From: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com (roc-digest) To: roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: roc-digest V2 #304 Reply-To: roc-digest Sender: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk roc-digest Sunday, December 5 1999 Volume 02 : Number 304 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 08:04:04 -0600 From: linzellr@datastar.net (Robert Linzell) Subject: [Fwd: Liberty Update] Forwarded FYI; let us include Rep. Ron Paul and his associates at Liberty Study as we count our blessings on this day of thanks. Bob in Mississippi - State Motto: Virtute et Armis ("By Valor and Arms") My PGP Public Key(s): RKBA! - -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Liberty Update Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 13:05:58 -0800 (PST) From: Liberty Update To: Dear friend of liberty, Thank you for your questions and comments. The following additions = have been made to our Web sites: http://www.libertystudy.org 1. Links to the congressional offices of the Liberty Study Group = have been added. 2. Links to the U.S. House and U.S. Senate have been added. = You can learn the status of all bills; see who is a member of = congressional committees and other very pertinent information = by using these two sites. 3. The members who were present and absent at the recent = congressional hearings of H.R. 2655 =96 The Separation of = Powers Restoration Act are now posted as well as the = witnesses' testimony. 4. An analysis of H.R. 2655 is now posted. http://www.executiveorders.org 1. Why repeal the War Powers Resolution of 1973? Our answer is = now posted in the FAQ section. 2. A link to a specialized search engine for million of U.S. = government documents has been added in the FAQ section. 3. Additions have been made to our bibliography in the FAQ = section. 4. Over 25 new articles/editorials about executive orders have = been added to the Media section. To print an item, please use = the print button at the bottom of the page or right click on your = mouse for a print command. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Kent Snyder Executive Director Liberty Study Committee If you have a comment or question, please mail to: mailto:Mail@LibertyStudy.org To unsubscribe from this list, please mail to: mailto:Distribution@LibertyStudy.org - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Nov 99 12:05:42 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: [slick-d] RULES OF CONDUCT - 1 (fwd) On Nov 28, Pep Stofen wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] To All - = That, which you give way to, is what you will produce. Since the '60s we've= been living in a very indulgent society. Now we are harvesting the results= . A colleague has presented some detestable statistics of this harvest. Eve= ry 30 seconds there is a divorce in America. Every fourth child born in Ame= rica is born to an unmarried girl. AIDS is an epidemic. William Bennett rep= orted in a speech, "It's now politically correct to believe in family value= s, but it's not politically correct to get specific about them." Are you re= ady to get specific about values for family living in America? When I was a lad, about 70 years ago, I remember a saying my grandparents a= nd parents told us, "Children should be seen and not heard." However, they = urged us to ask questions. So I ask you, "What are your values for family l= iving?" = Many years ago, family values were handed down from generation to generatio= n. These are not values that are fads to last only as long as the next pres= idential campaign. These are values that are the foundation of western civi= lization, upon which our entire judicial and system of law has been built. These family values are not to hurt us but rather they are to help us, not = to hinder us but to free us. You tell your child, "Don't touch a hot stove"= . Is that for your good or the good of the child? Every time the handed dow= n family values say "DON'T" it is always for a definite good cause for your= benefit. When you ignore these "Don'ts" you do so at your own peril. = These family values are tried and true. Modifications to these family value= s have not moved the complacent American to veto unacceptable change to the= se family values. I call your attention to the horrible and ghastly partial= birth abortion procedures legalized by our non-compliant legal court syste= m. Emphatically an abomination to all family values. (THERE IS NEVER A BAD = TIME TO CORRECT BAD GOVERNING FACTORS) Just what are the family values in your life? How many things do you revere= ? Do these include a career, another person, golf, travel, theater etc? Rem= ember "DON'T"? Only family values can be the foundation, and must be first = in your life! If your foundation is wrong, it doesn't matter how elegant or= how desirous your achievements are, eventually they all will fail. Only yo= ur accomplishments through family values will endure. Every time you place = family values first, your efforts will meet with success. A study at Harvard University turned up the following: Marriages, where fam= ily values were supreme, the divorce rate is one out of fifty marriages. Wh= ere not only family values are supreme, but also family togetherness, the d= ivorce rate is one out of 1,105 marriages. PUT FAMILY VALUES FIRST, IN YOUR MARRIAGE, IN YOUR FAMILY, AND YOU'LL SEE T= REMENDOUS SUCCESS! (Pep Stofen) [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** RKBA! - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- 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, 30 Nov 99 07:40:46 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Fratrum: For those who missed it yesterday... (fwd) On Nov 30, InTheRiver, wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_chastain/19991129_xcjch_be_prepare.shtml WorldNetDaily MONDAY NOVEMBER 29 1999 Jane Chastain WND Exclusive Commentary - ---------- WND Exclusive Commentary - ---------- Be prepared, go to prison by Jane Chastain - ---------- In this countdown to the millennium with the Y2K computer problems, we constantly are being warned to "be prepared" to take care of ourselves and possibly friends and neighbors in the event of shortages, power outages, and communications disruptions. Depending on the report you read or the seminar you attend, the predictions range from a few minor inconveniences to severe problems -- including a breakdown in police, fire, and rescue services. "Be prepared" is the motto of the Boy and Girl Scouts of America. Preparedness long has been a respected character trait; right up there with industriousness, trustworthiness, and punctuality. But is there such a thing as being overly prepared? If you live in California's San Bernardino County, you could be considered dangerous.It could land you in jail. Trudy and Chris Sherburne are a case in point, Case No. 1998-00-0020326 to be exact. This couple has been described by their pastor and his wife, their friends and associates as a little eccentric, a throwback to an earlier generation, but they are considered to be good, patriotic loyal Americans and good conscientious parents. However, during the last 19 months they have been incarcerated, had their children placed in protective custody, run out of their home, and stripped of their personal property. Chris Sherburne is still behind bars. The Sherburnes have been happily married for 24 years and have six children who range from eight to 23 years in age. Both parents are highly educated. Chris is an Army veteran and a graduate of UCLA in systems engineering. Trudy holds a master's degree from the University of Michigan in early childhood education. Sixteen years ago, when their oldest daughter was seven, they began a family business called Genuine GI Surplus as a way of staying together and teaching their children responsibility and practical skills. The family purchased, cleaned, sorted, and repaired government surplus items they obtained from military bases and from associates in the salvage business. They then sold these items at gun shows, law enforcement expositions, flea markets, swap meets and the like. The family lived in a 50-year-old home on five acres in a sparsely populated area in San Bernardino County between Hesperia and Victorville. Their problems began in 1998 on Good Friday when Trudy and three of her children came home from church that evening to find law enforcement officials, a newspaper reporter, the fire department, and bomb squad, along with a county code enforcement officer, searching her property. The team was convinced that the used military storage tubes they discovered must contain warheads or be otherwise dangerous. The police used their own explosives to destroy a cache of items they piled in the backyard and Trudy was arrested on charges of possessing a destructive device and deadly weapons, and child endangerment. Her three boys were taken by Child Protective Services and eventually turned over to their pastor, Alan Stanfield of the First Baptist Church of Lucerne Valley. Chris was in Florida at the time with the couple's three older children, restoring a boat, which the family hoped to sell or use in some way to help the Sudanese Christian relief effort. A warrant was made out for his arrest and he was apprehended soon thereafter. It is still unclear why, after 16 years of living in the old farmhouse, a code enforcement supervisor showed up at the Sherburne home that Good Friday afternoon, along with a deputy from the sheriff's office. However, a search warrant was quickly obtained -- perhaps too quickly -- to investigate the ominous looking surplus military items in the yard and on the property. The Sherburnes were charged with 23 felonies. They eventually pled guilty to possessing a destructive device after they discovered that the tracer ammunition they used for target shooting was illegal to possess in California. Tracer ammunition is used in other states to allow target shooters to see the trajectory of their fire, but isn't any more dangerous than regular ammunition. The Sherburnes accepted the plea bargain, partly out of fear of having to spend a considerable time in custody, and partly because of their lack of funds and adequate representation. However, it is clear that this family may have been irreparably harmed. Much of the Sherburne's property has been stolen, damaged, or destroyed because of the way the investigation against the family was conducted and because their home was left unattended and allegedly unsecured. The children were traumatized and their lives have been turned upside down. After being held on a million dollar bond for 133 days, Trudy eventually was released and her children, having been found healthy, well-educated and in above average physical condition, were returned. She was given 60 hours of community service and three years probation. However, despite being extremely cooperative, the family's worst fears for Chris were realized. On Feb. 3, 1999, with no prior record, Chris, who was classified as "extremely dangerous," was sentenced to 16 months in state prison, then parole, with credit for a year served. On April 5, 1999, just before his release date, Chris was given "special conditions" to sign, which included no contact with military surplus products of any kind, and no contact with his co-defendant, his wife Trudy. After refusing to sign away his right to return to his wife and family and pursue his living, he was transferred to Chuckawalla Valley State Prison near Blythe, with a new parole release date set for Aug. 23, 1999. Again Chris was presented with the same conditions, and again he refused to sign. Last month, while working in the prison kitchen, Chris was found dazed on the floor. He obviously had been struck by someone or something, but it was Chris who was punished (allegedly for fighting). He was thrown into solitary confinement and then denied all but emergency phone calls. However, Trudy recently received a letter stating that he has been given a new set of conditions to sign, which will allow them to be reunited, but states that he must refrain from social or business contact with anyone described as a member of a "right wing group." However, Chris is afraid to sign because "right-wing group" has not been defined and he is afraid of being rearrested and given a stiffer sentence. Trudy admits the couple was concerned about preparedness and unconcerned about neatness. By her own admission her place was a mess when law enforcement arrived. The fact that she had been away for three days and the place had been shut up during that time and spoiled food was found didn't help. However, bad housekeeping is not a crime, at least not yet. Trudy also admits that the family kept a cache of guns and ammunition hidden and had expanded an old bomb shelter Chris' father dug during the Cold War, just in case. At this time, none of these things is illegal. The Sherburnes even attended a couple of meetings of a local militia group. However, they declined to join because, in Trudy's words, "God wasn't in it." Yes, the Sherburnes could be classified as preparedness freaks, but they are not anti-government, nor do they belong to any such anti-government group, as some of the officers who conducted five different searches of their property have charged. The Sherburnes could be forgiven if they have a healthy distrust of their government now. However, many feel the criminal justice system in California should not be forgiven for the way in which it treated the Sherburne family. Randy Scott, Trudy Sherburne's probation officer, stated in the report he filed on Jan. 13, 1999, "The case is very complex and appears to polarize everyone involved. Those interviewed see the defendant as either a victim of a ruthless law-enforcement and court system or as a person who is potentially very dangerous to society and our government structure." If the Sherburnes are dangerous, the state of California must prove it. Otherwise, Chris Sherburne should be released and be allowed to rejoin his family and rebuild his life -- or what is left of it. - ---------- Donations to the Sherburnes or to the Sherburne legal defense fund may be sent to 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 (703) 321-8585. - ---------- Jane Chastain is now hosting "What Washington Doesn't Want You to Know" on KLTX in Los Angeles, 3-6 p.m. daily. The program can be heard at www.klight1390.com. [Real Audio ] Jane Chastain is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host. Her monthly newsletter, 'On the Issues' is available in the United States for $20 by writing: P.O. Box 890592, Temecula,CA 92589-0592. - - Monte - ----------------------------------------------------- Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom - ----------------------------------------------------- [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** RKBA! - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- 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: Wed, 1 Dec 99 06:46:33 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: FCC Public File Auto-FAQ This "FAQ" is auto-posted once a month via cron triggered script, and may be triggered off by hand from time to time in between if the info is requested by someone, such as when the House recently voted down the AW Ban and the Media threw a hissy fit. The purpose of this FAQ is to inform people what they can do about Media generated lies and misinformation. While the FCC only handles Broadcast Media, (TV and Radio), some of these techniques will work for magazines and newspapers too. If I've missed something, or you find errors, let me know and I'll add/fix it. 1.a. Send letters of complaint to the Station Manager every time it happens with all the time, details, other info, and your complaint(s). 1.b. Send an additional copy for their FCC (Federal Communications Commission) Public file. 1.c. Send an additional copy to the FCC itself, in case they don't put it in their Public file. 2.a. Send a letter of complaint to their Station Owner as per above, with copies as per above (1.b and 1.c). 3. Send copies of their replies to you along with yours to them to their FCC Public file, so that it gets nice and fat, again, with copies to the FCC itself. 4. If you can afford it, send all corespondence by Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested. Send a copy of the Return Receipt with everything that goes to the FCC itself, so that they will have additional evidence if the Station is cheating on their Public File. 5.a. Go to the Public Library and look up "Standard Rate and Data Services" (SRDS) "Directory of National Advertisers." It is found in many major Libraries (in the business/reference stacks), and lists EVERY current advertiser, who the players are at both the company and advertising agency(s), and the appropriate telephone and fax (and probably E-Mail by now) addresses. If your Library doesn't have it, it can be requested. Otherwise you can watch their commercials for a few days to a week, listing all their advertisers. There are other references that have the addresses for the nation's business headquarters too. look them all up and pass the addresses and phone/FAX numbers etc., around so that everyone can bitch to the sponsors. IF enough people do that, it'll get back to the Station. Tell them if the Station continues their nastiness you'll _consider_ changing to brand(X), (otherwise they'll just write you off as a loss). 5.b. The above, (5.a.), can be a lot easier and less time consuming if you're dealing with a newspaper's or a magazine's ads, as they are right in front of you for the listing. 6. If they put on something good or even just more reasonable, call and compliment them on it, but do _not_ send any kudos to their FCC file, or write to them about it. That way they have to keep it up and hope, as there is nothing good in the file or in writing that they can show the FCC to justify their Station's License. 7. Federal Communications Commission, Complaints and Compliance Division Room 6218, 2025 M Street NW Washington, D.C. 20554 FAX: 202-653-9659 FCC Attn: Edythe Wise - -- An _EFFECTIVE_ | The _only_important_difference_ between Nazi-ism, Fascism, weapon in every | Communism, Communitarianism, Socialism and (Neo-)Liberalism hand = Freedom | is the _spelling_, and that the last group hasn't got the on every side! | Collective brains to figure it out. -- Bill Vance - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Dec 99 08:28:22 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: [slickplus] VIN: Dec. 5 column -- "The Best Defense" (fwd) On Dec 5, RichSlick@aol.com wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] In a message dated 12/3/1999 11:19:51 PM Central Standard Time, Vin_Suprynowicz@lvrj.com writes: << Subj: Dec. 5 column -- "The Best Defense" Date: 12/3/1999 11:19:51 PM Central Standard Time From: Vin_Suprynowicz@lvrj.com (Vin Suprynowicz) To: vinsends@ezlink.com FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED DEC. 5, 1999 THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz But no honest citizen needs a gun ... right? One of the staple mantras of the gun grabbers -- we're not supposed to think about it (since statistics show it's 99 percent wrong), just chant it until is lulls us into a feeling of sweet repose -- is that "If you own a firearm you're just as likely to have it taken away and used against you." Right? I guess that's why I took so quickly to a new book which Floyd Coons at Master Shooters Supply handed me the other day. "The Best Defense: True Stories of Intended Victims Who Defended Themselves With a Firearm," is by Robert A. Waters, a retired vocational rehabilitation counselor from Ocala Florida ($14.95 from Cumberland House, 431 Harding Industrial Drive, Nashville 37211.) I defy anyone to dismiss these 14 harrowing, true-life accounts, often told in the words of the very crime victims who survived their ordeals due to one common factor: The fact that in America, we have a right to bear arms. Take the case of 49-year-old divorcee Sammie Foust of Cape Coral, Fla. "I used to love to open the windows and doors and feel the gulf breezes flowing through my house," Ms. Foust told interviewer Waters. "I got pleasure from watching sailboats pass by in the canal behind my home. Now I sit in a closed-up room. I'm even afraid to answer the door." Foust had fallen asleep cleaning house on the evening of May 9, 1996. The bed where she lay was piled with bags of old clothing she'd decided to give away, along with old purses and boxes of odds and ends. In her housecleaning, she'd also come across a tiny .25 caliber semiautomatic handgun a friend had long ago insisted she take for self-defense, though Sammie's father had warned her it was too small, advising: "Get a bigger gun. Wounded dogs will bite you. Dead dogs don't bite." The magazine of the .25 held four rounds. She'd checked it the night before, snapped the little slide to chamber the top round, and then fallen asleep with the little gun next to her pile of pillows. When she heard the blinds rattle in the living room at dawn, she assumed it was her cat returning. But it wasn't. It was three-time prison inmate James Wayne Horne, who had been released for the third time only a few weeks before, after serving slightly more than one year of a 10-year sentence for aggravated assault. The robber-assailant rushed into the bedroom and slashed Foust's face with a box-cutter knife. She offered him her purse, which he dumped on the bed, finding $400 in bills. He then demanded Foust tell him the location of her jewelry box, which she did. But the man was upset with the cheap quality of the costume jewelry, returning to demand "her diamonds" and to continue viciously slashing and beating her about the face. "You know I'm going to kill you," he hissed. "So you might as well give it up. Die easy or die hard, bitch." Foust directed the man to a second credenza. She knew it contained only more costume jewelry, but she needed space and time. Time to pick up the little .25, which she was amazed her assailant had not spotted ... and to figure out what to do with it. You see, Sammie Foust had never fired a gun in her life. She aimed for the man's center of mass and pulled the trigger. It sounded like a little cap pistol. There was no recoil, no blood. The man did not fly backwards or keel over dead. She figured the gun had misfired. But she'd certainly managed to upset James Wayne Horne, who flew back across the room, punching her square in the face. "She literally heard her nose implode back into her skull," Waters reports. "(start ital)Dear God,(end ital) she prayed, (start ital)don't let me pass out. Dear God, please let me hold onto this gun.(end ital)" The assailant pulled her to her feet, grabbed her wrist, and tried to wrench the gun away her with one hand while pummelling her with jackhammer blows to the face with his other fist. Police later told her James Wayne Horne had knocked out four of her teeth, which she'd swallowed. The bones in her gums were crushed, and her left cheekbone was fractured. Her nose was broken and her larynx fractured. Horne pounded and slashed at her face with his knife until one eyeball was hanging out of its socket. But he did not get the gun. Assuming her first two shots had missed, Foust resolved to save her two remaining cartridges until she had a clear shot. Finally, as the man drew back his arm for a knockout punch, she pointed the .25 at his stomach and fired again. "Bitch!" he whispered, as he dragged her into the living room and continued beating her. ""Now I'm gonna take that gun and blow your brains out!" Instead, Foust shot Horne a fourth time, in the abdomen. With the man atop her, pounding and pounding, Sammie Foust believed she could not survive. But finally, James Wayne Horne lay still. When police arrived, they found tables knocked over, chairs broken, dishes shattered, the walls and floors smeared with blood. They found James Wayne Horne where she had left him. The medical examiner concluded the first shot had entered his mouth, the second his heart, the third and fourth bullets his abdomen and groin. He had taken nearly an hour to bleed to death. Sammie Foust noticed the police and ambulance personnel wincing whenever they looked at her, cursing her attacker under their breath. When she finally found a mirror, she realized why. Her eye was surgically reattached that day, and permanent loss of sight was minimal. She has since run out of funds to pay for the proper repair of her gums and teeth. To this day, she eats only soft food. As an afterthought, as they hauled James Wayne Horne's body away, Sammie Foust pulled her hand from her pocket and asked a police interviewer: "Would you like to have this?" Foust recalled for author Waters: "A policeman came back and knelt down on the driveway. He tried to pry my fingers from the gun. And he started crying and said 'I'm gonna break your fingers. I can't get them loose.' But I couldn't let go of the handle. My knuckles were swollen up, I was holding it so tight. The grip I had on that gun was what kept my attacker from getting it from me. Even as big a man as he was, he couldn't take it away." And here I thought people like Sammie Foust would be better off if we banned all handguns. Because if she had a handgun, you see, it would just as likely be taken away and used against her. Right? Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His new book, "Send in the Waco Killers," is available at 1-800-244-2224. *** Vin Suprynowicz, vin@lvrj.com "The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it." -- John Hay, 1872 "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and thus clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." -- H.L. Mencken * * * - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - - If you have subscribed to vinsends@ezlink.com and you wish to unsubscribe, send a message to vinsends-request@ezlink.com, from your OLD address, including the word "unsubscribe" (with no quotation marks) in the "Subject" line. To subscribe, send a message to vinsends-request@ezlink.com, from your NEW address, including the word "subscribe" (with no quotation marks) in the "Subject" line. All I ask of electronic subscribers is that they not RE-forward my columns until on or after the embargo date which appears at the top of each, and that (should they then choose to do so) they copy the columns in their entirety, preserving the original attribution. The Vinsends list is maintained by Alan Wendt in Colorado, who may be reached directly at alan@ezlink.com. The web sites for the Suprynowicz column are at http://www.infomagic.com/liberty/vinyard.htm, and http://www.nguworld.com/vindex. The Vinyard is maintained by Michael Voth in Flagstaff, who may be reached directly at mvoth@infomagic.com. [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** RKBA! - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- 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: Sun, 5 Dec 99 08:27:20 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: [slickplus] For the junkies: The WTO Overview] (fwd) On Dec 5, RichSlick@aol.com wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] From: Clarence H Napier by Geov Parrish Casual observers can be excused for wondering what all the fuss is about. While local media has been flooded with horror stories about (gasp!) protesters (alternately "crazy" and "zany"), there has been very little ink given to exactly why tens of thousands would be driven to demonstrate on a topic as seemingly arcane as world trade. Why is the WTO important? How will it affect people's daily lives? It's impossible to summarize the literally dozens of issues encapsulated in the criticisms of the World Trade Organization in our limited space. But here's a quick overview of what the WTO is, what its policies are, and why they should be opposed. The WTO was created in 1994 as a successor to the GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, that had governed international trade since World War II. The GATT and other so-called Bretton Woods institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund served for decades as the model by which developed countries dealt with each other and attempted to develop--or, some would say, exploited the natural resources of--the Third World. This was (and is) known as the neoliberal model, and the WTO is firmly based on it. With the advent some two decades ago, in the U.S., Britain, Germany, and other developed countries, of a powerful new conservatism, came growing acceptance of a free market ideology that has led directly to the WTO. The WTO is markedly different from its previous regime in two important ways. First, its "free trade" agreements require the privatization of a wide array- -everything, really--of public resources. It requires, in the Frist and Third World alike, the logical extension of the neoliberal model: letting the free market make all public policy and control the movement of capital, goods, and services. Secondly, the WTO includes provisions that make its agreements much more legally enforceable than previous trade agreements. If a jurisdiction's law is found to be "WTO-illegal" and it is not withdrawn, the offending nation faces continuing sanctions equal to the alleged lost value of trade. This is expensive, and especially for poorer countries, this is a powerful incentive to comply. Generally--unlike statements by free trade proponents from President Clinton on down--critics of the WTO oppose not world trade, but the specific mechanisms by which the WTO governs it. These can generally be broken down into two broad categories: the specifics of sub-agreements on different industries, and the structure of the WTO itself. The power of the WTO to strike down laws is one of the major objections of WTO critics to the organization itself. It represents usurpation of democratically elected bodies by an undemocratic, unelected body that is almost completely dominated by corporate interests. When a country, usually at the request of a company or industry, lodges a complaint that another country's law is "WTO-illegal" The complaint is then heard by a secret tribunal of corporate lawyers in Geneva. Proceedings are closed to the public. No appeal is possible. So far, in four years, every complaint decided to date has been upheld by the Geneva tribunals. These include: overturning of a European ban on U.S. hormone-fed beef; overturning of a provision of the U.S. Endangered Species Act that protcted sea turtles from shrimping nets; striking down American and Brazilian programs that underwrote exporting companies; siding with Chiquita bananas (and the U.S.) against a European program that bought bananas from former Caribbean colonies; and a successful challenge of a Canadian provision that banned a particular gasoline additive. While WTO critics tend to focus on these few examples (hence the hundreds of dancing sea turtles at the Nov. 30 protest), more important, perhaps, are the laws never enacted in the first place. The WTO has had a tremendous chilling effect on jurisdictions. We saw a notable example in Seattle when the city council refused to enact a selective purchasing ordinance in support of pro- democracy forces in Burma. Sure enough, a similar law in Massachusetts is being challenged before the WTO as well as the Supreme Court. The WTO, structurally speaking, is functioning within the U.S. much like a second Supreme Court. It is not a new "world government" in the sense of being able to pass laws on its own, but, like the Supreme Court, can set the standards by which laws are passed, and strike down laws not to its liking. That's a lot of power for an institution created by and for transnational corporations. The biggest structural concern with the WTO is, quite simply, that transnational corporations are calling the shots and are the primary beneficiaries of its rulings, at the expense of countries that want to protect their environment, food safety, workers' rights, or other public policy values unrelated to profit. The problem with the WTO, in this view, is not that it promotes free trade; it's that it bans any other factors as a legitimate basis for public policy. We are left with a secretive, corporate- dominated, free-market-above-all entity that can trump any national government in its policy-making. The four-year-old WTO has had virtually no review of the impact of the agreements implemented so far. The Seattle agenda has yet to be announced, but it is expected to include both old business and new proposals. Both existing and proposed free trade agreements have extensive opposition. Existing WTO Trade Agreements: The TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related Intellectual Property): covers patents, copyrights and trademarks. TRIPS has been enormously controversial in the Third World, particularly in the drug industry's attempts--often successful-- to patent indigenous plants and remedies that peoples in a particular country may have used for generations or even centuries. Most heavily affected by these new monopolies are the countries with the greatest biodiversity--poor countries like India and Brazil without the resources to repeatedly fight New York patent lawyers. The SPS Agreement (Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards) is the WTO's food safety agreement. Its prohibitions on cautious science and labeling have led directly to the European Union hormone-fed beef standoff. Under SPS countries cannot even internally--let alone in international trade- -adopt standards that require new technology be proven harmless (if King County wanted to adopt standards for produce grown within the county, it could not). Instead, the emphasis is on trade at all costs--including human. The Clinton Administration has also argued that SPS bars labelling with information that might dissuade consumers--for example, whether a product is or is not organic. SPS also has enormous implications for biotechnology and genetically modified foods. GATS (The General Agreement on Trades and Services) covers almost all economic activity that does not include manufactured goods, raw materials, or farm products. GATS is one of 15 Uruguay Round (WTO's immediate predecessor) agreements enforced by the WTO. GATS has overseen the globalization of the banking, insurance, and data management industries. Further GATS agreements are expected to push hard for the privatization of education, public health, and other services normally associated with the public sector. The Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI) is also being proposed as a GATS reform. The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture set rules on domestic and international agricultural business that have accelerated the huge concentration of corporate agribusiness dominance in supplying the world's food. A tiny handful of companies now have a stranglehold on basic food (corn, wheat, soybean) production and distribution, with particularly disastrous consequences for developing countries which must purchase food from earnings on commodity crops. During the WTO's first four years, food prices have remained steady or increased while wholesale prices for commodities have plummeted to record lows. New Possible Seattle Agenda Items Global Free Logging Agreement: The Clinton Administration is pushing hrad for a free trade logging agreement that would abolish developing and developed countries' attempts to protect remaining old growth forests. Such an agreement, viewed as a catastrophe by environmentalists, is estimated to increase global wood products consumption by up to 5% and hasten the destruction of the world's rainforests, contributing to global warming as well. Needless to say, Washington state's politicians have clamored for this allegedly job-creating document, even though it would virtually eliminate remaining wood processing in the state as logs are sent to Japan to be chips and, eventually, disposable chopsticks. The Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI) covers the free flow of investment capital around the world. Ignoring the lessons of the speculation that led to successive crashes in Asia, Russia, and Brazil in 1997-98, the MAI is designed to make fast fortunes at the expense of developing countries attempting to retain capital within their borders. The MAI also contains an extraordinarily dangerous provision which allows corporations themselves, rather than countries, to challenge laws as WTO-illegal before the pro-corporate Geneva tribunal. This would remove the last vestiges of democratic representation from a WTO mechanism which abolishes public policies not made with the goal of profits first. Seattle and King and Snohomish Counties are all on record opposing the MAI due to its threat to local control over laws. The European Union is promoting a new Competition Policy that would bar any restrictions on transnational corporations trying to enter local markets. The U.S. also wants new agreements on biotechnology, enabling corporations to patent life forms, and agreements on e-commerce regulation. The net effect of the WTO's agreements, both those already in place and those proposed for the future, is to give transnational corporations tremendous power at the expense of both local businesses and democratic institutions. The effect is particularly pronounced in the Third World, where corporations are attempting to remove resources (like life forms) indigenous to the country, and can muster legal power the countries cannot afford to battle. Environmentalists see WTO agreements as contributing to air pollution, global warming, deforestation. and a host of other ills. The freedom of companies to move resources and production from country to country alarms labor, particularly with the lack of any concomitant agreements on worker safety, abolition of child or slave labor, or the right to collective bargaining. WTO proponents essentially rely on trickle-down economic arguments: the idea that enriching transnational corporations creates jobs and eventually benefits all of us. But the harm to public policies and the rapidly growing gap in income disparity between the very wealthy and everyone else are problems for which free markets offer no solutions. As it now stands, the WTO is making the rules, interpreting the rules, and enforcing the rules, all with a secretive pro-corporate structure unaccountable to any public. The WTO's agenda, quite simply, is to abolish any and all regulation of corporations. The Seattle or Millennial Round is the WTO's latest move to inexorably increase its own power. The WTO must be reigned in, starting in Seattle, before corporations rule the world--and we all lose. [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RKBA! ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** RKBA! - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- 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 #304 *************************