-Caveat Lector- http://www.lewrockwell.com/elkins/elkins42.html Drop Your Guns! by Jeff Elkins Attorney General John Ashcroft in a speech to FBI employees issued a call for the bureau to return to its core values. "The call to duty beckons us," Ashcroft told agents. "It is a call to values. Without fidelity, without bravery, without integrity, we cannot succeed." I won’t attempt to deny that Bureau agents have displayed bravery on occasion, but as an agency, they’ve long been short on fidelity and integrity. The FBI has been a tawdry organization from the beginning. Prior to the reign of J. Edgar Hoover, as the Bureau of Investigation, it was a inept, bungling agency, a retirement home for political hacks and politician’s brothers-in-law. The one saving grace was a Congress wise enough to disallow them use of firearms. "When Prohibition ushered in a crime wave of gangsterism, kidnappings and bank robberies, the people called out for peace, and the Bureau responded." Ashcroft said. He could have just as well said "When The Federal Government ushered in a crime wave of gangsterism…" We’ve all heard the tales of Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde and Machine Gun Kelly. During the investigation of a bank robbery of that era, a FBI special agent was killed and an enraged J. Edgar Hoover pushed a Bureau license to kill through a timid Congress and its been downhill ever since. Now, I suppose even the Federal Bureau of Overdue Congressional Library Books carry .40 Glocks and are ready to kill unruly citizens. Name a single federal agency that does not have an armed cadre of jackboots. "When totalitarianism abroad threatened the institutions of democracy at home, the republic called out for security, and the Bureau answered the call." Ashcroft said. Actually, the FBI used a fear of communism to expand its police powers. Any student of history knows that we were indeed infiltrated by Soviet agents, most of them employees of the federal government. Hoover’s FBI of that era did little against the real threat. However, it significantly reduced liberty for individual Americans. "When discrimination threatened to turn citizen against citizen and neighbor against neighbor, the country called out for justice, and the Bureau helped open the door of opportunity to all Americans equally." Ashcroft says. And in doing so, the FBI was instrumental in closing the door of individual state sovereignty. I firmly believe that the racial barriers of the past were well on the way to falling, mainly from their own internal flaws, just as the Berlin wall did. Federal interference has meant a loss of real freedom for us all, most especially for Black Americans. The FBI did us no favors here. "And when terrorism threatened American citizens living and traveling abroad – and then reached within our borders – the nation called out for safety, and the Bureau was there." Ashcroft says. Dubious safety at the expense of your traditional freedom as an American citizen. Remember that the next time you travel and some overbearing little airline commissar demands: "Your Papers Please!" "At any given time, the FBI is working on approximately 100,000 cases. Last year the Bureau issued over 19,000 indictments and secured over 21,000 convictions." Ashcroft says. Just how many of those 19,000 indictments and 21,000 convictions were obtained under unconstitutional laws and by pit-bull prosecutors seeking a conviction at any cost? Ashcroft tells us: "In a republic whose law enforcement traditions are rooted in the states, the cities and the towns, a national crime fighting organization arose. When it was created in 1908, the FBI counted 34 agents among its ranks. Today, by answering the call to duty, the Bureau has grown to a total working team of over 28,000 special agents, crime lab technicians, and support personnel." Again, read between the lines. What J. Edgar Hoover and his spiritual descendants have brought us is a National Police Force. In effect, a standing army, the founders greatest fear. Dressed in black ninja outfits and armed with weapons denied to the ordinary citizen, the FBI has time and time again been exposed as a corrupt and out of control collection of fascist jackboots. Ashcroft’s empty words won’t change that. If Ashcroft really wants to restore public trust in the FBI, I can think of some things that he could do immediately that would be a wonderful start. First, fire Lon Horiuchi, while simultaneously stripping him of all retirement benefits. Concurrently, since the Idaho authorities are too craven and cowardly to prosecute the murderous villain (despite a green light to do so by federal courts), bring federal civil rights charges against him. Follow up with dismissals and charges against Horiuchi’s supervisors and then do the same to federal police involved in the Waco tragedy. Secondly, a real step for freedom would be for Ashcroft to disarm the FBI and any other federal police agencies under his command. They don’t need guns. There’s absolutely no reason why the Feebs can’t request an escort of local police when they feel the need to make an arrest. Most of their investigative work is done via telephone and computer, and any field work usually takes place in locales already well covered (too well covered, actually) by cops of the local and state variety. Unfortunately, reform is a fantasy and a heinous lie. The FBI’s powers will expand and Attorney General John Ashcroft will gift us with more empty words and false promises. July 18, 2001 Jeff Elkins is a freelance consultant and writer living in North Central Florida. His personal website is located at www.elkins.org. -- Best Wishes These written laws are just like spiders' webs; the small and feeble may be caught and entangled in them, but the rich and mighty force through and despise them. - Anacharsis <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
