Mainstream Pols Place Paul in Sights

• A Texas congressman was outraged when Rep. Ron Paul told a national audience he was afraid the government may attack him, too.

Unlike most in Congress, Texas Republican Ron Paul came Washington this year with a well-deserved record as a straight shooter. Be it the Federal Reserve, money system or an out of control federal government, no issue is too hot for the populist lawmaker.

Washington watchers shouldn't have been surprised when Paul said he, like many Americans, feared an out of control government might attack him.

"I fear, and there's a lot of people in this country who fear, that they may be bombed by the federal government at another Waco," Paul said on C-SPAN February 26. "I mean [the Branch Davidians] committed no crimes."

Democrats in general and Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas), whose district includes Waco, were quick to label Paul a "right-wing extremists."*

CHECK THE FACTS

Edwards comments came on the House floor. He verbally attacked Paul by name, saying his fellow Texan was guilty of "sheer lunacy, at best."

"Let me just say what the facts were," Edwards added. "The facts were that David Koresh raped a 10-year-old girl. We heard the dramatic testimony of that girl, now 14, just a few months ago in the halls of this House."

The congressman seems to have forgotten that a Clinton administration official, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, asked Rep. Bill Brewster (R-Okla.), the chairman of the House subcommittee that investigated Waco, to take it easy on the BATF. (SPOTLIGHT, August 21, 1995.)

The 14-year-old "victim" who testified, Kiri Jewell, is also suspect. Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) brought Jewell in for the television cameras to testify, in graphic detail, how she had been sexually molested by Koresh.

But according to British reports, the girl was lying. (SPOTLIGHT, August 7, 1995.) Scribe Ambrose Evans-Pritchard discovered that Jewell was not in Texas when the alleged abuses took place.

"She was living with her mother and grandmother in California for most of the years in question," Evans-Pritchard says. "Her father David Jewell, has been promoting her allegations on the TV talk show circuit. He is a man of questionable character."

Obviously not one to let the facts get in the way of a good story, Edwards continued his attack on Paul in particular and "right-wing extremists" in general.

"Fact: The federal officials who went into that compound found 48 illegal machine guns and illegal hand grenades, I would suggest rape, arson, and murder are a crime in the book of every American family, it is not a crime in the book of [Paul]," the Texas Democrat said.

FEDERAL ROLE

According to Paul's spokesman, Edwards missed the forest for the trees. The real question is why was the federal government involved?

"Even if the case can be made that the Branch Davidians had those weapons, that is a local issue," said Michael Sullivan, Paul's press secretary. "If there was a rape, the local police are supposed to handle it."

More than a "right-wing extremist," Paul may be what plutocrats fear most, a member of Congress who understands and believes in the Constitution.

"We don't think of ourselves as "extremists," but those who like big government solutions to local problems think of [Paul] as extreme," Sullivan said.

There are dozens of examples of the federal government attempting to enforce local law. Often times these examples end in disaster for citizens. Here are a few examples:

One of the first cases to bring nationwide attention to the federal government, specifically the IRS, run amok was the Gordon Kahl affair.* Kahl blamed massive interest rates for costing him his farm. He also refused to pay a tax he considered illegal to a government he considered corrupt.

Feds and local cops planned an ambush outside of Medina, North Dakota 14 years ago to quite Kahl, according to Kahl's lawyer.

When the shooting was done, a pair of cops were dead, three others were wounded along with Yorie Kahl, Gordon's son. A massive manhunt followed which ended with Kahl and Sheriff Gene Matthews being shot, then burned by federal authorities in Smithville, Arkansas.

On October 2 of 1992 a multi-jurisdictional task force raided the historic Trail's End Ranch. Authorities claimed Donald P. Scott was raising marijuana.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies joined federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents, National Park Service rangers and California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement personnel in the raid. Even though the raid occurred in Ventura, County, the county sheriff's department wasn't invited to take part.

Scott, an eccentric millionaire, was asleep with his wife when the party heard a banging on the door. He opted not to answer. As his wife, Frances Plante, prepared to open the door, authorities knocked it in and threw her against the wall.

When Scott saw what was going on, he entered the room with a revolver. He was ordered to put the gun down. Scott lowered it in what authorities considered to be a threatening fashion. He was felled by a trio of rounds that hit him in the upper torso.

Law enforcement authorities found no marijuana on the property.

A Ventura County District Attorney's Office found that the raid was motivated by the desire of the sheriff's office to seize Scott's ranch under federal asset-forfeiture laws.

A few months earlier, August 25, another California man was the victim of a federal attack. DEA agents kicked in Donald Carlson's door a few minutes after midnight. Carlson heard the noise and called 911. Next, he reached for his handgun.

DEA agents riddled him with bullets. He was intensive care for seven months and miraculously lives. No drugs were found.

Last summer, officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raided a couple in Fort Davis, Texas. Terry Taylor, an entomologist, had a business which imported and exported dead bugs to universities, scientists and collectors. It seems the feds thought the Taylors might be acting in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

While the couple was at a funeral, federal agents raided their home, seizing every piece of paper, every record and the computer. A federal court then sealed the files.

The government may have thought the Taylors had bugs on the endangered species list, but all of their bugs were dead on arrival. Of course, the feds have refused to talk to the press, or the Taylors about the case.

In 1994, Red and Erlene Beckman were thrown off their 15-acre ranch after the IRS place a lien on the property. Their house was bulldozed.

The American Patriot Fax Network (APFN) found the action peculiar. "Let us suppose that the IRS lien was in fact valid," APFN wrote. "If so then they would presumably want to sell the property for the most value, would they not? That would mean that they would not raze a dwelling which added value to the property."

Also in 1994, BATF agents raided the home of Monique Montgomery at four in the morning. A startled Montgomery reached for a gun, was shot four times and killed. Nothing illegal was found.

Farmers complain the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has also targeted them. Farmer say the agency tries to save the habitat for endangered species, not farmers. This, crop producers say, violates the Fifth Amendment be depriving farmers of their property.

For example, farmers say they can't clear drainage ditches, farm bottom land or repair levies for fear of violating a wetlands regulation. Put up a fence and they are liable for breaking a habitat law.

On January 16, 1997, Maynard Campbell was murdered in the "maximum security" federal prison in Florence, Colorado. Campbell had been sentenced to 13 years for allegedly taking lumber off federal lands. He sad he had a legal right to the trees.

On December 5, 1996, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced a proposal to "stop vehicles; search any person, place or vehicle without warrant or process; seize without warrant or process any piece of evidence; and make arrests without warrant or process" on private land adjacent to or water bodies upstream from BLM land.

The proposal would also expand BLM authority over motor vehicles; authorities which are typically reserved by the state and local government. The BLM would determine speed limit. DUI, auto inspections, seat belt and parking regulations etc.

Critics announced outrage within moments of the proposals being printed in the Federal Register November 7, 1996. They claim federal lawyers forgot about the right to privacy when they wrote the proposal. Maybe Edwards can clear up the confusion on the House floor.

The most blatant example of government abuse may be in the form of the Oklahoma City bombing. Just recently local judges gave Oklahoma state Rep. Charles Key (R) the go ahead to garner signatures to have a grand jury impaneled to hear all the evidence surrounding the bombing. (SPOTLIGHT, March 3.)*

Many investigators claim the federal government has used Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols as fall guys for a plot the feds prepared. Once all the evidence is out, many suspect the government will be implicated.

The alternative media, spearheaded by The SPOTLIGHT and Radio Free America has been filled with expert testimony explaining why bombs must have been planted inside the Murrah building and how a primitive oil and fertilizer bomb could not have done the type of damage that happened in Oklahoma City.

* Read The Waco Whitewash by Jack DeVault ($18) for more on Waco. Pat Shannon's video Murder in the Heartland ($25) and the Militia of Montana's tape The Oklahoma Bomb ($25) both tell the story of the bombing. The pair cost just $35 when purchased together. The video Death and Taxes ($30) explains the Gordon Kahl affair. Each of these resources are available from Liberty Library, 300 Independence Ave. SE, Washington, D.C. 20003.