PIML 96060308 / Forwarded to Patriot Information Mailing List: [More or less current events -- worth reading.] PIML ================================================================== Date: Mon, 3 Jun 96 01:55 BST-1 From: d8782@cix.compulink.co.uk (David Canfil) Subject: Even some yankees are rumbling Reply-To: republic-of-texas@colossus.net Even yankees are becoming a lot more sensitive to States Rights and regional sovereignty issues: Ohio Gov. George Voinovich: "Congress has bankrupted the federal government and now they are trying to bankrupt state and local governments." MOST FEDERAL MANDATES ARE IN WELFARE, SOCIAL SERVICES AND ESPECIALLY MEDICAID PROGRAMS. HUMAN SERVICES MANDATES COST OHIO $234.1 MILLION IN 1992 AND ARE PROJECTED TO COST $331.2 MILLION IN 1995. (+40%) ENVIRONMENTAL MANDATE COSTS ROSE FROM $16.6 million in 1992. THEY ARE PROJECTED TO RISE TO NEARLY $56 million in 1997. (+62%) TRANSPORTATION MANDATE COSTS WERE $4.9 million in 1992. They are projected to rise to nearly $56 million in 1997. (+1100%) (Department of Transportation handed down final rules to the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act of 1991 mandating drug and alcohol testing of all municipal employees for towns of more than 50 employees by 1/1/95 and less than 50 by 1/1/96.) "The reason so much decision-making has been moved to Washington is because that's the way bureaucrats and public policy groups want it." says Roger Pilon, director of the Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. "Over the past 40 years, a huge army of central planners have come to Washington, become ensconced in the political branches, and is now seeking to impose its vision of the good society upon the country." The three reasons for going directly to Washington are: You don't have to run 50 different campaigns to get things through legislatures. Any rule made in Washington trumps state law to date, giving people with influence in Washington enormous leverage. You don't run into grass-roots opposition in Washington. The following is the Ohio General Assembly 10th Amendment Resolution: LSC 120 2264 - 1 120th General Assembly Regular Session 1993-1994 Joint Resolution: To claim sovereignty on behalf of the State of Ohio over all powers not granted to the federal government by the United States Constitution. BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO: WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people"; and WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the United States Constitution and no more; and WHEREAS, The scope of the power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and WHEREAS, Today, in 1994, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and WHEREAS, Numerous resolutions have been forwarded to the federal government by the Ohio General Assembly without any response or result from Congress or the federal government; and WHEREAS, Many federal mandates are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States; and WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not simply commander the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous administrations and some now pending from the present administration and from Congress may further violate the United States Constitution; now therefore be it RESOLVED, That the State of Ohio hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the United States Constitution; and be it further RESOLVED, That this Resolution serve as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, from imposing mandates that are beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated powers; and be it further RESOLVED, That the Legislative Clerk of the House of Representatives transmit duly authenticated copies of this Resolution to the President of the United States, to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, to the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of the United States Senate, to the speaker of the house and the president of the senate of every other state legislature, to the members of Ohio's Congressional delegation, and to the news media of Ohio. ============== A Speech by Lt. Harry Thomas, Cincinnati Police Division, Fountain Square, Cincinnati, Ohio. Delivered February 27, 1994. Welcome to the People's Republic of Cincinnati! As usual, since I am speaking publicly, I must make the following disclaimer: I am not speaking to you as an official spokesman or representative of the Cincinnati Police Division. If I don't say that, I'm liable to have visitors waiting for me when I get back to work. For the past 21 years, I have been a member of the Cincinnati Police Division. On three occasions, I have sworn a solemn oath; once when I was promoted from cadet to patrolman, once when I was promoted from patrolman to sergeant, and yet again when I was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant. That oath was to support the Constitution of The United States of America. I have buried almost a dozen of my fellow police officers who died defending that oath. The last one died right before my eyes in the major trauma room of University Hospital. I signed the receipt for his body so that he could be transported to the morgue. I think about those men often, and I think about what they died for. And that is why I become furiously angry when I see our Constitution, the most remarkable document ever written in the course of human existence, being used as toilet paper at every level of government. The Brady Bill is now a reality. For the first time in the history of our country, American citizens must request the government's permission to exercise a constitutional right. And if the government sees its way clear to grant permission, we must wait 5 days to exercise the right. But even this is not enough to please our keepers in Sodom-By-The- Potomac. Gun laws are not being passed quickly enough to suit our federal law enforcement agencies, so they have formulated their own plan to discourage gun ownership. In Ruby Ridge, Idaho, Sammy Weaver, age 14, the son of Randy Weaver, a man who had taken his family to the mountains to escape the tyranny of a government run amok, was hunting in the forest near the Weaver cabin with his dog. He wasn't the only person hunting in that forest that day. Sammy Weaver was ambushed and fatally shot in the back by two United States Marshals. And lest anyone accuse the US Marshals of not being thorough in the performance of their assigned tasks, I would point out that they also shot the dog, also in the back. Later, Vicki Weaver, Randy's wife and the mother of the Weaver children, opened the door of the Weaver cabin to admit her husband, who had been in a nearby shed to visit the body of his son. Vicki Weaver was holding her 10 month old infant daughter in her arms. That proved to be only a slight inconvenience to FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi, as he shot Vicki Weaver through the head. She fell dead to the floor, her skull exploded, still clutching her daughter in her lifeless arms. It would appear that it is now a capital offense to be the son, wife, or dog of a gun owner. Waco. "Waco" is a word which, among American patriots, engenders the same anguished feelings of outrage as the word "Alamo." Last year, at the NRA Convention in Nashville, my wife and I returned to our hotel room and flipped on CNN to see the latest developments in Waco. The Branch Davidian compound was burning. My wife cried. She knew that there were many children in that compound. She asked me why. Why are they burning the compound? I told her the simple truth: They have to burn it. Has anyone here seen and read the Waco search warrant affidavit? It's crap. It didn't establish enough probable cause to even knock on the Branch Davidian's door. When the FBI took over from the BATF (which some people say actually stands for Burn All Toddlers First) they knew that they would find no illegal weapons in the Branch Davidian compound. They were between a rock and a hard place. 4 ATF men dead, and an unknown number of Branch Davidians dead, the FBI had only one choice: destroy the compound, so that no one could ever prove whether illegal weapons were present or not. For hours, the FBI pumped supposedly non-lethal CS gas into the compound. Those of us in law enforcement and the military know differently. CS gas, in high concentrations in an enclosed area, is lethal. The first ones to be affected, by vomiting, convulsions, unconsciousness and death, would be the children. The same children that the feds claimed they were trying to rescue from the evil cultists. The same children that local Texas authorities found to be happy and healthy under the care of the Branch Davidians. The FBI did not pump CS gas into the Branch Davidian compound to force its occupants to come out. They pumped that gas in to make sure the occupants couldn't come out. Dead gun owners, and dead gun owners' children, tell no tales. The time has come for us to openly discuss something that up to this time we have mainly whispered about. The purpose of the 2nd amendment is to threaten the government. The framers of our Constitution knew that government is a necessary evil, which, as in the case of the British government, could easily become more evil than necessary. The Founding Fathers wanted to ensure that should that situation again come to pass, the American people would have the capability to reclaim their country by force of arms. I believe that we are dangerously close to that day when we will have to use the 2nd Amendment in exactly the manner that our forefathers anticipated. When I was a boy, my father could buy firearms through the mail. It was rightly believed at that time that such a transaction was the business of the buyer, the gun dealer, and no one else. I lost that right with the passage of the GCA 68 [Gun Control Act of 1968]. In my lifetime, I have been able to walk into a gun store, select a handgun, and walk out of that store with that gun in my hand. My children lost that right with the passage of the Brady Bill. I'm not giving up any more rights. I sincerely hope that a political solution to this problem is still possible, and I will continue to work on the NRA Board of Directors to try to find that solution. But if that solution cannot be found, I say this to the megalomaniacs in Washington: Pass your gun laws. I will not beg the government for a license to continue to be a handgun owner. I will not submit to being fingerprinted, or photographed, or interrogated like a criminal for claiming my birthright as a free American. I will not register a single gun that I own. I will not surrender a single gun that I own. I will not apply for an "arsenal" license because I own more than 20 guns or more than a thousand rounds of ammunition. I will not attend mandatory safety training, nor will I submit to a test to prove that I'm fit to be a gun owner. And Miss Reno, I have this to say to you: If you send your jack-booted, baby-burning bushwhackers to confiscate my guns, pack them a lunch; it will be a damned long day. The Branch Davidians were amateurs; I'm a professional. Patrick Henry, while addressing the Virginia House of Burgesses on March 23, 1775, put these concepts into words in a manner far better than I can ever hope to: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!" ================================================================== Date: Mon, 3 Jun 96 01:54 BST-1 From: d8782@cix.compulink.co.uk (David Canfil) Subject: Diverse rumbles Reply-To: republic-of-texas@colossus.net The following article is from the Casper Star-Tribune on 5/21/94, Casper, Wyoming. Summit tries to fuel states' rights renewal PHOENIX (AP) In Arizona, they want to sue the federal government. In New Mexico, they want to rewrite the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. In Utah, they're willing to give up millions of dollars. All want relief from federal control. They are governors, legislators, county commissioners, and officials of varying capacities in 18 states, and they're not happy. "I think it has something to do with Western mentality and Western culture," said Graham County Sheriff Richard Mack, whose lawsuit over the federal Brady gun law prompted Arizona to consider joining him. "We don't want our lives dictated to us, especially by Eastern Washington bureaucrats," Mack said. About 350 representatives met for the Western States' Summit on Thrusday and Friday. Although discussions centered on Western issues of grazing, water rights and timberlands, some of its leaders said they hope its theme of winning back states' rights catches on nationally. Arizona Gov. Fife Symington urged the participants to join him in earmarking funds to sue the federal government over regulations deemed intrusive on states' rights. Arizona already has sued the federal government for the cost of imprisoning illegal aliens convicted of felonies or other crimes. Symington joked that the only reason he isn't for secession from the union is because his state doesn't have a seaport. But there were serious discussions regarding secession or abolishing federal government. "I do not deny that what we have in mind here is revolutionary thought, but what we're trying to do is strengthen the country, not tear it apart," Symington said. Although attendees said the idea of stopping federal intrusion is catching on nationwide, it's of particular potency in the West. There mandates affect land issues, and some states have more than 80 percent of their land controlled by the government. "In Wyoming, we don't have Silcon Valley, or a manufacturing base. All we have is our natural resources," said Rep. Carolyn Paseneaux, R-Casper. Besides the economic impact, land issues hit the heart. "If you grow up in New York City and your feet never touch the earth, you don't have that feeling, that tenacity to hold on," Paseneaux said. "It's very easy to make a decision about something you never have to live with yourself." Even so, the nation might not rally around land issues, which are complex and dry, said Marta Agee, a Nevada land commissioner from Lincoln City. She said it's hard enough getting urban residents of Nevada interested. ================================================================== * Patriot Information Mailing List * http://constitution.org/piml/piml.htm * A service to help inform those who have an active interest in * returning our federal and state governments to limited, * constitutional government * Send messages for consideration and possible posting to * butterb@sagenet.net (Bill Utterback). * To subscribe or unsubscribe, send message with subject line * "subscribe patriot" or "unsubscribe patriot" * Forwarded messages sent on this mailing list are NOT verified. * See World's Smallest Political Quiz: www.self-gov.org/quiz.html * Libertarian is to LIBERTY as librarian is to library (DePena) * PIML grants permission to copy and repost this message * in its entirety with headers and trailers left intact.