Pat Shannan's MUSINGS
Batten Down the Hatches!
This is the last year of the Clinton Presidency. On the recent evidence, our advice to the private sector is: Board up your windows, lay in sandbags, and put your lawyer's phone number on the nightstand. This final year is going to bring a paroxysm of regulatory intrusion - through agency actions or Mr. Clinton's continued abuse of executive orders. --- "Asides," Wall Street Journal, 1/6/00
On the same chilly morning that the Wall Street Journal issued the caveat above and only a moment before I heard a rap on the door, my dog began to yelp the familiar "Someone's in the Yard" directive. As I opened the front door, I could see the blue jackets with the yellow FBI lettering through the outside louvered screen door. A half dozen of them, wearing guns, vests, the whole bit. One was peering around the corner from his protected position in the hedges on my left.
Having accused some of their colleagues on occasion of watching too many "Miami Vice" re-runs, I didn't hesitate, as I pushed open the sticky screen door, to greet them with, "Do you guys realize how ridiculous you look?" The one in the bushes sheepishly walked out, apparently agreeing with me, at least after noticing I wasn't toting an AK-47. Then the one on the right, holding a clipboard and the only one who spoke, asked me to identify myself, which I did. (What follows is a verbatim account of the conversation as written down by me less than five minutes later.)
"We understand that you are a dangerous man, and you like to threaten people with guns."
"No, that's not true. What do you want?" (Other than for me to pull a gun, that is.)
"Well, I'm just gonna' tell you right now that if you point a gun at me, I'm going to shootcha'!" (Is this the infamous "Jackbooted Thug" mentality, looking for an excuse to blow somebody away or what?)
"Well, I wouldn't blame you. What is your name?"
"Never mind who I am. I'm supposed to ask you what you know about this." (Aren't law-abiding law enforcement officers required to identify themselves, especially when asked?)
Now that he had made clear what a sweetheart of a guy he was, he got to the point of his visit, on which I am still vague. The top page on the clipboard was a "To Whom It May Concern" letter, signed by the local SAC, which he stuck under my face, wanting me to read, and asked if I knew anything about it. Apparently, there was/is an internal investigation going on concerning some child abuse activity of one their fellow agents, and somebody leaked the story. Because I was familiar with the agent accused, from investigative reporting on the firebombing of the Jackson Advocate newspaper offices two years ago, they wondered if I had anything to do with this letter. (Out of respect for "Innocent until proven Guilty" and being more charitable than they, I will not embarrass this agent further by mentioning his name here at this time.) The spokesman at my door never did identify himself nor did any of the others.
Sorry, fellows. I don't have any FBI letterhead, but maybe you should check closer with some of your own agents. I suggest that you pull up your psycho files and look for one who has a penchant for integrity and fair play and maybe an occasional tendency to display a conscience. This should narrow your suspect list down to a bare-bones few.
But this confrontation is indicative of just how far Americans have drifted into a Police State. Is this just another incident of a hyped-up Cowboy over-stepping the bounds of professional conduct, as his superiors will surely claim? Or is it more likely that the agent read a lie posted in my secret FBI file and believed that he really was coming to visit a "dangerous man?"
Two weeks later, I met with the ASAC of the local office who apologized profusely and told me that he had reprimanded the agent for this audacious behavior. I learned that the agent claimed that he had gotten this story regarding my "being dangerous" from an IRS agent, who had told him that I had once pulled a gun on several of them and they had disarmed me! If this had ever happened and wherever, it should have been a simple matter for the FBI to check the records of that city because surely I would have been arrested, charged, jailed, and tried for such an offense. The truth is that it never happened, and the whole report was a total fabrication.
It may be time for me to alert the public to the same as I told the FBI in my letter of complaint: That I harbor neither homicidal nor suicidal tendencies and do not sniff any drugs stronger than nasal spray. I have never been charged, let alone convicted, of any common law crime and have a great respect for the law. (Of course, I could be in trouble whenever that nasal spray hits the "illegal" list - which could be any day now.)
I urged the Agent-in-Charge of the local office not to send another trigger-happy "Lon Horiuchi" to my house but rather phone me next time and I will be happy to come for a visit. (I fibbed a little. I really wouldn't happy to do so, but I would go, as long as I could take my recorder along.)
In recent years, a big thing has been made of the secret files maintained by the State of Mississippi through its Sovereignty Commission. Exposed now, the files reveal lies, innuendo, and half truths about a lot of people who were recognized by "the powers that be" as enemies of the state. Many of these people underwent outrageous attacks on both their person and character - some were even killed - because the misinformation was seen by a select few who had both the power and protection to harass these people and get away with it.
It seems we have come full circle. The new "Sovereignty Commission " - this time on a national basis - through its "Project Megiddo," has deemed all Christians who stand on Biblical principal to be "enemies of the government." Well, so be it. I have read 3:12 of Paul's second letter to Timothy, and I believe it and accept it. I know not what course others may take, but for me, give me Acts 5:29 and the 91st Psalm.
Miami Trooper Claims FBI Cover Up
The December 22nd issue of the Tallahassee Democrat reported that circumstantial evidence indicated that drunken FBI agent David Farrall was going the wrong way on I-95 north of Miami in a November 23rd accident which claimed the lives of a young Youth Minister and his brother. FBI officials, the local prosecutor, and Farrall's attorney all clamed up with a refusal "to comment on any speculation or leaks at this time." (Circumstantial evidence indicated. . .?!! Why don't they ask the agent which way he was going, or was he too drunk to remember?)
The December story said that the investigation "should be completed in less than a month." (Which in current Orwellian doublespeak says, "It may take us that long to ascertain whether or not it will be prudent to continue this cover-up.")
As the following news story shows, the boys' mother knew exactly which way they were going, and after "witnesses" initially claimed her sons were at fault, she went ballistic. As a matter of fact, when her sons had not arrived much after the expected time, Florence Thompson's maternal instinct told her something was amiss, and she drove south down the interstate looking for them, knowing full well that they were northbound toward her. When she arrived on the accident scene, she was told the horrifying news.
Now let us fast-forward to that "less than a month:"
MIAMI (Jan. 12th) -- A state trooper investigating the deaths of two brothers in a crash blamed on a drunken FBI agent said he was ordered to sign a report falsely blaming the victims. Highway Patrol Trooper Rene Guillen said he was told by supervisors what to put in the report on the Nov. 23 accident on Interstate 95, The Miami Herald reported Wednesday.
The family of brothers Maurice Williams, 23, and Craig Chambers, 19, said the investigation was tailored to protect FBI agent David Farrall at the expense of the brothers' reputation. The FBI and the patrol have rejected those assertions.
It took more than a month for the patrol to identify Farrall as the driver at fault. He was later placed on paid leave. Farrall, 36, was going the wrong way and driving with a blood-alcohol level more than double the state limit, the Highway Patrol said. He has not been charged.
(He has not been charged?!! Why not?)
Highway Patrol rules prohibit Guillen, 23, from commenting directly on an active accident investigation. He gave an account to his union representative, who briefed the Herald. (Hooray for the Union Rep!) Guillen said his senior officers assumed that because Farrall was an FBI agent, he couldn't have been traveling the wrong way on I-95. (Oh, No! Of course not. FBI agents never make mistakes, and they never drink anything stronger than milkshakes !) With less than a year's experience on the force, Guillen deferred to more seasoned investigators, said his representative, Cpl. Ed Hotaling.
The civil suit being filed by Florence Thompson will certainly produce the facts. But meanwhile, why are Floridians not screaming for a manslaughter indictment on this "holier than thou" federal agent? The drunken bum killed two innocent people. Will this be one more "unconvicted felon" who will continue to be protected by the Rulers of Evil?
Freedom Takes Another Major Hit
It is now old news that Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker has been ordered to undergo mental evaluation, fined $20,000, and suspended until May 1st, for his ranting interview in Sports Illustrated. Free speech really must be dead in this country. This kneejerk reaction by baseball officials is straight out of Orwell. Some say Rocker is one major moron but has the right to speak like a moron. Many others say he only spoke what the majority of silent Americans believe but refuse to verbalize, which is probably more accurate. But almost all of them thought he had a legitimate First Amendment right to speak like a moron or an average American, whatever the case may be.
Now, it seems, the liberals will have anyone speaking politically incorrect under court-ordered therapy. "This really is frightening," says one Washington, D.C. writer. Another said, "It'll be snowing in Hades before I buy another ticket to any major league baseball game."
My initial reaction, with our just-completed and not-yet-published January issue on Alternative Health fresh on my mind, was that should I have occasion on my next visit to New York City "to ride a train and sit next to a Sodomite with AIDS," I would tell him about the Ozone Generator. (Now if expressing one's opinion is a crime, here is a two-fold excuse for the guys in the white coats to come with the butterfly nets to haul me away for a mental test. Nevertheless, I refuse to desecrate such a lovely word as "gay" with the modern, perverted usage. Our language is littered enough already.
Finally, The Hard Truth from Littleton Dear God, Why didn't you save the school children in Littleton, Colorado? Sincerely, Concerned Student AND THE REPLY... Dear Concerned Student: I am not allowed in schools. Love, God "Men, it has been well said, think in herds. It will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one." -- Charles Mackay