From: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com (roc-digest) To: roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: roc-digest V2 #264 Reply-To: roc-digest Sender: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-roc-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk roc-digest Wednesday, July 28 1999 Volume 02 : Number 264 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 18:38:59 -0500 From: linzellr@datastar.net (Robert Linzell) Subject: News: Cato Daily Dispatch FYI: for those who just don't get enough e-mail or good web sites- excerpted from: Cato Online Update Vol. 4 No. 7 July 26, 1999 5) Cato Daily Dispatch http://www.cato.org/dispatch/dispatch-index.html The Cato Daily Dispatch, a recently added daily feature on our web site at http://www.cato.org/, is a daily compendium of libertarian-related news and events published at 11:00 a.m. ET each weekday and is also available by e-mail. It's a quick look at the news of the day, with links to past Cato Institute scholar commentaries, policy analyses, and briefing papers relevant to the latest happenings. Bob in Mississippi - State Motto: Virtute et Armis ("By Valor and Arms") Get my PGP Public Key(s) at - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 99 09:59:06 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Fratrum: [richslick] S L I C K Year 4, No. 33 (1/2) (fwd) On Jul 26, Bill Vance wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] "On Jul 27, RichSlick@aol.com wrote:" [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] You are encouraged to pass this message on to anyone who might be interested in its contents. Better yet, print a copy for a friend who is not on-line. Any and all comments on the subject matter are always welcome. To have your address removed from this list, reply with the word CANCEL in the subject. This is the first issue to be sent via the egroup ListServ. Please contact me if you encounter any problems. If all works well, we will soon have a discussion list to which all readers can post. Kewl? From the Desk of Rich Martin P O Box 531918 972/263-6631 Grand Prairie, TX 75053 RichSlick@aol.com "In a age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." George Orwell _______________________________________________ Happy 1st Wally & Laurie, 1999 I was sitting on the couch watching the only thing on tv (the JFK Jr tragedy) when they told how Uncle Teddy almost lost his last election and had to sell his compound in Fla. Come to think of it, didn't he make a tidy little profit on the sale. Was it Indonesia's Riady who paid the premium? Now this was the month to be a Texas sports fan Texas. The Rangers had 4 players on the All-Star team---2 were PITCHERS! And since they've gotten back, they only lost a single game, 58-40 at this writing. Fireballer Nolan Ryan became the first Ranger to be voted into the Hall of Fame. And as if it that wasn't enough, did you watch the Tour de France? Cancer survivor, Lance Armstrong, who just happens to be another Texan, won that prestigious event. And then there's Jeff Bagley leading the Astros to another Division Title. Yes, a July to remember. C'mon Cowboys. How Slick is Slick? The prez sez the GOP across-the-board tax cut would "blow a $3 tril hole" in the fedl budget, and suggests we implement "targeted tax cuts" such as "credits for child care." The only difference between a new fedl program and a "targeted tax cut" is the way it's financed? Instead of giving money back to the over-taxed, he is proposing that money be spent on a new fedl program to make it easier for parents to leave their kids for someone else to raise. FAMILY VALUES I'd rather we take the $250 bil he proposes and split it up between parents who stay home to raise their own children. The national benefit would be astronomical. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE Like a teenager searching to find out who he is, Danny Hassert put his job on the line stating: the Republican Party in the party of big tax cuts. He just doesn't get it. The answer is SMALLER GOVERNMENT. Stop new fedl spending, cut old fedl spending, and the cuts will come. Cuts are the result of good governing; you don't get good govt by cutting taxes. THE PEOPLE'S BUSINESS Last month Slick took a break from "running the country" and went on a 5-day tour to assess the results of his policies for last 6 yrs. Obviously, he's not pleased with the results. CLINTON LEGACY File-Gate, where they took a political dirty trickster, put him on the Pentagon payroll, and then funneled 100's, maybe 1,000's, of raw FBI files. Concrete barriers built to divert traffic away from the White House. Bosnia, Iraq, Sudan (aspirin factory) and would have bombed Haiti if Carter would have followed WH orders and left. (The B-52's were on the way, and had to be re-called.) Jennifer Flowers, Monica Lewinskey, Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Wiley, and on and on. JOBS I keep referring to all those so-called experts advising us on the state of the economy thru their rose- colored glasses. Here's what I mean. The headline said "Texas 2nd in job cuts during 1st half of 1999," as if it were a good thing. 34,505 jobs gone, and the Star-Telegram reports it in a one-sentence paragraph on pg 4F (7/18/99). The sentence goes on to say Calif is no. 1 in job cuts and as a nation we're 42% ahead of last years record pace. Ahead!? HILLARY Trying to explain her drop in the NY polls, "experts" are explaining: she reminds men of their first wife. Howz that for negative campaigning? (The message she's giving her core-supporters is: it's those old dirty men you divorced who don't want her to be your Senator. Ladies, get behind me.) Typically brilliant. SENATOR HILLARY Hillary says she is still for her failed natl healthcare plan but now she's believes "in the school of small steps". In her words, she realizes she must be sneakier to get her plan to nationalize 7% of the American economy. Same goal; new tactic. MEDIACRATS Isn't it funny to watch the mass media cheer Hillary's enormous fund raising skills, while criticizing George W's unprecedented successes as un-American. 74,000 donors contribute $37 mil to Geo W., and they get absolute amnesia, or maybe it's alzheimers, when it comes to identifying which candidate is raising money by the ton from Hollywood fat cats & budhist nuns, and which is receiving donations averaging $500. DNC DISINFORMATION (LIES) When Clinton got caught with his pants down, he said: So what, JFK and Thos Jefferson were just as loose. Now that the DNC has been caught "swapping" donor lists with the DNC, we see the same pattern of deception. They are spreading the word thru their loyal media allies, PBS also swapped lists with the RNC. C'mon now. What would the GOP want with a list of liberals who donate to "the Washington Week in Review" featuring 4 liberals debating under "moderator" Paul Duke? The GOP would pay for a list of NRA subscribers, not PBS donors. I smell disinformation campaign from a WH dirty tricks gangster. Any body seen Craig Livingstone lately? THE GRAND OLD PARTY The GOP would like to go back to it's roots and recover it's mandate with half-hearted tax cuts, but what about the rest of The Contract? Term Limits haven't been mentioned. Devolution forgotten. Thems the horses that got them there, and Danny Hassert hasn't got a clue. CNN CNN reports 260,000 faulty COSCO (China OverSeas Co) safety seats are being re-called. For detailed info, CNN suggests you go to the COSCO web site (to get their side of it.) 60 MINUTES NYC mobster, Anthony Casso, turned states evidence after being given a "deal" by the feds. The feds are now welshing on the agreement, citing other infractions (not part of the original deal). Moral of the story, there is no honor among thieves. AN INTERESTING ITEM World Cup. Feminist harpies managed to spoil the victory of the American Women's soccer team over the ChiComs. Women's sports spokesmen made the rounds of the Sunday shows 7/11 with claims that they would have never been successful winning the World Championship without the assistance of the federal government in Washington via Title IX. In other words, the feminists are saying that the only way women can be the best in the world at anything is via the benefices of Uncle Sugar putting the screws to men's intercollegiate sports programs. The little bit of the championship game I watched Saturday didn't have any victims playing that I could see. More Interesting Items can be now be found on Rod Martin's (no relation) "Vanguard" at Interesting Items by Alex Gimarc TOBACCO DEAL Isn't it ironic, after agreeing to an out-of-court settlement to pay $206 bil to re-imburse the govt for related tobacco illnesses (which most states usurped for other programs, such as pay raises for govt employees, instead of passing it on to the people who paid for those illnesses) a Fla state court has found the tobacco industry guilty of the same crime to the same people. If the natl settlement wasn't meant to raise some taxes, make some pay offs to friendly lawyers and protect the cig industry, what was its purpose? They could have increased taxes without going thru the messy court system and saved US tens of [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 99 10:00:28 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Fratrum: [richslick] S L I C K Year 4, No. 33 (2/2) (fwd) On Jul 26, Bill Vance wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] billions of lawyer contingency fees they've obligated US to pay. Based on the most recent court verdicts, it is obvious that many tobacco executives should be imprisoned and tobacco should be outlawed out-right. It is the only thing that would be consistent with the court decisions. LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR Mass media spoke people are having a ball making fun of Mir, calling it denigrating names, like they always do when they want to belittle someone/something. (Voo Doo Economics, Butcher-from-Baghdad, and Star Wars.) But the truth is, that turtle has an 11-year head start on this rabbit. REMEMBER THE GOOD OLE DAYS... when a man could go out on his blue collar job, and earn enough money to let the mother of his 3 children run the home. when Neil Armstrong culminated a decade long quest to land on the moon, and we had sugar plums of men dancing on Mars in the next ten? when it was a priority to build a SuperConductor to cut costs of energy to a fraction of the existing rates, instead of building "bigger and better" machines of war? when it was okay to dream? LETTER-TO-THE EDITOR Dear Rich, How can I subscribe to your great news letter? I love the way you expose those sh*t heads that are running our government. Excuse my bad language, but they make me want to cuss. We are living in Romania, working with the street kids and building an home/orphanage for abandoned children....of which there are many here because of the bad economy. Romania is in a big, big mess - partially because of interference from the west. Do you have any reports about here or the Balkans? Sue Bates < inasmuch@fx.ro > R.S. Dear Sue, I have set you up with a complimentary subscription. Keep up the good work, and please feel free to contact Slick at any time about the news in Romania. WAR The House Appropriations Committee has voted to divert funds from the all-purpose $200 mil/copy stealth F-22 Raptor F-22 to upgrade existing F-15's and F-16's. Seems to me, they're overlooking a more serious problem. Stop Loss Final decision is expected to be made in the Senate-House conference. CORRECTION With reference to the last issue: Sheesh Rich ,..... I'm going to have to read your letters more thoroughly. It's Chuck Burnett not Carol!! < cburnett@interconnect.net > R.S. Oopsie. sorry, Chuck. PEN PALS Mary Doclar < doclar@star-telegram.com ) [Star-Telegram 7/18/99, pg B-1] wrote a story on Darlie Routier's situation at Dallas Lew Sterritt Jail. She's in Dallas for the last 8 months by order of State District Judge Robert Francis, so she could attend hearings concerning her appeal. It upsets Dallas County Dist Attny Greg Davis who prosecuted her. "My thought is she's been here too long...She needs to be transported back to Death Row. If they need her presence in Dallas, she can be transported back here." He has good reason to want her back Gatesville. While in Dallas, she can make several 15-minute collect phone calls a day, and have 5 20-30 minute visits a week. Back in Gatesville she's entitled to one phone call every 90 days and one 2-hr visit a week. while in Dallas, she was able to speak to group of supporters by phone, including her husband Darin, who raised $1,000 for her defense. THIS SPACE FOR RENT Reliable Internet Access for only $14.95 a month. Over 550 access numbers in 21 States and growing. Cyber77-ISP, web hosts, unlimited access, high-speed servers If you have your own web site, you know it's not enough to be on the internet with 30,000,000 geeks. Oh, search engines are great---for the other guy, but wouldn't you prefer to be a little more direct? Instead of trying to reach millions of people who can't spell your name, here's your chance to target thousands of politically active people like yourself. Send e-mail for details to RichSlick. PARTING THOUGHT Was the volunteer intern given a high paying job ($50 - 80K) in the Pentagon before, or after, she did the prez? Is this what they mean by quid pro quo? * * * * * Subscribe to this Slick e-zine featuring Kathie's Korner, and receive absolutely free, a copy of Rich's Major Media Mailing List containing over 400 e-mail addresses. To subscribe, send your check for $24.95 to the address at the top of this message. Be sure to include your e-mail address. Anyone wishing to carry Slick at their WWW site should contact me by e-mail. Having the current Slick updated once or twice a week gives visitors a reason to come back soon. THE TRUTH IS... A. Powerful. C. In the eye of the beholder. B. Irrelevant. D. All of the above. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GET $10 OFF ANY ORDER @ healthshop.com! No min. purchase req. Save on vitamins & supplements. Use coupon code: EGROUPS99 at checkout. http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/463 eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/richslick http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jul 99 19:38:55 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: [2ndamendmentnews] Republican Leadership Betrays Firearms Owners (fwd) On Jul 27, Weldon Clark wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] From: Weldon Clark Republican Leadership Betrays Firearms Owners The Senate Bill S254 contains provisions to follow private sales at gun shown. This produces record that can be used against you in the future. It is a registration of sale of a firearm. Registration is the one think that makes confiscation possible. The only reason the anti gun politicians can steal the guns is that they have a record of firearms ownership. GET BETWEEN THESE RECORDS AND YOUR GOVERNMENTS ANY WAY YOU CAN. Call your Senators and call the offices of these so-called Republican leaders and complain. Defeat the anti gun provisions including the "registration" of sales to the Juvenal Justice Bill. You are advised to call your congressperson at the following toll-free numbers US Capitol Switchboard 1-888-449-3511 You can also call them using the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. For the latest happening at NRA contact www.2ndamendment.net For legislative updates contact www.nealknox.com and go to "Scripts from the Firearms Coalition Legislative Update Line" ***************************** By Neal Knox -- About an hour ago Majority Leader Trent Lott vitiated the scheduled cloture vote on Sen. Bob Smith's filibuster on considering H.R. 1501, the House-passed gun law- free version of the Juvenile Justice Bill. Apparently, Sen. Smith decided not to block consideration of the bill, but to try to block amending it by substituting the language of the Senate-passed gun-provision laden S. 254. I know he was considering such a change in tactics in mid- afternoon. Sen. Lott then laid down a series of cloture votes to stop Sen. Smith's promised filibusters on substituting the Senate bill, appointing conferees, instructing them to insist on the Senate bill and other parliamentary issues. Those votes, each of which will require 60 votes to pass, will occur beginning at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday. The Majority Leader also offered first and second degree amendments to each of those motions to prevent Sen. Smith or anyone else from offering pro-gun amendments. Each of the cloture petitions were signed by 16 Republican Senators, Trent Lott (Miss.), Frank Murkowski (Alaska), Chuck Hagel (Nebraska), Bill Frist (Tenn.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Rick Santorum (Pa.), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colo.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), John Ashcroft (Missouri), Robert F. Bennett (Utah), Pat Roberts (Kan.), Jim Jeffords (Vt.), Arlen Specter (Pa.), Judd Gregg (N.H.), Christopher Bond (Mo.) and Connie Mack (Fla.). Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.) signed the initial petition. All but a couple were rated by NRA as "A" or "A-Plus." But all except Campbell and Gregg voted for final passage of S. 254. Unless those folks vote against their own cloture petition, the Republicans can kiss their control of the Senate goodbye. All those gun-owning, union-defying Democrats who have been electing Republicans in the belief that they would protect their gun rights are about to go back to their party. For a better understanding of what's going on, see the Knox Report from earlier today and Saturday. **************************** The 2ndAmendmentNews Team The way to protect your own rights is to protect the rights of others. Our right to own and use firearms is under attack. This list was created in a hurry due to the emergency presented by anti-gun politicians and the media dancing in the blood of those who died in the recent massacre. We receive e-mail addresses from various sources that represent the recipients as receptive to our timely, low-to- moderate volume gun-rights-related alerts (generally no more than weekly, never more than daily, depending on legislative and other circumstances). Occasionally recipients turn out to be not interested, and we remove them immediately with our sincere apology for any inconvenience. If you wish to be removed send an e mail to 2ndamendmentnews- owner@onelist.com and include "unsubscribe". If you know anyone who would appreciate these alerts, please let us know and we'll enroll them on a trial basis. Also, feel free to forward our alerts. If you've received this as a forward and wish to subscribe please send a reply to me at wh.clark@cwix.com or behanna@fast.net Cordially Yours, The 2ndAmendmentNews Team 2ndAmendmentNews is published by volunteer activists who support the full original individual rights intent of the 2nd Amendment and oppose any appeasement on gun rights. The moderators include Chris Behanna, Weldon Clark (an NRA director), Russ Howard (past NRA director) and Steve Cicero. If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. -- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776. - --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- ONElist: your connection to like-minds and kindred spirits. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1999 10:49:40 -0500 (CDT) From: Paul M Watson Subject: Texas offical disputes FBI account of Davidian fire http://www.dallasnews.com - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1999 10:29:46 -0500 (CDT) [INLINE] Official disputes FBI account of Davidian fire =20 Justice Department denies incendiary devices used =20 07/28/99 =20 By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News =20 =A9 1999, The Dallas Morning News =20 WACO, Texas - The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety said Tuesday that evidence held by the Texas Rangers since the 1993 Branch Davidian siege calls into question the federal government's claim that its agents used no incendiary devices on the day that a fire consumed the sect's compound. =20 "There's some evidence that is at least problematic or at least questionable with regard to what happened," said James B. Francis Jr. of Dallas, chairman of the Texas Department of Public Safety. =20 Mr. Francis declined to detail the evidence but said, "With the proper experts analyzing it, it might shed light as to whether an incendiary device was fired into the compound that day." =20 Myron Marlin, a spokesman with the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., dismissed the allegation. =20 "It's more nonsense. We know of no evidence to support an allegation that any incendiary device was fired into the compound on April 19, 1993," Mr. Marlin said. =20 He declined to comment further, citing a continuing wrongful-death lawsuit filed by surviving sect members and families of the more than 70 people who died when the compound burned. =20 Sources close to the government's Davidian investigation say the current questions center on several 40 mm munitions found in the compound wreckage. =20 In repeated sworn statements and testimony, FBI and Department of Justice officials have maintained that FBI agents did not fire a shot during the 51-day siege. =20 FBI and Justice officials have insisted that FBI agents did not use any pyrotechnic or incendiary devices during the tear-gas assault that ended with the compound consumed by fire. =20 The Texas Rangers have had custody of the evidence from the Davidian investigation since 1993, when they were assigned to investigate the standoff and its fiery ending. The siege began with a firefight and the deaths of four agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which had tried to search the compound for illegal weapons and arrest Branch Davidian leader David Koresh. =20 Mr. Francis said Tuesday that some FBI officials made statements to Texas Rangers immediately after the fire "that are contradictory" to the federal government's account of what happened. =20 Complaints studied =20 Mr. Francis told The Dallas Morning News that he only recently became aware of those statements as he began looking into complaints about the lack of public access to evidence in the Davidian investigation. =20 Mr. Francis said he became concerned enough to contact U.S. District Judge Walter Smith of Waco, who has presided over all the cases arising from the deadly standoff. DPS recently filed a motion asking Judge Smith to take control of the evidence in the case. =20 "I took the steps to turn it over to the court so the court could decide what to do," Mr. Francis said. "I think it's very important that whatever the evidence is and whatever it shows, that all of it come out and let the chips fall where they may." =20 Judge Smith, who heard the criminal case arising from the Davidian siege, is presiding over the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by sect members against the federal government. =20 In a ruling issued July 1, Judge Smith refused to dismiss Davidian claims that the FBI may have fired at the compound April 19 and allegations that FBI negligence was responsible for the final tragedy. A trial has been set for mid-October, but both sides have said the complexity of the case may mean it will not go to trial until next year. =20 Mr. Francis said he told Judge Smith that a Justice Department policy blocking all public access to the Davidian evidence had created what amounted to an "absurd" shell game, with the DPS stuck in the middle. =20 "I said, 'It is in effect a cover-up. It is not intended to be, but in effect it is," Mr. Francis said. "It is a complete stonewall." =20 Mr. Francis said he doesn't think there was "some grand conspiracy to hide the evidence. I think it evolved into a situation where that was the effect of it." =20 He said the judge asked only "how much space are we going to need," when Mr. Francis proposed turning over the evidence in the case to his federal court in Waco. =20 Material gathered =20 After the siege, about 40 Texas Rangers were assigned to investigate and gather evidence in the case, and their investigation became the backbone of a 1994 criminal trial in which eight Branch Davidians were convicted of charges ranging from manslaughter to weapons violations. =20 More than 24,000 pounds of evidence was gathered from the burned wreckage of the Branch Davidian compound, and much of that remains in federal storage in Waco. =20 Evidence used in the federal prosecutions was transferred to DPS headquarters in Austin for safekeeping. Although Texas Rangers had custody of the material, Justice Department officials retained authority over who could see it. They ordered DPS officials to route requests for access to Washington. =20 Mr. Francis and others in the agency said DPS officials became increasingly frustrated as they learned that Justice Department officials routinely sent those requests back to Austin with the explanation that the evidence was in the custody of Texas officials. =20 "It was a perfect Catch-22 to block everybody from seeing the evidence," Mr. Francis said. "There is some evidence there that the world needs to see, in my opinion. The government does not want this evidence out, and yet, that's not right." =20 Justice Department lawyers filed a response Friday asking the judge to delay action on the DPS motion until next week to allow federal authorities to try to negotiate an agreement. =20 The lawyers declined to comment on the matter Tuesday. But several said privately that the dispute is nothing more than a legal issue. =20 "It's not a matter of trying to hide anything," one lawyer said. =20 The issue began coming to a head last spring when DPS officials began fielding complaints that a Colorado documentary researcher had been allowed access to the evidence. =20 Evidence reviewed =20 The researcher, Michael McNulty, was a producer and principal researcher in a 1997 documentary that alleged that government agents fired into the Davidian compound and set off devices that started the fire. He is preparing a new documentary on the standoff, with release expected in September. =20 Mr. McNulty's visits were approved by a Justice Department public-affairs official who has since left the agency, and they were supervised by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston, the Waco-based federal prosecutor who handled the Branch Davidian case from its inception. =20 Mr. Johnston said he supported the decision to give Mr. McNulty access because "I didn't want to be a party to even a perception that we had something to hide." =20 "Although I may not agree with him on many things, I believe that Mr. McNulty has a right to his opinions," Mr. Johnston said. =20 In those visits, Mr. McNulty said, he and an expert assisting his film company examined a 40 mm shell casing and two 40 mm projectiles that he contends are pyrotechnic devices. =20 He said they also found that at least six items listed in Texas Ranger inventories as silencers or suppressors were actually "flash-bang" devices. Those devices are commonly used by law-enforcement officers to stun suspects, and they sometimes ignite fires in enclosed spaces because they emit a loud bang and flash driven by a small pyrotechnic charge. =20 Mr. McNulty said he thinks those devices could be key evidence because Texas Rangers' evidence logs indicate they were recovered from areas of the compound in which the fires broke out. =20 Mr. McNulty said he shared his information about the devices with Mr. Johnston and with lawyers representing Branch Davidians in their wrongful-death lawsuit. =20 "It's our belief that these pieces of ordnance could - and probably did - have an impact on the fire on April 19th," he said. =20 A fire investigation conducted after the standoff concluded that the fire was set by sect members. =20 Mr. McNulty said he was contacted last week by Mr. Johnston and asked to speak with a Texas Ranger who questioned him for more than two hours. =20 Mr. McNulty said the discussion led him to think the Rangers have opened a preliminary criminal investigation. =20 Mr. Johnston, Mr. Francis and DPS officials in Austin declined to say whether the agency has opened an investigation. =20 After Mr. McNulty's last visit in March, Mr. Johnston said, lawyers from the Justice Department who are handling the Davidian wrongful-.death lawsuit contacted him to complain that anyone had been allowed access to the evidence. =20 Dallas Morning News Washington bureau staff member David Jackson contributed to this report.=20 =20 [ Texas & Southwest | Dallasnews.com ] =20 =A91999 The Dallas Morning News =20 - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Jul 99 08:35:49 PST From: roc@xpresso.seaslug.org (Bill Vance) Subject: Interesting editorial (fwd) Seems to me that there's some good points for 3P fans, too..... On Jul 27, Kevin McGehee wrote: [-------------------- text of forwarded message follows --------------------] - ----------Forwarded article---------- GOP must broaden the attack in 2000 By DAVE HAMRICK Editor-at-large, Fayetteville (GA) Citizen Believe me, I'm in favor of a tax cut... a big one... the bigger the bett= er. But if the Republican Party is banking on a fight with President Clinton = over the size of its proposed tax cut to carry the day in the 2000 elections, = I fear for the future. Most people favor a tax cut. I don't need anybody's poll to tell me that.= Taxes eat us alive as we try to take care of the necessities and have a little = left over to enjoy the fruits of an economy that can crank out some really interesting and fun quality-of-life enhancers. But most people also, wrongly in my opinion, favor a small tax cut, a gra= dual tax cut. The reason people favor the wrong approach to tax cutting is that they ha= ve bought the media hype, fed by both parties in Congress and the president,= that there is a budget surplus. They also buy the argument of one particular p= arty that we should =93save Social Security=94 and accomplish some other wish-= list items before we, the taxpayers, get to cash in on these supposed good times. First, there is no budget surplus. There is a projected surplus based on = current spending levels. If Congress changes hands in 2000, there will never be a surplus, and there's no absolute guarantee that Republicans won't go craz= y and spend it all either. So we're arguing about how to spend a fantom windfal= l that may or may not ever exist. Second, the president once again is winning the rhetorical war by making = a statement that is undeniably correct... if you accept the premise that it= 's based on. He argues for =93saving Social Security=94 rather than passing = a tax cut, as if the two were mutually exclusive, and as if the long-term goal shoul= d be =93saving=94 the program, i.e. putting enough money into it to keep it go= ing just as it is. We need to do away with Social Security, but even if we decide to keep th= is obsolete program as it is, we can fund it and still begin taking realisti= c steps toward whittling taxes down to a long-term, sustainable, reasonable level= that doesn't force everyone with a five-figure or less income to struggle his = or her entire life just to render unto Caesar that which Caesar has no right to require. If we reduce taxes, the economy is stimulated so that the revenue generat= ed by the lower tax rates increases. It may not increase enough to completely w= ipe out the effects of the cut, but the final result is certainly not a simple subtraction problem. And if there is indeed a reduction in revenue from the tax cut, that's ev= en better because at that point maybe the politicians won't occupy all their= waking hours looking for ways to =93spend=94 the surplus. And if you think having a Republican Congress will keep that from happeni= ng, think again. Republicans have to get reelected just as Democrats do, and = part of getting reelected is to keep the money flowing to the district. Now I've spent most of this column arguing for a big tax cut, and I said = at the top that Republicans shouldn't put too many eggs in that basket. Here's w= hat I would propose, if anybody asked me. Go ahead and cut back on the tax cut. You're not going to get a big one p= ast the president anyway, and after he vetoes it and you come back with a smaller= one that he'll accept, he'll use the situation to crow about having saved Soc= ial Security from those crazy Republicans and their =93risky=94 tax cut plan. Get the tax cut in place, and then get serious about a balanced budget amendment. Push harder than you've every pushed for it. Explain through t= he press, and through advertising if you can't get the press's attention, th= at the only way to protect the American people from the natural effects of polit= ical back-scratching (you scratch mine, I'll scratch yours) is to make deficit spending illegal. And make Social Security reform =97 not =93saving=94 business as usual =97= the number one issue in 2000. Retired people who are living on Social Security have = been robbed, pure and simple, and today's work force is being robbed too. That= case would be so easy to make that even GOP speech writers should be able to f= igure it out. Another suggestion: Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan grou= p that spends all its time studying the federal budget to find the fat, has iden= tified a bunch of useless, obsolete programs and says that if they were cut, we = would save $1.2 trillion over five years. Check it out at www.cagw.org, or call 1-800-BE ANGRY. Republicans should thoroughly study CAGW's suggestions =97 they don't hav= e to accept them all, but identify a few hundred billion worth that they can reasonably stand behind =97 and introduce bill after bill after bill gett= ing rid of those programs. Then when the president vetoes all of them, there will= be plenty of issues to run on in 2000. There's plenty more that can be done if the thinkers in the GOP will broa= den their horizons a little. If that doesn't happen, we'll see a repeat of `9= 8. (c) 1999, The Fayetteville (GA) Citizen http://www.thecitizennews.com/ Kevin McGehee North Pole, Alaska mcgehee@mosquitonet.com http://www.mcgeheezone.com/ [------------------------- end of forwarded message ------------------------] - -- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Blessings On Thee, Oh Israel! ***** - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- An _EFFECTIVE_ | Insured | All matter is vibration. | Let he who hath no weapon in every | by COLT; | -- Max Plank | weapon sell his hand = Freedom | DIAL | In the beginning was the | garment and buy a on every side! | 1911-A1. | word. -- The Bible | sword.--Jesus Christ - ----------------+----------+--------------------------+--------------------- - - ------------------------------ End of roc-digest V2 #264 *************************