Thursday, June 28, 2007

Candidate Paul assigns reading to Giuliani

A Reuters story

Paul barely registers in opinion polls of Republicans hoping to win their party's nomination to contest the November 2008 presidential election.

An obstetrician-gynecologist from the Houston area, Paul frequently strays far outside the Republican mainstream.

He voted against the Iraq war resolution in 2002 and has proposed abolishing the Homeland Security Department and diminishing the Federal Reserve. His 1988 bid for president as the Libertarian candidate drew just slightly more than 400,000 votes nationwide.

Paul said it was irresponsible of Giuliani and other leaders to not examine the motivations of al Qaeda and other radical Islamic groups.

Among the books on Paul's reading list were: "Dying to Win," which argues that suicide bombers only mobilize against an occupying force; "Blowback," which examines the unintended consequences of U.S. foreign policy; and the 9/11 Commission Report, which says that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was angered by the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.

Another book on the list was "Imperial Hubris," whose author appeared at the press conference to offer support for Paul.

"Foreign policy is about protecting America," said author Michael Scheuer, who used to head the CIA's bin Laden unit. "Our foreign policy is doing the opposite."

A Giuliani campaign official could not confirm whether he had read any of the books on Paul's list.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Longshot Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on Thursday gave front-runner Rudy Giuliani a list of foreign-policy books to back up his contention that attacks by Islamic militants are fueled by the U.S. presence in the Middle East.

"I'm giving Mr. Giuliani a reading assignment," the nine-term Texas congressman said as he stood behind a stack of books that included the report by the commission that examined the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

Giuliani was mayor of New York when Islamic militants slammed two commercial airliners into the World Trade Center, a role that has vaulted him to the front of the Republican presidential pack despite his liberal social positions.

"I don't think he's qualified to be president," Paul said of Giuliani. "If he was to read the book and report back to me and say, 'I've changed my mind,' I would reconsider."

Paul advocates a limited U.S. foreign policy, including an end to the war in Iraq and a reduction in troop levels abroad.

Paul said he was unfairly attacked during last week's debate by 10 Republican presidential hopefuls, when Giuliani dismissed his contention that U.S. policies in the Middle East had contributed to the attacks in New York and Washington.

"I don't think I've ever heard that before, and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th," Giuliani said to wild applause.

A spokeswoman for Giuliani derided Paul's latest comments.

"It is extraordinary and reckless to claim that the United States invited the attacks on September 11th," Maria Comella said in an e-mail

Truth and Curiosity on The Trans-Texas Corridor

by Thom White

NOTE: Of interest is that Gov. Perry is focused on strengthening border security in his re-election campaign, but Wednesday he emphasized support for a guest-worker program for illegal immigrants and said a fence along the border with Mexico is a "preposterous" idea.

Perry also said proposed legislation designed to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants is divisive.

Texas Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul has added his voice to those who believe Texas Governor Rick Perry should be investigated for a criminal violation of the Logan Act after he jetted off to meet with foreign elites yesterday at the Bilderberg Group conference in Istanbul.

Perry’s trip to Turkey is a clear violation of the Logan Act which states that “Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”

Since Perry has not received authorization from Congress, the U.S. government or the American people to meet with Bilderberg luminaries, where policy that impacts the world is secretly discussed in a wholly undemocratic fashion, his visit represents a criminal act.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul and a whole lot of Texans believe Gov. Rick Perry should be criminally investigated for possible violation of the Logan Act for his participation in the secret meetings known as Bilderberger. The mainstream media, including cable, broadcast their conspiracy theories about these Bilderberger meetings: they're just a bunch of leaders getting together to discuss world events. The NAU is just a modern day rumor!



AUSTIN, Tex. February 5, 2007 -- Gov. Rick Perry announced the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) project in 2002. Perry's grand 4,000 mile scheme encompasses 11 separate corridors that will criss-cross the state. The corridors will cost $180 billion to build, will take 50 years to complete and, according to Gov. Perry, will greatly benefit Texans.

Although Gov. Perry says this massive project is being carried out to meet the needs of growth and commerce in Texas, critics say that Texans in fact don't want the Trans-Texas Corridor and see "TTC-35" (the first leg of the corridor running parallel to I-35) instead as the first piece of an international NAFTA-inspired highway, intended to increase trade with Mexico, and speed the importation of goods from Asia into Eastern North America.

The AP's Jim Vertuno reported that the purpose of the Trans-Texas Corridor is to "enable freight haulers to bypass heavily populated urban centers on straightshot highways that cut across the countryside." The corridors will also allow corporations to transport their toxic industrial waste through the state without directly endangering residents in populated urban and suburban areas.

Along with land, some critics say Americans in Texas are also surrendering another important possession: national sovereignty. Rick Perry's rail/truck/pipeline network for Texas is only the first segment of a new international corridor meant to bind Canada, Mexico, and these united States together into a previously unthinkable, massive superstate: The North American Union.

Dr. Robert A. Pastor's 2005 report to the Council on Foreign Relations includes the Trans-Texas Corridor as part of a grand network envisioned for a proposed "North American Community." According to the CFR plan, Canada, the USA, and Mexico will be joined together with a common perimeter and "harmonized" trade and security laws that will allow easier penetration of Chinese produce and manufactures to Eastern North America. Instead of going through Washington State, Long Beach, CA, or the Panama Canal, goods will be deposited at deep-sea loading stations off the southwest coast of Mexico (the port of Lazaro Cardenas), and then shipped on a non-stop route through Mexico, Texas and up to Kansas.

Illegitimacy has risen despite--indeed, because of--legal abortion

BY JOHN R. LOTT JR.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

The abortion debate usually centers on the morality of the act itself. But liberalizing abortion rules from 1969 to 1973 ignited vast social changes in America. With the perennial political debate over abortion again consuming the presidential campaign and the Supreme Court, it might be time to evaluate what Roe v. Wade has meant in practical terms.

One often misunderstood fact: Legal abortions just didn't start with Roe, or even with the five states that liberalized abortion laws in 1969 and 1970. Prior to Roe, women could have abortions when their lives or health were endangered. Doctors in some states, such as Kansas, had very liberal interpretations of what constituted danger to health. Nevertheless, Roe did substantially increase abortions, more than doubling the rate per live birth in the five years from 1972 to 1977. But many other changes occurred at the same time:

• A sharp increase in pre-marital sex.

• A sharp rise in out-of-wedlock births.

• A drop in the number of children placed for adoption.

• A decline in marriages that occur after the woman is pregnant.

Some of this might seem contradictory. Why would both the number of abortions and of out-of-wedlock births go up? If there were more illegitimate births, why were fewer children available for adoption?





As to the first puzzle, part of the answer lies in attitudes to premarital sex. With abortion seen as a backup, women as well as men became less careful in using contraceptives as well as more likely to have premarital sex. There were more unplanned pregnancies. But legal abortion did not mean every unplanned pregnancy led to abortion. After all, just because abortion is legal, does not mean that the decision is an easy one.
Many academic studies have shown that legalized abortion, by encouraging premarital sex, increased the number of unplanned births, even outweighing the reduction in unplanned births due to abortion. In the United States from the early 1970s, when abortion was liberalized, through the late 1980s, there was a tremendous increase in the rate of out-of-wedlock births, rising from an average of 5% of all births in 1965-69 to more than 16% two decades later (1985-1989). For blacks, the numbers soared from 35% to 62%. While not all of this rise can be attributed to liberalized abortion rules, it was nevertheless a key contributing factor.

With legalization and women not forced to go through with an unplanned pregnancy, a man might well expect his partner to have an abortion if a sexual encounter results in an unplanned pregnancy. But what happens if the woman refuses? Maybe she is morally opposed to abortion; or perhaps she thought she could have an abortion, but upon becoming pregnant, she decides that she can't go through with it. What happens then?

Many men, feeling tricked into unwanted fatherhood, will likely wash their hands of the affair altogether, thinking, "I never wanted a baby. It's her choice, so let her raise the baby herself." What is expected of men in this position has changed dramatically in the last four decades. The evidence shows that the greater availability of abortion largely ended "shotgun" marriages, where men felt obligated to marrying the woman.

What has happened to these babies of reluctant fathers? The mothers often end up raising the child on their own. Even as abortion has led to more out-of-wedlock births, it has also dramatically reduced adoptions of children born in America by two-parent families. Before Roe, when abortion was much more difficult, women who would have chosen an abortion but were unable to get one turned to adoption as their backup. After Roe, women who turned down an abortion were also the type who wanted to keep the child.

But all these changes--rising out-of-wedlock births, plummeting adoption rates, and the end of shotgun marriages--meant one thing: more single parent families. With work and other demands on their time, single parents, no matter how "wanted" their child may be, tend to devote less attention to their children than do married couples; after all, it's difficult for one person to spend as much time with a child as two people can.





From the beginning of the abortion debate, those favoring abortion have pointed to the social costs of "unwanted" children who simply won't get the attention of "wanted" ones. But there is a trade-off that has long been neglected. Abortion may eliminate "unwanted" children, but it increases out-of-wedlock births and single parenthood. Unfortunately, the social consequences of illegitimacy dominated.
Children born after liberalized abortion rules have suffered a series of problems from problems at school to more crime. The saddest fact is that it is the most vulnerable in society, poor blacks, who have suffered the most from these changes.

Liberalized abortion might have made life easier for many, but like sex itself sometimes, it has had many unintended consequences.

Mr. Lott is the author of "Freedomnomics,"

Former U.N. chief Waldheim had admitted major powers knew he was Nazi even while he was UN leader

June 14, 2007
MSNBC: VIENNA, Austria - Kurt Waldheim, a former United Nations secretary-general and Austrian president who became tainted by revelations that he hid his past in Nazi Germany's officer corps, died Thursday aged 88.

The Austrian presidency and a Waldheim family spokesman revealed his death, saying it came after a short illness. The domestic APA news agency said he had died of heart failure, quoting Waldheim's son-in-law.

Waldheim admitted concealing his service with Hitler's Wehrmacht in the Balkans but always denied knowing of Nazi war crimes committed there at the time, including deportations of thousands of Greek Jews.

A significant number of top Nazis were Austrian, including Adolf Hitler.

"If my life story has contributed to a new approach to history (in Austria), then it is positive — of course at the price of damage to me personally," Waldheim said in an interview with Austrian daily Der Standard in January 2006.

He said the intelligence services of major powers certainly knew about his past when he was UN leader in 1971-82, but that his economy with the truth was in retrospect "certainly a mistake," while reiterating that he was fundamentally innocent.
Until 1986, Waldheim was largely seen as a somewhat aloof, bland statesman without skeletons in his closet, a man who had served a decade as U.N. secretary-general after a career in Austria's diplomatic service dating back to 1945.

During Austria's 1986 presidential election, newsmagazine Profil published his old military registration card with stamps suggesting he had belonged to the Nazi Brownshirts, Hitler's paramilitary street force, before World War II.

Profil said it had also found evidence Waldheim had served in the Balkans in 1942-45, much of this under General Alexander Lohr, who was executed for war crimes in 1947.