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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: asenna1 who wrote (287839)	8/18/2002 3:16:40 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 769670

Wacko In Waco: The Brunch Bushians Drink The Kool-Aid By Arianna Huffington syndicated columnist Filed August 15, 2002 At the behest of their charismatic leader, the cult members gathered in Waco, a hot, dusty town on the flat, featureless central Texas plain. They had been summoned to hear an endless series of droning sermons from the leader himself and his fellow fanatics. Thunderously denouncing all doubters, all those who didn't believe as the cult members did, the speakers put forward a bizarre religious vision, one that no sane person could accept. As the hours passed, the group became more and more isolated from the real world until it was incapable of dealing with it. The only thing missing was Janet Reno and her flamethrower. George W. Bush’s economic forum ended with the steady whoosh of departing corporate jets instead of a fiery apocalypse. This time the conflagration wasn’t in Waco but on Wall Street where one airline declared bankruptcy, another threatened to if it didn't get what it wanted, and a third announced a massive restructuring with 7,000 lost jobs. In Washington, meanwhile, Alan Greenspan declined to embarrass his boss by lowering interest rates -- although the Fed did assess the current economic outlook in unusually gloomy terms. But none of these inconvenient facts intruded on the President's revival meeting in the Lone Star State where discouraging words from non-believers were kept to the barest minimum. And while the President may have acknowledged that our economy is "challenged," an understatement akin to saying that David Koresh was "a tad kooky", the hallelujah chorus that was determined to drown out facts with blind faith clearly won the day. Like the Branch Davidians, the Brunch Bushians found comfort by withdrawing from a world that was confusing, complicated, and just a little too unfriendly of late. Appropriately convened at the Old Time Christian Religion venue of Baylor University, the administration orchestrated a full-blown extravaganza complete with stirring words, a parade of icons, and even marching music by John Philip Sousa, designed to dazzle the gullible and win new converts. Reason was banished. No one mentioned, for example, the expanding budget deficit or the exploding trade deficit and no one dared bring up the heresy of reconsidering the Brunch Bushians’ disastrous tax cut. Au contraire. "We heard a lot of really challenging ideas today," Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill intoned after the forum. And his idea of a challenging idea? "We had several people in my session tell us that not only should we make the tax cuts permanent, but we ought to accelerate the ones that are delayed." And there was no need to pass the hat at this gathering of the faithful. The CEO congregants crowding the front pews had already given, and given, and given. The economic forum gained added significance from the fact that the President took precious time away from his month-long vacation - though it's not like he had to travel very far. No, this time the mountain of true believers came to Mohammed. The President registered his concern (Seven cabinet members! Hearing from ordinary people! Taking a whole half-day off from his vacation! Recovery must be just around the bend!) but the message that came through was more one of faith, increasingly desperate faith, that powerful and mysterious forces, the Gods of the free market, will eventually pull the Dow out of its nosedive. But while the Burning Bush preached to the choir at Baylor, an ominous rumbling was coming from outside. This time, it was not ATF sharpshooters and tanks, it’s those ordinary citizens the Brunch Bushians pretended to include in Waco. They keep losing jobs and losing their savings while their president keeps telling them that, despite the increasingly grim realities of their daily lives, they still gotta believe in the Bushians’ Holy Trinity: more tax cuts, less regulation, and more domestic energy exploration. Pass the Kool-Aid, pardner. ____________________________________________________ Arianna Huffington is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of eight books. Originally from Greece, she moved to England when she was sixteen and graduated from Cambridge University with a M.A. in Economics. At twenty-one she became President of the famed debating society, the Cambridge Union. ariannaonline.com

To: asenna1 who wrote (287839)	8/18/2002 10:31:21 AM
From: RON BL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

You utter moron. In England the crime rate is soaring and out of control. Criminals are armed with machine guns and the honest people live in terror. It has become the most violent and dangerous place to live thanks to gun control freaks and idiots like you. Home invasions have skyrocketed. You PC idiot

To: asenna1 who wrote (287839)	8/18/2002 10:36:06 AM
From: RON BL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

news.bbc.co.uk Read this from the BBC you ignorant and dangerous fool. You would have armed Hitler . You learned nothin from your mother. You are the kind that would have delivered the weapons to the Nazis and marched to the death camps singing kumbya. What an abject disgrace you are. Gun and drug crimes threaten UK Thirty tons of heroin were smuggled into Britain last year Organised drug gangs trafficking and selling heroin and crack cocaine pose the single biggest threat to the UK, say senior detectives. The use of guns is another increasing concern to the National Criminal Investigation Service, which has published a report into the threat from serious and organised criminals. The gun culture of places such as Jamaica being transferred to the UK has also led to calls for changes in the law which could clamp down on replica guns and result in stiffer sentences for possessing firearms. Anyone who wishes to obtain a firearm will have little difficulty in doing so whether genuine, reactivated, modified or replica NCIS report People-smuggling, money laundering, fraud hi-tech crime - such as hacking - and paedophile crime are also on its list of the seven most serious threats to UK law and order. The Director General of NCIS, John Abbot said the overall threat from organised criminals was significant. "Our local communities provide the market place for organised crime to sell its wares - whether it be drugs, cigarettes, tobacco or counterfeit goods," he said. "Our aim is to make it harder for serious and organised criminals to go about their criminal business and find new victims." Turf wars The report shows crimes involving guns increased 41% over the last two years, but still only made up 0.3% of all recorded crime. Mr Abbot said the organised criminals were becoming more violent. "There is a greater use of crack cocaine and with that come turf wars between dealers, between major criminals and invariably they will resort to some sort of violence and intimidation, sometimes that is the use of guns." Key threats to UK Class A drugs trafficking Immigration crime Fraud Money laundering Firearms Hi-tech crimes Paedophile crime The report estimated there were 120,000 deactivated guns in the UK which could be brought back into use with a minimum of skill. However police evidence suggests most are likely to be used against other criminals, who would be reluctant to give information to the police. Many criminals involved in one illegal activity will be involved in another, especially drugs. Up to 40 tons of cocaine and 30 tons of heroin were smuggled into Britain last year, the report said. The relationship between South American, Spanish, Dutch and British criminals is becoming more complex and the British are becoming more significant traffickers in their own right - increasingly smuggling cocktails of drugs. The NCIS's Director of Intelligence, David Bolt, said Jamaican gangs made extensive use of couriers to smuggle crack cocaine into the UK. Technology He said flights from Jamaica may contain as many as 25 couriers who had "stuffed or swallowed" consignments of drugs. Advances in technology have made the internet and mobile phones popular with organised criminals for their speed, range and anonymity. The UK is a popular target for people smugglers Mr Bolt said the internet had also transformed the nature and extent of paedophile networking. He said paedophiles, who usually operate alone, were able to exchange everything from material to techniques on internet chat rooms. Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth said the NCIS's threat assessment was invaluable in the fight against crime. He said the forthcoming Proceeds of Crime Bill will help law enforcement in cracking down on major criminals by confiscating their profits. The government was also looking at whether there was more it could do in relation to firearms and that did not rule out legislation, he said.

To: asenna1 who wrote (287839)	8/26/2002 11:56:21 PM
From: RON BL	Respond to of 769670

Hey oven walker read the following !!! New Evidence on Gun Control II: The British Experience By Paul Craig Roberts Second of a two part series [Click here for part I Important New Book Refutes Gun Control Myths] Did you know that a person’s chances of being mugged in London are six times higher than in New York City? Did you know that assault, robbery and burglary rates are far higher in England than in the U.S.? Did you know that in England self-defense of person or property is regarded as an anti-social act, and that a victim who injures or kills an assailant is likely to be treated with more severity than the assailant? Joyce Lee Malcolm blames the rocketing rates of violent and armed crimes in England on “government policies that have gone badly wrong.” Her careful research in Guns and Violence The English Experience, just released by Harvard University Press leads to this conclusion: “Government created a hapless, passive citizenry, then took upon itself the impossible task of protecting it. Its failure could not be more flagrant.” Professor Malcolm begins her study of English crime rates, weapons ownership, and attitudes toward self-defense in the Middle Ages. She continues the story through the Tudor-Stuart centuries, the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. She finds that five centuries of growing civility, low crime rates and declining firearm homicide rates ended in the 20th century. Professor Malcolm shows that an unprotected public at the mercy of criminals is the result of (1) the 1967 revision of criminal law, which altered the common law standard for self-defense and began the process of criminalizing self-defense, and (2) increasing restrictions on handguns and other firearms, culminating in the 1997 ban of handgun ownership (and most other firearms). In England the penalty for possessing a handgun is ten years in prison. The result is the one predicted by the National Rifle Association: “when guns are outlawed, only outlaws have guns.” During the two years following the 1997 handgun ban, the use of handguns in crime rose by 40 percent. During seven months of 2001, armed robberies in London rose by 53 percent. These shocking crime rates are understatements, because “the English police still grossly underreport crimes. . . . The 1998 British Crime Survey found four times as many crimes occurred as police records indicated.” A disarmed public now faces outlaws armed with machine-guns. People in London residential neighborhoods have been machine-gunned to death. Gunmen have even burst into court and freed defendants. The British government forbids citizens to carry any article that might be used for self-defense. Even knitting needles and walking sticks have been judged to be “offensive weapons.” In 1994 an English homeowner used a toy gun to detain two burglars who had broken into his home. The police arrested the homeowner for using an imitation gun to threaten and intimidate. A British Petroleum executive was wounded in an assault on his life in a London Underground train carriage. In desperation, he fought off his attackers by using an ornamental sword blade in his walking stick. He was tried and convicted of carrying an offensive weapon. A youth fearful of being attacked by a gang was arrested for carrying a cycle chain. After police disarmed him, he was set upon and hospitalized as a result of a brutal beating. The prosecutor nevertheless insisted on prosecuting the victim for “carrying a weapon.” Seventy percent of rural villages in Britain entirely lack police presence. But self-defense must be “reasonable,” as determined after the fact by a prosecutor. What is reasonable to a victim being attacked or confronted with home intruders at night can be quite different from how a prosecutor sees it. A woman who uses a weapon to fight off an unarmed rapist could be convicted of using unreasonable force. In 1999 Tony Martin, a farmer, turned his shotgun on two professional thieves when they broke into his home at night to rob him a seventh time. Mr. Martin received a life sentence for killing one criminal, 10 years for wounding the second, and 12 months for having an illegal shotgun. The wounded burglar is already released from prison. American prosecutors now follow British ones in restricting self-defense to reasonable force as defined by prosecutors. Be forewarned that Americans can no longer use deadly force against home intruders unless the intruder is also armed and the homeowner can establish that he could not hide from the intruder and had reason to believe his life was in danger. The assault on England’s version of the Second Amendment was conducted by unsavory characters in the British Home Office. Long before guns were banned, the Home Office secretly instructed the police not to issue licenses for weapons intended to protect home and property. In the British welfare state, crimes against property are not taken seriously. Professor Malcolm reports that criminals face minimal chances of arrest and punishment, but a person who uses force to defend himself or his property is in serious trouble with the law. A recent British law textbook says that the right to self-defense is so mitigated “as to cast doubt on whether it still forms part of the law.” An Englishman’s home is no longer his castle. Thanks to gun control zealots, England has become the land of choice for criminals. COPYRIGHT CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. July 30, 2002 vdare.com