BLAME THE MAKER: President Clinton has proposed a $3,000 fine on tobacco manufacturers for each underage smoker, which elicited the following response from Dr. Jane Orient, Executive Director of The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons: "What's next? Fining auto makers for each speeding driver, nailing Hershey for every diabetic who eats a candy bar, or gouging McDonald's for all obese people who order a Big Mac?" [They're working on that last one. -RT]
Well said, Dr. Orient. Now if we could only get C. Everett Koop to weigh in on this. Perhaps he could include the following on every pack of cigarettes: "Warning: Smoking is hazardous to your health and the President of the United States is a threat to your freedom." (Source: the Atlantis Discussion List [subscribe-atlantis@wetheliving.com] posted by William Dwyer.
NO HOLES? A recent "Toles" editorial cartoon depicted a bulging telephone booth labeled: "Phone Booth Earth," filled with people. This is supposed to represent the earth, similarly bulging with people. Of course, this misrepresents the population situation by insinuating that every square foot of the earth is covered with people. Not so. The entire population of the earth would fit in one state if they were all placed "shoulder-to-shoulder" as they were in his phone booth. The reality is that as long as people insist on crowding together in cities it will seem that way.
WEBB'S LYING AGAIN: Denver Colorado Mayor Wellington Webb, who is also president of the National Council of Mayors and thus has a national audience in his campaign to disarm all Americans and make them helpless before illegally-armed criminals, is lying by distortion again. As he stands before his cardboard replica of the National Veteran's Memorial, this one containing the names of 3,094 people killed in "gun violence nationally since the April 20, 1999 Columbine school massacre, one must ask: "How many of those people were actually killed by guns that the "reasonable" and "modest" gun laws he promotes would have prevented?" And how many were killed by black market guns, how many by police officers in the performance of their duties and how many by police officers accidentally when they raided the wrong house?
Has he lumped every gun death in the country including suicides and self-defense by honest citizens in with all the others to get this relatively small number (for a national list)? How about wars and government attacks on people innocent of any crime but whose money and property are coveted by "the authorities" who want to "confiscate" it under the unconstitutional RICO laws? In other words, how much has he "stretched reality" to be able to come up with that many people? One wonders. I did notice that this "wall" was unveiled without fanfare in advance of the "news conference" and that he made sure that the only people in the crowd were handpicked by him and his cronies. This so as to avoid the kind of protest that met the governor in Fort Morgan where the participants were outnumbered by the protestors.
THE UNANSWERABLE QUESTION: When asked of "anti-self-defense" people: "Why would a criminal, who breaks laws for a living, obey a law saying that he can't be armed?" I've asked this question of a lot of these people and have yet to get an answer. Andrew Hudson, Mayor Wellington Webb's press aide, called it a "stupid question." But I notice he didn't bother to answer it. If there are any "anti-self-defense" people reading this, maybe they would like to make an attempt.
"IT MUST BE DRUGS": Those are the words that seem to justify just about any kind of an outrage against any person who isn't rich enough to be "lawyered up" these days. They're also the words cops use to justify stealing the money and property of innocent people with NO probable cause except for the claim "he didn't look right." Denver police officer Joseph Bini used it to justify a "no-knock raid" on the home of Ismael Mena in which no drugs were found, but during which Mena was shot and killed. According to complaints from others, Bini used such "no-knock raids" and the threat of them to intimidate drug users into being "snitches" for him. In one case, he threatened to raid one man's grandmother, and actually did it.-- twice. Bini was involved with many such raids in which no drugs were found according to Denver PD. Sounds like Bini's indiscriminate use of such raids finally backfired on him. If he is convicted of the felony perjury charges that have been lodged against him (he isn't President Clinton), he faces a number of years in prison (possibly becoming cellmate to some he railroaded their with one of his raids) AND the loss of his career and any chance at a pension.
"MUST BE DRUGS" AGAIN: In Dallas, Texas, a couple found a bag containing $300,000 in cash and turned it in to police. Nobody claimed it, but they didn't get it back (You didn't think they were going to get it back, did you?). The DEA said that it had "determined" that it is "drug money." What that means is, of course, they have "defined" it as drug money so the finders can "whistle" to get any of it back. Did anyone really believe the cops and the feds were going to let that much money get away? Come on! Cops "found traces of cocaine on the money." But it is a known fact that you can find such traces on just about ANY bills in circulation. (Source: "The Denver Post" and Associated Press)
RELIGION IN SCHOOLS: This letter was sent to the "Denver Post," but never appeared: Gordon Bronitsky's letter in the Sunday (Feb. 27, 2000) Post is the first I've seen that got it right about religion in schools. God is not "kept out of schools," only the establishment of "official religion" is kept out. The Constitution says Congress shall make no law regarding religion, not "Congress shall keep religion out of schools." If a symbol of ONE religion is allowed to be displayed by "official edict," then by rights, all religions must be offered the same privilege. Is anybody aware of what a "can of worms" that will open? It's time we stopped equating the banning of "official" religions symbols and "official" prayers as "taking religion out of schools." It is not. The Bible says that God is everywhere. So He is there.
Prayer is not banned in schools, only "official" prayer, led by a school employee, and in which all students must participate or be ostracized by their peers. School children are free to pray as their heart decrees, in school. They just may not be "led in prayer" by some school official who may or may not be of their religion, and by "official edict." Would you rather live in a country that tells you what religion you may practice? Or in one that has pledged to keep "hands off?" I know what my answer would be.
MEANINGLESS TESTS? So now taking tests in school is "meaningless?" Just because some kids learn how to "ace" tests without necessarily learning the subject matter? So we can't judge the competence of the teacher by how much the student learns. Convenient. (Source: Diane Carman in the March 3, 200 "Denver Post")
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