Page four -- You know the Electronic Information Council is very properly proud... MAN OH MAN, they won't invite Pastor Joe to the Kansas State legislature AGAIN!
They invited Pastor Joe Wright of Wichita Central Christian Church to deliv er the invocation and he told God on them - now God knows what they've been up to. And no sooner had their guest Chaplain concluded his prayer than three Demo crats on the State legislature were on their feet at the microphone protesting, "he can't talk like that about us." Representative Delbert Gross called the in vocation "Gross, divisive, sanctimonious, overbearing," -- Representative David Haley called it "blasphemous, ignorant" -- Representative Sabrine Standifer echoed the indignation!
What in the world had Pastor Joe said, in Topeka, which incited the righteo us wrath of three Democrats from Hayes and Kansas City?
Well, I secured the entire text of the invocation so that you can evaluate it for yourself. and from now on, -- I quote --
Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to se ek Your direction and guidance. We know Your word says "woe to those who call evil good" -- BUT that's exactly what we have done - We've lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
* In the name of right to life we have killed abortionists.
* We have neglected to discipline our children and called it -- building esteem.
* We have abused power and called it political savvy.
* We have coveted our neighbors possessions and called it taxes.
* We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
* We have ridiculed the time honored values of our forefathers and called it -- enlightenment.
Search us, Oh God and know our hearts today. Try us and show us any wicked in us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas and who have been ordained by you to govern this great state. Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your Will.
I ask it in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ -- Amen. (Paul Harvey echoed -- "Amen.")
The UN plan calls for a World Conference on Global Governance in 1998 for the purpose of submitting to the world the necessary treaties and agreements for ratification and implementation by the year 2000. This 410-page report is entitled, "Our Global neighborhood." It was published by the Oxford University Press and is available for $14.95.
The report says that global governance "does not imply world government or world federalism, " and then for the next 400 pages describes in great detail a new system of global governance. Global governance, as described in the recomm endations of the Commission on Global Governance, would be a catastrophic act of violence resulting in the loss of national sovereignty, property rights, individual freedom, and all hope of achieving personal prosperity.
Unless there is a dramatic change in Washington in November, it won't matter very much who follows Clinton, or whether or not we even have an election in the year 2000. Global governance will likely be a reality, and as Strobe Talbot says, we will all be "citizens of the world."
Henry Lamb
Media Bypass
April 1996
Seizure Fever
A bitterly divided Supreme Court ruled in early March that the
Constitution allows police and prosecutors to seize property used in a
crime even when the owner had nothing to do with the crime.
The ruling will have far-reaching implications beyond the seizure upheld by the court: A Michigan woman lost the family car, bought with her money, because her husband had sex in it with a prostitute.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist relied mainly on an 1827 ruling that the property itself is in the wrong when used illegally, so it would not matter if the owner was unaware.
Media Bypass
April 1996
Tax Attack
Tax his cow, tax his goat,
Tax his pants, tax his coat.
Tax his crops, tax his work,
Tax his tie, tax his shirt.
Tax his chew, tax his smoke,
Teach him taxes are no joke.
Tax his oil, tax his gas, Tax his notes, tax his cash. Tax him good and let him know, After taxes he has no dough. If he hollers, tax him more. Tax him until he's good and sore. Tax his coffin, tax his grave, Tax the sod in which he lays. Put these words on his tomb: "Taxes drove me to my doom." And after he's a gone, he can't relax! They'll still be after inheritance tax!
American Way Features
The new rules include prohibitions on cases involving abortion, prisoners, illegal aliens welfare reform and any class-action litigation. Legal Services attorneys are also being told they can't testify on state matters even if called by legislators.
The restrictions, which a good lawyer could probably prove unconstitutional, are expected to go into effect next week. They are part of an appropriations package that President Clinton will, no doubt, sign, and nobody would ask him to do otherwise in a budget war waged too long.
The Boston Globe March 25, 1995
A senior official of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said bills before the US congress to curb illegal immigration could violate the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 additional protocol to which the US is a party.
The House of Representatives has already adopted its version of the bill and the proposals were due to go before the Senate in mid-April.
Reuters
April 1, 1996
In the most sweeping change in US farm policy in 60 years, "Freedom to Farm" would sever the farm program from its Depression-era roots and remove most federal controls on what farmers plant. They still would receive an annual payment.
Congress sent the bill to President Clinton early Friday after lop-sided favorable votes in the House and Senate. Clinton is expected to swallow hard and sign it even though he finds some of it unpalatable.
Populist farm-state Democrats have pledged to try to reverse the changes set in motion by the republicans. For a number of reasons - however - agricultural analysts doubted the democrats would succeed.
It would create a new farm support system, put the first-ever cap on farm spending, end federal authority to order farmers to hold land out of production, and let farmers grow virtually anything except fruits and vegetables on their wheat, feed, grain, cotton, and rice land.
Analysts said Congress would be reluctant to change the bill which was popular among farmers as long as grain prices remained robust. A key feature of the bill was its guarantee of annual, albeit declining, payments to farmers through 2002.
Reuters
March 31, 1996