The New American articles from May 2009

The New American archives from May 2009

Construing the Constitution.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the editor)
May 11, 2009... In "Dangers of 'Judicial Supremacy'" (March 2), Edwin Vieira, Jr. claims that judicial review--the power of the Supreme Court to strike down congressional and state laws it deems "unconstitutional"--is not only "legitimate," but also a...

Globalist piracy solution: empower the UN.(Inside Track)
May 11, 2009... Our globalist-minded policy elites have the solution for piracy: more power for the United Nations. Ratification of the UN Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) is a "top priority" for the new Obama administration, according to Secretary of State...

Hundreds of thousands attend Tax Day Tea Parties.(Inside Track)
May 11, 2009... On April 15, the deadline for U.S. taxpayers to mail their income tax returns, hundreds of thousands of Americans from coast to coast participated in approximately 2,000 nationally inspired but locally organized "Tea Party" protests. Fox News...

Unattractive union: it is now clear that European nations were deceived into joining an economic union that became a political union, yet our leaders still seek a similar economic union with the EU.(TRANSATLANTIC UNION)(European Union)(Cover story)
May 11, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE NEW AMERICAN has devoted extensive coverage to the risks of what critics have dubbed a North American Union (NAU), in reference to the incremental integration of the United States with Mexico and Canada. The...

The high cost of cap and trade: cap-and-trade programs to control carbon-dioxide emissions are an unacceptably costly way to deal with the supposed problem of man-made global warming.(ENERGY)
May 11, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The term "cap and trade," in terms of a plan to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions into the air, is one that is heard widely of late as a proposed solution for the supposed problem of global warming. It will be...

Cancerous growth of government: while every other major component of the economy is shrinking, government at all levels has grown to consume nearly half of America's gross domestic product.(ECONOMY)
May 11, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] While government continues to grow by leaps and bounds, the private sector is being squeezed. Much-needed capital for investments is being spent on government projects while businesses and individuals are starved for...

Everyone's a threat: Obama's Department of Homeland Security and federal-state "fusion centers" target millions of Americans as potential terrorists.(HOMELAND SECURITY)
May 11, 2009... Feeling the heat from veterans groups, pro-life organizations, conservatives, and even Democratic members of Congress, President Barack Obama's Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano was forced to make a slight about-face regarding a...

Tea parties.(Cartoon)
May 11, 2009... NOW WE KNOW "T" STANDS FOR TERRORIST [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ERIC ALLIE CAGLE CARTOONS FURIOUSDIAPER.COM

Pyramid schemes put in perspective: the real rub of the Ivar Kreuger and Bernie Madoff sagas is that both men were caught doing precisely what governments do as a matter of course through central banking.(PROFILE)
May 11, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On March 12, 1932, French police discovered a man dead of a gunshot wound in a sumptuous apartment on Avenue Victor Emanuel III in Paris. After a thorough investigation, it was determined that the man, a middle-aged...

A new face.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(James Pollette receives prosthetics for his damaged face)
May 11, 2009... Last November, John Cannon, a resident of Aguanga, California, called Fox 11 News in Los Angeles for help solving a problem he was having with a medical claim. The station was unable to help him, but during the course of the conversation,...

Supreme self-sufficiency: the way it should be.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)
May 11, 2009... These days it seems everyone has a hand out, expecting a handout from the Nanny State. It is difficult to remember a time when Americans were self-sufficient and independent, and would actually make a sacrifice when something was needed. ...

Two women try to spread the "pay it forward fever".(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Brief article)
May 11, 2009... Many people in West Michigan were recipients of kind gestures in March, thanks to two women and their "Helping Hands." Grand Rapids WZZM Channel 13 reported on April 2 how these two women, known only as Karla and Amy, decided to perform random...

Lessons of the Weimar Republic: the history of Weimar Germany illustrates how the social, political, and cultural destruction caused by hyperinflation so easily leads to the loss of liberty.(HISTORY--PAST AND PERSPECTIVE)
May 11, 2009... In the wake of President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget and a series of bank and industry bailouts by the Federal Reserve, the specter of hyperinflation haunts the United States. There are plenty of historical examples of what hyperinflation can...

No honor among thieves.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)
May 11, 2009... Derek Clark, a member of a gang who tried to force its way into Derrick Murray's home in Evansville, Illinois, on March 15, proved the old adage that there's no honor among thieves. He learned much about his "friends" as he fled after being...

Troublemaker picks the wrong place.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
May 11, 2009... On March 4 at Schrank's Smoke 'N Gun, a specialty shop in Waukegan, Illinois, a man made the foolish decision to rush an employee of the store through a gap in the counters. Police indicated that robbery may have been the motive. The...

Justice prevails.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(armed self-defense)(Brief article)
May 11, 2009... In January the Waukegan Grand Jury deliberated and then ruled in favor of armed self-defense in a case involving an incident in Waukegan in October 2008. A Chicago Tribune account of the case on January 9 indicates that a clerk, a family...

Give 'til it hurts, repeat.(Correction, Please!)(United States foreign aid)
May 11, 2009... ITEM: The Washington Post for March 31 reported: "The billions of dollars spent in U.S. aid to Afghanistan over the past seven years have been largely wasted, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday. 'For those of you who have...

Obama's counterproductive plan.(THE LAST WORD)(President Barack Obama's economic policy)
May 11, 2009... On April 10, President Obama emerged from a high-level meeting with his economic team and proclaimed there were "glimmers of hope across the economy." He believed some of those "glimmers" included his stimulus program and infrastructure work...

Slightly off target.(Letter to the editor)
May 25, 2009... In the April 27 issue in the article "Is the United States Really to Blame for Gun Crimes in Mexico?" the writer states, "That means that most of the guns recovered were never submitted for tracing." Frequently in newspapers in California...

National Service not right.(Letter to the editor)
May 25, 2009... John White's Letter to the Editor (March 16) concerning the unconstitutionality of National Service simply suggests amending the U.S. Constitution to make such service legal. But this does not address the problems with the fundamental premise...

Economy and happiness.(Letter to the editor)
May 25, 2009... Thomas Jefferson said: "I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest danger to be feared. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. If we run into such...

America's GDP, economy shrink--again.(Inside Track)(Gross Domestic Product)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Despite rosy earnings reports from some closely watched corporations, the Great Recession is far from over, according to the latest economic data from the Commerce Department. America's GDP, which shrank at an annualized rate of 6.3 percent in...

Did Bernanke and Paulson commit bank fraud?(Inside Track)(former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke)
May 25, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] New revelations from the New York State Attorney General's Office have all but proven that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson committed bank fraud crimes in the case of...

747 skims New York skyline.(Inside Track)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Why would Louis Caldera, a member of the White House military office, okay a plan to have the 747 that's used as Air Force One, the president's plane (the president was not on board), fly low over New York's skyline on April 27, followed by a...

Obama's invitation leads professor to refuse Notre Dame award.(Quick Quotes)(Laetare Medal for Professor Mary Ann Glendon)(Barack Obama)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The talking points issued by Notre Dame in response to widespread criticism of its decision [to have President Obama deliver the commencement speech] included two statements that my acceptance speech would somehow...

Taliban forces threaten Pakistan's capital.(Quick Quotes)(Fazl-ur-Rehman)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... "If the Taliban continue their advances at the current pace, they will soon be knocking at the doors of Islamabad." The leader of Pakistan's largest Islamic party, Fazl-ur-Rehman told the beleaguered nation's parliament that militant...

President's plans for tiny cut questioned.(Quick Quotes)(Budget analyst Brian Riedl's opinon of Barack Obama's policy)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... "He enacts a $1 trillion stimulus and then calls for $100 million in cuts?" Budget analyst Brian Riedl questioned the tiny cut sought by President Obama, saying it was tantamount to asking a family spending $40,000 to reduce its budget by a...

Things will surely get worse in Afghanistan.(Quick Quotes)(General David Petraeus)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... "When you go into the enemy's sanctuaries, they will fight you for it. There will be tough months ahead, without question." Addressing a forum at Harvard University, General David Petraeus didn't hesitate to urge the sending of thousands more...

President reacts to criticism of his handshake with Chavez.(Quick Quotes)(Barack Obama on shaking hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... "It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States." After he warmly greeted Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez at the Summit of...

Shouldn't ship captains be armed?(Quick Quotes)(Congressman Ron Paul)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... "I strongly believe that standing behind the basic human right to self-defense is the best deterrent to terrorism and piracy, which is why I also argued for allowing pilots to be armed after 9/11. What governments call a gun-free zone is in...

Financial expert points to deteriorating dollar.(Quick Quotes)(editor Richard Russell)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... "Today a trillion is the new billion. The sheer amount of flat money being created is frightening many of our creditors, such as China and Germany, frightening them to the point where there is talk of a 'new world reserve currency'... run by...

Call for Arizona Sheriff to resign prompts a sharp reaction.(Quick Quotes)(Joe Arpaio)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Poor judgment has caused you plenty of trouble in the past and promises to do so again. Most earnest people want to learn by their mistakes. You seem to glory in repeating them." In his fifth four-year term as...

"Serving" political ends: the national-service act that President Obama signed on April 21 was designed more for generating Democratic clout than it was for helping others.(NATIONAL SERVICE)
May 25, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The nightmarish future of Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World is a world where people are bred for servitude to government and hypnotized by repetition for serving a totalitarian state with the three-word slogan...

Constitutionalism 101: most people think that the Supreme Court has the final word about what the Constitution means, but historically nothing could be further from the truth.(CONSTITUTION CORNER)
May 25, 2009... Free-market economist Henry Hazlitt once wrote, "Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. This is no accident." With all due respect to the great Hazlitt, there is one other study that is haunted by just as many...

Roots of economic crisis: to truly understand the economic crisis now and its trajectory, it is instructive to know the causes of the Great Depression. Lords of Finance gives that background on a personal level.(Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, by Liaquat Ahamed, New York: Penguin Group, 2009, 564 pages, hardcover, $32.95. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Once upon a time, when the world was still on the gold standard, four men...

Helping stranded motorists.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Frank Riegler)
May 25, 2009... There is an unidentified group of good Samaritans prowling the streets of Philadelphia these days. PhillyBurbs.com related on April 13 how Joanne Pingor of Lower Makefield, Pennsylvania, met one of these kind and generous people when her car...

A responsible young adult in the making.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Jamar Williams)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... On March 26, the Jacksonville, Florida, Sheriff's Department presented a Certificate of Appreciation to 14-year-old Jamar Williams for his heroic action in saving the life of an elderly woman. On December 6, 2008, Jamar and his mother, a...

Roundy's on the Road.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Roundy's Supermarkets)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Roundy's Supermarkets is a grocery retailer that runs the Pick 'n Save, Copps Food Center, and Rainbow Foods stores in the upper Midwest. From April 20-24, they sponsored their annual "Roundy's on the Road: Feeding the Hungry Tour," through...

For the kids, armed and protective.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)
May 25, 2009... Michael Collins, 45, had the audacity to park in the front driveway of the home he planned to rob. At mid-morning on March 18, he began prying a door open with a crowbar at the back of the house. Apparently Collins thought he had an easy...

"Animal" outside the door.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... In the very early morning hours of January 21, just after midnight, 40-year-old George England drove up to a rural home in Clay County, Missouri, walked up on the porch, and began screaming loudly, "Come out here, you know me, I'm Animal." ...

Defending a mother & baby.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Employee Miguel Mondragon at first complied with a robber's instructions on December 21, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He didn't want to risk his life or the lives of customers and other employees at the E1 Michoacana Supermarket when an armed...

Mexican violence, gun controls.(Correction, Please!)
May 25, 2009... ITEM: On the CBS television show Face the Nation on April 12, in an interview with Bob Schieffer, Mexico's Ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhan tried to blame much of the violence in his country on the allegedly lax gun-control laws...

Cure worse than the disease.(THE LAST WORD)(swine flu outbreak)
May 25, 2009... Every person with an ounce of common sense, and an equal amount of compassion for his fellow human beings, takes public health threats seriously. It is an unfortunate fact of our existence that we are vulnerable to communicable diseases, which,...