From: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com (roc-digest) To: roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: roc-digest V2 #227 Reply-To: roc-digest Sender: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk roc-digest Friday, April 9 1999 Volume 02 : Number 227 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 5 Apr 99 02:08:52 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: "Know Your Customer" Update #3 (fwd) On Apr 3, List Manager wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] PRIVACY NEWS UPDATE #3 - -------------------------------- THANK YOU AGAIN! for supporting our ongoing effort to stop "Know Your Customer". - -------------------------------- You are receiving this update because you registered at the DefendYourPrivacy.com web site. We strive to respect your time, and are planning no more than one brief update per week. However, if you do not want to receive further updates, please use the unsubscribe directions at the end of this message. - -------------------------------- IN THIS UPDATE: 1) FDIC & other agencies withdraw Know Your Customer rule -- but KYC lives on in the Bank Secrecy Act 2) Assistant Director of Federal Reserve Board says KYC is NOT dead 3) Flood of e-mail credited with stopping Know Your Customer 4) New online petition being launched to repeal existing Know Your Customer requirements 5) Quote of the week - -------------------------------- Here's what's going on in the fight against "Know Your Customer" regulations: 1) FDIC & other agencies withdraw Know Your Customer rule -- but KYC lives on in the Bank Secrecy Act As anticipated, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (the "Agencies") officially voted on March 23, 1999 to withdraw their proposed Know Your Customer rule. This means that, thanks to your help, we have won Round One of the fight. However, in a statement released after the meeting, the Agencies reaffirmed their "...long-standing support for the anti-money laudering provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act." As it turns out, the Bank Secrecy Act compliance manual of the Federal Reserve still requires banks to implement a Know Your Customer program, even though the new KYC regulation has been withdrawn. (Check out the "spy manual" on their web site, http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/boarddocs/SupManual/) According to a recent survey by the American Bankers Association, over 88 percent of US banks already have Know Your Customer policies in place. In early March, the ABA called on regulators to not only withdraw the proposed Know Your Customer rule, but to dismantle the existing requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act as well. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) has introduced HR 518, The Bank Secrecy Sunset Act, which would repeal the existing Bank Secrecy Act reporting requirements that led to Know Your Customer. (See #4 below.) 2) Assistant Director of Federal Reserve Board says Know Your Customer is NOT dead. A banker who attended the Mid Atlantic Compliance Conference March 18-19 reported the following comments by Richard Small, Assistant Director of the Federal Reserve System, at a session on KYC: "Is Know Your Customer dead? No, I don't think it is dead. Do I think there will be a regulation? No. I would like to develop some broad based guidance [but] no one is going to let me talk about it for six months." Small went on to say that they would have to repackage it differently, such as "Enhanced guidance for reporting suspicious activity." He said they'll have to be careful how they re-package it, saying, "It's a marketing issue." He indicated that any future proposal would not be called "Know Your Customer" and would not use the phrase "customer profiling." 3) Flood of e-mail credited with stopping Know Your Customer "The FDIC's chairman, Donna Tanoue, said the huge volume of e-mail drove the decision to withdraw the [KYC] proposal," reported Rebecca Fairley Raney of the New York Times in a March 24, 1999 story (please see http://DefendYourPrivacy.com/nyt_2.htm). This suggests that the influence of e-mail on public policy decisions is growing. Some other quotes from the article: "It's important to note that a number of these e-mails were customized." Tanoue said. "They came from the heart." "Typically the comments we hear are packaged in Washington -- and these [e-mail comments] came from all over America," said Steve Katsanos, a spokesman for the FDIC. "We think it's pretty neat," he said of the Internet-based interaction. "You might well count on this being a standard procedure." "The e-mail and the traffic to the FDIC's Web site was driven through media reports on the issue in traditional media and through an online advocacy campaign [http://www.DefendYourPrivacy.com] sponsored by the Libertarian Party." "Ultimately ... people used the party's advocacy site to send 171,000 comments to the FDIC -- about 83% of the e-mail that was sent." The success of this cyber-campaign has also been noted in articles and editorials in other major print publications such as The Washington Post, The Chicago Sun-Times, the Kansas City Star and The Arizona Republic as well as in leading online publications such as WorldNetDaily.com, Wired.com and CBS.MarketWatch.com. Visit the Media Coverage page at http://www.DefendYourPrivacy.com for links to these and other articles about the campaign and Know Your Customer. 4) New online petition being launched to repeal existing Know Your Customer requirements DefendYourPrivacy.com is preparing to launch a new online petition to repeal existing Know Your Customer requirements. The petition will be directed to individual members of Congress and will ask them to co-sponsor the Know Your Customer Sunset Act (HR 516) and the Bank Secrecy Sunset Act (HR 518). HR 516 already has over 50 co-sponsors. Passage of these bills would repeal all existing Know Your Customer reporting requirements, and prevent similar regulations from being imposed in the future. For more information on both bills, check out our new "Legislation" page at http://www.DefendYourPrivacy.com. An announcement and pass-along message for friends and family will be sent out as soon as the petition page is up and running, which will probably be in about a week. 5) Quote of the week - Editorial, Indianapolis Star "That such a rule [KYC] would even have been proposed should be of great concern to every freedom-loving American. "These are the tactics employed in socialist countries such as China and the old Soviet Union where the denial of personal privacy, individual property and freedom of speech are fundamental tools for the economic and political control of large captive populations. "Fortunately, many Americans were outraged at this proposal. Much of the credit must go the the Libertarians. Of some 253,000 e-mail messages, letters, and faxes to the FDIC, more than 170,000 were ... generated by the party's DefendYourPrivacy.com Web site." - -------------------------------- DefendYourPrivacy.com is provided as a public service by the Libertarian Party. To request information about the Libertarian Party, please visit http://www.lp.org/lp-membership-iform.html? To support this website financially, please visit http://www.lp.org/lp-kyc-contrib.html To join the Libertarian Party please visit http://www.lp.org/lp-membership.html - -------------------------------- TO UNSUBSCRIBE, simply hit REPLY and put the word unsubscribe in the SUBJECT header. IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION that requires an answer, YOU MUST mailto:distribution@defendyourprivacy.com Replies to the List Manager will be deleted from our mailing list. [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 99 20:44:18 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Fw: EIA Communique - 4/5 (fwd) On Apr 5, Kevin McGehee wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] - -----Original Message----- From: EducIntel@aol.com To: EducIntel@aol.com Date: Monday, April 05, 1999 12:27 PM Subject: EIA Communique - 4/5 The Education Intelligence Agency COMMUNIQU=C9 =97 April 5, 1999 + After more than a year of dithering about it, EIA has launched a web p= age. The address is http://members.aol.com/educintel/eia It contains the most recent communiqu=E9, links to the communiqu=E9 archi= ve at CalNews and EIA reports on the web, background and contact info, and a da= ily briefing which highlights a significant education story of the day. It is= n't fancy, but neither am I. Please visit, add it as a link to your own web p= age, bookmark it, and make it your home page. + In other big EIA news: currently rolling through the presses is EIA's latest report, Measure for Measure: A Magnified Look at Standardized Test Scores. Just as One Yard Below may have changed the way you look at educa= tion financing, Measure for Measure may change the way you look at standardize= d tests. The study takes test critics at their word and examines scores by = all the external factors commonly cited as impediments to fair evaluation of students. Over 20 tables break down the most recent NAEP math and reading scores by gender, race, income, parental education, teacher education and experience, exclusion rates and spending. The results may surprise you. The report won't be ready for mailing until next week, but EIA will take your orders now. As always, single copies are free. Please call abou= t large orders. + The California Teachers Association State Council voted to spend up to $1.5 million from the union's Initiative Fund to gather signatures for it= s new initiative. Currently called the "Majority Rule Act for Smaller Class= es, Safer Schools, and Financial Accountability Initiative," the measure will= be placed on the 2000 ballot to reduce the vote needed for approval of schoo= l bonds from a 2/3rds majority to a simple majority. The Council members approved Version B of the initiative. Teachers, would you like to know ho= w Version B differed from Version A? Well, don't ask your State Council representative. He or she didn't get to see either one. Yep, your reps vo= ted to spend $1.5 million to gather signatures for an initiative that virtual= ly none of them has read. Have a nice day. + AFT President Sandra Feldman is upset about media coverage of educatio= n and the teachers' unions. In an interview with Public Agenda, Feldman complained "we just get looked at with prejudiced eyes, and there's very little reporting on the efforts we make." Feldman undoubtedly prefers the cream puff questions she got from Public Agenda. Here are just a few of them: "Is there a bias against the teachers' unions?" "Have reporters become too cozy with critics of the public schools?" "Why are the unions often painted as obstacles to reform?" "Do you think the media helps to perpetuate a low-status sense of teaching as a profession?" + If Feldman wants better press, she should tell her local presidents to choose better company. As part of a "Day of Action" organized by the New = York State AFL-CIO, United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten distributed flyers in front of the Union Square subway station in New Yor= k City. The flyers urged New Yorkers to contact state officials to protest budget cuts. Weingarten was joined by her AFL-CIO cohorts, Lee Saunders, administrator of District Council 37, and Phyllis Harris, secretary- treasurer of Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union. Saunders represented DC 37 because most of the union's leadership is unde= r indictment, under investigation, or forced from office because of corrupt= ion, embezzlement, election rigging, kickbacks, record tampering, and grand larceny. The SEIU in New York City was home to the infamous Gus Bevona, who was forced to retire from the presidency of Local 32B-32J in February ami= dst charges of financial mismanagement. Bevona gave up a $412,000 annual sala= ry in return for the dismissal of a civil suit, but received a $1.5 million golden parachute from SEIU. + Let's try this class size thing one more time. On March 8, EIA recappe= d the history of class size reduction: that Tennessee's Project Star had sh= own significant academic improvement when class sizes were reduced to 13-17 students; that Californians had been told this number was not a threshold= , that class sizes of 20 students would bring improvement, and that the Maryland State Teachers Association was pushing for 17 students in its st= ate, saying "there is literally NO improvement" at 20. Today, Vice President Al Gore will announce that the U.S. Government is granting California a waiver, allowing the state to use $129 million i= n federal funds to reduce class sizes in junior high and high school. Why i= s this significant? Well, the federal money is earmarked to reduce class si= zes in grades K-3. In requesting the waiver, California Superintendent of Pub= lic Instruction Delaine Eastin asserted that further reduction in K-3 would n= ot have "a significantly positive impact on the learning environment." + Last week, EIA reported that a delegate from the Hawaii State Teachers Association had introduced a new business item to require the disseminati= on of an itemized list of HSTA employees' salaries, benefits and expense accounts to delegates. The list was to be categorized by job title, not individual. Updated information reveals the motion was "ruled out of orde= r due to legal opinion." It bears mentioning that those who issued the lega= l opinion would have appeared on such a list. + Hats off to U.S. District Judge Edward F. Harrington. High school seni= or Nicholas Axelrod Panagopoulos had sued the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, claiming the prep school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by expelling him. Panagopoulos said the school failed to accommodate his attention deficit disorder. Judge Harrington ruled that Panagopoulos' problem was not ADD, but laziness. His ruling blamed "a wil= lful lack of effort on [Panagopoulos'] part, invariably excused by a parent wh= o indulged his lack of discipline and who failed to support the school in i= ts efforts to assist him to do his work." + Quote of the Week: "We're going down the wrong track. We can't just th= row money at the problem." -- Maryland State Delegate Daniel Riley (D-Harford= ), a teacher, explaining his opposition to a measure passed by the Maryland Ho= use to pay hiring bonuses to new teachers. The Maryland State Teachers Association opposed the bill, claiming it circumvents collective bargaini= ng and undermines attempts to raise salaries for all teachers. # # # The Education Intelligence Agency conducts public education research, analysis and investigations. Director: Mike Antonucci. Ph: 916-422-4373. = Fax: 916-392-1482. E-Mail: EducIntel@aol.com [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 Apr 1999 05:22:07 -0500 From: linzellr@datastar.net (Robert Linzell) Subject: Mises.org on NATO (i.e., U.S.) Warmaking - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 - - From the 5 April 1999 Mises Institute News: * * * * * In recent days, Mises.org has devoted space on its front page to debunking the case the Clinton administration has made for the U.S.-led war in Yugoslavia. Free markets and an imperial foreign policy are incompatible, so it becomes necessary for everyone who cares about the future of freedom to engage this debate on the side of peace. Other sites essential to the case against intervention are: http://www.iraqwar.org/ and http://www.antiwar.com/ which features Justin Raimondo's essential wartime diary. * * * * * "No wonder that all who have had something new to offer humanity have had nothing good to say of the state or its laws!" Ludwig von Mises Liberalism (1927) (Cobden Press, 1985) p. 58 - - --Bob in Mississippi State Motto: Virtute et Armis ("By Valor and Arms") - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPfreeware 6.0.2 for non-commercial use Comment: Get my public key from iQA/AwUBNwngHu0M/FuXc0xJEQIntgCfXjEukZ4MMBFRWP5J9+/yj/5SVskAoK7+ l5pAUjaeXe2UyXqr2bO5PbZY =0feW - -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Apr 99 18:03:27 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Give War A Chance As a Veteran, (U.S. Army '66-'70), I never thought that I'd be making a suggestion like the following, but nevertheless, here it is. If anyone has an address for those guys who sing those parodies with the voices of Carvel, Kennedy, Spotted Al, Hillery, our Chicken In Chief, and maybe some of those peaceniks/recently turned warhawks, please forward this suggestion to them. It doesn't matter to me who wants credit for the idea, as long as it gets there. Pass it along to who ever else might be interested, too, of course. With the above mentioned cast of suspects, do an individual rap mentioning their personal sins/pecadillos/traitorous crimes et al, followed by a short whine about needing something big, splashy, and long lasting to keep the news of them off the front pages of the Media, the boob tube, CNN etc. In between each one, have them come together for a rousing chorus of, "All we are saying, is give WAR a chance!" Finish it by repeating the chorus, over and over, fading out. When this comes out we should start a Nation Wide call in campaign to our favorite Rock/Country music Stations, MTV et al, requesting it over and over, till it makes the Top Ten, and even Congress can't ignore it. As a kid I uused to hear it on AFN, but do you remember what gave the song, "Where have all the flowers gone?", it's big push right at the start? Does the following sentence sound sort of familier? "It has been rumoured that the Clinton Administration has forbidden all U.S. Troops and NATO Forces from playing or singing this song." When it comes out we should be sure that our overseas friends, especially those in NATO Countries get copies. In case you haven't guessed it, my sense of irony dictates that I won't be happy till I see the Whithouse surrounded by people chanting, "Hell no, we won't go! Stuff it up your Kosovo! Hey, hey, William J., how many kids did you bomb today?" Not neglecting to Pray that they wise up and start doing the right thing, of course! - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 15:48:58 -0500 (CDT) From: Paul M Watson Subject: "I can do any Goddamned thing I want, I'm President" (fwd) Subject: "I can do any Goddamned thing I want, I'm President" Away from public eye, Bill Clinton is a violent, profane man who wants to "kill" his enemies By DOUG THOMPSON CHB Away from the public eye and the vaunted White House spin machine, President Bill Clinton is a vulgar, vengeful man who believes in "killing" people try to hurt him, those who know Clinton best say. White House staffers, Clinton confidants and others describe Clinton as "incredibly profane" and "an angry man who wants to inflict as much pain as possible on his enemies." Former White House senior staff member George Stephanopoulos in his book, All Too Human, writes about Clinton's mishandling of the Somalia crisis and shows the depth of the President's violent emotions: "'We're not inflicting pain on these fuckers,' Clinton said, softly at first. 'When people kill us, they should be killed in greater numbers.' Then, with his face reddening, his voice rising, and his fist pounding his thigh, he leaned into Tony [Lake], as if it was his fault. 'I believe in killing people who try to hurt you. And I can't believe we're being pushed around by these two-bit pricks.'" Those who have known Clinton since his days in Arkansas say the quote is "vintage Bill." "Only an idiot would buy the public persona of Bill Clinton," says Walter Erricson, a retired reporter who covered Clinton in his early political days in Arkansas. "He is an incredibly profane individual. He is now and always has been an angry man who wants to inflict as much pain as possible on his enemies." White House staff members say Clinton curses like a sailor, has temper tantrums that cause people to back away from him and uses the word "kill" often to describe what he wants to do with his enemies. "Once, when the House was finishing up its impeachment investigation, the President slammed his fist down on the table and said 'I'd like to kill all of these sons of bitches and just be done with it!' There was a long, painful period of silence until he regained his composure. Then everybody went on like it was never said," says one former White House staffer. Samuel Wilson, a former political worker in Clinton's second campaign for governor, remembers the candidate encountering a critic at a campaign appearance in a small town. After the critic told Clinton he was nothing but a "two-bit politician" and then walked away, Clinton turned to a campaign aide and said "write down the name of that motherfucker. When I'm back in office, he's a dead man." "I remember his look. It was cold," Wilson said. "I don't want to think he wanted to kill him literally, but I'm sure some sort of revenge was inflicted later on." In fact, it was fear of what Attorney General Bill Clinton could do to her business that kept nursing home operator Juanita Broaddrick from reporting Clinton's rape of her 21 years ago in a Little Rock hotel room. "Her fears were justified," says retired reporter Erricson. "Everybody knew Bill Clinton was a man who got even, any way he could." Helen Shannon, who worked in the Arkansas Statehouse during Clinton's second term as governor, said the governor would personally order state contracts canceled when he got angry with people. "The word would come down from the governor's office that somebody was off limits and we would cancel their contracts and put them on a 'don't use' list. It happened a lot," she says. Shannon, who was dating a member of Clinton's staff, says Clinton would order audits of contracts and tell the the Arkansas State Police to "turn up the heat" on somebody he didn't like. "When Bill Clinton ran Arkansas, it was a police state," she says. White House staff members tell similar stories. At one meeting, Clinton told staff members he wanted everyone in the Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's office audited by the IRS. "Several people in the meeting told the President he shouldn't do that," the staff member remember. "He slammed his fist down on the table and said: 'I can do any Goddamned thing I want. I'm President of the United States. I take care of my friends and I fuck with my enemies. That's the way it is. Anybody who doesn't like it can take a hike." The White House did not return calls for comment. TPDL (THE POLITICAL DIGEST LITE) which will average about 50 K and will be selected articles out of the TPD. To receive THE POLITICAL DIGEST LITE just send an e-mail message with the word subscribe TPDL in the subject line to tpd@callamerica.net. To stop receiving the TPDL just send an e-mail message with Unsubscribe TPDL or in the subject line to tpd@callamerica.net. Thank you. No Charge, it's FREE. - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Apr 99 14:25:59 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: McGehee's News & Comment - April 6, 1999 (fwd) On Apr 8, Kevin McGehee wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] McGEHEE'S NEWS & COMMENT (c) 1999 KEVIN McGEHEE North Pole, Alaska mcgehee@mosquitonet.com http://www.mosquitonet.com/~mcgehee/ Permission granted to anyone wishing to forward, redistribute, or broadcast this article WITH FULL ATTRIBUTION. ================================================================ THE QUAGMIRE I remember it as "The Weinberger Doctrine." It was a set of rules for military action set forth during the Reagan years, publicly stated, as I recall, by then-Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. Among the criteria were such considerations as whether the action would defend or promote a substantial national interest of the United States; whether victory has been defined so that the operation can be judged objectively once underway; whether victory is *achievable;* whether all other means of achieving the desired result had been fully explored and reasonably eliminated first; and whether the nuts-and-bolts decision-making would be left to the military commanders rather than being driven by political expediency. This doctrine was applied in such successful military engagements as the liberation of Grenada in 1983, and in Desert Storm in 1991. And so, when I am faced with the question of whether to support the present "NATO" air war against the Federal Republic of Serbia and Suburbia, I have to look at it in terms of the Weinberger Doctrine. * Does our action defend or promote a substantial national interest of the United States? The justification of the air campaign has been offered in terms of humanitarian concerns. Of course the American people have an interest in achieving humanitarian goals around the world. We're a good-hearted people and this is one of our most formidable strengths. But this nebulous interest doesn't fall under the heading of the kind of substantial national interest that justifies killing people and breaking things. It has also been suggested that if Slobodan Milosevic isn't stopped, the fighting in the Balkans will spread to embroil all of Europe in a general conflagration. This, if true, would justify taking action -- but look at who's trying to sell this justification: Bill Clinton. My money is on the dire forecast being about as true as his denials of wrongdoing in the Lewinsky business. Meanwhile our nation's tangible military and intangible diplomatic resources are being squandered in an action whose justification, when you get right down to it, is basic post-modern American feel-good-ism. All in all, the answer to this question is, There is no substantial U.S. national interest at stake in Kosovo. * Has victory been defined in a meaningful way? Again, the fog of feel-good foreign policy has done its damage. Given the answer to the question above, it is simply not possible to define victory except in the vaguest, most malleable terms. Given this administration's penchant for redefining its words to suit its aims, we can reasonably expect that if Serbia were to keep Kosovo, annex Albania, annihilate Greece and Turkey, and cause the utter collapse of NATO, Bill Clinton would find a way to declare victory. * Is victory achievable? It depends on what your definition of the word "is" is. Yet even if victory *had* been properly defined, the morale of our military personnel is at its lowest since the fall of Saigon, and our gee-whiz high-tech gimcrackery that so effectively pants-ed Saddam Hussein eight years ago is nearly depleted and *is not being replenished.* * Have all other options been seriously explored and eliminated first? According to published reports, Clinton's military advisors were arguing, without effect, that the best thing to do at this juncture was not to initiate military action but to impose economic sanctions and other diplomatic alternatives. In all likelihood, these moves would have had little effect on Milosevic's intentions, but we do know that the Serbian people were growing increasingly restive about Slobo, and the NATO attacks have only sent his job approval rating almost as high as Clinton's were during his impeachment trial. Given more time, Milosevic might very well have found himself out of a job without our firing a shot. * Will the details be decided by military planners or by politicians? Taking a page out of LBJ's book on Vietnam, Clinton has been involved in the selection of targets for individual missions. This is a bad idea when the politician is a sensible, trustworthy fellow. When it's Clinton, buy stock in a bomb shelter company. And this last point brings to the fore the primary reason why I can't support the Kosovo operation. Our men and women in uniform are in harm's way at the instigation and under the direction of a man whose mental stability has now become a question seriously discussed in Big Media. It's about time we all admitted that Bill Clinton thinks the way he talks. That is not a mark of sanity. Still more frightening is the prospect that, when Congress reconvenes, the Republican leadership will begin to speak openly against Mr. Clinton's big adventure. If history is any guide, support for the introduction of ground troops, already said to be high due to a phony poll perpetrated by a partisan Democrat polling outfit, can be expected at that point to hit 105% -- with a solid majority in favor of reinstating the draft. Used to be, where Clinton was involved, you only had to lock up your daughters. - -30- April 6, 1999 ================================================================ **Visit the McGEHEE'S NEWS & COMMENT archives** http://www.mosquitonet.com/~mcgehee/news&comment/ The views expressed herein are entirely those of the author(s), and do not reflect those of any person or group with whom the author(s) may be affiliated, unless explicitly labelled as doing so. [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 20:37:04 -0700 From: Jack Perrine Subject: Clintonites Close In On Our Medical Records Clintonites Close In On Our Medical Records April 7, 1999 by: Phyllis Schlafly While the American people were trying to kill the FDIC Know Your Customer plan to monitor our financial records, the Clintonites have been moving steadily and craftily to grab access to our health records. Just as local bankers were to have been coopted to spy on our bank accounts, the Administration is using two groups, home health providers and senior citizens, to spy on our medical records and forward all sorts of personal data to government databases. The pretext for these overreaching regulations is to uncover "fraud and abuse." But the methodology is to monitor all law-abiding citizens under the supposition that any of us might be doing something criminal. The new regulation to force 9,000 home health care agencies to collect and report sensitive information about all their patients was issued by the powerful federal agency called HCFA (Health Care Financing Administration). OASIS (Outcome and Assessment Information Set) is the cutesy name for this latest venture into Big Brotherism. Under OASIS, home health providers must interrogate ALL their patients, not merely those whose bills are being paid by the government through Medicare or Medicaid, exempting only children under age 18 and pre- and post-natal mothers. The government is thus reaching out to grab the medical records of patients whose medical bills are paid by private sources, i.e., not paid by the government. The 12-page fine-print form that home health care providers must fill out on each patient is extraordinarily detailed, offensively privacy-invading to the patient, and obviously exhausting and time-consuming for the employee conducting the interrogation. Curiously, this mandatory government form carries a copyright notice on every page, probably to prevent commentators like me from making copies and alerting the public to this new evidence of the Clintonites' efforts to collect information that is none of the government's business. The questionnaire isn't just about medical history, treatment and medications. Questions must be answered on race, ethnicity, family, whether you own or rent your residence, whom you live with, your finances, and your psychological attitude and behavior, of course, all tied into your Social Security number. There's much more. The questionnaire demands information on your mental state, your depression, your tobacco and alcohol use, your obesity, your bathing and eating practices, and your lack of motivation, unrealistic expectations, indecisiveness, suicide attempts, and life expectancy. The form asks if you make grammar mistakes, or use "excessive profanity" or "sexual references," and it has 53 boxes to be filled out on toilet and "elimination" performance. The home health care interrogator is instructed how to win the patient's trust before asking these nosy questions. If the patient refuses to answer any questions, the home health care employee is told to insert his own "observations." There is no provision for voluntary informed consent on the part of the patient, or that he be told that his responses will be logged onto government databases. Home health providers must obey HCFA directives under penalty of not getting paid for their Medicare patients. These forms must be filled out every time a home health care provider enrolls a new patient, and then revised every 60 days. Data are sent electronically to computers at state agencies and then to HCFA's database. It was the 1996 Kennedy- Kassebaum Act (which Bob Dole bragged about passing) that legislated the framework for a federal system of collecting and sharing medical records identified by a unique number for each patient. The OASIS regulation is another step to implement one of the original goals of Clinton's 1994 nationalized health plan: global budgeting, i.e. government management of all private, as well as public, health-care spending. When grassroots Americans found out about the Know Your Customer Regulation, they flooded the FDIC with 300,000 negative comments over a three-month comment period. But the comment period for the OASIS regulation expired March 26, and major newspapers didn't report it until 15 days before the deadline. The Clinton Administration's other campaign to gather medical records is a plan to recruit all senior citizens to spy on their own physicians with the goal of accusing them of fraud. Attorney General Janet Reno has made a public-private partnership with AARP to offer senior citizens the chance to collect a reward of up to $1000 if they file a report that leads to a monetary "recovery" from their doctor. If a senior suspects that his doctor has billed Medicare too much for a service rendered, the senior is supposed to call the toll-free "Fraud Hotline'' and report the doctor as a possible thief and crook. The harassment potential is enormous when 39 million seniors start trying to collect a bonus if the doctor's office enters the wrong payment code number on a Medicare form. It is probable that most seniors believe that everything they buy is overpriced because they grew up at a time when prices were so much lower. What a malicious scheme to harass doctors and destroy any confidential relationship between doctors and patients! Phyllis Schlafly column 4-07-99 *************************************************************** Purchase Eagle Forum materials at our new on-line store! http://www.eagleforum.org/order/ *************************************************************** Eagle Forum http://www.eagleforum.org PO Box 618 eagle@eagleforum.org Alton, IL 62002 Phone: 618-462-5415 Fax: 618-462-8909 - --------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Eagle E-mail please e-mail eagle@eagleforum.org with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. To unsubscribe, please send a message with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. - ----------------------------------------------------- Jack Perrine | Athena Programming | 626-798-6574 _________________| 1175 N Altadena Dr | ____________ Jack@Minerva.com | Pasadena CA 91107 | FAX-398-8620 - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Apr 99 23:11:08 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Re: Clintonites Close In On Our Medical Records They've been asking about firearms in the home, too..... On Apr 8, Jack Perrine wrote: > Clintonites Close In On Our Medical Records > > April 7, 1999 by: Phyllis Schlafly > >While the American people were trying to kill the FDIC Know Your >Customer plan to monitor our financial records, the Clintonites have >been moving steadily and craftily to grab access to our health >records. Just as local bankers were to have been coopted to spy on >our bank accounts, the Administration is using two groups, home >health providers and senior citizens, to spy on our medical records >and forward all sorts of personal data to government databases. > >The pretext for these overreaching regulations is to uncover "fraud >and abuse." But the methodology is to monitor all law-abiding >citizens under the supposition that any of us might be doing >something criminal. > >The new regulation to force 9,000 home health care agencies to >collect and report sensitive information about all their patients was >issued by the powerful federal agency called HCFA (Health Care >Financing Administration). OASIS (Outcome and Assessment >Information Set) is the cutesy name for this latest venture into Big >Brotherism. > >Under OASIS, home health providers must interrogate ALL their >patients, not merely those whose bills are being paid by the >government through Medicare or Medicaid, exempting only children >under age 18 and pre- and post-natal mothers. The government is >thus reaching out to grab the medical records of patients whose >medical bills are paid by private sources, i.e., not paid by the >government. > >The 12-page fine-print form that home health care providers must fill >out on each patient is extraordinarily detailed, offensively >privacy-invading to the patient, and obviously exhausting and >time-consuming for the employee conducting the interrogation. >Curiously, this mandatory government form carries a copyright notice >on every page, probably to prevent commentators like me from >making copies and alerting the public to this new evidence of the >Clintonites' efforts to collect information that is none of the >government's business. > >The questionnaire isn't just about medical history, treatment and >medications. Questions must be answered on race, ethnicity, family, >whether you own or rent your residence, whom you live with, your >finances, and your psychological attitude and behavior, of course, all >tied into your Social Security number. > >There's much more. The questionnaire demands information on your >mental state, your depression, your tobacco and alcohol use, your >obesity, your bathing and eating practices, and your lack of >motivation, unrealistic expectations, indecisiveness, suicide >attempts, and life expectancy. The form asks if you make grammar >mistakes, or use "excessive profanity" or "sexual references," and it >has 53 boxes to be filled out on toilet and "elimination" performance. > >The home health care interrogator is instructed how to win the >patient's trust before asking these nosy questions. If the patient >refuses to answer any questions, the home health care employee is >told to insert his own "observations." > >There is no provision for voluntary informed consent on the part of the >patient, or that he be told that his responses will be logged onto >government databases. Home health providers must obey HCFA >directives under penalty of not getting paid for their Medicare >patients. > >These forms must be filled out every time a home health care provider >enrolls a new patient, and then revised every 60 days. Data are sent >electronically to computers at state agencies and then to HCFA's >database. > >It was the 1996 Kennedy- Kassebaum Act (which Bob Dole bragged >about passing) that legislated the framework for a federal system of >collecting and sharing medical records identified by a unique number >for each patient. The OASIS regulation is another step to implement >one of the original goals of Clinton's 1994 nationalized health plan: >global budgeting, i.e. government management of all private, as well >as public, health-care spending. > >When grassroots Americans found out about the Know Your >Customer Regulation, they flooded the FDIC with 300,000 negative >comments over a three-month comment period. But the comment >period for the OASIS regulation expired March 26, and major >newspapers didn't report it until 15 days before the deadline. > >The Clinton Administration's other campaign to gather medical >records is a plan to recruit all senior citizens to spy on their own >physicians with the goal of accusing them of fraud. Attorney General >Janet Reno has made a public-private partnership with AARP to offer >senior citizens the chance to collect a reward of up to $1000 if they >file a report that leads to a monetary "recovery" from their doctor. > >If a senior suspects that his doctor has billed Medicare too much for >a service rendered, the senior is supposed to call the toll-free "Fraud >Hotline'' and report the doctor as a possible thief and crook. > >The harassment potential is enormous when 39 million seniors start >trying to collect a bonus if the doctor's office enters the wrong >payment code number on a Medicare form. It is probable that most >seniors believe that everything they buy is overpriced because they >grew up at a time when prices were so much lower. > >What a malicious scheme to harass doctors and destroy any >confidential relationship between doctors and patients! > > > Phyllis Schlafly column 4-07-99 > >*************************************************************** >Purchase Eagle Forum materials at our new on-line store! >http://www.eagleforum.org/order/ >*************************************************************** > >Eagle Forum http://www.eagleforum.org >PO Box 618 eagle@eagleforum.org >Alton, IL 62002 Phone: 618-462-5415 > Fax: 618-462-8909 >--------------------------------------------------------------- >To subscribe to Eagle E-mail >please e-mail eagle@eagleforum.org >with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. >To unsubscribe, please send a message with >UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. >----------------------------------------------------- > > Jack Perrine | Athena Programming | 626-798-6574 >_________________| 1175 N Altadena Dr | ____________ >Jack@Minerva.com | Pasadena CA 91107 | FAX-398-8620 - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- - - ------------------------------ End of roc-digest V2 #227 *************************