The New American articles from December 2007

The New American archives from December 2007

From the publisher.
December 10, 2007... Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding won election to the presidency in 1920 by a huge margin. Desiring to return the nation to "normalcy" after World War I, he famously stated: "Confident of our ability to work out our own destiny and jealously...

Biden criticizes Giuliani.(Quick Quotes)(Joe Biden, Rudy Giuliani)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "He has only three words in each sentence: a noun, a verb, and 9/11. He is genuinely not qualified to be president." Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.) claims presidential aspirant Rudy Giuliani relies wholly upon his...

Head of the government accountability office warns of fiscal "tsunami".(Quick Quotes)(David Walker)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... "It is really frustrating when the numbers are clear and compelling and when you know you have a tsunami of spending that is heading toward your shores, and yet you still have people partying on the beach. That is analogous to the situation we...

McCain quizzed about NAU, NAFTA superhighway.(Quick Quotes)(John McCain, North American Union, North American Free Trade Agreement)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... "I can't tell you the number of small town meetings where I've heard that. Now the failure [of his amnesty program] is down into conspiracy theories." On the campaign trail, Senator John McCain has been repeatedly questioned and criticized...

Pat Robertson explains his backing of pro-abortion Giuliani for president.(Quick Quotes)(Giuliani, Rudy)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I just believe that your priorities shift somewhat. The priority of this election in my opinion is defense against Islamic terrorism. I think if the bad guys set off a nuke in one of our major cities, I think it's...

Man refutes Clinton-staff version of question-planting accusation.(Quick Quotes)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... "I had no previous relationship with him. I knew his name and by name only as someone who worked for Senator Evan Bayh. But we didn't know each other and I had never met him before this event." Hillary Clinton campaign staffers said that they...

Presidential hopeful Ron Paul holds few grudges.(Quick Quotes)(Brief article)
December 10, 2007... "He has no animosity to these people. He forgives. But I don't know if he can ever forgive about the war, the boys we've lost and the fact we went in for lies." Carol Paul, the wife of Ron Paul, told the Chicago Tribune that it's painful for...

Comparing candidates: the "mainstream" Democrat and Republican candidates for president have been accused of being carbon-copy candidates. Is it true, and if it is true, why are their stances similar?(ELECTIONS)
December 10, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The presidential debate at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, in September yielded some interesting responses from the democratic hopefuls, especially concerning the ongoing war in Iraq. Despite the Democrats'...

Rudy Giuliani.(REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "By the time I left office, New York City was being proclaimed as the best example of conservative government in the country. We turned it into the large city in America.--R. Giuliani. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Former New York City Mayor...

Mike Huckabee.(REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "The fact that I'm being attacked is a good sign. I'm a hunter. You don't ever point your gun at a dead carcass. A lot of folks are pointing at me."--M. Huckabee. Michael Dale "Mike" Huckabee's candidacy and message are largely aimed to...

Duncan Hunter.(REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "We seem to be our own worst enemies. We should require critical U.S. infrastructure to remain in U.S. hands."--D. Hunter. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] California Congressman Duncan Hunter was first elected to Congress as part of the 1980...

John Mccain.(REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "We must win in Iraq. If we withdraw, there will be chaos; there will be genocide; and they will follow us home."--J. McCain. A few months ago, words like "implosion" and "meltdown" were being used to describe the presidential campaign of...

Ron Paul.(REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "I'm Ron Paul, I'm a congressman from Texas, serving in my 10th term. I am the champion of the Constitution."--R. Paul. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ron Paul believes that the U.S. government is unconstitutionally regulating this country out...

Mitt Romney.(REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "When sperm and egg unite, something goes from inanimate to animate. It is life."--M. Romney. There can be no doubt about former Governor Mitt Romney's current stance on issues considered "family values"--chiefly abortion and homosexual...

Tom Tancredo.(REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "Reducing the national debt requires us to have some sort of fiscal discipline. There are a million programs... that are far beyond the bounds of the Constitution."--T. Trancredo. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] More than any other political...

Fred Thompson.(REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "The issue before us essentially is should the U.S. Congress federalize certain portions of our judicial system that, up until now, have been the province of the states?"--F. Thompson Former Senator Fred Dalton Thompson (R-Tenn.) is better...

Joe Biden.(DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "This is absolutely bizarre that we continue to subsidize highways beyond the gasoline tax... [and] we don't want to subsidize a national rail system that has environmental impact."--J. Biden While serving in his first and only term as a...

Hillary Clinton.(DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "Being pro-choice is trusting the individual to make the right decision for herself and her family, and not entrusting that decision to anyone wearing the authority of government."--H. Clinton [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Hillary Clinton is...

Christopher Dodd.(DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... Christopher Dodd is a longtime U.S. senator from Connecticut, who has not gained the same household-name recognition as his fellow presidential candidates from the Senate. Dodd's basic belief, set forth on his Senate and presidential websites,...

John Edwards.(DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "A hybrid military-civilian organization--a Stabilization and Reconstruction Corps staffed by specially trained military and civilian reservist--must be developed."--J. Edwards [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] John Edwards, former North Carolina...

Mike Gravel.(DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "What have you trust, a decision made by a constituency, the majority of 130 million people, or the majority of 535 members of Congress who do unbelievably stupid things?"--M. Gravel Mike Gravel's campaign slogan is "Let the people...

Dennis Kucinich.(DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "I am running fro President of the United States to enable the Goddess of Peace to encircle within her arms all the children of this county and all the children of the world."--D. Kucinich [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Strength through...

Barack Obama.(DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "The notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them... is rediculous."--B. Obama Barack Obama has emerged as Hillary Clinton's most serious rival, though according to the polls he is a distant second. In a recent...

Bill Richardson.(DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE)(Biography)
December 10, 2007... "Congress must... pass a bill with a strong renewable electricity standard (RES), increased vehicle fuel economy standards, tax credit extensions for renewable energy production and solar investment."--B. Richardson [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

The freedom index: a congressional scorecard based on the U.S. Constitution.(CONGRESS)(Table)
December 10, 2007... Our second look at the 110th Congress shows how every, representative and senator voted on key issues, such as the REAL ID Act, foreign aid, the NAFTA Superhighway, and the DREAM Act. House Vote Description 11 Funding the REAL ID Act...

Senate vote descriptions.(Freedom Index)(Table)
December 10, 2007... 11 SCHIP. H.R. 976 would reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to the amount of $60.2 billion for five years. The proposed amount would expand the program by $35.2 billion and cover an addition 6.1 million children....

The presidency and the future.(THE LAST WORD)
December 10, 2007... Nearly 20 years have gone by since the election of the first President Bush in 1988. Since that time the White House has been occupied continuously by a member of either the Bush or Clinton families. They have been so successful at monopolizing...

Preparing the Golden Goose for the kill.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
December 24, 2007... We are "The Golden Goose," that is being prepared for the "kill." How? The NAFTA/ NAU Superhighway (October 15 issue). China and its allies are moving forward with plans to build the NAFTA/NAU Superhighway from the Mexican West Coast...

ADHD sometimes needs medicating.(Letter to the editor)
December 24, 2007... The September 17 article "Behavior Worth Medicating?" by Gregory A. Hession, J.D., has a number of inaccurate statements. I am an educator who has worked with children K-12 for over 20 years. While I agree that many children are drugged who...

Weather Channel founder calls global warming a scam.(Inside Track)
December 24, 2007... Thousands of government officials, journalists, and representatives of environmental non-governmental organizations from more than 180 nations gathered on the Indonesian island of Bali on December 3 to kick off a 12-day United Nations-sponsored...

Illegal alien becomes Hezbollah mole in FBI, CIA.(Inside Track)(Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency)(Prouty, Nada Nadim)
December 24, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] The case of Nada Nadim Prouty and her sisters, which has been quickly swept under the rug by government officials and the media, demonstrates the terrible toll to our national security from our broken borders and...

Report: Iran not building nukes.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... On December 3, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), entitled Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities. The report was a stunning blow to the Bush administration's ongoing...

The Annapolis conference on the Middle East.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as representatives from more than 40 countries (not all of them Mideast nations), met in Annapolis on November 27 to discuss plans for a peaceful settlement of differences between and among Israel and...

Major media now dismissing, rather than ignoring, NAU threat.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... Regular readers of THE NEW AMERICAN know that we have repeatedly warned that our political and academic elites hope to merge the United States, Canada, and Mexico into a North American Union (NAU) modeled after the European Union. But the...

New York governor drops his license plan.(Inside Track)(Eliot Spitzer )(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been forced to abandon his plan to allow driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. When we reported about this story in the November 26 issue of THE NEW AMERICAN, Spitzer's scheme was already sputtering, and...

Ramos and Compean's accuser now the accused.(Inside Track)(Ignacio Ramos, Jose Compean, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila )(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... On November 15, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton announced the arrest of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila on drug-smuggling charges. Aldrete-Davila was taken into custody at the Ysleta Port of Entry, El Paso, Texas. He is charged with "conspiracy to possess...

Scientific stem-cell breakthrough can save human lives.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... Scientific reports published by two separate teams, one in Japan and the other in the United States, document research that enables scientists to stimulate adult human skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells. Since this technique uses...

New Jersey judge issues sharp attack on the patriot act.(QuickQuotes)(Andrew Napolitano)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... "The most sinful aspect of its passage was how members of the House were not permitted to read it. It was posted on the House Intranet for 15 minutes [before the vote] and it's 315 pages long. I read it twice, and it took me 20 hours each...

Lonely senator keeps Senate in session.(QuickQuotes)(Jim Webb)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... "I'd much rather be doing this than allow the president to skirt the confirmation process. This is an exercise in protecting the Constitution and our constitutional process." Freshman Virginia Senator Jim Webb, who lives only minutes from...

After two tours in Iraq, he's emotionally spent.(QuickQuotes)(Matthew Gleason)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... "The first time I went over, I was excited and wanted to do my job and make a difference. But that was before I saw how war really works. The only way to stay sane was to shut down emotionally. I can't do this anymore. I don't like the person...

Earmarking now goes to firms who respond with campaign contributions.(QuickQuotes)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Pork hasn't gone away at all. It would be wonderful if this was a partisan issue, with Republicans on the right side, but it is really not. Many of these companies use money appropriated through earmarks to turn...

Virginia teen wins her fight to start a pro-life club at school.(QuickQuotes)(Stephanie Hoffmeier )(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... "We just wanted the same fight as other clubs. It's not a radical thing to expect equal treatment. I feel God has put it on my heart for a pretty long time." Originally denied permission by school officials to start a pro-life club at...

Columnist would like to see Saudi Arabia opened up.(QuickQuotes)(Thomas Friedman)
December 24, 2007... "I think it's a great thing these two men met, and that King Abdullah came beating gifts. But what would have really caught my attention--and the world's--would have been if King Abdullah had presented the pope with something truly daring: a...

Faith: the triumph of reason: today's atheists charge that religion is a delusion. They may be surprised to learn that the philosophical "Father of Rationalism" was himself a believer in God.(FAITH AND REASON)
December 24, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Roman city of Smyrna was in an uproar. Its citizens had flocked to the stadium where members of a sect of what the pagan Romans considered to be atheists were being forced, on pain of death, to worship Caesar. To...

Christians and the freedom fight: many Christian Americans are retreating from the political sphere, citing spiritual reasons, willfully forfeiting the liberties protected by earlier Christians.(FREEDOM FIGHT)
December 24, 2007... For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. --Luke 12:48 As a minister, I know from personal experience that many of our Christian brethren do not view the preservation of our great country and God-given liberties...

All that's golden doesn't glitter: New Line's fantasy film The Golden Compass is a watered-down version of the first book in author Philip Pullman's blatantly anti-Christian His Dark Materials trilogy.(CULTURE WAR)
December 24, 2007... "There are some themes, some subjects, too large for adult fiction; they can only be dealt with adequately in a children's book," British author Philip Pullman once proclaimed. Good storytelling, Pullman believes, is largely the province of...

An atheist meets his match: atheist Richard Dawkins wrote The God Delusion to repudiate all religious belief, but Alister McGrath and his wife skillfully counter his arguments in The Dawkins Delusion?(Book review)
December 24, 2007... The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006, 406 pages, hardcover, $27.00. The Dawkins Delusion? by Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath, Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2007, 118...

Torturing the definition of torture: Michael Mukasey has been affirmed as the new attorney general of the United States, though his testimony made clear that he won't likely adhere to the Constitution.(EXECUTIVE BRANCH)(Viewpoint essay)
December 24, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] By confirming Michael Mukasey as attorney general on November 9, the U.S. Senate demonstrated to the world that it is willing to tolerate the reported use of torture by the CIA against terrorist suspects. The Senate...

Group promotes prayer at schools.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)
December 24, 2007... Back in 1990, a small group of teenagers in Burleson, Texas, came together for what they called a "Disciple Now" weekend. On a Saturday night, the students felt inspired to pray, and they then decided to drive to three different schools that...

The real Guy Fawkes: the media have branded Guy Fawkes a terrorist, but the real story of the "Gunpowder Treason" plot to destroy the British Parliament is not so clear-cut as some would have it.(HISTORY--PAST AND PERSPECTIVE)(Viewpoint essay)
December 24, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On November 6, MSNBC, echoing much of the rest of the media, reported: "Yesterday, Ron Paul's campaign raised more than $4 million in a grassroots push tied to the Guy Fawkes plot to blow up the British Parliament in...

Wild America--part one.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... A Pennsylvania elk hunter and his hunting partner were bow hunting in Montana on October 6 when a 300-pound female grizzly attacked. "One of them used bear pepper spray and halted a charge within nine feet, but the grizzly turned and charged a...

Part two.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... John Clark of Old Snowmass, Colorado, walked out of his house on the morning of October 11 into his attached garage and was immediately set upon by a black bear. The bear grabbed his arm in its jaws. Clark hit the bear, the bear let go, and...

Family affairs.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... Derrel McNair, a 14-year-old, was shot when he tried to rob F.A.M.E. clothing store in Augusta, Georgia. McNair was caught at about 4 a.m. on July 30 by clothing-store owner Raheim Badger, who was spending nights sleeping at the store because...

Midday madness.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... An unidentified Deatsville, Alabama, man had luck and a shotgun on his side when he confronted a pair of burglars in his home at 1 p.m. on September 18. The luck part came in an odd way. Shots taken during a dove hunt damaged a cable line to...

One man steps forward.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
December 24, 2007... A 38-year-old shirtless, homeless man named Lee Coleman entered a restaurant in New York, asked to use the bathroom, and then rushed by employees and grabbed four knives. Chef Amarjit Singh tried to stop him, but Coleman slashed him across the...

Desertion distortion.(Correction, Please!)
December 24, 2007... ITEM: The Associated Press reported on November 16: "Soldiers strained by six years at war are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980, with the number of Army deserters this year showing an 80 percent increase since the United...

Bella is beautiful.(THE LAST WORD)(Movie review)
December 24, 2007... Hollywood rarely, these days, produces films that illustrate and celebrate the unique importance of traditional values in our increasingly degraded society. Quite the contrary, in fact, as the big movie studios often seem to do their level best...