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Posted on 06/12/2002 8:37:30 AM PDT by Jean S
In his 11/19/01 commentary, "Another Conservative Gone Native," Paul M. Weyrich, President of the Free Congress Foundation, warned that the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act poses a serious threat to our liberties. MEHPA is now winding its way through state legislatures. This commentary by James Frogue, Director of the Health & Human Services Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council, makes clear that MEHPA remains cause for serious concern, particularly for advocates of privacy and civil liberties.
America's worst nightmare is no longer a sensational Hollywood movie plot. The threat of a biological or nuclear terrorist attack is serious and our nation's leaders are vigilantly doing what they can to thwart such a disaster. In these uncertain times, in fact, several states are considering legislation, just in case the next evil terrorist shoe to drop is biological or nuclear. For this our state legislatures should be applauded, but, there are also grave concerns about one so-called "public health" proposal and how it threatens the very value we seek to protect - liberty.
This proposal, the Centers for Disease Control's Model Emergency Health Powers Act, or MEHPA, was first presented for public consumption in October 2001. Its main author was Georgetown law professor Lawrence Gostin, a leading member of Hillary Clinton's health care task force in 1993 and 1994. Much like that failed effort, this one also presents a vast government power grab. Indeed, everyone from social conservatives, to AIDS activists, to Second Amendment supporters is united in opposition. A revised and slightly toned down version appeared in December. It remains overkill.
The CDC sponsored MEHPA bill allows governors to unilaterally declare a public health emergency in their state for a full 60 days. Only after that time would even the state legislature have the power to intervene and end that state of emergency by majority vote in both chambers. This much power in the hands of one person is disturbing enough, but it gets worse when one considers the powers that go along with it.
Following the governor's declaration, non-elected state health officials assume broad powers to seize property, share your private health information, quarantine individuals suspected of being infected, ration goods and services, compel mass vaccinations, and even assume control over state and local police. In theory, even minimum wage nursing home attendants and the county dogcatcher could be empowered in this manner. The potential for blunder borne out of incompetence is enormous, not to mention the potential for willful abuse. Just how far these powers would extend deserves close scrutiny and hard questions.
The medical community and business owners also have much to fear. Under a declared state of emergency, hospitals could be procured, "by condemnation or otherwise," by anyone who meets whatever constitutes a public health authority. The owner of a fleet of trucks, for example, could have his property expropriated without compensation to transport infected people, animals, or waste. Private homes or businesses could be walled off as quarantine locations. And there is not a thing anyone could do about it for 60 days.
Ten states have enacted legislation thus far, and fortunately the most troubling aspects of the CDC model bill are not common in final products. New Hampshire for example is about to enact a bill. But it does not compel vaccinations, allows choice in location for the quarantined, and provides for judicial review. The law also sunsets in 2004 forcing legislators and the Governor to revisit the issues.
Maryland is one exception however. Governor Glendening vetoed two MEHPA bills passed by the legislature, but signed two egregious cross-filed versions. Both allow public health officials to violate property rights by authorizing inspections and seizures of buildings without compensation. Broad sweeping quarantine measures can be undertaken without confirmation of a biological, chemical, or nuclear contamination. Furthermore, any item or material needed to respond to medical emergencies can be rationed, stockpiled, put under a quota system, price controlled, or shipments of such material can be prohibited.
It is important to note that not all states have introduced the MEHPA bill as is. But the fact that the taxpayer funded CDC sponsored model legislation contains such sweeping powers is cause for deep concern. Every state legislator sworn to uphold the Constitution and all citizens concerned about their liberties should carefully scrutinize every last word of the legislation being considered in their state.
James Frogue is Director of the Health & Human Services Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Commentary provided by the Free Congress Foundation
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc.
A Voice for Private Physicians Since 1943
Florida Bill Threatens Civil Liberties,
Gives Unprecedented Power to Unelected Officials(snip)
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) today urged Gov. Bush to veto SB 1262, a bill that gives the State Public Health Officer powers to declare a public health emergency and to order forced drugging and treatment under the guise of responding to terrorism.
In a letter sent to the Governor, Jane M. Orient, Executive Director, writes:
"AAPS is totally opposed to SB 1262…imposing medical treatments on unwilling citizens at gunpoint, or with threats of taking children from their parents, or with other coercive measures - obliterating informed consent and due process of law. Medical consequences…could be disastrous. "This bill gives the State Health Officer the sole, unbridled power to issue a public health advisory and 'take any action appropriate to enforce any public health advisory,' without oversight or accountability…The Legislature has abdicated its authority with respect to the alleged emergency altogether."
AAPS first sounded the alarm about these types of bills last December, gathering thousands of signatures on a letter of opposition to President Bush.. The Model State Emergency Powers Act (MEPHA) was drafted by the CDC and promoted to the states by the Department of HHS -- with promises of federal dollars for new programs, and threats of withholding funding for current ones.
The bills are so alarming that many legislators in other states are publicly opposing them, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the nation's largest bipartisan, individual membership organization of state legislators. "We must take a much more deliberative approach in crafting effective policy without sacrificing the rights and liberties of individuals and families," ALEC's Director of the Health and Services told AAPS.
The letter to Gov. Bush continues:
Sounds easy - "We just need to make sure". I thought that the system was originally designed to do it, but open ended emergency powers do not look like that. What are the time limits, what is the definition of emergency and how it is being declared and how it is ended, what is the exact accountability during the state of emergency and after? Curious minds would like to know.
Governor's 'Emergency' Power to Control Your Lives
(Status of EHPA in Your State)
 |
The CDC is urging state legislatures to adopt a Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (EHPA). It is an unprecedented assault on the constitutional rights of the American people, as well as on our fundamental principles of limited government and separation of powers. Watch out! EHPA is coming to your state! FLASHBACK TO CLINTON HEALTH-CARE EHPA would give each governor sole discretion to grant himself far-reaching powers. The state legislature relinquishes its power to stop overreaching by the governor until at least 60 days after his actions. The bill wouldn't allow the governor to be reversed just because his actions are unwarranted, oppressive, or overreacting to the threat. EHPA also suggests requiring a vote of the legislature declaring that the risk has disappeared before the governor could be restrained, something many legislators would be reluctant to declare. EMPOWERING GOVERNORS DURING 'EMERGENCIES'
Government authorities would have full access, without meaningful limitation, to everyone's medical records. If the alleged emergency turned out to be grossly exaggerated or even a hoax, government need not return the private records. EHPA would grant these powers to governors without any showing of a real emergency, and merely an isolated case of a serious disease, or even a misdiagnosis, could trigger the governor's seizure of power. Without any checks or balances, the governor would become both doctor and policeman. COMING TO YOUR STATE! However, the original bill reveals the totalitarian mindset of those promoting the bill. No public health emergency justifies such draconian infringements on our liberties.
For more information, go to: Emergency Powers Legislation — Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) Status of EHPA in each state — American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) |
Idaho Observer:
The American mass vaccination agenda:
Beyond medical experimentation into the realm of mass murder, genocideFrom the May 2002 Idaho Observer:
Boy meets girl. They fall in love, obtain a license from the state to get married and make plans to start a family. When baby day arrives, the expectant mother is rushed to the hospital to give birth. Most parents will forever remember that period between the onset of labor and the moment someone says, “It's a boy,” or, “It's a girl” as the most intensely emotional experience of their lives. During that time we feel powerless and every ounce of love and hope that parents feel for their soon-to-be-born baby is entrusted into the care of their doctor and the attendant nursing staff.
Until recently, very few people questioned their doctors when the nurses took our newborn babies away to be “cleaned up.” That was before we realized that unnecessary medical interventions such as vitamin K and hepatitis B injections are often given at this time. Increasing numbers of parents are experiencing the horror of failing to question “routine” post-natal vaccinations. In fact a local coroner is reportedly processing record numbers of infant deaths. He said that these mothers all say the same thing: “My baby was so healthy and vibrant until I took him in for his shots...”
We are also experiencing a shaken baby syndrome (SBS) witch hunt in this country. Violet Harris has looked into six different SBS cases in and around Boise, Idaho and found out that in each case, both malnutrition and vaccines were involved. All parties claim innocence. The prosecutors in all cases refuse to look at the vaccine connection --and the victims, the alleged “shakers”, are being locked up in our state's prisons.
Why is it that suddenly vaccine injury and death is becoming the rule rather than the exception? There are many reasons but the foundation of it appears to be the fact that the human genome is being altered by vaccines. By injecting increasing quantities of foreign (human and animal) RNA and DNA, toxic metals and poisonous chemicals into our bloodstreams, our own genetic structure is changed and those changes are passed onto our children. Already compromised by mutations within ourselves (hence epidemic cancer, auto-immune dysfunction, sociopathic behavior and addiction to pharmaceutical drugs) the current generation of babies are “at risk” from the time they are born. Begin dosing them with vaccines soon after birth and the likelihood of an adverse reaction increases.
If they do not die from the post-natal vaccines; if they don't die from the barrage of some 35 vaccinations recommended by the federal government by age five; if they do not develop physical and mental complications such as multiple sclerosis or autism they may produce children of their own. What type of hope for humanity is there when we have been so altered that our offspring no longer provide viable offspring?
We are no longer mincing words. It is too late for that. As a matter of editorial policy there is no reason to say, “Vaccines are linked to sudden infant death, learning disabilities and chronic disease.” By using the word “linked” we journalistically side-step what we know from science and experience to be the cold, hard reality of mass vaccination.
The truth is that vaccines can cause sudden infant death; vaccines can cause learning disabilities; vaccines can cause the infections that lead to the development of chronic diseases. We cannot even begin to describe the extent of what is happening with regard to public health policies mandating “medical experimentation' via vaccinations. It is iatrogenocide.
Fortunately people are waking up to this fact. Anti-vaccination activists all over the world are networking, sharing information and building coalitions.
Vaccination Liberation is the perfect example of this grassroots momentum. According to VacLib president Ingri Cassel, “Since the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act has been introduced to state legislatures, people have been contacting us with renewed interest in getting a VacLib chapter going in their respective states.” In fact, VacLib chapters now include Idaho, South Idaho, Wyoming, New Jersey, Florida, and Pennsylvania. States in the process of joining the VacLib network are Alaska, Washington, Montana, Ohio and Louisiana. Once parents realize that the myriad of health problems their children are experiencing can be directly linked to the vaccines they have thus far received, they become angry and want to direct that anger at someone. VacLib national then redirects their energy into sharing this relatively unknown information with their respective communities and, ultimately, the entire state. As more people in each state become members of their state chapters, an effective network is established. This statewide network has the potential to initiate the changes needed in their respective state's laws to allow both philosophical and religious exemptions and, hopefully, overturn state vaccine mandates. If you are interested in joining the VacLib network, call (208) 255-2307 (see ad page 13).
When you think about it, the concept of herd immunity is absurd. Pro-vaccinators desire a 100-percent vaccination rate to protect the “herd” from infectious diseases.
If vaccines really “work,” why would the vaccinated be endangered by the unvaccinated? If vaccines really worked, then the unvaccinated could not infect the vaccinated.
The Idaho Observer
P.O. Box 457
Spirit Lake, Idaho 83869
Phone: 208-255-2307
Email: observer@coldreams.com
Web: http://proliberty.com/observer/
If vaccines really worked, then the unvaccinated could not infect the vaccinated.
Most of us older folk recall the horrors that polio could wreak on a family, and have no problem with those types of vaccines; but I really do question the new push for the DPT, Measles, and Chicken Pox varieties that have sprung up in the past couple of decades. I don't buy the BS that these simple childhood diseases should be wiped out. They are what 'trains' the immune system to recognize pathogens and provide for a healthier life.
JMHO.
The Senate voted 29-0; there were only 9 "NO" votes in the House. Randy assured me that if Matt is elected this will be undone. BTW, Matt told me he was against this.
Another legislator wasn't sure how he voted; did not realize the extent of the law. Promised to address it next session.
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