To: "Health Freedom, Codex Issues
Subject: Terrorism and Blind Faith in Government + Recommendations on Bovard's Anti Gummint Books
From: John Hammell jham@iahf.com
Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2001 22:08:33 -0400
IAHF List: [See tremendous article about the bizarre impact of the WTC attack on the thinking of the average moronic American by James Bovard below my comments]
James Bovard is one of my favorite writers. I loved his book "SHAKEDOWN-HOW THE GOVERNMENT SCREWS YOU FRON A-Z" Which gives terrifying real life examples, which would be FUNNY if they hadn't actually HAPPENED! I once bought a whole CASE of this book, and gave copies of it away to friends and family as Christmas presents. His books Lost Rights - The Destruction of American Liberty, and Freedom in Chains : The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen are particularly worth reading.
Bovards essay below really hits the nail on the head about the mindlessness of the average American who is now behind the stinkin' gummint 1000%, without even PAYING ATTENTION to how the bastards are fixin' to ream us right now via supposed "anti terrorist" legislation that threatens to strip us of our civil liberties, and make us even MORE enslaved! What percent of the American public grasps that we've just witnessed a major CIA Psyop? Damn few, and its sickening- refer more people to http://psyopnews.com and to http://williamcooper.com as well as http://www.iahf.com so they can get up to speed.
If you like the essay below, you'll LOVE Bovard's books! Check them all out at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-9744085-6855318 and give them to people for Christmas, Hanukah, and birthday presents, or for ANY reason at ALL- especially to people who work in Congressional offices!!
When we're going up against a gummint as despicably tyrranical and evil as ours, we need DAMN GOOD AMMUNITION- and James Bovard really provides some! His books do the RIGHT THANG- they tear the HELL out of th' pissant gummint, which is EXACTLY what the @#$@#$@#@ DESERVE!!! (And ya'll wonder how I managed to get on the Washington Capital Police's Watch List, sheeeesh! The internet be MIGHTIER than the BOMB THREAT!) Appreciate the HELL I give the low life cretenous microcephalic paper pushin' syphilitic yankee bastard tools up thar in DEE CEE ???
Well, thats GOOD! Kindly slide me a few simolians- doesn't have to be much, jus' show me ya love me, eh? IAHF POB 625 Floyd VA 24091 USA or via paypal at http://www.iahf.com cause Rome wasn't burnt in a day, and it could take quite a FEW days to burn DC, and I need to have another BEER before I blow a FUSE or throw all my guns on the truck and head toward the District of Criminals ;-> (Whew! I NEEDED that! Long live watery broth.... and the straightjacket!)
by James Bovard
One of the most surprising results of the September 11 terrorist attacks is the sharp increase in the number of Americans who now trust the federal government. According to a Washington Post poll released on September 27, 64 percent of Americans now "trust the government in Washington to do what is right" either "just about always" or "most of the time." The number of people who trust the government to do the right thing has doubled since last year -- and is now more than three times higher than in 1994.
The Washington Post interviewed a 26-year-old New Jersey high-school math teacher who proclaimed: "I have a renewed respect for the federal government, absolutely. People see that the government is one of the only avenues we have to get some things done. It puts renewed hope about the government and their capabilities to do things." The Post ran a photo of a 22-year-old woman praying on a hillside across from the Pentagon. The lady told a reporter that she "puts her trust in God and government -- that's all I can do."
The terrorist attacks could not have succeeded if several federal agencies had not dropped the ball. Yet, the bigger the catastrophe, the more credulous many people seem to become. The worse government failed to protect people in the past, the more certain people become that government will successfully protect them -- next time. John Bartz, a highly-respected Ohio psychiatrist, observed that this reaction is akin to "that of abused children, who become more dependent on their abusive parents the more they are abused."
Many liberals expect the terrorist atrocities could fundamentally alter Americans' political thinking. Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam said: "I think there is the potential that September 11 will turn out to be a turning point for civic America.... There could be some good coming from it if it causes us to become ... more aware of the obligations we have to other people and more open-minded about the role of government."
A Wall Street Journal front page article on September 26 vivified the new era of opportunity in Washington: "In just two weeks, the terrorist attacks have turned a two-decade trend toward less government into a headlong rush for more." Washington Post columnist Jim Hoagland, in an article headlined "Government's Comeback," declared, "Bush and his congressional allies must... return government closer to the center of American life, not whittle away further at its powers and funding." Hoagland asserted that, before the terrorists' attack, "government was rapidly losing its relevance, its reach, and its right to make demands on the purses and practices of private citizens."
Perhaps Hoagland has been too busy doing "Big Picture" articles to notice that federal revenues have soared over the last decade. Nor have there been any reports of the Federal Register suffering from anorexia. The rumors of Big Government's demise are a hoax to make people believe they have suffered from a shortage -- rather than an overdose -- of government in recent years.
Wall Street Journal columnist Al Hunt, in an article headlined "Government to the Rescue," called for "a moratorium on government-bashing" along with a sweeping expansion of government spending and regulation. Hunt conceded: "To be sure, there always are dangers in bigger government. Congress and the press must play a critical oversight role." But Congress and the Washington press corps have consistently done a worse job overseeing "Big Government" than the CIA and FBI have done keeping an eye on foreign terrorists. Hunt favors a blanket expansion of government even though there is no reason to expect archaic checks-and-balances to prevent fresh government abuses.
The new enthusiasm for government threatens to become a steamroller that crushes constitutional rights. The Justice Department has submitted an anti-terrorism bill to Congress. Yet Attorney General John Ashcroft admitted that the September 11 attacks might not have been prevented even if the Justice Department got all the power it seeks from Congress.
A few of the specific expanded powers the Justice Department seeks are common-sense fine-tunings of existing laws which can be granted with little threat to public safety. Others -- such as the expansive definition of terrorist and the restrictions on the use of encryption -- must be vigorously resisted by friends of freedom.
At a time when Americans are being urged to put their faith in government, we must not forget the wisdom of the Founding Fathers. John Adams wrote in 1772: "There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1799, "Free government is founded in jealousy, not confidence.... Let no more be heard of confidence in men, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitutions."
To blindly trust government is to automatically vest it with excessive power. Americans must not let the defense against terrorists subvert the bulwarks of freedom. We owe it to both our forefathers and progeny not to squander our constitutional inheritance in a moment of panic.
Mr. Bovard is the author of Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion & Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years (St. Martin's Press) and a policy advisor to the Future of Freedom Foundation (http://www.fff.org) in Fairfax, Va.
"WE ARE APT TO SHUT OUR EYES AGAINST A PAINFUL TRUTH...
FOR MY PART, I AM WILLING TO KNOW THE WHOLE TRUTH;
TO KNOW THE WORST; AND TO PROVIDE FOR IT."
---- Patrick Henry
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