Frontiersman, August 2000

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Frontiersman, August 2000

Danforth's Insult
Sam Aurelius Milam III
John Danforth has completed his investigation into the government's alleged culpability in the Waco massacre, of April 19, 1993. The result was as bad as I expected that it would be. On Friday, July 21, he announced his conclusions that government agents didn't start the fire, didn't shoot at the Davidians (on April 19), didn't improperly use the military, and didn't create a cover-up to hide any wrongdoing. As I predicted,¹ the investigation was worthless. Actually, it was worse than that. It was an insult.
Danforth's said,² “There is absolutely no evidence that the government officials started the fire. By contrast, David Koresh and his followers spread fuel throughout the complex, lit it on fire. And that was the cause of the tragedy ....” That's a little bit like saying that the labor pains were the cause of the baby. The Branch Davidians had been living there for decades, and had never before spread fuel on the floor or burned down their home. Does anybody really believe that they would have done it if the Feds hadn't been terrorizing them for the previous two months? Danforth also concluded that federal agents didn't fire shots on April 19. However, it's known and acknowledged even by the Feds that many shots were fired prior to April 19 and that at least one Branch Davidian was killed by them. Danforth claims that the Feds didn't misuse the military. However, any use of the American military against Americans is a misuse of the military. Such disingenuous and self-serving conclusions are an insult.
Danforth's report is an insult because of its conclusions. However, those conclusions were foreordained by his refusal to ask the proper questions. Do unproven allegations of “child” or “gun” violations justify a potentially lethal confrontation, and its execution as a para-military siege? Where did the government get the authority to pursue a potentially lethal confrontation against Americans who had not been convicted of a capital offense? The accused individuals hadn't even been to court. Were they presumed innocent until proven guilty? Does refusal of a citizen to peacefully submit to arrest justify lethal response by government? Is “failure to appear” a capital offense? If equal treatment under the law exists, then why weren't the Branch Davidians treated the same as Presbyterians? Were the Branch Davidians members of the governed? Did they consent? Did the government secure their “rights” to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Why did the government believe that it could get away with such a siege? Do government agents believe that they aren't accountable for their actions? Once it was in position, why couldn't the U.S. government, the most powerful government in the world, afford to simply back up a few yards, out of range of alleged (defensive) gunfire from the besieged Americans in the compound, and continue to negotiate? The occupants of the compound weren't going anywhere. Wasn't time on the side of the government? Why was there such a sense of urgency to end the confrontation? What did the government fear, that caused the sense of urgency? After Janet Reno accepted responsibility for the murders, why wasn't she hauled into court? I surely would have been. The surviving Branch Davidians were. And finally, after all this time, why does everyone still insist on referring to the Branch Davidians as cultists? Does that somehow cause them to be expendable, reduce them to something less than human, make it acceptable to murder them? They weren't cultists. They were Americans, and regardless of quibbling and nitpicking about the circumstances, they were killed as a consequence of the behavior of the U.S. government.

Danforth's Folly, October 1999, and Danforth's Folly Revisited, April 2000

Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Friday, July 21, 2000

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August 2000

Page 1

UN Rights of Child Reemerges
A reprint from KHouse eNews for The Week of 7/18/2000, http://www.khouse.org, forwarded by Lady Jan the Voluptuous

Signs that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is rearing its head again came earlier this month when President Clinton signed two new optional protocols, or additions, to the 1989 treaty. The new protocols require participating countries to ensure no one under the age of 18 takes part in combat or is forcibly recruited into armed services. They also have to take action to ban the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography.

While the protocols may sound good on the surface, there are good reasons why the Senate has refused to ratify the full treaty. For example, the treaty officially designates the state as the guardian of children's best interest, ensuring that the state knows better than parents which materials are appropriate and which associations are beneficial. The state is also considered responsible for protecting the child when parental beliefs conflict with the rights of the child. Politically incorrect beliefs such as spanking or religious indoctrination could be grounds for placing children into foster care. The U.S. is one of only two countries which have failed to ratify the full treaty.

In addition to the concerns regarding the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, are the concerns about censorship issues. Big government, including the UN, isn't thrilled with the quantity of free speech and news reporting happening on the Internet. As a result, any effort to censor content must be viewed suspiciously as potentially opening the door to censorship of things other than pornography. Remember that the same legal safeguards in the tensions between freedom of speech vs. porn do not exist internationally or in many other countries.

To further the point, examine the call from the German Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin last month for global rules against hate speech on the Internet. He told a conference in Berlin that we must achieve a "global value consensus" regarding the regulation of the Internet. While he admitted that global legislation was a long way off, he advised international regulators to take the first step by focusing on areas like child pornography to launch the precedent for censorship.

Many well meaning Christians will eagerly go along with censorship of Internet free speech in cases like child pornography. They do not realize that they just stepped onto a slippery slope leading to the censorship of religious speech as well, especially considering that the majority of the world's countries do not cherish free speech in the same manner as it is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. When we sign treaties, we place the laws they contain higher than the Constitution, nullifying the rights guaranteed therein.

<http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000705/pl/clinton_children_dc_4.html>

<http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/generalspeeches/1998/19981204.html>

<http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000627/wl/germany_hate_dc_1.html>

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or law of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

— U.S. Constitution, Article VI, clause 2

More On Gandhi
Distributed by Good Clean Funnies List
http://www.gcfl.net, gcfl-info@gcfl.net

Mahatma Gandhi walked barefoot everywhere, to the point that his feet became quite thick and hard. He also was quite a spiritual person. Even when he was not on a hunger strike, he did not eat much and became quite thin and frail. Furthermore, due to his diet, he ended up with very bad breath. Therefore, he came to be known as a “Super calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis.”

August 2000
Page 2

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Jerusalem: An Opportunity
Sam Aurelius Milam III

Throughout the world, the members of factions in conflict don't really seem to want to solve their defining problems. Instead, they seem to want their faction to dominate the other faction. In such situations, compromise is probably impossible. It's more likely that problem resolutions, imposed by third-parties and perceived as compromise, will merely force the conflict into the future, perpetuating it. In such situations, some result other than either conflict or compromise should be sought. Jerusalem appears to be at the center of such a conflict. It doesn't seem like a compromise is possible, only various levels of conflict into the foreseeable future. I have a suggestion.

Jerusalem could become a self-governing, politically independent city-state, with its own laws, its own citizenship requirements, and so forth. Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians would like the situation, but at least it would remove Jerusalem from the list of trophies to be won by conflict. Neither faction could have it, but everyone could visit it. The city-state would be governed not by Israelis or Palestinians, but by its own citizens I don't necessarily like the idea, but only because it violates my own theory about social contract government. However, it might be centuries yet before that theory receives a fair hearing, so in the meantime, a self-governing city-state is probably the best resolution that is realistically possible.

Letters to the Editor

I really liked what that guy had to say about "the level playing field."

best regards,

— Bob; San Jose, California

Bob's comment is in response to the untitled reprint, in the July issue, page 2, of a newspaper article that was forwarded by Eric, of Calipatria, California.

— editor

Dear Sam

A basic principle of modern democracy is: all men are created equal. That doesn't mean we all have the same talents. It was Rousseau who said that democracy would give men the most freedom, contrary to Plato's warning that democracy is always "mob-ocracy", i.e. the "tyranny of the majority." The modern, Jeffersonian "cure" is indeed supposed to be the Bill of Rights, but of course the Bill of Rights too is often "weasel words." There is something wrong with a country that says: "all men are created equal," but allows non-whites, women, gays, intellectuals to be insulted, abused, robbed, persecuted. The ignorant have their right to talk trash, but we don't have our "equal" right to respond, in a media that, from the NY Times to the Frontiersman, is so intent on protecting the freedom of the John Rockers of the country. You all are simply protecting the stupid, the ignorant, the vulgar, from Rocker to Jr Bush; this is the essence of "mob-ocracy." Meanwhile Christianity & the UN are indeed in a millennial death-struggle.

Sincerely,

— Elliot; N. Merrick, New York

A government powerful enough to prevent non-whites, women, homosexuals, and intellectuals from being insulted, abused, robbed, or persecuted would also be a government powerful enough to enslave us all, including non-whites, women, homosexuals, and intellectuals. If you want to prevent the evils of which you complain, then don't expect the government to do it for you. Fix it yourself.

You should be happy that I'm interested in the rights of the stupid, the ignorant, and the vulgar. Who knows? Maybe I count you among them. If I don't, then somebody else, somewhere else, surely will. Remember this. Aryeh Neier, of the American Civil Liberties Union, once said "The defense of civil liberties, by definition, involves the defense of persons who are most despised by the public."

When "perverts" don't have a right to publish "pornography", then (eventually) nobody will have a right to publish anything. All publication will be a regulated privilege. When irate baseball players don't have the right to state their own annoying opinions in public, then (eventually) nobody will have the right to state his opinion in public. All such statement of opinion will be a regulated privilege. When wild eyed, foaming-at-the-mouth, arm-waving radicals (like me) don't have the right to advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government, then (eventually) nobody will have the right to advocate anything. All such advocacy will be a regulated privilege. Those are facts.

— editor

Dear Frontiersman, .... Your articles are always good. I take that to be a sign that all goes well with you.

Sincerely,

— Shirley; Urbana, Illinois

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Frontiersman, 479 E. 700 N., Firth, Idaho 83236
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August 2000

Page 3

Frontiersman
479 E. 700 N.
Firth, Idaho 83236

The "Best Interests of
the Child", as a
of judgment, has become
an instrument for the
repression, abuse, or
enslavement of adults.

Buck Hunter Shoots Off His Mouth
Dear Buck

What's menopause?

— Heard Grandma Talking

Dear Heard Grandma Talking

That's when all the little fish in your pond stop for a minute.

Acknowledgments
• My thanks to Shirley, of Urbana, Illinois, Sir John the Generous http://www.jwebster.com/, and Sir Donald the Elusive for their contributions.
• My thanks to The Affiliate,http://www.the-grand-barn.com/, of Vankleek Hill, Ontario for regularly printing reviews of the Frontiersman.

— editor

Does Anybody Know?
Source Unknown — forwarded by Lady Nancy the Enchanting
•     Why is the word abbreviation so long?
•     Is it possible to be totally partial?
•     What's another word for thesaurus?
•     When companies ship Styrofoam, what do they pack it in?
•     If you're cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right?
•     If the cops arrest a mime, do they tell him that he has the right to remain still?
•     If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
•     Should vegetarians eat animal crackers?
•     Do cemetery workers prefer the graveyard shift?

Frontiersman

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Submissions — I solicit letters, articles, and cartoons for the newsletter, but I don't pay for them. Short items are more likely to be printed. I suggest that letters and articles be shorter than 500 words, but that's flexible depending on space available and the content of the piece. I give credit for all items printed unless the author specifies otherwise.

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— Sam Aurelius Milam III, editor

August 2000
Page 4

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