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| Tuesday, September 27, 2005 An Injustice Veiled as an Expression of Free Speech Freedom of speech is perhaps the most frequently invoked right Americans exercise. Nothing is dearer to an American's heart than their right to speak out for their beliefs. The St. Patrick Four took this right of expression a step further than is just. They committed an injustice veiled as an expression of free speech. The St. Patrick Four set out to deny other Americans their right to go about their business free from physical imposition by soiling the recruiting office. Soiling a recruiting station with blood is not an expression of freedom. Physically abusing the location so as to prevent its operation is an act of imposition designed to deny others who don't see it their way from upholding their own beliefs. The St. Patrick Four acted in the fashion of extortionists who use clever ruses to gain power over others. You, Mr. Whitehead, have chosen to endorse these thugs in Christian trappings and in doing so have made an error in judgment that begs further consideration. Please consider how loud you would scream if someone who found fault in your positions decided to physically encumber your operation under the guise of free speech. I believe you would be able to quickly delineate the difference between an opposing opinion and an unjust imposition. The effort in Iraq may be right or wrong according to one's opinion, but when the St. Patrick Four decided to impose their consequences against the government for not abiding to their wishes, they committed a grave injustice against freedom itself. These four have exhibited the spirit of oppressors throughout the world. "See it my way or face the wrath of my displeasure." Their protest method was not so much as other strong-arm ways, but they chose a closer association with the enemies of freedom than with a decent respect for the meaning of free speech. Denying someone else the right to be free from physical harassment is a serious violation of decency, no matter how you skirt it. These four people should be punished for their misdeeds, lest others begin to believe it proper or necessary to bully others into accepting their perspective. If you do not agree with my position on this issue, I will not do you or your associates any harm. You are a powerful media institution, but that does not change the issue of basic right and wrong. I will not soil your place of business, nor will I damage or deform anything at all. I respect your right to be free from any such harassment. To support the opposite would be a grave error. I trust I will find you in agreement with this sentiment. I further hope that you will retract your support for the St. Patrick Four. Sincerely, Ken Donnelly Monday, September 26, 2005 Working for a worthy cause That commentary takes my breath away. I doubt that I could ever try a case like that, but I would love to work on such a worthy cause. If you all ever need another hand, call me. Pam Kincheloe Thanks for bringing it to light John, I just read your column on the St. Patrick Four. I didn't know about this story. Thanks for bringing it to light. I am a writer and editor for a community paper in Auburn, CA. Small, independent papers like ours are a dying breed. Fortunately, I have the opportunity to speak out about any issue without corporate censure. Thanks for your great work. I will now be an avid reader and use what I learn from your articles to make my readers more aware of the issues. Peace, Carol Friday, September 23, 2005 My commendation to you folks! Dear Rutherford Institute Legal Dept., I would like to commend you for instituting the lawsuit against Madison for Teenscreening the 15-year-old girl and "diagnosing" her with mental disorders. This was a gross intrusion of privacy and violating of applicable laws. It is merely a scam to sell pychiatric drugs. I believe you are performing a vital public service in doing so. Keep up the good work! Put the whole Teenscreen thing out of business! Best regards, Peter Myers Tuesday, September 20, 2005 Suffering You seem fond of blaming the leadership in this country for the human suffering in the wake of hurricane Katrina. This, to a certain extent may be true, but we live in a country that's supposed to be a constitutional republic. This type of republic demands a greater level of self reliance and self governance. Rugged individualism used to be the hallmark of this country. How can we expect to return to a more responsive, responsible government when we expect them to provide for every one of our needs? At some point the people of this country have got to be expected to fend for themselves. What was obvious to me when watching the low-lights in New Orleans was the absence of self reliance. They set themselves up for this and it's what happens when you become dependant on government. We witnessed the utter failure of the welfare state and saw corrupt government in action. Too many folks expect the government to provide for them or bail them out when they get into trouble. They behave like children in this regard. It's un-American. The ultimate injustice is that now the rest of us, through taxation, have to pay for the foolish and lazy. This is not charity, it's theft! I'll not be "giving" to the relief effort for that very reason. The 30% of my income that's already wasted on government will be "giving" enough. New Orleans is touted as the most European of our American cities. Looking at the arrogance, incompetence and cowardess of the Louisiana leadership I'd say thet're extremely French. Ken Schrader Wednesday, September 14, 2005 Illegal Immigrant Issues I just wanted to take the time to thank you for your article. I have been concerned for many years about the effect illegal immigrants will have on our country and my children’s future in this country. I would like to take the time to add some information/comments about this situation. (Please note that I am by no means an expert on this situation just an average housewife who notices things in the world!) So please excuse my writing abilities. I attempted to quote the articles and writers properly. I live in New Jersey. I can not help but notice many illegal immigrants, men, woman and many children. I do live in an area where I drive by many farms and have visited many fast food restaurants. The farms and farm vehicles are staffed by immigrants (highly unlikely they are legal). I visited a pumpkin farm last year to pick pumpkins for Halloween. The owner out right stated to my husband and father-in-law that he just build a housing sections in the back of his farm for the immigrants. He says they work hard and the one who can translate to the others is his “foreman” and receives @$800 a week. I feel that by these illegal immigrants being paid under the table/off the books, it is going to ruin the economy. The effects will not only be felt now but far into the future. By paying them under the table, there are no taxes or Social Security being taken out. This then causes the rest of us legal, hard working, honest people to pick up the tab. Not only the tab for taxes and Social Security, but also healthcare costs, federal aid, insurance (i.e. vehicle), etc. Illegal immigrants can give birth for free. By this I mean that the hospitals are bound by law to accept you if you are in labor and can not deny you healthcare. This causes healthcare costs to rise since we need to pick up the tab for this. There is no prenatal care for these children so they are born with disabilities and diseases. Now this places all babies and persons in the hospital at risk due to exposure to the diseases which the illegal immigrants carry. When this child leaves the hospital he/she is now an American citizen. We then have to pick up the tab for the W.I.C. that the mother receives (Women Infant and Children). Does anyone have any idea or report on the costs of these services that we provide the illegal immigrants? As written by Linda Thorn, in an article dated December 16, 2004 entitled Immigration Moments That Changed A California Budget Analyst’s Mind: “Then a BIG story hit the papers A Mexican woman, in the country less than a week, goes to Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria. She has late-stage TB and is saved…and that’s the good news. The bad news: she is an illegal alien who lives with 17 people, including children, in an apartment and doesn’t speak Spanish let alone English.” http://www.vdare.com/thom/041216_moments.htm Have you traveled to a grocery store lately and gone down the “baby food” isle? I feel as though I need a dictionary to translate when baby food I am purchasing for my child. I have raised this issue with Gerber and Beech-Nut and they advise me that it is their “Latin American line of baby food”. I said then English should appear over Spanish otherwise is should be placed down the “international food” isle. Once these children grow up, they remain a burden on us. They are schooled in public schools. All the time they do not receive proper healthcare, and if they do it is written off because they can’t pay for it. As Linda Thorn further states: “Residents who earn less the $20,000 per year pay only 2 to 3 percent of all income taxes collected. A child in school costs on average $7,000 per year and the state picks up most of the tab. During the 1990s, immigrant women accounted for 45 percent of births (and keep in mind that immigrants also have foreign-born children in California schools. Currently, Hispanic women give birth to more than three children per woman. One can easily see that 3 times $7,000 per year for education costs is more than most Hispanic immigrants earn in a year.” Not only do they become a financial burden for education, but they come in with attitudes that we owe them something. They come in with their demands for EAS (English as a Secondary Language) classes which then causes teachers to have to make separate tests for them or allow them longer time periods to take the test then the average student. They also come in with their religious demands i.e. because of my religion you must allow me to dress a certain way during school and in physical education classes, there by putting teachers and schools on liability for injury since the religious dress usually entails head wear or skirts. When was the last time you saw a child playing soccer with a turban on? When was the last time you saw a child running the mile in 90 degree weather with a skirt on? As they graduate high school, it appears that they will receive financial aid, something that I can recall being hard to come by for a working family to educate their children. http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/undocumented.phtml is a prime web site for this information. When the illegal immigrants are paid from their employers, they then in turn obtain either a money order or go to Western Union and send money home for their family to contact a “Coyote” to bring them to the US illegally. (The term “Coyote” was discussed in a Star Ledger article written in the past year) In this article it also mentions that the first generation of the illegal immigrants do not seek jobs on farms or in factories but with construction people since the construction people pay twice as much and the bosses buy lunch for them. (I believe the article was: The Newark Star-Ledger "Ripe for exploitation (invaders, that is)" ...For [Alejandro] Paz [a Mexican invader] and thousands of other Latinos pouring across the United States' southern border, the new breed of labor brokers like Nielsen Staffing have become the gateway to a job in New Jersey. -- The agencies... channeling an army of low- paid and mostly illegal immigrant [criminal] labor into the mainstream industrial work force.” They have also learned how to work the temporary agencies as far as providing them with documents and getting jobs and knowing that the temporary agencies will not research to make sure the documents are true and authentic. The landlords who house these immigrants now have the ability not to have to seek Section 8 funding for their apartments/houses as they can now get cash from the illegal immigrants and not worry about claiming this income, plus they can get much more money from the illegal immigrants then the government funding could ever provide. Yet another way they are causing problems with the economy. The landlords and employers need to take note of Federal Immigration and Nationality Act Section 8 USC 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b)(iii) Unfortunately, they also obtain driver’s licenses (or don’t) and drive on the roads in a hazardous way. For example, “(ABC 4 News)(not sure of date)-- 13 people were injured early Saturday morning, after their van crashed in Salina Canyon. The van was traveling eastbound on Interstate 70, when it suddenly lost control and flipped over at milepost 82 near Fremont Junction. The Utah Highway Patrol says between 18 and 20 people were onboard the van, many of them undocumented immigrants.” (emphasis added.) and then another article “Deadly crash in N.M. linked to smuggling Police: Up to 15 illegal migrants were in SUV wreck that killed 3 09:42 PM CST on Saturday, March 19, 2005 Associated Press GRANTS, N.M. – A traffic accident that killed three people on Interstate 40 near Grants is a deadly case of human smuggling, investigators say. A sport utility vehicle carrying up to 15 illegal immigrants collided with a tractor-trailer… Based on statements from witnesses to the crash, state police believe at least five passengers climbed out of the wreckage and fled on foot…As dawn broke Friday, Pedro Manuel Hernandez, 27, who's believed to be from Ecuador, was found walking near the interstate about 11 miles from the crash site. Mr. Hernandez, who was taken into federal custody, told investigators that there could have been as many as 15 people in the SUV, state police Lt. Jimmy Glascock said.” I find New Jersey and Pennsylvania to be a joke when it comes to driver’s licenses. All of the vehicles in the area that have immigrants behind the wheel are in New Jersey with Pennsylvania plates. Why not investigate their documents, oh because not everyone else is doing it so why should they start. Why not, it needs to start somewhere. Perfect example why they need to tighten up their investigation into true and genuine documents, 9/11, the men had New Jersey driver’s licenses. Another thing with motor vehicles and immigrants, they do not have or use restraints on their children. This is illegal and yet again, we all sit back and let it happen. On another aspect, unfortunately, our young legal Americans are not growing up in a world with responsibilities or witnessing justice and authority at any level. By this I mean that they are not being holding entry level, part-time or manual labor jobs since the illegal immigrants are holding these positions so the parents are then providing them with money. This is not teaching them how to have responsibilities. I find the younger generation to be very disrespectful, spoiled, lazy and encountering/causing many problems since they have too much time on their hands, want mom and dad to give them hand outs and they think that they are owed the world by the public since they see the immigrants being treated this way. When will the president and our leaders step up to the plate and swallow all of these issues? Bring home our men and help them help us. If we can supply so many military men overseas, why can’t they be employed to close the borders and patch our leaks? How can we construct a government over seas when we can’t keep ours protected and functioning properly? I appreciate your time and look forward to America changing in the future. Jean I Friday, September 09, 2005 Thank the Lord for your great articles!! Dear John Whitehead, I can't tell you how much it means to me to have you putting out this information! I have been reading for years about a secret government trying to run our country and shredding our Constitution in the process. Recently, I have found much good evidence on the net to corroborate and expand my knowledge, but most of my Christian friends will not listen to one word against Bush because they think God is with him, and so all his decisions MUST, therefore, be Godly and right. My family have known many facts about a powerful elite for years, but I only came across Operation Paperclip a couple of years ago on the net. Your article was excellent and I have forwarded it to several Christian families who just might listen because it is you writing it. God bless your efforts to enlighten what I fear is a mind-controlled populace. I am home-schooling my 3 granddaughters in hopes of imbuing them with enough critical thinking to enable them to sort through the propaganda that we hear non-stop every day. Please keep up the good work. Cecily Calvert The poor of New Orleans Mr. Whitehead, One fact you fail to recognize is that the poor are divided into two camps; those who "can't do" and those who "won't do". I have no problem aiding those who "can't do". The elderly, the infirm or those less than able bodied are deserving of charity. I do, however, deeply resent those who "won't do". They think society owes them something. They go through life with a chip on their shoulder. They refuse to make the sacrifices necessary to succeed. They look upon those who achieve with contempt and even hatred. Minorities use their status as an excuse for failure. They don't appreciate the degree of responsibility an adult has to assume. I agree with Benjamin Franklin that we do the poor no favor making them comfortable in poverty. They should be lead or driven from it. Living off the labors of others when you yourself are fully capable is shameful. It should be ridiculed. The constitution says nothing about freedom from want. Freedom guarantees the pursuit of happiness, not happiness itself. It should guarantee that those who work their tails off aren't saddled with supporting the lazy. I'm qualified to speak to this because I've lived both sides. No silver spoon crammed in this mouth. Although I had a comfortable childhood I stepped into adulthood with not much more than the clothes on my back. I was a man and was expected to do for myself. I worked countless minimum wage jobs. My first apartment remained unfurnished for a year. My bed was a sleeping bag. But I worked hard. At times I held two full time jobs. I always had extra part-time work in the summer. In my twenties, when all my friends were partying, I built a house and doubled up on payments. I paid off a 30 year note in ten years. I drove a beat to hell, old pick-up truck that broke down constantly. I made all repairs. I lived paycheck to paycheck for what seemed an eternity. When I married, my wife and I sold everything we had and moved to Colorado. We lived in a tent for a year and a half while we personally constructed our log home. We spent every penny we had but we built it mortgage free. Then we went back to work. We now live quite comfortably. I've made it to executive management with a major distribution company. I got there again by busting my ass. I have no more than a high school education yet have BAs and MBAs working for me. After 25 years of sacrifice we're reaping the rewards. We've worked damn hard for every bit of it. We earned it. That's something the "won't do's" will never know, nor should they. Before you carry on about how the Bush's can't appreciate the pain of poverty and that it's somehow to blame for the plight of those in New Orleans why not take a look at the corruption in that City and State. Look at the money that has been available for years to shore up the levees but was given their lowest priority. Look at the money squandered by New Orleans and Louisiana. Look at their "poor" budgeting. Look to where those levee funds were diverted. Look at their "poor" management. Look at the gross incompetence of the mayor and governor. Look at their "poor" leadership. Look at the resources they wasted in getting the poor evacuated. Look at their "poor" planning. Look at their lack of concern for the down trodden. Look at their "poor" morality. Look at the stubbornness and ignorance of those who could've left but refused. Look at the billions we'll now have to spend for their "poor" choices. Look for a character gap to match your earnings gap. FEMA and the Bush administration have their share of blame in this as well. I'm not a big Bush fan. Although I did vote for him as Governor in Texas and again as President, the last time was for the lesser of two evils. He's betrayed my vote too often. Personally, I wouldn't mind giving him a kick in the shorts for the way he's trampled on the constitution. Now that the counter-bloviation is complete it seems to me the moral of the story should be the one my folks taught me when I set out on my own. Take care of yourself, hope for the best-prepare for the worst, learn to survive before you learn to live and above all, don't trust the government or count on them for anything. Sincerely, Ken Schrader Reply: The Gap Between the Rich and the Poor First, what does Christianity and Judaism have in common so as to be linked together in the wording Christian-Judeo? One believes in Christ as mans savior the other does not. Second, a visit to the West coast would do your reference to pan-handlers another slant. While living in Oregon for over 6 years I have witnessed on more than one occasion vans and motor-homes dropping off tatterly dressed men and women, some with children and dogs in tow, on street corners to beg for money only to be picked up later after the evening rush was over. I have seen, while eating lunch in a main street parking lot couples changing from nice street clothes to rags and then proceed to the corner with their tin cup. I have seen the same thing in California. Now this puts a little bit of a bias on panhandlers for me. I saw one sign that read, "Need Money for gas in my Piper" and another "Need Money for Beer". Probably more closer to the truth of the matter. I have stopped numerous times in the past to offer work to those wanting work for food. I have never had a taker, not one. They always had some excuse. Bitter? Not really, but I sure don't hand out my hard earned rubles to them anymore. I now reside in TN and the south does not know what "panhandling" is in comparison to the West. In the time I have been here I do not remember seeing but about half a dozen "Panhandlers" period. My, I would encounter that many in one city block back in Oregon and Calif. at one passing. Yes, there is always exceptions to the rule and I let my God Spirit within lead me to the ones that need my help and it works very well. I am not one of the "Haves" so I can relate to what you are saying very well. I thank you for your great work and perseverance. You are doing a fine job and I really enjoy reading your newsletters. Love, Health and Light, Oma Trish Thursday, September 08, 2005 Early Release Commentary: Hurricane Katrina: The Gap Between Rich and Poor James Freeman The poor Thank you for your insightful article regarding the poor among us. I never realized how insulated I had become. In our fellowship, our family is among those "less fortunate" yet we are truly fortunate. In participating in a mission trip to Guatemala several years ago, I nearly instantly became more generous and less interested in 'stuff'. However, I've let the comfort of things once again incroach upon my sensitivity to those with less. Many, many, thanks, In Jesus, Debi Smith BRAVO! Dear Mr. Whitehead: I have just finished reading your op-ed piece in tomorrow's Santa Monica Daily Press. I can describe it with a single word: BRAVO! As a member of several grassroots homeless organizations, I applaud your article - it speaks the bitter truth. If only someone would listen.... Kenneth McCrae, President Supporting Homeless Existence Leading To Enabled Recovery (S.H.E.L.T.E.R.) Friday, September 02, 2005 information not correct spreading false info Mr. John Whitehead: Your recent article printed in newspapers in SE Minnesota has spread incorrect information, falsehoods and totally wrong statements about the misson and ministry of the United Methodist Church. After consulting United Methodist Communications, various offices of UMCOR, United Methodist News Service, and United Methodist bishops, there is significant evidence to counter your statements on the mission and ministry of The United Methodist Church. While any human organization, including your Rutherford Institute will have imperfections and flaws, I remain impressed with the mission outreach, support, and general ministry of the United Methodist Church. This denomination within the broader Christian community is doing great things in working toward peace, justice, liberation, and humanitarian concerns throughout the world. I would encourage you to do further investigation into the vast mission and ministry of United Methodism in the world. As a United Methodist pastor, I believe in communicating the truth and making sure that information is communicated openly and honestly and with total integrity. Therefore, I regret the misinformation that you and your organization are communicating. Right now I must get back to work in gathering some funding to give to UMCOR in their work following the devestation of Hurricane Katrina. I invite you to look at various United Methodist websites and see the mission and ministry which is taking place at home and throughout the world. Sincerely, Rev. Mark Woodward |
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