Scoop: September 8, 1998

Contents* Scandal, Scott Ritter and Romesch Strategy Discussed
* Obscene Materials Distributed
* Puerto Rico May Become a State
* Missile Defenses Need One More Democrat In Senate
* Free Congress Speakers Tackle Variety of Assaults on the Constitution

Activities at the September 2 Strategy Lunch chaired by Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation and sponsored by Coalitions for America (202/546-3003).

 

Scandal, Scott Ritter and Romesch Strategy DiscussedSenator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation discussed Scott Ritter’s testimony regarding weapons inspections in Iraq, the Clinton scandal and the White House’s predilection for smearing the reputation of its critics. Sample comments: “Scott Ritter’s resignation in Iraq is very important… He’s saying what the President and Madeleine Albright are saying is not what we’re doing over here in Iraq.” — Senator Inhofe. “Just from what we know today and what he’s admitted to, [Clinton] should resign.” — Senator Inhofe. “You cannot say anything [critical of the Administration] without being attacked. Medal of Honor winner Paul McHale, Scott Ritter, Dan Burton. I don’t think there can be any doubt that they’re using an Ellen Romesch strategy… It’s nothing more than political blackmail.” — Paul Weyrich. Contact Senator Inhofe via Gary Hoitsma at 202/224-4721 and Paul Weyrich at 202/546-3000 (http://www.freecongress.org).

Obscene Materials DistributedAndrea Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), a public policy organization of 36,000 member churches, distributed (in a plain brown wrapper) copies of a coloring book found in the reading room of the San Francisco Public Library. The reading room and its materials are funded by President Clinton’s nominee as Ambassador to Luxembourg, James Hormel. The reading room is located, Sheldon reports, adjacent to the young people’s section of the library, and is accessible to children of all ages. The coloring book is like a typical children’s coloring book, except all the pictures to be colored are of women’s genitals, and the book’s title and text contain vulgar slang for the body part depicted. Sheldon also distributed a press release about the contents of the James Hormel Gay and Lesbian Reading Center of the San Francisco Public Library, and a letter she has written to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott about the Hormel nomination. TVC and numerous other public policy groups have urged the Senate not to approve the Hormel nomination. One reason given is anti-Catholic remarks made by Hormel which he has declined to withdraw. Luxembourg is a predominately Catholic country. Contact Andrea Sheldon at 202/547-8570.

Puerto Rico May Become a StateJim Boulet of English First discussed Puerto Rico statehood, already approved by the House, which may be voted on in the Senate this fall. Although Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) is on record saying that there is not enough time for the Senate to take up this bill this year, Boulet is not confident that Lott will stop the bill. For one thing, Boulet said, Lott is under a lot of pressure, as Puerto Rico has sent a group of lobbyists to Mississippi to lobby Lott. Responding to allegations by pro-statehood lobbyists that a Puerto Rico congressional delegation will vote conservatively, Boulet distributed an analysis of the voting record of Puerto Rico’s delegate to Congress, Carlos Romero-Barcelo during the 103rd Congress (when Democrats allowed delegates to vote). Romero-Barcelo voted against the death penalty, against home schoolers, for funding the National Endowment for the Arts, against funding missile defenses, for unlimited tax increases and for taxpayer-funded lobbying, among other liberal votes. Contact Jim Boulet at 703/321-8585 or [email protected], or visit http://www.englishfirst.org.

Missile Defenses Need One More Democrat In SenateFrank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy announced that Senate Majority Leader Lott plans to file a second cloture petition on S. 1873, “The American Missile Protection Act,” most likely the week of September 8-11. The bill would, for the first time in history, make it U.S. policy to deploy effective anti-missile defenses of U.S. territory as soon as technologically possible. Last May, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) filibustered the bill. Cloture was prevented on May 13 when 41 Senators (all Democrats) voted against a motion to debate the bill. Four Democratic Senators voted with the Republicans in May (Inouye of Hawaii, Akaka of Hawaii, Hollings of South Carolina, Lieberman of Connecticut); if a 5th Democrat votes to end the filibuster this time, the bill will proceed to a vote and presumed passage. Contact Frank Gaffney at 202/466-0515 or [email protected] (http://www.security-policy.org).

 

Family Forum: Activities at the August 25 Family Forum meeting chaired by Mike Schwartz of the House Family Caucus and Amy Ridenour of The National Center for Public Policy Research, and sponsored by Coalitions for America (202/546-3003).

 

Free Congress Speakers Tackle Variety of Assaults on the ConstitutionPaul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation introduced three Free Congress analysts, each of whom addressed three distinct, yet related, assaults on the U.S. Constitution:

Bill Lind reported on political correctness, which, he said, “represents the transformation of America into an ideological state.” In the past, he said, “we have been a country ruled by laws… we are in the process of being taken over by ideology.” Lind called this “cultural Marxism,” in “which some groups have power over other groups” with “some groups of people good, others bad.” Lind traced the evolution of cultural Marxism from its intellectual roots in Germany and Italy early in the century to the student rebellions of the sixties, until today.

Tom Jipping reported on critical legal studies, the left-wing ideology now commonly taught which asserts that judges can redefine the words of the Constitution to mean whatever judges want it to mean, regardless of what the words actually say. Jipping gave examples, including judges using this concept to change the Constitution’s meaning on the regulation of commerce, on relations between the executive and legislative branches, on the limits of federal government power, on the meaning of the establishment clause and much more.

Lisa Dean discussed several current and relatively new federal policies that infringe on citizens’ rights against unlawful search and seizure and to freely communicate, among other rights. She discussed in particular the development of huge citizen databases to track data on citizens’ health care records, driving records, deadbeat parent status, taxes paid, airline travel history, birth through death immunization records, college through retirement professional lives and criminal history records, among others. She discussed in particular the fact that data from these databases can be merged to develop psychological profiles of people who may commit crimes, and then persons may be put under surveillance or detained to see if they are guilty of any crimes. She also discussed the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which was drafted narrowly by Congress but which the FBI is now interpreting widely in an attempt to plant hundreds of thousands of wiretaps each year. Finally, she discussed encyrption and the fact that the FBI and Clinton Administration want every citizen using encryption (for example, to send credit card information over the Internet) to leave the keys to the code with the FBI at all times for their use without a warrant. This, Dean said, could allow the FBI to review e-mail, bank accounts, web browser activity and much more without our knowledge.



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