The New American articles from April 2009

The New American archives from April 2009

Political pigsty.(Letter to the editor)
April 13, 2009... Too big to rail? Sounds like an excerpt from George Orwell's Animal Farm. In the past six months, our government has borrowed billions of dollars to bail out companies we've repeatedly been told are "too big to rail." One of the basics of a...

America's heritage.(Letter to the editor)
April 13, 2009... I have waited to compose myself before writing to you concerning the well-written article "The War on Christmas" (December 22, 2008 issue). I firmly agree with 95 percent of what was written, except the part where the author refers to...

Correction.(Correction notice)
April 13, 2009... CORRECTION: In the article "Presidency Fit for a King" in our March 30 issue, we errantly punctuated a quote on page 23 from David Theroux, founder of the Independent Institute. We ended the quote after the words "assuage our fears." The quote...

U.S. government to buy up toxic assets via public-private partnerships.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... The Obama administration's long-awaited proposal to remove so-called "toxic" mortgage-backed assets from U.S. banks was finally unveiled on March 23. According to details of the plan, the government will form public-private partnerships to buy...

Public-private partnerships based on fascist economic model.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... Public-private partnerships are the very essence of what used to be called fascism, before the latter term became tangled up with the racist ideology of Nazism and diluted to refer to any police-state apparatus. In point of fact, fascism as an...

Fed bailouts more outrageous than AIG bonuses.(Inside Track)(American Insurance Group Inc.)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... All of the feigned outrage in Washington over the millions that AIG bas been doling out in bonus payments, and the tens of billions in bailout monies that it sent directly to major creditors, fails to impress. Beyond the smokescreen of...

CFR corporate members get lion's share of bailout funds.(Inside Track)(The Council on Foreign Relations)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... The Council on Foreign Relations, the establishment powerhouse, is well funded by corporate members. And many of those entities have also been major beneficiaries of TARP, TALF, and Fed bailouts. Among the "Founders," those who give $100,000 or...

Obama's disastrous deficits.(Inside Track)(President Barack Obama and the budget deficit)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... According to a report released on Match 20 by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the deficits to be generated over the next 10 years by the Obama administration's proposed budget will be much higher than the administration's estimates....

Even CBO deficit projections optimistic.(Inside Track)(Congressional Budget Office)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... Despite the fact that the Congressional Budget Office recently adjusted the deficit estimates in the president's budget upward by $2.3 trillion for 2010-2019 (see above), we likely haven't heard the last upward revision. Even the CBO's most...

Taking "absolutely not" for an answer on veterans' healthcare.(Inside Track)(President Barack Obama on veterans' private health insurance)
April 13, 2009... In early March, veterans' groups got wind of a plan by the Obama administration to charge veterans' private health insurance companies for service-related injuries. "Currently," according to CNN.com, "veterans' private insurance is only charged...

Earmarks and the federal budget.(Inside Track)
April 13, 2009... The same day tic signed into law the omnibus spending bill containing $7.7 billion in earmarked projects, President Barack Obama favorably cited the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as an example of legislation devoid of any congressional...

One way to assess the economic meltdown.(QuickQuotes)(comedian Jon Stewart)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... "If I had just listened to CNBC, I'd have a million dollars today, provided I started out with a hundred million dollars." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TV comedian Jon Stewart has been chastising the advice given by television financial...

Hardly any restraint in his assessment of the president.(QuickQuotes)(Alan Keyes)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... "Obama is a radical communist, and I think it's becoming clear. That is what I told people in Illinois, and now everybody realizes it's true." After losing to Obama in a 2004 Illinois Senate race, running against Obama as the presidential...

Federal Reserve chief speaks at Council on Foreign Relations headquarters.(QuickQuotes)(Ben Bernanke)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Governments around the world must continue to take forceful and, when appropriate, coordinated actions to restore financial market functioning and the flow of credit." Calling for more regulation and reiterating...

Foreign capital fleeing the United States.(QuickQuotes)(currency strategist Michael Woolfolk)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... "This was a truly awful report, throwing into question the funding of the U.S. current account deficit." Even though increasingly nervous Chinese leaders have not yet joined others selling their U.S. securities, many foreign investors have done...

Education chief admits the system is failing.(QuickQuotes)(Secretary of Education Arne Duncan)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... "We've seen a race to the bottom. States are lying to the children. They are lying to parents. They're ignoring failure and that's unacceptable. We have to be tierce." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With an unguarded burst of honesty, newly...

The Obama honeymoon hasn't lasted very long.(QuickQuotes)(pollsters Douglas Schoen and Scott Rasmussen on President Barack Obama's approval ratings)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... "A detailed examination of presidential popularity after 50 days on the job demonstrates a substantial drop in presidential approval relative to other elected presidents in the 20th and 21st centuries. Mr. Obama has lost virtually all of his...

Approval of the UN at record low.(QuickQuotes)(United Nations' approval ratings)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... "The United Nations has never done a worse job in its 60-year history." So says the Gallup Poll after its annual February assessment showed that a meager 26 percent of Americans approved the world body's performance.

Talk-show host teases President Obama.(QuickQuotes)(Jay Leno on President Barack Obama)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... "Now I see, I love that it's all his problem." After the president noted that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is sitting on a "hot seat," TV luminary Jay Leno forced Obama to admit that some of the problems facing the nation are his...

Creating wealth: the Federal Reserve's ability to create money out of thin air and to manipulate the value of the dollar gives if ultimate control over the purse strings of every American household.(FEDERAL RESERVE)(Cover story)
April 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When the Federal Reserve announced on March 19 its latest offensive against the financial crisis--to purchase more than $1 trillion in government debt ranging from mortgage-backed securities to long-term Treasury...

Treat the problem, not the symptoms: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford speaks about President Obama's stimulus plan and diagnoses the root causes of our troubled economic times.(Interview)
April 13, 2009... Governor Mark Sanford (R) of South Carolina has been a vocal critic of President Barack Obama's stimulus plan. Recently, he made national news when he announced that he might refuse some or even all of Obama's stimulus money for South Carolina....

A cooling trend toward global warming: from a lack of temperature increase to the growing number of scientists rethinking climate change, a positive trend against global-warming alarmism is on the upswing.(GLOBAL WARMING)
April 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Over the past several years, it appeared that our society was doomed to succumb to what Weather Channel founder John Coleman has described as "the greatest scam in history": anthropogenic (human-caused) global...

Forecast: justice will reign: thanks to the revelation of President Obama's connection to Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers, justice may finally be served for the victims of Weathermen bombings.(TERRORISM)
April 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Thanks to President Barack Obama, the family of Sgt. Brian McDonnell of the San Francisco Police Department may finally get justice. The Weather Underground, led by Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, police believe,...

Tibet's unhappy anniversary: communist China cracks down hard as Tibetans commemorate their uprising of 50 years ago.(ASIA)
April 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With an average elevation of 16,000 feet, Tibet has been called "the Roof of the World." But the view was unpleasant for Tibetans this March: Chinese armored vehicles, machine-gun-wielding soldiers, and riot police...

Economics a hot topic in Meltdown: today's hard times are prompting people to learn more about the forces that drive our economy, and Thomas Woods' Meltdown offers an entertaining way to do just that.(Book review)
April 13, 2009... Meltdown: A Free-market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse, by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2009, 194 pages, hardcover, $27.95. ...

From paying it forward to eBaying it forward.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(a couple who auctioned their possessions on eBay but helped by another family)
April 13, 2009... Most of us have decided to make a little extra money by selling on eBay some of those unused items we have lying around the house. That's what Gregg and Brittiny Peters of Gainesville, Georgia, decided to do when their medical bills started...

Labor of fraternal love helps brother in need.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... Bruce Barlow, Merle Jones, and Pete Greve are brothers--fraternity brothers, that is. They were all members of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity during their college days at Northwest Missouri State University over 30 years ago. They have...

Car accident rescue a real family affair.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(hero Keith Wellman receives a Civilian Service Medal)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... On March 10, the Norman (Oklahoma) City Council presented Keith Wellman with a Civilian Service Medal for saving the lives of two women involved in a serious car accident. Wellman will share the honor with his two children, who also acted...

How the monetary mayhem began: the Federal Reserve has inflicted a century of financial havoc on Americans. Looking at how this came to pass reveals who desires this state of affairs and how they profit from it.(HISTORY--PAST AND PERSPECTIVE)
April 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Nearly all Americans know they are plagued by inflation. In 1962, a postage stamp cost four cents, a candy bar a nickel, a movie ticket 50 cents, and a pair of tennis shoes $5. A new imported Renault automobile cost...

Woman saves boyfriend during robbery.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)
April 13, 2009... Antonio Thompson apparently made several bad decisions that ultimately cost him his life. Basic facts in varying accounts in the Daily World, an Associated Press release in USA Today, and a story in the (Lafayette, La.) Daily Advertiser were...

There is power in possession.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)
April 13, 2009... The SanPete Messenger reported that in rural Centerfield, Utah, on Match 8, a man chose to commit an armed robbery at a local store. The incident began, according to the Centerfield Police Department, when a female clerk at Walkers Market...

Honor student chooses wrong friends.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(robbery suspect killed by victim)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... On March 8, at about 10:30 p.m., when Pizza Hut employee Christopher Miller arrived at an address in Irmo, South Carolina, to deliver a pizza, he was met by Paul Sturgill, 17, who was standing outside. They were immediately joined by two...

Taxing our health.(Correction, Please!)(on President Barack Obama's healthcare reform)
April 13, 2009... ITEM: The Financial Times (London) reported on March 5: Barack Obama on Thursday pledged to "fulfil the promise of healthcare in our time" as he launched a fresh push to overhaul the US health system.... But he has...

Do you fit the terrorist profile?(THE LAST WORD)
April 13, 2009... Are you on some government list as a possible "domestic terrorist" suspect because you have exercised your First Amendment right to express opposition to a government program or a proposed piece of legislation? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Bias behind Valkyrie the movie.(Letter to the editor)
April 27, 2009... Selwyn Duke writes once again with great proficiency and clarity on the subjects he covers, in this case the real Claus yon Stauffenberg and his portrayal in the current film Valkyrie ("Valkyrie: The Real von Stauffenberg," March 2 issue). But...

The cockroach theory and a silver lining.(Letter to the editor)
April 27, 2009... The present fuss about the government-approved company bonuses of the bailout company officials and the campaign donations to the politicians reminds me of the cockroach theory: "Politicians and bureaucrats in some ways resemble cockroaches--it...

Vote them out.(Letter to the editor)
April 27, 2009... I want to thank THE NEW AMERICAN for the information that is presented in your magazine. For the first time, I understand about the politics of America and why I always knew that the GOP looked so much like the Democratic Party--but at times...

Major media sensationalize mass shooting sprees.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... The mainstream media have sensationalized recent sprees of mass shootings--from Jiverly Wong's murder of 13 (plus killing himself) in a Binghamton, New York, language center, to the shoot ing of three police officers in Pittsburgh,...

Is the United States really to blame for gun crimes in Mexico?(Inside Track)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... An often-repeated allegation is that 90 percent of the guns used in crimes in Mexico come from the United States--a shocking statistic employed in the call for greater gun control north of our border with Mexico. However, according to a recent...

Obama wants Turkey to join the European Union.(Inside Track)(Barack Obama)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... During his European tour, President Barack Obama made clear that he wants the EU to welcome Turkey into its union. "The United States and Europe must approach Muslims as our friends, neighbors and partners in fighting injustice, intolerance and...

Vermont legalizes same-sex "marriage" by legislative action.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... Vermont became the first state to legalize same-sex "marriage" by legislative action, when on April 7 the state legislature overrode Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of the day before. A two-thirds majority vote was required to override the veto, and the...

Fedgov gives more H-1B visas as U.S. tech worker layoffs climb.(Inside Track)(United States Citizenship and Immigration Services)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 8 that it has received enough H-1B applications to meet the congressionally mandated cap of 85,000 H-1B visas for fiscal year 2009. The H-IB visas are given to foreign...

Obama administration plans to push for global-warming accord.(Inside Track)(Barack Obama)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... Todd Stern, the Obama administration's special envoy for climate change, told representatives of 175 nations in Bonn, Germany, on March 29, that global warming "requires a global response" and that rapidly developing economies like China "must...

Kennedy's serve America Act passes Congress.(Inside Track)(Edward M. Kennedy)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... The New York Times calls the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act the "largest expansion of government-sponsored service programs since President John E Kennedy first called for the creation of a national community service corps in 1963." As...

GOP budget alternative wasn't much of an alternative.(Inside Track)(Grand Old Party)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... On April 1, April Fool's Day, prior to House and Senate passage of similar versions of the Democrat-backed budget plan two days later, Republicans unveiled their alternative budget which they called, "Fiscal Responsibility: Republicans on the...

Missouri Militia report continues to cause political waves.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... Public outcry over a highly controversial political profiling report by a branch of the Missouri State Highway Patrol continues to reverberate through the Show Me State. The report, entitled "The Modern Militia Movement," lists a number of...

The get US out! of the UN partisans are deemed correct.(Quick Quotes)(political commentator Dick Morris on the United Nations)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... "Those people who have been yelling, 'Oh, the UN is going to take over.' Now they're correct." After pointing out that the G-20 participants plan to give the IMF power to coordinate international regulation of business and industry,...

Talk-show host says conspiracy believers on target.(Quick Quotes)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Geithner said he'd be open to the idea of a global currency. Those conspiracy people had suggested this for years. They're not wrong." After years of consistently discounting the very thought of a world conspiracy,...

Buchanan leans toward legalizing narcotics.(Quick Quotes)(columnist Patrick Buchanan)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... "There are two sure ways to end this [drug] war swiftly: Mao Zedong's communists killed users and suppliers alike, as social parasites. Milton Friedman's way is to decriminalize drugs and call off the war." In his column, Patrick Buchanan...

Sweden refuses government help for ailing Saab.(Quick Quotes)(enterprise minister Maud Olofsson on Saab Automobile AB)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... "The Swedish state is not prepared to own car factories." Facing a desperate financial crisis, the Saab Company hoped to receive government help. But, according to enterprise minister Maud Olofsson, Sweden's leaders will not bail out failing...

Wonder why GM and Chrysler are hurting?(Quick Quotes)(columnist Derrick Jackson on General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... "After its annual testing of vehicles, Consumer Reports recommended 100 percent of Subaru vehicles, 95 percent of Hondas, 89 percent of Toyotas, and 70 percent of Fords. Only 17 percent of GM cars and zero percent of Chryslers were...

Presidential signing statements will continue.(Quick Quotes)(former press spokesman Ari Fleischer)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "They're going to do the same thing, whenever they feel like it." While pointing out that candidate Obama forcefully spoke against his predecessor's practice of altering and even nullifying laws with signing...

Taliban chief threatens attack on U.S.(Quick Quotes)(Baitullah Mehsud)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... "Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world." Because he has no record of ever having attacked a target outside Asia, and because he has made similar unfulfilled claims in the past, the threat issued by...

Renowned physicist scorches global-warming champions.(Quick Quotes)(physicist Freeman Dyson)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... "Al Gore is just an opportunist. The person who is really responsible for this overestimate of global warming is Jim Hansen. He consistently exaggerates all the dangers." Noted Princeton University physicist Freeman Dyson accuses both men...

Global fusion: the goal of the G20 is to transform the IMF into a global Federal Reserve, moving us closer than ever to the creation of a world government under the United Nations.(GLOBALIZATION)(International Monetary Fund)(Cover story)
April 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Suppose we had conducted a national opinion poll a few months ago to canvass Americans on their opinions of the G20. Most respondents, it is probably safe to say, would not have had the slightest idea whether you...

Titanic treasury takeover: the Treasury Department's "framework for regulatory reform" is actually a plan for the most massive federal power grab since the New Deal.(ECONOMY)
April 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It's official: the Obama administration intends to nationalize the entire financial sector. If there were any lingering doubts as to the intentions of President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner,...

The new GM: government made: socialist Sweden refused to bail out its pivotal automaker Saab, yet our government jumps at the chance to own GM.(ECONOMY)(General Motors Corp.)
April 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There's something fundamentally wrong with the world when a country known for being the very embodiment of Old World socialism--Sweden--serves up an object lesson in capitalism to the United States. Amid all the...

The burden of empire: Eric Garris of AntiWar.com observes how difficult it is for America to bear the heavy burden of a globe-spanning empire.(Interview)
April 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Interview of Eric Garris Eric Garris is the webmaster of the nonpartisan, daily global news source AntiWar.com. Since 1995, AntiWar.com has been dedicated to covering war and war's effects, and as a cofounder of...

1984 revisited: sixty years after Orwell's 1984 was first published, his tale of a world ruled by Big Brother is proving to be an ever more frighteningly accurate depiction of the world we live in.(CULTURE)(Critical essay)
April 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] George Orwell's novel 1984, published in 1949, portrayed a future totalitarian world, ruled by a seemingly omnipotent tyrant called Big Brother. When the actual year 1984 rolled around, the world didn't look just the...

No Cussing Club.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(high school student McKay Hatch)
April 27, 2009... "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear." (Ephesians 4:29) Oftentimes we associate late-night TV shows,...

Another subway rescue a la Wes Autrey?(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Chad Lindsey)
April 27, 2009... Not! Autrey's memorable 2007 derring-do of protecting a man having a seizure by covering the man while the subway train sped over both men quickly entered the mind of Chad Lindsey on March 16. But the thought just as quickly exited, as Lindsey...

Pink Lemonade.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(two girls who donated their earnings from selling lemonade to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... What do you do when life gives you lemons? Make lemonade? That's what eight-year-old Victoria Petrucelly did; then she sold it and donated all the proceeds to charity. According to the March 23 Orlando Sentinel, Victoria and her friend...

Kinsey: deviancy is the new normal: The Kinsey Syndrome, a DVD documentary about the "Father of the Sexual Revolution" and his research, examines Kinsey's methods, his supporters, and his legacy of lust.(HISTORY--PAST AND PERSPECTIVE)(Alfred Kinsey)
April 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WARNING: Due to the subject matter, this article contains graphic descriptions of pedophilia and other aberrant sexual behavior.--Ed. If you're like most Americans, when hearing the term "sexual revolution," you...

Homeowner catches thieves in the act.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... A Ferris, Texas, homeowner confirmed February 1 that having a firearm can be crucial to protecting your family and property. The February 7 Waxahachie Daily Light reported that one burglar ended up in critical condition in a local hospital,...

Woman defends children when intruders persist.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... Even after burglars entered her locked home, a Tyler, Texas, woman tried to avoid conflict with the men, moving her children into a bedroom and locking herself in with them. Fortunately for the woman and her family, she was armed. Early on...

Burglar pays the price for refusing to give up.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... Like many other Texans and Americans across the nation, Robert Sanders believes in being armed and ready to defend life and property. When, in the very early hours of February 6, he heard the noise of an intruder inside his storage area, a...

Armed robber killed by quick-reacting guard.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
April 27, 2009... After two robberies, one in 2006 and another in 2007, and a tip that they might be targeted for robbery again, the New Smyrna Beach, Florida, Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy recently hired a security guard. MSNBC of Smyrna reported that on...

Printing and spending our way to prosperity.(Correction, Please!)
April 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ITEM: An editorial entitled "The Federal Reserve acts boldly to ease credit conditions" in the Seattle Times for March 20 commented: "The Federal Reserve decision to pump another trillion dollars [more precisely:...

Obama wants "stronger, global regime".(THE LAST WORD)(Barack Obama's foreign policy)
April 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] From the point of view of selling nuclear disarmament to a world concerned about international terrorism and rogue states, the timing of North Korea's test-firing of a missile could not have worked out better for...