The New American articles from January 2006

The New American archives from January 2006

Horatio gates.(Letter to the Editor)
January 9, 2006... "The Man Who Would Not Be King," (October 3 issue) was a wonderfully inspiring article. But you erred when you called Horatio Gates a "capable general." He was nothing of the kind. During one battle, he was found hiding out in his tent, and...

General welfare.(Letter to the Editor)
January 9, 2006... It needs to be said, so I will be the "heartless grinch" who dares to broach the forbidden subject. FEMA was broadly criticized for its tardy and inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina ("Katrina Exposes Fatal Flaws," October 3). While I am no...

Nonsensical statement.(Letter to the Editor)
January 9, 2006... Your issue of October 31, 2005, contains in the article "Reconstruction and Reconquista" the following statement: "In addition to supporting the suspension of Davis-Bacon provisions, [Gregory] Rodriguez also supports the Department of...

Warrantless wiretapping: shredding the constitution.(Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, United States Constitution. 4th Amendment)(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... President Bush defended his use of warrantless wiretaps in the global "war on terror" at a December 19 White House press conference. "As President and Commander-in-Chief, I have the constitutional responsibility and the constitutional authority...

"Merry Christmas" made a significant comeback in 2005.(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... After suffering years of politically correct exile, that joyous greeting, "Merry Christmas," made a significant and salutary comeback in 2005. The U.S. House of Representatives, which in the 1990s had begun calling the Capitol Christmas tree a...

Bush's admissions against interest.(George W. Bush's speech on combat in Iraq)(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... "I remember the day we committed the troops, or I committed the troops, there's no 'we' to it," commented President Bush during a December 14 interview with Brian Williams of NBC News. "I committed the troops to combat in Iraq. And I left here...

From war-fighting to nation-building.(INSIDER REPORT)
January 9, 2006... Department of Defense Directive 3000.5, issued by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England on November 28, dramatically redefines the role of the U.S. military by defining "stability operations"--that is, peacekeeping and nation-building--as...

Toward a psychiatric gulag.
January 9, 2006... Thirty-two years ago, amid threats and intimidation from militant homosexual pressure groups, the American Psychiatric Association delisted homosexuality as a "diagnosable behavioral disorder." At about the same time, the spurious term...

More "preventive detention" from the bush administration.(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... "The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a phone-book-thick proposed rule yesterday that would give the federal government new powers to track the comings and goings of individual travelers and expand the circumstances...

A death in Miami.(Rigoherto Alpizar)
January 9, 2006... "From what we know," stated White House spokesman Scott McClellan after federal air marshals gunned down 44-year-old Rigoherto Alpizar in Miami, "the team of air marshals acted in a way that is consistent with the training they received.... It...

New twist on the "sanctuary" movement.(INSIDER REPORT)(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... During the 1980s, many liberal congregations proclaimed themselves to be "sanctuaries" for illegal immigrants. Now, some nominally conservative Republicans and at least one conservative denomination have developed a different, more limited,...

Quick quotes.
January 9, 2006... Former Vice Presidential Candidate Admits Error In Voting For Iraq War "I was wrong. Had I known this at the time, I never would have voted for the war." Joining numerous other Democrats who voted for the war and then reversed...

Bring 'em home! The Iraq war is an unconstitutional, unjustifiable conflict devouring innocent lives and abetting the growth of an increasingly lawless leviathan state. It must be ended--now.(IRAQ)(Cover Story)
January 9, 2006... Twenty-one-year-old Matthew Holley, born in Idaho and raised in Chula Vista, California, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on November 15. A three-time AAU Karate champion and accomplished artist, Holley followed in his father's footsteps...

The Iraq our soldiers are dying for: the new Iraqi government has a network of torture chambers and death squads run by a secret police network of Shi'ite militias loyal to "axis of evil" nation Iran.(IRAQ)
January 9, 2006... In just over two-and-a-half years, the Iraqi people have made incredible progress on the road to lasting freedom. Iraqis have gone from living under the boot of a brutal tyrant, to liberation, free elections, and a democratic constitution. ...

Retired war hero speaks out: one of our nation's most highly decorated combat veterans offers his thoughts on the current war against Iraq, including why "we should get out fast!".(Andrew Gatsis)(Interview)
January 9, 2006... Brigadier General Andrew Gatsis is one of our nation's most highly decorated veterans. Awarded numerous medals for bravery in combat during both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, he retired from active duty in 1975 after more than three decades of...

Iraq war fallacies: proponents of keeping our soldiers in Iraq repeatedly offer the same rationale for their viewpoint. Here, their most often cited reasons are refuted.
January 9, 2006... FALLACY: If the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq now, the country will collapse into chaos, civil war, and dictatorship, and will almost certainly end up being ruled by a regime hostile to us. REBUTTAL: That is certainly possible...

Toward a militarist America: the framers of our republic warned of the dangers posed by overgrown military establishments. Could our nation someday succumb to a military dictatorship?
January 9, 2006... The year is 2012. Prisoner 222305759, a 1992 graduate of the U.S. Army War College, has been convicted of sedition and condemned to die. Armed with smuggled research notes and a small sheaf of writing paper, the Prisoner composes a lengthy...

WTO aims for global governance: the December WTO agenda puts American jobs, food production, and immigration in the UN's world government cross hairs.(WTO)
January 9, 2006... When President Bush appointed former Ohio Congressman Rob Portman to be U.S. trade representative in 2005, he made it clear that one of his missions would be to help get Congress to approve the 34-nation Free Trade Areas of the Americas (FTAA)...

Calling all Christians: former President Jimmy Carter attempts to beguile Christians into adopting the most extreme liberal political viewpoints.
January 9, 2006... Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, by Jimmy Carter (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), 212 pages, hard cover, $25.00. Since leaving office, former President Jimmy Carter has cultivated his image as a humanitarian. He has built...

Accountant-turned-cop dies a hero.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Dillon H. Stewart)
January 9, 2006... Back in 2000, Dillon H. Stewart had been an accountant with WNYC--New York City's public radio station--for nine years. So when he told Brenda Williams-Butts, the station's director of community affairs, that he wanted to become a police...

Children serve community.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Rowan County Rotary Club and United Way honor Taylor Merritt)(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... Salisbury, North Carolina, schoolchildren have a tradition of practicing compassion and neighborliness, and outstanding students are recognized during an annual Service Above Self Youth Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the Rowan County Rotary Club...

Boy takes bullet to save brother.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Ricardo Caldera)(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... Each year, Oakland Elementary School in Denver holds an annual "Courage to Stand" assembly, featuring multimedia character education programs developed by Companies for Kids. Companies for Kids is an organization that encourages students to...

Lessons of the Peloponnesian War: although the current "war on terror" and the Peloponnesian War in ancient Greece are separated by over 2,400 years, their similarities are striking, instructive, and cautionary.(HISTORY--STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM)
January 9, 2006... Delay not, fellow-allies, but convinced of the necessity of the crisis, and the wisdom of this counsel, vote for the war, undeterred by its immediate terrors, but looking beyond to the lasting peace by which it will be succeeded. Out of war...

Targeting the "helpless".(EXERCISING THE RIGHT: "... the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.")(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... An elderly, sickly man used an unloaded gun to defend himself and his wife from robbers in the early evening hours of November 16, reported the Savannah Morning News. At 7:00 p.m. that evening, 83-year-old Harry Carpenter answered a knock...

A brush with a criminal.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT: "... the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.")(homeowner shot burglar)(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... In Bow Mar, Colorado, residents of an exclusive community came face-to-face with activity more common in seedy communities. On November 7 just after midnight, 37-year-old Aaron Vigil broke a window on a front door of a house, and he tried...

Interesting outcome.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT: "... the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.")(Brent Schalk's case of assault and battery)(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... A farmer in Anderson, Indiana, will not be charged for shooting two juveniles who were "joy riding on golf carts across his property," reported the Chronicle-Tribune. The farmer, Brent Schalk, had been arrested for battery with a deadly...

Doggone dog.(the right of the people to keep and bear arms )(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... A Springfield, Missouri, man shot a large dog that was attacking his small dogs at his home, according to the News-Leader. The melee started at about 2:00 p.m. on November 19 when both a collie and a pit bull jumped a homeowner's fence and...

Pistol-whipped.(the right of the people to keep and bear arms)(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... A storeowner from Orrum, North Carolina, suffered "numerous fractures to the left side of his face and skull," and "will have to have reconstructive surgery on [his] eye socket," reported the Robesonian, but he's alive because he decided to...

Government lotteries are for suckers.(Correction, Please!)
January 9, 2006... ITEM: The Nashville (Tenn.) City Paper for December 1, 2005, reported: "College students on a state lottery scholarship can breathe a sigh of relief. The state announced Wednesday that it expects to have enough money to fully fund the lottery...

It's not just a piece of paper.(THE LAST WORD)
January 9, 2006... According to the December 9 Capitol Hill Blue, "Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act." When GOP leaders told Bush...

Motive for war.(Letter to the Editor)
January 23, 2006... It is incredible that THE NEW AMERICAN, a magazine of the conspiratorially minded John Birch Society, continues to evade mentioning control of oil as being the prime reason for the Iraq War ("An Unnecessary War," November 28). Contrary to that...

Posse Comitatus.(Letter to the Editor)
January 23, 2006... Tom Ostrom writes in the Letters to the Editor of December 12, 2005 that the Posse Comitatus law of 1878 was permanently overruled by the formation of the U.S. Coast Guard and National Guard. While it may be true that Posse Comitatus has...

Nothing but a theory.(Letter to the Editor)
January 23, 2006... I read with interest the article by Mr. Behreandt on global warming ("Getting Burned by Bad Science," November 14 issue). Present global warming theory has a huge following by those I would put in the category of extreme environmentalists. ...

KGB's energy chokehold.(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... Roughly one-quarter of Europe's supply of natural gas is provided by Russia's state-owned Gazprom monopoly, and about 90 percent of that supply crosses the Ukraine by pipeline. That energy flow underwent a critical disruption when "Russia cut...

Padilla shuffle, continued.(Jose Padilla)
January 23, 2006... "The Supreme Court agreed today to allow for the transfer of" Jose Padilla from a military brig to civilian custody to stand trial on terrorism charges, giving the Bush administration a victory in one round of the prolonged political and legal...

The Patriot Act: bad medicine.(Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001)
January 23, 2006... It's one thing to add a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. But it's quite another to go to enormous lengths to convince a patient that the medicine itself is the sugar. Yet this is substantially what the Bush administration and its...

Bolivia's president-elect continues Latin America's leftward slide.(Evo Morales)(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... Bolivia's new president-elect, Evo Morales, has not wasted any time demonstrating his communist revolutionary bona tides and his close ties to dictators Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. Fresh from his victory in Bolivia's December 18 elections,...

Cloning scandal exposes fraudulent embryonic stem-cell research.(Hwang Woo-suk)(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... Following publication of his study on cloning in the May 2005 issue of the prestigious journal Science, Korean stem-cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk achieved instant rock-star status in the world's scientific community. But in December his star...

Chalabi's unstoppable rise.(INSIDER REPORT)(Ahmed Chalabi)(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... Ahmed Chalabi, the convicted embezzler who headed the neocon-backed Iraqi exile group the Iraqi National Congress. was shut out in his effort to win a seat in the new Iraqi parliament. However, as a January 2 Knight Ridder news analysis noted,...

Pro-life license plates could cause "road rage"?(INSIDER REPORT)(Brief article)
January 23, 2006... Environmental activists in New York state have many options for expressing their beliefs on their license plates. The New York DMV accommodates them and other special interests with custom plates declaring "Conserve Open Space," "Conserve...

UN secretary-general responds sharply to pointed questions.(QUICKQUOTES)
January 23, 2006... "Listen, James Bone, you've been behaving like an overgrown schoolboy in this room for many, many months and years. You are an embarrassment to your colleagues and to your profession." When London Times reporter James Bone asked Kofi Annan...

Judge sees flaws in Darwin's theory while nixing intelligent design.(QUICKQUOTES)
January 23, 2006... "To be sure, Darwin's theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untenable alternative hypothesis grounded in...

For him, losing weight usually results in finding it again.(QUICKQUOTES)
January 23, 2006... "I've probably lost a thousand pounds in my life, no kidding. The problem is that I've gained more than a thousand." Notre Dame University football coach Charlie Weis makes light banter on his battle with weightiness.

A rare bit of reality in the Senate.(QUICKQUOTES )
January 23, 2006... "It's really a simple question--pay now or charge it to your grandchildren. We were sent here to make the hard choices. This bill is a start. It should go much further." As the Senate prepared to vote on spending cuts that amounted to less...

A liberal excoriates conservatives for caving in.(QUICKQUOTES)
January 23, 2006... "The one enduring lesson that conservatives used to teach effectively is that government that is not checked, balanced, and watched like a hawk can gradually become oppressive." Columnist Thomas Oliphant doesn't like President Bush's abuse of...

Literacy expert points to lack of reading skills among college graduates.(QUICKQUOTES)
January 23, 2006... "It's appalling--it's really astonishing. Only 31 percent of college graduates can read a complex book and extrapolate from it." President Michael Gorman of the American Library Association commented on the results of a study of more than...

Liberals operate under a different set of rules.(QUICKQUOTES)
January 23, 2006... "Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael Steele... are fair because he is a conservative Republican. Such attacks include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance,...

On the lookout for amnesty: responding to pleas from constituents, House members are resisting the push for amnesty and open borders and are trying to pass legislation to protect Americans.(IMMIGRATION)(Cover story)
January 23, 2006... Take heart America. Contrary to the repeated claims of the political and business elites, it is possible to regain control over our dissolving borders. And, just as important, it also is possible to summon the political will to do so--as recent...

We can control our borders: one of America's foremost authorities on immigration responds to questions about the problem of illegal aliens and the necessity of controlling our borders.(William King)(Interview)(Cover story)
January 23, 2006... William King is one of America's foremost authorities on immigration, combining decades of field experience in the Border Patrol and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) with additional decades of study and speaking on the issue. After...

Sounding off about immigration: three Americans who have extensive experience with our country's immigration system interject personal perspective into the immigration debate.(IMMIGRATION)(Ezola Foster, Krzysztof L. Nowak, Sr., Tan Nguyen)
January 23, 2006... Ezola Foster Ezola Foster was a leader in the fight to pass Proposition 187 in California in 1994, which would have banned public assistance to illegal aliens. She is also a retired teacher who ran as the vice-presidential candidate for...

The gathering storm: Islamic violence in France, fostered by French anti-Christian political and cultural elites, gives a glimpse of what our own elites are bringing upon us via uncontrolled immigration.
January 23, 2006... If Americans want a gander at the future, they need only look east, to the City of Light. Sixty years ago, it was all the French could do to boot out the Nazi armies that had raped Europe and captured Paris. Today, the French apologize for not...

The reconstruction racket: to understand the murderous mess Iraq has become, it's necessary to examine the festival of corporate and internationalist corruption known as the "reconstruction.".(IRAQ)(Custer Battles' contract)
January 23, 2006... Perhaps the first question that should be asked is this: how could a company with the name "Custer Battles" win a contract to provide security in a war zone, much less be given a role in training Iraq's military and security forces? Custer...

The truth about science: behind scary science headlines are often lies and distortions. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science examines numerous fallacies.(The Politically Incorrect Guide To Science)(Book Review)
January 23, 2006... The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, by Tom Bethell (Washington: Regnery, 2005), paperback, 270 pages. For ordering information, see the ad on page one. In 63 B.C., King Mithridates VI, the great opponent of the armies of the late...

An "intelligently designed" ruling?(THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE)
January 23, 2006... In a 139-page opinion that reads more like an ACLU brief than a carefully analyzed judicial decision, Federal District Court Judge John E. Jones III has ruled (incorrectly) that the Intelligent Design policy adopted by the Dover Area School...

Amazing catch saves baby.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(New York City Housing Authority supervisor, Felix Vazquez's heroic life saver)
January 23, 2006... Felix Vazquez is a New York City Housing Authority supervisor, but he recently made a catch infinitely more precious than any made by Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress or Jets wide receiver Laveranues Coles. That's because Vazquez's catch...

Heroic girl played possum.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Courtney Sharon)
January 23, 2006... Back on August 23, 2002, Courtney Sharon was just 10 years old. Her family in Warsaw, Kentucky, included her mother, Carolyn Marksberry; her stepfather, Chuck Marksberry; her seven-year-old sister, Chelbi; and her six-year-old brother, Cody. On...

Fearless in Seattle.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Sergeant Eddie Nieves and Sergeant Randy Leopard saved police officer from accident)(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... On the morning of November 27, a Seattle police officer was responding to a call when a minivan suddenly pulled out in front of his cruiser. The resulting crash trapped the officer inside his burning vehicle, which carried potentially deadly...

Death barges of Wallabout Bay: during the War for Independence, the British kept many captured American soldiers and privateers in horrid conditions onboard overcrowded prison ships.(HISTORY--STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM)
January 23, 2006... She began life in 1736 as a 60-gun frigate, a man-of-war built for battle on the high seas. For over 30 years HMS Jersey plied the Mediterranean and Atlantic in defense of British interests, seeing hard action in the bitter colonial wars of the...

Moving into trouble.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Alaskan man self defence)(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... After his mobile home was robbed twice, a Fairbanks, Alaska, man installed video surveillance equipment and bought a gun. The unidentified man had bought the property just a few months earlier. Not long after the gun purchase, two robbers...

Getting a handhold.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(clerk fires robbers for fear of life)(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... During a December 6 robbery, a clerk at a liquor store had a gun pointed at his head at close range, but he still managed to turn the tables on the assailant. At about 9:45 p.m., the clerk and his girlfriend were in Alessandro Liquor in...

Trail unravels after capture.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)
January 23, 2006... On July 4, 2003, William Burden and an accomplice tried to rob a Deerfield, New Jersey, home, but a gun-owning resident interrupted their plans. On December 9, 2005, Burden was finally sentenced after being found guilty of that crime. At the...

Private policy.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... Indianapolis merchant Roger Dean owns Mr. Dee's Tobacco and Variety. He says that in response to numerous robberies in the city in 2005 and the nearby killing of a restaurateur friend of his, a policeman told him privately to arm himself at...

Bordering on inanity.(illegal immigrants, Mexico-US border)
January 23, 2006... ITEM: Mexican President Vicente Fox, reported Pravda for December 19, 2005, "likened a U.S. plan to build 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) offence along its border with Mexico to the Berlin wall, saying it was a hypocritical move coming from a...

Abortion's effect on America.(THE LAST WORD)(Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s nomination to Supreme Court, John Birch Society's pro-life movement)
January 23, 2006... No matter what some senators say publicly, in the upcoming Senate hearings addressing the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. for a place on the Supreme Court, many votes will be determined by Alito's stance regarding abortion. Knowing this...