2005 immigration, what will cafta do? press 6-9-5.pdf · penny pre ss 2005 if nafta lowered illegal...

Penny Press

Las Vegas, NV Volume 2 Number 37 J

UNE 9, 2005

If NAFTA Lowered Illegal Immigration,

What Will CAFTA Do?

See Commentary Page 2

Photo Courtesy Minute Man Project

THE PENNY PRESS, JUNE 9, 2005 PAGE 2

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Credits:Publisher and Editor: Contributing Editors:Fred Weinberg George Harris Al Thomas Circulation: Doug French Bill HereCharlotte Weinberg Dolores Lonergan Pat Choate Joyce Meyer Bob Jennings

The Penny Press is published weekly by 5010 Productions, Inc. All Contents © Penny Press 2005

Letters to the Editor are encouraged. They should be sent to our offices at 418 1/2 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas 89101. They can also be emailed to: [email protected] No unsigned or unverifiable letters will be printed.

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www.pennypresslv.com

America’s Jobs Are DisappearingBy ALAN CARUBA

CNSNews.com Commentary From the National Anxiety Center

Cassandra’s curse was that she could predict the future but no one would believe her.

In their new book “Outsourcing America,” Ron and Anil Hira have writ-ten about the way American jobs will be leaving thousands, possibly even millions, unemployed while low-paid, but well educated workers in India, China and elsewhere replace them.

This may be one of those warnings that is largely ignored until it is too late.

Economists at the University of California who have looked at the cur-rent job scene and calculated which of those jobs can be done elsewhere for less suggests that nearly one in nine of all US jobs are vulnerable to being outsourced. That’s a staggering 14 million white-collar jobs.

The 2004 UC report predicts that, by 2015, approximately 3.5 million white-collar jobs representing $151 billion in wages will move overseas. By the end of this year, the report sees 830,000 jobs leaving.

Who is embracing this enticing way to save money? American compa-nies for whom the requirement to compete in the global marketplace virtu-ally demands they take advantage of this option.

The jobs affected include those in information technology, call-center operators, accounting, architecture, medical and legal services, and high-level engineering design. By 2008, an estimated 700,000 jobs in customer service and the corporate back-office will move to India.

Even the federal government and some state governments have begin to outsource public sector jobs, including welfare and food stamp service jobs.

The Internet and the ability to move information by phone anywhere in the world is the primary reason for this, but it must be said that Asian nations have been concentrating for years on high standards of education to catch up and compete with the West.

They have long-term strategic goals, while we in the West concentrate on the next quarterly report. As a result, there is an endless supply of edu-cated, under-employed workers in India and China.

We think we are living in a global, free-trade world of endless possibili-ties, but this ignores the fact that Asian governments such as China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan have policies that are designed to help certain industries for the precise purpose of competing with the US.

By contrast, the US government cannot seem to stop generating an end-less flow of new regulations that impede the ability of every kind and size of business enterprise to compete. It is estimated that the cost of complying

with these regulations costs Americans $800 billion a year.One only has to look at the nation’s huge trade deficits to conclude that

something is very wrong with the way we do business with the world. This is not a call for tariffs or other obstacles, but it is a call for the reduction of government mandates that make it difficult to compete.

As outsourcing increases, American college and university students are beginning to take note. Enrollment, for example, in computer science dropped twenty percent in 2003-2004.

Why pursue a career in technological fields, engineering, and other demanding professions when people on the other side of the globe who can afford to earn less can do these jobs? Wages in developing nations like India and China are ten to twenty percent less than those US workers must earn.

Need it be said that as more and more jobs are out-sourced, a great pool of unemployed Americans will occur? Do not make the assumption that they will find other jobs. As the authors of “Outsourcing America” point out, “The track record for the reemployment of displaced US workers is abysmal.”

Now add the vast horde of illegal aliens flooding the US to take jobs in the construction industry and other enterprises. Consider the fate of count-less lawn care or janitorial services companies who cannot compete with those who employ illegal aliens. Consider the $20 billion Mexicans sent home last year, an amount larger than Mexico’s revenues from oil and tour-ism.

While jobs at the low end of the wage scale disappear for Americans, so too are jobs held by the middle-class. The worse part of all this is that the government is doing nothing to address either the outsourcing losses or immigration problems.

Even now the White House keeps calling for “guest worker” programs that, for migrant labor makes sense, but not for the other jobs Americans would gladly fill. There are already programs that allow foreign white-collar workers to come here and replace higher paid US workers.

There are some indicators that American companies have discovered that outsourced call centers are a turn-off for many American consumers, but this is cold comfort for the countless Americans, including the 1.8 mil-lion college graduates who join the labor force each year.

The result is predictable. Unemployed US workers will pay no taxes, nor will they be buying all those foreign-made products that fill the shelves in American malls. They will not be contributing to retirement savings programs or pension funds that would otherwise be used to invest in new business ventures.

This is a calamity already for those who must compete for blue-collar jobs and it is going to be the same for the middle class. The ripple effect on the American economy will be widespread and awful.

By PAT CHOATEContributing Editor

One political poll after another reveals that the American people think the North American Free Trade

Agreement (NAFTA) is harming the United States and oppose any more such deals. But the opinions of American voters don’t really matter to a majority of our elected officials in Washington. Their real constitu-ents are the special interests that put up the campaign funds that allow them to stay in office.

Thus, it is that the same group of lobbyists, academics, politicians, retailers, and lawyers that pushed

NAFTA into law are now trying to expand that agreement to include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The deal is known as CAFTA.

If CAFTA becomes law, this same group intends to expand NAFTA and CAFTA to include all of South America. That deal will be called the Free Trade Agreement of the America’s – FTA.

The explanations these advo-cates give for adopting CAFTA are the same used 12 years ago when NAFTA was up for a vote:

It will reduce illegal immigra-tion into the U.S.:

It will increase U.S. exports and create more American jobs;

It will increase the security of the United States:

It will promote democracy in

those nations.All of that, of course, is non-

sense. Illegal immigration from Mexico has actually increased after passage of NAFTA. Why? Because once the Mexican corn market was opened to U.S. producers they swamped the Mexican market put-ting more than 10 million peasant farmers out of work. Many of those displayed workers are now in the United States, taxing our social ser-vices.

While the U.S. had a trade sur-plus with Mexico before NAFTA, we have run a deficit ever since, costing hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs.

And as to increased security, what do we have to fear from these six little countries that have a col-lective military about the size of the Waco, Texas police force. Certainly,

no nation from outside this hemi-sphere will try to repeat what the Soviets did and attempt to colonize these little countries.

As to the business potential of these six countries, their total, combined Gross National Products are about the size of retail sales in Hartford, Connecticut. Does anyone truly think that people so poor are going to buy a massive amount from U.S. exporters? Basing U.S. growth on increased sales to El Salvador may not be the way to manage our economy.

The real story behind this deal is that the region has more than 50 mil-lion people, half of who are avail-able for work at penny-wage levels. What our retailers and predatory business leaders want is hire those workers and then bring the goods

Penny PressLAS VEGAS, NEVADA 16 PAGES VOLUME 2 NUMBER 37 JUNE 9, 2005

Penny Wisdom

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. —Napoleon Bonaparte

The Conservative Weekly Voice Of Las Vegas

Inside:Coming Soonwww.LasVegasCrooks.com

See Editorial Page 6

PAT CHOATE PAGE 5FRED WEINBERG PAGE 6DOUG FRENCH PAGE 7BILLHERE PAGE 8JOE TARTARO PAGE 9AL THOMAS PAGE 10JOYCE MEYER PAGE 12BULLRING RESULTS PAGE 13PET OF THE WEEK PAGE 15

Hate NAFTA? You'll Love CAFTA!

Commentary

Continued on page4


back into the United States duty free. In short, CAFTA is just another out-sourcing agreement.

The CAFTA advocates acknowledge that this deal will cost several thousand U.S. textile and apparel jobs, but they claim that those displayed workers will find jobs elsewhere in America. The only thing I can say about this argument is that these Members of Congress are spending too much time on junkets outside the U.S. and might benefit from touring the closed factories in those own States and listening to displaced American workers, half of whom cannot find any job at any wage.

What is so depressing about this fight over CAFTA is to see so many of our elected leaders make these same old arguments, supplied by the same

old special interests. It is as though half the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the Senate (the portions supporting this trade pact) are brain dead, without even the most infinitesimally small ability to learn anything from experience.

More charitably, perhaps these politicians are diehard ideologues that value theory over reality. Less charitably, perhaps they are corrupt, valuing cash over the well being of their constituents.

Regardless of which, any Representative or Senator’s support of CAFTA should be sufficient evidence to voters that these politicians are either too stupid, ideological or corrupt to hold such an important positions of trust.

Remember in November 2006.

Continued from page 3

Didn't Like NAFTA? You'll Love CAFTA

[1:1-3:4] 2002-05-28_1528

01 Date: 05/28/2002 02 Time: 3:28 P.M. 03 Telephone Number: 702-210-5300 04 Outgoing Call: Unknown 05 Participants: LANCE

MALONE 06 CHARLES LEWIS 07 RAQUEL LAST NAME

UNKNOWN (LNU) 08 Notation: Unintelligible (UI) 09 _________________________10 RAQUEL: Deputy Mayor George

Stevens office,11 Raquel speaking, can I help you?12 MALONE: Yes, ah Charles Lewis

please.13 RAQUEL: Who’s calling?14 MALONE: Lance Malone.15 RAQUEL: Lance?16 MALONE: Yes.17 RAQUEL: How are you?18 MALONE: Who is this?19 RAQUEL: Raquel.

20 MALONE: Hey Raquel what’s going on?

21 RAQUEL: Good, oh nothing much.22 MALONE: So your Councilman won

his ah Senate23 district did he?24 RAQUEL: Uh huh.25 MALONE: Won it outright didn’t he?26 RAQUEL: Yeah. Hold on.27 MALONE: Alright.28 RAQUEL: Hold on. Page 201 LEWIS: This is Charles.02 MALONE: Charles Lewis.03 LEWIS: Yes.04 MALONE: How are you my friend?05 LEWIS: Alright, who’s this?06 MALONE: This is Lance.07 LEWIS: What’s happening man?08 MALONE: Listen, I ah I can get you

three09 thousand.10 LEWIS: Okay.11 MALONE: Is that okay?12 LEWIS: Uh huh.

13 MALONE: Ah all from San Diego.14 LEWIS: Okay.15 MALONE: I’m here, I’m here right

now at the16 City Council office.17 LEWIS: Oh yeah?18 MALONE: Yeah, come over and

say hi.19 LEWIS: Where you at?20 MALONE: Ah I’m in the little room

next,21 next door to the council chambers.22 LEWIS: (UI), okay, I’ll come up

there.23 MALONE: You know where I’m at

right? Well.24 (TALKING OVERLAPS)25 LEWIS: Yeah, upstairs, I know where

you’re26 at.27 MALONE: On the twelfth floor?28 LEWIS: Yep. Page 301 MALONE: Okay.02 LEWIS: Bye, bye.03 MALONE: See ya.04 (END OF CONVERSATION)

[1:1-4:16] 2002-11-07_1034

01 Date: 11/07/2002 02 Time: 10:34 a.m. 03 Telephone Number: 702-210-5300 04 Subscriber: Rosemary Palacios 05 Incoming Call: 619-475-7070 06 Subscriber: Charles Lewis 07 Participants: LANCE MALONE 08 CHARLES LEWIS 09 Notation: Unintelligible (UI) 10 __________________________11 MALONE: Yello.12 LEWIS: Mister Malone.13 MALONE: Yes.14 LEWIS: What’s going on? It’s

Charles,15 buddy.16 MALONE: Hey Charles what’s up

my friend?17 LEWIS: Not much man. So I’m, I’m

ah get18 in your part of town on Sunday.19 MALONE: Fantastic.20 LEWIS: Well I’ll be at the Luxor.21 MALONE: So you’re gonna stay at

the Luxor?22 LEWIS: Uh huh.23 MALONE: Alright perfect. Ummmm,

well are24 you coming in the afternoon or are25 you gonna come in, what time you26 coming in?27 (TALKING OVERLAPS)28 LEWIS: I’ll, I’ll be in, in the Page 201 afternoon. Yeah I’ll get there ah02 yeah at ah Sunday afternoon so03 maybe we can get together Monday04 or something.05 MALONE: Yeah I said let’s, let’s us

get06 together on Monday then.07 LEWIS: Yeah let’s do that.08 MALONE: Well, fantastic. Now,

listen ah,09 can I try and get you a upgraded10 room over there?

11 LEWIS: Yeah if you can yeah.12 MALONE: Okay. Do you, you have

to stay at13 Luxor?14 LEWIS: Well that’s where we just

got the15 little package. I just got the16 little package on, went on line17 and hooked it up.18 MALONE: ‘Cause if I can, if I can

get you19 comped over at like ah Mirage,20 would you guys rather stay over21 there?22 LEWIS: If I would’ve talked to you23 earlier, I would’ve gone over and,24 and did that but we ah, we got25 this nonrefundable thing, they had26 a little deal.27 MALONE: Okay ‘cause I.28 (BREAK IN CONVERSATION) Page 301 -02 MALONE: Okay, let me, let me, let

me see03 what I got like over there so that04 I, like we can take care of ah ah05 an upgrade, get you up in a suite06 or something.07 LEWIS: You got any good ah shows

out08 there?09 MALONE: Ahhh let me see, what

kind of10 shows we’ve got. Have you seen O?11 LEWIS: No.12 MALONE: Okay let’s ah I think

they’re,13 they’re dark Monday though. Um,14 if you come in ah le I’ll, what15 I’ll do is, today I’ll, I’ll put16 together a little showcase for you17 and then I’ll call you back this18 afternoon and let you know what19 we’ve got planned.20 LEWIS: You got it man.21 MALONE: You’re gonna be here

Sunday night,22 Monday night?23 LEWIS: Sunday and Monday and

Tuesday.24 Fly out.25 (TALKING OVERLAPS)26 MALONE: Tuesday night?27 LEWIS: Yeah fly out Wednesday.28 MALONE: You fly out Wednesday.

Okay, so Page 401 -02 I’ll look at those three nights03 and see what shows I can put04 together for ya and see if I can’t05 keep you busy on every night, and06 then you, you and your wife just07 pick out the shows you wanna go08 see and I’ll take care of the09 rest.10 LEWIS: Alright Lance.11 MALONE: That sounds good buddy.

I’m12 looking forward to seeing you13 again.14 LEWIS: Alright bye, bye.15 MALONE: Congratulations.16 (END OF CONVERSATION)


Selected Wire Tap Transcripts

The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To:Diana Hampton who proved Tuesday that you CAN have been employed in the "adult entertainment" business and not turn out to be a crook like Lance Malone. Hampton, who worked her way through college as a stripper at a Las Vegas club 14 years ago was elected Municipal Judge in Henderson Tuesday and we trust that her past won't land her in the same federally funded establishment Malone may well be checking into soon.

Penn Jillette who has named his new daughter Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette. Penn may be a bit on the weird side, but he's a staunch libertarian who is unafraid of the Hollywood Hate America crowd and not afraid to say so. We suspect his daughter will be tough as nails by the time she is two.

The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer And A Bouquet of Weeds To:The entire state legislature. They went to Carson City with only TWO things to do. One was to fix the property tax system before we the people took it into our own hands. The jury's still out on that one. And two is to give us back some of the money they stole from us in 2003. They went into overtime to come up with a solution nobody really likes. Let's get rid of them all and start over.

US v. Lance Malone etal Case #03cr2434


OPINIONFrom The Publisher...

www.LasVegasCrooks.comThe stench of Lance Malone, Erin Kenny, Dario Herrra and Mary Chauncy has not yet vacated the chambers of the Clark County Commission, but we have grave doubts that anybody has learned much from the saga of the indicted former Commissioners.

It brings us back to our youth, when being a member of the Chicago City Council and being under indictment by a Federal Grand Jury was almost considered a badge of honor. There was a time in the early 70’s that about 60% of Chicago’s elected representatives were serving while wait-ing trial.

If you had any sympathy for Malone, we’ll soon have an internet site available to help you get over it.

We have acquired the first batch of wiretap audio and tran-scripts from his San Diego trial and will soon post it all for your listening and reading pleasure as a public service at www.lasvegascrooks.com.

As his Las Vegas trial gets under way, later this year or early next year, we will continue to update the site, so that mere mortal taxpayers—like us—can watch—and listen—to their tax dollars at work.

Several of our colleagues, aware of the not insignificant expense of such an undertaking, have suggested to us that we are wasting our time because a) these things never change (you can count on politicians to be crooks) and; b) that’s the way things have always been done here.

We have a bit more confidence in the voters and in a mass medium which almost did not exist when Malone was first scamming the public some six years ago.

We have always believed that the best antidote for pond-scum like the four horsemen and their unindicted co con-spirator colleagues is simply turning over the rocks they crawl under.

The internet allows us to do that and keep it in front of a voting public which we believe really does care.

We hope the Federal judiciary here in Las Vegas rules the same as Judge Jeffrey Miller did in San Diego when the media wanted access to the exhibits as they were being

introduced in court.

Back in the early seventies, when the Nixon tapes were unearthed by Congressional investigators, the New York Times printed the transcripts in book form. That was the way these things were done back then.

What these wiretaps have in common with the Nixon tapes is how utterly common and inane many of the conversations were—considering that they were being held by people with great power over our individual lives.

In Nixon’s case, at least it was only about power and not money.

In Malone’s case—and also those of Kenny, Herrera and Chauncy—the motivations appeared much more base. They just wanted to use their political power to get rich.

Never mind that a county commissioner in Las Vegas makes about $57,000 a year. For the most part, these people lived in houses way past their means and lived like kings and queens.

Yet it took a Federal investigation to ask the pointed ques-tion about the propriety of how a $57,000 a year county commissioner could buy a $600,000 house.

Or how these people could live like the well paid executives in the industries they were supposedly regulating?

It’s always been done that way here?

Well, our pretty much permanent answer to that is the hall of shame which we hope that www.lasvegascrooks.com will become.

If Liberace can have a museum, if there can be an Elvisarama than consider our new site, which should be available next week, to be our way of paying homage to the way it’s always been done here.

And if the voters decide they don’t like the way it’s always been done here, they can change it with a simple trip to the polls.

FRED WEINBERG


Commentary: Doug FrenchFifty-one Minutes: That’s Gittin-R-Dun!

Governor Kenny Guinn told Jon Ralston on Face-to-Face last week how proud he was of his administration’s accomplishments of the past seven years.

Guinn crowed about how much taxpayer dough he funneled into mental health. He even said that he had fixed the DMV, mumbling something about people not having to wait six and half hours anymore. You may remember in one of the Governor’s EALERTS he told us: “As you know, improving customer service at the Department of Motor Vehicles has always been a priority for me as your Governor.”

So he added 129 positions at the DMV and presto, at the North Las Vegas DMV for instance, customers enjoyed the state’s services with an average wait time of a mere 51 minutes, down from 69 minutes a year ago.

Fifty-one minutes, now that’s gittin-r-dun. Guinn mentioned that he was a Republican during the Ralston interview.

Of course, he’s never acted like it: proposing a 35 percent budget increase in 2003, and wanting to spend virtually all of the taxpayer money that has been gushing into Carson City the last two years.

Guinn says that he is a “person who cared about the state,” which is

exactly right; he did all he could to take money from taxpayers and keep state government fat, dumb and happy. Those people who led opposition to his tax increases he described as “individuals who are not very successful” in life.

What is really keeping Guinn awake at night, is the idea that the next governor might think that the state doesn’t need any more money. “I tell you what, I will be very concerned about somebody who would get elected and come to this office and say, well, we don’t need any more money,” Guinn told Ralston. “I would be scared to death of that happening in this state.”

What Ralston was asking Guinn was how the Governor felt about Bob Beers’ proposed TABOR amendment similar to Colorado’s that limits gov-ernment spending to increases in population and inflation.

Guinn parrots that same old canard that since Nevada is the fastest growing state in the union, government spending should increase at an even faster pace than population and inflation. Besides, Guinn believes taxpayers have a responsibility to “take care of the less fortunate.” Like say: “From each according to his abilities to each according to his needs,” ay Comrade Guinn?

What is scary is that a person calling himself a Republican would believe in and legislate this Marxist claptrap.

DOUG FRENCH


The Best Vegas Calendar BAR NONE!By Billhere

The FREE, e-mailed, VegasResource.com Newsletter and complete index of Las Vegas coupons for shows, buffets and attractions is available on the internet at:

http://www.vegasresource.com/FreeVRC.html

JUNE, 2005===========Through June 13= Shena Easton - Aladdin.Through JUNE 20= Matt Dusk - Golden Nugget.Through July 31= Treasures of Ancient Egypt Exhibit - GuggenheimHermitage Museum - Venetian.Through Sep.17= Summer display - Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.Through Oct.31= Titanic... The Artifact Exhibition - Tropicana.Through Oct.31= “ Feathered Dinosaurs” exhibit - Las Vegas Museum of Natural History. +++++9-10= ZZ Top - Las Vegas Hilton.9= LV Chamber of Commerce Business Expo-Cashman Center.9= New air service begins from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina - Hooters Air.9-11= ZZ Top - Las Vegas Hilton.9-12=Frankie Avalon/Bobby Rydell-Orleans.9-13= Dennis Miller - MGM Grand.10= AFL ArenaBattle - Orleans Arena.10= Arena Bowl Party-even Nghtclub. Starts at 10 p.m.10= Opening of new exhibit: “The Impressionist Landscape from Corot to van Gogh” - Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art.10-11= Jerry Seinfeld - Caesars Palace.10-11= George Benson - Golden Nugget.10-11= Kenny Chesney - Mandalay Bay.10-11= Jay Leno - Mirage.10-12= Trent Carlini - Suncoast.10-18= Cine Vegas Film Festival - Palms: http://www.cinevegas.com/11= Maroon 5 - MGM Grand. 11= Hollywood Comedy Tour - Palms. 11= World Environment Day - Red Rock Canyon: ww.getoutdoorsnevada.org12= Sum 41 - Mandalay Bay House of Blues.12= ArenaBowl XIX - Thomas & Mack Center.12-14= L.V. Magic Conference - Palace Station. Info.: http://www.lvmi.net/index2.htm14-18=Wayne Newton - Las Vegas Hilton.14-19= Neil Sedaka - The Orleans.14-29= Howie Mandel - MGM Grand. 16= Steel Pulse - Palms. 16-18= Wayne Newton - Las Vegas Hilton.17=Reba McEntire - Mandalay Bay.17= Air service begins from Monterey, CA - America West.17-18= Jay Leno - Mirage.18= REO Speedwagon - Green Valley Ranch.18= ‘70s Soul Jam with the Stylistics, The Chi-Lites, The Delfonics, The Persuaders - Texas Station.19= Father’s Day.23= The Wallflowers - House of Blues.23-26=Ringling Bros. Circus - Orleans Arena.24= Air service starts from McAllen, TX- Allegiant Air.24= “Death by Chocolate” play - Lawry’s Restaurant.24-25= Wayne Brady -The Mirage. 25= Tony Hawk¹s Boom Boom Huckjam - Mandalay Bay Events Center.25= Spin Doctors - Silverton.25-26= Beauty, Health & Fitness Expo - Cashman Center.26= Wrestling. WWE Vengeance - Thomas & Mack.

28-July 2= Frankie Valli - Flamingo.29-July 3=Professional darts tournament - MGM Grand: http://www.planetdarts.co.uk/index.asp?Nv=2&lid=-1&lname=Las%20Vegas%20Desert%20Classic30-July 13= David Copperfield - MGM Grand.+++++June??= Sales center for Trump International Hotel & Tower Las Vegas opens at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Fashion Show Drive. +++++June??= WORLD MARKET CENTER opens a $200 million, 10-story building. It’s fully leased with 225 furniture, bedding, decorative accessories, lighting and design companies, near downtown, on the northwest corner of Bonneville and Grand Central Parkway. East of theInterstate 15. Tel.: 1-888-416-8600. Internet site at: http://www.lasvegasmarket.com The first scheduled furniture market will be held July 25 to 29.JULY, 2005===========1= Whitesnake - Mandalay Bay.1= Salute to Bill Haley by The Comets-Rampart Casino.1= Alter Ego - Suncoast.1= Merle Haggard - Texas Station.1-3= Chuck Mangione - Orleans.2= Comedian Mike Epps - Aladdin.2= Lyle Lovett - Mandalay Bay Beach.2= Hootie and the Blowfish - Silverton.2-3= Dwight Yoakam - Cannery.2-3= Johnny Mathis - Las Vegas Hilton.3= Loggins & Messina - Aladdin.3= Billy Idol - Hard Rock.4= Independence Day.4= Last year’s Fourth of July Fireworks: http://www.reviewjour-nal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Jul-03-Sat-2004/news/24239590.html4= Last year’s Fourth of July Activities: http://www.reviewjour-nal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Jul-02-Fri-2004/weekly/24186826.html5-9= Wayne Newton - Las Vegas Hilton.7-10= Little River Band - The Orleans.8= Kansas - Boulder Station.8= Glenn Frey of the Eagles - Lake Las Vegas.8-9= Spyro Gyra - Suncoast.9= Lee Greenwood & Crystal Gale - Buffalo Bill’s in Primm, NV9= Judas Priest - Mandalay Bay Events Center.9= Rick Springfield - Silverton.9-10= Gun & Knife Show - Cashman Center. 12-16= Wayne Newton - Las Vegas Hilton.14-15 World Series of Poker Finals - Binion’s. Tel.: 1-877-367-9767. Internet site at: ttp://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/ 14-18= Dennis Miller - MGM Grand.15= Pat Benatar - Mandalay Bay Beach.15-16= Bridal Expo - Cashman Center .Info.: http://www.bridal-spectacular.com/showinfo.asp15-17= The Lettermen - Suncoast.16= Tommy Dorsey Orchestra - Cannery.16= Robert Plant - Las Vegas Hilton.16= Rascal Flatts & Blake Shelton - Mandalay Bay Events Center. 16= Tears for Fears - Mandalay Bay Beach.====================================Please e-mail errors, omissions and additions to:[email protected]


By JOSEPH P. TARTAROExecutive Editor, Gun WeekSpecial To The Penny Press

No one knows for sure how many courageous Americans like the late Francis Gary Powers have been convicted by foreign courts for doing what someone in the US government told them to do. Maybe the CIA or the State Department knows, but they’re not broadcasting the information.

But it doesn’t matter to the absolutist anti-gunners anyway. In their minds, luckless former agents of our government like Powers or US citizens who have made easy mistakes like Thomas Lamar Bean, are lumped with drug traffickers, gunrunners, slave traders and dangerous felons when the anti-gunners seek to close more doors for would-be gunowners. When the question of rehabilitation involves guns, there is no such thing as relief or mercy in the “Zero Tolerance” minds of the anti-gunners.

At the heart of the issue of relief of disability are two seemingly simple ideas. The first deals with the widely accepted principle of prohibiting dan-gerous people with criminal records from legally buying and possessing firearms. The second centers on the full measure of justice with appeals in special circumstances.

What brought this issue to the fore was the fact that on Apr. 26, the US Supreme Court ruled that current federal gun law does not prohibit those with felony convictions in foreign countries from purchasing firearms in the US. The 5-3 decision in the case of Gary Sherwood Small, a Pennsylvania resident who was convicted of a firearms violation in Japan but answered “No” to the question about prior convictions on a Form 4473 during a sub-sequent gun purchase. Details on the court’s ruling and the issues involved were reported in the May 10 issue of Gun Week.

As soon as the court issued the Small decision, some observers expected quick action by the anti-gunners.

The very next day after the court handed down its decision, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), a key anti-gun activist in the US House of Representatives, introduced HR-1931, legislation to prevent individuals convicted of felonies in foreign countries from purchasing firearms in the US.

“The Supreme Court ruling opened the doors for dangerous criminals to purchase guns in this country with no questions asked,” said McCarthy in a statement released by her congressional office. “This legislation will ensure our gun laws take crimes committed in other countries into consideration before allowing a firearm purchase to go forward.”

McCarthy’s bill amends current law to state that a person “convicted in any court, including any foreign court, of a crime punishable by imprison-ment for a term exceeding one year” shall not be able to possess a firearm. (Italic emphasis added to show proposed change.)

“We cannot allow convicted drug dealers, murderers, rapists, and even terrorists to purchase guns just because their crimes occurred in another country,” said McCarthy.

McCarthy’s bill allows the courts to determine the validity of foreign convictions in disputed cases. “This clause will protect individuals con-victed in courts of questionable jurisdiction or legitimacy,” said McCarthy.

But therein lays the rub. It is not just a question of the jurisdiction or legitimacy of foreign courts, but whether the laws in another country are just, and whether US courts reasonably would have imposed a comparable sentence if the transgression had occurred in the US.

McCarthy’s bill attempts to drive another nail in the coffin of current law which provides for relief of disability for individuals but denies the funds to provide such relief in worthy cases—or even to discover whether any relief is worthwhile for an appellant. The anti-gunners, led by the Violence Policy Center (VPC), have been trying to eliminate relief of disability from federal law for years.

The VPC calls it a “guns for felons” program, a term which focuses on the essential difficulty in dealing with the issue in Congress. It is difficult for even staunch pro-gunners to defend the idea that any convicted felon

should have his case reviewed and possibly have a disability removed. The relief from disability program stems from a 1965 amendment to

the Federal Firearms Act of 1938. The amendment was passed as a con-gressional favor to Winchester, then a firearms manufacturing division of Olin Mathieson Corporation. In 1962 Olin Mathieson pleaded guilty to felony counts stemming from a foreign kickback scheme. Because of its parent company’s conviction, the Winchester division could no longer ship firearms in interstate commerce. That first relief law was enacted to allow Winchester to stay in business and specifically excluded those convicted of firearms crimes. Because of its broad wording and “loose” interpretation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the law soon became what the VPC called “a convicted felons’ second-chance club.”

Some people were granted relied, and the vast majority never again posed a threat to anyone. Applications for relief of disability for individuals were processed but not in great numbers.

In 1986, when the McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owners Protection Act was passed, a process for relief of disability clearly was extended to individ-uals who had been convicted of crimes or were otherwise prohibited from acquiring or possessing firearms. The Act also added wording expanding the ability of federal courts to review decisions by ATF to deny relief.

But the idea of any prohibited person being rehabilitated and given relief, or of spending tax dollars on the necessary relief process, rankled many people, not just the anti-gunners. The latter view still applies to using judicial funds to grant relief, an option that many pursued with mixed juris-dictional results after ATF was first prohibited from acting on individual relief applications in 1992.

As the result of a Fall 1991 VPC study on the ATF relief program which claimed that it allowed convicted felons to regain their gun rights, Rep. Larry Smith (D-FL), Rep. Ed Feighan (D-OH), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Sen. Paul Simon (D-IL) introduced a measure that would prohibit ATF from granting convicted felons relief from disability.

At the Capitol Hill press conference announcing the introduction of the bill, the VPC released a nine-page excerpt from its then forthcoming March 1992 study, “Putting Guns Back Into the Hands of Criminals: 100 Case Studies of Felons Granted Relief From Disability Under Federal Firearms Laws.” The excerpt described 10 selected case studies obtained by the VPC from ATF under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). According to fig-ures contained in the study, from 1985 to 1991, ATF spent more than $21.7 million to investigate those requesting relief from disability. From 1985 to 1990, of the 7,261 who sought restoration of their firearms rights, VPC said 2,307 were eventually granted relief. Of the 386 granted relief in 1985, 14 were eventually rearrested for unspecified crimes (3.6%). Of the 491 granted relief in 1986, 23 were eventually rearrested (4.7%).

But even the VPC study showed that the relief was probably justified in over 90% of the cases.

After Congress denied the use of ATF funds in 1992, it continued the prohibition in every subsequent appropriations bill. Attempts to restore the funds on Capitol Hill during the mid- and late 1990s failed to win approval. VPC and other anti-gunners produced further studies and continued to address the issue in public forums as a proposal to arm felons.

Court Relief Sought

Because there was nowhere else to turn, several people who believed that they had just cause for relief turned to the courts under the review of denial concept. Among them was Thomas Lamar Bean, a former federally licensed firearms dealer who was convicted in Mexico of having a box of shotshells in his truck when he crossed into that country from Laredo, TX, for dinner after a gun show. Bean was convicted of a felony in Mexico and later obtained some relief when his sentence was reduced and he was returned to the US under court supervision in a special deal. (The contro-

McCarthy Bill Reverses Supreme Court Ruling

Continued on page 11


Commentary: Albert ThomasLemmings Are Gathering

Before they go over the cliff to their destruc-tion these little furry ones get together for a party and celebration. Each tells the other how smart he has been with his investments and buying and selling of stocks and real estate.

Wait a minute. Did I say lemmings? I think I meant investors. It seems they had that same party in January 2000 and it was a doozy that lasted for several months. A great time was had by all. They did not have one in 2001 as member-ship dropped off. Nor again in 2002 and by 2003 there wasn’t anyone around at all.

The lemmings (oops, investors) had gone over the cliff. And they were such nice little guys too. The few at their party who tried to preach caution were drowned out with loud squeals that the mar-ket was going to 40,000 or maybe higher.

This new crowd said it will never happen to them as they are not going to put their money in that risky stock market. Oh no, there is a

really safe investment that always goes up – real estate. There is only so much land and no more is being created. The population is expanding so the demand will continue and prices can only increase.

Even for the novice speculators there is a place to make big bucks. They are joining real estate clubs just like the old stock market invest-ment clubs to which they have previously been members. Put in a few thousand and watch it grow as the real estate market keeps going up and up. These investors know they are on the verge of great expectation that will mean wealth. Wealth without work or effort. Maybe they forgot how much they lost from the expert advice in that pre-vious investment club, but everyone knows real estate is a sure thing.

A stock investment is just a piece of paper, but real estate you can feel the dirt, walk through the building and slam the doors. That’s solid. You can’t miss. With each deal they recognize how they are getting smarter and smarter. Hurrying, doing nothing constructive to make their fortune. Just like in 2000.

For more than a year the professional traders, insiders and large institutions have been quietly

selling their stocks and I am now beginning to hear of sales of major properties. Just because someone has a lot of money doesn’t mean he is smart. These groups can be as wrong as the little investor.

Real estate may continue to be an excellent investment, but speculation in real estate can be hazardous. If, or maybe I should say when, this market stops going up or even starts down it is very hard to sell a property. Payments must be made and upkeep maintained. It is possible to rent out some houses or offices, but the income ratio today does not allow a breakeven to costs.

These real estate lemmings don’t seem to care. They are gathering in larger groups and are working under the greater fool theory.

This is a time for caution as it was in 2000 for stocks. You don’t want to go over the cliff again. AL THOMASAl Thomas’ best selling book, “If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!” has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter and receive his market letter for 3 months at www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.


versy in Bean’s case later caused the Mexican government to downgrade Bean’s crime to a misdemeanor. But that didn’t help Bean who had been convicted of a felony in a foreign court.)

Bean’s case eventually went all the way up to the US Supreme Court, the same tribunal that later said Small’s felony conviction in Japan didn’t count. But in Bean’s case, the court reversed lower courts which had granted the luckless Texan relief.

The two case decisions are confusing to many because they answer different parts of the same question, and neither fully addressed the issue of relief of disability itself. In the Bean decision, the high court ruled that power to grant relief was vested in the executive branch and not the courts, which had no authority to grant relief, only to review denials. In the Small case, the high court found that Congress did not spell out foreign courts as part of the “any court” language in the Gun Control Act.

Essentially, Small had falsified his answer on the Form 4473, and Small won. Bean made a simple mistake, and he lost.

Back in 1962 espionage became big news as the “U2 Incident” grabbed world headlines. CIA pilot Gary Powers was shot down as he flew the U2 high-altitude plane designed for covert surveillance, over Soviet territory, sparking one of the biggest international crises of the Cold War. The US demanded his safe return. The USSR wanted to know what he was doing up there in the first place. The Eisenhower Administration was embarrassed and put at a diplomatic disadvantage at a crucial time in geo-political affairs.

Shot down on May 1, 1960, Powers was convicted by a Soviet court and imprisoned for two years until 1962, when he was exchanged for Soviet Col. Rudolf Abel in the most dramatic East-West spy swap ever to occur in Cold War Berlin. Powers stepped on to the eastern end of the Berlin’s Glienicke Bridge on Feb. 10, 1962. At the other end of the bridge, stood Col. Rudolf Abel, a Soviet master-spy seized earlier by US security agents after setting up a spy network in New York City in the late 1950s.

At a precisely arranged signal, the two men strode onto the bridge, marching purposefully towards one another, Powers heading westward, Abel eastwards, according to American U2 Spy Plane. In the middle of

the bridge they passed each other silently, with barely a nod of their heads. That spy-swap operation was to be the forerunner of many such East-West prisoner exchanges to take place on the Glienicke Bridge over the next 27 years in Berlin.

Criticized when he returned to the US for not ensuring the then-revo-lutionary plane was destroyed or killing himself with poison, Powers was cold-shouldered by his former employers at the CIA and eventually died in 1977 at the age of 47 when a television news helicopter he was piloting crashed in Los Angeles.

Had Powers lived and wanted to purchase a firearm legally in the US after 1992, there was no way he could have sought relief from the govern-ment he served. While US law provided the authority to conduct investiga-tions on applications for relief of disability for firearms purchases, it could not even accept such applications.

While relief of disability is shut down for individuals, and McCarthy is trying to close a loophole created by the Supreme Court in the Small case, relief of disability as in the 1960s Olin case is still available. Corporations may fund the investigations for relief, but other federal laws prohibit indi-viduals from paying fees for their relief investigations.

On May 1, 2000, US officials presented Powers’ family with the Prisoner-of-War Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the National Defense Service Medal during a 30-minute ceremony held at the Beale Air Force Base, in California, home to the modern U2 force. It marked the 40th anniversary of the incident.

“The mind still boggles at what we asked this gentleman and his teammates to do back in the late 1950s—to literally fly over downtown Moscow—alone, unarmed and unafraid,” Brig. Gen. Kevin Chilton, the 9th Reconnaissance Wing Commander told the some 350 people gathered at the Beale Base ceremony.

CIA and Air Force officials presented the awards, something the pilot’s son, Francis Gary Powers Jr., saw as an important step in recognizing those who served their country during the Cold War. The ceremony ended with a fly-by of a lone U2 plane.

But if McCarthy’s bill passes, latter day Gary Powers will not be able to buy a firearm, no matter how many medals and generals honor him.

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Continued from page 9

McCarthy Bill Reverses Supreme Court Ruling

Are You Keeping Records?

As Christians, we are to walk in love. And if we are to do that, we must first have knowledge of what love is. First Corinthians 13:4-8 pro-vides a very clear description: Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. Love never fails! (cev).

That sounds like a big order, but you can be sure that God doesn’t ask us to do anything that we can’t do with His help. I’d like for you to consider the part of that Bible pas-sage that speaks about not keeping a record of wrongs that others do. I believe that is one of the biggest hindrances to walking in love, which means showing the right kind of love to others. These scriptures are clear—if we love others, we will always believe the best of them and keep no record of wrongs.

There was a time when my hus-band, Dave, and I would get into an argument, and before it was over I would drag up stuff that he had done ten years ago. Sometimes he would ask, “Where do you keep all that stuff recorded?” I was a record-keeper—I kept a count of the things people did to me that I didn’t like. My attitude was: Now you have hurt me, so you owe me. That attitude kept me from truly walking in love for many years. But, thank God, I finally learned what I must do to please God.

If you really want to walk in love, you have to allow God to trans-form the way you think about other people. Our thoughts are where the problems begin. It’s really appalling when you think about how we can smile at somebody, with the sweet-est Christian smile, and at the same time we’re thinking, You are a jerk! Or we run into someone we know, and we say, “Oh, I’m so glad to see

you,” even though we’re not. Jeremiah 4:14 asks this impor-

tant question: How long shall your iniquitous and grossly offensive thoughts lodge within you? God is offended by our “stinking thinking,” and wants to transform our thought lives. He wants us to let go of those thoughts and begin to believe the best of others.

This is one of the most important aspects of the love walk. If someone says or does something to hurt you, instead of thinking, They’re out to get me, say to yourself, “I don’t

believe they meant to hurt me.” It takes a while to develop this habit, but with God’s help, you will be surprised at how quickly these new thoughts can change your whole outlook on things. And before long you will learn to treat others with the same mercy you like to receive.

Are you guilty of keeping a record of the wrongs of other peo-ple, either with a mental or a written list of offenses?

Instead of keeping negative records that cause bitterness, resent-ment, and unforgiveness, you can

choose to get rid of those records and forget them. Perhaps it would be a good idea to start keeping a record of all the good things other people do. You will be surprised at how many entries you will have, and how much easier it is to walk in love when you concentrate on good things. JOYCE MEYERFor more on this topic, you may order Joyce’s six-part series, Walking in Love, which is available by calling 1-800-727-9673 or online at www.joycemeyer.org.


Commentary: Joyce Meyer


By TARA BARKISSpecial To The Penny Press

Kids will be taking over the track Saturday at the Bullring as Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosts the Kid’s Bicycle Races during the 10th round of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series.

Kids (6-16 years of age) can sign up under the grandstands from 5-7 p.m. Those interested in participat-ing can bring their bicycles to the track and park them in the desig-nated area near the sign up table. Kids are also asked to bring their own helmets.

Pit gates open at 3:30 p.m. Spectator gates open at 5. Heat races are set for 6 with opening ceremo-nies at 7:15.

Headlining Saturday’s race card is a 50-lap feature for the Super Late Models. Joining the Super Late Models will be the IMCA Modifieds (30 laps), Thunder Roadsters (25 laps), Legends Cars (25 laps), Bombers (40 laps) and Bandoleros (10 laps).

Adult general admission is $12. Local adults are admitted for $10 with a valid Nevada license. Admission for senior citizens, mili-tary personnel with ID and college students with ID is $8. Children 6-12 are $5 and kids five and under are free. A Family Four Pack may be purchased for $24. The Crazy 8s package is also available this season which offers race fans eight tickets for $8 each.

Offi cial results from Bullring, June 4

Speed Trucks Main Event Results (75 laps): 1. Matt Jaskol, 2. Moses Smith, 3. Justin Fisher, 4. Alex Haase, 5. Kyle Cattanach, 6. Lee Hatch, 7. Andy Allen, 8. Steve Guccione, 9. Kevin Fedderson, 10. Kenny Smith, 11. Joe Farre, 12. Donny Goodwin, 13. Matt Daly., 14. George Antill, 15. DarrenYoung, 16. Bo Ridley, 17. Keith Cummins, 18. Clay Andrews, 19. Joey Mogar, 20. Scott Dodd, 21. Gabi Dicarlo, 22. Jim Putman, 23. Scott Franchimone, 24. Victor Pfl uger, 25. Patrick Britian, 26. Gary Bryant.

Late Models Main Event Results (40 laps):1. Dustin Ash, 2. Doug Hamm, 3. Doug Matter, 4. Al Budd, 5. Dan Howell, 6. Chris Bray, 7. Carl Brown., 8. Robert Roth, 9. Don Sargent, 10. Rob Henry, 11. Steve Hanneman, 12. Morris Sealy, 13. Ron Barrett, 14. Wayne Jacks, 15. Walt Weekly, 16. Fred Kiser, Jr., 17. P.C. Weekly.

Chargers Main Event Results (30 laps):1. Phil Goodwin, 2. Bill Mullen, 3. Justin Good, 4. Jim Petrie, 5. Brian Matzke, 6. Nate Giesen, 7. Dale Ward, 8. Mike Heck, 9. Steve

Dessormeau, 10. John Della-Penna, 11. Darrin Rollins, 12. Steve Simmons. (Third-place fi nisher Joe Deguevara was disqualifi ed after refusing tech.)

Thunder Roadsters Main Event Results (25 laps): 1. Matt Ross, 2. Mike Montes, 3. Roger Hocking, 4. Steve Ray, 5. Jovon Halen, 6. Jordan Host, 7. Bobby Ruppert, 8. Rick Rochell, 9. Barry Yost, 10. Brian Kizer.

IMCA Modifi eds Main Event Results (30 laps): 1. Don Williams, 2. Michael Morrissey,

3. Larry Gerchman, 4. Aaron McMorran, 5. Dow Woerner, 6. Sebastian Couture, 7. Randall Boren, 8. Craig Stewart, 9. Chris Gerchman, 10. Dennis Lovelady, 11. Chris Clyne, 12. C.J. Sherkenbach.

Bandoleros Main Event Results (15 laps):1. Beau Hutchinson, 2. John Davis, 3. Justin Hurdle, 4. Mitchell Taylor, 5. Jeremiah Wagner, 6. Bracken Snow, 7. Lucas Reilly, 8. Austin Craig, 9. Cheyenne Schindler, 10. Nicholas Huggins.

Kid’s Bicycle Races Return To Bullring Saturday

June 30, 2005


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