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http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=21820

Green Activists Hurt the World's Poor: An Interview with Paul Driessen
Written By: James M. Taylor
Published In: Environment News
Publication Date: September 1, 2007
Publisher: The Heartland Institute


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Paul Driessen is a warrior on the front lines of the battle against Third World poverty and disease.

As a senior policy advisor for the Congress of Racial Equality and a senior fellow with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, Driessen dedicates himself to identifying and eliminating the obstacles that keep people in underdeveloped countries from breaking through the abject poverty barrier.

All too often, Driessen has discovered, the very environmental activist groups that claim to care so much about people in underdeveloped countries are the ones keeping them down.

James M. Taylor, a senior fellow for The Heartland Institute and managing editor of Environment & Climate News, caught up with Driessen for a discussion of Third World nations and the environment.

Taylor: You have been one of the leaders in presenting affluent Americans with information about how environmental extremists are impoverishing and imperiling the lives of the world's poorest people. What are the most significant threats the world's poor face from extremists?

Driessen: I think malaria is probably the biggest threat. There has been tremendous opposition among environmental activists regarding DDT and insecticides. The extremists focus on phony, speculative crises regarding insecticides, yet ignore the extreme and very real negative toll that so-called enlightened environmental policies are imposing on the poor people of the world.

Another threat to the world's poor are the proffered "solutions" to global warming, where alarmists use speculative scenarios cranked out on computers to justify policies that will cause tremendous harm to the world's poor.

People in underdeveloped nations desperately need energy, yet the alarmists want to keep it away from them. As a result, people in Third World nations frequently burn dung indoors for their cooking and heating requirements, and will continue to do so until the activists stop opposing fossil fuel use and hydroelectric dams.

Environmental activists frequently call for the installation of small solar panels or a couple of wind turbines in each local village, but these are wholly inadequate sources of power. These cannot give birth to a modern society.

The activists are even using global warming now to justify opposition to shipping food from Africa to Europe, arguing that transportation entails burning too many fossil fuels. This is trade protectionism under environmental garb.

Time and again, despite the rhetoric, Africans' interests are always dead last on the totem poll of environmental activist priorities. A lack of concern for the Third World poor is being masked by high-minded environmental slogans.

Other threats from environmental activists include opposition to mining, foreign corporate investment, and biotechnology.

In all of these issues, environmental activists oppose Third World rights to self-determination and prevent Africans from developing a middle-income consumer society like that of the Western world. Unfortunately, the stifling of a middle-income consumer society is not the inadvertent result of environmental activist policies, but quite often the desired result.


Taylor: Malaria is running rampant throughout much of Africa and other parts of the Third World. What is the scope of the malaria problem?

Driessen: The malaria problem has been worsening for decades under politically correct schemes that emphasize inadequate "solutions" such as bed nets, education, and treatment rather than prevention. Today in developing nations, half a billion people still get malaria every year. One out of three people who contract malaria die from it--mostly kids.

In recent years, we are seeing signs that this might finally begin to change. The United States is participating with many international groups to provide DDT and insecticides as effective weapons in the battle against malaria.


Taylor: After DDT eliminated malaria in the United States in the mid-twentieth century, environmental activists succeeded in banning it. What has real-world experience told us about the importance of DDT in fighting malaria?

Driessen: In the United States and Europe, DDT got rid of malaria. It is as simple as that. It was the knockout blow that eliminated a substantial human health problem. But today in developing nations, half a billion people still get malaria every year, yet DDT has been banned due to alleged human health fears.

What human health risks can exceed hundreds of millions of people contracting malaria every year? What can justify this horrendous annual death toll?

Developing nations merely seek the right to spray a small amount of DDT inside their homes once or twice a year to keep malarial mosquitoes out, but are being pressured not to.


Taylor: What are the environmental risks of DDT spraying?

Driessen: It is important to note that DDT functions not so much as an insecticide as a long-lasting repellant. You need only spray the huts once or twice a year and the mosquitoes will not enter. The few that enter will leave or die almost immediately. Limited indoor spraying is all people need.

There really is no substitute for this--nothing. How can anyone argue the harms of such limited indoor spraying outweigh the deaths of more than 100 million people per year?


Taylor: Are there any other effects that the DDT ban has on developing nations, in addition to the death toll?

Driessen: The reality of malaria is that hundreds of millions of people in Third World nations, and in Africa especially, spend much of the year sick, battling the disease. They can't go to work. They spend much of their time in hospitals. They spend a great deal of money paying for medical care.

So many people die from malaria, and so many more suffer the pains of the illness and the poverty that it brings.


Taylor: Any final thoughts?

Driessen: I would just like to make people aware that the Congress of Racial Equality and the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow work so very hard to make a positive difference in people's lives. As opposed to the environmental activists who sit in their offices opposing everything, we are out there on a person-to-person and village-to-village basis doing everything we can to fight disease and poverty.

Posted by Les Riley at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments

Pro-War conservatives & neo-conservatives -- looking for a man on a white horse -- have been salivating in hopes of a Fred Thompson run for the Presidency.

He skipped the debates to avoid tough questions, but in the days of the internet, this doesn't work quite as well.

The "Conservatives against Fred Thompson" blog does a good job of proving why no conservative Christian should support Fred Thompson for Pres.
( I'm afraid many probably will anyway; after all, he's better than Hillary)

http://conservativesagainstfred.wordpress.com/
There are proofs that Fred is pro-choice, pro-big government, and on the wrong side on MANY issues that conservatives care about

For instance, this piece that shows Thompson's anti-gun voting record in the Senate :

http://conservativesagainstfred.wordpress.com/2007/06/11/fred-thompsons-anti-gun-senate-record/

Fred Thompson’s Anti-Gun Senate Record

The Conservatives Against Fred Thompson volunteers have compiled a list of proposals supported by Fred Dalton Thompson in the senate that include Gun Bans, confiscations and limitations to the free speech of Gun Rights Advocates. Dates and bill numbers are provided so this information can be easily verified.
Summary:

1. Anti-gun terror bill (S. 735 )
On June 7, 1995, the Senate passed an anti-gun terror bill (S. 735) by a vote of 91-8. This version of the terror bill included: a BATF pay increase of $100 million; a provision authorizing “roving wiretaps” allowing government officials to wiretap one’s home if a person under investigation visits the home — even if one had no knowledge the person was a suspect; a weakening of the Posse Commitatus law to give the military more authority to get involved in law enforcement in certain circumstances; a grant of power to the FBI to conduct “fishing expeditions” and secure one’s financial and travel records in certain circumstances without any evidence one has committed a crime; and finally, the “Randy Weaver entrapment provision” which extends the statute of limitations for violations under the National Firearms Act of 1934 from three to five years. Thompson voted in favor of the bill.

2. Anti-gun terror bill — final passage
On April 17, 1996, the Senate passed the conference version of the anti-terrorism bill by a vote of 91-8. The final version of the bill (S. 735) contained several problems, including ones that will: order an “anti-hunter” rifle and ammo study; authorize a $40 million pay increase for the BATF (through the Treasury Department); potentially punish gun dealers (and individuals) for selling ammunition to someone they should have known would commit a violent crime; federalize many state crimes, thus tremendously increasing the scope and jurisdiction of the BATF; restrict the right of habeas corpus in such a way as to severely damage the ability of the courts to rescue honest gun owners who are unjustly incarcerated; allow the government to use “secret evidence” against certain individuals; remove protections against wiretapping wireless data; and require banks to freeze the assets of domestic groups in certain situations. Thompson once again voted in favor of the bill.

3. Taggants in gunpowder
On September 12, 1996, the Senate voted (57-42) to keep an anti-gun amendment off of the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill (H.R. 3756). The Kerry amendment — which Thompson voted for– would have made funds available for a study of tagging explosive materials, including black and smokeless powders (thus setting the stage for registering ammunition). The amendment also sought to further demonize firearms by selectively examining the misuse of firearms by criminals. The study would not examine the number of times firearms are used to save the lives of decent citizens.

4. Lautenberg Domestic Confiscation gun ban
On September 12, 1996, the Senate passed the Lautenberg gun ban as an amendment to the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill (H.R. 3756). The Lautenberg Domestic Confiscation Gun Ban disarms gun owners for small (misdemeanor) offenses in the home — “offenses” as slight as spanking a child or grabbing a spouse. This lifetime ban, in certain cases, can even be imposed without a trial by jury. It is also retroactive, so it does not matter if the offense occurred 20 years ago. Thompson voted in favor of the amendment.

5. Free Speech restrictions
On October 7, 1997, the Senate defeated an “Incumbent Protection Bill” (S. 25) which would have resulted in the government regulation of GOA’s newsletters and other communications with its members, while expanding the relative political power of the liberal media and other anti-gun forces. Senators failed in their effort, 53 to 47, to shut down a filibuster of the bill that was ostensibly aimed at reforming campaign finance laws.

6. Smith “Anti-Brady” Amendment
On July 21, 1998, pro-gun Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) introduced an “Anti-Brady” amendment that passed by a vote of 69-31. The Smith amendment would prohibit the FBI from using Brady background checks to tax or register gun owners. Further, the amendment requires the “immediate destruction of all [gun buyer] information, in any form whatsoever.” Finally, if the FBI disregards this latter provision, the Smith language will allow private citizens to sue the agency and collect monetary damages, including attorney’s fees. Thompson, in keeping with his tendency to usually vote for expanded federal police power, voted against this limitation of FBI registration of gun owners.

7. Anti-gun Clinton judge appointment
On February 11, 1998, the Senate voted 67-28 to confirm Margaret Morrow to the Federal bench. GOA vigorously opposed this Clinton-appointed judge, as she has not only taken strident anti-gun positions, she has showed herself to be a gun control activist.

8. Anti-gun Surgeon General
Having nominated anti-gun David Satcher for Surgeon General, President Bill Clinton was forced to wait several months as debate raged over his controversial pick. But on February 10, 1998, the President finally realized victory. By a vote of 75-23, anti-gun Republicans teamed up with the Democrats to kill the filibuster over the Satcher nomination. Mr. Satcher was later confirmed by a vote of 63-35. Since the key vote was to end the filibuster, that is the one that was rated by GOA.

9. Ending the filibuster of a major anti-gun crime bill
On July 28, 1999, the Senate ended a filibuster led by Senator Bob Smith (I-NH) — a filibuster intended to keep anti-gun crime legislation from progressing any further. After the 77-22 vote, the Senate moved to send the language of the anti-gun Senate crime bill (S. 254) to a House-Senate conference committee. Thompson voted to break the pro-gun filibuster.

10. Young adult gun ban
The young adult gun ban could severely punish parents who allow their kids to even touch a so-called semi-automatic “assault weapon.” While the amendment allows for certain exemptions, there are some imponderable questions which NO senator could answer, but which a parent would have to answer in order to avoid incarceration. For example: What is a “semiautomatic assault weapon”? The definition, plus exemptions, takes up six pages of fine print in the U.S. Code. Second, a child can handle a banned semi-auto if he is in the “immediate and supervisory presence” of a parent or if he possess a written permission slip from the parent. But what happens when, during a target practice session, the parent walks to the car to retrieve his lunch and the juvenile is no longer in the parents “immediate” presence and does not have a permission slip? A parent can receive jail time for this infraction. The provision passed the Senate on May 13, 1999, with Thompson voting in the majority.

11. Adopting the “Gun Control Lite” strategy
On May 13, 1999, a majority of Senators — including Thompson — defeated a motion to table (or kill) an anti-gun amendment introduced by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Larry Craig (R-WY). This amendment was offered as an alternative to gun control proposals being pushed by Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

12. McCain’s Incumbent Protection (2000 version)
By 59 to 41, the Senate passed S. 27, to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act to include Incumbent Protection provisions. The bill severely curtails the ability of outside groups such as GOA to communicate the actions of incumbent politicians to members and supporters prior to an election.

13. Incumbent Protection (2002 failed filibuster)
This was the key vote in the Senate regarding the odious Incumbent Protection bill in 2002 (H.R. 2356). The legislation finally became law that year. As he had on previous occasions, Thompson voted in favor of the bill.

Posted by Les Riley at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments

Please check out the new Riley For Agriculture Commissioner web site/ blog :
www.RileyForAgriculture.com . Give me your thoughts & forward to all your friends.

I need your help

Posted by Les Riley at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments

Anthony Mathenia -- a Missionary from our church is doing some of this same work in Ethiopia. I found this through a link on his Blog ( I would encourage you to sign up for a udates and pray for/ support their work)

This link is from a mission organization that seeks :

"A holistic Christian development program in Bolivia teaching the poor to drill their own deep water wells. We are sponsored by Southland Baptist Church of San Angelo, TX. USA/Hendricks Ave. Baptist of Jacksonville Florida/ World Concern Bolivia/Baptist in Bolivia and other caring churches and individuales "

They also do the practical work of offering " low cost windmills and low cost alternative, farming tools that help families grow more , stop slashing and burning, protect soils, wtih tools poor families can afford.." that helps " small farmers trying to move beyond subsistance poverty" as detailed on this link.

Interestingly enough, I read an article this morning on South America Daily about a controversy over the way that Peru is inefficiently using all the foriegn aid that has come in since the earthquake.

The contrast between bottom up, Christian charity and top down government aid could not be more clear. One uses meager resources & relationships to provide real help that has many unforseen positive side effects that go well beyond the originally intended goal. The other bureaucratically -- and usually tainted with mulitiple ulterior motives -- throws money at problems and uses the "bull-in-a-china-shop" approach that often has unforseen consequences in other areas and often creates whole new problems.

Yet, more often than not, people ( even conservative Christians) see a problem & immediately want the governement to "help".

Posted by Les Riley at 4:25 AM | Permalink | Comments

For folks outside Mississippi this may not mean much, but the reason I have not been writing much this week, is because I had been working on my speech for the Neshoba County Fair.

Here is the text of it, I will follow up with a Blog post from Sid Salter ( The Clarion Ledger's political columnist)

Good afternoon, my name is Les Riley. I am the Constitution Party Candidate for Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce.

First of all want to express my gratitude to the folks here at the Neshoba Fair for giving me the opportunity to speak but in doing so, I must confess they have given me a dilemma as well.

I have a grand total of TEN MINUTES to tell you who I am, why I am running, what the Constitution Party is, why you should give consideration to an unknown candidate from outside the two major parties, with little name recognition and little money in the campaign coffers . And I also need to convince you that someone running for a Statewide office on a right wing third party under these circumstances isn’t a nutcase.

To make things more daunting, I -- running on an very conservative party platform -- have been seemingly flanked on my right by, of all places, the Clarion-Ledger. It is a truly strange political year when there are 13 third party candidates in a state that until recently was a one party Democratic state and the state’s largest newspaper -- who traditionally has never seen a problem that they didn’t believe could be fixed with more government programs & tax money has now called for the abolition of the Dept of Agriculture.

If I were politically smart, I would run with that and declare that I wanted to be Mississippi’s last commissioner of agriculture and would work to see the program eventually closed down.

However, the main reason that the Clarion Ledger editorials called for the elimination of the Department of Ag is not because they have suddenly become believers in small government, but rather they want the wise folks over at the legislature to have more funds freed up to use them on boondoggles more in line with the Progressive priorities of the folks in Jackson and because the Federal government already provides us with meat plant inspectors and other “helps” for us Mississippian farmers.

If any Department of Agriculture needs to have its influence cut back in Mississippi -- we need to start with USDA then move towards smaller government in Mississippi -- not the other way around. The USDA is the epitome of what Reagan said about government economic policy : if it moves, tax it, if it keeps moving regulate it, then when it stops moving, subsidize it.
This is not meant to imply that USDA doesn’t have some good folks working for them or that they are the worst monster that wanders from Modor on the Potomac to harass the rest of us . We certainly have a plethora of them.
***************************
I will try to answer the questions of who I am, why I am running, & what the Constitution Party is all in one quick pass here & then tell you what I would do if the Providence of God & the voters of the great state of Mississippi places me in the Ag Commissioner’s office this November.

I am a 8th Generation Mississippian. I am a sinner saved by the Grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ. I have been blessed to be married to my wife Christy for 21 wonderful years and we have nine living children & two in heaven.

My family has produced elected officials for over 100 years.
With two supervisors, a 42 year chancery clerk & a 24 year sheriff among my very close relations, I grew up around small town Democratic politics. After my wife and I got married & I became a Christian, I left the backroom-deal-making of politics behind. Then, in the early 90’s we found out they had opened an abortion clinic near our home. We started going down to offer help & a real choice to some of the abortion-bound moms. Folks from our local pro-life group suggested that I consider running for office. Since Bill Clinton was president at the time, I joined the Republicans & ran for Horn Lake Alderman.

Within a couple of years, I began to see actions from the Republican Party nationally that were not in keeping with their conservative rhetoric -- the most egregious recent example of this is the doublespeak on illegal immigration that we get from our leaders in D.C.
I joined the CP -- then known as the Taxpayers Party in 1994 & have served as state chairman since 98. We are America’s third largest & fastest growing political party based on voter registration. We have been on the ballot in Mississippi for 15 years and have run candidates for everything from Supervisor to President. This year we have 9 excellent candidates for the legislature. We are Mississippi’s only 100%, no exceptions pro-life party. We have a platform & an agenda aimed at a return to limited, constitutional government. And, we’ve been right on immigration for 15 years.

I was recently asked what qualified me to run . I am , in some ways, the most qualified to represent rural Mississippi & agriculture. I grew up working on the DeSoto County crop farm that my father has been operating for 47 years. I majored in Agriculture for a while in college hoping to go back to work with my Dad, but like most Mississippi farm boys I had to leave the farm because of economic conditions created by farm, trade, economic, and monetary policies so bad that it’s hard to believe they are not aimed at driving people off the land.
Like most of Mississippi’s rural population, I have worked jobs in town & lived on a small acreage raising market gardens, chickens, & keeping some small livestock. I have worked at a grain elevator, for Soil Conservation Service, on a large scale cattle ranch, at a food distribution warehouse, managing supermarkets, as a buyer for a large food chain, in food sales, and I have fed 11 people on one income w/o accepting handouts from the taxpayers.

But the real reason I am running is because there is a view of culture & government that this country was founded upon & made us a free & prosperous people that no one else seems to talk about anymore.

The Declaration of Independence tells us that the foundation of this country was “there is a Creator; rights come from Him: and government exists to protect those rights.” They said things like “that governs best which governs least”. They expected government to do a handful of things -- at the most local level possible -- and otherwise leave people to “regulate their own affairs”.

This foundation of limited & legitimate government was also built upon Christianity, the family, and an independent agrarian culture not a worship of tolerance, money & progress. In the system we originally had there are some things government should do and some things it shouldn’t . Government at all levels has gotten so big and intrusive while at the same time failing at it’s most basic functions . . .

For one example of this , I have a friend who runs a small farm on a two lane country highway in Pontotoc County raising all natural chicken & grass fed beef for upscale restaurants & consumers around Tupelo & Oxford . This fellow is currently worried that a pending federal program called NAIS will soon put him out of business. NAIS seeks to force the registration of every single farm animal including a flock of yard chickens. This same friend recently got a letter from the District Attorney informing him that his mailbox was a few inches too low. He sat it aside, planning on getting to it a little later. Shortly there after, he got another letter threatening him to have his mailbox in compliance within 30days “or else” . I was riding by his house the other day listening to super talk and there were several new stories about the rampant crime in our capital city and a politician ringing his hands about not having the resources to find millions of illegal aliens. HOW ABOUT USING THE FOLKS THAT ARE COUNTING CHICKEN & MEASURING MAIL BOXES TO FIGHT CRIME & DEPORT A FEW ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ?

At the same time you listen to most office holders, people running for office, and talk show hosts you would think that government is our Messiah.
Promises to make Mississippi better by giving more money to the schools, or to the poor, or to the young, or to the old, or trying to recruit the next big industry. Liberal and conservative, everyone seems to believe that government exists to “help people” and as a force for good to make life better. The fact is the view that government should be a positive force to make the world better has proved to be the most deadly & oppressive philosophy the world has ever known. In fact, this utopianism led to over 170 million people being killed by their own governments in the 20th Century alone.

More directly related to the Commissioner of Ag’s race & my involvement in it. In the last 100 years we have had trillions of dollars spent by the USDA to “help farmers” and yet we have seen a commensurate decline in the number of farms and a gutting of out rural economy & culture. Thomas Jefferson believed that we would remain free so long as we remained a nation of family farms & small businesses in small towns and we would quickly lose our virtue & freedom once we moved to a focus on urbanization & centralization. He was right.
Ultimately :

Agriculture is too important to our economy & culture to trust to the politicians
IF I am elected I will seek to
1) Cut the Size and Scope of Government Drastically including a cut in the Department of Agriculture’s budget & a consolidation of functions that are currently being duplicated so long as these savings were returned to the taxpayers rather than turned over to the legislature to waste on something else
2) Promotion of Mississippi’s agriculture while providing oversight to avoid disasters like the infamous beef plant & protection of our citizen’s health from things like foreign fish labeled as catfish
3) Use Power of Dept of Agriculture to combat health risk of illegal immigrants working at meat
and food processing plants
4) Reassert the power of the State of Mississippi to interpose against the Federal government on behalf of Mississippi's citizens, using the 10th Amendment and other Constitutional limits to stand up against onerous federal regulations and other interferences into the affairs of Mississippi's farmers, rural communities, and other citizens.
5) Further interposition against those who would favor industry over agriculture and fight for Mississippi's family farms & rural communities and against the wedding of corporate & government interests in the name of economic development and the false Messiah of "progress". In essence, I will oppose selling out of our State to foreign corporations and Multi-National Bankers at the Expense of our liberty, or way of life, and our local small businesses & family farms
6) Abolition of Property Taxes on Mississippi Farm & Timber land privately owned by Mississippi Taxpayers as well as abolition of State Income Taxes on farm income produced by Mississippi families on privately held Mississippi farmland --- to be offset by increased use fees for out-of-state landowners and those who take farmland out of production to get Federal subsidies, as well as imposts and duties on foreign farm goods sold in Mississippi.
7) Use name and clout of ag commissioner to start PRIVATELY FUNDED farm research & education centers ( like the Agricenter in Memphis) modeled after the Missouri Small Farm Research Center
8) Use the "bully pulpit" of the office to show Mississippians how media filth & propaganda; moral & family breakdown; and the growth of Big Government has harmed rural Mississippi. And work for the bottom up restoration of the Christian Agrarian Culture that was the seedbed of America's liberty & prosperity.

If you are not pleased with the status quo that the two parties, big government, big business, & big media have been giving you, I would appreciate your vote & support in the November general election-- Vote Les Riley Constitution Party candidate for commissioner of agriculture & commerce.

Posted by Les Riley at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments

Power politics that uses the broken bodies of unborn children to build little mini-feifdoms on makes me want to throw up !

In the rapidly heating up Republican Primary for Lt Governor, Charlie Ross, has recently received the endorsement of Mississippi Right to Life.
Shouldn't be a big deal, right ? Charlie Ross has a solid pro-life record. Of course so does Phil Bryant. In fact Miss. RTL has endorsed both Ross & Bryant in previous elections. So why did RTL not remain neutral.
Could this be the answer ?

According to Right to Life's Barbra Whitehead : "All three candidates are pro-life. That will be on our Web site along with the information on all the other candidates that we sent questionnaires to. Jamie Franks and Charlie Ross both have pro-life voting records for these last four years. Phil Bryant did in the past when he was in the Legislature. All three of them have been endorsed by the PAC. This makes them all equal."
But Whitehead said that Ross got the endorsement because he was the "the best candidate for lieutenant governor from a right-to-life stand point."

Whitehead also confirmed that a key participant in selecting the slate of 396 Mississippi statewide and legislative candidates endorsed by the group and "the real backbone of our organization" is Scott Fischbach.

Whitehead said Fischbach is a member of the board of Mississippi Right to Life. Fischbach is also the leader of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life and lives in Paynesville, Minn. He is the husband of Republican Minnesota state Sen. Michelle Fischbach of Payneville, Minn.

In 2002, Campaigns and Elections Magazine named Fischbach a "rising star" in politics and in 2005 Minnesota Law and Politics dubbed Fischbach and his wife "king and queen of the red" in reference to their GOP influence.

Also in 2001-2002, Fischbach's political consulting firm, Coalition Productions, Inc., of Payneville, Minn., received $22,000 in payments from the Ronnie Shows for Congress campaign in his Democratic congressional race against eventual winner Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering.

Earlier this month, the Ross campaign reported $7,261 in total payments of Fischbach's Coalition Productions, Inc., firm. Ross said he hired Fischbach because "he's worked in the past for Haley Barbour, Amy Tuck, Kirk Fordice and a lot of other successful Republican candidates."

Ross said he was not aware that Fischbach was on the board of Mississippi Right to Life when he hired him prior to getting the group's endorsement.

"I hired him because he gets results and is effective," said Ross. "There was no quid pro quo."

Fischbach concurred in that assessment and said he did not participate in the choice of Ross for the endorsement but that after meeting Ross "I decided I wanted to go with him."

But a March 10, 2007, memo from Fischbach to Bryant paints a different picture. In that memo, which Fischbach confirmed, he said: "This race is going to be decided in the next 120 days and I want to do my part to ensure your victory." Bryant didn't hire him.

Fischbach said that despite his offer to Bryant, his hiring by Ross had nothing to do with Ross getting the endorsement.

Sure. And I've got a bridge to sell you -- LR

Source

Posted by Les Riley at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

Is it just me, or is this weird ?
http://www.religionandlabornetwork.org/

Posted by Les Riley at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments

GENEVA (AFP) - Farmers around the world have applauded the failure of free-trade talks despite a warning from World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy that everyone is a loser.

"The time has come, not to say that it's a failure today, but to say that it's an opportunity -- for farmers, fishing communities or developing countries -- to have real public debate about food sovereignty," said Jose Bove, a French farmer and one of the standard bearers of the anti-Doha movement in recent years. . . .

In the United States, home to huge rolling farms, National Farmers Union President Tom Buis said: "From the US agriculture producer perspective, there was great fear that the trade round would severely tie the hands of the US government as it attempts to address the challenges facing rural America . . .

This is an old story ( linked below), but well worth reviving .

We would probably have a number of significant disagreements with some of these folks on the role of government, private property, and various other issues
BUT this is good news

While one would hope that we would see more of a move towards prosperous free market farming like Australia & New Zealand ( as well as Brazil & Argentina)

The governments of Australia and New Zealand, leading members of the 18-member Cairns Group of agricultural exporters, were lone voices of disappointment in the global farming community.

"It is very, very important to our agriculture industries and our manufacturing industries to get better access to the markets of the world and this is going to slow that process down," said Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile.

It is good to see the New World Order agenda slowed & frustrated (especially by yokels & peasants that many of these would be rulers in Brussells & New York sneer at)

Agriculture was at the core of the failure of the trade talks, as the EU, the United States and emerging nations accused each other for intransigeance.

And PRAISE GOD for this :

"Ministers were speaking to their respective galleries, but not to each other," said Jean-Pierre Lehmann, head of the Evian Group thinktank on world trade.

"It was abundantly clear that the sense of a global community required to provide the cement to the global market was absent, and is absent," he added.

One of the underlying trends in both on the American scene & in international geo-politics is the growing rift between rural/ small town & urban/ suburban interests.
The Red-Blue politcal maps that everyone keeps shoving in our faces is just the tip of the iceberg ( and it will begin to fissure more as more folks in flyover country realize that the Bush crowd just want them for votes, money & cannon fodder).

The limosine liberals ultimately want to empty the countryside and turn the Great Plains into a big buffalo park. ( sort of like Stalin).
So called conservatives see God's creation as nothing but "resources" and rural/ small town people as nothing but "cheap labor" to build make their brick-a-brack; consumers to fuel their "global economy" at Wal Mart; and "brave men & women" to fight their wars.
By and large our local customs & slow-paced lifestyles are seen as backwards.
Sadly, many well-meaning folks who want to help their communities play right into the hands of the "progressives" who want to turn their small towns into McTowns.

Ultimately, the way the elitists deal with the threat of an awakening among the "sheeple" in the countryside who just want to be left alone is to do what Marxist do best :
"Divide & Conquer"

They set the "big farmers" against the "small farmers". Organic vs conventional. Hunters against producers. Enviormentalists vs those who live on the land.

It works quite well . . .

To read the whole story & comment, click here

Posted by Les Riley at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments

A couple of decades ago, the three largest meat packers controlled 15% of the beef market. Now the three largest meat packers controll between 85 - 90%.
Combine this with the fact that Wal Mart, Kroger, and a couple of other Mega food chains along with the Mega Restraunt chains are all going towards more centralized buying, you end up with a pretty dangerous scenario for both food security and liberty. . .

This particular statement was chilling to me :
Tyson has always been less about happy suppliers and more about happy consumers. Like Wal-Mart, its big partner and neighbor a few miles up Interstate 540, Tyson is all about squeezing costs while it delivers value

Will the beef industry go the way of chickens ?

To read the whole article & comment, click here

Posted by Les Riley at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments

LEAGUE OF THE SOUTH NEWS SERVICE

26 June 2007
For Immediate Release

Today, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of bill 1639 by a 64-35 margin. The passage of S. 1639 allowed what many call the Amnesty Bill to be revived and moved ahead for further debate. Many supporters believe that this crucial vote all but assures that the bill will finally be passed in the Senate and will be the first step in legalizing between 12-20 million illegal aliens already in the country.

A breakdown of the vote by State tells us clearly that the South overwhelmingly opposed reviving S. 1639. The combined vote in 14 Southern States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) was 11 in favor and 17 against. Thus nearly half of the 35 "no" votes came from the South while only 18% of the "yes" votes came from Dixie. Without figuring in the Southern vote, the finally tally would have been 53 "yes" to 18 "no," a striking non-Southern majority in favor of Amnesty.

The breakdown of votes in each Southern State:

Alabama: Sessions (R)-No Shelby (R)-No
Arkansas: Lincoln (D)-Yes Pryor (D)-Yes
Florida: Martinez (R)-Yes Nelson (D)-Yes
Georgia: Chambliss (R)-No Isakson (R)-No
Kentucky: Bunning (R)-No McConnell (R)-Yes
Louisiana: Landriue (D)-No Vitter (R)-No
Mississippi: Cochran (R)-No Lott (R)-Yes
Missouri: Bond (R)-Yes McCaskill (D)-No
North Carolina: Burr (R)-Yes Dole (R)-No
Oklahoma: Coburn (R)-No Inhofe (R)-No
South Carolina: DeMint (R)-No Graham (R)-Yes
Tennessee: Alexander (R)-No Corker (R)-No
Texas: Cornyn (R)-No Hutchison (R)-No
Virginia: Warner (R)-Yes Webb (D)-Yes

Once again, the Southern States have been out-voted on a measure that, should it eventually become law, would threaten the interests and well being of their citizens. As the League of the South has proclaimed now for some thirteen years, the South will not be governed in her own interests and by her own principles until she becomes an independent republic.

To contact the League of the South by phone: (800) 888-3163; e-mail: jmichhill@cs.com.

Posted by Les Riley at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

If you don't read Paul Vaughn's Josiah Project Blog, you are missing some good information . . .

In this five part series on Wal Mart, he lays the ax to the root of what ails us as a culture on several different fronts . . .

Posted by Les Riley at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

FYI : If you are still an NRA member, I would consider it about on the level with being a GOP member -- worth examining. . . the rest is just the typical low-rate/ slow-advancing tyrannical fare we've come to know & loathe.

http://www.lesriley.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=445

Posted by Les Riley at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments

I dunno, why in the world would we think that this country's going in the toilet ?
Why would we think that God was going to continue judging & cursing America ?
Why would anyone ever consider Southern secession or emmigration of Christian families as a viable option ?

Crazy extremists, I guess . . .

Oh ! She's a bad ole Democrat; that's the problem. I guess I should just support Boehemian Grove Bush like the other Chrisitans

Make sure you look a the link to get the full picture :

http://www.cclmaine.org/artman/publish/Maine_3/ME_Dem_Moran_Pagan.shtml

Maine Pagan Democrat Family Values
By Mike Hein
Jun 25, 2007 - 7:47:48 AM

Democrat County Chair Worships Witchcraft Goddess; Promotes Paganism
Democrat Chair Rita Moran
Rita Moran is well-known in Central Maine as the longstanding Kennebec County Democrat Chair and the the owner of Apple Valley Books at 121 Main Street in Winthrop. Less well-known is Moran's involvement in one of Maine's thriving underground pagan worship circles.

Self-described as being interested in "mythology and folklore" and "nature-based religion," Moran promotes and actively participates in the Immanent Grove Gnostic pagan worship group, located at 2328 Bog Road in Sidney, Maine. She is also involved with the Earthtides Pagan Network of Maine, and states publicly that pagans like her "...are polytheistic" and "...most of us are sincere pacifists."


Immanent Grove Pagan idol
Through her Apple Valley Books website, she promotes the expansion of the Immanent Grove pagan group. She sells "...locally crafted 'Book Jewels'...at Apple Valley Books and other locations, with a portion of sales supporting the Pagan Preserves Project." The "Pagan Preserves Project" is also referred to more vaguely by the group as the "Steeple Fund."

This fund raises money "...toward the long-term goal or purchasing property in central Maine for use by Pagans. What we [pagans] envision is a property of several acres within an easy drive of the Augusta area, suitable for multiple outdoor uses. Eventually, a multi-purpose building may be possible, but in the meantime, open circles, camping retreats, small outdoor fairs similar to [Maine's] Pagan Pride Days, outdoor shrines, and a labyrinth..."

Moran's Immanent Grove pagan-worshipping group is known throughout the New England region as having Maine's only shrine to Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft and magic, at its Bog Road location in Sidney.

Perhaps most disturbing of all is the involvement of Moran's Apple Valley Books store in promoting her pagan-worshipping beliefs to Maine's children. Moran's store is one of only three bookstores nationwide that is listed as a children's resource on the " Pagans'n'Parenting" website. This website is a pagan resource for parents to involve their children in pagan worship. Moran's bookstore offers a 10% discount to parents who buy pagan wares (books, Tarot cards, etc.) from her for their children.

Moran's Apple Valley Books website not only proudly displays the Immanent Grove Gnostic pagan webpage, but also links directly to the Witchvox website, the pagan ritual website Omphalos, the pagan god website Temenos of Dionysos, and a " Teen Advice on Paganism" website.

Posted by Les Riley at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments