Phony Faith-Based Initiative

I explained right from the start what President Bush's so-called "Faith-Based Initiative" was all about – a scam to score political points that would further marginalize faith in the public square, empower bureaucrats and compromise churches and synagogues who cooperate with it.

Many of you thought I was being an alarmist. Many of you thought I was over the top. Many of you told me to give the new administration a break and the benefit of the doubt.

Jerry Lawson, director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program – part of a large federal bureaucracy that has no constitutional basis for its existence in the first place – told a group of environmentalists in Washington that the "faith-based initiative should and would be used to fan the flames of hysteria over the phony issue of global warming."

David Kuo, deputy director of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, called the EPA's efforts to enlist religious groups in green causes a "great" idea, according to a report in CNSNews.com.

Do you remember the stated purpose of the so-called "Faith-Based Initiative"? As I recall, the idea was to encourage churches and synagogues to help the poor, to get involved in social welfare work, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and to remove the federal barriers erected to prevent religious groups from doing all of these things.

Now it is becoming clear that the new bureaucracy will be nothing more than one more vehicle for the unconstitutional and immoral purpose of wealth redistribution and furthering the extreme, anti-American political agenda of people who don't believe in liberty, free enterprise or good science.

"What the president really envisioned is a determined attack on need led by America's charities and churches and synagogues and mosques and philanthropies and foundations," Kuo explained. "That's what this initiative is about. It is about encouraging the full participation by America's armies of compassion in meeting the very serious social needs that exist."

At the same time, Kuo said he welcomes the broadest possible interpretation of that mission, and, thus, is excited about spending taxpayer money to support religious groups fighting "global warming."

"The original vision and the current vision is still social services," said Lawson. "What I am doing and other people at EPA are doing is looking at the programs we have available today that can benefit faith-based groups. Those of us at EPA and the environmental movement are recognizing that the faith community is also interested in the environment."

This is an example of how a perhaps well-intentioned federal program goes wrong fast.

Again, I told you it would happen. But, to be honest, even I – as cynical about government as I am – never imagined it would happen quite this quickly.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The road to tyranny, too. The road to slavery, too.

And that's what we are becoming – slaves. Slaves of a system that robs us of our labor and wealth and redistributes it to those who oppress us further. Is there no end to this madness?

Once again, we see it matters not whether Democrats are in power or Republicans. The bureaucracies grow and grow. The political agenda remains the same. There's no reversing bad old policy. But there's always room to invent bad new policy.

My biggest worry about the "faith-based initiative" was that it would render previously effective religion-based charities ineffective. They would be neutered, I thought, by federal restrictions and red tape. Even I would not have imagined the very narrow social purpose of the initiative would be corrupted – at least not this quickly.

It's amazing. There's just no mixing compassion and government. Compassion equals love. Government equals force. Never the twain shall meet – at least not until the Good Lord returns.

Sustaining Socialism

By Tom DeWeese
CNSNews.com Commentary
January 15, 2003

Readers of The DeWeese Report, my monthly newsletter, know the United States is changing from a nation that values individual liberty, free enterprise, and private property rights to one of top-down government command and control. It is Socialism hiding behind the name of Sustainable Development.

Here are just a few developments from across the nation that demonstrate how the plan is being implemented.

"Sustainable Development" is the official policy of the Federal government and is being fully implemented by the Bush Administration and the Republican majority in Congress. Sustainable Development has now been embraced by a majority of local Republican office holders and candidates who call it a "Conservative Principle."

Central California to ban fireplaces

For years\b environmentalists have been successful in blocking the construction of new power plants in California, contributing to last year's power shortages and this year's skyrocketing energy prices. So what's a family to do when trying to keep warm this winter? Many burn wood in their fireplaces to supplement the furnace.

Using the tired excuse of protecting the environment, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District recently released a plan calling for the banning of traditional, wood-burning fireplaces. They claim that regulations from the Federal Clean Air Act, as implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency, are forcing the local board to take the action to meet draconian clean air standards.

Under the proposed rule, most wood-burning fireplaces and stoves would be banned in new homes. Masonry fireplaces would have to be permanently disabled, converted to natural gas or upgraded to expensive soot-containing models before homes could be sold. In addition, on winter days, many Central Californians would be prohibited from lighting up their existing wood-burning stoves. More than 500,000 homes are affected.

Meeting the new requirements may cost property owners from $1,500 to $3,000, not including the thousands it can cost for installation of gas stoves, and converting traditional brick fireplaces to natural gas. The pollution-controlling inserts can cost between $2,200 and $3,400. Regulations will require those to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.

Mankind has been heating homes with fireplaces for thousands of years. In California homeowners who use their fireplaces are feeling the brunt of yet another environmental mandate. Here's the kicker: there's no science to back up any of it.

Environmentally correct fishing

Under a policy in which anything can be banned with a simple sound bite, the ridiculous becomes the norm, and when government dictates every aspect of our lives, those who know how to play the game can get rich on other people's misery.

Consider the new assault on Boston's seafood restaurants. An environmental group made up of chefs calling itself the "Chefs Collaborative" are promoting a new line of "caught with care" Atlantic codfish. The chef's are pushing "line-caught" cod as an alternative to farmed fish. It's an extension of the organic food scam in which "natural" is deemed better even though there is no science to support such claims.

Here's the bottom line; with the special "caught with care" labeling, the fish cost the restaurants 20 to 30 percent more and diners can expect to pay up to 50 percent more. So with the sound bite of a more environmentally-friendly method to sucker the American public, Sustainable Development works to line the pockets of those who go along.

UN Water

There was an old joke making the rounds during the heyday of the Soviet Union. Question: What would happen if the Soviet Union was to take over the Sahara Desert? Answer: Nothing at first, but in a few years there would be a severe shortage of sand.

Fast forward to today: The United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights has declared access to water a human right and establishes water as a social and cultural good, not merely an economic commodity.

The Committee is chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland, a Socialist and one of the originators of the concept of Sustainable Development. The final version of the General Comment left out any mention of private ownership of water (that's because there won't be any). There is also no mention of the fact that most water shortages (and its severe pollution) are caused by bad governments using dictatorial policies that mismanage and destroy natural resources.

The primary purpose of the declaration is to enhance UN control over the world's water supply in what it calls the "Global Commons." Watch for future edicts that require developed countries to severely curtail their water use so, theoretically, there will be more available for "poor" countries. Watch also, as water around the world begins to dry up under those policies. It's called Sustainable Development.

Unless and until the vast matrix of environmental lies that underwrite Sustainable Development are exposed and this government policy is abandoned, no one's home or business is safe. The sovereignty of individual nations to determine the best policies for its citizens will continue to be eroded in favor of a global government operated from the United Nations headquarters.

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