H.R. 1 Puts America In A Giant Bird Cage

The very first bill passed by the House of Representatives this year was H.R. 1 named, “Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act.” The vote was 299 Ayes, with 68 Republicans voting with the majority, and 128 Noes.

Drafted by the 9/11 Commission following the terrorist attacks on Washington, D.C., and New York City, the report proffered 41 recommendations to the federal government ostensibly for the purpose of making the United States more secure against future terrorist attack. The implementation of this report was new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s first priority for the 110th Congress. She succeeded. The House of Representatives easily passed it. The Senate is expected to do the same, and President Bush will doubtless sign it into law. But what, exactly, does this bill accomplish? Does it make America more secure? And if so, at what cost?

I well remember my father telling me, “A bird in a cage is safe, but it is not free.” That proverb pretty much summarizes H.R. 1. When fully implemented, the new law will create a federal police leviathan that will place the American people into a giant bird cage.

As many have already observed, a close analysis of the 9/11 report reveals the creation of Homeland Security identity checkpoints on America’s roads and highways. Mandatory biometric iris and finger scanning systems at all American airports and seaports. The creation of a national I.D. card. The expansion of “no-fly” and “watch” lists. The implementation of special screening for all airline passengers, which paves the way for invasive body scanners. The federal takeover of publicly owned communications networks and increased government surveillance of Americans’ financial records and activities.

In addition, H.R. 1 mandates that America becomes increasingly meddlesome in the internal affairs of foreign nations, thereby pushing the United States further down the road of international governance. For example, one recommendation requires that the U.S. “defends Muslims against tyrants and criminals . . .”

Of course, nowhere in the 9/11 Commission Report is there a call to defend Christians against tyrants and criminals. And the truth is, the most rampant and bloodthirsty acts of tyranny and criminality are committed against Christians. In The Sudan alone, Marxist and Muslim warriors have tortured, murdered, and enslaved more than two million people, mostly Christians, over the past twenty years. However, their suffering is mostly ignored by the international community and by our own government.

Yet, back to the issue. How many nations must we invade and how many governments must we overthrow in order to “defend Muslims”? Furthermore, are we also obligated to defend Buddhists and Shintoists?

Another recommendation wants the United States to “generously [support] a new International Youth Opportunity Fund” for the purpose of “building and operating primary and secondary schools in . . . Muslim states . . .” How many billions and even trillions of taxpayer dollars will be required to build and operate Muslim schools? Schools that will no doubt teach Muslim doctrine. There is certainly no shrill cry against the separation of Mosque and state heard here, Martha.

Yet another recommendation requires “global border security” using “extensive international cooperation.” What the heck is this all about? What, pray tell, is “global border security”? Does this mean using foreign troops to guard our borders?

Are we supposed to believe that our own National Guard and Border Patrol are unable to protect our borders, and, therefore, we need foreign troops to do the job? Balderdash! The fact is, the Bush administration simply does not allow our forces to protect our borders. Perhaps this recommendation in the 9/11 Commission Report helps explain why.

Still another recommendation requires the federal government to “set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as drivers licenses.” In other words, a national, or maybe even international, I.D. card or computer chip.

One of the most egregiously extreme recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Report is this next one. Without specifically naming it, this recommendation calls for the implementation of President Bill Clinton’s former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott’s brainchild. It is called Continuity of Government (COG). COG has strong support from many notables such as former GOP Senate Whip Alan Simpson, Clinton’s former Secretary of HHS Donna Shalala, former House Speakers Democrat Tom Foley and Republican Newt Gingrich, former GOP Minority Leader Robert Michel, and Kweisi Mfume, President and CEO of the NAACP.

In a nutshell, proponents of COG envision a terrorist attack that would precipitate the suspension of the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, COG would authorize Congress to appoint its own members, including those in state legislatures, without a vote of the people. COG even envisions the enactment of such authority for reasons of “incapacitation” (whatever that is) even if no emergency exists.

As one should easily be able to see, the passage of H.R. 1 simply continues the policies of both Democrat and Republican administrations to put the bird in its cage. Of course, the bird is the American people and the cage is a national, even international, curtain of total control.

Aldous Huxley called it a “Brave New World.” George Orwell outlined it in his book “1984.” Bible theologians call it the “Revived Roman Empire.” Whatever one calls it, both George W. Bush and the Democrats in Congress are pushing hard and fast to implement it. And unless the American people offer the strongest resistance quickly and loudly, our children and grandchildren will find the cage locked shut with no chance of escape.

The American people need to heed the warning of Winston Churchill who said, “If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

From the Bill:

`(b) Purpose- The purpose of this section is to strengthen the public educational systems in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries by--

`(1) authorizing the establishment of an International Arab and Muslim Youth Educational Fund through which the United States dedicates resources, either through a separate fund or through an international organization, to assist those countries that commit to education reform; and

`(2) providing resources for the Fund to help strengthen the public educational systems in those countries.

`(c) Establishment of Fund-

`(1) AUTHORITY- The President is authorized to establish an International Arab and Muslim Youth Opportunity Fund.

`(2) LOCATION- The Fund may be established--

`(A ) as a separate fund in the Treasury; or

`(B) through an international organization or international financial institution, such as the United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Development Program, or the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

`(3) TRANSFERS AND RECEIPTS- The head of any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States Government may transfer any amount to the Fund, and the Fund may receive funds from private enterprises, foreign countries, or other entities.

`(4) ACTIVITIES OF THE FUND- The Fund shall support programs described in this paragraph to improve the education environment in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries.

`(A ) ASSISTANCE TO ENHANCE MODERN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS-

`(i) The establishment in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries of a program of reform to create a modern education curriculum in the public educational systems in such countries.

`(ii) The establishment or modernization of educational materials to advance a modern educational curriculum in such systems.

`(iii) Teaching English to adults and children.

`(iv) The establishment in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries of programs that enhance accountability, transparency, and interaction on education policy in such countries between the national government and the regional and local governments through improved information sharing and monitoring.

`(v) The establishment in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries of programs to assist in the formulation of administration and planning strategies for all levels of government in such countries, including national, regional, and local governments.

`(vi) The enhancement in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries of community, family, and student participation in the formulation and implementation of education strategies and programs in such countries.

`(B) ASSISTANCE FOR TRAINING AND EXCHANGE PROGRAMS FOR TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS, AND STUDENTS-

`(i) The establishment of training programs for teachers and educational administrators to enhance skills, including the establishment of regional centers to train individuals who can transfer such skills upon return to their countries.

`(ii) The establishment of exchange programs for teachers and administrators in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries and with other countries to stimulate additional ideas and reform throughout the world, including teacher training exchange programs focused on primary school teachers in such countries.

`(iii) The establishment of exchange programs for primary and secondary students in Muslim and Arab countries and with other countries to foster understanding and tolerance and to stimulate long-standing relationships.

`(C) ASSISTANCE TARGETING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY STUDENTS-

`(i) The establishment in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries of after-school programs, civic education programs, and education programs focusing on life skills, such as inter-personal skills and social relations and skills for healthy living, such as nutrition and physical fitness.

`(ii) The establishment in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries of programs to improve the proficiency of primary and secondary students in information technology skills.

`(D) ASSISTANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF YOUTH PROFESSIONALS-

`(i) The establishment of programs in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries to improve vocational training in trades to help strengthen participation of Muslims and Arabs in the economic development of their countries.

`(ii) The establishment of programs in Arab and predominantly Muslim countries that target older Muslim and Arab youths not in school in such areas as entrepreneurial skills, accounting, micro-finance activities, work training, financial literacy, and information technology.

`(E) OTHER TYPES OF ASSISTANCE-

`(i) The translation of foreign books, newspapers, reference guides, and other reading materials into local languages.

`(ii) The construction and equipping of modern community and university libraries.

`(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS-

`(A ) IN GENERAL- There is authorized to be appropriated to the President to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2008, 2009, and 2010.

`(B) AVAILABILITY- Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations under subsection (a ) are authorized to remain available until expended.

`(C) ADDITIONAL FUNDS- Amounts authorized to be appropriated under subsection (a ) shall be in addition to amounts otherwise available for such purposes.

`(6) REPORT TO CONGRESS- Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this section and annually thereafter, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on United States efforts to assist in the improvement of educational opportunities for Arab and predominantly Muslim children and youths, including the progress made toward establishing the International Arab and Muslim Youth Opportunity Fund.

`(7) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED- In this subsection, the term `appropriate congressional committees' means the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.'.

Source: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c110:1:./temp/~c110V88sfn:e269466:

Here's a little more on Arab work as part of this bill. Note that Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and the detainees at GITMO all have their own sections at the end of the document as well (not included here). The funding herein makes me wonder who got this language in.........

SEC. 1422. MIDDLE EAST FOUNDATION.

(a ) Purposes- The purposes of this section are to support, through the provision of grants, technical assistance, training, and other programs, in the countries of the Middle East, the expansion of--

(1) civil society;

(2) opportunities for political participation for all citizens;

(3) protections for internationally recognized human rights, including the rights of women;

(4) educational system reforms;

(5) independent media;

(6) policies that promote economic opportunities for citizens;

(7) the rule of law; and

(8) democratic processes of government.

(b) Middle East Foundation-

(1) DESIGNATION- The Secretary of State is authorized to designate an appropriate private, nonprofit organization that is organized or incorporated under the laws of the United States or of a State as the Middle East Foundation (referred to in this section as the `Foundation').

(2) FUNDING-

(A ) AUTHORITY- The Secretary of State is authorized to provide funding to the Foundation through the Middle East Partnership Initiative of the Department of State. The Foundation shall use amounts provided under this paragraph to carry out the purposes specified in subsection (a ), including through making grants and providing other assistance to entities to carry out programs for such purposes.

(B) FUNDING FROM OTHER SOURCES- In determining the amount of funding to provide to the Foundation, the Secretary of State shall take into consideration the amount of funds that the Foundation has received from sources other than the United States Government.

(3) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES- The Secretary of State shall notify the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate prior to designating an appropriate organization as the Foundation.

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