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Home | May 2007 Archives

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Would you like to participate in another way to inform our fellow citizens regarding conservative policies and the need to restore Constitutional government. You can do just that without cost.  See my special entry for the details.


  DC "Voting Rights" and the Constitution | May 22, 2007 | Digg This

ORRIN HATCH WOULD SET ASIDE THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

"Don’t count your hatches until they have chickened" is a common saying among D.C. area conservatives who have observed the career of Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, which career is characterized by sellout, after sellout, after sellout.

Now, in the latest chapter of betrayal by Ted Kennedy’s good friend, Orrin Hatch, The Washington Post (5/2/07) reports "A prominent Republican senator, Orrin G. Hatch, threw his weight behind the D.C. voting-rights bill yesterday in what supporters called a possible breakthrough in getting the legislation approved by that chamber.


  Dr. Jerry Falwell | May 16, 2007 | Digg This


A VISIONARY GIANT — MY FRIEND, JERRY FALWELL — HAS DIED

My friend, Dr. Jerry Falwell, died today (May 15).

I met Jerry in 1977 when, together with Ed McAteer, Field Director of The Conservative Caucus, I drove at high speed from Vienna, Virginia to Lynchburg, so as not to be late for what was to have been a 15- or 20-minute meeting with Dr. Falwell. It turned into a three-hour discussion in which we persuaded Jerry to mount a pro-active defense against those who were attacking Christian principles, Christian values, and public policies based on Biblical law.

During a series of meetings, I proposed that the name of a new organization which Jerry would lead be the "Moral Majority". In this, I was supported by several of Dr. Falwell’s colleagues, including Arthur DeMoss (head of the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company).

Jerry and I worked closely on a great many projects.

In 1978, The Conservative Caucus (TCC) was about to unleash a 2 million piece mailing to help line up votes against the Jimmy Carter-Howard Baker Panama Canal Treaties. The only problem was the printer had produced the contents of the mailing in such a manner that they could not be inserted by machine in the outer envelopes.

I mentioned the problem to Dr. Falwell, and he immediately offered to make available 200 of his volunteers to handstuff the envelopes. They promptly did so and we got out the mailing on time.

In 1980, Dr. Falwell and I were part of a small group that met with Ronald Reagan on the day when he would choose his Vice Presidential running mate. Dr. Falwell was pushing Jack Kemp. I was promoting Jesse Helms, but before we left the meeting I realized that, under pressure from Nancy Reagan and Jim Baker, the GOP nominee had already decided to select George H. W. Bush.

In 1981, at a meeting of the Council for National Policy, Jerry pulled me aside and told me he had decided to support Vice President Bush to be Reagan’s successor at the 1988 Presidential Nominating Convention. I protested, saying that Bush stood for a great many things with which both Jerry and I profoundly disagreed. Jerry replied that, by backing Vice President Bush early on, he would gain his confidence and have greater influence over his policies.

In 1983, when my friend, Congressman Lawrence Patton McDonald, was murdered by the Soviet Union in their shootdown of the Korean Airliner 007, I ran a memorial service at Constitution Hall at which Dr. Falwell was a major speaker. He made available his jet to transport me and McDonald’s widow to the memorial service.

In 1986, shortly after I returned from leading a group of American conservatives to South Africa, several South African individuals turned up on my doorstep wanting to tell their story about Communist terrorism in their native land. One was a woman who had been disfigured by an African National Congress bomb in a railway station. Others were John and Cindy Leontsenis, leaders of a group called Victims Against Terrorism. They had fled Chile when Salvadore Allende was on the verge of turning that country over to Fidel Castro. The visitor with the most anguished experience was a woman whose husband and two sons had been necklaced (in other words burned to death with tires around their necks) by Nelson Mandella’s thugs.

I brought their accounts to the attention of Ted Koppel, who was running "Nightline" and with whom, at that point, I had a cordial relationship.

Our visit to Koppel’s Green Room was on the same day when there were soccer riots in Belgium, and Koppel refused to pay any heed to the accounts of my guests, indicating that their stories of terrorism did not comport with his personal priorities.

I then contacted Dr. Falwell and his able associate, Ron Godwin, and, immediately, Jerry invited my visitors to speak that Sunday at a taping of his "Old Time Gospel Hour". He also arranged for them to be interviewed on the local ABC TV affiliate in Lynchburg. In every way he was extraordinarily gracious.

In subsequent years, I had a number of excellent discussions and meetings with Dr. Falwell.

Just a few days before his death, Jerry had an extended conversation with my oldest son, Doug, and had agreed to be the keynote speaker at Doug’s Jamestown celebration during the second week of June. He even said he would bring several hundred students from Liberty University to participate in the celebration.

Jerry Falwell was a terrific family man, a wonderful preacher, a great visionary, and a successful administrator.

His Thomas Road Baptist Church, which I have visited on several occasions, now has 24,000-plus members. Liberty University has about 15,000 students on campus and another 15,000 people who participate in a long-distance learning program.

This is just a small bit of what Dr. Falwell did with his time and his energy. My condolences go out to his wife, Macel, and his three children --- one of whom Jonathan is now executive pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church. His daughter, Jeannie, is a physician and his son, Jerry, Jr., is a successful attorney and realtor.


  Wally Schirra | May 9, 2007 | Digg This

WALLY SCHIRRA BROKE HIS WORD

Former Astronaut Wally Schirra died today (May 3) at the age of 84. In 1970, when, at the request of the White House, I was a candidate for Congress in the Sixth Congressional District of Massachusetts, the main event of my campaign was a dinner to be held in Haverhill, Massachusetts, featuring Astronaut Schirra.

Several hours before the event, which was the first occasion on which my campaign expected to receive significant media coverage, Schirra cancelled.

Obviously, his liberal friends had gotten to him. In order to make sure the event could, nonetheless, be a success, I contacted Frank Borman, then head of Eastern Airlines, and other astronauts, as well as a great many members of the U.S. Senate as possible fill-ins for Schirra.

Ultimately, with the help of Dick Cheney, who was then Rumsfeld’s Special Assistant, Counselor to the President Don Rumsfeld, on short notice, agreed to turn his car around (it had been headed to the White House) and go to D.C. National Airport for a flight to Boston.

With the help of Massachusetts GOP Governor Frank Sargent, I had an impressive police escort, consisting of a half dozen motorcycles and other vehicles which sped us to the event in Haverhill at speed of more than 100 m.p.h.

During the discussion which my wife, Peggy, and I had with Rumsfeld on the drive to Haverhill, Rumsfeld insisted that I visit him after the campaign and consider taking a position with him at the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). I told Rumsfeld that was the last place I wanted to go, having just finished a stint running youth programs for President Nixon and Vice President Agnew as Director of the President’s Council on Youth Opportunity, which covered some of the same domestic policy ground as did the Office of Economic Opportunity.

When the campaign ended, I was blessed with numerous offers, including Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislation, Chairman of the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, Regional Administrator of any one of several Federal agencies which had offices in Boston, and Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, I was also encouraged to stay in Massachusetts to prepare for another Congressional campaign.

It’s a long story, but, for a variety of reasons, I wound up at OEO as Special Assistant to the Director who, when Rumsfeld left in December of 1970, was his former Princeton wrestling partner, Frank Carlucci.


  Bill Schearer | May 7, 2007 | Digg This

BILL SHEARER: A GREAT MAN

It was my privilege to be one of the principal eulogists, along with his daughter, Nancy, at the funeral of a very great man, my dear friend, William K. Shearer, who died on March 3 at the age of 76.

In my remarks, I recounted much of Bill Shearer’s life story, which is difficult to encapsulate, given his wide range of talents: political leader, trial lawyer, Egyptologist, and more.

Bill had memorized every word of the many Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and was similarly capable of quoting at length from the Holy Bible.

Nineteen months prior to his death, Bill’s doctors had said he had only six months to live, but, thanks to the faithful ministrations of his beloved daughter, Bill lived for an extra 13 months. I began my remarks by saying that, for this reason, this funeral was a year late.

I expressed my appreciation for the crucial role which Bill had played in launching the U.S. Taxpayers Party, which is now the Constitution Party. In addition to his service as National Chairman of the USTP, Bill did a brilliant job as Parliamentarian and Chairman of the Party’s Platform Committee at our national conventions in New Orleans in 1992 and San Diego in 1996. Bill had been National Chairman of the American Independent Party (AIP) and had secured ballot access in California for the AIP, which he generously made available to our new party.

I first met Bill as an adversary in 1976 at a national convention of the AIP where, along with a few others from an organization called the Committee for the New Majority, I promoted the Presidential candidacy of Judge Robert Morris, former Chief Counsel of the Senate Internal Security Committee, who had played a key role in the investigation and exposure of Alger Hiss. Richard Viguerie was to have been Judge Morris’ running mate had the AIP accepted our recommendation.

My participation in the AIP convention in 1976 followed meetings with former California Governor Ronald Reagan, former Texas Governor John B. Connally, and former Alabama Governor George Wallace, each of whom members of our committee attempted to persuade to seek the Presidency in 1996 independently of the two major parties.

Bill Shearer regarded me as part of a hostile invading party, and I recall with trepidation his ominous yet principled demeanor. But Bill was a forgiving man and greeted me warmly when I approached him about the formation of our new party in 1991, leading up to the 1992 election.

Bill was an extraordinarily charitable man who was very modest, quiet, and self-effacing about the many good deeds that he performed in his personal life. Bill greatly missed his wife, Eileen, who had worked with him in the political arena and whom he called "Her Ladyship". Eileen predeceased Bill by three or four years.

The funeral service was held at the Chapel of the Roses in Bonita, California, a beautiful venue, and was attended by hundreds of Bill’s friends and admirers, including Constitution Party leaders from various parts of the United States. It was an additional honor for my daughter, Alexandra, to be one of two vocalists at the funeral, along with a leader of the San Diego Lyric Opera Company, cantor Leon Natker, who sang the 23rd Psalm in Hebrew. (Bill Shearer had, at one point, been President of the San Diego Lyric Opera Company). Music was also provided by Charlie Zahm, via CD, and by my daughter, Alexandra Phillips. Pastor Royce ell presided with dignity and effectiveness throughout the event.

Here follow some of my comments at the funeral, summarizing key elements of Bill Shearer’s life:

"Bill has done many things. As a boy, he lost his Dad when he was only seven years old. He had grandparents, and great grandparents, who traversed this country’s territory in covered wagons until they wound up in California.

"Those who know Bill Shearer know his love of poetry and literature, and the many, many wonderful things he has committed to memory. He is a big fan of Gilbert and Sullivan and he quotes them with great accuracy and eloquence, to the delight of all within hearing distance, and that can be a pretty good distance.

"Bill was in the newspaper business as editor of the Oceanside-Carlsbad Banner. He served our country as a Corporal in the United States Army. He ran for the Legislature at age 21.

"The first time he was allowed to go to the polling place as a voter, in 1952, he ran for the Republican nomination for the California Assembly. He did not make it. He lost very narrowly, but he was drafted by the Republicans to be their nominee again in 1956, and he got the nomination unopposed.

"Then, in 1958, once more as a Republican nominee for the California Assembly, he got the highest percentage vote of any Republican candidate in California running for the Assembly except for those who actually won their elections. So, the good news was he got a great vote. The bad news is he did not get enough of the votes.

"He worked for a man whose speeches I read at a young age when they were published in Human Events, the national conservative weekly, and that man was Congressman James Utt, who was a terrific Constitutional conservative, who held the line in no small part because of the work that Bill Shearer did for him.

"At some point, Bill decided that he had had enough of the hypocrisy and the deviance from the Constitution of the Republican Party. He left the GOP and he became a person whom Alabama Governor George Wallace called the brightest, most knowledgeable man about politics he had ever met (except for himself) and Bill arranged for Governor Wallace to be on the ballot in a great many states.

"Wallace would not have succeeded in gaining nationwide ballot access without the experience and energy which Bill brought to bear. Accordingly, Bill’s effective leadership resulted in his becoming the National Chairman of the American Independent Party.

"Notably, Bill got the party on the ballot in California. In today’s dollar terms it would cost at least $2 million – maybe something closer to $5 million – to get on the ballot in California.

"Mr. Shearer has done many things at an age when some people decide to retire. He went to law school and did very well. He became a terrific trial attorney and a very successful general practitioner. He also served as a pro tem judge in Small Claims Court.

"At an early age, Bill became an expert on America’s tariff laws, and those of us who read the Constitution and America’s history know that our tariff policies since the days of Woodrow Wilson have been unconstitutional, disregarding the plain language of the U.S. Constitution which states in Article I, Section 8 that ‘Congress shall…regulate Commerce with foreign Nations’, not the World Trade Organization, not NAFTA, not CAFTA, not the Free Trade Area of the Americas, et cetera.

"Bill has known that. He is extremely knowledgeable in this area, and has been steadfast in asserting the prerogatives of Congress and our independent republic with respect to trade, recognizing that this is an issue which is so important to our national security and to our liberty.

"This is frequently misunderstood and it is a tragedy that the leaders of both major parties in Congress today have totally sold out the Constitution (the Republicans even more than the Democrats) and now support unconstitutional so-called ‘free trade’ policies."


  Whatever Happened to Dan Burton? | May 4, 2007 | Digg This

DAN BURTON, MIKE PENCE, AND 20 OTHER GOP CONGRESSMEN DEFY THE U.S. CONSTITUTION IN SUPPORTING A VOTE FOR D.C. IN THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Whatever happened to Dan Burton? I remember when he was a conservative.

Burton was one of 22 Republicans who voted in defiance of the Constitution to give the District of Columbia voting rights in the U.S. House of Representatives. The others were: Chris Cannon of Utah, Michael Castle of Delaware, Tom Davis of Virginia, Charles Dent of Pennsylvania, Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri, Philip English of Pennsylvania, Michael Ferguson of New Jersey, Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland, Darrell Issa of California, Ray LaHood of Illinois, Steven LaTourette of Ohio, Mike Pence of Indiana, Todd Platts of Pennsylvania, Jon Porter of Nevada, Rick Renzi of Arizona, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Jim Saxton of New Jersey, Christopher Shays of Connecticut, Christopher Smith of New Jersey, Fred Upton of Michigan, and Frank Wolf of Virginia.

Mike Pence’s decision to stand with Tom Davis and Elizabeth Holmes Norton is another sign that he expects to be tapped for the Vice Presidency by a mainstream GOP Presidential nominee. Pence has also gone liberal in his support of pro-amnesty immigration legislation.

More information about this issue.


  The Truth About the DC Voting Scheme #7 | May 3, 2007 | Digg This

SENATE SHOULD KILL SCHEME FOR D.C. VOTE(S) IN CONGRESS

Charles Orndorff, the Administrative Vice Chairman of The Conservative Caucus (TCC), who is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia and one of the nation’s leading Constitutional scholars, is more expert on the question of D.C. voting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives than any other living American insofar as I am aware.

Here follows Mr. Orndorff’s final rebuttal (Number Seven) in which he rebuts the claims of advocates for D.C. voting representation:


Final Comments
Rebuttal #7 Regarding HR 1905 (formerly 1433)

Although HR 1905 has now been sent to what is likely its final resting place on the other side of the capitol, two of the recklessly false statements made during debate demand correction.

1. Rep. Conyers claimed that "for those who wonder why we didn't make them a State right off the bat, at that time there may have been 150 people living in this swampy area that is now known as D.C. We didn't have anybody to make citizens."

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the census of 1800 found that what became the District of Columbia later that year (including the towns of Alexandria and Georgetown) had a population of 14,093 -- almost 100 times greater than the Conyers number (and the land that is now the District was never a swamp).

Rep. Conyers also ignored the lengthy debate that took place in the House in 1800-1801 regarding whether Congress should delay indefinitely assuming jurisdiction, allowing those who would otherwise become District residents to remain citizens of Virginia and Maryland, and thereby retain their voting rights (including voting for state legislators).

2. Del. Norton referred to "the sixteenth amendment, which requires only that citizens of States pay Federal income taxes. Why then have District residents continuously been taxed without representation?"

The actual text of the Sixteenth Amendment is "Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration." The amendment says nothing about taxing

only residents of the states, and the Constitution specifically declares, in Article I, Section 8, that taxes "shall be uniform throughout the United States", not among the states.

The only exception to this rule of uniformity is direct taxation, defined as poll taxes and taxes on real estate, and which must have variable rates from state to state so as to collect an amount proportionate to each state's population. (Congress has not levied a direct tax since 1862.) The Sixteenth Amendment was adopted to overturn a Supreme Court decision which found that a tax on income derived from the ownership of real property should also be considered a direct tax.

By voiding this decision, the amendment allowed taxes on all forms of income to be governed by the rule of uniformity "throughout the United States."

This is one in a series of responses by The Conservative Caucus to arguments made by supporters of HR 1905. For further information, contact Charles Orndorff.


  The Truth About the DC Voting Scheme #6 | May 2, 2007 | Digg This

D.C. VOTE PUSHERS SCHEME TO DROP EXTRA VOTE FOR UTAH

Charles Orndorff, the Administrative Vice Chairman of The Conservative Caucus (TCC), who is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia and one of the nation’s leading Constitutional scholars, is more expert on the question of D.C. voting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives than any other living America insofar as I am aware.

Accordingly, I am going to run a series of six blogs in which Mr. Orndorff rebuts the claims of advocates for D.C. voting representation.

Here follows Mr. Orndorff’s rebuttal Number Six:


The "Smoking Gun" of Non-severability
Rebuttal #6 Regarding HR 1905

It is a common matter for legislation to include a severability clause, declaring that if one portion is ruled by the courts to be unconstitutional, the remainder of the act shall not be affected. The offending portion is simply to be "severed" from the remainder.

However, HR 1905 contains just the reverse -- a non-severability clause. Section 7 of the bill states that " If any provision of this Act, or any amendment made by this Act, is declared or held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions of this Act and any amendment made by this Act shall be treated and deemed invalid and shall have no force or effect of law."

This is obviously intended to eliminate the additional Utah seat when the District seat is ruled unconstitutional. Yet, the advocates of HR 1905 have incessantly declared that the bill is constitutional beyond any doubt. Why, then, should a non-severability clause be needed?

If supporters of HR 1905 are truly as confident as they claim that the Federal courts will uphold representation for the District, they should demonstrate this confidence by removing the non-severability clause. Its presence in HR 1905 stands as a "smoking gun", proving that even its sponsors know that the Constitution is against them, and that their chances in court are, at best, slim.

This is one in a series of responses by The Conservative Caucus to arguments made by supporters of HR 1905. For further information, contact Charles Orndorff.


  The Truth About the DC Voting Scheme #5 | May 1, 2007 | Digg This

CONGRESS HAS NO AUTHORITY TO TREAT D.C. AS A STATE

Charles Orndorff, the Administrative Vice Chairman of The Conservative Caucus (TCC), who is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia and one of the nation’s leading Constitutional scholars, is more expert on the question of D.C. voting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives than any other living America insofar as I am aware.

Accordingly, I am going to run a series of six blogs in which Mr. Orndorff rebuts the claims of advocates for D.C. voting representation.

Here follows Mr. Orndorff’s rebuttal Number Five:


HR 1905 Does Not Treat the District of Columbia As If It Were a State
Rebuttal #5 Regarding HR 1905

Previous rebuttals in this series have shown the fallacy of the claim that Congress has constitutional authority to treat the District as if it were a state for purposes of congressional apportionment. However, even if Congress had the discretion to treat the District as a state, HR 1905 does no such thing.

The bill allows the District only one representative, no matter how large its population may grow. Each state has a constitutional right to its proportional number of representatives, depending on its population in the most recent census. If constitutional standards require that the District be treated as a state in order to award it representation, then the number of its representatives must be determined by its population.

We should note that, in presidential elections, the District is given an electoral vote equal to that of the smallest state. This limitation was created by constitutional amendment, and one must conclude that such treatment, inferior to that of a state, can only come through amendment.

HR 1905 also limits the District to representation only in the House. The District would receive no senators. This can by no stretch of the imagination be considered treatment as if it were a state. The Constitution actually gives extraordinary protection to the states in regard to their equal representation in the Senate, prohibiting any amendment to that portion of the Constitution. The District, even if represented in the House according to population, will still be ranked among the small states which need their Senate equality to protect their interests. By denying senate representation, HR 1905 denies treatment as if the District were a state.

The fact that HR 1905 establishes no connection between population and representation also leads logically to the conclusion that, if constitutional, Congress may arbitrarily grant the District any number of representatives it chooses. There could be no upper limit if representation is not tied to population, but is at the discretion of Congress. Such authority is easily recognized as absurd, and demonstrates the equal absurdity of any claim that HR 1905 can be constitutional.

This is one in a series of responses by The Conservative Caucus to arguments made by supporters of HR 1905. For further information, contact Charles Orndorff.


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