an independent review of these matters and
failed to correct these problems.
Steve Schulin
CRISIS TODAY - March 18, 1997
Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
THE CRISIS OF CRUMBLING SCHOOLS
Sen Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL) ... the Partnership To Rebuild America's
School Act of 1997 ... is designed to address one of the most fundamental
problems that we currently face as a nation with regard to public
elementary and secondary education: many of our schools are literally
falling down around our children. This legislation will help us address
this problem, the crisis of crumbling schools in America.
Rep Nita M. Lowey (D-NY) ... Today, all over America, our schools are
inadequate, overcrowded, and literally falling down. In Miami, students
learn to read and write in temporary trailers. Here in our Nation's
Capital, schools are closed for violating the fire code. In New York City,
students dodge falling plaster and attend class in hallways and bathrooms.
A GAO report released last summer confirmed the worst. Record numbers of
school buildings across America are in disrepair. One-third of all
schools--serving 14 million students--need extensive repairs. About 60
percent of schools need to have roofs, walls, or floors fixed.
With school enrollment skyrocketing, this problem will only get worse.
It's time for the Federal Government to act. The bill we are introducing
today will provide $5 billion in Federal funding for school construction
across the Nation. Funds will be distributed to the 50 States and the 100
largest school districts based on the numbers of school children in
poverty.
This bill won't completely solve the problem, but it will make a crucial
difference. For the first time the Federal Government will enter into a
partnership with our local communities to rebuild our schools.
We know that America is only as good as our schools--and we know that
this is a local problem that deserves a national response.
The situation in New York City is dire. A survey conducted by my office
revealed 25 percent of New York City public schools hold classes in
bathrooms, locker rooms, hallways, cafeterias, and storage areas. Almost
half of school buildings have roofs, floors, and walls in need of repair.
A report by the New York City Commission on School Facilities revealed
the following: Nearly half of New York City's school children are taught
in severely overcrowded classrooms; 270 schools need new roofs; over half
of the city's schools are over 55 years old; and approximately one-fourth
still have coal-burning boilers.
We simply cannot prepare America's children for the 21st century in 19th
century schools. Students cannot learn when the walls of their classrooms
are crumbling down around them. We can't teach computer technology next to
coal-burning boilers.
I expect that there will be opposition to this bill. We know that not
everyone believes the Federal Government should address this problem. I
join today with the 41 original cosponsors of the Partnership for
Rebuilding America's Schools Act to state that the Federal Government can
no longer afford to ignore this ticking timebomb. Government at all levels
must work together to solve this national crisis.
FOSTER CARE CRISIS
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) ... The reasons for granting parental
leave to both foster and adoptive parents overlap and merge, but both need
the same leave benefits as birth parents, perhaps more so. There is an
acute foster care crisis in the United States, with many more children in
need of such care than there are foster or adoptive parents. Foster
children are generally older children who have been removed from their own
homes. Often they are children with specific needs. Increasingly, they
have been abused or have parents with debilitating problems such as drug
abuse and are hard to place. Thus, a foster parent will normally have a
greater challenge of adjustment than a birth parent. A foster parent must
acclimate to a child who already has set habits and personality traits.
The foster child is sometimes intimidated by being thrust into her new
surroundings. She may have come from dangerous or even life-threatening
circumstances. In addition, foster care systems, especially those in large
cities often are in great disrepair. A recent GAO study reported
disgraceful circumstances for the care of many of these youngsters, a
situation that is pervasive throughout the United States. The wreckage
left behind by failed foster care systems is often reflected in the lives
of foster children. They clearly need their parents in their new home as
much, and probably more than the newborns who are the major recipients of
the FMLA.
Adopted children are generally not as old as foster care children and
may not generally come to their new families from troubled circumstances.
However, because most adoptive parents are caring for an infant or young
child, their situation is similar to the parents of newborns. There is no
reason, therefore, to treat them differently than birth parents.
There are few foster or adoptive parents in any single workplace,
guaranteeing that the effects on the employer would be small, in keeping
with the policy of the FMLA. I urge my colleagues to support this bill to
help ensure that foster parents and adoptive parents receive the same
opportunity as birth parents to bond with a new child and to acclimate
that child to her new family and surroundings.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE SYSTEM CRISIS
Sen Kent Conrad (D-ND) ... Amending the Constitution is not something I
take lightly. The Constitution is the basic law of our land, and the
guarantor of our country's most precious rights and liberties. The
Constitution has only been changed 27 times--only 17 times since the first
10 amendments, the Bill of Rights, were adopted in 1789. Voting to amend
the Constitution is perhaps the most important vote I can cast as a U.S.
Senator. However, it seems to me we have reached a crisis point with our
current campaign finance system. To put it simply, campaign spending is
out of control. It is my belief that this constitutional amendment will
help us address in a fair and reasonable manner the chronic problems
plaguing our current campaign finance system.
Rep Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) ... According to one poll, 85 percent of the
American people think the campaign finance system is now in a crisis
state. I have to point out, though, it did not have to come to this. If
reforms the Democrats have been proposing since 1989 had been in place
today, the country might well have been spared the abuses and excesses
that we are hearing about. Unfortunately the Republicans stopped us cold.
They have delayed and filibustered and stalled in really every conceivable
way on this issue.
Rep Patsy T. Mink (D-HI) ... Any blind person, I think, could realize that
the whole system is in crisis and it is really up to us. No one else can
change it. No one else can fix it. It is up to the Congress of the United
States to take this issue and to hear all the different versions. I am not
certain exactly where I am going to stand in the final analysis on many of
these aspects of the reform legislation, but I do think it is time to
start, and so the women gathered today to make a special appeal to the
country to contact the leadership of this House and to stress the point
that they, the public, is really exhausted with their patience in waiting
for this Chamber to begin its deliberations.
Last night, the Speaker took the floor during special orders and
outlined a 13-point program in which he explained in great detail in his
1-hour special order exactly what positions and programs the Republicans
were supporting. I listened the entire hour because my special order came
afterwards, and I was astounded that he did not include mention of
campaign finance reform, something which really goes to the very heart of
our democracy. It is challenging the viability, the essence of our
democracy, all the things that we read about. When $2.7 billion is being
spent in campaigns to elect us and the President, something is strictly
wrong, and we need to fix it.
... The pollsters are telling us 85 percent of the Americans think there
is a crisis today in campaign spending and campaign contributions. And so
what this tells us and what our mail certainly tells us, what the phone
calls are telling us that are coming in from our districts, we better pay
heed. The American people are really disillusioned about this process and
we cannot afford to let this go by unattended.
YELLOWSTONE PARK'S ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
Rep Rick Hill (R-MT) ... Yellowstone National Park faces an environmental
crisis. For the past 30 years, the pseudoscience of natural regulation has
guided park management. Scientists recently testified before the Parks
Subcommittee that natural regulation is foolish, misguided, and not an
appropriate nor a practical management philosophy for wildlife management.
Robert Ross, a retired Soil Conservation Service officer for range
conservation, has been a close observer of changing range conditions and
wildlife use in Yellowstone National Park. His comments urging hands-on,
appropriate management of habitat are well made and I commend them to my
colleagues. "... One wonders if Yellowstone National Park officials have
nightmares over the thousands of starving elk and bison in the park.
Starving because there are five to six times more elk and bison in the
park than the winter forage will support. ... Excess of elk and buffalo in
Yellowstone National Park have destroyed woody species such as willow,
aspen, cottonwood, alder, serviceberry, etc. along the streams and rivers.
This ecological change in vegetation has almost eliminated beaver, deer,
moose and many species of waterfowl in the park. ... The animals rights
groups and other so-called environmental organizations such as Sierra
Club, Wilderness Society, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, etc. should focus
their attention on the land abuse being done to Yellowstone Park
resources. However, shouting about bison being shot brings more money into
their coffers from people who do not understand the whole problem..."
DECERIFYING MEXIO'S DRUG COOPERATION RISKS DESTABILIZATION CRISIS
Sen Ben N. Campbell (R-CO) ... On February 28, 1997, the President
submitted his annual list to Congress. This report indicated that 23
countries, including Mexico, are certified as fully cooperating; three
countries were determined not to be fully cooperating, but were deemed in
the national interest-- Belize, Lebanon, and Pakistan--and six countries
were decertified (Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Iran, Nigeria, and Syria.
The impact of this process on Mexico could be dramatic. If Congress were
to pass a resolution of disapproval within the 30-day review period and
the President does not exercise his waiver authority, the impact would
include: Suspension of at least 50 percent of United States assistance for
the current fiscal year; total suspension of aid in the next fiscal year,
unless Mexico were recertified; and the United State would vote against
loans to Mexico in the multilateral development banks. Mexico receives $17
million in bilateral aid from the United States and, according to the
Export-Import Bank, 56 applications from Mexico could be affected which
total $3.24 billion.
The alternative that I am proposing today provides a middle ground
because it revisits the certification issue more often during the course
of the year. The President also is given more flexibility in labelling
countries more accurately. ... I wrote to the President last Friday
expressing my concern with his certification of Mexico. I also urged the
administration to take all necessary steps to ensure Mexico does its fair
share in controlling the flow of illicit drugs across its border into the
United States.
Decertifying Mexico will not make this process any easier. Yet, we
cannot risk the implication that we condone Mexico's failed drug policy by
fully certifying Mexico without certain conditions. Certification of
Mexico in light of the compelling facts of that country's involvement in
drug trafficking also makes a mockery of the certification provisions of
the Foreign Assistance Act.
In light of these facts, I am concerned that the President has certified
Mexico as fully cooperating with the United States. However, I am also
concerned that decertifying Mexico could destabilize a country important
to us and cause a potential crisis on our southern border. Unfortunately,
that is the choice the administration has under existing law.
Therefore, the bill I introduce today would amend the existing law to
avoid this type of problem in the future. The current certification
process is set forth in section 490 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
It requires the President to submit to Congress by March 1 of each year a
list of major illicit drug producing and transiting countries which he
certifies are fully cooperating with the United States. This bill offers a
good middleground--I urge support.
Under existing law, the President has three options: One, certify a
country which has cooperated fully with U.S. anti-drug efforts or has
taken adequate steps on its own to comply with the 1988 U.N. anti- drug
trafficking convention. Two, decertify a country for not fully
cooperating. Or three, decertify a country but provide a waiver because it
is in the national interests of the United States to continue to provide
aid. ... We need to send a very strong message to our neighbors in Mexico
and similarly situated countries when we do not believe that they are
fully cooperating with United States efforts to combat drug trafficking.
But, to risk a crisis along our own border is asking for greater trouble.
ALBANIA IN CRISIS
Rep Michael Doyle (D-PA) ... Greece continues to stand firm as a bulwark
of stability in an otherwise volatile region. Just today, Prime Minister
Costos Simitis has called for a summit of Balkan leaders to deal with the
crisis in Albania. It is this type of action--working for regional
stability when it is most needed--that clearly demonstrates the important
role the people and Government of Greece continue to play in the modern
world.
CYPRUS IN CRISIS
Rep Steven Rothman (D-NJ) ... The Greek Cypriots in occupied northern
Cyprus live under intolerable inhuman conditions since their land was
occupied by a military force. Tensions continue to rise around Cyprus and
I urge the administration to apply the same degree of commitment to
finding a peaceful solution to the Cyprus crisis that it applied to the
Bosnian crisis.
Steve Schulin
CRISIS TODAY - March 19, 1997
Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
EDUCATION IS IN A CRISIS
Rep Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) ... Me and my colleagues, especially Buck McKeon
and Frank Riggs, who share subcommittees with me on the Committee on
Education and the Workforce, are currently working on this project,
Education at a Crossroads, what works and what is wasted. The purpose of
our efforts is to do a survey around the country of education, what the
results are. There is enough education out there today or there are enough
issues out there today that we can say that at least in parts of our
country today education is in a crisis.
You go to Washington, DC, right outside of this building, we are
spending $9,000 per student. We get some of the lowest test scores in the
country. We have had hearings in California where key people from
universities come in and they say, you know what we need to do and what
you need to do in Washington is you need to make sure that you continue
funding our remedial education programs, and you kind of lean forward and
say, these are kids entering higher education in California, what kind of
remedial education do they need? And the answer is, well, they cannot read
or write at an eighth grade level, so give us more money, and the answer
is no, you do not need more money. As experts in education, you have got
to get into the high schools, the middle schools and the grade schools and
figure out why kids are not learning.
You go around the country and you compare our scores with international
scores and we are not getting the kind of results we would like to get. So
we know that there are some problems and some opportunities in education.
We also then want to take a look at whether Federal programs are helping
drive the creativity, the energy, the innovation that we need in education
today, or whether Federal programs are a stifling wet blanket of rules and
regulations on State and local efforts to move education into the 21st
century.
BUDGET CRISIS - TOO MUCH SPENDING
Rep Jim Ryun (R-KS) ... it is important, I believe, that we look at the
issue of balancing the budget, because what it does, it protects not only
our children and our future children, but it protects our Nation. The
current national debt is approximately $5 trillion.
Just how much is $5 trillion? Well, if we paid a million dollars a day
for 365 days, that is every day of the year, it would take us 13,699 years
to pay off our national debt.
It is also a terrible tragedy when we saddle our children born today
with a debt. They owe the Federal Government $200,000 just on the interest
on the debt alone. That is something we need to correct. That is why
balancing the budget is imperative.
Balancing the budget would reduce the interest rates, according to
Federal Reserve director Alan Greenspan, by as much as 2 percentage
points. What does that mean? Well, that means that for a typical family,
it would save them in these particular areas: Say a student loan, a
typical student loan, it would save them $216 per year. It means if a
family had a typical car loan, it would save that family as much as $180 a
year.
For a family that is purchasing a 30-year mortgage on a $50,000 home,
with 15 percent down, it would mean that it would save them $1,230 of
their hard-earned money. It means that a family who would be purchasing,
let us say, a $100,000 home, putting down 15 percent, again on a 30-year
mortgage, it would mean a savings of $2,160 back to families, back helping
them in the areas that they should be receiving an award.
We all agree we are facing a tremendous budget crisis. The reason we are
facing the budget crisis is not because we are taxed too little, it is
because the Government simply spends too much.
I know, Mr. Speaker, like all of us that are seated here, we have to
learn to balance our checkbook. That is what we are really asking the
Government to do, is not to spend more than it really has.
The $1.6 trillion in revenue that makes up the President's budget
request is not the Government's money; it is the product of hard work and
sacrifice that belongs to American families and Kansas families. It is
hard earned money. They should be receiving their rewards. The Nation's
capital does not create wealth. All the money that sits in the U.S.
Treasury was taken from someone's pocket; that is, the hardworking
taxpayers.
I would like to put that money back into the pockets of the American
people, back to the people of the Second District. They simply are taxed
too much. We need to make those changes. Families deserve tax relief from
this crushing tax burden. A $500 per child tax credit would benefit the
families who need it. It would also help single mothers who have incomes
less than $25,000 a year, helping them specifically.
A repeal of the estate tax and gift tax would enhance the chance for
families, family farms and family businesses to succeed and pass it on to
the next generation. Reducing the capital gains tax would simply create
more jobs, it would help the economy grow, it would encourage better jobs
for more people, it would encourage them to work and to save more and to
invest more. Balancing the budget and relieving the American taxpayer,
families in general, taking away that crushing tax burden is pro-life, Mr.
Speaker, and it is imperative that we do it.
MYTH OF JUDICIAL VACANCY CRISIS
Sen Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) ... We have heard repeatedly from the
other side that a number of judicial emergency vacancies exist. We are
told that not filling these vacancies is causing terrible strife across
the country. Now, to hear the term ``judicial emergency'' sounds like we
are in dire straits. But, in fact, a judicial emergency not only means
that the seat has been open for 18 months. It does not mean anything more
than that, despite the rhetoric we hear.
In fact, it is more than interesting to note that out of the 24 so-
called judicial emergencies, the administration has not even bothered to
make a nomination to half them. That is right, Mr. President. After all we
have heard about Republicans not filling these so-called judicial
emergencies which are not really emergencies, we find that the
administration has not even sent up nominees for half of them after having
over a year and a half to do so.
But, we continue to hear about this so-called caseload crisis. My office
even got a timely fax from the judicial conference yesterday bemoaning the
increase in caseload. Well, Mr. President, I sent out the first time ever
national survey to article III judges last year. I learned many things
from the responses. Among them, I learned that while caseloads are rising
in many jurisdictions, the majority of judges believed the caseloads were
manageable with the current number of judges. A number of judges would
even like to see a reduction in their ranks.
We know that much of the increased caseload is due to prisoner
petitions, which are dealt with very quickly and easily, despite the hue
and cry we hear. As a matter of fact the judicial conference even admits
some of the increase is due to prisoners filing in order to beat the
deadline for the new filing fees we imposed. So, there may be isolated
problems, but there is no national crisis--period.
On February 5, I had the opportunity to chair a judiciary subcommittee
hearing on judicial resources, concentrating on the fourth circuit. My
efforts in regard to judgeship allocations are based upon need and whether
the taxpayers should be paying for judgeships that just are not needed. We
heard from the chief judge that filling the current two vacancies would
actually make the court's work more difficult for a number of reasons. He
argued that justice can actually be delayed with more judges because of
the added uncertainty in the law with the increased number of differing
panel decisions. I am sorry that only three Senators were there to hear
this very enlightening testimony.
UNNECESSARY JUDGES CONTRIBUTE TO FINANCIAL CRISIS
Sen Jeff Sessions (R-AL) ... Senator Hatch brilliantly led, recently, an
effort to pass a balanced budget amendment on the floor of this Senate.
For days and hours he stood here and battled for what would really be a
global settlement of our financial crisis in this United States. We failed
by one vote to accomplish that goal. But it was a noble goal.
That having slipped beyond us, I think it is incumbent upon those of us
who have been sent here by the taxpayers of America to marshal our courage
and to look at every single expenditure this Nation expends and to decide
whether or not it is justified. And if it is not justified, to say so. And
if it is not justified, to not spend it.
In this country today a circuit court of appeals judge costs the
taxpayers of America $1 million a year. That includes their library, their
office space, law clerks, secretaries, and all the other expenses that go
with operating a major judicial office in America. That is a significant
and important expenditure that we are asking the citizens of the United
States to bear. And I think we ought to ask ourselves, is it needed?
I want to point out a number of things at this time that make it clear
to me that this judgeship, more than any other judgeship in America, is
not needed. Let me show this chart behind me which I think fundamentally
tells the story. We have 11 circuit courts of appeal in America. Every
trial that is tried in a Federal court that is appealed goes to one of
these circuit courts of appeal. From there, the only other appeal is to
the U.S. Supreme Court. Most cases are not decided by the Supreme Court.
The vast majority of appeals are decided in one of these 11 circuit courts
of appeal.
Senator Grassley, who chairs the Subcommittee on Court Administration,
earlier this year had hearings on the caseloads of the circuit courts of
appeals. He had at that hearing the just recently former chief judge of
the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which has the highest caseload per
judge in America. Total appeals filed per judge for the year ending
September 30, 1996, was 575 cases per judge. He also had testifying before
that committee Chief Judge Harvey Wilkinson from the Fourth Circuit Court
of Appeals. They are the third most busy circuit in America. They have 378
cases filed per judge in a year's time. Both of those judges talked to us
and talked to our committee about their concerns for the Federal judiciary
and gave some observations they had learned.
First of all, Judge Tjoflat, former chief judge of the eleventh circuit,
testified how when the courts of appeals get larger and those numbers of
judges go up from 8, 10, 12, to 15, the collegiality breaks down. It is
harder to have a unified court. It takes more time to get a ruling on a
case. It has more panels of judges meeting, and they are more often in
conflict with one another. It is difficult to have the kind of
cohesiveness that he felt was desirable in a court. Judge Wilkinson agreed
with that.
I think what is most important with regard to our decision today,
however, is what they said about their need for more judges. Judge
Tjoflat, of the eleventh circuit, said even though they have 575 filings
per judge in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, they do not need
another judge. Even Judge Harvey Wilkinson said even though they have 378
filings per judge in the fourth circuit, they do not need another judge.
He also noted, and the records will bear it out, that the Fourth Circuit
Court of Appeals has the fastest disposition rate, the shortest time
between filing and decision, of any circuit in America, and they are the
third busiest circuit in America. That is good judging. That is good
administration. That is fidelity to the taxpayers' money, and they ought
to be commended for that.
When you look at that and compare it to the situation we are talking
about today with 11 judges in the D.C. circuit, they now have only 124
cases per judge, less than one-fourth the number of cases per judge as the
eleventh circuit has. What that says to me, Madam President, is that we
are spending money on positions that are not necessary.
The former chief judge of the D.C. circuit, with just 123 cases per
judge, back in 1995 said he did believe the 11th judgeship should be
filled but he did not believe the 12th should be filled. As recently as
March of this year, just a few weeks ago, he wrote another letter
discussing that situation. This is what he said in a letter addressed to
Senator Hatch: "You asked me yesterday for my view as to whether the court
needs 11 active judges and whether I would be willing to communicate that
view to other Senators of your committee. As I told you, my opinion on
this matter has not changed since I testified before Senator Grassley's
committee in 1995. I said then and still believe that we should have 11
active judges. On the other hand, I then testified and still believe that
we do not need and should not have 12 judges. Indeed, given the continued
decline in our caseload since I last testified, I believe the case for the
12th judge at any time in the foreseeable future is almost frivolous, and,
as you know, since I testified, Judge Buckley has taken senior status and
sits part time, and I will be eligible to take senior status in 3 years.
That is why I continue to advocate the elimination of the 12th
judgeship...
FAMILY LEAVE BILL HAS HELPED 12 MILLION FAMILY CRISES
Rep Richard A. Gephardt (D-MO) ... Our Republican colleagues have already
missed one opportunity today to truly help working families by denying our
efforts to consider the Democratic family leave bill which makes available
to parents federally protected leave for family concerns like routine
doctor visits and parent-teacher conferences. If you are truly sincere in
your pledge to help working families you will set aside this raid on
working Americans' paychecks and reconsider your opposition to expanded
family medical leave. This is a proven, successful policy enacted by
Democratic votes, opposed by Republican voices, which has already helped
12 million Americans to lessen the pain and anguish in the face of a
family crisis. Now let us give those families the comfort of knowing they
can go to their child's school to check on his or her progress with their
teachers or to the family doctor when their children or elderly parents
need attention even if it is not life- threatening.
CRISIS REVEALS THE MEASURE OF A PERSON
Rep Kay Granger (R-TX) ... Martin Luther King once said that the measure
of a person is not what they do in times of comfort and convenience but
what they do in times of crisis and challenge.
KOSOVA HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS
Rep Eliot L. Engel (D-NY) ... I rise to call attention to the situation in
Kosova. As my colleagues are aware, Kosova is a region in the former
Yugoslavia which is populated by 92 percent ethnic Albanians, but ruled by
Serbia.
Since unilaterally withdrawing Kosova's autonomy, Belgrade has carried
out a harsh campaign of violations of human and political rights against
the Kosovans.
Dr. Alush A. Gashi, M.D., Ph.D., is a member of the Kosova Council for
the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms and is an expert on the situation
in Kosova. On February 6, 1997, he addressed the Congressional Commission
on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
I am inserting Dr. Gashi's statement to the Commission at this point in
the Congressional Record.
"... Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for this opportunity
to speak with CSCE on the timely and critical subject of repression of
human rights and freedoms in the Republic of Kosova.
It was almost three years ago--on May 9, 1994--that I last appeared
before the CSCE. Then as now, I just arrived from Prishtina, the capital
of the Republic of Kosova. Then as now, I sadly reported that the human
rights situation in Kosova had degenerated. Then as now, I must
regrettably tell you that repression, violence and terrorism directed at
Albanians has escalated. Then as now, I reaffirmed our commitment to
peaceful resistance under the leadership of President Rugova and his
government.
It has been said that the more things change, the more they stay the
same. In Kosova, things have gotten much worse.
Although I speak to you as a human rights activist, I also speak as a
citizen of the Republic of Kosova who has experienced first-hand the
terrible repression of the Belgrade regime.
...
Perhaps the U.S. State Department annual human rights report described
the human rights crisis in Kosova most accurately. In that report issued a
week ago on January 30, 1997, the U.S. said: ``The human rights record
continued to be poor. The police committed numerous, serious abuses
including extrajudicial killings, torture, brutal beatings, and arbitrary
arrests. Police repression continued to be directed against . . .
particularly the Albanians of Kosova . . . and was also increasingly
directed against any citizens who protested against the government.''
The State Department reported that Serbian authorities killed 14
Albanians in 1996. Torture and cruel forms of punishment were directed
against Albanians. Serbian police frequently extracted ``confessions''
during interrogations that routinely included beating of suspects' feet,
hands, genital areas and heads.'' The police use their fists, nightsticks,
and occasionally electric shocks,'' the report said, adding that the
police ``often beat persons in front of their families'' as a means of
intimidating other innocent citizens.
The report told of an incident last July in which ``several ethnic
Albanian vendors in an open market near Prishtina were beaten by Serbian
financial police, who accused them of not having their vendor's licenses
in order. According to the victims, the police stole all the merchandise
from the vendors without even looking at their papers, and then left the
scene.''
Albanian children were not spared. The Council for the Defense of Human
Rights and Freedoms documented between January and June 1996 over 200
cases of mistreatment of children at the hands of Serb authorities.
And the documentation goes on. Police in Kosova use arbitrary arrest and
detention. Trials are delayed. There is no justice. Freedom of speech and
the press are non-existent. Peaceful assembly and association are unknown
under the Belgrade regime. Freedom of movement within Kosova as well as
foreign travel, and emigration which are tightly controlled while
repatriation, in effect, is prohibited.
Just last Sunday, The Washington Times reported that death came for a
34-year-old Albanian school teacher with a knock on the door that has
become a trademark of the Serbian police state system of terror that has
gripped Kosova. Nearly 30 Serbian police circled the teacher's house at 6
in the morning before entering.
The police grabbed the teacher's wife by the neck and demanded she
direct them to her husband and ``a hidden gun,'' according to family
members. The teacher's father reported that the police found the teacher
in his bedroom, handcuffed him, and took him away.
Two days later, the family discovered their son's body, beaten and
bruised, in a state hospital. A Serbian doctor and two Albanian colleagues
said he died from trauma, with evident bruises and lacerations on his legs
and genitals.
In short, in Kosova we have the full denial of human and national rights
of Albanians imposed by the Serbian regime which has forcefully colonized
Kosova and imposed apartheid.
... In every crisis of European stability in this century, the United
States was the country that brought the solution and stability. We hope
that the U.S. will not surrender the Balkans to the people who unjustly
drew the maps with artificial borders in the Congress of Berlin in the
last century. They have placed a time bomb in the Balkans which brought
tragedy after tragedy for a hundred years.
As President Clinton said in the State of Union address, the enemy of
our time is inaction. We are asking for U.S. action in protecting Kosova
as well as the South Balkans.
We in Kosova were encouraged by President Clinton's statement: ``Our
first task is to help build for the first time an undivided, democratic
Europe,'' he said. We are encouraged by this statement because in a
democratic Europe, abolition of colonization and apartheid in Kosova will
take place.
So finally, we ask USCSCE and all other U.S. institutions and the
international community to support the peaceful policy of Kosova Albanians
through dialog and under U.S. leadership with international guarantees.
We are counting on the only force in the world that has the will to stop
it. We are counting on the United States of America.
The Grim Statistics of Human Rights Violations In Kosova
Over 150 Albanians, mostly young people, have been killed by the Serbian
police and army since 1989. In 1996 alone, 14 were killed.
66 young Albanian soldiers have been killed while serving in the army
under very dubious and suspicious circumstances since 1981.
During the first six months of 1996, some 3,657 ethnic Albanians were
mistreated, severely beaten and tortured. By the end of the year there
were more than 5000.
In the beginning of 1997, five Albanians were killed by Serbian police
and at least 100 Albanians were arrested without reason within a period of
one week. The majority of them are still being held in Serbian custody.
Between 1981 and 1993, over 3,200 Albanians were sentenced for one to 20
years in prison for political reasons; 30,000 received 60-day sentences;
and over 800,000 were detained by police.
147,300 Albanians, almost 80 percent of all employed Albanians, have
been fired by the Serbian government.
450 enterprises were placed under ``emergency administration''.
4,000 small businesses were shut down for from six months to one year.
Over one million Albanians have no means of subsistence.
Over 80 percent of health care facilities are under ``special
measures;'' dozens of walk-in clinics have been shut down in villages.
Over 2,400 Albanian medical personnel have been dismissed, 157 of them
from the teaching staff of the Faculty of Medicine in Prishtina.
70,000 Albanian high school students have been barred from their school
buildings.
22,000 teachers have been teaching for seven years without pay.
837 professors and assistants have been dismissed from the university,
representing 95 percent of the teaching and administrative staff."
RushSucks
Steve Schulin <steve....@nuclear.com> wrote in article
<steve.schulin-2...@spg-as8s25.erols.com>...
> CRISIS TODAY - March 19, 1997
> Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
>
> EDUCATION IS IN A CRISIS
>
> Rep Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) ... Me and my colleagues, especially Buck
McKeon
> and Frank Riggs, who share subcommittees with me on the Committee on
> Education and the Workforce,
"Me and my colleagues?" LOL What an illiterate moron. Typical GOPher for
you.
Wilson
In article <3329C6...@stt.msu.edu>, f...@stt.msu.edu says...
>
>Gordon Breault wrote:
>>
>> Martin Fox wrote:
>> >
>> > Gordon Breault wrote:
>> >
>> > Snip earlier.
>> >
>> > >
doing
>> > > anything illegal. You know they've been searching for it.
>> > > --
>> > > (Reading Usenet in alt.fan.newt-gingrich...)
>> > > Take the 'Z' out of my e-mail address and you'll get me.
>> >
also
>> > called from the White House asking for money. Is it or isn't it
>> > illegal?
>> >
>> > what is completely legal, the soft money. Are the Republicans
prepared
>> > to support Feinstein-McCain? Not so far.
>> >
>>
>> I don't remember Bush running against Clinton in '96. Martin Van Buren
>> might have done something illegal too, but let's stick to the subject:
>> illegal fund raising by the people occupying the White house. There
may
>> be problems with campaign financing, but we're talking about breaking
>> the current laws.
>> --
>> GB
>> (Reading Usenet in alt.fan.newt-gingrich...)
>> Take the 'Z' out of my e-mail address and you'll get me.
>
>Why must the subject alwys be the present occupant of the White House.
>If there are/have been abuses/illegalities in fund raising, shouldn't we
>know about all of them and act to prevent repitition? Or are the losers
>in the election only seeking the means to nullify the results?
>
>Martin Fox
When you grow up you'll understand, but here's a clue.
alt.CURRENT-events.CLINTON.WHITEWATER
WNO
Roger Hughes
In message
<steve.schulin-2...@spg-as18s12.erols.com> -
steve....@nuclear.com (Steve Schulin) writes:
:>
:>CRISIS TODAY - March 18, 1997
:>Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
:>
:>THE CRISIS OF CRUMBLING SCHOOLS
:>Rep Nita M. Lowey (D-NY) ... Today, all over America, our schools are
:>inadequate, overcrowded, and literally falling down. In Miami, students
:>learn to read and write in temporary trailers. Here in our Nation's
:>Capital, schools are closed for violating the fire code. In New York City,
:>students dodge falling plaster and attend class in hallways and bathrooms.
Now wait a minute! The liberals and the Jewish-controlled
media are constantly telling us how wonderful is diversity
and non-whites, you'd think that each of the places cited by
Rep. Lowery should be growing centers of learning, culture,
and prosperity. Somehow the recipe didn't work-out the way
they said. Well, actually it did work in one very important
category: the Whites were driven out.
Look, you people can fool yourself, but the undeniable fact
remains that as the non-white population increases, the
quality of everything declines. Now, we can engage in polite,
and not so polite, debate over all the details and exact
causes, but to ignore race is a unwillingness to face reality
and the root causes of these problems.
As the number of non-whites increases in America, more and
more places will become just like Washington DC, Detriot,
Miami, etc. Each one of them a "crisis situation" which begs
for more White tax money. You can only guess what will happen
when that White tax money can not longer be extracted - total
collapse will ensue, you can bet your life on it (and you
probably will need to).
There's only one way to solve these problems and that is for
White people to stop being intiminidated by clever minority
hustlers and guilt-mongers, disavow our own
minority-pandering traitors, and take control of their
future.
If you do nothing, your whole way of life will be destroyed.
Stop being cowards. Take personal responsibility for
protecting your nation, your children's future, and your
race. Being "tolerant" and accomodating only gains you the
contempt of the non-whites and facilitates even more demands.
Haven't we learned that by now?
============================================================
The National Alliance is the fastest growing, uncompromising,
patriotic organization for persons of European descent. Hear
NA chairman, Dr. William Pierce, in real-time audio on
America's only uncensored radio program, American Dissident
Voices at:
http://www.natall.com
http://www.natvan.com
Why fool around with anything else?
============================================================
Mark J Brader
In article <steve.schulin-2...@spg-as8s25.erols.com>,
steve....@nuclear.com (Steve Schulin) wrote:
>CRISIS TODAY - March 19, 1997
>Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
political marketing. The politicians keep 'discovering' one crisis after
another in the hopes that one will catch the evening news and start the ball
rolling, get the money coming in, etc.
Mark J Brader
Martin McPhillips
On 21 Mar 97 04:07:21 UTC, hee...@idirect.com (Wilson) wrote:
>In article <3329C6...@stt.msu.edu>, f...@stt.msu.edu says...
>>
>>Why must the subject alwys be the present occupant of the White House.
>>If there are/have been abuses/illegalities in fund raising, shouldn't we
>>know about all of them and act to prevent repitition? Or are the losers
>>in the election only seeking the means to nullify the results?
>>
>>Martin Fox
>
>When you grow up you'll understand, but here's a clue.
>
>alt.CURRENT-events.CLINTON.WHITEWATER
>
Yes, what seems to be the problem here? By what
lights do we presume to discuss the criminal scandals
of the current President of the United States in a forum
dedicated to that subject?
Don't we know that there are children starving, somewhere?
Martin McPhillips
RushSucks wrote:
>
> Steve Schulin <steve....@nuclear.com> wrote in article
> <steve.schulin-2...@spg-as8s25.erols.com>...
> > Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
> >
> > EDUCATION IS IN A CRISIS
> >
> > Rep Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) ... Me and my colleagues, especially Buck
> McKeon
> > and Frank Riggs, who share subcommittees with me on the Committee on
> > Education and the Workforce,
>
> you.
>
Wow! Talk about desperation: in the midst of unfolding Presidential
criminality previously unknown to the Republic, some turkey calling
himself "RushSucks" starts correcting grammar. Typical Liberal. Denial
will always be just "that river in Egypt."
Josh J Fielek
In article <AF4CE62...@24.1.70.191>, <sws...@home.com> wrote:
>
>
>Christian values belong at home and in your personal life. Not in
>school, government, or even at work!
If you have Christian values at home, they'll be reflected at school,
government, AND at work.
Steve Schulin
CRISIS TODAY - March 20, 1997
Excerpts from Congressional Record referring to various crises
DRUGS/DRUG VIOLENCE CRISIS
Sen Paul Coverdell (R-GA) ... [DEA's Thomas Constantine testified that]
"... drugs--and the attendant violence which accompanies the drug
trade--have reached into every American community and have robbed many
Americans of the dreams they once cherished." And I add, even, in
thousands of cases, their lives. In the face of this massive drug problem
and its effect on two friendly countries, the United States and Mexico,
the administration decided to certify Mexico as being fully cooperative in
our joint battle. The message that sent, Madam President, to the people of
both of our countries was that things are going along pretty well. They
are not. In fact, they are in crisis proportions.
Sen Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) ... unless we curb the demand in our own
country, drug abuse will remain a national crisis. In the last 10 years,
the United States has spent $103 billion on programs here and abroad
against drugs. Yet the DEA reports that the amount of cocaine entering the
country, as well as the rates of heroin and cocaine abuse among Americans,
have remained steady. Again, the evidence is clear. We will not solve this
problem until we aggressively deal with the causes of drug use and
addiction in our own country.
RACISM CRISIS PROMPTED BY FUNDRAISING SCANDAL
Frank H. Wu, "The Asian-American Connection--the Campaign Contributions
Fiasco and Racial Stereotyping", Legal Times, Feb. 10, 1997, entered into
the record by Rep Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) ... Recently, journalists Robert
Wright and Michael Kelly argued over whether l'affaire Huang was an
incident of ``yellow peril'' revisited. Writing in the online magazine
Slate, Wright suggested that racism had been used to transform a minor
scandal into a case of alleged major wrongdoing. Kelly responded in The
New Republic that this view was merely a ploy by the Democrats to avoid
answering questions about misconduct... As the scandal was developing last
October, the nonpartisan Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
Institute (CAPACI) held coordinated press conferences in Washington,
Chicago, and Los Angeles to denounce the treatment of the Huang matter.
Yet the only coordinated Asian-American response to the crisis was given
minimal media coverage.
AMERICAN FAMILY CRISIS
David S. Broder, "The Moynihan Imprint", Washington Post, Mar. 16, 1997,
entered into the record by Sen Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) ... Senator
Moynihan has been prescient about subjects as diverse as the crisis of the
American family and the breakup of the Soviet Union. As his fellow scholar
Seymour Martin Lipset points out, his 1965 report for President Johnson,
titled ``The Negro Family: The Case for National Action,'' was bitterly
controversial at the time. But 30 years later, everyone has come to
understand that the wave of out-of-wedlock births and the scarcity of jobs
in the inner cities are overwhelming the welfare system and threatening
the stability of the whole society.
FISCAL CRISIS IN FED GOVT
Sen Bill Frist (R-TN) ... Federal entitlements have created a fiscal
crisis in the Federal Government, with 28 consecutive years of deficit
spending, a $5.3 trillion debt, and shrinking discretionary spending. The
money we allocate to research and development faces increasing competition
from other worthwhile endeavors such as environment, education, national
parks, infrastructure, and defense. All are competing for a smaller and
smaller slice of the Federal spending pie. ... [I]n trying to solve our
budget crisis, some of the issue have been muddled, where the fine
distinctions between basic and applied research, and between research and
development, are lost or misjudged. However, should we gain a new sense of
mission and consensus of goals through dialogue, such distinctions become
less and less difficult with time, and we can better focus the energies
and money of the United States.