Saturday, May 18, 2024
More
    Home Blog Page 1871

    Playing Diabolical Games with Homeland Security

    Hawaii Reporter
    -
    0

    For anyone who still doubts the malignant nature of the liberal media/Democrat Party “axis,” seeking to dominate Washington’s political discourse, David Broder’s July 6 column, entitled “Unprepared for Terrorists,” provides inarguable evidence. Liberals, in an effort to boost their believability, often bestow titles of honor upon one another. In Broder’s case, the title is “Dean” of Washington political correspondents. Under such a banner, he might be expected to operate above the petty and malicious partisanship that dominates Democrat ranks. However, the substance of his July 6 column, and in particular its final paragraph, shows him to be every bit as small and disingenuous as his most rancorous compatriots in the House or Senate.

    According to Broder, Republicans in Congress have their priorities totally misplaced because they ostensibly prefer tax cuts for the wealthy over homeland security. But an objective analysis of the situation proves that it is the Democrats, as well as their media lapdogs (Broder among them), that hold to a twisted set of priorities, and are consumed by a desire to reacquire power inside the Beltway.

    The facts speak for themselves. Last month, Democrats in the House introduced an amendment, ostensibly aimed at boosting homeland security by $1 billion, but stipulating that certain portions of the President’s recent tax reductions be rescinded in order to offset the cost. Recognizing the amendment as merely a ruse, intended only to give Democrats an issue about which they could “grandstand” in front of the cameras, Republicans refused to bite, and the amendment was subsequently rejected.

    Clearly, within a federal budget of over two trillion dollars, the ability to reallocate $1 billion for homeland security does not hang precariously on a reversal of President Bush’s tax policy. Outside of that which had been fabricated by partisan Democrats, no “either/or” scenario existed, whereby the only source of the needed monies would necessitate a complete betrayal of the President’s tax plan. It was not the Republicans who, out of misguided priorities, were placing their fiscal policy ahead of the security of the nation. Rather, it is the Democrats who are willing to sidetrack discussions of sufficient homeland security funding in order to generate controversy and discord that they believe will play well on the nightly news.

    Had Broder been of the stature so often claimed by his colleagues, he would have loudly denounced the inherent hypocrisy of this entire charade. Instead he diligently and enthusiastically “carried the water” for the liberal Democrats in Congress, and by so doing, added his own contribution to the antics in which they are willing to engage, ultimately at the expense of the nation’s security.

    The same holds true for liberal Democrat/media discussions of possible Iraqi purchases of Uranium, continuing troop losses, or the firestorm surrounding those elusive weapons of mass destruction. No sane person (and certainly none of those with close ties to America’s intelligence gathering apparatus) could reasonably deny that Saddam Hussein had vigorously pursued the development of a massive arsenal, including biological and nuclear weaponry, for nearly two decades. Furthermore, it is beyond reason to suggest that he suddenly decided to dismantle his store of munitions, while refusing to tell anyone he had done so even when such an admission was the only thing that could have saved him from an American invasion. So, are those on the left preoccupied with the whereabouts of the missing weaponry, with their chief concern being to find every cache before such dastardly devices can be used against America? Certainly not.

    If we are to believe their words, the biggest catastrophe to befall the United States in recent years was not September 11. It was the President’s single assertion, put forward during the State of the Union speech, that the Iraqis, according to British intelligence, had attempted to purchase Uranium from Nigeria.

    The entire manner in which liberal Democrats have framed the weapons debate shows just how willing they are to make political hay out of the present situation, rather than working with the administration to ensure America’s security before the other “shoe” (or something much worse) drops. On the other hand, if it does, they can take the opportunity of massive death and tragedy to further discredit the President, postulating as to why he didn’t do more to preempt the attack. Ignoring the fate of common citizens, it could prove to be a “win/win” for liberal Democrats.

    And this, Mr. Broder, is the right priority for homeland security?

    ”’Christopher G. Adamo was born in Cheyenne Wyoming, but has lived in several places, ranging from the East Coast to the West Coast, before settling back in southeastern Wyoming to raise his family. He has held an interest in politics for many years and has worked within the Wyoming GOP as well as the Wyoming Christian Coalition. His archives can be found at:”’ https://www.ConservativeTruth.org.

    Playing Diabolical Games with Homeland Security

    Hawaii Reporter
    -
    0

    For anyone who still doubts the malignant nature of the liberal media/Democrat Party “axis,” seeking to dominate Washington’s political discourse, David Broder’s July 6 column, entitled “Unprepared for Terrorists,” provides inarguable evidence. Liberals, in an effort to boost their believability, often bestow titles of honor upon one another. In Broder’s case, the title is “Dean” of Washington political correspondents. Under such a banner, he might be expected to operate above the petty and malicious partisanship that dominates Democrat ranks. However, the substance of his July 6 column, and in particular its final paragraph, shows him to be every bit as small and disingenuous as his most rancorous compatriots in the House or Senate.

    According to Broder, Republicans in Congress have their priorities totally misplaced because they ostensibly prefer tax cuts for the wealthy over homeland security. But an objective analysis of the situation proves that it is the Democrats, as well as their media lapdogs (Broder among them), that hold to a twisted set of priorities, and are consumed by a desire to reacquire power inside the Beltway.

    The facts speak for themselves. Last month, Democrats in the House introduced an amendment, ostensibly aimed at boosting homeland security by $1 billion, but stipulating that certain portions of the President’s recent tax reductions be rescinded in order to offset the cost. Recognizing the amendment as merely a ruse, intended only to give Democrats an issue about which they could “grandstand” in front of the cameras, Republicans refused to bite, and the amendment was subsequently rejected.

    Clearly, within a federal budget of over two trillion dollars, the ability to reallocate $1 billion for homeland security does not hang precariously on a reversal of President Bush’s tax policy. Outside of that which had been fabricated by partisan Democrats, no “either/or” scenario existed, whereby the only source of the needed monies would necessitate a complete betrayal of the President’s tax plan. It was not the Republicans who, out of misguided priorities, were placing their fiscal policy ahead of the security of the nation. Rather, it is the Democrats who are willing to sidetrack discussions of sufficient homeland security funding in order to generate controversy and discord that they believe will play well on the nightly news.

    Had Broder been of the stature so often claimed by his colleagues, he would have loudly denounced the inherent hypocrisy of this entire charade. Instead he diligently and enthusiastically “carried the water” for the liberal Democrats in Congress, and by so doing, added his own contribution to the antics in which they are willing to engage, ultimately at the expense of the nation’s security.

    The same holds true for liberal Democrat/media discussions of possible Iraqi purchases of Uranium, continuing troop losses, or the firestorm surrounding those elusive weapons of mass destruction. No sane person (and certainly none of those with close ties to America’s intelligence gathering apparatus) could reasonably deny that Saddam Hussein had vigorously pursued the development of a massive arsenal, including biological and nuclear weaponry, for nearly two decades. Furthermore, it is beyond reason to suggest that he suddenly decided to dismantle his store of munitions, while refusing to tell anyone he had done so even when such an admission was the only thing that could have saved him from an American invasion. So, are those on the left preoccupied with the whereabouts of the missing weaponry, with their chief concern being to find every cache before such dastardly devices can be used against America? Certainly not.

    If we are to believe their words, the biggest catastrophe to befall the United States in recent years was not September 11. It was the President’s single assertion, put forward during the State of the Union speech, that the Iraqis, according to British intelligence, had attempted to purchase Uranium from Nigeria.

    The entire manner in which liberal Democrats have framed the weapons debate shows just how willing they are to make political hay out of the present situation, rather than working with the administration to ensure America’s security before the other “shoe” (or something much worse) drops. On the other hand, if it does, they can take the opportunity of massive death and tragedy to further discredit the President, postulating as to why he didn’t do more to preempt the attack. Ignoring the fate of common citizens, it could prove to be a “win/win” for liberal Democrats.

    And this, Mr. Broder, is the right priority for homeland security?

    ”’Christopher G. Adamo was born in Cheyenne Wyoming, but has lived in several places, ranging from the East Coast to the West Coast, before settling back in southeastern Wyoming to raise his family. He has held an interest in politics for many years and has worked within the Wyoming GOP as well as the Wyoming Christian Coalition. His archives can be found at:”’ https://www.ConservativeTruth.org.

    Anti-Pesticide Claims Warrant Skepticism

    Hawaii Reporter
    -
    0

    As public health officials consider spraying pesticides to control the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, anti-pesticide activists claim that spraying devastate birds and other wildlife. But such claims should be viewed with skepticism.

    It seems that West Nile virus and other natural factors may pose much greater threats than spraying. The Centers for Disease Control reports that West Nile has killed birds from at least 138 bird species, including some endangered species. In the Midwest last year, 400 great horned owls were found dead from West Nile. Researchers estimate that for each dead bird reported, there are probably 100 to 1,000 unreported cases, which means there could have been as many as 40,000 to 400,000 great horned owl deaths from West Nile last year alone.

    Still, environmentalists claim that there is clear evidence that the pesticides are a far greater risk to birds. They claimed back in 2001 that data from New York State (NYS) showed that more birds were dying from “toxins” like pesticides than from West Nile. But science writer Steven Milloy obtained NYS data in 2001 that showed the toxins that affected the birds in this sample were mostly naturally occurring.

    According to Milloy, the New York State analysis of 3,216 dead birds found that natural diseases and toxins caused the majority of the bird deaths (1,263 from West Nile virus and 1,100 from botulinum). Meanwhile, the data included 219 pesticide-related bird deaths, of which 30 were from intentional poisonings of pest birds and 100 were from illegal use of pesticides for intentional killing of birds. Twenty-seven bird deaths resulted from lawn care products.

    More recently, the Audubon Society says that data collected by New York State in subsequent years from a sample of 80,000 dead birds shows that pesticides, primarily lawn products, are killing the majority of birds. Yet NYS has not released the data in any report, nor has anything been peer reviewed. This “majority” of such toxin-related deaths may again include natural toxins, like botulinum, and it is not clear that the data they obtained was for all 80,000 birds.

    Unfortunately, the data on bird deaths from all sources isn’t particularly clear, despite Audubon’s suggestions to the contrary. The researcher who conducts NYS bird pathology (who reportedly gave the data to the Audubon Society) has told the press that he doubts spraying will do much harm to birds — at least not as much as does the virus. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asserts that spraying poses a negligible risk to birds.

    In addition to birds, activists also say that aquatic life is at grave risk. When a massive lobster die-off occurred in Long Island Sound in 1999, environmentalists and lobstermen claimed that New York City’s malathion spraying had reached the waters and caused the die-off.

    Yet the die off began before New York State sprayed, and several years of federally funded research hasn’t found a definitive link to the pesticides. The University of Connecticut’s Dr. Richard French explained in a 2001 report: “There is no quantitative evidence of pesticide toxicity

    Anti-Pesticide Claims Warrant Skepticism

    Hawaii Reporter
    -
    0

    As public health officials consider spraying pesticides to control the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, anti-pesticide activists claim that spraying devastate birds and other wildlife. But such claims should be viewed with skepticism.

    It seems that West Nile virus and other natural factors may pose much greater threats than spraying. The Centers for Disease Control reports that West Nile has killed birds from at least 138 bird species, including some endangered species. In the Midwest last year, 400 great horned owls were found dead from West Nile. Researchers estimate that for each dead bird reported, there are probably 100 to 1,000 unreported cases, which means there could have been as many as 40,000 to 400,000 great horned owl deaths from West Nile last year alone.

    Still, environmentalists claim that there is clear evidence that the pesticides are a far greater risk to birds. They claimed back in 2001 that data from New York State (NYS) showed that more birds were dying from “toxins” like pesticides than from West Nile. But science writer Steven Milloy obtained NYS data in 2001 that showed the toxins that affected the birds in this sample were mostly naturally occurring.

    According to Milloy, the New York State analysis of 3,216 dead birds found that natural diseases and toxins caused the majority of the bird deaths (1,263 from West Nile virus and 1,100 from botulinum). Meanwhile, the data included 219 pesticide-related bird deaths, of which 30 were from intentional poisonings of pest birds and 100 were from illegal use of pesticides for intentional killing of birds. Twenty-seven bird deaths resulted from lawn care products.

    More recently, the Audubon Society says that data collected by New York State in subsequent years from a sample of 80,000 dead birds shows that pesticides, primarily lawn products, are killing the majority of birds. Yet NYS has not released the data in any report, nor has anything been peer reviewed. This “majority” of such toxin-related deaths may again include natural toxins, like botulinum, and it is not clear that the data they obtained was for all 80,000 birds.

    Unfortunately, the data on bird deaths from all sources isn’t particularly clear, despite Audubon’s suggestions to the contrary. The researcher who conducts NYS bird pathology (who reportedly gave the data to the Audubon Society) has told the press that he doubts spraying will do much harm to birds — at least not as much as does the virus. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asserts that spraying poses a negligible risk to birds.

    In addition to birds, activists also say that aquatic life is at grave risk. When a massive lobster die-off occurred in Long Island Sound in 1999, environmentalists and lobstermen claimed that New York City’s malathion spraying had reached the waters and caused the die-off.

    Yet the die off began before New York State sprayed, and several years of federally funded research hasn’t found a definitive link to the pesticides. The University of Connecticut’s Dr. Richard French explained in a 2001 report: “There is no quantitative evidence of pesticide toxicity

    Grassroot Perspective – Aug. 1, 2003-Why Health Care Reform Can't Wait; Loony Lawsuit Alert: California AG Targets Octogenarians; Zoning, Smart Growth and Regulatory Taxation

    Hawaii Reporter
    -
    0

    “Dick Rowland Image”

    ”Shoots (News, Views and Quotes)”

    – Why Health Care Reform Can’t Wait

    By SBSC Chairman Karen Kerrigan, as seen in American City Business
    Journals:

    Reforms to help lower health insurance premiums are critical to economic
    recovery and growth. After all, how much can businesses really grow when
    a sizable chunk of net profits continue to go towards ever-increasing
    health insurance costs?

    A report distributed by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) is
    a wake up call for Congress to put health care reform on the legislative
    fast-track. The report, a summary of a roundtable discussion recently
    held by the NWBC, clearly shows how higher health care costs are denying
    business owners of precious capital that could be used for upgrading
    equipment or hiring more people..

    Though no one has quantified such costs, the macroeconomic drag of
    skyrocketing health insurance combined with the time CEOs spend on
    managing and maintaining this benefit surely must be staggering in terms
    of its impact on the productivity and growth of small and mid-size
    firms.

    President Bush seems keenly aware of the need to tame health insurance
    costs and wants Congress to do something about it. During a meeting I
    attended with the President in mid-April, he expressed the importance of
    giving small businesses more affordable options in health insurance to
    allow them to use their precious resources more productively..

    – Loony Lawsuit Alert: California AG Targets Octogenarians

    Apparently bankrupting state coffers and gouging its citizens through
    tax increases isn’t enough anymore for state-wide elected officials in
    California. Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s office has now taken it
    upon itself to sue Bob Heidinger (who is 87, has Alzheimer’s and is
    blind in one eye) and his wife Inez — who is 83, has bone marrow cancer
    and also needs shoulder surgery.

    What crime did they allegedly commit? They owned a dry cleaning
    business 50 years ago and ”’sold it”’ 30 years ago.

    According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, “Citing the federal
    Superfund law enacted in 1980 to attack corporate and criminal
    polluters, Lockyer’s office filed two lawsuits against the former dry
    cleaners and others in October in federal District Court in Sacramento.

    The California Department of Toxic Substances Control says it has spent
    more than $6 million testing, treating and cleaning the contaminated
    water in Chico and that polluters must pay the costs.

    Also named in the suit are the city of Chico, whose sewers in the
    contaminated area are cracked and leaking, and Paul Tullius, a
    57-year-old retired Air Force pilot, and his wife, Vicki, who own a
    warehouse that last housed a dry cleaner in 1972 — 16 years before they
    bought the building without knowing its entire history.” (emphasis
    added)

    To read the full story, please click here:
    https://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/6531926p-7482574c.html

    Above articles are quoted from Small Business Survival Committee, Weekly
    Briefing on Business and Government May 29, 2003

    ”Roots (Food for Thought)”

    – Zoning, Smart Growth and Regulatory Taxation

    By Steven B. Garrison

    In a new book available from Public Interest Institute titled POLITICS,
    TAXATION, AND THE RULE OF LAW, Samuel R. Staley of the Reason Public Policy Institute, writes in the eleventh chapter about proper zoning practices.

    The debate over urban sprawl and Smart-Growth has thrust land-use
    planning to the forefront of public debate in the United States. State
    Legislatures throughout the nation are considering sweeping new laws
    that could radically change the nature of land development. In some
    states, such as Florida and Oregon, these laws are explicitly top-down –
    the state sets goals and objectives and local governments are expected
    to toe the line. More recently, Wisconsin enacted Smart-Growth
    legislation that included the design of a model zoning ordinance that
    all large cities would be required to adopt as a way to combat urban
    sprawl.

    Staley examines Smart-Growth planning reforms at the state and local
    level through the lens of public finance and economics. He uses an
    economic perspective of taxation to understand both the political
    motivations behind support for Smart-Growth initiatives and the
    potential impacts of imposing some of the new wave of growth controls.
    Smart-Growth has emerged as a regulatory mechanism local and regional
    governments use to redistribute wealth within cities and regions.
    Indeed, the growth management movement is, in many respects, distinctly
    21st century in its character and impacts, a product of an affluent
    society well versed in the use of government to accomplish objectives
    and maximize personal gain.

    Zoning, not surprisingly, has become the tool of choice for executing
    this redistribution of wealth. As the most pervasive planning tool in
    the United States, zoning has the benefit of widespread acceptance and
    familiarity in state and local politics. In fact, despite its inherently
    centralized approach to using land and regulating markets, zoning
    receives bipartisan support. Conservatives and liberals use it when they
    believe it serves their interests, whether preventing development of a
    neighbor’s property or attempting to script a centrally planned vision of their community. Ironically, zoning and planning have received some of their strongest support on the national level during Republican Presidencies:

    *The Standard City Planning Enabling Act was published in 1928 under
    the auspices of U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary and future President Herbert Hoover.

    *During the Eisenhower Administration, the Housing Act of 1954 created
    the basic features of the urban-renewal program and required these
    projects to be part of a comprehensive city plan. Title 1, Section 701
    provided federal funding for planning and creating “vast employment
    opportunities for planners” as well as seeding “a major private urban
    development consulting industry in America.”

    Above article is quoted from Public Interest Institute at Iowa Wesleyan
    College, Institute Brief June 2003 https://www.limitedgovernment.org

    ”Evergreen (Today’s Quotes)”

    “Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power
    to make you commit injustices.” — Voltaire

    “For in the last analysis, the thought and conscience of the individual
    man are the only thought and conscience there are…. There is, in
    literal truth, no public mind: there are only the minds of the persons
    composing the public. There is no public conscience; there are only
    their several consciences. Dry there functions up, or bind the life out
    of them, and all the mental and moral life of the public is stopped at
    its source.” — William Ernest Hocking

    ”’Edited by Richard O. Rowland, president of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, 1314 S. King Street, Suite 1163, Honolulu, HI 96814. Phone/fax is 808-591-9193, cell phone is 808-864-1776. Send him an email at:”’ mailto:grassroot@hawaii.rr.com ”’See the Web site at:”’ https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/

    Grassroot Perspective – Aug. 1, 2003-Why Health Care Reform Can’t Wait; Loony Lawsuit Alert: California AG Targets Octogenarians; Zoning, Smart Growth and Regulatory Taxation

    Hawaii Reporter
    -
    0

    “Dick Rowland Image”

    ”Shoots (News, Views and Quotes)”

    – Why Health Care Reform Can’t Wait

    By SBSC Chairman Karen Kerrigan, as seen in American City Business
    Journals:

    Reforms to help lower health insurance premiums are critical to economic
    recovery and growth. After all, how much can businesses really grow when
    a sizable chunk of net profits continue to go towards ever-increasing
    health insurance costs?

    A report distributed by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) is
    a wake up call for Congress to put health care reform on the legislative
    fast-track. The report, a summary of a roundtable discussion recently
    held by the NWBC, clearly shows how higher health care costs are denying
    business owners of precious capital that could be used for upgrading
    equipment or hiring more people..

    Though no one has quantified such costs, the macroeconomic drag of
    skyrocketing health insurance combined with the time CEOs spend on
    managing and maintaining this benefit surely must be staggering in terms
    of its impact on the productivity and growth of small and mid-size
    firms.

    President Bush seems keenly aware of the need to tame health insurance
    costs and wants Congress to do something about it. During a meeting I
    attended with the President in mid-April, he expressed the importance of
    giving small businesses more affordable options in health insurance to
    allow them to use their precious resources more productively..

    – Loony Lawsuit Alert: California AG Targets Octogenarians

    Apparently bankrupting state coffers and gouging its citizens through
    tax increases isn’t enough anymore for state-wide elected officials in
    California. Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s office has now taken it
    upon itself to sue Bob Heidinger (who is 87, has Alzheimer’s and is
    blind in one eye) and his wife Inez — who is 83, has bone marrow cancer
    and also needs shoulder surgery.

    What crime did they allegedly commit? They owned a dry cleaning
    business 50 years ago and ”’sold it”’ 30 years ago.

    According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, “Citing the federal
    Superfund law enacted in 1980 to attack corporate and criminal
    polluters, Lockyer’s office filed two lawsuits against the former dry
    cleaners and others in October in federal District Court in Sacramento.

    The California Department of Toxic Substances Control says it has spent
    more than $6 million testing, treating and cleaning the contaminated
    water in Chico and that polluters must pay the costs.

    Also named in the suit are the city of Chico, whose sewers in the
    contaminated area are cracked and leaking, and Paul Tullius, a
    57-year-old retired Air Force pilot, and his wife, Vicki, who own a
    warehouse that last housed a dry cleaner in 1972 — 16 years before they
    bought the building without knowing its entire history.” (emphasis
    added)

    To read the full story, please click here:
    https://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/6531926p-7482574c.html

    Above articles are quoted from Small Business Survival Committee, Weekly
    Briefing on Business and Government May 29, 2003

    ”Roots (Food for Thought)”

    – Zoning, Smart Growth and Regulatory Taxation

    By Steven B. Garrison

    In a new book available from Public Interest Institute titled POLITICS,
    TAXATION, AND THE RULE OF LAW, Samuel R. Staley of the Reason Public Policy Institute, writes in the eleventh chapter about proper zoning practices.

    The debate over urban sprawl and Smart-Growth has thrust land-use
    planning to the forefront of public debate in the United States. State
    Legislatures throughout the nation are considering sweeping new laws
    that could radically change the nature of land development. In some
    states, such as Florida and Oregon, these laws are explicitly top-down –
    the state sets goals and objectives and local governments are expected
    to toe the line. More recently, Wisconsin enacted Smart-Growth
    legislation that included the design of a model zoning ordinance that
    all large cities would be required to adopt as a way to combat urban
    sprawl.

    Staley examines Smart-Growth planning reforms at the state and local
    level through the lens of public finance and economics. He uses an
    economic perspective of taxation to understand both the political
    motivations behind support for Smart-Growth initiatives and the
    potential impacts of imposing some of the new wave of growth controls.
    Smart-Growth has emerged as a regulatory mechanism local and regional
    governments use to redistribute wealth within cities and regions.
    Indeed, the growth management movement is, in many respects, distinctly
    21st century in its character and impacts, a product of an affluent
    society well versed in the use of government to accomplish objectives
    and maximize personal gain.

    Zoning, not surprisingly, has become the tool of choice for executing
    this redistribution of wealth. As the most pervasive planning tool in
    the United States, zoning has the benefit of widespread acceptance and
    familiarity in state and local politics. In fact, despite its inherently
    centralized approach to using land and regulating markets, zoning
    receives bipartisan support. Conservatives and liberals use it when they
    believe it serves their interests, whether preventing development of a
    neighbor’s property or attempting to script a centrally planned vision of their community. Ironically, zoning and planning have received some of their strongest support on the national level during Republican Presidencies:

    *The Standard City Planning Enabling Act was published in 1928 under
    the auspices of U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary and future President Herbert Hoover.

    *During the Eisenhower Administration, the Housing Act of 1954 created
    the basic features of the urban-renewal program and required these
    projects to be part of a comprehensive city plan. Title 1, Section 701
    provided federal funding for planning and creating “vast employment
    opportunities for planners” as well as seeding “a major private urban
    development consulting industry in America.”

    Above article is quoted from Public Interest Institute at Iowa Wesleyan
    College, Institute Brief June 2003 https://www.limitedgovernment.org

    ”Evergreen (Today’s Quotes)”

    “Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power
    to make you commit injustices.” — Voltaire

    “For in the last analysis, the thought and conscience of the individual
    man are the only thought and conscience there are…. There is, in
    literal truth, no public mind: there are only the minds of the persons
    composing the public. There is no public conscience; there are only
    their several consciences. Dry there functions up, or bind the life out
    of them, and all the mental and moral life of the public is stopped at
    its source.” — William Ernest Hocking

    ”’Edited by Richard O. Rowland, president of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, 1314 S. King Street, Suite 1163, Honolulu, HI 96814. Phone/fax is 808-591-9193, cell phone is 808-864-1776. Send him an email at:”’ mailto:grassroot@hawaii.rr.com ”’See the Web site at:”’ https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/

    Grassroot Perspective – Aug. 1, 2003-Why Health Care Reform Can’t Wait; Loony Lawsuit Alert: California AG Targets Octogenarians; Zoning, Smart Growth and Regulatory Taxation

    Hawaii Reporter
    -
    0

    “Dick Rowland Image”

    ”Shoots (News, Views and Quotes)”

    – Why Health Care Reform Can’t Wait

    By SBSC Chairman Karen Kerrigan, as seen in American City Business
    Journals:

    Reforms to help lower health insurance premiums are critical to economic
    recovery and growth. After all, how much can businesses really grow when
    a sizable chunk of net profits continue to go towards ever-increasing
    health insurance costs?

    A report distributed by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) is
    a wake up call for Congress to put health care reform on the legislative
    fast-track. The report, a summary of a roundtable discussion recently
    held by the NWBC, clearly shows how higher health care costs are denying
    business owners of precious capital that could be used for upgrading
    equipment or hiring more people..

    Though no one has quantified such costs, the macroeconomic drag of
    skyrocketing health insurance combined with the time CEOs spend on
    managing and maintaining this benefit surely must be staggering in terms
    of its impact on the productivity and growth of small and mid-size
    firms.

    President Bush seems keenly aware of the need to tame health insurance
    costs and wants Congress to do something about it. During a meeting I
    attended with the President in mid-April, he expressed the importance of
    giving small businesses more affordable options in health insurance to
    allow them to use their precious resources more productively..

    – Loony Lawsuit Alert: California AG Targets Octogenarians

    Apparently bankrupting state coffers and gouging its citizens through
    tax increases isn’t enough anymore for state-wide elected officials in
    California. Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s office has now taken it
    upon itself to sue Bob Heidinger (who is 87, has Alzheimer’s and is
    blind in one eye) and his wife Inez — who is 83, has bone marrow cancer
    and also needs shoulder surgery.

    What crime did they allegedly commit? They owned a dry cleaning
    business 50 years ago and ”’sold it”’ 30 years ago.

    According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, “Citing the federal
    Superfund law enacted in 1980 to attack corporate and criminal
    polluters, Lockyer’s office filed two lawsuits against the former dry
    cleaners and others in October in federal District Court in Sacramento.

    The California Department of Toxic Substances Control says it has spent
    more than $6 million testing, treating and cleaning the contaminated
    water in Chico and that polluters must pay the costs.

    Also named in the suit are the city of Chico, whose sewers in the
    contaminated area are cracked and leaking, and Paul Tullius, a
    57-year-old retired Air Force pilot, and his wife, Vicki, who own a
    warehouse that last housed a dry cleaner in 1972 — 16 years before they
    bought the building without knowing its entire history.” (emphasis
    added)

    To read the full story, please click here:
    https://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/6531926p-7482574c.html

    Above articles are quoted from Small Business Survival Committee, Weekly
    Briefing on Business and Government May 29, 2003

    ”Roots (Food for Thought)”

    – Zoning, Smart Growth and Regulatory Taxation

    By Steven B. Garrison

    In a new book available from Public Interest Institute titled POLITICS,
    TAXATION, AND THE RULE OF LAW, Samuel R. Staley of the Reason Public Policy Institute, writes in the eleventh chapter about proper zoning practices.

    The debate over urban sprawl and Smart-Growth has thrust land-use
    planning to the forefront of public debate in the United States. State
    Legislatures throughout the nation are considering sweeping new laws
    that could radically change the nature of land development. In some
    states, such as Florida and Oregon, these laws are explicitly top-down –
    the state sets goals and objectives and local governments are expected
    to toe the line. More recently, Wisconsin enacted Smart-Growth
    legislation that included the design of a model zoning ordinance that
    all large cities would be required to adopt as a way to combat urban
    sprawl.

    Staley examines Smart-Growth planning reforms at the state and local
    level through the lens of public finance and economics. He uses an
    economic perspective of taxation to understand both the political
    motivations behind support for Smart-Growth initiatives and the
    potential impacts of imposing some of the new wave of growth controls.
    Smart-Growth has emerged as a regulatory mechanism local and regional
    governments use to redistribute wealth within cities and regions.
    Indeed, the growth management movement is, in many respects, distinctly
    21st century in its character and impacts, a product of an affluent
    society well versed in the use of government to accomplish objectives
    and maximize personal gain.

    Zoning, not surprisingly, has become the tool of choice for executing
    this redistribution of wealth. As the most pervasive planning tool in
    the United States, zoning has the benefit of widespread acceptance and
    familiarity in state and local politics. In fact, despite its inherently
    centralized approach to using land and regulating markets, zoning
    receives bipartisan support. Conservatives and liberals use it when they
    believe it serves their interests, whether preventing development of a
    neighbor’s property or attempting to script a centrally planned vision of their community. Ironically, zoning and planning have received some of their strongest support on the national level during Republican Presidencies:

    *The Standard City Planning Enabling Act was published in 1928 under
    the auspices of U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary and future President Herbert Hoover.

    *During the Eisenhower Administration, the Housing Act of 1954 created
    the basic features of the urban-renewal program and required these
    projects to be part of a comprehensive city plan. Title 1, Section 701
    provided federal funding for planning and creating “vast employment
    opportunities for planners” as well as seeding “a major private urban
    development consulting industry in America.”

    Above article is quoted from Public Interest Institute at Iowa Wesleyan
    College, Institute Brief June 2003 https://www.limitedgovernment.org

    ”Evergreen (Today’s Quotes)”

    “Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power
    to make you commit injustices.” — Voltaire

    “For in the last analysis, the thought and conscience of the individual
    man are the only thought and conscience there are…. There is, in
    literal truth, no public mind: there are only the minds of the persons
    composing the public. There is no public conscience; there are only
    their several consciences. Dry there functions up, or bind the life out
    of them, and all the mental and moral life of the public is stopped at
    its source.” — William Ernest Hocking

    ”’Edited by Richard O. Rowland, president of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, 1314 S. King Street, Suite 1163, Honolulu, HI 96814. Phone/fax is 808-591-9193, cell phone is 808-864-1776. Send him an email at:”’ mailto:grassroot@hawaii.rr.com ”’See the Web site at:”’ https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/

    Grassroot Perspective – July 9, 2003-Lawsuit Abuse; Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Texas; Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Louisiana; Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Mississippi; Public Power, Private Gain

    Hawaii Reporter
    -
    0

    “Dick Rowland Image”

    ”Shoots (News, Views and Quotes)”

    – Lawsuit Abuse

    Lawyers Rank Last in American Confidence

    The June 1 issue of American Enterprise magazine carried the results of
    a Harris Interactive poll that asked people how much confidence they
    have in various American institutions. Not surprisingly, the U.S.
    military came in first with a positive confidence rating of 62 percent.
    Dead last — ranking 14th out of the 14 institutions included in the
    questionnaire — were law firms, with only a 12 percent confidence
    rating. The U.S. Supreme Court, on the other hand, ranked third, well
    ahead of organized religion and television news. As reported in the
    National Law Journal

    – Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Texas

    Last November, when Republicans took over the Texas legislature for the
    first time in 130 years, tort reform’s time had finally come. With
    Texas being long considered a “judicial hellhole” by American business
    groups, the reforms enacted in early June promise some much-needed
    relief for companies doing business in the Long Star State. The omnibus
    bill covers everything from class-action certification and appeal bonds
    to product liability and proportionate responsibility. The legislation
    limits multidistrict litigation, ends venue shopping, and even includes
    a modified version of “loser pays.” Next on the reformers’ agenda –
    asbestos! From The Wall Street Journal and Houston Chronicle

    – Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Louisiana

    Last month a New Orleans personal injury lawyer agreed to a plea
    bargain on charges he illegally paid “runners” some $200,000 to solicit
    accident victims for his firm and then hid the payments from state and
    federal officials. The lawyer, Curtis Cooney, Jr., further compounded
    his problems by urging his secretary to lie to a grand jury about the
    payments. The guilty plea was part of a four-year federal investigation
    of personal injury lawyers that has resulted so far in more than 20
    convictions. From the New Orleans Times-Picayune

    – Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Mississippi

    The ongoing federal grand jury probe into whether wealthy Mississippi
    trial lawyers paid off loans for state judges in exchange for favorable
    rulings is uncovering a tantalizing “web of connections.” At the center
    of the web is Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, whose firm made more than $1
    billion from the national tobacco settlement. He is former U.S. Senate
    Majority Leader Trent Lott’s brother-in-law and has close ties to
    Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore, who awarded Scruggs the
    state’s tobacco litigation contract. The lead FBI agent on the probe
    was suddenly reassigned to counter-terrorism duty outside of the
    country when he questioned the cozy links among the three men. So far
    no indictments have been handed down. From the Biloxi Sun-Herald

    Above articles are quoted from the Heartland Institute Lawsuit Abuse
    Fortnightly June 2003 https://www.heartland.org

    ”Roots (Food for Thought)”

    – Public Power, Private Gain

    IJ Report Documents 10,000-plus Eminent Domain Abuses Across U.S.

    By Dana Berliner

    Think your home is your castle?

    Think again.

    Most people don’t realize that the government often takes people’s
    homes and businesses not for a public use, such as for a post office or
    a police station, but for the benefit of private developers. For years,
    the Institute for Justice has been saying this is a nationwide
    epidemic, but whenever someone asked, “how often does this really
    happen?” we had no answer. There is no official data on the use of
    eminent domain for private parties, so we had to rely on examples.
    That’s why for the past couple of years we have been working on a
    report documenting just how often state and local governments across
    the country use their eminent domain power for private benefit. We
    added up the numbers from published news articles and court documents,
    and the results were even worse than we suspected.

    Over the past five years, governments have condemned or threatened more
    than 10,000 homes, businesses, churches and private land for private
    business development. More than 4,000 of these properties are currently
    under threat of condemnation for private parties.

    Among many examples, the report found that in the past five years,
    governments have:

    Condemned a family’s home so that the manager of a planned new golf
    course could live in it; Evicted four elderly siblings from their home
    of 60 years for a private industrial park;
    Removed a woman in her 80s from her home of 55 years supposedly to
    expand a sewer plant, but actually gave her home to an auto dealership.
    Private developers love eminent domain. By cozying up to local
    bureaucrats, they can secure land on the cheap without the hassles of
    negotiating with individual owners. And local officials get to trumpet
    exciting projects promising new jobs and taxes. But because everyone’s
    home or small business would generate more jobs or taxes as a big
    business, no one’s land is safe.

    Cities thus use eminent domain to favor large businesses over
    mom-and-pop establishments, national chains over local businesses,
    upscale condos over middle-class single-family homes, and
    government-chosen projects over ones developed privately.

    This was never supposed to happen.

    The U.S. Constitution and every single state constitution limit eminent
    domain to projects for “public use.” Most people understand “public
    use” to mean things like highways, bridges and prisons-not a casino,
    condominiums or a private office building. But for too long, courts
    have failed to check the marriage of convenience between government and
    developers, declaring “public use” to mean whatever politicians say it
    means, no matter how blatantly private the project.

    The epidemic of eminent domain abuse has claimed too many victims and
    must be stopped. Until that day, no one’s American Dream will be safe
    from the overreaching hand of government.

    The report has earned very favorable coverage nationwide. As The New
    York Sun editorialized, “‘New York is perhaps the worst state in the
    country for eminent domain abuse.’ That is according to a report
    released yesterday by the Castle Coalition, a project of the
    libertarian Institute for Justice. It’s not hard to see why. In just
    the last five years, New York has condemned small businesses on behalf
    of the New York Stock Exchange, the New York Times, Home Depot, Costco,
    and Stop & Shop.” As The Wall Street Journal “Bricks & Mortar”
    columnist Dean Starkman noted, “The problem has been that while
    economic-development takings occur from coast to coast, each occurs in
    a vacuum. And the debate about the use of eminent domain as a
    public-policy tool-and its civil-liberties implications-is impaired by
    the lack of information. At least now, there’s some light on the
    subject. Dana Berliner, a senior attorney for the Institute for
    Justice, a Washington-based public-interest legal foundation, spent the
    past two and a half years combing court records, local-government
    documents, and, mostly, local-newspaper stories in a search for any
    case of eminent domain used for economic development. The result is an
    important and useful study: ‘Public Power, Private Gain’ covers the
    five-year period from 1998 to 2002 and is intended to give at least
    some idea of the frequency of the practice.”

    In sheer numbers, the states with the worst record of abuse of
    private-use takings are California, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan and
    Ohio. The best states are Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, New
    Hampshire, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wyoming, none of which had land
    taken by eminent domain for private use.

    Copies of Public Power, Private Gain are available online at the
    Web site of the Castle Coalition (www.castlecoalition.org), an
    organization created by the Institute for Justice to unite property
    owners and activists fighting eminent domain abuse.

    Dana Berliner is an IJ senior attorney.

    Above article is quoted from the Institute for Justice Liberty & Law
    June 2003 https://www.ij.org

    ”Evergreen (Today’s Quote)”

    “If the American Revolution had produced nothing but the Declaration of
    Independence, it would have been worth while. … The beauty and cogency
    of the preamble, reaching back to remotest antiquity and forward to an
    indefinite future, have lifted the hearts of millions of men and will
    continue to do so. … These words are more revolutionary than anything
    written by Robespierre, Marx, or Lenin, more explosive than the atom, a
    continual challenge to ourselves as well as an inspiration to the
    oppressed of all the world.” — Samuel Eliot Morison

    ”’Edited by Richard O. Rowland, president of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, 1314 S. King Street, Suite 1163, Honolulu, HI 96814. Phone/fax is 808-591-9193, cell phone is 808-864-1776. Send him an email at:”’ mailto:grassroot@hawaii.rr.com ”’See the Web site at:”’ https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/

    Grassroot Perspective – July 9, 2003-Lawsuit Abuse; Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Texas; Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Louisiana; Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Mississippi; Public Power, Private Gain

    Hawaii Reporter
    -
    0

    “Dick Rowland Image”

    ”Shoots (News, Views and Quotes)”

    – Lawsuit Abuse

    Lawyers Rank Last in American Confidence

    The June 1 issue of American Enterprise magazine carried the results of
    a Harris Interactive poll that asked people how much confidence they
    have in various American institutions. Not surprisingly, the U.S.
    military came in first with a positive confidence rating of 62 percent.
    Dead last — ranking 14th out of the 14 institutions included in the
    questionnaire — were law firms, with only a 12 percent confidence
    rating. The U.S. Supreme Court, on the other hand, ranked third, well
    ahead of organized religion and television news. As reported in the
    National Law Journal

    – Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Texas

    Last November, when Republicans took over the Texas legislature for the
    first time in 130 years, tort reform’s time had finally come. With
    Texas being long considered a “judicial hellhole” by American business
    groups, the reforms enacted in early June promise some much-needed
    relief for companies doing business in the Long Star State. The omnibus
    bill covers everything from class-action certification and appeal bonds
    to product liability and proportionate responsibility. The legislation
    limits multidistrict litigation, ends venue shopping, and even includes
    a modified version of “loser pays.” Next on the reformers’ agenda –
    asbestos! From The Wall Street Journal and Houston Chronicle

    – Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Louisiana

    Last month a New Orleans personal injury lawyer agreed to a plea
    bargain on charges he illegally paid “runners” some $200,000 to solicit
    accident victims for his firm and then hid the payments from state and
    federal officials. The lawyer, Curtis Cooney, Jr., further compounded
    his problems by urging his secretary to lie to a grand jury about the
    payments. The guilty plea was part of a four-year federal investigation
    of personal injury lawyers that has resulted so far in more than 20
    convictions. From the New Orleans Times-Picayune

    – Trial Lawyers on the Run … In Mississippi

    The ongoing federal grand jury probe into whether wealthy Mississippi
    trial lawyers paid off loans for state judges in exchange for favorable
    rulings is uncovering a tantalizing “web of connections.” At the center
    of the web is Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, whose firm made more than $1
    billion from the national tobacco settlement. He is former U.S. Senate
    Majority Leader Trent Lott’s brother-in-law and has close ties to
    Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore, who awarded Scruggs the
    state’s tobacco litigation contract. The lead FBI agent on the probe
    was suddenly reassigned to counter-terrorism duty outside of the
    country when he questioned the cozy links among the three men. So far
    no indictments have been handed down. From the Biloxi Sun-Herald

    Above articles are quoted from the Heartland Institute Lawsuit Abuse
    Fortnightly June 2003 https://www.heartland.org

    ”Roots (Food for Thought)”

    – Public Power, Private Gain

    IJ Report Documents 10,000-plus Eminent Domain Abuses Across U.S.

    By Dana Berliner

    Think your home is your castle?

    Think again.

    Most people don’t realize that the government often takes people’s
    homes and businesses not for a public use, such as for a post office or
    a police station, but for the benefit of private developers. For years,
    the Institute for Justice has been saying this is a nationwide
    epidemic, but whenever someone asked, “how often does this really
    happen?” we had no answer. There is no official data on the use of
    eminent domain for private parties, so we had to rely on examples.
    That’s why for the past couple of years we have been working on a
    report documenting just how often state and local governments across
    the country use their eminent domain power for private benefit. We
    added up the numbers from published news articles and court documents,
    and the results were even worse than we suspected.

    Over the past five years, governments have condemned or threatened more
    than 10,000 homes, businesses, churches and private land for private
    business development. More than 4,000 of these properties are currently
    under threat of condemnation for private parties.

    Among many examples, the report found that in the past five years,
    governments have:

    Condemned a family’s home so that the manager of a planned new golf
    course could live in it; Evicted four elderly siblings from their home
    of 60 years for a private industrial park;
    Removed a woman in her 80s from her home of 55 years supposedly to
    expand a sewer plant, but actually gave her home to an auto dealership.
    Private developers love eminent domain. By cozying up to local
    bureaucrats, they can secure land on the cheap without the hassles of
    negotiating with individual owners. And local officials get to trumpet
    exciting projects promising new jobs and taxes. But because everyone’s
    home or small business would generate more jobs or taxes as a big
    business, no one’s land is safe.

    Cities thus use eminent domain to favor large businesses over
    mom-and-pop establishments, national chains over local businesses,
    upscale condos over middle-class single-family homes, and
    government-chosen projects over ones developed privately.

    This was never supposed to happen.

    The U.S. Constitution and every single state constitution limit eminent
    domain to projects for “public use.” Most people understand “public
    use” to mean things like highways, bridges and prisons-not a casino,
    condominiums or a private office building. But for too long, courts
    have failed to check the marriage of convenience between government and
    developers, declaring “public use” to mean whatever politicians say it
    means, no matter how blatantly private the project.

    The epidemic of eminent domain abuse has claimed too many victims and
    must be stopped. Until that day, no one’s American Dream will be safe
    from the overreaching hand of government.

    The report has earned very favorable coverage nationwide. As The New
    York Sun editorialized, “‘New York is perhaps the worst state in the
    country for eminent domain abuse.’ That is according to a report
    released yesterday by the Castle Coalition, a project of the
    libertarian Institute for Justice. It’s not hard to see why. In just
    the last five years, New York has condemned small businesses on behalf
    of the New York Stock Exchange, the New York Times, Home Depot, Costco,
    and Stop & Shop.” As The Wall Street Journal “Bricks & Mortar”
    columnist Dean Starkman noted, “The problem has been that while
    economic-development takings occur from coast to coast, each occurs in
    a vacuum. And the debate about the use of eminent domain as a
    public-policy tool-and its civil-liberties implications-is impaired by
    the lack of information. At least now, there’s some light on the
    subject. Dana Berliner, a senior attorney for the Institute for
    Justice, a Washington-based public-interest legal foundation, spent the
    past two and a half years combing court records, local-government
    documents, and, mostly, local-newspaper stories in a search for any
    case of eminent domain used for economic development. The result is an
    important and useful study: ‘Public Power, Private Gain’ covers the
    five-year period from 1998 to 2002 and is intended to give at least
    some idea of the frequency of the practice.”

    In sheer numbers, the states with the worst record of abuse of
    private-use takings are California, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan and
    Ohio. The best states are Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, New
    Hampshire, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wyoming, none of which had land
    taken by eminent domain for private use.

    Copies of Public Power, Private Gain are available online at the
    Web site of the Castle Coalition (www.castlecoalition.org), an
    organization created by the Institute for Justice to unite property
    owners and activists fighting eminent domain abuse.

    Dana Berliner is an IJ senior attorney.

    Above article is quoted from the Institute for Justice Liberty & Law
    June 2003 https://www.ij.org

    ”Evergreen (Today’s Quote)”

    “If the American Revolution had produced nothing but the Declaration of
    Independence, it would have been worth while. … The beauty and cogency
    of the preamble, reaching back to remotest antiquity and forward to an
    indefinite future, have lifted the hearts of millions of men and will
    continue to do so. … These words are more revolutionary than anything
    written by Robespierre, Marx, or Lenin, more explosive than the atom, a
    continual challenge to ourselves as well as an inspiration to the
    oppressed of all the world.” — Samuel Eliot Morison

    ”’Edited by Richard O. Rowland, president of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, 1314 S. King Street, Suite 1163, Honolulu, HI 96814. Phone/fax is 808-591-9193, cell phone is 808-864-1776. Send him an email at:”’ mailto:grassroot@hawaii.rr.com ”’See the Web site at:”’ https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/

    Grassroot Perspective – July 8, 2003-Illegal Drug Imports Threaten Consumers' Health; Segregation Alive & Well in 2003; Transportation Choice: Politics Versus Mobility

    Hawaii Reporter
    -
    0

    “Dick Rowland Image”

    ”Shoots (News, Views and Quotes)”

    – Illegal Drug Imports Threaten Consumers’ Health

    By Grace-Marie Turner

    Source: The Detroit News 5/11/03

    Seniors who have been buying cheap drugs over the Internet from Canada
    soon are likely to be searching for new suppliers, says Grace-Marie
    Turner of the Galen Institute. The Food and Drug Administration is
    threatening criminal and civil action against companies that aid in the
    illegal practice in accordance with the law passed in 1988 to protect
    U.S. citizens from fake and contaminated imported medicines. The effects
    of counterfeit drugs can already be seen in the U.S. A Florida grand
    jury says it’s happening in the southern borders of the United States,
    where the state’s wholesale pharmaceutical industry has been “corrupted
    by the infiltration of a criminal element which is making a fortune
    while tainting our drug supply.” Sale and resale of the counterfeit
    drugs through the state’s Medicaid program is costing taxpayers
    millions of dollars. Full text: https://www.galen.org/news/051303.html

    – Segregation Alive & Well in 2003

    By Jessica Peck

    We walked into the room and were told to leave. Our offense? Having the
    wrong skin color.

    This is what happened this weekend at the University of Colorado when
    organizers of a forum dedicated to exploring the effects of racism, saw
    two individuals who “presented as White”, make an attempt to
    participate in the forum open exclusively to “People of Color.”

    The workshop, one of a series hosted by Stop Hate on Campus (SHOC), a
    student-fee funded group on the Boulder campus, was titled the
    Internalized Racism Workshop. It “was not designed for White people,”
    we were told. Instead, my friend and I could go to a workshop being
    held concurrently for individuals of our own skin color. When I told
    the workshop organizer that we had attended that workshop the day
    before, he was apologetic, but reiterated that we were not welcome to
    stay for this one.

    When I asked just exactly what “internalized racism” was, a young woman
    in the room spoke up, “well, if you don’t know, you haven’t experienced
    it, and you shouldn’t be here.” The room erupted in laughter.

    It was a shocking moment. As a graduate student who has dedicated the
    last two years to researching the role of race in higher education, I
    was being taught perhaps my most important lesson: segregation and
    separatism are alive and well on our college campuses.

    When I told the organizer about my academic research and that we would
    remain silent if only he would permit us to stay, he once again told us
    we could not. He said the workshop was designed as a “safe space” for
    “People of Color” and that the presence of someone of our racial
    appearance would prevent an open and honest dialogue.

    It is interesting that safety is the justification used for a racially
    segregated workshop on a publicly funded university campus in 2003.
    Indeed, this was the same argument used by the segregationists of the
    1950s and 60s. They believed America would be a safer place if the
    races were kept apart. We should all be grateful that the last forty
    years have proven them wrong. America is a better place because racial
    distinctions and discrimination have been-and continue to be-torn down.

    The organizers of this weekend’s events will say the racial segregation
    they upheld is fundamentally different than the segregation of the
    past. In racially sensitive environments and discussions, such as the
    one held Sunday, individuals should be with people of their own race,
    they argue. Never mind an open and honest dialogue between people of
    different races. To demand such would be asking too much.

    Furthermore, they will tell you, as they told me, it is not the “White
    person’s place” to tell “People of Color” whether or not they can
    discriminate on the basis of race. They are mistaken. Segregation and
    discrimination on the basis of race are always wrong, both legally and
    morally.

    The 1964 Civil Rights Act tells us that racial segregation, for any
    reason, and perpetuated against any group, is not acceptable. More
    specifically, Title VI of the statute prohibits discrimination based on
    race, color, or national origin at institutions receiving federal
    financial assistance. The University of Colorado, as a recipient of
    federal funds, has a responsibility to ensure that every door on each
    of its campuses is open to individuals of all races.

    Maybe I should internalize my experience, believing that somehow I have
    a responsibility to accept segregation if it can help others come to
    terms with the state of race in America. If only I could convince
    myself that segregation does anything other than tear down our past
    progress and our future hope for honest interracial interaction.

    To get beyond race, we must defy it. We must stop seeing each other as
    varying shades of pigment. We must step out of our comfort zones, even
    if it feels unsafe. Anything less simply won’t work, especially closing
    doors in the faces of those who want nothing more than to bring an end
    to racism.

    Above article is quoted from the Independence Institute, Weekly
    Newsletter 4/18/03 https://www.i2i.org

    ”Roots (Food for Thought)”

    – Transportation Choice: Politics Versus Mobility

    Author: Dennis Polhill

    Published: The Heartland Institute 04/01/2003

    The Texas Transportation Institute produces an annual report on
    congestion nationally. According to TTI, congestion cost the U.S.
    economy $68 billion in 2000. This is more than enough money to add an
    additional lane to every interstate highway in the United States in
    each direction. Less extreme proposals could instantly eliminate all
    traffic congestion. The reason traffic congestion exists is political.

    Americans are patient and tolerant. We trust elected officials to be
    honest, conscientious, and diligent; generally, they are. The time
    grows closer when tolerance for traffic congestion will cease. Perhaps
    the many failed tax measures in the November 2002 election are a sign
    of how thin patience is growing. To fix traffic congestion, systemic
    and political problems must be attacked at their roots.

    First, transportation finance is collectivized. Taxes are put into a
    big pot so smart guys can do the right project in the right place at
    the right time. The theory sounds good, but this Soviet-style model has
    failed miserably in every trial. Expecting a different result is a
    triumph of hope over experience. Wise public policy recognizes this
    failing and seeks to decentralize planning by employing market-driven
    incentives.

    Second, because the bosses of the smart guys are politicians,
    transportation inevitably becomes politicized. Colorado politicians
    have determined that nearly 60 percent of Denver-metro transportation
    funding over the next 20 years will go to transit. This outlay is
    expected to increase transit’s market share from a measly 1.53 percent
    to just 2.23 percent of total trips. This policy means traffic
    congestion and mobility will become much worse. The politicization of
    transportation leads to the misapplication of limited resources.

    Third, the Transportation Industrial Complex–the contractors,
    consultants, suppliers, and bureaucrats whose survival hinges on
    sustaining the status quo–resists change. Combined with the
    demagoguery of special interest groups and government agencies, not
    bound by service or truth, this Complex Plus makes up a formidable
    political force.

    Fourth, some interests intend harm. Damaging the nation’s
    transportation system is just “collateral damage” incurred enroute to
    their mission. Ray Barnhart, former head of the Federal Highway
    Administration, reflected recently on his 1991 recommendation to
    President Bush to veto federal transportation legislation: “If ISTEA
    becomes law … politics, not engineering principles will determine.
    … Congress has given official standing (to groups) not interested in
    transportation per se, but rather in gaining control of transportation
    programs in order to require … a social agenda.”

    Out of Crisis, Opportunity

    There is hope! Reform often comes as a byproduct of catastrophe. “A
    transportation crisis is brewing. Commerce will snarl, costing
    billions,” said the November 27, 2002 Kiplinger Letter. By 2009 there
    will be a “12 percent slower average road speed and about a 10 percent
    increase in the average delay.”

    Tax subsidies to institutions yield bigger, more bureaucratic, less
    accountable, and less efficient institutions. Conversely, subsidies to
    individuals, when appropriate, empower consumers and create
    accountability, choice, market growth, competition, lower prices, and
    innovation. Proof is in the success of the food stamp and G.I. Bill
    programs.

    When groups such as the Progressive Policy Institute, an arm of the
    Democratic Leadership Council of the Democratic Party, begin to suggest
    that, “Our nation’s surface transportation system is broken” and fixes
    must “harness market forces,” then a convergence of thought has begun.
    If the contemplative elements of both the left and right concur, but
    the politicians continue to refuse to lead, then is this because a
    solution might diminish their importance?

    When projects like converting the I-25 High Occupancy Vehicle lanes to
    High Occupancy Toll lanes (mandated in 1999 by Sen. John Andrews’
    Senate Bill 88) would do no injury, while relieving some traffic
    congestion and raising revenue, yet are stalled for years by
    governments, the true agenda of bureaucrats is revealed. Do and the
    Federal Transit Administration perceive that a cheap and functional
    method of solving traffic congestion without tax increases might
    jeopardize their goal of more taxes and bigger bureaucracies?

    Government monopoly of transportation is failing. The sooner this
    failure is recognized, the sooner leaders can implement innovative
    systems to increase mobility, job growth, and commercial viability.
    Those who seek to diminish mobility, strive for the impossible and the
    undesirable.

    The “transportation choice” movement has started. As the term
    “transportation choice” becomes part of the lexicon, intelligent debate
    over how to implement and balance the wide variety of alternative
    possibilities will commence. Let the debate over “transportation
    choice” begin.

    Dennis Polhill is a senior fellow at the Independence Institute.
    https://www.i2i.org

    Above article is quoted from The Heartland Institute Intellectual
    Ammunition Spring 2003 https://www.heartland.org

    ”Evergreen (Today’s Quotes)”

    “Unfortunately we live in a society where those who ‘have’ seek other
    types of education and those who ‘have not’ are stuck. White students
    are not attending schools in the public system because of the quality
    of the schools. They turn to other types of schools because they can
    afford to.” — Leonard Atkins, President of the Boston chapter of the
    NAACP. (Boston Globe, January 25) Quoted in www.eiaonline.org 1/13/03

    “If they don’t agree to everything I want, we will be in impasse.” —
    United Teachers of Dade President Pat Tornillo, describing his approach
    to emergency labor negotiations with the Miami-Dade County School
    Board. Quoted in https://www.eiaonline.org 1/13/03

    ”’Edited by Richard O. Rowland, president of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, 1314 S. King Street, Suite 1163, Honolulu, HI 96814. Phone/fax is 808-591-9193, cell phone is 808-864-1776. Send him an email at:”’ mailto:grassroot@hawaii.rr.com ”’See the Web site at:”’ https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/

    1...1,8701,8711,872...2,029Page 1,871 of 2,029

    Recent

    Most Commented

    Popular

    Contact us