VOL. 1. NO. 9. (to December 27, 1998).
BB=Bilderberger CFR=Council on Foreign Relations M=Mason RS=Rhodes Scholar TC=Trilateralist
BUSH THINKING MORE ABOUT BEING PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.A.
Governor George Bush has yet to announce his candidacy for President of the United States. However, he said (Austin American-Statesman Dec. 23): "I'm thinking about it a lot." He appointed Mike Williams, a black, to the three-member Texas Railroad Commission. Bush got an unprecedented 25% of Texas black votes according to exit polls last November. Williams served as cochair in 1980 of Midland's United Way campaign. In 1990 President George Bush made Williams assistant secretary of education for civil rights. In December Governor Bush appointed Chase Undermeyer to be chairman of the State Board of Education. He was Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the Ronald Reagan Administration. Under President Bush, Untermeyer was director of presidential personnel. Untermeyer's most recent private position was director of government affairs for Compaq Computer Corp. in Houston. On December 16, Bush entertained Los Angeles investment banker, Brad Freeman, in the governor's mansion. Freeman raised $500,000 for Bush at a Los Angeles luncheon last year. China is said to be looking favorably on a second Bush presidency (South China Morning Post Dec. 28).
COMPANY FOUNDED BY FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH TO RE-LAUNCH INTERNET BUSINESS VENTURE ABANDONED IN OCTOBER
Zapata Corp., founded in 1953 by former President Bush, is now primarily a fish oil and sausages firm (Reuters Dec. 23) that plans to become an Internet titan. Its subsidiary, Zap Corp., will develop an Internet brand name and a network of sites. Zapata President Avram Glazer said the global financial markets have "strengthened dramatically."
NEW SPEAKER IS A REAL SQUEAKER
Former wrestling coach, Rep. Dennis Hastert, will become Speaker (NBC News Dec. 21). He has been married for twenty-six years and has no personal problems. Tom LeLay gathered up the votes for him after Livingston announced he would not serve.
SOLID JEWISH SUPPORT FOR GORE MAY MOVE TO BILL BRADLEY
The Forward reports, in an article by Seth Gitell, that the combination of impeachment and Clinton's moral equivalence between Israeli terror victims and Arab terrorists, may cause the resilient Jewish support for both Clinton and Gore to move. A group of Jewish New Yorkers has already begun an exodus from Vice-President Gore (CFR/M) to back Bill Bradley (CFR/RS). Morton Klein, President of the Zionist Organization of America, has stated that Clinton's Gaza speech "may have been the most pro-Arab speech ever given by an American president." Senator Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) met in Israel with a group of families of terrorist victims and promised congressional hearings. Richard Norman Perle (CFR), a former aide to Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said six years of misleading members of Congress may come back to haunt Clinton in the impeachment process. Perle was reminded of the last days of Nixon by Clinton's Gaza trip.
PEACEMAKER MITCHELL CHOSEN TO INVESTIGATE BRIBES
Former Senator George John Mitchell (CFR) has been chosen by the Olympic Committee to investigate charges of bribery (NBC News Dec. 22).
DANGERS TO GLOBAL ECONOMY SUGGESTED BY IMF
The IMF announced five key risks to the global economy (Moneyline Dec. 21): 1) capital inflows to emerging markets, 2) weakness in Japanese economy, 3) big swings in exchange rates, 4) protectionist pressures and 5) stock market surges. On September 4 Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan (CFR/TC) stated (Moneyline Dec. 22): "It is just not credible that the United States can remain an oasis of prosperity unaffected by a world that is experiencing greatly increased stress."
WALL STREET NEWS
AOL is being added to the S&P 500. This often boosts a stock (Moneyline Dec. 22). Bill Gross, Managing Director of PIMCO, of Newport Beach, California, the largest bond business manager who oversees a $150 billion portfolio, predicts 5% interest in the U.S. Japan owns about 10% of U.S. treasuries. He is buying mortgages that are guaranteed by the government and yield 6.5%. Chuck Clough, of Merrill Lynch, said (Moneyline Dec. 22) we had seen one of the most rapid increases in bank credit in the history of the Federal Reserve System. Starting in October, bank credit in the U.S. grew at a 40% rate. This is the sole reason why stocks came back up. There is a bubble, however, and most stocks are still down. John Manley, of Salomon Smith Barney, said (Moneyline Dec. 22) the Fed wants to protect the lending system. He likes Bristol Myers, Chase Manhattan and Hewlett Packard stocks. Robert Stovall, President of Stovall/21st Advisors, (NBR Dec. 24) said that investors globally are putting their money into large U.S. corporation stock. He likes Berkshire Hathaway B stock and 3Comm.
NBC STORY PRAISES AMERICAN CONSUMPTION AND LACK OF SAVINGS
Lionel Tiger, a Rutgers Professor, has written a book about America's unique optimism. He stated in an interview (NBC News Dec. 23): "People feel that they don't have to save money against a rainy day because they don't see what that rainy day would be." The U.S. now has a whole shopping generation under twenty-five that has never lived in a recession. The Great Depression is now sixty years in the past. Personal economic fear is a complete stranger. The sunny American attitude is good for the country. Donald Jacobs, of the Kellogg School of Management, said (NBC News Dec. 23): "We're going to consume and we're going to invest, and if we consume and invest things will be well. So, I call it the virtuous cycle." With sales up 5%, the American economy calls it Merry Christmas.
WALL STREET WEEK REVIEWS MAJOR BUSINESS EVENTS OF 1998
Louis Rukeyser (PBS Dec. 25) reviewed 1998's key deals. In April, Traveler and Citicorp announced their merger. Citicorp was started as a New York Bank in 1812 and grew to nearly 3,000 offices in 100 countries. John Shed Reed (BB/CFR) (Citicorp) and Sandy Weill (Travelers) were interviewed (May 8) by Rukeyser. Weill said that Citicorp has 200 million customer inquiries a year from their credit card customers. He could make their lives a lot simpler: "We are in a global economy and there is no getting away from the fact that you are going to be affected in one country from what happens in another country and it's important, I think, with the world changing as fast as it does that companies have stability, that companies have diverse income, both by regions and by product, and be very, very strong." Weill said concerning possible layoffs: "This is not a story about layoffs." He then added: "We certainly decided not to lay anybody off at the chairman or CEO level." Last week, however, Citigroup announced that 10,400 jobs would be axed in a pre-Christmas announcement. Eckhard Pfeiffer, President and CEO of Compaq Computer Corporation, was interviewed on Nov. 21. Rukeyser then gave a history of the more and more United Europe. The first move came from the U.S. Marshall Plan. The true founder was the Frenchman Jean Monett who said that Germany should be an economic partner. In 1953 France decided to merge its steel and coal production with Germany. The EU charter group in 1958 had six nations: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemborg and the Netherlands. In 1973 the first six were joined by Britain, Denmark and Ireland. Greece was admitted in 1981; Portugal and Spain in 1986. In 1995 Austria, Sweden and Finland brought the total of the EU nations to 15. It has one-third of the land area of the United States but a much larger population of 380 million (versus the U.S. population of 268 million). The EU has a GNP of $8 trillion (U.S. $7.2 trillion) and a 20.9% share of world trade (U.S. 19.6%). In England the issue of turning over sovereignty to bureaucrats on the other side of the channel was a big obstacle. England has a direct investment of $142 billion in the U.S. which is greater than any other nation. Brussels is now Europe's capital. By July 2002 the euro will replaced the currency of all participating EU nations. The question: after economic union, will political union follow?
NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE NOW AGAIN LOVES NEW YORK
The Mayor of New York unveiled a $560 million city and state economic incentive package to keep the New York Stock Exchange from moving to New Jersey (Moneyline Dec. 22). New Jersey had offered $1 billion for the move. The NYSE provides 4% of the jobs in New York and 17% of all wages. Mitchell Moss, Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at New York University, said the NYSE played the threat of leaving to get the maximum subsidy. The space for the NYSE has been tripled. It will retain the facade of J.P. Morgan and the Wall Street address.
LESS GAS STATIONS BUT MORE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
The number of gas stations in the U.S. has declined from 2 million in 1988 to 600,00 in December 1998 (NBC News Dec. 23). This is said to be an unfortunate outcome of a necessary environmental protection. Up to two-thirds of gas tanks that have been dug up so far have had leaks. Gas stations will now be harder to find.
BANKERS HOPE TO SAVE BILLIONS BY ELIMINATING U.S. USE OF CHECKS
Wired News says bankers are working on "truncation" to convert checks into electronic impulses by lining up cooperative merchants. The writing of checks, derived from the custom of long-ago English gentlemen, is seen as a drain on bank profits and may be used as a justification for further bank mergers. People are still hung-up on using cash, barter and writing checks. Gerard Milano, Director of the California Banker's Clearing House Association, said: "Changing their behavior patterns takes generations. You can only change them one bill at a time."
THE CLINTON IMPEACHMENT DEBATE GOES ON AND ON
Former President George Bush (CFR/M/S&B1948/TC) (Reuters Dec. 25) joined Bob Dole (33rd M) and Jimmy Carter (CFR/TC) in calling for a Senate rebuke but continuation in office for President Clinton. President Clinton (BB/CFR/RS/TC) on Thursday attended a dinner party at the home of Vernon Jordan (BB/CFR/TC). Democratic Senators Robert Byrd (D-West Va.) and Daniel Patrick Moynihan (CFR) (D-New York) are crafting a censure resolution. In Friday's New York Times, Moynihan of New York was quoted: "There has to be a commander-in-chief. You could very readily destabilize the presidency."
Senator Robert Torricelli (CFR) (R-N.J.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said (CBS Face the Nation Dec. 20) that no Democratic Senator now plans to vote against President Clinton. He said that resignation "would be the wrong thing to do." Senator Joseph Lieberman (CFR) (D-Conn.) said the Senate wanted fairness, non-partisanship and does not want to destroy the institution of the presidency. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) said from London: "Censure is not worth a tinker's dam." Christopher Dodd (CFR) (D.-Conn.) hoped (Meet The Press Dec. 20) that the Senate would begin immediately to see if an impeachment trial could be avoided. The country doesn't want a protracted proceeding. There is no absolute requirement that the Senate go through a trial. Dodd said (NBC News Dec. 22) there weren't enough votes for impeachment. James Carville, Democratic Strategist (Meet The Press Dec. 20) was paired off against Mary Matalin, a Republican Strategist. Carville said: "These people are going to pay for what they did. This was a cowardly and dastardly thing that they did. And there's going to be retribution and the retribution is going to be at the polling place." Matalin asked where his spirit of reconciliation was. Carville said the Republicans had ignored two elections and the constitution. Tom Brokaw (CFR) said (NBC News Dec. 21): "(T)he country is not happy with those who did the impeaching." Impeachment was taking away from the spirit of the holidays. Two-thirds want no trial. The heartland message is: "Enough already!" A tape was shown (Meet The Press Dec. 20) of Hillary Clinton's statement on Today (January 27): "The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it, is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for President." Henry Hyde (CFR) stated (Meet The Press Dec. 20): "And it's hard to give absolution to somebody if they don't want to admit to the details of what they did."
Senator John Hubbard Chafee (CFR/TC) (R-R.I.) said (NBC News Dec. 21) that at least a trial must begin in the Senate: "It's very heavy weather out there for the President right now." Senator Dianne Feinstein (BB/TC) (D-California) said (NBC News Dec. 21): "What bothers a lot of people is that it doesn't seem to come through to him (Clinton) the enormity of the situation in which he finds himself." She said later (NBC News Dec. 22) there was a need for "some real indication that impeachment has sunk deeply into the psyche of this man." Three deal makers for Clinton surfaced (McLaughlin Group Dec. 20): Bob Dole (33rd M), Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (BB/CFR/33rd M) and Congressman Mike Castle (former Governor of Delaware). Former President Jimmy Carter (CFR/TC) joined Ford in proposing censure. The President would publicly acknowledge that he lied under oath but the admission could not be used in any future criminal trial. Ray Kerrison wrote in The New York Post (Dec. 15) about a "Clinton criminal spree" and said the Republicans had "handed the rogue president and his bankrupt Democratic Party its worst nightmare." Clinton is the first elected U.S. President to be impeached. Despite impeachment (NBC News Dec. 21), his ratings continue to increase: 72% approve while 25% disapprove. 62% say to remain and 34% say to resign.
Bob Schieffer remarked (CBS Face the Nation Dec. 20) that Congress is unable to do mundane things like pass appropriations bills but can impeach the President. The tawdry revelations about Bob Livingston came just before the vote and the war was stopped just after the vote. He said there was something that was just not right.
DEBATE ON GULF BOMBING HOTTER NOW THAT BOMBS ARE AWAY
William Cohen (CFR/TC) said (CBS Face the Nation Dec. 20) that U.S. troops will continue to be in the Gulf and that there was concern not to injure innocent civilians. Defense Secretary Cohen praised 6,3000 troops on the U.S.S. Enterprise (NBC News Dec. 23). The reporter stated: "The difficult mission lies back on shore convincing American allies in this region that gave very little support to operation 'Desert Fox' that it was the right thing to do." The Department of Defense has spent $3 billion in the Persian Gulf in 1998 alone. Rep. Peter Goss said (NBC News Dec. 21): "I don't think we did as much as we needed to get done." The forces will remain in the Gulf as long as the eye can see. Madeline Albright (CFR/TC) said (Meet The Press Dec. 20) that everyone was home safe from the 70-hour mission. The region is safer and it was a credible use of force. When Saddam claims victory "that is sheer propaganda." She added: "To say that it was a setup is dead wrong." Jack Kemp (33rd M) questioned (Meet The Press Dec. 20) the purpose of the bombing: "Or does it have no more purpose beyond venting frustration from years of failed policies?" Scott Ritter, former weapons inspector, was quoted in the New York Post (Dec. 17, 1998): "You have no choice but to interpret this as "'Wag the Dog.'" He was referring to a recent movie where the plot was a President who started a war to cover up a sex scandal. Later he said (NBC News Dec. 21): "I think this is a very feel good campaign of achieving very little of significance." Richard Haass of the Brookings Institute stated (NBC News Dec. 23): "The weapons inspectors are not back, Saddam is still there, our alliances in the region and around the world are somewhat weakened. This is not a good investment for the United States." But the Clinton administration says it is worth every penny. National Security Advisor Sandy Berger (CFR) stated (NBC News Dec. 23): "Saddam has learned that we have not lost our resolve to block his aggressive aims." Pat Buchanan said there was (McLaughlin Group Dec. 20) a plausible case for the air strikes and timing. He predicted that Pinochet would win his appeal and be sent home. Eleanor Clift of Newsweek said that Clinton was backed up by career generals, could not stop impeachment and the strikes had been in train since November 14th. A post-bomb world is coming soon. She also predicted that Dick Gerphardt (CFR) would become House Speaker in 2000. Lawrence Kudlow, of National Review, said it was a Marx Brothers policy that would not work without U.S. troops on the ground. Kudlow also said that out of 350 sites in Iraq only three were not able to be inspected. A story in the Washington Post (Dec. 16) stated that Washington "helped orchestrate the terms of the Australian diplomat's report" and played "a direct role in shaping Butler's text."
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a Vienna-based organization, gave Iraq a clean nuclear bill of health and said that Iraq had provided "Effective and efficient cooperation." Clinton falsified the existence of a nuclear threat.
TO THE CONTRARY FEATURES CFR PANEL
Elaine Choa (CFR) of the Heritage Foundation, President of United Way America and wife of Senator Mitch McConnell, appeared (PBS To The Contrary Dec. 20) on a panel which also included Eleanor Holmes Norton (CFR) of Washington, D.C. and Patricia Scott Schroder (CFR), former Congresswoman (D-Colo.). The program was sponsored by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Foundation.
20/20 FOCUSES ON SCIENTOLOGY AND DEMISE OF CULT AWARENESS NETWORK (CAN).
ABC's 20/20 (Dec. 20) was hosted by Barbara Walters (CFR) and Diane Sawyer (CFR). The program focused on the Church of Scientology. Tom Gerard reported on a year's investigation. One of the church's most bitter enemies was the Cult Awareness Network (CAN). Some Scientologists joined CAN. Beginning in 1991, some fifty anti-CAN lawsuits were filed. A suit by Jason Scott drove CAN into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 1995. A Los Angeles lawyer, a Scientologist, now owns the name and assets of the bankrupt CAN. Today, when you call CAN, a Scientologist answers the phone.
RESIGNATIONS SHAKE BLAIR AND NEW LABOR PARTY IN BRITAIN
Last Wednesday British Trade Peter Mandelson, the political mastermind of Tony Blair's 1997 election victory, resigned along with Treasury Minister Goeffrey Robinson (Reuters Dec. 27). The scandal resulted from a secret loan of $625,000 to Mandelson to buy a house in London's Notting Hill district. Mandelson also may have accepted a free flight on a private jet owned by Linda Wachner, an American tycoon. He is expected to spearhead a campaign to persuade Britain to join the single European currency.
ED BRADLEY REPORTS ON WHITE FARMERS IN SOUTH AFRICA
There are some 50,000 white farmers left in South Africa (60 Minutes Dec. 20). Ed Bradley (CFR) said that whites have begun armed night patrols due to the record murder rate. Innocent South Africans are being stopped and asked what they are doing out.
BILLIONAIRE ATHEIST GEORGE SOROS INTERVIEWED ON SIXTY MINUTES
George Soros (BB/CFR), like Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, has amassed billions (60 Minutes Dec. 20) by "ruthless business decisions" and then has spent most of his fortune to support his personal philosophy. He stated: "(T)he fact is the system is broke and it needs fixing." He believes the world needs to be protected from people like himself. Soros explained: "I am a player and I think all players should be regulated. There has to be rules of the game." His $14 billion Quantum Group moves money around the world every day and answers to no one. He sold Thailand currency, was followed by Hong Kong traders and much of Asia was thrown into recession. In the past two years, Soros has been blamed for the collapse in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and Russia. The Prime Minister of Malaysia spent four years building up its economy and along came "a moron like Soros" with a lot of money and it was all over. Kraft said that the Prime Minister had called Soros a "criminal." Soros replied: "It's easier for him to blame an outside force than to admit that they were mismanaging their economy and their currency. The French finance minister talked about hanging speculators from lamposts." Soros said the Asian currencies would have collapsed if he had not been in the markets. They were over-valued. People tend to follow his lead because he has been so successful. He said: "I am basically there to make money. I cannot and do not look at the social consequences of what I do." Jim Grant, Editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, said about Soros: "This man is a carnivore of the first order. He has always amazed the people he has worked with because of his audacity and his willingness to back up his commitments with enormous sums of money. It causes the blood to drain from ordinary mortal's faces." Like when he risked $2 billion in Russia. When it began to fall part in August, Soros was Russia's biggest investor. He called Uncle Sam and asked for $7 billion to prop up the ruble. When the U.S. failed to intervene, Soros wrote a letter to the Financial Times of London saying that the ruble should be devalued by as much as 25%. A few words from Soros was enough to cause a panic selling that fueled the crash. The Russian middle class was hurt and Soros lost his $2 billion. After Soros was shown in Haiti walking with Hillary Clinton, it was noted he will give away almost $500 million this year. Richard Holbrooke (BB/CFR/TC) said: "$5 million up front can be more valuable than $50 million a year or two later." He said that for a time, in Bosnia, George had given more money to implement the peace plan than the U.S. government. In Russia Soros pledged $100 million to keep scientists from defecting to places like Iraq. He explained to Kraft: "(A)s a competitor, I have to compete to win. As a human being, I am concerned about the society in which I live." He described himself: "It's one person . . . who at one time engages in amoral activities and the rest of the time tries to be moral." Soros was born in Budapest to wealthy, well-educated Jewish parents. When the Nazis invaded in 1944, his father bribed a German inspector to create papers making George his godson. Soros than went with his Nazi godfather when he confiscated property from other Jews. But, said, Soros, the property would have been confiscated anyway. At the age of 14 he learned to look ahead and anticipate events. When asked if he was religious, Soros replied: "No." When asked is he believed in God, he said: "No." Soros said he believes that God was invented by man, not the other way around. In Ukraine he was received like a visiting head of state. He wrote a memo for South Africa's President Mandela on how to fend off speculators: "Whether I or somebody else does what is ever happening in the market really doesn't make any difference to the outcome. I don't feel guilty because I am engaged in an amoral activity which is not meant to have anything to do with guilt." His hedge funds operate offshore in the Netherlands Antilles. The fund is not registered with the SEC. It is more convenient not to be regulated: "Whatever regulations I propose, we will obey." He stated: "If you think that you're God and you go into financial markets, you're bound to come out broke. So, the fact that I'm not broke shows that I don't believe that I am God."
RUSSIA DEPLOYS NEW BREED OF MOVEABLE NUKE MISSILES
Russia has (AP Dec 27) deployed 10 Topol-M vehicle-launched nuclear missiles with a range of more than 6,000 miles. Thirty more Topol-Ms are to be built by the end of 2000 to maintain nuclear parity with the West.
CURRENT COMMUNIST COMMENTS CALLED SIMILAR TO VIEWS OF STALIN
With increased Russian Jewish immigration to Israel already predicted, the Foreign Ministry of Israel Thursday issued as a response to the remarks made by (IsraelWire Dec. 27) Russian Communist Party leader Gannady Zyuganov: "The remarks made by Mr. Zyuganov with regard to the nature and objectives of Zionism are in line with the slanders of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', and certainly do not fit his claim that his party supports the construction of a democratic society in Russia. His remarks demonstrate his complete ignorance of the true nature and objectives of Zionism." Zyuganov stated that he was not against Jews (IsraelWire Dec. 25) but "Zionists" who were stoking "russophobic hysteria" and "act in secret and employ the hands of others." Stalin, said Shimon Samuels, used the same line against Soviet Jews.
ARAFAT CAUSES CONTROVERSY BY ALLOWING HAMAS LEADER OUT OF HOUSE ARREST FOR RALLY
Arafat on Wednesday released Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin from house arrest. The decision to end the unpopular detention may signal a growing unwillingness on the part of Arafat to proceed with the now controversial and dangerous next phase of the Wye accords. Moshe Fogel, Israeli government spokesman, called the release, from two months of house arrest, a show of bad faith. The 11th anniversary (AP Dec. 25) of the founding of Hamas was celebrated by an appearance by Yassin on December 25th. The rally, attended by some 10,000 people, was allowed under conditions which included no burning of flags and no masked men. Yassin said at the rally: "I want to ask, what did Clinton do for us during his visit? The purpose of his visit to the region was . . . to destroy Palestinian unity and the Palestinian dream." Yassin (Reuters Dec. 23) was released from an Israeli jail in October 1997 in exchange for two Mossad agents that had been caught by Jordan trying to kill a senior Hamas official in Amman.
SON OF BEGIN TO RUN FOR PRIME MINISTER BUT GIVEN LITTLE CHANCE
Benny Begin, son of Menachem Begin, the founder of the Likud Party and its first Prime Minister, will run (AP Dec. 28) against Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.
ATTACK ON BRITISH AND AMERICAN CITIZENS URGED
Osama bin Laden (IsraelWire Dec. 27) has called on the one billion Moslems in the world to attack both British and U.S. citizens to avenge the air strikes on Iraq.
U.N. COMBAT ROLE PROVOKES DISPUTE IN JAPAN
Some officials of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are bucking participation of Japanese troops in U.N. Operations. The LDP wants to keep the role of troops limited to logistic support and away from combat (AP Dec. 27).
MIKE WALLACE INTERVIEW WITH NEW NRA PRESIDENT HESTON
Charlton Heston became a bankable star after playing Moses (60 Minutes Dec. 20). He told the Christian Coalition that he would have lived up to their expectations by arriving in a chariot but some one would have to clean up after the horses, but, after all, you've been having to clean up after the liberals. Heston, said Wallace, is currently playing a man the liberals love to hate. He said he was now reading a script that was written by the founders of the United States. Ben Franklin, he said erroneously, was asked what form of government we had and he replied: "A democracy-- if you can keep it." He gave seven reasons why he took the job as head of the National Rifle Association: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, Ide Imin, Castro and Pol Pot: "All these monsters began by confiscating illegal arms." On June 20, 1968, he joined Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck and Jimmy Stewart in signing a petition for gun control. His response: "I've made a number of mistakes in my life, Mike." Heston was a liberal Democrat who supported JFK. He was one of a small number of actors who joined Martin Luther King's march on Washington. His efforts were for "common ground" and "making an equal playing field." Then he had a political conversion similar to Paul on the road to Damascus. He saw a billboard for Barry Goldwater which stated: "In your heart you know he's right." He never went left again. He became the poster boy for a reborn conservative movement. In a speech to the Free Congress Foundation he berated "the fringe propaganda of the homosexual coalition, the feminists who preach that it is a divine duty to hate men and blacks who raised a mailed fist while they seek preference with the other." Wallace asked him for forgiveness but said this sounded like the language of a nut-case, right-wing zealot. Heston replied: "Everybody goes off in their own gypsy camp. That's not the kind of country that was invented." Wallace said that homosexuals were a pressure group like the Christian Coalition. Heston replied: "I'm not saying I'm going to throw rocks at them. I'm saying it disturbs me, just like it disturbs a lot of people." He added: "The war I have declared is against federal control of every aspect of our lives." Wallace asked if that was the same war that Timothy McVeagh declared. Heston answered: "I don't plan to use a bomb. My war is a war of words." To the Christian Coalition, Heston stated: "Ronald Reagan's spirit fills this room." Reagan, a World Federalist, was a member of the NRA. But the NRA has become too extremist, has moved too far to the right. Wallace asked him if he thought it was right to call the BATF "jack-booted thugs." Heston said he was the first to call and say "you have to take that back . . ." Heston understood why President Bush resigned from the NRA: "I hope in my tenure to change that opinion, Mike." He quoted an Australian who was having his guns confiscated: "I remember when the Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow stars as identity badges, so what color star will they pin on gun owner's chests?" Wallace said that recent laws had been passed in England and Australia. In England virtually all private handguns are now illegal. Supreme Court Justices William Douglas and Louis Powell stated that the Second Amendment does not stand in the way of gun control. Chief Justice Warren Berger was quoted: "The very language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon he or she desires." Heston said: "If he said that, I disagree with him. It's a free country." "Still," said Wallace. Heston: "Still and it will be by God Almighty." Heston says that its not guns but the criminals that use them. He points to Richmond, Virginia where federal laws have been used to give sentences of years, not months. There was a 65% reduction in murder and crimes within 6 months. He has challenged the Mayor of Philadelphia to do likewise. But the Mayor said the problem was the huge number of guns flooding the market. He then proposed a limit of one gun per month to each customer. But the NRA spokesman said that if they can say one, they can say none. Wallace asked: "Why do you need more than one gun a month?" The NRA spokesman replied: "It is not a question of need. It's the freedom we are for." The Mayor said that Heston was a decent man -- not a true believer in the whole NRA stuff. You get him alone and he will understand. The polls and gun owners feel the need for more gun controls. The NRA continues to see tough gun control as a threat to individual liberty. Heston said he wanted to give something back for the rich life he has lived. He received the nation's highest artistic honor last year at the Kennedy Center in Washington from what Wallace termed "the notoriously liberal entertainment establishment community (which) turned out in force." Lynn Redgrave saluted him with a poem by Robert Frost. President Clinton and Hillary clapped for him as part of the welcoming crowd. Charlton Heston (60 Minutes Dec. 27) wrote to Mike Wallace: "Dear Mike: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa . . . it seems ironic that at this stage of my life I have to be reminded that it's wiser to critique a work after you've seen it . . . I'm sorry . . . -- Chuck"
ALSO IN THE NEWS
On a panel discussion (CNN Newstand Dec. 20) on the Man of the Year, James P. Kelly (CFR), Time Deputy Managing Editor, was a participant.
Sir Henry Kissinger (BB/CF/TC) and Zbigniew Brzezinski (BB/CFR/TC) gave a run-down on the results of the recent Iraq bombing campaign (PBS Dec. 21).
Up to 65% of the $4.3 billion foreign debt of Honduras (AP Dec. 27) (40% of its budget) may be forgiven.
A poll of 1,050 Israeli high school students (Israel News Dec. 28) indicated that the students "feel the Israeli media is left of center, by as much as 91 percent."
QUOTES
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may be even a worse fate. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves." -- Winston Churchill, Quoted by Gary Allen, NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY (1971).
"But most urgent of all were those arising from debtor-creditor relations, which threatened the property interest. James Madison said he believed these 'contributed more to that uneasiness which produced the the (1787) Constitution and prepared the mind for general reform' than any political inadequacies of the Articles. The public credit was gone, due to inability to pay foreign bankers and debts owed to the demoralized army officers . . . It was this so-called Shays's Rebellion and the issuance of unfunded paper money by seven states by 1786 that more than anything else helped crystalize public opinion that a new system of government was necessary." -- Frank Bourgin, The Great Challenge 13-14 (Perennial 1990).
"Power and accountability for its use -- these are the two elements which chiefly constitute the essence of good government." -- Woodrow Wilson (October 1882).
"You can give a man an office, but you cannot give him discretion." -- Ben Franklin, AN AMERICAN BIBLE at 31 (Alice Hubbard Ed. 1946).
"The one, the true one, looks upon appointment to office with a view to the service that can be given to the public. The other, the false one, looks upon appointment to office with a view to what can be gotten out of it." -- Elihu Root (August 30, 1915).
"Choosing and removing top leadership is a way of controlling indirectly all delegated decisions; decisions on policies and on choice of other leaders who are appointed by top leaders." -- Charles Lindblom, POLITICS AND MARKETS (1977).
"I am for Socialism, disarmament, and ultimately for abolishing the state itself as an instrument of violence and compulsion. I seek social ownership of property, the abolishment of the propertied class, and the sole control by those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal. It all sums up into one single purpose -- the abolition of the dog-eat-dog under which we live." -- Roger Baldwin, ACLU Founder
"If the common people refuse to give encouragement to those who fight their battles, they need not expect to have defenders." -- William J. Bryan, THE FIRST BATTLE 629 (1896).
"I solemnly affirm to exercise in all loyalty, discretion and conscience the functions entrusted to me as a member of the international service of the United Nations, to discharge those functions and regulate my conduct with the interest of the United Nations only in view and not to seek or accept instructions in respect to the performance of my duties from any government or other authority external to the organization." -- UN Oath
"It must be made perfectly clear that no American soldiers, not even a corporal's guard, that no American sailors, not even the crew of a submarine, can ever be engaged in war or ordered anywhere except by the constitutional authorities of the United States. To Congress is granted by the Constitution the right to declare war, and nothing that would take troops out of the country at the bidding or demand or other nations should ever be permitted." -- Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (Quoted by Bill Still of Still Publications)
POLITICAL PREDICTIONS:
A centrist NRA position by acting President Charlton Heston will lead to more NRA memberships, perhaps, but more and more U.S. gun control on a gradualist basis.
When Arafat finally carries out his promises to both disarm Palestinians and arrest accused murders, the reaction will be so violent as to justify the expense of keeping the record number of U.S. troops (including Marines) in the Persian Gulf and may require U.S. armed intervention on the side of Israel.
George Walker Bush will raise the funds to outspend and defeat any opponent for the next Republican presidential nomination and when elected President will appoint a cabinet with many Skull and Bones members in his administration. week009.htm