SAVE OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC

In the sweltering heat of Philadelphia from May 25th to September 17th, 1787, 53 delegates from 12 of the original 13 colonies (Rhode Island refused to send any representatives) struggled mightily to come to an agreement to adopt a Constitution for the United States of America. When it was over, an exhausted Benjamin Franklin walked down the steps of the Pennsylvania State House and was asked, “What kind of government did you create, Mr. Franklin?” To which he replied, “A republic, if we can keep it.” Are today’s leaders respecting and protecting the Constitution that Franklin and his heroic and patriotic colleagues gave us in 1787?

Can we keep it?

I do not see how we can keep it, if we do not understand what “it” is. I know that sounds uncomfortably close to a Bill Clinton quote that we might all like to forget. However, the history teacher part of me cringes every time I hear the media, columnists and most of our elected leaders refer to America as a democracy. New England town meetings are democracies. The majority determines the issue at hand. The government of the United States is a REPUBLIC. We ELECT representatives who vote in our absence and on our behalf. We trust them to lead us. These representatives take only one oath, when they are elected. That oath is to uphold the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution contains an oath of office only for the President. However, in 1789 the first Congress added a requirement to include members of Congress and other government officials, because they knew that adherence to the spirit and intent of our Constitution was critical to the survival of our republic.

As we glide into another election season of debates, press reports, news shows and interviews we must remember that elected officials do not take an oath to any political party. They do not swear allegiance to NAFTA or GATT or monolithic international organizations, like the United Nations or the World Court. They do not solemnly swear allegiance to support and defend large international corporations and certainly not to large special interests, lobbyists and political donors.

The term “political party” cannot be found anywhere in the Constitution. Not in the body and not in the amendments. Yet, political parties write the rules of participation in the ballot process. Party debates sponsored by media outlets that are for the most part hostile, delight in asking confrontational or embarrassing questions. CNN is basking in the glory of the intraparty squabble from the recent Florida Republican Party debate. Presidential candidates must “win” a majority of delegates at party nominating conventions to be the nominee. Certain states, such as Iowa, select delegates by holding caucuses that requires people to attend meetings and publicly state for whom they are voting. This process excludes people, such as the disabled and our military men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan, from even voting at all!

The primary states, which do conduct secret ballot voting, concentrate on “leapfrogging” one another to see who can be first, rather than working together to make the process fairer for the voters as well as the candidates. The media and pollsters tell us who we are going to vote for before the election, and candidates “put their fingers to the wind” to decide how to take a stand on an issue. We suffer from electile dysfunction! This is hardly what our Founders had in mind when they wrote the Constitution.

So, if we do “want to keep it,” why do we continue to elect members of Congress and presidents who place these entities above the document that they swore to uphold? Why do we not insist on making changes in the electoral process? This precious document, so carefully crafted, is being trampled routinely every day! We cannot blame this on those we elect. We must accept the blame for continuing to elect them. We need bold, fresh, strong and courageous patriots to buck the system and “rock the boat.” Brave men and women put it on the line to create our republic. Surely, we can find some today with the courage to save it.

Make no mistake about it, however, this will be a long and arduous journey.

John Adams said that “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.” Ben Franklin added, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need for masters.” Yet, no religious leaders were “allowed” to participate in the recent ceremonies commemorating the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center towers in New York City. We often see stories in the news about someone trying to remove a cross, or other references to religion in some public place in America.

Our Republic is in very grave danger!

Things have gone seriously wrong and they are getting worse by the day.

The sovereignty of the U.S. is constantly subjugated to trade agreements, international ventures, alliances and treaties not approved by Congress. Our worshipping at the altar of the “world economy” has contributed to the loss of our manufacturing base and the collapse of the value of the dollar.

We are currently fighting two wars that have never been declared by Congress, even though it is a requirement of the Constitution that Congress vote such a declaration, before we send our troops into war!

Part of the oath taken by our elected officials is to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Yet, they refuse to seal our borders from terrorists and those who come here illegally, at a terrible cost to our taxpayers in crime and undeserved benefits. Our porous and uncontrolled borders threaten the very survival of America.

Unscrupulous defense contractors sell our weapons systems and secrets to our enemies, forcing us to chase our own technology around the world to stay ahead, and Congress does nothing to stop it. Indeed at times they support this treasonous action.

Even our own ports, where dirty bombs could easily be imported, have been “offered up” to the control of other nations!

Congress and the President continue to raise our national debt year after year. All the fanfare about the recent “debt ceiling” extension/budget agreement notwithstanding, there is no serious effort to rein in so-called “entitlements” and other programs, while mortgaging the future of our children. The growth and size of the federal government is amplified by programs, bureaus and departments that have no connection to the Constitution whatsoever.

Activist justices on the Supreme Court and judges on the lower courts have shredded much of the Bill of Rights and imposed their personal views on the citizenry. These judges impose gun control on honest citizens and routinely put violent criminals back on the streets to kill and rape again.

The liberal and activist judges who voted for Roe vs. Wade have sanctioned and indeed promoted the slaughter of over 50 million of our unborn children since 1973. Is it possible that one or more of those children could have become a president or a researcher who found a cure for cancer? We will never know because those children never had a chance to live their dream. God bless these children for they had no voice. Their blood is on our hands. Where do we find “abortion rights” in the U.S. Constitution?

Judges take our property without fair compensation or respect for the rights of private property provided under our Constitution. As if this were not bad enough, they have taken God from our schools and public buildings and are determined to remove all mention of Him anywhere. Guess who placed these judges in their positions? When Ruth Bader Ginsburg came before the United States Senate for confirmation several years ago, “conservative” senators voted “aye” to please Bill Clinton, leaving Jesse Helms, Don Nickles and me, alone, as the three votes against one of the most activist justices ever to be appointed to the bench.

Is it possible to save this glorious constitutional republic that Franklin first informed us about in 1787? George Washington warned us in 1796 when he said, “…It is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. In a republic, what species of knowledge…and what duty more pressing…than…communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of our country?” Yet, most of the “communicators in the majority of the large news outlets appear to work against the very constitutional values our Founders so eloquently espoused.

Our elected officials have let us down. We must elect strong advocates for our constitutional republic at every level of government, from school board to president of the United States. We must change America from the bottom up.

Millions of Americans are beginning to figure this out. The Tea Party surge gives us hope. In spite of a constant lambasting by the left-wing media, they have made a difference in the electoral process. They have influenced the discussion and even gotten CNN to acknowledge them with a debate sponsorship! There are millions and millions of Americans who support the traditional values of the sanctity of life, religious freedom and family who are not affiliated with any party. They are rich and poor, young and old. They work in factories and offices, they live on farms and in suburbs, they attend churches by the millions and they are patriotic! They are sick of what is happening.

When the patriots needed to communicate with one another before and during the Revolutionary War they formed “Committees of Correspondence” to keep each other informed. They wrote the Federalist Papers to garner support for the Constitution. They were prepared to sacrifice their lives, fortunes and sacred honor. They communicated by horseback and word of mouth. We have the Internet, talk radio and media watchdog organizations such as Accuracy in Media. The news media no longer controls the debate.

The Constitution of the United States is our battle plan. We all must be “teachers” of the Constitution and we must insist that it is thoroughly taught in our schools. We all need to be the purveyors of the “Constitution Papers.” We must be uncompromising leaders and experts on this document and teach our friends, relatives, co-workers and neighbors about it. Learn and teach what is constitutional and you will in turn get constitutionalists as leaders.

It is time for conservatives to step back from whining about media bias and take a positive approach to challenging the press. As sure as the sun comes up each morning, the left-wing media are going to attack our values. We need to get up before the sun and promote our own.

Media bias is constitutional, but it does not have to be successful in undermining our value system.

AT ATF, 200 MURDERS EARNS TRANSFERS TO DC

In the tradition of the Weaver family murders and the Waco inferno, ATF has now brought us “Fast and Furious” with the highest body count to date: approximately 200. At the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), that merits transfers for the four managers involved.

Fast and Furious was a project spawned at a multi-agency meeting in October of 2009 consisting of ATF, FBI, Border Patrol and Immigration, the IRS, Customs Enforcement and the Justice Department.

It began as an outgrowth of Operation Gunrunner, a typical sting operation begun in 2005 that targeted straw gun purchases. A legal buyer typically buys a gun after passing the Instant Background Check. But under Gunrunner, if something about the transaction was suspicious, ATF would surveil the purchaser until he sold the gun to a buyer who was not legally able to own a gun. At that point they would make an arrest.

But under Operation Fast and Furious, guns were, in fact, allowed to “walk” -- with no arrests being made. Most of the guns went to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, but some also turned up at Arizona crime scenes.

One straw buyer bought over 700 guns. Another was an FBI informant and a felon the ATF knew nothing about. He did not pop up in the background check because the FBI was fiddling with the system.

Fast and Furious was directed by the Phoenix ATF office, when William Newell was the Special Agent in Charge of that office. When Newell testified before Congress this summer -- “testilied” would be more accurate -- he mostly avoided giving direct answers.

An exasperated Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, exclaimed that he knew who Newell was: “A paid non-answerer.”

Committee member Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) asked if there had been any email exchanges between him and National Security Council member Kevin O’Reilly, who works in the White House. One of the few direct answers of the day was “Yes.”

Then Rep. Labrador asked Newell if there had been any discussion of Fast and Furious. Newell replied that “We never had any specific discussions of Fast and Furious.” Rep. Issa jumped in and said to Newell, “Answer that last question without the use of the word specific.” The answer then was, “Yes, we did discuss it sometimes.”

Newell committed perjury when he first denied that guns were allowed to walk, but then later was forced to admit that they had. Contempt of Congress, a criminal offense, could possibly result.

Another coconspirator in the Fast and Furious debacle was William McMahon, who was the Assistant Director of the Western Division. He and Newell both admitted to having made mistakes, but said they would do the same thing all over again.

It is quite disappointing to know that McMahon was assigned to the Office of Personal Responsibility -- the very office in charge of investigating Fast and Furious.

You might think that the transfers for Agents Newell and McMahon top the charts for bureaucratic chutzpah. But wait, there is more!

A third person worthy of a Washington reassignment is David Voth who was under Newell in the Phoenix office. Voth was part of the ATF team that allowed thousands of guns to “walk” into Mexico.

Last but not least, Acting Director Kenneth Melson has been transferred (read: demoted) to the Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy.

The failure of the President and the Attorney General to fire Melson and the other three officials who have been transferred to Washington means the Administration now owns the cover-up. Can you say Richard Milhouse Obama?

Ironically, the very folks who were responsible for committing various federal felonies -- involving illegal gun sales and exports -- are now the very ones telling lawful Americans, “You need more gun control!”

Specifically, ATF has told dealers in the four southwest border states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to submit sales reports for anyone who, in five days or less, purchases multiple semi-auto rifles of a caliber higher than a .22.

That order itself is illegal. ATF is only permitted to require multiple sales reports for handguns. But investigators in the House of Representatives have found that email traffic within the ATF made it clear that the purpose of Fast and Furious was to put the blame for the Mexican carnage on gun stores and gun owners.

ATF clearly has no shame.

The DC headquarters of ATF, and some field offices such as the one in Phoenix, are led by criminally corrupt agents. They need to be put in jail.

Until Obama is no longer President, it is a no-brainer that Attorney General Holder, who has been complicit in this whole Fast and Furious debacle, will not order his own arrest. However, the House of Representatives could appoint an independent counsel and put him in the Office of the Sergeant at Arms, who heads up the Capitol Hill Police Force.

When the Sergeant at Arms develops a case dealing with crimes committed in the Capitol -- for example, perjury and obstruction of justice (resulting from the refusal to hand over documents and answer questions) -- the Capitol Hill Police Force could make arrests anywhere in Washington, D.C.

In addition, an Arizona prosecutor could seek indictments for people such as Newell, Voth and those above them -- charging them with aiding and abetting the murder of a federal agent. Following indictment, the accused could be extradited to Arizona.

When some Justice Department and ATF officials begin telecommuting from their suburban homes, we will know that the end is near.

There is a way. Hopefully there is a will.

THE FDA: YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN CONTRACTS

When the FDA answered FTCLDF (Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund) in the interstate shipment of raw milk suit, they stated four fully repugnant things. That you have no right to, nor does your child have a right to any particular food, you have no right to bodily or physical health, that you have no right to contract, and that they are “rationally” fulfilling their public health mission. It appears that they forgot to include that you have no right to privacy or free association along with no right of contract. With the recent actions against Rawesome, sting operations against Amish farmers, and the absolute destruction of Morningland Dairy, one can only surmise that the FDA, who pulls the strings on state level equivalent agencies, forgot to specifically deny the right to freedom of association guaranteed us under the First Amendment along with many others.

As many people have been covering these continual affronts to our very right to consume food that we want to consume, I don’t feel as compelled to conduct a full review every time I find myself in the position of covering a new travesty of decency. Maybe that’s laziness in the eyes of some, but the truth is we are against the wall in this country with the most basic of human rights, and it’s too late to be nice about it any longer. If people are still unaware that food is a controlled substance, they are not likely to read this article anyway. Unfortunately, we have another assault that needs to be brought to the attention of those paying attention.

Morningland’s cheese plant has now been shut down for just over one year. They’ve been to court and have filed an appeal on the judge’s order to destroy their wealth, and were taken to court again on June 13th and found guilty on one of three Contempt of Court charges brought against them for not rolling over and dying when the Milk Board suggested they should. They had to post bond again to keep their cheese from the hands of the destroyers until the legal wrangling is complete. Now the Attorney General says they must give up the names, addresses and phone numbers of individuals who are members in their private association. Denise Dixon says she will go to jail before that happens.

At the first trial, on January 13th 2011, the principals of Morningland of the Ozarks LLC, Joseph and Denise Dixon, notified the Attorney General’s office, the Missouri Milk Board, and Judge David Dunlap (although he rec’d his notification via mail) that they had closed Morningland of the Ozarks LLC, and had formed a private membership association that they hoped to be able provide with their own cheese once this issue was resolved. In the interim, they purchased cheese from two licensed, inspected facilities and cut it and shipped it to their membership. The Dixons drove to these cheese plants (one in Wisconsin and one in Kansas) and picked the cheese up. This takes the private group completely out of the accepted realm of commerce.

In his original ruling against Morningland of the Ozarks LLC, Judge Dunlap stipulated that the LLC was the only entity involved in this action. The Attorney General’s office made no move to personally enjoin either one of the Dixons from either making or selling or cutting or wrapping or eating cheese themselves. The Dixons even applied for a tax id number as Morningland Dairy, not Morningland of the Ozarks LLC.

But that doesn’t matter. Trying to make an independent living is now illegal.

The state is the Judge. The Judge says there can be no jury. The state is the Executioner. After all, this is the land of the free the home of the brave, where agencies steal and destroy property with impunity and if we don’t like it, we can leave. That is, if we aren’t already involved in some legal imbroglio.

I digress. But only a little bit.

Judge David Dunlap ruled that Morningland of the Ozarks LLC is to turn over to the Attorney General’s office all sales records (none), all production records (none), all sanitation records (none), all bacteriological test records (none), and all sales records (again?).

Denise and Joseph Dixon produced the invoices from the companies they purchased cheese from, and also invoices with the names redacted of the people they had sent cheese to from Feb 23rd through present. This wasn’t good enough. The Missouri Attorney General’s office claims that they must have the names, addresses and phone numbers of the private membership association or there will be a $100 per day fine ascribed to a defunct entity, and a defunct private membership association for failure to produce documents. That fine assessment began on August 22nd as per a letter from the Attorney General’s office.

Joseph and Denise are ready to go to jail before they will turn the names and addresses of the association members over in this action. They mean it. They are asking the court to reconsider it’s ruling to divulge the members names…. But there are things that have to be clarified before they go to jail.

These things make no sense to me in the legal realm of this case. We are dealing with four entities. One is the subject of legal action, that being Morningland of the Ozarks LLC (d/b/a Morningland Dairy). One is Morningland Dairy, the private membership association. The other two are scripturally one, being Joseph and Denise Dixon. The Court, and the Attorney General’s office have stated repeatedly that Morningland of the Ozarks LLC is the only entity involved in this legal action. However, they are comfortable finding a defunct entity, with no income or production, to be in contempt. They are also comfortable with forcing a private association to disclose their membership list in conjunction with a legal proceeding against a separate entity and with requiring the procurement of production records from other entities over which they have no jurisdiction.

If the logic employed by the Missouri Attorney General’s office and Judge Dunlap of Howell County Circuit Court is to apply to all of us (as it will if all of this is upheld), should you purchase some male performance enhancement herbs from anyone, and one of their suppliers is involved in a dispute with say the FDA, then the FDA will have the right to know that you bought such a product, and maybe they will even call you to find out how it worked for you.

Pleasant thought, isn’t it?

The AG’s office makes no bones about their assertion that the Dixons formed their private membership association solely to engage in unlawful activity. They think the Dixons are such hard nosed criminals that they are flaunting the law by letting the Milk Board, the Court and the AG’s office know that they are running a private association under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution. Obviously, the Dixons are criminal because they believe they have the right to provide people with food that the people want and to try to make some money to pay for the electricity to continue to hold their arrested cheese for the inevitable destruction. In the Missouri Attorney General’s eyes, there can be no chance that the Dixons simply want to do what they have been dedicated to doing all along…..Provide living food to living people who share their continued interest in, ummm, living. I guess we need permission for that now.

WHO WROTE THE UTAH COMPACT?

Groups throughout the country have struggled for years to promote amnesty without success. They even tried relabeling it as "comprehensive immigration reform," but fooled no one. Congress has made several failed attempts to pass amnesty legislation in recent years, including one bill that so outraged the public that they flooded Washington with phone calls, crashed the Congressional switchboard, and scared their elected officials away from any further attempts. Even President Obama, until recently, shied away from taking action on amnesty, knowing the overwhelming objections of the American public.

In 2008, Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce President Lane Beattie and United Way President Deborah Bayle organized and co-chaired a group of businesses, non-profits, churches, and other organizations into a group called the Immigration Policy Coalition (IPC). In addition to her duties at United Way, Bayle is also a member of the governing board of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. Both Beattie and Bayle advocate amnesty, and both are principle signers of the Utah Compact. [1] Two years after organizing the IPC, amnesty was still only a dream and the IPC was alarmed at the growing movement to enforce immigration laws at the state level. The passage of SB1070 in Arizona sent shock waves throughout the business community in Utah and other states.

Meanwhile many radical Left groups had likewise experienced only frustration and failure in their attempts to pass amnesty, the Dream Act, and other pro-open borders legislation. The passage of SB1070 seemed to herald the death of the amnesty movement.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, in November, 2010, the Utah Compact surfaced in a smarmy, tightly scripted ceremony at the Utah state capitol, injecting new life into the amnesty movement.

Since its unveiling, the great mystery of the Utah Compact has been, "Who wrote it?" The Compact lists 21 principle signers, [2] but no authors. Clues to its authorship have to be gleaned from hints dropped to the media after the Compact was introduced.

KSL-TV in Salt Lake City reported that its CEO, Mark Willes, one of the principle signers, wrote part of the Compact. [3] The Washington Post cited unknown business leaders and the Sutherland Institute as the authors. [4] Former Republican Gov. Olene Walker also gave credit to the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. She said the Chamber "sparked the question,"[5] and the Los Angeles Times reported that the Salt Lake Chamber and other business and civic groups wrote the Compact. [6]

The Salt Lake Tribune specifically named Jason Mathis, Executive Vice President of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce as an author.[7]

Two days after the compact was signed, Bruce Lindsay, moderator of KSL-TV's "Sunday Edition," interviewed Natalie Gochnour, Executive Vice President of Policy and Communication at the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. [8]

One of Lindsay's first questions was, "Who wrote the Compact?" While admitting that United Way was one of the drivers, Gochnour tried to squirm out of directly naming the author(s). With a smug, Mona-Lisa smile, she explained that a few months earlier many groups had started talking. This wasn't true, of course. The Chamber had been talking to other organizations about amnesty for years. When Lindsay pressed her to reveal who wrote the Compact, Gochnour continued to dodge the question and replied that it was "an assemblage" of people. He persisted. It was "multiple authors," said Gochnour. Finally, when Lindsay kept hammering at her, Gochnour admitted that she herself had "contributed language," that her Chamber colleague Jason Mathis had contributed language, and that the Sutherland Institute was one of the authors, as well as "others." She claimed that there were "almost 100 authors." Really? 100? That would be a contribution of about 2-1/2 words apiece for the not quite 250-word Compact. Amazing. She also refused to reveal who was paying for the Utah Compact website, saying only that the money came from "a donor."

Based on the sly media hints, it would appear that the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce (Gochenour and Mathis), the Sutherland Institute, Deseret Media's Mark Willes, and perhaps a few others were the authors of the Utah Compact. But why not say so? Why reveal "signers" but not authors? Most people care more about who writes a particular document than who agrees with it. When the Immigration Policy Coalition formed two years earlier, the Chamber had blared THAT information to the media loudly enough. The coyness didn't make sense. And if, on the other hand, the Chamber wanted to hide its role in the creation of the Utah Compact, it didn't do a very good job. The clumsy secrecy almost made it seem that they were intentionally misleading the public.

Utah is a conservative state, and amnesty is decidedly not a conservative political position. The Chamber had initially built their case for amnesty on their desire for cheap labor and the delicious prospect of the profits that could be made by allowing a flood of immigrants (i.e., prospective buyers) into the country. Conservatives were revolted by those arguments, as they were revolted by the radical Left groups who demanded amnesty as an entitlement. Clearly, the arguments for amnesty needed to be repackaged and made more acceptable to conservatives. And that's what the Utah Compact did. The Compact was a masterpiece in remolding amnesty into something that would appeal to conservatives. The Washington Post acknowledged the switch in an article by Lee Hockstader wherein he stated that the Compact's "genius was to reframe the cause of immigration reform ... as fundamentally a conservative project." [9]

But why not name the authors and give them due credit for the masterful transition? Perhaps the reason was that there was another player, another author, one whose involvement with the Compact would not contribute to the pristine conservative image supporters were trying to cultivate.

Enter Carter Livingston.

Livingston is a Democratic political strategist and consultant who was once married to a Republican consultant, earning them the title of the James Carville and Mary Matalin of Utah. Currently Carter works as a consultant and community organizer for the National Immigration Forum.

The National Immigration Forum is a Washington-D.C.-based advocacy group which promotes amnesty, the Dream Act, and other policy changes that would benefit illegal aliens. The Forum is a grassroots organization which specializes in "knitting together alliances across diverse faith, labor, immigrant, non-immigrant and business constituencies in communities across the country. These alliances come together under the Forum"s leadership to develop, execute and evaluate legislative and administrative advocacy strategies."[10]

The National Immigration Forum is not a conservative group. It receives funding from at least two George Soros foundations (The Open Society Institute and the Four Freedoms Fund), as well as: the Tides Foundation, the Belvue Fund of the Tides Foundation, and other leftward leaning foundations. [11] The Forum's Board of Directors includes representatives from all the usual advocates for open borders and amnesty: the American Nursery & Landscape Association, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Migration Policy Institute, and the Catholic Church. [12]

The Utah Compact was a project of the National Immigration Forum. The Forum claims the Compact as one of its major success stories for 2010, stating that the Forum "[o]rganized members of Utah's community to sign the Utah Compact."[13] Despite all the misleading, planted suggestions about who wrote it, the Utah Compact appears to be a component of a larger plan at the National Immigration Forum to achieve amnesty at the national level.

Carter Livingston, working as a community organizer for the Forum, drew the pro-amnesty Utah groups into a unified coalition and then taught them how to repackage amnesty to make it prettier. The Forum explained in a recent report how it was done. With Livingston coaching them, "the Sutherland Institute privately convened immigration working group discussions ... Sutherland reached out to a broad spectrum of allies such as the Salt Lake Chamber, Republican and Democratic legislative leaders, Republican and Democratic activists and the Salt Lake City United Way. These discussions ... led to a sign-on letter to state and federal leaders calling for ... comprehensive immigration reform." [14]

After meeting with many small discussion groups to allow everyone to feel a sense of ownership, it was time to draft the Compact, with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) as their particular target. Amnesty activists in Utah knew that the support of the LDS Church was crucial, since 80 percent of the Utah state legislature were members of the Church: "... the Sutherland Institute quietly convened a small working meeting of communications professionals to strategize .... The group included communications representatives from the chief of Police's office, the mayor's office, United Way, the Downtown Alliance ... and Carter Livingston on behalf of the National Immigration Forum. Together, this group began brainstorming a set of principles around immigration reform unique to the culture and values of Utah. Using the Mayflower Compact as inspiration, the group sought to expound agreed-upon guiding principles whose core urged the federal government to act on immigration reform. The Compact's tenets were customized to Utah and espoused the populace's generally conservative values and those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church), to which a majority of Utahns adhere. For example, the LDS Church focuses on the family unit in society .... In the Utah Compact, this strong emphasis on family was reflected in the Compact's opposition to immigration policies that caused family separation." [15]

So, if the report from the National Immigration Forum is to be believed, the above-mentioned "communications professionals" were likely the authors of the Utah Compact and may have been the actual media contacts listed on the Utah Compact website.[16] None of them were principle signers of the Compact and, most especially, no one from the National Immigration Forum was a principle signer of the Utah Compact. That would have sullied the conservative image they had worked so hard to cultivate. The signers were all prominent authority figures who could mostly be positioned in one way or another as conservatives, even if that wasn't actually the case, with a token Democrat or two to make them appear to be a diverse group. The Forum's presence at the Compact's signing ceremony was nearly invisible. Like a good organizer, Carter lurked in the shadows, listed only as a Media Contact on the Compact website.[17]

But Livingston was quite open about sharing how he laid a trap for the LDS Church and Utah conservatives to try to trick them into supporting an otherwise insupportable political cause. A few weeks before the Compact was introduced, an article appeared in the National Journal in which Carter Livingston was interviewed:

"In Utah, immigrant advocates, typically liberal Democrats, are trying to find common cause with conservatives, because they know that if they don't they'll be left out of the debate. Carter Livingston, an organizer for the National Immigration Forum in the state, spends much of his time coordinating with the Sutherland Institute and other conservative players. Utah is a religious state (about 60 percent of the population is Mormon), and its policymakers put a high premium on family and community. Livingston emphasizes keeping families together and community involvement when talking about immigration policy .... 'You have to change where the message is coming from,' Livingston contends. 'You have to communicate in a way that legislators will hear, that conservatives will hear.'"[18]

We may never know for sure who actually wrote the Utah Compact. What is clear, however, is that the Compact is not some sparkling new approach to the complex problems of immigration that sprang forth with pristine virtue from the God-fearing Mormons of Utah, as its creators would have everyone believe. The Utah Compact is the cornerstone of a major campaign of the Left, conceived by Washington radicals, implemented with manipulation and deception, and funded by the likes of George Soros, with the goal of ramming amnesty down the throats of the American people, whether we like it or not.

AMERICA IS BECOMING ISRAEL'S WORST ENEMY

PART 2 of 2

Self-hating Jews delude themselves. Speak to any “Jew for Jesus,” and you will hear that Christians do not accept these Jews who accept Jesus, necessitating that they form their own congregations, segregated from the rest of Christians. Christendom has never accepted Jews and that includes Jews who have converted to Christianity; despite the Papal apology for historic harsh Christian doctrine and treatment of Jews and the edict that current day Jews are not to blame for the crucifixion of Jesus.
Currently, African-American Muslims are being openly Anti-Semitic. Ministers Louis Farrakhan and Jesse Jackson are just two famous examples. Jews are hated, despite being in the forefront of the Civil Rights struggle, despite being a bulwark for social reform favoring African-Americans, and despite being active in many African-American struggles. That African-Americans are so hostile toward Jews is powerful evidence of the power of Anti-Semitism.
Anti-Semitism has had the most debilitating effects on Judaism itself. The desire to be accepted as equals has led to rampant assimilation. Several branches of Judaism have developed in America, diluting Judaism’s religious and moral underpinnings. Thus, Jews have picked up the worst characteristics of Christians – the ability to lie to ourselves and a desire for personal power.
Most Jews are liberal – the worst consequence of Anti-Semitism
Because of Anti-Semitism, political movements had usually excluded Jews. Therefore, in the early19th century, many Jews cleaved to a new idea called Socialism, which spoke of a vision of equality amongst all men. Being over-achievers, some Jews became leaders in the movement. Even more sadly, these Jews fashioned and participated in trying to establish a worldwide Socialistic order. Anti-Semitism forced Jews to find a political movement not rooted in their demise, and Socialism sounds good.
Many American Jews see themselves as Progressives or Liberals because their ethos is to do good and to promote justice. Doing good through government is seen as an obvious path. Jews join government service in large numbers in an effort to insulate themselves from the semi-conscious but ever-present fear of Anti-Semitism. Apparently, in their mind, the control granted to government is just the price we must all pay for the potential of a level playing field. Others, not Jews, have turned Socialism into the power collecting, efficient killing machine that it is.
With Anti-Semitism so much a part of their backgrounds, the founders of Israel in 1948 chose a socialist economic model. In fact, the only peaceful, profit making, long lasting, non-government supported socialistic enterprise is the Israeli kibbutz. Ben Gurion and the new Israeli government sought to control the lives of the people and the destiny of the country from their offices in Tel Aviv. Ben Gurion would not agree with this assertion. Ben Gurion would say that he only wanted to aim the people where their talents were most needed. The Soviets said the same thing; that they know best. The Maoists enforced their “vision” with the barrel of a gun, as do the current rulers of China.
What we have wrought
Today, in America, Egalitarianism has captured our government and our culture. This version of Socialism, is now seen as a good rather than as the path to the consolidation of power that it really is. After all, how can wanting to help others be bad? Ignored is the idea that when a few policy makers choose who gets help, that they have the power of kings, which is, of course, why they choose the Egalitarian way. Fascist Socialism is defined in a 1952 pre-politically correct Webster’s Dictionary as: “The control of the means of production.” Control is exercised through government regulation. Egalitarianism is nothing but good marketing leading to the total control of everything. Egalitarianism is Fascism with a smile – and a wink.
Leaving it to the individual to volunteer to help those in need, out of a feeling of inner goodness, does not consolidate power in the hands of a few. Achieving and holding power allows for higher taxes and control to be foisted onto an unwilling population. Seeking power is thought to provide safety for the power seeker. Having power feeds our ego. “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” said Kissinger.
Self-hating Jews are prominent in the halls of power, in Israel and in America. Self-hating Jews have influence at the highest levels in a significant portion of the political, communications, and entertainment industries; industries at the forefront of turning America into a narcissistic, self-indulgent nation. Self-hating Jews are authors of the Neo-Conservative movement which accept the idea of big government and promote an interventionist foreign policy. Self-hating Jews sit in seats of financial prominence and have helped guide this nation down its current self-destructive path. I suspect that these prominent persons feel that their achievements result from working with their Christian cohorts, thus moving themselves forward. This may be true, but it is at the expense of the freedom and wellbeing of others.
People who hurt others should be punished, but you never see anger pointed at collectivists who are born to Christian heritage. Somehow, the anger is amplified if the purveyor is Jewish. There is an added shrug of the shoulders and nodding of the head as if to say, “I’m not surprised that nonsense was done by a Jew.”
My own history is replete with Anti-Semitism; from fourth grade, where I regularly fought the sons of those who had fought with my father; in high school, where one Halloween, “the Jews” fought any who showed up; to college, where I was locked out of student housing on the very first night because “they” didn’t want “a Jew” living with them; to current political activity, where the election of political party officers was held on Yom Kippur so that I could not participate - because I had garnered significant support.
Upon learning that my wife was Jewish, her coworker asked seriously, “Where are your horns?” The nuns had told her that you “could always tell a Jew because they had horns.”
Despite New York City being “Hymie-town,” my own father was not allowed admission to engineering college in NYC because he was Jewish, even though during WW2, as a sailor, he survived the sinking of seven ships. But today, only two generations later, one third of the faculty at Harvard Medical School is Jewish. Anywhere Jews have been allowed to participate in society; that society has flourished.
Yet, despite all, with Jews being just .00186% of the world’s population, Jews have contributed greatly to the world’s well-being. Jewish accomplishments are so well known that I don’t even have to give examples. Little Israel, excluding oil production, has a Gross Domestic Product equal to all the 22 hostile Arab nations which surround her. In the US, Jews are very few in number, yet Jews are prominent in nearly every part of American life.
The real reason for Anti-Semitism
When allowed to participate, individual Americans choose Jews to deal with, by a higher percentage than other groups. Though under 1.7% of the US population, Americans who are Jewish are currently 13% of the US Senate, 43% of the US Supreme Court, 7% of the House of Representatives. Fully 22% of all Nobel Laureates have been Jewish. You will find a Jew at the top of the list in many professions; particularly the physical and social sciences, literature, entertainment, law, medicine and finance. Despite all, Jews continue to overachieve. Jewish accomplishments throughout history have led to the biggest reason for Anti-Semitism, jealousy.
Jews have always been a subset of a nation’s population. The Jewish cultural norm stipulates that the only acceptable Jewish profession is to be one of the Jewish “princes,” a doctor, a lawyer, or an accountant. Little understood is that within Jewish culture is a genuine love of learning and a very aggressive familial mandate to achieve. This combination of Jewish characteristics has led to Jewish over achievement, which has always led to a national Anti-Semitic phobia that has often turned ugly.
Anti-Semitism is a unique form of discrimination. All other racial discriminations are based on feelings of superiority, e.g. white over black, Serb over Muslim, German over everyone, etc. However, because of overarching Jewish accomplishments, Anti-Semitism is based on a deep seeded feeling of inferiority and jealousy within the host nation. The population harbors a controlled rage, based on knowing that, individually, they will never be able to achieve enough and therefore the population feels they will never be equal, much less superior to the Jewish citizenry.
Within the world’s top 500, there is not a single Arab university. Less than 40% of Arabs can read, allowing angry Imam’s to interpret the scriptures in any fashion they wish, without critical thinking or discussion to contend with. Since the 13th century, Arab accomplishments are so few they cannot help but be jealous, and with good reason.
It has been calculated that, were Jews not killed by design, that the world Jewish population would now be about 600 million’s. So complete has been the world’s annihilation of Jews, that the current total of Jews worldwide is under 13 million.
What to do
So that Israel can exist, and so that Jews have a place to flee when internal US pressures turn against US Jews, as is happening; American Jews should favor a highly protective policy towards Israel.
Question: What do you do if your neighbor will not stop throwing rocks at your window? What do you do if your neighbor will not be reasonable, will not give in, will not stop teaching their children to hate you, will not, will not, will not…?
Answer: You must defend yourself.
Proof: While you have not heard anything of it, surveys of the Arab street continually show overwhelming support for the destruction of Israel and the killing of all Jews, e.g. 96% support for Bin Laden’s ideas, from a study by Saudi intelligence shortly after 9/11. When Daniel Pearl’s head was cut off by Al-Qaeda; Arabs felt justified in celebrating. Despite many millions in reward, Bin Laden was not turned in and Muhammad Omar will never be turned in - because of their overwhelming support within the Arab street.
Suggestion: Because Arab society is so vindictive, its entire society must purge itself of hatred toward Jews and western civilization. Arab schools and Arab Imams must start teaching and preaching a liturgy totally different than what it currently espouses; that democracy and Jews are the bane of the world. Arab school books should be censored to show the truth of Jewish history and the truth of western civilization. All references to Jews and to westerners, throughout Arab society, should be kindly and inclusive. The dictum that Jihad allows for lying and violence toward infidels must be ended.
Solution: For these changes in the Arab temperament to take hold within Arab society, let 40 years, that is, two full generations must pass, just as in biblical times, to purge those having been taught to hate. When the ideals of goodness and reason have been inculcated into Arab society for 40 years, then the world has the prospect of a realistic and faithful partner for peace, and not before.
Admonition: For those thinking that one can be anti-Israel and not be Anti-Semitic, it is not true. Jews are so few in number that anything that dilutes their strength can be fatal. The world has made Jews a separate race. Jews are an endangered species and deserve protection and a special place in the world.
The lesson of history
Reason is not a primary mover amongst the powerful in history. History is written by the victorious; therefore history looks to those who chose power over reason.
America speaks out of both sides of its mouth; holding Jews and Israel close, while sticking a knife in their back. Meanwhile, America takes advantage of Jews where it can. Archie Bunker said it right, “We need a good lawyer, call the Jew.” I predict that the three Jewish justices on the Supreme Court, all liberals, will be labeled as the reason for American liberalism and decline. Sadly, there is truth in the assertion.
Let Israeli and American Jews make it clear, very clear, that we do not intend to offer ourselves up on the altar of Anti-Semitism, so that the prejudices of others will be satiated. Never again!

AMERICA IS BECOMING ISRAEL'S WORST ENEMY

PART 1 of 2

President Obama shows his true feelings with the latest US Middle East policy pronouncement: that Israel should surrender land won in war and fall back to borders that are not able to be defended. This policy statement is in line with Obama’s decision to not stop the upcoming UN call for the formal creation of a Palestinian state. Therefore, after all the promises to Israel and US security pledges, after all the Arab treaty violations, after unilaterally giving back Gaza, after all the Israeli deaths and casualties, after all the bombings, the bloodshed, the terror, the angst, the United States is sticking its knife deep into its “friends” back.

Only “friends” can hurt you like America is hurting Israel. And, as the old saying goes, “With a ‘friend’ like this, you don’t need enemies.” You might think this a ludicrous statement; however a clear look at history will show it to be true.
Anti-Semitism is alive and well
A deep seeded and abiding feeling of Anti-Semitism is felt by most of western civilization. Anti-Semitism is very old, often subliminal but very real, is active, and takes many forms.
While “sticks and stones” accost Jews continually, the most damaging form of Anti-Semitism comes in the form of dismissiveness. Not caring what happens is the way hatred shows itself. The world says it wants a safe Israel, but somehow all the suggestions on stabilizing the Middle East focus on Israel doing most of the accommodating. It is always the Jews who have to give in so that Palestinians are accommodated.
When it comes to Jews, the double standard is alive and well. Check any Arab political website. Arabs say the most vile things about Jews, but most liberals simply ignore the statements? The only reason is Anti-Semitism. When Arabs declare their intention to “wipe out the Jews,” why do most liberals shrug their shoulders and feel, “It’s justified because of the suffering of the poor Palestinians.” The only answer is Anti-Semitism. If the English were to state their intention to wipe out the Irish, Americans would not act with dismissiveness, just as America inserted itself when Serbs were exterminating Bosnian Muslims.
But, Jews don’t matter; not really. Secretly, Western culture has taught us to feel Jews deserve what they get. After all, Jews killed Jesus, Jews drink blood, steal, are cheap, they get rich off of others, and Jews think they are smarter than everyone else. Jews run the banks, the media, and don’t forget Hollywood. Jews run the world! Jews deserve what they get. For a more complete recitation of blood libels against Jews, read “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” In the great prophetic book, “Brave New World,“ the world has become totally subjugated under the all seeing eye of Big Brother – Goldstein, as Jewish a name as you will find. You can also go to any Arab web site for a complete narration of how Jews have kept Arab dreams from being achieved and that Jews deserve the decapitation that is to come. So much for the idea that Islam is a religion of peace.
Arab threats and actual retaliation is not taken seriously, despite Arabs promoting and carrying out terror in many countries. Somehow, liberals feel that Arabs will be reasonable, if only they get what they want. More double standards at work. What Arabs want, and they don’t hide it, is to kill all Jews. The US sides with Arabs, giving its continued protection by not allowing Israel to definitively stop their aggression, and thus proves its Anti-Semitism and its antipathy at the highest levels. US policy has shown its intention to have Israel mired in controversy, thus binding Israel to the US, while also keeping the Arabs on a tether.
In 1973, during the Yom Kipper War, Henry Kissinger, a foremost self-hating Jew, forced Israel into a cease fire when Israel was winning the war. With victorious Israeli armies on the outskirts of both Cairo and Damascus, with the 30,000 man Egyptian 3rd Army encircled and trapped, Kissinger told the Israeli ambassador that eliminating the Egyptians “is an option that does not exist.” Later, during Israel’s incursion into Lebanon, Nixon sent Kissinger to inform Begin that America would cause disastrous economic harm to Israel unless she let the surrounded10,000 murderous PLO terrorists leave unharmed - to fight another day, as they are. What “friend” would do such a thing? No friend ever would! This policy was American state Anti-Semitism at its worst.
When in history has a victorious nation been told to give back the land it won in war; especially its ancestral homeland? No other nation has been forced to stop short of victory because cease fires were forced upon her, by her “friends.” Only Israel has been told to do so, because Jews don’t count and Arabs will lose face.
Most do not know nor understand the depth of antipathy toward Israel in the halls of our State Department. There are 57 countries in the Organization of Islamic Conference, with 57 US ambassadorships, their accompanying staffs and lobbying arms. Let’s not forget about oil and the money and influence it buys in the UN, the halls of Congress, and with Madison Avenue.
The American press, substantial Jewish influence, is often openly hostile to Israel. The liberal press would shout at the top of its lungs if Israeli schools were teaching violence against Arabs in the same way Arab madrasas are teaching that all Jews must be killed? But, while Arab vulgarities are occasionally in the liberal press, we never see focused exposes, presented massively and repeatedly, as the left know to do so well.
The difference in cultures
Throughout its history, Israel has refused to deal with Arabs in the same manner that other victorious armies have always dealt with a defeated population. America, Britain, Russia, Turkey, China, Japan, Germany, etc. all have very ugly histories in their dealings as a colonial occupier. Yet, despite the continuing level of Arab bad behavior, Jews resoundingly did not vote for Rabbi Kahunas’ Kach political party whose platform centered on expelling Arabs from Israel. In fact, the Knesset expelled Rabbi Kahuna, an elected official, from Israel’s parliament, for holding and expressing racist beliefs. Show me where, in the entire Arab world, has there ever been an electoral expression against Anti-Semitism. This is a true example of “the clash of cultures.”
Anti-Semitism reigns in the liberal media as it denounces Israel’s attempts to stop terrorist infiltrators or to quell riots, and the liberal media dissects every action by Israeli police, while making heroes of Arabs bent on killing Jews. More double standards. And the worst of it is done by self-hating Jews, the most disappointing of all Anti-Semites.
Self-hating Jews wallow in self-delusion. Ostensibly appealing to a higher calling, Jewish attorneys are considered the backbone of those providing legal representation for the Guantanamo detainees, called by Donald Rumsfeld, the “worst of the worst” enemies to America and Jews. These Jewish lawyers are thought to be “the best” by the terrorists. Could you possibly envision scores of Arab lawyers fighting to represent Jews accused of terrorism - of course not. If any Arab was courageous enough to represent a Jew, they would be killed by other Arabs for treason, for collaborating with the enemy. But, such is the inferiority complex of Jews brought on by centuries of Anti-Semitism. The Gitmo Arab detainees laugh at their Jewish attorneys behind their back, and they should.
While Pax-Americana is in full military array, with cruise missiles killing innocents in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, the double standard is again seen because America will not allow Israel to crush Hamas, even as Hamas launches hundreds of missiles into Israel, killing many. The reasoning is obvious, Jews are expendable.
If Mexico had killed a comparable number of Americans as Arabs have killed Israeli’s, then well over 200,000 US citizens would now be dead – over 200,000! That is the number of combat deaths America incurred in the entirety of the Civil War. Yet, America will not allow Israel to defend herself to end these killings. Worse, Israel gives in to this blatantly Anti-Semitic policy. Now America wants Israel to move to indefensible borders so that Arabs will feel good. America’s gain is Israel’s loss - but it’s only Jews.
Has it not occurred to you that Israel could have depopulated the West Bank of Arabs after the Six Day War, just like America moved all of the native Indian tribes onto reservations? Israel did not do so because that sort of callousness is not in Jewish culture. The alienation Jews have endured throughout history makes us try to accommodate, to reason, to assimilate, rather than to continue fighting or to intentionally cause hurt.
Examine the differences in culture. When Hamas or the Palestinian Authority discovers someone not in allegiance with them, they kill that person, and in a most gruesome and public manner. When Israel removed Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip; the Israeli settlers protested by tossing flowers at the soldiers. But the liberal, Anti-Semitic press virtually ignores Arab atrocities while blowing out of all proportion any Israeli attempt at self-protection. Thus, polls show, the press has been successful at changing the hearts and minds of a great number of Americans to be anti-Israel, and thus, more Anti-Semitic.
Stalin and Mao moved whole populations, at gun point; so did several American presidents. Taking the American example, Israel should move the Arabs across the Jordan River. Judea and Samaria are Jewish land, first conquered by Kings David and Solomon and again in 1967. To the victors go the spoils. Only Anti-Semites would deny Jews the fruits of hard fought victory.
To be Jewish is to be paranoid – and with good reason
Judaism was the first monotheistic religion. Jewish philosophy, exemplified by the Ten Commandments underpins all of Western Civilization. Christianity and Islam only became significant religions by conquest and then forced conversions upon the conquered upon the pain of severe punishment or death. Typical was the decapitation of heads, e.g. Nickolas Berg. If Judaism had pursued this barbaric practice of decapitating “non-believers”, then now we would all be Jews.
But Jews are not numerous, because Jews have never treated conversions in the same manner as Christians, and Jews certainly have never acted like Arabs. That Jews have small numbers and can’t fight back is a primary reason for Anti-Semitism. The strong have contempt for the weak. History would treat Jews much better had Jews acted with the same lack of humanity as exhibited in the Spanish Inquisition, the pogrom’s that flourished throughout Europe, or the Holocaust. The killing of Jews was justified; Anti-Semitism has been well ensconced.
Anti-Semitism is so well ensconced that Jews are not spoken of with a proper bifurcated label. A Catholic from France or Italy is a French-American or an Italian-American. A Muslim from Pakistan or Egypt is a Pakistani-American or an Egyptian-American. The religion is presumed. A Buddhist from Cambodia is a Cambodian-American. A Shinto from Japan is a Japanese-American. In all these cases, no mention of religion is made; no thought to religion is given. However, if referring to someone Jewish, no one thinks of him as a Hungarian-American, or describes him as a Polish-American; both of which are my heritage. Rather the description is, “He’s Jewish.” The “American” part is not even mentioned, as if the entire identity is the religion, which is exactly how Jews are thought of.
In point of fact, Anti-Semitism is so distinct and pervasive, Jews are known to be part of a religion but are more thought of as a separate race, in the same way people think of Gypsy’s. When Jews are spoken of in the context of being a group, I have seen people sneer a bit and body language goes into an aggressive posture. People give each other knowing looks. No words need be spoken; all understand.
Sometimes Jews themselves are the worst enemies of the Jewish people. The saddest are those self-hating Jews who fall into line with other liberals and do the bidding of Anti-Semites, feeling that they will be accepted and not seen as Jewish. But within the Jewish soul is a spiritual longing. This spiritual need shows itself in the many people and organizations who search for some undefined "social justice" and this becomes their identity. They misuse Judaism to suit their secular agenda. These misguided, self-hating Jewish souls demand Israel make concessions "for peace," thus confirming their leftist credentials. To these misguided souls, Arab atrocities are always in reaction to a Jewish provocation.

IMMIGRATION’S ONSLAUGHT: CROSSING OUR AGRICULTURAL RUBICON

As we add that 3.1 million legal immigrants annually on our way to adding 75 million by 2035, I attempt to interview on as many radio and TV shows as possible. My attempt to educate listeners falls on deaf ears for the most part.

It’s disheartening, but I continue my quest. In this commentary, I address our agricultural challenges as we add 100 million people via immigration within the next three decades.

In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar defied the Roman senate by crossing the Rubicon River to wage civil war against another Roman—Pompey the Great. By crossing the Rubicon, Caesar made a decision whereby he could not turn back.

Today, “Crossing the Rubicon” means: no way to change, repair or undo your destiny. Yes, Caesar conquered Pompey, but the Roman senate, along with Brutus, stabbed Caesar to death. “Et tu Brutus?” Caesar gasped with his last breath.

If the Congress and president sign any kind of an immigration amnesty or double legal immigration in the near future as they attempted in June 2007, they cast the dye; they cross the Rubicon of America’s environmental death knell.

In a crystal clear illustration, “Crossing the Agricultural Rubicon,” Dr. John Tanton, The Social Contract Quarterly, presented harsh realities regarding America’s food supply.

“We export immense quantities of corn, wheat, soybeans, etc., but much of this crop is fed to animals or processed into food that we then re-import as higher-value agricultural products,” Tanton said. “It is the dollar value of imports that is projected to be equal to exports.”

He continued, “The U.S. consumes two-thirds of its own grown food. As immigration grows, more agricultural land will be converted to non-agricultural uses—roads, hospitals, schools, parking lots, shopping malls and housing projects. Our expanding population will cause us to import more food. The net result will be the gradual decline of our agricultural trade surpluses. We are already in an energy deficit as we import 12 million of the 20 million barrels of oil we burn each day. Now we have a diminishing agricultural exchange surplus with which to buy fuel to facilitate that very agriculture.”

The United States feeds the world, but as Tanton exposes in his excellent graphs and charts, we already import as much as we export: “We won’t feed people around the world much longer,” Tanton said.

For example, Colorado, my state, will add 1.5 million by 2022. That increase means, according to the Denver Post, those 3.1 million acres of prime farm land will suffer development into homes, roads, malls, schools and business parks.

“Colorado lost 1.6 million acres in the 1990s while it grew by 1.3 million people. It expects to lose 3.1 million more acres to concrete and asphalt via development by 2022.” Mike Matz, Denver Post “Losing Spaces”

Whatever the population expansion in your state, commensurate farm acreage will be destroyed. For example, by 2050, Texas will grow from 21 million to 48 million people, which means millions of acres of land will be taken out of farming for development. No one knows the disaster that awaits them as to water usage. Notice on the evening news that Texas suffers horrible drought conditions in August 2011. “Crossing the Rubicon” via farmland destruction brings yours and all states closer to Caesar’s fate.

Another aspect of this “Agricultural Rubicon” manifests itself in Eric Schlosser’s, Fast Food Nation, where he exposes the ‘chemicalization’ of our foods by hundreds of additives, colors, preservatives and poisons like the chemical sweetener aspartame.

Since 1950, farmers have sprayed their crops with herbicides and pesticides while injecting soils with dozens of chemical fertilizers that destroy nitrogen fixing bacteria. They poison earthworms, bees and birds, sending them into early graves. Today, we force genetically modified seeds to produce unnatural harvests while we clone many vegetables and create perfect apples. Few customers have bought a ‘real’ strawberry from a major grocery store chain in the last 20 years. Those genetically manufactured berries are big, fat and white with some red coloring, and taste terrible.

One of my friends upon biting into one said, “This tastes like eating a piece of chalk! This sucks! What happened to real strawberries?” A more sobering reality hits when you appreciate that most kids in our cities don’t know the difference because they’ve never eaten a real strawberry.

The United States Department of Agriculture states that because of depletion of micro-nutrients, you must eat 49 servings of spinach in 2011 to gain the same amount of micro-nutrient value as one serving of spinach in 1949.

In conjunction with fertilizers draining into rivers which poison fish we eat, farm land absorbs acid rain from chemical contaminants raining down from the sky from tens of thousands of industrial smoke stacks spewing sulfur, ammonia, incinerated plastics, mercury and other toxic amalgamations into the air.

In a report, “U.S. Pesticide Stockpile Under Scrutiny” by Rita Beamish of the Associated Press, she said, “The Bush administration is seeking world permission to produce thousands of tons of a pesticide that an international treaty banned nearly two years ago, even though U.S. companies already have assembled huge stockpiles of the chemical. Methyl-bromide has been used for decades by farmers to help grow plump, sweet strawberries, robust peppers and other crops, but it also depletes the Earth's protective ozone. The United States and other countries signed a 1987 treaty promising to end its use by 2005.”

If you think our government tells the unvarnished truth, think again.

Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said he was informed that the Inspector General for the Commerce Department and NASA had begun "coordinated, sweeping investigations of the Bush administration's censorship and suppression" of federal research into global warming. But the total U.S. emissions, now more than seven billion tons a year, are projected to rise 14 percent from 2002 to 2012. In other words, everything that goes up must come down. When it does, it’s a disaster for the entire web of life on our planet home.

Lester Brown of Earth Policy Institute notes that farming causes the loss of 24 billion tons of topsoil annually worldwide. Once soil suffers depletion, chemical fertilizers may allow crops to grow, but a consumer may as well be eating cotton candy for the lack of micro-nutrient value in foods.

What about water for irrigation? At the moment, farmers from Iowa to California draw down underground aquifers faster than they can recharge. Farmers suck billions of gallons of water from the great Ogallala Aquifer beneath Nebraska. What happens when it dries up?

Dr. David Pimentel, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, says if we think growing huge amounts of corn for ethanol fuel provides an option, we need to think that over.

He writes, “Our up-to-date analysis of the 14 energy inputs that typically go into corn production and the nine invested in fermentation and distillation operations confirms that 29 percent more energy (derived from fossil fuels) is required to produce a gallon of corn ethanol than is contained in the ethanol. Ethanol from cellulosic biomass is worse: with current technology, 50 percent more energy is required to produce a gallon than the product can deliver. In any event, biomass ethanol is a bad choice from an energy standpoint.

“The environmental impacts of corn ethanol are enormous. They include severe soil erosion, heavy use of nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides, and a significant contribution to global warming. In addition, each gallon of ethanol requires 1,700 gallons of water (to grow the corn) and produces six to 12 gallons of noxious organic sewage.

“Using food crops, such as corn grain, to produce ethanol also raises major ethical concerns. More than 3.7 billion humans in the world are currently malnourished, so the need for grains and other foods is critical. Growing crops to provide fuel squanders resources. Energy conservation and development of renewable energy sources, such as solar cells and solar-based methanol synthesis, should be given priority.”

Experts tell us that by 2040, we’ll be a net importer of food.

What if our food source cannot provide for us? What if we cannot economically transport the food to our shores?

Our country heads into dangerous waters. Have you heard the expression, “Up the creek without a paddle?” Whether it’s “Crossing the Rubicon” of agricultural destruction of our food supply, or using up our oil reserves without sufficient alternatives, or exceeding our carrying capacity as to water—we’re hyper-immigrating our nation into grave consequences.

OBAMA AND HOLDER'S SCAPEGOATS NAILED FOR OPERATION FAST AND FURIOUS

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) yesterday announced the "personnel changes" for three officials involved in the law enforcement snafu known as "Operation Fast and Furious." However, many observers believe the three officials are merely scapegoats being sacrificed to protect the more powerful in the U.S. capital.

The Department of Justice personnel changes impacted Arizona's U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acting Director Kenneth Melson, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley.

The DOJ announced that acting ATF director Kenneth Melson, who began his agency leadership in 2009, was being replaced and transferred to the Office of Legal Policy. The ATF announcement coincided with a DOJ announcement that the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke, was resigning. Burke oversaw the legal aspects of the Fast and Furious operation, providing advice to the law enforcement agents involved. Meanwhile, Hurley resigned from his post.

“In my opinion, Melson and Burke weren’t fired because if they were unemployed or disgraced they’d be more likely to cooperate with investigators still probing one of the worst law enforcement scandals in recent history,” said former police officer Edie Aquino from New York.

While Issa is garnering praise for these personnel changes, observers in law enforcement and government believe the men involved are being scapegoated and "taking the heat for higher-ups" such as Attorney General Eric Holder and his senior staff members. Both President Barack Obama and Attorney General Holder have said they did not approve the operation, but have declined to comment further, citing an independent investigation by DOJ’s inspector general.

However, Congressman Issa pledged Tuesday to continue his investigation until a full picture of the operation and its authorizers is painted.

"While the reckless disregard for safety that took place in Operation Fast and Furious certainly merits changes within the Department of Justice, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will continue its investigation to ensure that blame isn't offloaded on just a few individuals for a matter that involved much higher levels of the Justice Department," Issa said in a press statement.

"There are still many questions to be answered about what happened in Operation Fast and Furious and who else bears responsibility, but these changes are warranted and offer an opportunity for the Justice Department to explain the role other officials and offices played in the infamous efforts to allow weapons to flow to Mexican drug cartels." Issa said.

"I also remain very concerned by Acting Director Melson's statement that the Department of Justice is managing its response in a manner intended to protect its political appointees. Senator Grassley and I will continue to press the Department of Justice for answers in order to ensure that a reckless effort like Fast and Furious does not take place again," he added.

Tuesday’s announcement proved many of Issa's suspicions, but he expressed concern that Melson and Burke not be made fallguys for others in DOJ -- or even the White House -- who may be responsible for the ill-fated operation that allegedly contributed to the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Also on Tuesday, DOJ announced the appointment of U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota B. Todd Jones to serve as Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

"As a seasoned prosecutor and former military judge advocate, U.S. Attorney Jones is a demonstrated leader who brings a wealth of experience to this position," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "I have great confidence that he will be a strong and steady influence guiding ATF in fulfilling its mission of combating violent crime by enforcing federal criminal laws and regulations in the firearms and explosives industries."

Operation Fast and Furious: An Ill-Conceived Fiasco

Operation Fast and Furious was initiated in 2009 to sell weapons to known and suspected straw purchasers for Mexican drug cartels with the goal of tracking the guns and dismantling the gun trafficking routes.

But agents claim they were sometimes told to abandon surveillance of the weapons, allowing firearms --and the buyers -- to disappear, according to testimony from numerous agents before the House. The only remaining hope for agents to track the guns was if other agencies found them at a murder scene or during a drug raid and identified them by the serial numbers on the guns.

Officials linked two weapons found at the Arizona murder scene last December of Agent Brian Terry. According to testimony, the ATF agents were -- and still are -- terrified that some of the thousands of guns that remain at large will be used to kill more innocent people.

In addition, the Mexican police investigators who probed the killing of U.S. Immigration and Customs Agent Jaime Zapata, who was assassinated by members of the Los Zetas drug cartel attack in Mexico, believe one of the Fast and Furious guns was used in that attack.

Yet, with such a deadly scandal no one in either the Democrat or Republican Parties are calling for a special prosecutor to investigate this case of politics trumping public safety, said another former cop.

"Most of the mainstream media are yawning over this serious scandal. It's certainly more serious than the Valerie Plame investigation that was a farce from the very beginning. Yet, the media hammered President Bush and his underlings on a daily basis. No one died in that scandal. People did die in Operation Fast and Furious. Yet no one mentions Obama's or Holder's names," stated former intelligence officer and police commander Sid Franes.