UN Power Grows Like a Thief in the Night

Posted: October 29, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

UN Power Grows Like a Thief in the Night
by JBS President John F. McManus

For many years, U.S. leaders have been transferring our nation’s independence to the United Nations. Their goal, and certainly the goal of the UN’s founders and current leaders, is a world government dominating the planet. If the process continues, nations will continue to exist but only on paper. All power will have been ceded to the “House that Hiss built” (Alger Hiss being the traitorous American correctly cited as the most important founder of the world body).

When President Obama decided to unleash American war planes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria (and create a new war for our country), he didn’t ask Congress for a formal declaration of war as called for by the U.S. Constitution. He completely bypassed Congress and pointed to the October 16, 2002 congressional authorization for war against Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. Neither the fact that the Hussein government no longer exists nor the further fact that ISIS and Al Qaeda are not the same seem to matter.

Looking back to 2002 and the run up to the second war against Iraq, we see that one month prior to getting Congress to approve the action, President George W. Bush spoke at UN headquarters and formally requested Security Council authorization for the conflict he was planning.

One day after the 2003 war against Iraq began, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte informed the president of the UN Security Council via formal letter that the “actions being taken are authorized under existing Security Council Resolutions, including its resolutions 678 (1990) and 687 (1991).” Those resolutions were already more than two decades old.

Summing up: The war against ISIS, newly named “Operation Inherent Resolve” by the U.S. Defense Department, is actually authorized by United Nations Security Council resolutions issued 23 and 24 years ago. Those resolutions targeted Hussein’s Iraq which no longer exists, and the same can be said for Saddam Hussein himself. Evidently, the U.S. can go to war against anyone by referring to older UN resolutions.

There’s an important principle that all Americans should consider. It is that one seeks authorization from a superior, not an inferior. The superior in this instance is the United Nations; the inferior is the United States.

This outrageous transfer of U.S. independence to the UN didn’t begin yesterday. It started when President Harry Truman responded to a UN Security Council resolution in June 1950 and sent U.S. forces to Korea. Knowing that he lacked the required declaration of war, he termed the use of U.S. forces a “police action.” Only a few members of Congress complained that the Constitution was being ignored and our nation’s war power was being transferred to the UN.

Subsequent wars in which U.S. forces have fought and died have always included UN authorization: Vietnam War by the UN subsidiary SEATO, 1991 Iraq War by UN, 2003 Iraq War by UN, and Afghanistan War now directed by UN subsidiary NATO. There have been other lesser remembered conflicts such as those in Bosnia and Libya, each given the go-ahead by the UN’s NATO.

All of this amounts to incremental transfer of the power to make war, a fundamental mark of independence, to the world body. Like a silent but menacing thief in the night, UN power continues to grow. The only sensible solution to this enormously dangerous situation is for the U.S. to withdraw from the United Nations. The sooner , the better. Let Congress know.

Mr. McManus joined the staff of The John Birch Society in August 1966 and has served various roles for the organization including Field Coordinator, Director of Public Affairs, and now President. He remains the Society’s chief media representative throughout the nation and has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs. Mr. McManus is also Publisher of The New American magazine and author of a number of educational DVDs and books.

Isn’t It Puzzling?

Posted: October 28, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Isn’t It Puzzling?
by JBS President John F. McManus

The following puzzling assessments of life within the United States came to our attention anonymously.  We salute the author who not only writes capably but does excellent thinking.  He or she calls the items listed below conundrums, a well-chosen term for what follows.

1. America is condemned for being capitalist and greedy but half the population is subsidized.

2. The subsidized half of the population believes they are victims.

3. The victims believe they are denied basic rights but they have the largest representation in Congress.

4. Their representatives run the government while government statistics claim the poor among us continue to get poorer.

5. The people who are classified poor enjoy much that people in other countries only dream about.

6. The poor who have what people in other countries dream about want America to be more like where those dreamers live.

We publish these thoughts at the risk of being labeled unthinking, cruel, contemptuous, or some other pejorative. But we also hope that these conundrums get some Americans to do some better thinking. Maybe some will even escape from the dominant liberalism spewed forth by government, the mass media, educational institutions, even churches.

Our nation is running out of time to reverse course and get back the kind of soundness that made it the envy of the world. There is much work ahead for anyone who wishes to be involved in creating the needed reversal. The first step is to get involved by joining The John Birch Society.

Mr. McManus joined the staff of The John Birch Society in August 1966 and has served various roles for the organization including Field Coordinator, Director of Public Affairs, and now President. He remains the Society’s chief media representative throughout the nation and has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs. Mr. McManus is also Publisher of The New American magazine and author of a number of educational DVDs and books.

Stop Legalizing Same Sex Marriage!

Posted: October 22, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Stop Legalizing Same Sex Marriage!
by JBS President John F. McManus

There are, of course, many who insist that conferring legitimacy on same-sex marriage is perfectly proper, even overdue. Permit this writer to label the idea absurd, even an attack on civilization itself.

If marriage between two men or two women is legal, even fostered by some in government, then the question ought to arise about how such a departure from previous norms became accepted. The answer is that there has been a turning away from traditional moors by the people, and the emergence of activist judges, even within the highest court in the land, who claim power to set their own rules for the conduct of fellow Americans, or who wink at the discarding of previous norms by their judicial partners.

One can only wonder what will be next. Will polygamy and polyandry be accepted? Will children be targeted? Will any sanctions against what has always been considered aberrant behavior be cast aside?

In just a few years, the nation has gone from a strict view of traditional marriage to open season on its actual meaning. With a large margin, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), but the Supreme Court voided it. State after state has bowed to pressure from the homosexual lobby and given a green light to what had previously been termed abominable. Then, in October 2014, the Supreme Court turned its back on marriage by refusing to stop lower court federal judges from canceling existing state laws against the procedure.

Which brings us to the question: Is there any recourse for those who value the traditional moors that have always characterized this nation and Western civilization itself? And the answer is that there are some steps that can be taken – but only if there are enough concerned Americans who demand that leaders take them.

First, there has to be a realization that members of the judicial branch have no authorization to make law. Those who do so should be labeled “judicial activists” and barred from meddling where they have no authorization.

Second, the Constitution’s Article III, Section 1 grants Congress power to abolish federal district courts (called “inferior Courts”) and to remove from office any judges who do not adhere to “good behavior.” Judicial activism is a prime example of bad behavior.

Third, The Constitution’s Article III, Section 2 grants Congress power to limit the court’s jurisdiction over whatever topics it chooses. Congress could have forbidden the federal courts from having anything to say about abortion. In like manner, Congress has the power to tell the Supreme Court and all federal courts that they have no say in marriage.

Will Congress use its constitutional powers to reverse the advances that threaten to overturn the moral base of the great experiment known as America? It’s up to U.S. citizens to push hard for members of the House and Senate to do exactly that.

In 1821, more than a decade after he had left office as President, Thomas Jefferson spoke out about usurpation of authority by the courts. He stated:

It has long, however, been my opinion … that the germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal judiciary …working like gravity by day and by night, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the States, and the government of all shall be consolidated into one. To this I am opposed; because when all government shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided … and will become as venal and oppressive as the government [of King George] from which we separated.

The Jeffersonian warning surely applies today.

Mr. McManus joined the staff of The John Birch Society in August 1966 and has served various roles for the organization including Field Coordinator, Director of Public Affairs, and now President. He remains the Society’s chief media representative throughout the nation and has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs. Mr. McManus is also Publisher of The New American magazine and author of a number of educational DVDs and books.

Some Climate Alarmists Refuse to Concede

Posted: October 14, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Some Climate Alarmists Refuse to Concede
by JBS President John F. McManus

Writing in the Boston Globe, columnist Tom Keane’s recent column led with the headline, “Cool summer doesn’t invalidate climate change.” The type in his headline should have been upside-down because the logic surely was.

Keane admits that temperatures during the summer of 2014 were “well below normal.” He nevertheless clings to the ridiculous claims of fellow alarmists and insists that global warming, now almost universally labeled “climate change” because warming can’t be detected, is still a grave threat to the entire planet. But opposite views continue to come – almost in a flood like the one predicted by warming alarmists.

Matt Ridley, a member of England’s House of Lords, debunked the claims of the warmists in an op-ed column appearing in the Wall Street Journal. Claiming “it has been roughly two decades” since any marked upward change in the earth’s temperature has been recorded, Ridley noted that there was a slight upward tick in temperatures for about 20 years in late 20th century. But that period “was preceded by 30 years of slight cooling after 1940,” he continued. In other words, he claims what an increasing number have concluded – that fluctuations in temperature will occur naturally and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. And there’s nothing terribly ominous to worry about.

CNS News just published conclusions reached by Dr. Patrick Michaels, a veteran climatologist who is Director of the Cato Institute’s Center for the Study of Science. He says, “October 1st will mark the 19th year of no significant warming trend in surface average temperatures.” Michaels pointed to record amounts of Antarctic ice, as reported by the Polar Ice Research Center housed at the University of Illinois.

Space does not allow for a listing of the many renowned climate scientists who consider the claims of the warming lobby to be pure bunk. But The New American (a JBS-affiliate) has listed prominent defectors from such absurdity. They include Dr. Judith Curry from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr. Patrick Moore who was a co-founder of Greenpeace, and Dr. Denis Rancourt, a Green activist who nevertheless sees through the claims of climate change activists. These scientists are now allied with fellow warming debunkers from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, England, Germany, and elsewhere. An organization known as “Climate Depot” has published a 321-page report containing challenges from more than 1,000 scientists who disagree with the UN’s International Conference of Climate Change.

In what appears to be his bid to replace Al Gore as our nation’s leading fright-peddler, Secretary of State John Kerry says that climate change is as great a threat as the problems created by ISIS, Ebola and terrorism in general. He claims that “97 percent of scientists have confirmed that climate change is happening and human activity is to blame.” He stated that climate change is “the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.” Growing numbers of trained scientists disagree.

The truth is that the polar ice isn’t melting; polar bear numbers are increasing not declining; the oceans and seas aren’t rising; and there’s no need to do away with the internal combustion engine as proposed by Al Gore. Nor is there any need to cease producing electricity by burning coal as proposed by the Obama administration.

What is needed is more people who understand the foolishness of commentators like Tom Keane, who admits that the climate isn’t warming but wants to apply drastic corrective measures that will truly harm the Earth’s people.

The New American has attended many of the Heartland Institute’s annual International Conference on Climate Change for years. See some of the video interviews with leading staff and presenters.

Mr. McManus joined the staff of The John Birch Society in August 1966 and has served various roles for the organization including Field Coordinator, Director of Public Affairs, and now President. He remains the Society’s chief media representative throughout the nation and has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs. Mr. McManus is also Publisher of The New American magazine and author of a number of educational DVDs and books.

Stonewalling About Fast and Furious Will Soon End

Posted: October 3, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Stonewalling About Fast and Furious Will Soon End
by JBS President John F. McManus

On September 23rd, federal district judge John D. Bates ruled that documents related to the federal government’s Fast and Furious operation that led to the slaying of U.S. Border Control agent Brian Terry, could no longer remain secret. The judge gave the Department of Justice until October 22nd to submit the documents, explain why they were being withheld, and indicate how their release could supposedly harm someone. Two days later, Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation from the high office he has held for almost six years.

Fast and Furious was a program carried out by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF). It purposefully allowed firearms dealers in the U.S. to sell weapons to individuals known to be planning to ship them to Mexican drug cartel leaders. The BATF claimed that this “gun running” would enable its agents to track down and arrest Mexican drug pushers and gun-trafficking individuals. During the operation, however, U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry became a victim of one of the guns found at the scene of the crime. An estimated 2,000 weapons changed hands during Fast and Furious and only 700 were ever recovered. In simple terms, the program was a colossal and deadly failure.

The Obama administration has insisted that documents pertaining dealing to the operation must be kept from view. More than two years ago in the midst of his consistent stonewalling, Attorney General Holder refused to cooperate with a congressional investigation of the matter and, as a result, became the first sitting member of the U.S. Cabinet in history to be formally declared in contempt of Congress. But that didn’t stop him from continuing his efforts to keep secret the documents that now must be produced.

Fast and Furious began on October 31, 2009 when an Arizona gun dealer reported that four individuals purchased a quantity of AK-47-style rifles. Another suspicious gun purchaser bought 244 weapons within a two-month period. But BATF agents were required to do nothing. Some eventually complained about the scheme but were ignored as guns fell into the hands of people they knew were about to commit crimes. Some agents have even reported that they were ordered by high-ranking personnel within the Attorney Generals’ office to look the other way at this increase in gun-trafficking. Soon, even BATF agents stationed in Mexico were voicing their complaints about the program.

When agent Terry and his companion agents spotted suspected illegal immigrants on that fateful night, they fired non-lethal beanbag guns as a warning. But the suspects responded with rifle fire and a firefight resulted with Terry being killed. Four of the suspects were arrested and two of the seized AK-47 rifles were immediately traced to a Phoenix gun store involved in the Fast and Furious operation.

For several years, Eric Holder and President Obama have steadfastly refused congressional requests to release DOJ documents related to this fiasco. The President claimed executive privilege to impede the investigation. One can only conclude that the two surely have something to hide. As of October 22, 2014, there will be no more secrecy. Thanks are due to Judge Bates for his decision and to the Judicial Watch organization that has doggedly pursued this matter and finally won in their demands for an end to the stonewalling.

The founders were clear on the point of an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. The John Birch Society believes that gun-control laws and agencies do nothing but control the responsible individual and aid criminals. Also, the JBS opposes a monopoly of power on the part of government.

Mr. McManus joined the staff of The John Birch Society in August 1966 and has served various roles for the organization including Field Coordinator, Director of Public Affairs, and now President. He remains the Society’s chief media representative throughout the nation and has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs. Mr. McManus is also Publisher of The New American magazine and author of a number of educational DVDs and books.