American Policy Center » 2006 » April
- Future American Lawyers Take a Stand for Freedom
- The Evolution of Homeowner Associations
- Surprise. Fidel Castro Acts Like a Communist!
- Do Not Let Illegal Aliens Overrun Congress
- The Job is Not Finished Until the Red Chinese are out of Long Beach
April 24, 2006
By Tom DeWeese
Many patriotic Americans have rightly worried about the nation’s future in the hands of today’s younger generation. Proven time and again is their lack of understanding for American ideals and principles of limited government, thanks to a woefully inadequate education from government schools.
However, such fears received at least a small reprieve on January 24, 2006, when a group of law students at Georgetown University Law School staged a dramatic protest during a speech by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Gonzales was on the campus to defend the Bush Administration’s use of domestic spying. As the Attorney General began his remarks, more that twenty law students stood and turned their backs on him as others unfurled a sign which read, “Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither,” a paraphrase of a famous quote from Benjamin Franklin.
Prior to becoming Attorney General, Gonzales helped write the infamous Patriot Act (which has no definition of a terrorist) and has been an outspoken supporter of increased surveillance on American citizens, all in the name of fighting terrorism. Gonzales has called the Geneva Convention, which has historically held nation’s accountable for prisoner of war treatment, “quaint,”
The Attorney General has argued that the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) does not apply in the Bush Administration’s domestic spying. FISA clearly requires executive branch agencies to get approval for domestic surveillance requests from a special court, whose proceedings are secret and protect national security.
So, the law students at Georgetown decided to let the Attorney General know they weren’t supporters of Gonzales’ brand of law, and staged their protest. Afterwards, a panel of experts was held to discuss what Gonzales had said. Members of the panel tore away at Gonzales’ argument while supporting the student’s actions.
Said Georgetown law professor and panel member David Cole, “When you’re a law student, they tell you that if you can’t argue the law, argue the facts. They also tell you if you can’t argue the facts, argue the law. If you can’t argue either, apparently, the solution is to go on a public relations offensive and make it a political issue (and) to say over and over again ‘it’s lawful,’ and to think that the American people will somehow come to believe this if we say it often enough.” Concluded Cole, “In light of this, I’m proud of the very civil civil disobedience that was shown here today.”
No American should blindly accept reduction of their liberty simply because a government official says so. The choice is a nation of laws or a nation of whims. No liberty is possible with the latter, no matter how important the cause.
At Georgetown University, at least on this day, there were students who understood the difference – and that bodes well for the future of freedom.
August 16, 2006
By Shu Bartholomew
A conservative estimate has it that one in six Americans, or over 57 million people live in some 270,000 mandatory membership common ownership developments across the country. These include condominiums, cooperatives, townhouses and single-family homes that are all part of a homeowners’ association. Those numbers keep growing.
Today, over half of all new housing built nationally is part of an association. However, many municipal jurisdictions mandate HOAs so in those towns, cities and counties virtually all new housing includes automatic membership in an association. In fact, in some of the fast growing areas of the country it is impossible to buy a house that does not include an association of some sort.
Contrary to the glossy ads promising carefree living, recreational amenities for pennies a day and the promise of protected and enhance property values, far from an asset, HOAs are a liability.
The first thing housing consumers should understand is that associations were never intended to benefit them. They benefit municipal governments, builders/developers and the growing industry that feeds off associations. This $30 billion annual industry includes managers, attorneys, landscape companies, pool companies, CPAs, insurance companies and now, banks as well.
One of the main purposes of an association, and the reason they are required to be part of all new construction in many parts of the country, is that of a vehicle for local governments to shunt their responsibilities off onto the private sector, while still taxing the citizens – at the full rate. What this means for the taxpayer, homeowner and voter, is that they are not only double taxed but also living under the auspices of another layer of government – a private government – one that is not bound by the protections afforded in the Constitution.
Because homeowners associations are “private” enclaves, developers can increase density, thus building- and selling – more units than would otherwise be permissible. Moreover, since the streets, sidewalks, lighting and other facilities will be maintained privately, they are not always built to code. Since substandard construction is considerably less expensive, this maximizes the builders’ profits but saddles the homeowners with the cost of maintaining expensive infrastructure that all too often breaks down.
Another equally important fact to keep in mind is that failure by the association to properly maintain the common areas will adversely affect property values. Furthermore, unfunded future repairs and replacements could easily result in enormous special assessments. Special assessments of $10,000, $20,000, $50,000 even $90,000 are not unheard of. Associations have the power to foreclose to collect these assessments.
However, the physical condition of the common elements of the association is not the only thing the homeowners are left holding the bag on. Because associations are private entities, local governments and law enforcement are reluctant to get involved in the event of problems. Citizens who seek protection from their elected and appointed officials for illegal actions are often told that their problems are civil matters to be litigated in court, since they occurred on “private property”.
Homeowner’s associations enforce enormous powers – powers real government can only dream of having. These powers, and their abuses by boards and management often lead to arbitrary rules that give the governing committee power over property owners. For example, recorded deed restrictions have gone from as few as one page to hundreds of pages long, controlling everything from the weight of a dog to the exact shade of white of the interior window treatments. Along the way, some associations have even taken it upon themselves to approve reading material and clothing articles kept on the premises. As completely ridiculous as this may seem, newspaper archives and court records are full of such stories and cases.
And state legislators, at the insistence of the homeowner association industry, amend state statutes increasing the powers associations already enjoy. The most heinous of these laws are the statutory power to fine and then to foreclose, in some states, to foreclose non-judicially. In the absence of any adult supervision and oversight, these powers are being misused and abused on a daily basis
Consider the case of Wenonah Blevins, an 82 year old Texas widow, whose mortgage free $150,000 house was sold on the courthouse steps for $5,000 to satisfy an $814 assessment. What is so incredible about this case is that Mrs. Blevins had remitted a check for the full amount shown on her bill from the association but the association refused to accept her payment, preferring to foreclose instead.
There are many myths and misstatements associated with this type of housing. Do not be fooled by the glossy ads promising carefree living, enhanced property values, recreational amenities and yes, even romance. The reality is very different. It means giving up part of the American dream. It means leaving the American zone.
Shu Bartholomew hosts an online radio show called “On the Commons” dedicated to exposing the problems of Homeowner’s associations. Her website is Onthecommons.com.
April 13, 2006
By Tom DeWeese
For fifty years the American left has promoted the image of Fidel Castro as a great humanitarian who has saved his people in a workers’ paradise.
Here’s a fact: Fidel Castro is a communist. Period. Communists are not humanitarians. They are vile, brutal thugs who use their power to steal the rights and property of their people, forcing them to live in utter poverty and misery. One can look the world over and will not find a single communist regime that does not operate this way. And so does Fidel.
But the propaganda campaign for the oldest living beast has gained momentum in the past few years, describing in glowing terms the harmonious life of the happy Cuban people, forced to struggle against the unfair American boycott of their beloved leader and his communist utopia. That’s the story coming out of the international news media. There has rarely been a crack in the Castro legend. Until now.
The suffering Cuban people owe a huge debt of thanks to the courage of Czech super model Helena Houdova. She risked her own freedom by smuggling photos out of the Cuban gulag which clearly showed Cuban suffering and misery.
The former Miss Czech Republic took photos of Cuban Aids victims and the squalid conditions in a Havana shantytown. Said Miss Houdova, “The people are repressed and Fidel Castro’s government is in denial. People can’t do what they love. People can’t speak what they want. That’s what’s happening. The fact that the (government) says there is no poverty, makes a bad situation worse.”
As a glimpse into the police state that is Cuba, Miss Houdova’s own experience in taking the pictures makes it clear. She was arrested simply for taking the photos, then detained for more than eleven hours and denied access to Czech consular officials. In police custody, the model was forced to turn over a roll of 35 mm film from her camera, but was able to hide the memory chip from her digital camera in her bra. Miss Houdova brought more than 20 photos out of the country, which she is now exhibiting around the world.
Miss Houdova decided to take the photos at the urging of her Cuban guide who said, “please talk about it everywhere you can and let the world know what is happening here.” She is now very worried about his safety from Cuban security police. The Cuban government is efficient at slowly harassing and threatening anyone who speaks out against the government. People disappear into the penal system, never to be seen again.
Such is the reality of the Cuban workers paradise, where we are told daily that poverty and misery do not exist. Communism is not a human form of life and freedom fighters everywhere should renew efforts to stamp it out where ever it exists.
April 6, 2006
Action Alert! Action Alert!
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Urgent! Urgent! Urgent! Urgent! Urgent!
It is urgent that you call your two U.S. Senators immediately. Because this coming Monday, April 10th, 2 million illegal aliens and their supporters plan to take to the streets in 63 cities to demand that Congress drop efforts to defend our borders from the illegal invasion of our country.
Illegals are openly marching in our streets. They openly express their hatred of America.
Have you heard of La Raza – one of the groups behind these massive protest marches? La Rasa means “the race.” They are Hispanic racists who openly advocate the destruction of our national sovereignty. La Raza calls for the “reconquest” of what they call “Aztlan.” They mean our western United States. La Raza’s plan call for the ethnic cleansing of Americans of European, African and Asian decent from Aztlan. And they call us racists just for wanting to protect our borders.
Have you heard of the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan (MECha)? It’s chapters are on American college campuses and its members are a major force behind the marches. Here is what MECha openly states about their goals: “Chicano is our identity; it defines who we are as people. It rejects the notion that we…should assimilate into the Anglo-American melting pot…”
Here is the chilling translation of La Raza’s motto: “For LaRaza to do. Fuera de La Raza nada.” For THE RACE everything. For those outside THE RACE, nothing.
URGENT. Our nation is literally being invaded by determined, American-hating hordes who have an agenda to destroy our sovereignty. This is not about honest, hardworking poor people who just want a better life in America.
Will the Congress allow this to happen?
IT WILL — IF YOU DO NOTHING TODAY!
Senators Arlen Specter, Ted Kennedy, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Mike DeWine and more are pushing for a “Guest Worker” plan that would legalize almost all illegals to stay here indefinitely. It would sweep the illegal alien issue under the rug. The Specter bill would open the door to allowing millions of illegals, many who openly hate the United States, to become U.S. citizens.
The pressure is on to approve this outrages legislation. President Bush wants it passed. Mexican President Vicente Fox is putting pressure on the President and the Congress to pass it. Labor Unions are marching arm in arm with the protesters.
With such pressure — plus the 2 million marching protesters – Congress may well cave in and grant the amnesty plan.
If the Congress caves in to the protests and allows these illegals to continue to flood out nation, then it is the end of the United States as we know it.
YOU AND I MUST FLOOD CAPITOL HILL WITH CALLS AND LETTERS NOW. AND WE MUST NOT STOP UNTIL OUR BORDERS ARE SECURE AND THIS OUTRAGEOUS LEGISLATION IS KILLED ONCE AND FOR ALL.
**ACTION TO TAKE:**
1. Today, right now, call both of your United States Senators to demand that they oppose the “Guest Worker” amnesty scheme. Demand that they take action to protect our borders and stop the flood of illegal aliens. Demand that they pass legislation to arrest and remove those who break the laws of our nation.
Senate switchboard: 202-224-3121. Simple ask for your states senators by name and you will be connected directly. CALL. Today. Tomorrow and especially call on Monday while the protest marches are going on. We must counter them.
2. Call Senator Arlen Specter and tell him you oppose his “Guest Worker” Scheme. Senator Specter is an arrogant, bull headed man who wants to make the big deal. Shut his phones down and let him know the level of your outrage for his efforts to cater to the whims of foreign governments like Mexico while ignoring the American people. Tell him 83% of Americans oppose a Guest Worker scheme.
Write or call Senator Specter’s office:
Senate Office Number: (202) 224-4254
Fax Number: (202) 228-1229
E-mail Address: arlenspecter@specter.senate.gov
Senate Office Address:
SH-711 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3802
SEND THIS URGENT ALERT TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE.
*******************************
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April 3, 2006
By Tom DeWeese
Americans were rightly outraged over the possibility of an Arab nation with ties to terrorists taking control of six major American ports. Protests from across the nation helped to squelch the deal. However, the job’s not finished. The Communist Chinese still control ports at Long Beach.
Congressman Charlie Norwood, (R-GA) made a strong case for getting the Chinese out of the port of Long Beach when he noted that while Dubai has been a reliable partner for America in the War on Terror, Red Chinese officials have threatened invasion of America’s ally on Taiwan and nuclear war against the United States. Says Congressman Norwood, “We have a great deal more to fear from Red China that Dubai.”
One thing is perfectly clear. China is no friend of the United States. It has embarked on an aggressive agenda to overtake the United States by undermining the U.S. economy, its manufacturing capabilities and its national defense.
Economist Hans Sennholz reported in 2005, “American capital is rushing into China, building plants and introducing modern technology while some 20,000 young Chinese are studying at American colleges and universities. At the same time … Chinese companies are investing surplus dollars in the United States, assuming control over American corporations…”
Worse, according to a report by Accuracy in Media (AIM), “The U.S. industrial base has become dangerously dependent in imports, and industries that provide materials critical to our national defense have been in serious decline.” According to reports by the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission, China’s trading practices have resulted in the erosion, some say the decimation, of U.S. manufacturing capacity. China, meanwhile, is fast becoming the manufacturing center of the world.
While China takes aim at hobbling American manufacturing capabilities, it meanwhile slinks around America’s backdoor into Central and South America, seeking allies and trading partners. When the U.S. left a void of leadership in the area as it abandoned the Panama Canal, the Chinese moved in.
According to a 1999 fact finding report issued by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), the Communist Chinese government increased its activities and investments into Cuba, including the creation of major electronic intelligence/jamming facilities directed at the United States.
Panama, the strategic choke point between North and South America has become China’s beachhead in the U.S. hemisphere as the Chinese use trade as cover for intelligence and political operations. According to the Rohrabacher report, “Beijing’s goals are: 1) usurping U.S. political influence in the region; 2) dislodging the political recognition of Taiwan; 3) a base for sabotage in the event of any future U.S.- China conflicts over Taiwan or the South China Sea.
First, the Chinese gained control of both ends of the Panama Canal using a shill company called Hutchison Whampoa. The company is fully owned by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and now holds the contract for a 25 to 50 year lease for the Canal ports. Through those ports the Chinese have engaged in smuggling and money laundering. Everything from drugs to weapons to illegal Chinese aliens are smuggled by the Chinese through the Panama Canal. Much of that contraband (including the aliens) now finds its way into the Untied States through the Chinese-controlled ports at Long Beach.
While building its base in Panama, China has engaged in a major offensive to gain allies in the region. The results of the effort are beginning to show progress for the Chinese as the region is getting ever more hostile to the United States. Oil-rich Venezuela, led by leftist and anti-American Hugo Chaves has recently signed oil and gas deals with China, helping to boost trade between the two nations to $3 billion a year. Brazil has become China’s largest trading partner in the region and the two have already declared a strategic partnership. Bolivia has already voted in an anti-American president, and now the Chinese have offered to sell them new shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. Argentina is on the list of potential partners as well.
The U.S. southern border isn’t the only area where the Chinese are making inroads. Beijing is looking for new sources of energy and Canada is looking for new international markets. China is now Canada’s second most important trading partner after the United States.
Meanwhile, on the strategic front China is just as relentless in creating weapons which threaten U.S. national security and national interests. Worse, in many cases the U.S. is helping them do it.
China is building up its nuclear forces as part of a secret strategy targeting the United States, according to a former Chinese diplomat. “China’s strategy calls for ‘proactive defense’ and senior Chinese Communist Party leaders think that building nuclear arms is the key to countering U.S. power in Asia and other parts of the world, said Chen Yonglin, a diplomat who had defected to Australia.
China will soon receive a new Kilo Submarine from Russia, part of a naval buildup of modern warships and submarines that has triggered new fear for U.S. military planners. It is the first of eight advanced Kilos that China is acquiring, and intelligence officials say the submarine will be outfitted with advanced SS-N-27 cruise missiles, which are capable of attacking U.S. warships. Since 2002, China has built 14 submarines.
China has taken painful but successful steps to create a weapons-building capability. The Peoples’ Liberation Army has improved its factory quality control and its ability to adapt foreign technology. It is bringing a Chinese-built small F-10 fighter off the production line, and it is moving rapidly toward a “blue water” navy with ships built in China. They are buying and developing capability whose only use is against the U.S. Military.
While the Chinese military buildup grows, the Communists are using their “Most Favored Nation” trading status in the United States to great advantage to undermine U.S. ability to build its own weapons.
This was dramatically demonstrated when the Bush Administration allowed the Chinese to buy GM’s Magnequench, the sole U.S. manufacturer of innovative “quenched” magnets used in the guidance system of smart bombs. China bought the company and promptly moved the whole factory to China.
Today, according to the AIM report, “the U.S. has no domestic producer of the rare-earth element Neodymium, critical in the composition of the magnets..” According to the Pentagon, “Seventy-five percent of the raw materials used to make rare earth magnets is currently supplied by China.”
The United States has engaged in an all out campaign to outsource American jobs oversees as part of its global economy scheme, fueled by NAFTA and GATT. The result is that there is a severe shortage of U.S. manufactures in the country. The nation has become dependent for 50% to 100% of vital natural resources necessary for the building of weapon systems, military jet engines, reconnaissance satellites, telecommunications, electrical transmissions and more. Meanwhile, severe environmental regulations keep the U.S. from mining many critical domestic strategic raw materials.
Clearly the Chinese Communists are building toward a global military and economic domination, as the United States seemingly ignores the threat. Why does the U.S. do this? The official explanation is a confused strategy aimed at “westernizing” the Communists. The idea is that if we feed their economy and create more consumer demands for goods and services we will somehow create a new capitalist nation and ally.
It’s obviously backfiring on us in a huge way. Instead, they mock us. Like any con artist who sees his mark falling into his trap, the Red Chinese feel little more that contempt for what they consider to be and easy foe. And, as their contempt grows, so grows their boldness to act with less caution. The result leads to a more dangerous world, and a less secure United States.
For a sound American national defense and foreign policy, U.S. leaders must recognize the Chinese government for what it is. A brutal, vicious dictatorship that places little value on human life and great stakes in world domination. And we must note their hatred of the United States.
In 2001, within twenty four hours of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Communist Chinese government had produced books, films and video games glorifying the strikes as a humbling blow against an arrogant nation. According to The Washington Times, “Video discs filled with lurid images have flooded markets across (China) in the wake of the attacks. Disc after disc bears the imprimatur of the Communist Party-controlled media.”
Communist Party officials say President Jiang Zemin obsessively watched and re-watched pictures of the aircraft crashing into the World Trade Center. On the most popular government tape, rescue workers are shown picking through the rubble of the twin towers as the commentator proclaims that the city has reaped the consequences of American bullying of weaker nations.
“This is the America the whole world has wanted to see,” he says. “Blood debts have been paid in blood. On another film the commentary goes on to say, “Look at the panic in their faces as they wipe off the dust and crawl out of their strong buildings – now just a heap of rubble. We will never fear these people again, they have been shown to be soft-belly tigers.”
Over 60 million innocent Chinese have been murdered in the past half century. Much of China’s barbaric treatment of political dissidents happens behind closed doors and prison walls – sterile of independent observers or media.
“Reeducation through labor” camps continue to thrive in China. The latest statistics on record show more than 230,000 persons were being detained in the camps. Psychiatric hospitals continue to imprison political prisoners and drug them against their will. The simple right to bear children does not exist in China. Forced abortions and mandatory sterilizations are the order of the day.
Now the Chinese are preparing to host the Olympics in 2008. the games will provide just one more international vote of confidence that all is well in China. Are we about to repeat the abomination of 1936, when Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Germany used the Olympics as a propaganda tool to showcase the strength of the Arian nation?
The United States can’t control everything that happens in the world, and we shouldn’t. We can’t make nations like us or be our ally. But we can control what goes on in our own borders. We can begin to make our nation self sufficient again. We can manufacture our own goods. We can make sure we are secure in an ever more dangerous world.
The nation took the first rational step in that direction by saying no to an Arab nation controlling six major U.S. ports. Now, we must finish the job by liberating the 144 acre terminal at the former U.S. Naval station in Long Beach where another shill of the People’s Liberation Army, called COSCO, is smuggling in illegal Chinese aliens to spy on us along with guns to equip Chinese gangs in our cities. To let it stand is to make the Dubai action nothing more than a meaningless gesture for the television cameras.
Some of the information used for this article came from Howard Phillips Issues and Strategy Bulletin and reports by Accuracy in Media.
