The New American articles from January 2004

The New American archives from January 2004

Not my children.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
January 12, 2004... I am writing in regard to William Norman Grigg's short article, "Not With MY Children" (December 15 issue). I was never an enthusiastic supporter of our going into Iraq. It always seemed unlikely to me that we were going there "to fight...

"The Last Comedian".(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
January 12, 2004... There has been only one actor that I have ever thought highly enough of to write a letter to saying how much I enjoyed his work. That actor was Art Carney, who wrote a long, gracious letter in reply. So I was very pleasantly surprised to find...

What to do with Saddam?(Insider Report)
January 12, 2004... Should Saddam be tried by the UN--at a special tribunal, a la the Balkans trial of Slobodan Milosevic--or at the newly functioning International Criminal Court? Independence-minded Americans understand that creating such a precedent would...

Stealth implementation of "Patriot Act II".(Insider Report)
January 12, 2004... Lost amid the tumult surrounding Saddam Hussein's December 14 capture was enactment of a measure radically extending federal counter-terrorism powers. Most of the details of H.R. 2417, the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2004...

WMDs vs. WMD programs: does it matter?(Insider Report)
January 12, 2004... Does it matter whether or not Saddam's Iraqi regime possessed weapons of mass destruction at the time American forces invaded Iraq? Apparently not, according to President George W. Bush's recent remarks on ABC News' Primetime program. On...

Bush rebuke of Taiwan encourages Chinese aggression.(Insider Report)
January 12, 2004... President Bush sent a chilling message to America's allies on Taiwan during a December 9 White House press conference with Communist Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. In response to a question from an Associated Press reporter about a Taiwanese...

More Iraq lies revealed.(Insider Report)
January 12, 2004... On the eve of a critical pre-war vote in Congress, the Bush administration told a group of senators "that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction, but they had the means to deliver them to East Coast cities," reported the December 15...

CAFTA: FTAA stepping stone.(Insider Report)
January 12, 2004... On December 17, U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick announced that the Bush administration had concluded a "cutting edge" Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. "Step by step,...

9-11: a preventable tragedy.(Insider Report)
January 12, 2004... "For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9-11 could have and should have been prevented," reported CBS News on December 17. "As you read the report, you're...

Marighella's revenge in Iraq.(Insider Report)
January 12, 2004... In his Mini-Manual for Urban Guerrillas, Brazilian Marxist Carlos Marighella prescribed a strategic formula for insurgents seeking to seize total power. Marighella's manual has been a standard text for terrorists since the 1966 Tricontinental...

Holiday jeers from the establishment press.(Insider Report)
January 12, 2004... Have you ever gotten the impression that reading one major newsweekly is like reading another? Of course! But the establishment echo chamber is usually not as obvious as it was this past Christmas season, when the December 22 issues of Time and...

Recapturing home-school families.(Insider Report)
January 12, 2004... Across the nation, school districts "increasingly want home-schoolers counted in their enrollment so they [can] collect state and local tax dollars for them," reports the Wisconsin Parents Association in its December 2003 newsletter. "Districts...

The court's anti-free speech decision.(The Right Perspetive)
January 12, 2004... "John McCain is a pinhead liberal senator who is trashing the U.S. Constitution." I can make that statement in a national magazine without fear of retribution from the government because of free speech protections in the First Amendment. I can...

Keep Fedgov's hands off marriage: the Founding Fathers kept the federal government out of marriage and family matters, a wise constitutional safeguard that could be undone by current, misguided efforts.(Congress & The Courts)(Cover Story)
January 12, 2004... Law and language are the two most pervasive and important legacies derived from this nation's English roots. The American system of jurisprudence has developed from our heritage of the English common law, which was planted in the colonies,...

Time to end judicial tyranny: the judicial despotism the Founders warned against is happening today. It is time for an informed electorate to spur Congress to defend and restore our constitutional republic.(Congress & The Courts)
January 12, 2004... "Should the constitutional republic our forefathers designed be replaced with a government by the majority vote of a nine person committee of lawyers who shall be appointed rather than elected and shall hold office for life?" If a pollster...

Bush's coming amnesty plan: the Bush administration's plan to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens would prove to be an even bigger disaster than previous amnesties.(Immigration)
January 12, 2004... Get ready for a battle royale to save our borders. The Bush administration and pro-immigration invasion Democrats and Republicans in Congress are planning a big move this year to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens now residing ill the...

Banishing businesses: the burden of socialist regulations here at home, not corporate greed or even low foreign wages, is the single most important factor driving U.S. manufacturing jobs abroad.(Jobs)
January 12, 2004... In December, as the Dow crested 10,000 for the first time in over a year and major retailers came under siege by Christmas shoppers, recovery seemed to be at hand. But looming behind these glad tidings was the specter of "outsourcing" as U.S....

EU rising: though some believe the EU is in decline, actually it is fast becoming a global force strong enough to enforce WTO rulings and influence America's economic policies.(Sovereignty)
January 12, 2004... In November, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that the 30 percent tariff President Bush imposed on imported steel in March 2002 violated inter national trade rules and was therefore illegal. The WTO, however, had no way of enforcing its...

The return of epic cinemas: the final installment of Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings is both a dramatic and technical tour de force.
January 12, 2004... Beyond the breathtaking spectacle of New Zealand landscapes and CGI battles, The Return of the King, Peter Jackson's latest and final installment of the glorious film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy The Lord of the Rings, has a thematic...

The true story of the Patton Prayer: the author of General Patton's famous Third Army Prayer reveals the story of its origin, paying tribute both to the general's trust in God and to the power of faith-filled prayer.(History--Faith In Action)
January 12, 2004... Many conflicting and some untrue stories have been printed about General [George S.] Patton and the Third Army Prayer. Some have had the tinge of blasphemy and disrespect for the Deity. Even in War As I Knew It by General Patton, the footnote...

Second amendment sister.(Exercising The Right)
January 12, 2004... In the late evening of November 1, 2003, Judy Abram was playing dominoes with her sisters at her home in San Antonio, Texas, when a man began breaking into the residence through a living room window. Abram yelled at him to leave. When he...

Home invasion.(Exercising The Right)
January 12, 2004... At around 2:30 p.m. on October 20, 2003, Tyrone Alexander was visiting Natasha Pena at her residence in Woodruff, South Carolina, when two masked, armed men burst through the front door. They ordered Alexander to "give it up," then pushed him...

Homeowner stops assailant.(Exercising The Right)
January 12, 2004... At about 4 a.m. on August 18, 2003, Gary Shrewsbury of Salisbury, North Carolina, left his home and began walking toward his car. He noticed that the porch light, which had been left on, was out. He assumed that the bulb had burned out, and...

Shootout.(Exercising The Right)
January 12, 2004... Shortly after 9 p.m. on October 30, 2003, in Greensboro, North Carolina, Thomas Alston was watching television with his girlfriend. A man knocked at the door, and, after Alston opened it, the stranger asked for a ride, then pulled a gun. Alston...

Equalizer.(Exercising The Right)
January 12, 2004... Shirlene Houston of Woodville Township, Ohio, was at home on the early morning of June 1, 2003, when two would-be burglars kicked in a door and entered the residence. She grabbed a shotgun and yelled, "What do you want?" then fired two warning...

Dobson's choice.(The Goodness Of America)
January 12, 2004... Helene Shue, 89, has lived in a farmhouse on a 41-acre spread in South Hanover Township, Pennsylvania, for more than 50 years. Her nephew, John Arndt, told the November 8, 2003 Harrisburg Patriot-News that her farm "means everything to her,"...

Arresting citizen.(The Goodness Of America)
January 12, 2004... Kyle Ebersole of Lower Paxton Township in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was leaving his parents' home on the evening of October 9 when he spotted a stranger inside his car. As Ebersole ran toward the vehicle, the man jumped out and fled. After...

Supporting local police.(The Goodness Of America)
January 12, 2004... Raleigh, North Carolina, police officer Jonathan Koeppen was attempting to apprehend a trespasser at a street corner on November 19, 2003, when the man suddenly pushed Koeppen to the ground. The suspect, Rudolph Sanders, then grabbed Koeppen's...

Saddam: Latter-day Jugurtha?(The Last Word)
January 12, 2004... Once upon a time, a ruthless, clever despot I came to power in a desert land by murdering his rival for the throne. He sought the allegiance of a great imperial power, which had once given him military training. He soon displeased his imperial...

Marriage & government.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
January 26, 2004... I would like to add a little extra to the article entitled "Keep Fedgov's Hands Off Marriage" by George Detweiler (THE NEW AMERICAN, January 12). As gay activists push for the right to a marriage license while opposing forces generally contend...

America and Rome.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
January 26, 2004... Thank you for publishing Steve Bonta's excellent article "Morality Matters" (December 15 issue). It, together with Taylor Caldwell's insightful "Honoria" (October 6), gives all-important comparisons of how our country is heading down the same...

Strengthening the case.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
January 26, 2004... Regarding your December 1 issue, I have comments on two different articles that might strengthen your case. Mr. William Norman Grigg's article about political correctness ("Punishing Thought-crime") referenced the comments by Paul Begala...

Bush administration's internationalist credentials.(Insider Report)
January 26, 2004... In "Partnership and Principle," the major essay in the January/February 2004 Foreign Affairs, Secretary of State Colin Powell outlines the Bush administration's various multilateral initiatives. Writing to an internationalist audience (Foreign...

Make way for the UNternet?(Insider Report)
January 26, 2004... Pressure is mounting to hand over control of the Internet to the United Nations. On December 10, 2003, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) convened at Geneva, under the auspices of the UN's International Telecommunication Union...

Bush betrays our borders.(Insider Report)
January 26, 2004... On January 7, President Bush proposed a drastic overhaul of our immigration laws that (in the words of the New York Times) "effectively amounts to an amnesty program for illegal immigrants with jobs in the United States...." In the name of...

"Rectifying" Big Brother's embarrassing words.(Insider Report)
January 26, 2004... In Orwell's classic precautionary tale 1984, the hapless central character, Winston Smith, was employed by the totalitarian state's "Ministry of Truth." Smith's job was to scour the public statements made by Big Brother and "rectify" those...

Scapegoating Blair?(Insider Report)
January 26, 2004... As it riled up the public for war against Iraq, the Bush administration frequently cited supposed findings by British intelligence to illustrate the purported danger represented by Saddam Hussein's alleged arsenal of weapons of mass...

The debt bomb ticks away.(Insider Report)
January 26, 2004... "Consumer debt has more than doubled in the past 10 years to record levels, making it hard for many families to cope," reported CBS News on January 6. "Consumer debt hit a record $1.98 trillion in October 2003, according to the most recent...

Congress can rein in the courts.(Insider Report)
January 26, 2004... Last spring, Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) attached an amendment to the Amber Alert child protection measure instructing the United States Sentencing Commission to scrutinize the records of federal judges who habitually impose lenient sentences on...

KGB tightens grip on Russia.(Insider Report)
January 26, 2004... Nearly four years ago, this column described how Boris Yeltsin's appointment of career KGB officer Vladimir Putin to serve as acting Russian president facilitated a coup by Russian "chekists"--veterans of the KGB. (See "Russia's Chekist...

Using tragic quake to restart U.S.-Iran relationship.(Insider Report)
January 26, 2004... The devastating earthquake that rocked Iran on December 26, 2003 left tens of thousands dead and thousands more homeless. President Bush responded to the tragedy by airlifting humanitarian aid to the stricken country. The president said the aid...

Losing America's livelihood: the U.S. is headed for Third World status unless we change government policies that are driving U.S. businesses offshore, destroying jobs and putting entrepreneurs out of business.(Jobs)(Cover Story)
January 26, 2004... John Williams has been shrimping since 1960. Together with his wife, Kathleen, he operates three shrimp boats out of Tarpon Springs, Florida, north of Tampa Bay. He has weathered recessions, squalls and hurricanes. But he is now facing a tidal...

Superfund destroys a business: the demise of Robert Cox's family business a decade ago is illustrative of the gross injustice wrought by the regulatory leviathan.(Business)
January 26, 2004... Like many other Americans, 56-year. old Robert M. Cox of Oreland, Pennsylvania, once worked in manufacturing. And like too many other Americans of that background, Cox saw his small business--a family enterprise that provided middle-class wages...

Reviving the draft: with roughly half of our Army committed to the Iraq occupation, and additional geopolitical challenges looming on the horizon, the return of conscription is a very real possibility.(Military)
January 26, 2004... "Should the Draft Be Reinstated"? asked the headline of a December 21, 2003 Time magazine story. Many National Guardsmen and Army Reservists--men and women who believed they had signed limited contracts to serve as part-time soldiers--are...

Rumsfeld's Iraq overture.(Ahead Of The Curve)
January 26, 2004... ITEM: A headline in the December 19, 2003 Washington Post proclaimed: "Rumsfeld Visited Baghdad in 1984 To Reassure Iraqis, Documents Show." A very telling subtitle added: "Trip Followed Criticism of Chemical Arms' Use." The article began: ...

Plucky surfer.(The Goodness Of America)
January 26, 2004... On November 27, 2003 (Thanksgiving Day), 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton of Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii, went surfing near Rock Quarry beach at the eastern end of the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. As reported in the December 2 Honolulu...

Heroic kids.
January 26, 2004... Debbie Shultz, a teacher at Heritage High School in Rockdale County, Georgia, is in the final stages of divorcing Theodore Franklin Shultz, her husband of seven years. She had a restraining order against him, but when he was released from a...

Standing up to one-way diversity: Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, used its annual "Diversity Week" to promote the homosexual agenda. But resistance resulted in the event's cancellation.(Culture War)
January 26, 2004... Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has an enrollment of about 2,700 students. For more than a decade prior to 2003, it held annual "Diversity Week" confabs that included general assembly programs, "open mike" sessions during lunch...

Man of science--and of God: George Washington Carver believed that Providence guided his scientific investigations and that those investigations led to a better understanding of God and His handiwork.(History--Faith In Action)
January 26, 2004... A struggling peanut plant growing in heavy Alabama clay; a poor, black orphan with no material resources; an ancient pecan tree standing solitary sentry in a Georgia field: Many people would consider these at best mundane, at worst pitiable....

Armed citizen helps end manhunt.(Exercising the right: "... the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.")
January 26, 2004... On October 18, 2003, A.J. and Patsy Cantrell were slain in their home in Depew, Oklahoma. Mr. Cantrell was severely beaten about his face and head, while his wife of more than 50 years died from a shotgun blast to her back. The Cantrells...

The ignored Jihad.(Between The Lines)
January 26, 2004... ITEM: What were the snipers' motives in the attacks that left 10 people dead in the Washington, D. C., area in the fall of 2002? At the trial of Lee Boyd Malvo in Virginia, the Washington Post for December 16, 2003 echoed the prosecution: "In...

Hungry for publicity?(Between The Lines)
January 26, 2004... ITEM: The Sacramento Bee for December 24, 2003 reported, "In its annual survey of hunger and homelessness in the country, the U.S. Conference of Mayors [USCOM] reports a worrisome uptick on both fronts. Requests for emergency food assistance...

The Kwanzaa con.(Between The Lines)
January 26, 2004... ITEM: "Although Kwanzaa is culturally an African-American holiday," said Emily Raabe in the Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune for December 24, 2003, "'its messages of unity, family, togetherness, creativity and strength can be incorporated into...

UN reform isn't the answer.(The Last Word)
January 26, 2004... Flag wavers for the United Nations like to point out that nations large and small have a voice in the "world forum." For instance, Julian Hunte of minuscule Saint Lucia (population: 160,000) currently finds himself as the president of the...