The New American articles from February 2007

The New American archives from February 2007

Turning our country into a banana republic.(Letter to the editor)
February 5, 2007... A banana republic is a country whose economy is dependent on tourism and foreign investors and is one in which its elites pick and choose which laws to enforce. If we are a nation of laws as our politicians keep "blabbering" about, why are...

No pressing for truth here.(Letter to the editor)
February 5, 2007... I was disappointed that the article "Pressing for the Truth on 9/11" (December 25 issue) failed to do that--"Press for truth." THE NEW AMERICAN, an expert in the tactics of the deception of the elite, has used the elites' tactic of telling...

Correction.(Correction notice)
February 5, 2007... In the January 8 issue, we attributed to present UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a statement made by a previous UN leader, U Thant, that "Lenin's 'ideals... are in line with the aims of the UN Charter.'"

Ahmadinejad teams up with Latin American Marxists.(Mahmoud Ahmadinejad )
February 5, 2007... After visiting with Marxist Hugo Chavez in Venezuela on January 13, and with Marxist Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua on January 14, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad skipped over to Ecuador to cheer at the inauguration of Ecuador's new...

Will there be war with Iran?(Inside Track)
February 5, 2007... Concerns that the Bush administration is planning a war with Iran date back almost two years, but recent developments seem to suggest that hostilities may be imminent. Among the signs pointing to a wider war in the Middle East involving Iran...

Congress moves to erode rights to speech, press, petition.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Using the Jack Abramoff bribery scandal and other recent campaign contribution/bribery scandals as a pretext, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, led by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is trying...

Polish archbishop resigns over spy scandal.(Stanislaw Wojciech Wielgus)
February 5, 2007... Stanislaw Wojciech Wielgus was appointed to be the Archbishop of Warsaw, Poland, by Pope Benedict XVI on December 6, 2006. However, minutes before his public installation service on January 7, the Most Rev. Wielgus resigned, yielding to public...

Hard times for print publications.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... A new online news source based in a Washington suburb has attracted an increasing number of journalists who are leery about the future in the mainline newspaper industry. Called The Politico, the new venture has already lured reporters from the...

Is it hot in here?(hot weather)
February 5, 2007... The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) is reporting that temperature data collected from over 1,200 monitoring stations in the lower 48 states shows that 2006 was the warmest year on record. Record keeping began in 1895. The...

The philosophy of eco-terrorism.(Inside Track)
February 5, 2007... From 1996 to 2001 a shadowy group of eco-terrorists variously calling itself the Earth Liberation Front or the Animal Liberation Front attacked targets in the western United States, destroying properties that the group claimed threatened the...

California's "free" healthcare to include illegal aliens.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... On January 10, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a $143.5 billion budget that he proclaimed would wipe out the Golden State's chronic budget deficit and put the state on the road to solid economic health. However, the state's...

Promising amniotic stem-cell research.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Embryonic stem-cell research has become a very controversial issue over the last few years--and justifiably so. Human lives are sacrificed when researchers experiment with the human embryos. Embryonic stem-cell research played a role in the...

9th Circuit Court overturns "Millennium Bomber" sentence.(Inside Track)
February 5, 2007... A three-judge panel of the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, on January 16, threw out the 22-year sentence of convicted "Millennium Bomber" Ahmed Ressam Ressam, an Algerian who trained with al-Qaeda, was caught in December 1999 by U.S....

Senior Democrat refuses to back troop escalation.(QuickQuotes)(Robert Byrd)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... "At the outset of this war, the Bush administration believed, apparently, that democracy could be exported through the barrel of a gun. That belief was wrong then; it is wrong still today. Twenty thousand more troops won't make it right." ...

Big-spending House passes minimum wage increase, ignores deficit.(QuickQuotes)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... "This is the day for the people who empty the bedpans, change the bed linens, sweep the floors, and do the hardest work of America." One of 315 in the House who voted for the increase, Representative Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) is also among...

Germans protest mosque in their community.(QuickQuotes)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... "Ideas of suppressing women and hatred for democratic values will soon be disseminated in the heart of our community. Europe isn't just surrendering its culture. It's surrendering any sense of logic." As plans proceed to create a new...

Protests flood pizza chain willing to accept pesos.(QuickQuotes)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... "This is the United States of America, not the United States of Mexico. Quit catering to the d*** illegal Mexicans." After offering to accept Mexican pesos for pizza at its 59 stores in the southwestern states, the office of the...

Former Iraqi politicians looted the Iraqi treasury, then fled the country.(QuickQuotes)
February 5, 2007... "Individuals in the interim government used their ten months in office to massively enrich themselves." According to Laurie Mylorie, who reports on developments in Iraq for the American Enterprise Institute, an Iraqi judge estimates that up...

Leftist Venezuelan leader not shy about his goals.(Hugo Chavez)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... "Fatherland! Socialism or death, I swear it! At his January 10 swearing-in ceremony for a new six-year term, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez described Jesus Christ as "the greatest socialist in history" and defended his decision to...

No longer Joints Chiefs head, he now backs homosexuals in the military.(QuickQuotes)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... "These conversations showed me just how much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers." After meeting with a group of homosexual servicemen, retired Joint Chiefs Chairman General John...

How much time on the front line: with President Bush sending 21,500 additional troops to Iraq, and the new Democrats in Congress talking only about a phased withdrawal, when will our troops come home?(IRAQ)(Cover story)
February 5, 2007... "The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people--and it is unacceptable to me," President George W. Bush acknowledged in his January 10 speech announcing his new strategy for Iraq. "Our troops in Iraq have fought bravely. They...

New faces, same status quo: if we want our lawmakers to work for a "new direction"--and a direction to our liking--we must first recognize it will not happen if Congress is left to its own devices.(CONGRESS)
February 5, 2007... "The election of 2006 was a call to change, not merely to change the control of Congress, but for a new direction for our country," Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi said in her first speech as the Speaker of the House. "Nowhere were the American...

Signing away our Constitution: the Bush administration, using signing statements as tools of legislation, has recently claimed the power to open our mail without a warrant.(PRESIDENCY)
February 5, 2007... In his letters concerning "An Examination of the Constitution of the United States" that appeared in the Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer from September 26-29, 1788, the early American industrialist Tench Coxe--who also served as a delegate...

Living conservatively: the sons of Robert Welch provide a glimpse of what life was like in the household of the man who started the John Birch Society.(Hillard W. Welch and Robert H.W. Welch III)(Interview)
February 5, 2007... In the pages that follow, John Birch Society president John F. McManus interviews Hillard W. Welch and Robert H.W. Welch Ill, the two sons of the late Robert Welch who founded the John Birch Society in 1958 and led it for the next 25 years. ...

Helping you to help yourself: W. Neil Gallagher's new book provides helpful information about how to prepare for retirement and old age while still providing a heritage for your children.(The Money Doctor's Guide to Taking Care of Yourself When No One Else Will)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... The Money Doctor's Guide to Taking Care of Yourself When No One Else Will, by W. Neil Gallagher, Ph.D., Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2005, 230 pages, paperback, $19.95. The Money Doctor's Guide is available from Barnes & Noble and...

"Aint" and other politically correct words.
February 5, 2007... In honor of a decision last year to change Valentine's Day to Friendship Celebration Day (because Valentine's Day is named after Saint Valentine and anyone who hears a religious name may become infected with God) by a DePere, Wisconsin, school...

Ohio mothers support troops.(Emily Curtis and Patti Curry)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... As the war in Iraq continues, the number of "care packages" donated to troops has declined, but two Edon, Ohio, women are trying to keep donations high. For the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, the two women, both with sons in the...

Nine-year-old saves mom.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Jimmy Stevens )(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Last November, nine-year-old Jimmy Stevens was riding with his mother and his little brother and sister on a highway in Cleburne, Texas, when his mother, Latisha, passed out at the wheel. It was later determined that Mrs. Stevens had suffered a...

And another nine-year-old saves mom!(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Cody DeGordon )(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Last fall must have been the season for nine-year-old boys to shine, since last October another such lad, Cody DeGordon of Massillon, Ohio, also came to his mom's rescue. Cody's mother, Pamela DeGordon, related that she woke up around 1...

Church provides "Extreme Home Makeovers".(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)
February 5, 2007... Inspired by the ABC television show Extreme Home Makeover, members of the Pataskala Church of the Nazarene in Pataskala, Ohio, have been undertaking a new mission for the past year: to make over the homes of deserving families. This past...

The "miracle man" of 1940: a look at the behind-the-scenes intrigue that catapulted unknown Wendell Willkie to head the Republican ticket in 1940--and guaranteed FDR an unprecedented third term.(HISTORY--PAST AND PERSPECTIVE)
February 5, 2007... As the familiar figure strode to the dais, the convention delegates rose in a thunderous ovation of cheers that went on and on. The figure was former President of the United States Herbert Hoover, and he had been chosen by Republican Party...

Bullet on the brain.(Joshua Bush)
February 5, 2007... Joshua Bush, a 17-year-old, has admitted to taking part in an attempted robbery at a Port Arthur, Texas, used-car lot. He is now in police custody for "deadly conduct, burglary of a habitation, criminal mischief and two counts of engaging in...

He was warned.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Sheldon Reece of Fort Worth, Texas, either can't see well at night, or he could be termed illiterate, brain dead, or fearless. On December 21, Reece ignored two signs, posted on a home's front door and window by homeowner Abel Sisneros, warning...

Small but effective.(Jodi Qasem)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... At about 5:15 a.m. on December 31, Jodi Qasem of Rogers, Arkansas, heard a door open and thought her husband had returned home, but she soon found out that it wasn't her husband whom she had heard. A man she didn't know walked into her...

Going for the big stuff.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Two unidentified men in Everett, Washington, were arrested on Christmas day when they were seen on a fish-processing boat, looting it of gear. The owner of the boat happened to see the men on the boat as he was driving by, and so he went...

Deep-fried do-goodism.(Correction notice)
February 5, 2007... ITEM: BusinessWeek.com reported on January 3, 2007: "Over the last few years, makers of packaged food have raced to eliminate or reduce trans fats, spurred by a Food & Drug Administration rule requiring nutritional labels to list trans-fat...

Don't follow Europe's lead.(THE LAST WORD)
February 5, 2007... The internationalists within the Bush administration continue their plan to follow the lead of the European Union and entangle all nations of the Western Hemisphere into a similar regional government. Understanding the trap into which 27...

The Passing of President Pinochet.( )(Letter to the editor)
February 19, 2007... I just wanted to offer some brief comments regarding the article by William F. Jasper ("Passing of President Pinochet," January 8) which acknowledges the passing of Pinochet. Generally, I agree with Jasper and the John Birch Society most of...

"Civil War" political correctness.( )(Letter to the editor)
February 19, 2007... In THE NEW AMERICAN December 25, 2006 article "By the Grace of God," by Dennis Behreandt, the descriptive opening line begins with "at the time of the Civil War." The term Civil War is a politically correct title referring to what Congress in...

We'll never see another Coolidge.( )(Letter to the editor)
February 19, 2007... Michael Telzrow's article on Calvin Coolidge was fight on the mark ("The Coolidge Presidency," January 8). As a high-school history teacher, I am often asked who is my favorite president. I always say Coolidge. Those who query are usually...

Anti-North American Union Resolution introduced in House.(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... On January 22, Representative Virgil Goode (R-Va.) introduced House Concurrent Resolution 40. If passed, the resolution would express "the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free...

Mexican gunmen force National Guard to retreat on border.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... In an incident that could have turned deadly, a four-man National Guard unit serving near the Arizona-Mexico border was forced on January 3 to retreat before a larger group of armed Mexicans that was attempting to flank and surround them. The...

Confessions of Alberto Gonzales' dangerous mind.(Inside Track)
February 19, 2007... Dating back to the Magna Charta, the Great Writ of Habeas Corpus has been recognized as one of the chief, if not the chief, safeguard in common law against the arbitrary imprisonment of citizens by a despot. The U.S. Constitution recognizes...

Bush's State of the Union address.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... Suppose an American were isolated for years on a desert island without any contact with the outside world--until now. Suppose this American were given a copy of last month's State of the Union address, without being told who the president is....

Jump-starting global-warming hysteria.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... A confluence of events during the last week of January guarantees that fears over global warming will again make climate change a hot political issue. On January 30, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Democrat...

FOX explanation for broadcasting obscene expletive doesn't fly.(Fox Broadcasting Co.'s coverage during football match)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... "It used to be that you could sit down and watch an evening football game with your children without fear of them being exposed to inappropriate material," noted a recent "action alert" from the American Family Association (AFA). "Sadly, that's...

The war drums beat on.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... According to Sydney Morning Herald reporters Ian Traynor and Jonathan Steele, diplomats in Europe are increasingly concerned that the United States is planning to attack Iran. "The clock is ticking," one diplomat said according to the Morning...

Iraq resolution is against troop increase, for internationalism.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... The media have widely reported that Congress is considering a non-binding resolution opposing the president's plan to send an additional 21,500 American soldiers to Iraq. In the words of the resolution, as reported to the Senate by the Foreign...

Senate vote scores major victory for free speech.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... Thanks to an immense outpouring of opposition from organizations ranging across the political spectrum--from Focus on the Family to the ACLU--dangerous legislation aimed at gutting the First Amendment was defeated in the Senate on January 18....

Media ignores pro-lifers, promotes anti-war protesters.(Inside Track)
February 19, 2007... On January 22, hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators marched in Washington, D.C., in an annual protest against the infamous 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, that has led to a holocaust of 48 million abortions. If you didn't...

Maine legislature rejects Real ID Act.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... The Maine legislature overwhelmingly approved a resolution to oppose the federal requirements in the 2005 Real ID Act that would require states to comply with standardizing driver's licenses. The resolution (which was passed by a vote of 34-0...

ICC Kangaroo Court open for business.(Inside Track)(case of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo will be first tried at International Criminal Court (The Hague, Netherlands))(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... On January 29, the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled that Thomas Lubanga Dyilo could be tried "for war crimes consisting of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15." The 46-year-old Lubanga, a father of seven, was leader...

Cheney aide considers himself a scapegoat.(QuickQuotes)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... "They're trying to set me up. They want me to be the sacrificial lamb. I will not be sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected." On trial for allegedly lying about his role in the leaking of a CIA operative's identity to the press, Lewis...

Economist trashes California governor's penchant for borrowing.(QuickQuotes)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... "Schwarzenegger has twice run for office complaining that the state's problem is 'tax, tax, tax.' What he's done is turn that into 'borrow, borrow, borrow,' so the taxes have to be paid in future years, rather than on his watch. What he really...

Pondering another run for the White House, Kerry admits mistakes.(QuickQuotes)(John Kerry)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... "You don't have enough print room." A few days before announcing that he would not be a candidate for the presidency in 2008, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) responded to an inquiry about the number of mistakes he might have made during his...

Under attack because of his book, Carter speaks out.(QuickQuotes)(Jimmy Carter defends what he wrote in "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid")(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... "This is the first time that I've ever been called a liar and a bigot and an anti-Semite and a coward and a plagiarist." In his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, former President Jimmy Carter criticizes Israel's policies regarding the...

Chinese newsman wants to ban Starbucks.(QuickQuotes)(Rui Chenggang)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... "[Starbucks] is a symbol of low-end U.S. food culture... an insult to Chinese civilization." Pointing specifically at the coffee company's outlet in Beijing 's Forbidden City, Rui Chenggang isn't happy about any of the coffee giant's 200...

Childless politician wants to ban spanking.(Sally J. Lieber)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... "I have to question why our society holds so tightly to physical discipline among the very young. We're very addicted to violence." California Assemblywoman Sally J. Lieber (D-Mountain View) would like to see spanking of children three...

TV anchor speaks out about inflation and government-supplied statistics.(QuickQuotes)
February 19, 2007... "We worry about what we don't know. I have no faith in the Consumer Price Index numbers. I have no faith in the unemployment numbers. My faith has been shaken by the insistence of government not to reveal what our officials do know. This is...

Al-Qaeda deputy sends Fiery message to Bush.(Ayman al Zawahri)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... "I ask him, why send 20,000 only? Why not send 50,000 or 100,000? Send your entire army to be annihilated at the hands of the holy warriors to free the world from your evil." Mocking President Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq,...

Punished for doing their job: as two Border Patrol agents languish in prison, the Department of Homeland Security is doing its best not to answer charges of wrongful, politically motivated prosecution.(IMMIGRATION)(Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean)(Cover story)
February 19, 2007... On January 10, 2007, President Bush, in a prime-time address to the nation, lobbied for his new Iraq War policy, which included more troops and strengthening the interior borders of Iraq. This while at home he ignores securing our own borders...

Illegal immigrants in a state of disarray: through the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles, the state of Wisconsin has been aiding illegal immigrants to stay in this country and flaunt our country's immigration laws.(IMMIGRATION)
February 19, 2007... Part of an anonymous letter from an employee of the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) as read by Wisconsin State Representative Mark Gundrum to a committee of the Wisconsin legislature during a hearing on Assembly Bill 69/Senate Bill...

Technology trumps illegal labor: the AgJOBS amnesty bills would encourage illegal immigration at a time when new, cost-efficient technology is rendering the need for more field hands obsolete.(Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act)(Cover story)
February 19, 2007... With the Democratic Party now at the helm of Congress, amnesty legislation for illegal aliens is back with a vengeance. AgJOBS bills--which would provide paths to full U.S. citizenship for illegal aliens working in agriculture--have been...

The true cost of "cheap" labor: the costs associated with uncontrolled immigration and flooding the U.S. job market with foreign, low-wage laborers far outweigh any savings to be gained.(IMMIGRATION)(Cover story)
February 19, 2007... One of the great myths of the immigration debate is that American workers will not do the types of jobs currently being filled in large part by illegal immigrants. A corollary to this train of thought is that the historically unprecedented...

The CIA, skull and bones, and rewriting history: The Good Shepherd purportedly uncovers the "untold story of the birth of the CIA." It does show the incontestable Skull and Bones-CIA connection, but otherwise largely fails.
February 19, 2007... The Good Shepherd is a fictionalized version of history which is accurate in almost every incident. But because the filmmakers are liberated from trying to be faithful to the tiny details, they've come a lot closer in many ways to capturing...

True Christmas spirit.(Dennis and Tamie Leporin)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... Dennis and Tamie Leporin were spending their first Christmas in Pensacola, Florida, last December, and decided to buy themselves a pair of bicycles so they could go riding with their young son. However, the bikes were stolen from their front...

Free enterprise.(Robert Kern)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... Late last year, Robert Kern, 81, sold his share of the ownership of Generac Power Systems Inc., a Waukesha, Wisconsin, company, and retired as the company's chairman. Mr. Kern and his wife, Patricia, have been philanthropists for some time and...

New Yorker risks life.(Wesley Autrey)
February 19, 2007... Most Americans have probably heard the name Wesley Autrey by now, but the story of this man's selfless heroism deserves repeating, so long as there is one among us who has not heard about it. Back on January 2, Mr. Autrey was waiting on the...

Stolen gowns replaced.(Making Memories)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... Making Memories is a Los Angeles charity that auctions off wedding dresses to raise money to grant the last wishes of women dying of breast cancer. But on the morning of November 5, thieves stole a 40-foot trailer containing 2,000 dresses bound...

Sponsoring the revolution: illegal immigrants are pawns in a game aimed at fomenting revolution and funded by the nation's major tax-exempt foundations.(HISTORY--IMMIGRATION)
February 19, 2007... April 10, 2006: In the streets of Dallas, Texas, a human tidal wave surged through the streets. The immense crowd carrying the Mexican flag and placards featuring the likeness of Cuban Marxist terrorist Che Guevara--estimated to be at least...

Handy enough.(car theft)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... An unidentified woman stopped a crime spree in Columbia, South Carolina, on January 13, by taking a gun out of her car's glove compartment and opening fire on Harold Jeffcoat, a man who was attempting to steal the car. The woman and a male...

Trying again.(Richard Noren)
February 19, 2007... Richard Noren told the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska) about a break-in that happened at his house, "It had to be a smash and dash thing." He went on to say that he reasoned from the kicked-in doors and the limited amount of missing valuables...

He'd have gotten away.(Nicholas Perioux)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... In December 2004, the restaurant Pat's of Henderson in Lake Charles, Louisiana, was robbed. Two robbers opened fire on restaurant worker Nicholas Perioux. Perioux reviewed the night's happenings for KPLC Channel 7: "I probably had about...

Eat lead.(Roger Bartell)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... Fifty-one-year-old Roger Bartell of Cedar Key, Florida, had a history of violence, and he was stalking a woman acquaintance the courts had forbidden him to go near because of past incidents of repeated violence. On the morning of November...

Almost defenseless.(Willie Hancox)(Brief article)
February 19, 2007... An 84-year-old Orange Mound, Tennessee, man who gets around in a wheelchair heard a crash in his house at about 2 p.m. on January 13, and he grabbed his gun--a gun that his sons had tried to take from him only a short time before--and shot the...

The bear truth.( )(Correction notice)
February 19, 2007... ITEM: The Boston Globe for January 2 stated: "Polar bears are becoming canaries in the mine, warning of the consequences of global warming." ITEM: In an article about alcoholic beverages in the New York Times for January 14, Jonathan Miles...

Is Bush really the "decision maker" regarding war?(THE LAST WORD)
February 19, 2007... Who decides if and when America should go to war? And who decides if our mission should be redefined and our involvement deepened once we are at war? According to the president, he does. In his January 28, 2003 State of the Union address,...