The New American articles from August 2005

The New American archives from August 2005

Ravages of wolves.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the Editor)
August 8, 2005... Your recent article "From One Wolf to Another" (June 27 issue) is the best article I have ever read. My hearty commendation to William F. Jasper on his command of the English language and wit while, at the same time, giving us an overview of...

Eminent domain.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the Editor)
August 8, 2005... Regarding "The Real Problem with Kelo" (July 25 issue), the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States provides in part: "... nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation." The private property in...

U.S. government paid for Mexican land.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the Editor)
August 8, 2005... I was happy to note the sidebar "Mexican for the Briefest of Times" (June 13 issue) concerning the Southwest land and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. I have been reviewing textbooks for the last 30 years in Texas and the fact that California...

More quotations.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the Editor)
August 8, 2005... I was delighted to note the inclusion in the July 11 issue of THE NEW AMERICAN the "Condemnable Quotes" and "Commendable Quotes" pages. These statements by prominent people who, because of their positions in the worlds of government, media,...

Defector: Putin's KGB trained top al-Qaeda terrorists.
August 8, 2005... Ayman al-Zawahiri, the reputed Number 2 chief in al-Qaeda and the man second only to Osama bin Laden on the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists" list, was trained by the Russian FSB (formerly known as the KGB). That's the story told by ex-FSB officer...

London bombings: more Balkans blow-back?(INSIDER REPORT)
August 8, 2005... Who is "al-Qaeda of Europe," the previously unknown terrorist group claiming responsibility for the murderous London bombings? Three of the suspected suicide bombers (all killed in the explosions) were immigrants from Pakistan: Mohammed Sidique...

Behind the Roberts nomination.(INSIDER REPORT)(John G. Roberts, Jr.)
August 8, 2005... Federal Judge John G. Roberts, Jr., who has been selected by President Bush to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation, has been described as a conservative-leaning jurist with a thin and enigmatic record....

Huntsman's amnesty "Alliance".(INSIDER REPORT)(Jon Huntsman)
August 8, 2005... Utah's present governor, Jon Huntsman, Jr., a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, plans to present the Western Governors Association with an ambitious program to deal with the immigration crisis. The Huntsman plan would build on Utah's...

CAFTA, Codex, and the war against vitamins.(INSIDER REPORT)(Central American Free Trade Agreement)
August 8, 2005... One purpose of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), according to the preamble to the pact, would be to define the "respective rights and obligations" of its member nations (including the United States) "under the... agreement...

Wolfowitz at World Bank to fight "global warming".(INSIDER REPORT)(Paul Wolfowitz)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... World Bank Commissar Paul Wolfowitz, formerly deputy secretary of defense in the Bush administration, has announced plans to underwrite--with U.S. tax dollars, of course--various Global initiatives to combat the mythical menace of "Global...

Government's top accountant slams Defense Department's wastefulness.(SNAPSHOTS)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... "We're Number One in the world in military capabilities. But on the business side, the Defense Department gets a 'D'--giving them the benefit of the doubt. If they were a business, they wouldn't be in business." The top official in the...

Patriotic Jewish American happy to live in a nation formed on Christian values.(SNAPSHOTS)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... "The choice isn't Christian America or nothing, but Christian America or neo-pagan, hedonistic, fights-without-responsibilities, anti-family, culture-of-death America." Columnist Don Feder, a self-described American Jew, claims never to...

China will use A-bombs against an American defense of Taiwan independence.(SNAPSHOTS)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... "If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons." In remarks considered less than official government policy, Chinese...

Push for homosexual agenda draws opposition.(SNAPSHOTS)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... "I just don't feel like homosexual clubs have anything to do with readin', writin', and 'rithmetic." Georgia state Senator Nancy Schaefer responded to the drive to sanction after-school clubs for homosexual students.

Feds won't do their job; police chief takes independent action.(SNAPSHOTS)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... "If I can discourage illegal aliens from coming to or passing through my community, then I think I've succeeded." In 2004, New Ipswich, New Hampshire, Police Chief W. Garrett Chamberlain encountered a vanload of nine illegals in his...

Lowering the annual deficit to more than $300 billion is hardly praiseworthy.(SNAPSHOTS)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... "Lawmakers who allow themselves to be lulled into thinking that the economy is growing its way out of the deficit are unlikely to support the painful measures needed to reach a more lasting solution." While the president and his advisers...

Famed Italian journalist angry over Muslim hordes in Europe.(SNAPSHOTS)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... "Europe is no longer Europe, it is 'Eurabia,' a colony of Islam, where the Islamic invasion does not proceed only in a physical sense, but also in a mental and cultural sense. Servility to the invaders has poisoned democracy." Speaking in...

Casting aside justice: by claiming the power to imprison terrorist suspects without trial, or to send them abroad to be tortured by foreign secret police, President Bush is creating precedents that imperil the rights of U.S. citizens.(EXECUTIVE BRANCH)(Cover Story)
August 8, 2005... We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the...

Rulings not etched in stone: the recent Supreme Court decisions on the legality of placing the Ten Commandments in public places--one allowing their exhibition, and one disallowing them--illustrate the twisted logic of the anti-religious justices.(CONSTITUTION CORNER)
August 8, 2005... Moses would not have been pleased. The Supreme Court seemed to be halting between two opinions when, on June 27, the justices narrowly upheld a Texas Ten Commandments display while striking down another display in Kentucky. Each was a 5-4...

Teen helps cancer patients.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Heavenly Hats)
August 8, 2005... Six years ago, when Anthony Leanna of Suamico, Wisconsin, was eight years old, his grandmother, Darlene Chartier, was hospitalized with cancer. On many occasions while visiting his grandmother at the hospital where she was being treated,...

Nonagenarian stops thief.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... Katherine Woodworth is a small, gray-haired woman, so she must have looked like an easy target for the purse snatcher. Confidently, the thief walked up to the 91-year-old Ohio woman in a Kmart parking lot and told her point-blank that he was...

The Conservative Index: our first look at the 109th Congress shows how every member of the House and Senate voted on key issues, including abortion, the WTO, CAFTA, and UN "reforms.".
August 8, 2005... House Vote Descriptions 1 Permanent Repeal of Estate Tax. Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R-Mo.) sponsored this bill (H.R. 8) to permanently repeal the estate tax, commonly known as the "death tax." Under current law, the estate tax will be phased out...

House vote scores.(Congress)(Illustration)
August 8, 2005... House Vote Scores Votes: 1-10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ALABAMA 1 Bonner (R) 50% + + + - - + - + - - 2 Everett (R) 70 + + + - - + + +...

Senate vote scores.(Congress)(Illustration)
August 8, 2005... Senate Vote Scores Votes: 1-10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ALABAMA Shelby (R) 70% + - + + + + - + - + Sessions, J. (R) 60 + - + + + + - +...

Father of the Bill of Rights: by drafting the Virginia Declaration of Rights, on which the U.S. Bill of Rights was based, George Mason left a legacy of freedom for future generations.
August 8, 2005... As Americans, we like to throw phrases around, such as "the right to bear arms" and "the right to free speech," the "right to a fair trial," and "the right to peaceful assembly." And most Americans have at least a vague notion that these...

Biased coverage.(an intended robbery victim shot and killed a teenager)
August 8, 2005... In Richmond, Virginia, an intended robbery victim shot and killed a teenager who had held him up at gunpoint. In reporting the story, a local paper, the Times-Dispatch, gave a very biased account of that incident in the obvious hope that the...

Wrecker plans wrecked.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... Two thieves stole a wrecker truck for use in stealing cars, but one car owner took offense at the men when he saw them begin to tow away his car. According to click2Houston.com, at about 5 a.m. on June 24, Devon Hunt, 29, and another...

Throwback.( pharmacist Lawrence Maida, Sr. not to be charged for firing)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... A pharmacy owner in Boston fired at an armed robber in his store on May 6, driving the robber away. The unidentified thief entered the store just before 3 p.m., wearing a ski mask, ball cap, and hood; and he announced that it was a...

Maybe he should've asked.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief Article)
August 8, 2005... In mid-May, a criminal, apparently not understanding how food banks operate, tried to rob one. A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article said that about 10 p.m. the food bank supervisor, William Zapf, discovered a man, later identified as Kenneth...

Self-defense in the District.(CORRECTION, PLEASE!)(Correction Notice)
August 8, 2005... ITEM: The Boston Phoenix for June 24-30 expressed concern that U.S. senators "want to pack heat in [the] capital," and poked fun at Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) because she "can't even keep a .357Magnum in her house." For 12 years,...

Global balminess.(CORRECTION, PLEASE!)(Correction Notice)
August 8, 2005... ITEM: The president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, Kevin Knobloch, complained that the U.S. "set back progress on global warming" at the G-8 summit in July. In a statement published in the Kansas City (Mo.) infoZine on July 9, Knobloch...

A world wide Web of oppression.(THE LAST WORD)
August 8, 2005... A United Nations-appointed panel has done it again. Or not done it again, depending on your perspective. What did they do? They convened purportedly on behalf of the best interests of every man, woman, and child on the lace of the Earth--this...

Domain casualties.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the Editor)
August 22, 2005... I was particularly interested in your article on the abuse of eminent domain ("The Real Problem With Kelo," July 25 issue). Not only did it alert me to the real danger unleashed by the Supreme Court's involvement in the Kelo case, but it also...

Connecting the dots.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the Editor)
August 22, 2005... Too infrequently the mainstream press will quote a responsible Muslim denouncing the terrorists who use their faith as a rationale for Holy War. You hear comments even less about President Bush using his faith to promote war. William Norman...

Global democracy campaign.(INSIDER REPORT)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... When the Senate convenes in September following its summer recess, it will "consider new legislation that would commit America to ending tyranny the world over," observed the July 27 New York Sun. Attached to the massive foreign aid bill is...

Temporarily renaming the war on terror.(INSIDER REPORT)
August 22, 2005... "The meaning of words had no longer the same relation to things, but was changed by them as they thought proper. Reckless daring was held to be loyal courage; prudent delay was the excuse of a coward; moderation was the disguise of unmanly...

Making "PATRIOT" permanent.(PATRIOT Act and Bush homeland security doctrine)
August 22, 2005... Renewal of the so-called PATRIOT Act for 10 years effectively means that U.S. citizens will "have their constitutional rights put on hold for a decade," wrote Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas). "If the PATRIOT Act is constitutional and badly...

Orwellian Europe: "no" means "yes".(Constitutional ratification)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... "You may have gotten the impression that the European constitution was dead--that the French had felled it, and the Dutch had pounded a stake through its heart," wrote Daniel Hannan, a Conservative Member of the European Parliament from Great...

It's official: airport security gropings are "assault".(airport security assault common citizens)
August 22, 2005... Phyllis Dintenfass, an unassuming, 62-year-old retired teacher from Wisconsin, has never committed a crime against persons or property. Yet she faces a year in prison and a $100,000 fine as a result of her collision with a federal official...

Bush's Kyoto alternative.(international partnership for kyoto protocol enactment)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... In a surprise move on July 27, President Bush announced a new six-nation pact on global warming. In a statement, the president said: "The United States has joined with Australia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea to create a new Asia-Pacific...

London Mayor's view about source of terrorism.(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... "I think the particular problem we have at the moment is that in the 1980s the Americans recruited and trained Osama bin Laden, taught him how to kill and to make bombs, and sent him off to kill the Russians in Afghanistan, and they didn't give...

Gun lobby alters plans for 2007 convention.(SNAPSHOTS)(Wayne LaPierre signs legislation banning sale of weapons)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... "Thanks to the Columbus City Council, 65,000 people will not be coming to your wonderful Greater Columbus Convention Center in 2007." National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre canceled plans for the group to hold...

Britain's leader says "evil ideology" is the source of terrorism.(SNAPSHOTS)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... "What we are confronting here is an evil ideology. It is not a clash of civilizations--all civilized people, Muslim of other, feel revulsion at it. But it is a global struggle and it is a battle of ideas, hearts and minds, both within Islam and...

European union bans easy access to vitamins and food supplements.(SNAPSHOTS)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... "It is not our aim to take products off the shelves. It is our aim to make sure these products are safe." European Union spokesman for health Philip Tod defended a recent decision by the European Court in Luxembourg that will remove from store...

Professor targets administration response to criticism.(SNAPSHOTS)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... "The clear implication is that open debate about the Iraq War is unpatriotic. When things end badly in Iraq, the White House will claim that the U.S. could have won but its policy was undermined by domestic critics." Even though...

Market for terror weaponry flourishing in Europe.(SNAPSHOTS)
August 22, 2005... "It is much, much easier now that we have a new E.U. border system. People are coming and going across international borders all the time with relatively minor checks." Former Scotland Yard anti-terrorism official Michael Coldrick believes...

Honor roll of history's quotable quotes.(SNAPSHOTS)
August 22, 2005... "One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the great struggle for independence." Historian Charles A. Beard, 1935

U.S. blood is not buying a free Iraq: members of the Bush administration have repeatedly told Americans that Iraq is becoming a free and democratic society, but that claim is proving to be false.(IRAQ)(Cover Story)
August 22, 2005... "Our mission in Iraq is clear," stated President Bush before a military audience at Fort Bragg during his nationally televised address on June 28. "We're hunting down the terrorists. We're helping Iraqis build a free nation that is an ally in...

Iraqi Blueprint for tyranny? The proposed Iraqi Bill of Rights employs plenty of pleasant-sounding platitudes similar to the U.S. Constitution. But so did the Soviet Constitution, which consolidated tyranny.(IRAQ)
August 22, 2005... Our system of government is premised on the self-evident truth that (in the words of the Declaration of Independence) "Men... are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." Based on this premise, the U.S. Bill of Rights does...

Vote-buying and arm-twisting: though constituents widely opposed CAFTA, the agreement passed Congress through the use of bribery, threats, and deception.(CAFTA)
August 22, 2005... The recent Senate and House votes on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) set new lows for political prostitution, corruption, and betrayal, with the White House and Republican congressional leaders openly propositioning members in...

Hawaii's rare breeds: after decades of solitary effort to save Hawaii's rarest plants, one man halts his efforts in response to government-environmentalist attacks private property rights.(ENVIRONMENT)
August 22, 2005... In Hawaii, a man named Keith Robinson, who has one of the most successful records in that state for saving endangered plants, has halted major efforts to save rare plants and is allowing many of the species he propagated to die of neglect...

Keep the home-school fires burning: despite legislative problems, regulatory hurdles, media attacks, and other affronts to the home-schooling movement, home schooling continues to gain in popularity and strength.(EDUCATION)
August 22, 2005... Thomas Jefferson once said that the "price of freedom is eternal vigilance." That has never been more true than in the case of the freedom to home-school in the U.S. In the '80s and '90s, a battle was fought in the courtrooms and legislatures...

Posturing for La Raza.(Correction, Please!)
August 22, 2005... ITEM: The Cox News Service reported in the Houston Chronicle for July 19: "Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean predicted Tuesday that the Republican Party will make immigrants scapegoats in the 2006 election. In a speech to an...

The Chinese bid for Unocal.(Correction, Please!)
August 22, 2005... ITEM: St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist David Nicklaus opined in that paper's July 17 issue: "You know the world is changing when the Chinese .foreign ministry--run, of course, by the Communist Party--starts lecturing the U.S. Congress on the...

Heading for The Island: The Island portrays the immorality of the principle behind embryonic stem-cell research, which is that certain human beings can be declared expendable for the benefit of others.
August 22, 2005... Certain human beings can be declared expendable for the supposed benefit of others. This very flawed principle sets the course for The Island--director Michael Bay's recently released science fiction movie--a course plotted directly through the...

Paradise stolen: two hundred and fifty years ago this September, the Acadians of Nova Scotia, builders of a free and peaceful society, were driven from their land at the point of British bayonets.
August 22, 2005... In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas, distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pre lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched to the eastward, giving the village its name, and pasture to flocks without...

Fireworks.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(robbery)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... On the night of June 30 in Alamo, Texas, one fireworks stand worker did his own reenactment of the famous Texas battle against superior numbers. At 10:22 p.m., three miscreants--two strong-arm men and a getaway driver-tried to rob A's...

Lousy disguise.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... On July 19, the owner of Breaux's Jewelers in Gretna, Louisiana, buzzed an elderly woman with a walker into his store, only to discover that she was really a he--and he had plans to rob the store. Mike Breaux, the store's owner, wasn't...

Unjust justice.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(ex-soldier from Macomb, Illinois, Leonard Gamage, fought a 20-year-old home intruder)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... A former "Exercising the Right" column, entitled "Scrappy Old Soldier" (January 24 issue), told about an 87-year-old ex-soldier from Macomb, Illinois, named Leonard Gamage, who physically fought a 20-year-old home intruder for 45 minutes before...

Love life shot.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... A young Benton, Louisiana, man learned the hard way to stay out of his ex-girlfriend's life. Billy Wallace, 19, showed up at a house where his ex-girlfriend was, and he raged at her as she sat in a car in the driveway. The Shreveport Times...

Poor listening skills.(shooting investigation by internal affairs division)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... According to the Houston Chronicle, three men intent on robbing a vehicle in Houston, Texas, ignored warnings to cease and desist--much to their regret. When Jaime Castilla Hernandez was awakened by his dog's barking at about 4:30 a.m., he...

Soldiers with heart.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)
August 22, 2005... When seven-year-old Kadhem Kathem was examined at the hospital at Tallil Air Force Base near Nasiriyah, Iraq, his lips were bluish from lack of oxygen in his blood, and he was too weak to go to school or play. He had suffered from a heart...

Heaven's angels.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Brief Article)
August 22, 2005... Motorcycle devotees sometimes suffer an image problem because of the lawlessness associated with renegade bikers, but a group of motorcycle owners in Idaho recently pitched in to help relieve the suffering of a distraught father and daughter....

In the tradition of Lincoln.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)
August 22, 2005... The story of young Abe Lincoln walking several miles to return a few cents in change to a lady is legendary. But a modern Washington-state woman shares the famous rail-splitter's character trait of honesty. Among the items that Connie Hilty of...

CAFTA fight shows can stop FTAA.(THE LAST WORD)
August 22, 2005... In the wee hours of July 28, pro-CAFTA forces squeaked out a razor-thin victory in the House by a vote of 217 to 215--overcoming their final hurdle. The administration had signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement in May of 2004, but...