Green Wealth: Funding the Enemy (TRACKING THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT'S MONEY, POWER, AND HARM)

Green and animal rights organizations do not subsist on the sale of calendars, books, and stuffed animals. They are wealthy beyond the comprehension of most Americans and others who support them in the belief they are "protecting the environment" and saving animals from "cruelty" and "extinction."

You will be astonished to learn that there are more than 4,000 environmental groups in America today. "And the number is growing," warns Ron Arnold of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, "and they are really out to get you." Worse, they have the clout and the money to do it." They use it to lobby and support members of Congress to initiate legislation harmful to the interests of all Americans.

Hugo Gurdon of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, in a recent National Post article, noted that "The 12 biggest environmental pressure groups in the United States enjoy combined annual revenues of $1.95 billion, according to the latest Internal Revenue Service figures. Only 725 of the United States’ 20 million companies can boast such magnificent cash flow."

"Among the green dozen are some—Nature Conservancy ($731 million) and the Wildlife Conservation Council ($311 million)—that are merely left-of-center. But there are genuinely extreme organizations—the World Wildlife fund ($118 million) and the Sierra Club ($73 million)—that militate aggressively against the free market and attack property rights to the detriment of the economy and the majority of ordinary people," said Gurdon.

Arnold has written several excellent books on this topic that demonstrate how the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Working Group, and the Rainforest Action Network, have a long record of activities that undermine entire industries and the welfare of the nation’s mining, ranching and farming enterprises.

In the case of the animal rights groups, Arnold has documented how People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a case history of IRS tax law violations, stolen trade secrets, advocated arson, and assaulted business executives.

The Greens and the Animal Rights groups use every protection afforded by the Constitution and every loophole in our legal and IRS codes to pursue their war on capitalism, property rights, and the welfare of this nation. They are a Socialist Taliban.

Americans for Medical Progress, a group that monitors the Animal Rights movement that opposes the use of animals for medical research, recently released information concerning the wealth of some of the leading groups. PETA’s annual budget is $13,499,614. It has net assets worth $4,480,988. It heavily underwrites the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine whose budget runs $2,915,847.

The American Anti-Vivisection Society as assets in excess of $11,561,737 and an annual budget of $1.2 million. The Fund for Animals has net assets in excess of $189,438,862 and runs an annual budget of more than $5.6 million. Defense of Animals is worth $1,483,334. There are others that include the Animal Welfare Institute, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Doris Day Animal League, and the Humane Society of the United States.

The Greens are leading the battle against genetically modified foods, a scientific breakthrough that promises to end famine. They are behind the US government’s former forest management policies that have led to years of catastrophic fires. Within the passed few weeks the Bush administration has announced the revisions necessary to thwart this menace. Through their use of the Endangered Species Act and other "environmental" legislation, they fund the attack on property rights, the keystone of the American economy. They have undermined the training of our nation’s military through such laws as well.

While our attention is focused on the threat of the global Islamic Jihad, we also have to keep an eye on these groups. The threat of the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberal Front is international in scope and increasing daily here on the home front. They have begun to use violence against individuals to achieve their goals. In the past, they have specialized in arson and vandalism, some of which has destroyed years of scientific research for the benefit of humans, animals and protection of natural resources such as our forests.

www.ranamuck.org, all provided by the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, www.cdfe.org. In the interest of full disclosure, I am an adjunct scholar of the CDFE.

The next time someone buys a Sierra Club calendar or gets a slick brochure asking for a donation to these causes, that money will fund the enemies of America.

Sustainable Development is the Evil You Face(United Nations Development now in very state)
http://www.americanpolicy.org/more/main.htm ^ | 8/6/2004 | Tom DeWeese

Posted on 08/08/2004 3:39:42 PM PDT by take

‘Sustainable Development’ is the Evil You Face More Articles

On July 23, 2004, Tom DeWeese, president of the American Policy Center, addressed the fifth annual Freedom 21 Conference in Reno, Nevada. The following is his address on the agenda, the threat, and the defeat of "Sustainable Development."

By Tom DeWeese

My friends, we come here today from many walks of life. A wide variety of reasons got each of us started on the road to activism.

Some of us started simply because we noticed something funny about our child’s curriculum in school. Some of us were outraged by government trying to take away our guns. A good many of us suddenly found government agents and members of private groups plotting to take away our land. Some have had their livestock confiscated. Some have found themselves facing jail just for doing what their fathers and grandfathers have done on the same land for decades.

Some of us just wanted to be allowed to go to church, pray to God and celebrate Christmas without being fined for it. A few of us would even like to be able to go to a restaurant and order food we like – even if it is greasy, fattening and full of carbs and calories.

All of us just want to live in an America where our rights and pursuit of happiness is protected. And so we fight. And now we’ve found ourselves here today in a room with hundreds of others in the same boat.

I have one thing to tell you. You are not going to win. Because the other side has cut us up into little pieces. They’ve divided us and conquered us.

They’ve succeeded because you think your fight is against gun control. Because you think your fight is against bad schools. Because you think your fight is against the Endangered Species Act and roadless programs, and wetlands regulations, and water rights and Heritage Areas. Because you think your fight is against Democrats and not Republicans. Because you think it’s a fight between evil liberals and good guy conservatives.

You’re wrong. Your fight is against a well-planned, well orchestrated agenda for the complete transformation of America. And unless you learn that fact now, today... and unless you fully educate yourselves to every aspect of that agenda and fight it on the proper terms… then you cannot win!

I’m here to tell you that every one of these issues you are facing is interrelated. There is an agenda being implemented before your very eyes. It’s called Sustainable Development.

And I will tell you now, if you want to keep your guns, your property, your children and your God… if you love liberty… Then Sustainable Development is your enemy!

So what is Sustainable Development? Imagine an America in which a specific "ruling principle" is created to decide proper societal conduct for every citizen.

That principle would be used to consider everything you eat, what you wear, the kind of homes you live in, the method of transportation used to get to work, the way you dispose of waste, perhaps the number of children you may have, even your education and employment decisions.

Sustainable Development is that "ruling principle" for the implementation of what former Vice President Al Gore said we must all suffer through in order to purify our nation from the horrors of the Twentieth Century’s industrial revolution.

In his book, "Earth in the Balance," Gore called it a "wrenching transformation of society." Those are pretty powerful words that should concern anyone who values liberty. It’s a warning that the rules are changing. That a new power elite is taking control.

Perhaps you are beginning to notice such changes as you go about your daily routine, but haven’t understood where those changes, and the ideas behind them, are coming from. But Sustainable Development is a very difficult concept to grasp. It’s written in an almost foreign language – designed to mislead and refrain from alarming you.

Let me put it in the simplest language I possibly can. The Atkins Diet is not sustainable. Now, why do I say that? Because on page 350 of the UN’s Global Biodiversity Assessment Report it says that the grazing of livestock, including cows, sheep, goats and horses is not sustainable. One reason for that concept is because Sustainablists contend that the animals pollute and damage the banks of streams.

Getting us to stop eating beef is a major effort needed to fully implement the Sustainable Agenda. Since they are cowards who fear your reaction to an outright banning of eating meat, they have to try to trick you into thinking that not eating meat is your idea. So they use scare tactics. For years they have told you that eating meat raises your cholesterol. Fat is bad for you. Meat causes heart attacks. With PeTA’s help they were succeeding in turning us all into little sissies eating salads.

Then along comes Dr. Atkins who shows us that a low carb beef diet will help you lose weight in a healthy way. Suddenly the nation has gone Atkins crazy. Beef sales are sky rocketing. The Sustainablists are in a tail spin. They’ve lost control of your eating habits.

Now watch what they are doing to get you back on track. Suddenly reports are being published in leading women’s magazines about Atkins being dangerous to your health. Lawsuits have begun to pop up against the diet.

Do you see how it works? That’s how the Sustainable Development agenda is implemented. Behavior modification based on fear. Freedom of choice is not part of Sustainable Development. And so I repeat, - the Atkins Diet is not sustainable.

Now, perhaps you’ll understand why there are Sustainable Development papers, guidelines and regulations to impose the ruling principle:

On our public education system – to prepare our children to live in a sustainable world.

On our economy – to create partnerships between business and government, making sure business becomes a tool to help implement the policies.

On the environment – leading to controls on private property and business.

On health care – the new drive against obesity is leading directly toward controls on what we eat.

On farming – Sustainable Development policies affect farmers’ ability to produce more crops by regulating or banning precious chemicals, biotechnology and genetic engineering in the name of environmental protection.

On our social and cultural environment – where political correctness is controlling policy hiring practices, immigration policy, multiculturalism, marriage laws, etc.

On our mobility – with emphasis on carpools and public transportation and away from the freedom of personal transportation.

And on public safety – where the rule of law and the court system is being challenged by new regulations that affect the right to privacy and unreasonable search and seizures.

It’s important to understand that these leading issues we face today are not just random concerns that find their way into the forefront of political debate. They are all interconnected to the policies of Sustainable Development.

And you must understand that Sustainable Development is the official policy of the government of the United States of America – and every state, city and small burg in the nation.

It is completely bi-partisan. It is being equally implemented by Republicans and Democrats. No matter the outcome of any election - the Sustainable Development agenda moves forward unabated.

What we are telling you here today, my friends, is that Sustainable Development isn’t just some land use policy. It is a complete transformation of American society; away from the rule of law; away from the ideals of property ownership, free enterprise, free travel and even free association.

Sustainable Development. It’s a life plan. Planned by someone else. Not you.

And Sustainable Development is not a myth, or a theory or a conspiracy – as I’ve heard some in our own movement call it.

Since the 1970’s literally hundreds of issue papers, charters, guidelines and treaties have been presented at scores of international meetings, each becoming a building block in the creation of what would eventually become Sustainable Development.

Finally in 1992 the UN’s Earth Summit in Brazil brought all of these ideas together in two major documents called "Agenda 21" and the "Biodiversity Treaty." Here the ideas were officially presented to world leaders that all government on every level, needed to be transformed into top-down control over housing, food production, energy, water, private property education, population control, gun control, transportation, social welfare, medical care, and literally every aspect of our lives.

To get the full picture, add to these the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, both of which create UN-mandates on abortion, child rearing and government interference on families.

In 1993 President Clinton created the President’s Council on Sustainable Development. From that Council came a flood of policy papers and recommendations to enforce it as government policy.

And the Clinton Administration didn’t need Congress to get into the act. All Cabinet officials had to do was change some wording of existing programs and reroute already-approved funding to begin to implement the agenda – without Congress and without debate. Former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown told a meeting of the President’s Council that he could implement 67% of the Sustainable Development agenda in his agency with no new legislation. Other agencies like Interior, EPA, HUD and more did the same thing. To help it all along, Clinton issued a blizzard of Executive Orders.

The American Heritage Rivers Initiative was born that way. So were roadless policies designed to stop logging in national forests. National parks have become core biosphere reserves designed to shut out any human activity. And the buffer zones around them are designed to shut off existing human activity, allowing the core to continually grow like a cancer tumor.

Any possible excuse to control human development or activities began to sprout up - from rails-to trails bikeways - to wet lands regulations - to historic preservation projects. Endangered species, real or made up, have been used to close down industry and steal private lands. Valuable natural resources have been locked away in national parks and preserves.

In this way an international agenda to transform the world into global governance under Sustainable Development policy took hold and became official policy of the United States of America.

Choose Liberty Over Sustainable Development

By Tom DeWeese

The red states from the 2000 election are made up of the desperate Americans who rushed to the polls hoping to get a breath of fresh air – a champion to turn these smothering policies around. But in four years, other than throwing a few bones on roadless areas, President Bush has yet to undo a single Clinton Executive Order on Sustainable Development. It is still the official policy of the United States government.

Every day more of the agenda is implemented. This is what you are fighting at home – no matter what the issue. Almost every community in America now has some sort of "visioning statement" designed to control development and property use, while dictating rules for business, transportation, water use, food production, and much more.

Our public schools have been transformed, away from academic institutions, becoming instead factories that pump out a worker class to fill the needs of a centrally-controlled sustainable economy.

Christianity has come under attack because it is the foundation of Western civilization, which is the root of the ideas of limited government and individual freedom. Those ideals must be crushed in the new Sustainable world where individual thought would turn the well-ordered society of Sustainable Development into chaos. And in such a world, you dare not have any armed citizens. As I said, it is all one crushing transformation stemming from Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development.

But so many of us fail to see that. We just focus on our one issue, refusing to see that we are fighting a massive power structure.

Do you think it’s just a coincidence that school curriculum makes no sense? If so, you’re looking at it all wrong. You still think the schools are supposed to teach your children academics. You think your job is just to fix some misguided policies. The fact is the public school system is working perfectly for what it was designed to do. And, if you understand the Sustainabilist agenda, it will all make perfect sense.

Do you think it’s just a coincidence that all of these environmental regulations have popped up to lock away the land? Read Agenda 21 and you will find that every issue your facing, from endangered species, to wetlands, to grazing policy to water policy to smart growth to the expansion of national parks are all described in detail. Read it and everything will be as clear as a road map. Ignore it and you will be rolled on your single issue.

If you don’t grasp the fact that you are dealing with an agenda that is driving all of these issues – and that they are not just single issues – then you cannot win! I am not saying change the issues you are involved in. Of course, keep fighting on your individual issues as you always have, but just know that there is an over–all agenda behind your adversaries.

Can you imagine what we could do if we all "got it"? If we all came to the realization that we are fighting the same foe, the same agenda? Divided we lose. United we can blow down their house of cards. Because that’s what it is, a house of cards built on lies and very bad policy.

Do you know that, as we sit here feeling down and somewhat hopeless, that the other side is terrified of you? They fear that you will finally understand their agenda and that you will unify and begin to fight back as an effective force rather than in a bunch of splinter groups.

Did you know that the web has been burning up with e-mails and memos about Freedom 21 meeting here this week in Reno, at the Nugget? You see, the Nugget was the site of a series of meetings in the nineties called the Wise Use Movement. Those meetings were the first attempts for property rights advocates, and ranchers, and the timber, mining industries to organize and fight back. Those meetings were what brought me and lots of other folks in this room into the fight.

The Sustainablists did everything possible to vilify us as violent reactionaries who just wanted to pave the Earth. They call us the "astro-turf crowd." Now, here we are again with some of the original organizers of the Wise Use Movement on our program. That has set off the alarm bells in Sustainablist circles.

But now there are three times more of us and we’re not just ranchers and timber people. I believe that the inclusion of Niger Innis and the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) is one of the most important developments in the past ten years for our movement. In addition, we’ve joined forces with Second Amendment advocates and academic education activists and many more.

Down at the politburo their heads are spinning. One of the groups which has been sending out hysterical briefing memos on Freedom 21 is the Anti-Defamation League, one of the most vicious groups in the nation. There are many more such groups involved, but I have personally seen those from the ADL, so I mention them. They view themselves as the keepers of moral thought and they view you as equal to the KKK.

Some of their lackeys may be among us today with the mission to report back to their handlers about what is said here at Freedom 21. Well here’s the message I want them to take back. Tell them that this week at Freedom 21 our movement has been reborn.

Tell them that property rights and multiple-use activists understand that the Sustainable Development agenda is the core of all of the individual land use issues facing us; property rights activists "get it" and choose liberty over Sustainable Development.

Tell them that education activists now understand that the true agenda isn’t just misguided education policies, but a transformation of the process to implement the Sustainablist agenda. Education activists "get it" and choose liberty over Sustainable Development.

Tell them that Christians understand that the assault on their religion is necessary to destroy Western Culture in order to replace it with Sustainablism. Christians "get it" and choose liberty over Sustainable Development.

Tell them that gun owners understand that the universal drive to disarm the nation is necessary in order to implement the Sustainablist agenda. Gun owners "get it" and choose liberty over Sustainable Development.

Tell them that Niger Innis and the Congress on Racial Equality understand that Sustainable Development is starving and killing blacks in Africa and around the world. CORE "gets it" and chooses liberty over Sustainable Development.

That’s the message I want the lackeys to take back to those who are working every waking hour to enforce their philosophy of death on free Americans.

Now, let me quickly give you one idea that we might use to effectively fight back and stop Sustainable Development. There is a flaw in their implementation system. The fact is Congress does not pass laws making regulations mandatory for implementation of the Sustainable Development agenda. That would be a violation of the 10th Amendment.

To get around it, Congress sets up a system of grants that come with strings. In order to get the money you have to "voluntarily" comply with the rules that go with it. The system has been set up with the help of groups like the Sierra Club, the National Education Association and Planned Parenthood, to name a few.

They all fully understand the game and its rules. And they have over 12,000 fellow organizations on the state and local level to agitate and enforce those rules by applying pressure to local community councilmen and commissioners. That’s how the Sustainable Development agenda is being implemented in every single community and school in the nation.

My friends, there are about 3,300 counties in this nation. I propose that as we continue to pressure Congress and State Houses on our chosen issues, that we spend a major part of our efforts to elect county commissioners and city councilmen. We have to find men and women of integrity who understand the Sustainablist agenda. They would have to be activists who could resist the pressure and not accept the federal Trojan Horse of grant money. If we could do this successfully in just 10 or even 5 counties in the country, the news would spread like wildfire and more would join us.

No, it won’t stop the Forest Service and the Park Service S.W.A.T. teams from invading your land, but it will begin to change the dynamics of the battle. Congress will respond. Whether you’re supporting a third party or doing it through one of the two major parties, we would build an unstoppable power base that would spread across the nation.

I can tell you now, that if we keep trying to pressure Congress as our only tactic or try to elect a President who will listen, we will fail.

To save liberty in America, Sustainable Development must be stopped. We have to start at the local level where our grassroots efforts are strongest. Where it’s easiest to win. We can find five county commissioners. We can get them elected one at a time. And then get more to join them. And we can begin to build a prairie fire across the nation.

Do these things my friends; first understand that whatever issue you have chosen to fight for is actually part of the Sustainable Development scheme.

Arm yourselves with that knowledge, and then step-by-step work to elect local representatives who will resist the Sustainabilist agenda and its money. The money is the key. Take back your communities and in that way, step-by-step, take back America.

Back Door to KYOTO =August 16, 2004 09:40 AM US Eastern Timezone

FuelCell Energy Donates Emissions Credits From Operation of Its Ultra-Clean Direct FuelCell Power Plants

DANBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 16, 2004--FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NasdaqNM:FCEL) is donating emissions credits equivalent to 1700 Pounds of nitrogen oxide (NOx) reductions and 4800 pounds of sulfur oxides (SOx) and other emissions reductions that resulted from 1170 megawatt hours of Direct FuelCell(R) (DFC(R)) power generated at the company's Danbury and Torrington, Conn. locations. The donation is to Leonardo Academy Inc.'s, Cleaner and Greener(sm) program.

Emissions reductions or offsets are created from actions such as utilizing fuel cells, installing more advanced pollution control technology, switching to cleaner fuels, improving energy efficiency, and increasing renewable energy use. Emissions trading occurs when an entity takes an emissions reducing action and then transfers ownership of the emission reduction to another party. Alternatively, organizations can offset the pollution caused by their energy use by buying and retiring the emission reduction credits created by someone else. It is expected that emissions trading programs will foster the development of cleaner power generation technologies such as fuel cells.

The donation offsets emissions associated with the Energy 2004 Workshop and Exposition, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. General Services Administration, and was held August 8-11, 2004 in Rochester, New York. Emissions associated with the conference include pollution from direct energy use during the event as well as indirect pollution related to such items as airline travel for the more than 1300 attendees. The emissions donation made the event Cleaner and Greener certified.

"The use of emissions credits from the operation of our ultra-clean DFC power plants is another example of how fuel cell power plants are ready today to help our environment and provide economic benefits to users of such a clean energy technology," said Herb Nock, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales for FuelCell Energy. "The ability to trade emissions credits from an investment in ultra-clean technology can provide a powerful incentive to site fuel cell power plants as a means for utilities or energy using entities to comply with air quality standards."

"For the first time, our energy workshop has offset all of its emissions, and fuel cells have made that possible," said Energy 2004 workshop executive Ab Ream from the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program, in his remarks to the conference. "This is a good example of what we can do to improve our environment and still have the power we need by the use of ultra-clean power."

About Direct FuelCells

Direct FuelCells efficiently generate clean electricity at distributed customer locations, including hospitals, schools, universities, hotels and other commercial and industrial facilities, as well as in grid-support applications for utility customers. Direct FuelCells operate similar to large, continuously operating batteries except they utilize a fuel to generate electricity, such as natural gas or digester gas from wastewater treatment facilities. DFC power plants are hydrogen generators, and because of this are ready today and do not require the creation of a hydrogen infrastructure. This high-efficiency technology generates more electric power from less fuel and with less carbon dioxide emissions than traditional combustion methods. The sub-megawatt fuel cell power plant is a collaborative effort using Direct FuelCell(R) technology of FuelCell Energy and the Hot Module(R) balance of plant design of MTU CFC Solutions, GmbH, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler.

About Leonardo Academy and the Cleaner and Greener Program

Leonardo Academy is a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to environmental improvement, increased energy savings, renewable energy and other emission reduction actions. The Cleaner and Greener Program uses market-based approaches to reduce pollution and increase energy efficiency and renewable energy. This program empowers people with information on energy and the environment, and encourages businesses and consumers to lead the way to a cleaner environment. Visit the Cleaner and Greener(sm) web site at www.cleanerandgreener.org.

About Energy 2004

Energy 2004 is the seventh annual national energy management workshop and exposition. Attendees include federal, state, local and private sector energy managers, procurement officials, engineers and architects, energy service companies, transportation officials, utilities, and others involved in energy management around the country. Attendees learn about the latest cost-effective energy-saving, renewable energy and water efficiency products and equipment. By applying the products, equipment and services demonstrated at Energy 2004, companies can improve the comfort, security, productivity and reliability of their facilities and employees. In formation is available at www.energy2004.ee.doe.gov.

About FuelCell Energy, Inc.

FuelCell Energy, Inc., based in Danbury, Connecticut, is a world leader in the development and manufacture of high temperature hydrogen fuel cells for clean electric power generation. The Company has developed commercial distribution alliances for its carbonate Direct FuelCell products with MTU CFC Solutions in Europe; Marubeni Corporation in Asia; Enbridge Inc. in Canada; Caterpillar, PPL Energy Plus, Chevron Energy Solutions, Alliance Power and LOGANEnergy in the U.S. FuelCell Energy developed its patented Direct FuelCell technology for stationary power plants with the U.S. Department of Energy through its Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory.

FuelCell Energy is also developing next generation high temperature fuel cell products, such as a diesel fueled marine Ship Service Fuel Cell, a combined-cycle DFC/Turbine(R) power plant and solid oxide fuel cells for applications up to 100 kilowatts. More information is available at www.fuelcellenergy.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Company's plans and expectations regarding the development and commercialization of its fuel cell technology. All forward- looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Factors that could cause such a difference include, without limitation, the risk that commercial field trials of the Company's products will not occur when anticipated, general risks associated with product development, manufacturing, changes in the utility regulatory environment, potential volatility of energy prices, rapid technological change, and competition, as well as other risks set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statement to reflect any change in the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

NGOs - The New World Order
By Peter and Helen Evans (06/20/2003)

When the dictator, Josef Stalin, first appeared at the brand-new United Nations accompanied by representatives of Soviet "labor unions," other delegates cried foul, asking, "How can there be labor unions in a government-run society?" Stalin explained, "Ah, but these are Non-Governmental Organizations," and the term "NGO" first came into the world's vocabulary.

Nowadays, most of us are likely to think of NGOs as large-scale charitable organizations who work all over the world providing medical care in disaster situations, food to famine sufferers or advocacy for political prisoners. One of the main reasons we even recognize the names of the well-known groups is that they often canvass door to door for donations to support their good works.

However, there is a growing number of less well-known NGOs who don't want to help the hungry feed themselves, rather, their aim is to "eradicate hunger." They don't want to help the poor become wealthy, rather, their goal is to "eliminate poverty." Do these distinctions sound picky? Well, they're not. Helping people means getting down to cases with the real people who are asking for help, finding out what they really need and helping them in ways that enable them to actually provide it for themselves. The much more abstract aims of "eliminating" hunger or poverty typically involve utopian plans that are to be imposed upon people "for their own good."

Consider the "elimination of poverty." This abstract notion breeds another: the "re-distribution of wealth." We see this in the United States when our own Congress takes more and more wealth (in the form of taxes) from those who create it and "re-distributes" it, in the form of entitlements, to those who don't create, or earn, it. This is bad enough when a democratic nation, essentially, "does it to itself" through government policy. The citizens have the option of changing policies through democratic means. But what happens when non-governmental organizations try the same thing?

Consider a recent, international case: the "Kyoto Protocol To The United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change." If you think it's about controlling climate change, read it again. If it were implemented, its real function would be the "re-distribution of wealth" from the industrialized, developed nations to the less-industrialized, less-developed nations who, under Kyoto, will basically be paid not to develop. The important thing to notice though, is the composition of the United Nations. Although seats in the U.N. General Assembly are ostensibly held by 185 "sovereign nations" from around the world, they are outnumbered more than two-to-one by about 500 seat-holding NGO's who can submit papers, call for votes, exercise influence by lobbying 'real' members, etc. The only thing they can't do is vote. An additional 3,000 NGOs hold, not seats, but "consultant" status at the U.N.

Who the heck are all those NGOs and what are they doing at the UN? Well, they are self-appointed groups vying for government-sized budgets and global power, claiming a pseudo-governmental legitimacy while side-stepping the accountability that is the essential requirement of legitimate government. In short, these burgeoning elements of the global New-Left are "hijacking democracy."

This is the title of an analytical synthesis of studies conducted over the last decade by Marguerite Peeters, subtitled "the power shift to the un-elected. "http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.14879,filter./pub_detail.asp" Ms Peeters gave a brief overview of the trends indicated by her research at a recent conference at the American Enterprise Institute. She also told those assembled of a tentative meeting scheduled this fall for representatives of major NGO's, the European Union and the Democratic Party of the U.S. Do you know why Bill Clinton has hinted that he'd like to be Secretary-General of the UN? He would be the leader of the largest socialist organization in the world, while his wife... well, you know where her sights are aimed. We should "be afraid; be very afraid" of where this trend is taking us, but only if the fear mobilizes us to change its direction.

We should begin by learning more about the pervasive influence NGO's already have and would like to have on our lives. The American Enterprise Institute "http://www.aei.org" and the Federalist Society "http://www.fed-soc.org/" have collaborated on a new website, NGO Watch "http://www.ngowatch.org" Check it out. It's time for us to use our own influence.

"Recent years have seen an unprecedented growth in the power and influence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). While it is true that many NGOs remain true to grassroots authenticity conjured up in images of protest and sacrifice, it is also true that non-governmental organizations are now serious business. NGO officials and their activities are widely cited in the media and relied upon in congressional testimony; corporations regularly consult with NGOs prior to major investments. Many groups have strayed beyond their original mandates and assumed quasi-governmental roles. Increasingly, non-governmental organizations are not just accredited observers at international organizations, they are full-fledged decision-makers." ~ NGO Watch.org

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.