To: ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER   ( CALIFORNIA )

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the Orange County Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined.

(signed) Dave LaBonte

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry
Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.!

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.

Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini, and the Emperor of Japan They were defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace t o their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2007 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work, and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

P. S Pass this on to everyone you know!!!
I hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation!!

MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA
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Earlier this year, Congress gave sweeping new surveillance powers to the Executive Branch, including widespread warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, in the so-called Protect America Act.

Now, the Senate is poised to reconsider the Protect America Act. We must make sure that this legislation reinstates protections for civil liberties and reestablishes checks and balances in government. We need you to contact your Senators to insist that they vote to repeal the Protect America Act and to limit the ability of government agencies to obtain information about American citizens without the appropriate judicial constraints.

Take action today to protect Americans against government spying programs!

The Protect America Act was rushed through Congress earlier this year with little public debate. It is critical that the Senate pass legislation that reinstates needed checks and balances. This legislation must ensure that government agencies obtain individual warrants before wiretapping the communications of American citizens and not provide retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that have provided government agencies with information on their customer's records.

Send a message to your Senators to urge them to vote to repeal the Protect America Act.

TAKE ACTION

1. Contact your Senators now, by phone or by email, and tell them to repeal the Protect America Act. Tell them that widespread warrantless wiretapping of Americans is unacceptable in a democracy and any legislation to reform the Protect America Act must clearly state that the government must obtain an individual warrant when it wiretaps the communications of American citizens. Tell your Senators that Congress must also guard against providing retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that have provided government agencies with information on their customer's records.

2. Send this alert to other concerned citizens in your state - your grassroots network, your friends annd coworkers. Encourage them to contact their Senators today!

BACKGROUND

Learn more about what the League has done to protect civil liberties.

Sign up to receive Action Alerts directly by email. Don't miss an opportunity to take action! It's easy to sign up and the League will never share your email with others: http://takeaction.lwv.org/lwv/mlm/signup/.

For additional information, please contact LWVUS Grassroots Lobbyist Christina Vamvas at lobbying@lwv.org.
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US Coast Guard Violation/Posse Comitatus

OUR LETTER OF THE WEEK:

Copy and FAX these letters to everyone in Congress today, or Call Congress and tell them these points of our concerns. STOP THE NORTH AMERICAN UNION NOW!Tell them we WILL be tracking their answers and following this issue!
Here is disturbing letter about US citizens being held to Military Law Tribunals:
Copy and send this letter to your Congressional Rep and Senators:

Dear ( Senator or Congressman),

I am extremely alarmed by information that has come to my attention regarding the US Coast Guard, US Merchant Marine and maritime industry as a whole. Matters that clearly expose gross violations of Constitutional principles in use of military tribunals by the Coast Guard as carried out upon American civilians. The Coast Guard is now declaring itself to be a "Branch of Military" and a "Special" one at that, which can violate Posse Comitatus and the separation between what is civilian and what is of the military.

These violations have been brought to my attention through various news articles and by listening to radio and television programs where I have heard reports about the situation involving Lt. Eric N Shine, USNR. Lt. Shine is a Naval Officer and Federal Maritime Officer, and a 1991 graduate from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point in New York. Lt. Shine has been blowing the whistle on what is going on in many regards, and been retaliated upon for doing so, especially for his reports regarding Coast Guard’s use of military tribunals on American citizens as civilians right here in the United States

This program is being administered improperly by the Coast Guard under military law that is Napoleonic in nature, where individuals are presumed guilty and denied due process, rather than applying the more proper, Constitutional, and accepted presumption of innocence. Regardless of whether the Coast Guard says it is administering the Administrative Procedure Act or something else entirely, it is doing this as a Branch of Military and is applying it as if it were instead Military Law from under Articles of War.

I understand from reports that Lt. Shine, as a Naval Officer and graduate of King’s Point and who understands well what is going on, has never served or worked for the Coast Guard, yet the Coast Guard's Judge Advocate General Office is prosecuting him under its own system of military tribunals, doing so in keeping with the language of the Military Commissions Act. This, in and of itself is a violation and in so many ways, of the basic "Separation of Powers Doctrine", not only because Lt. Shine is not in the Coast Guard, but the Coast Guard is alleging that it is a “self-declared Special Branch of Military" and Lt. Shine instead of being a Naval Officer is allegedly a "civilian" per the Coast Guard who can somehow carry on not only civilian law enforcement, but trials of civilians.”

In effect, the Coast Guard is now acting as the complainant [or injured party], the citing officer [police officer], the investigator [detective], the prosecutor [U.S. Attorney], and the judge [as ex-Coast Guard], jury and executioner. This sounds like trials that went on under the Spanish Inquisition rather then anything we accept or allow in our Country.

"Homeland Security" has gone as far to intermarry or clearly merge legislative, executive and judicial powers and do so to all under one Branch of Military in form of the Coast Guard. A Branch of Military that is not only disciplining civilians in cruel fashion, but clearly violating federal contracting laws and guidelines, Constitutional amendments, due process, even basic human rights, to a point of forcing Lt / Mr. Shine under a mental health examination to be paid for at federal expense. The Coast Guard has mandated for this to occur before any charges are presented or any due process hearing occurs.

The prosecution against Lt./ Mr. Shine is being carried out as the first case by the Coast Guard since it moved under authority of Homeland Security on March 1st 2003 as carried out over last five [5] long years in order to torture Lt./ Mr. Shine into compliance, doing so for many reasons well beyond painful retaliation. Charges against Lt./ Mr. Shine were filed on March 06, 2003 five days after Coast Guard moved to DHS. Far worse, this supposed "Branch of Military" has charged [an alleged] civilian with not only "being depressed", but has been prosecuting him aggressively for this within a military system that he is not a part of and where he is "presumed guilty" and been treated as such.

The Coast Guard has not only carried out warrant-less searches and seizures, but stolen and falsified records, and gone as far as to put out a BOLO or "Be On the Look Out" poster declaring, without specifications or charges, Lt. / Mr. Shine "may be dangerous."

The Coast Guard has done the very same thing during the Korean War [or conflict] in the 1950's to improperly seize control over civilians and do so under military authority to injure, and then seize individual civil rights by intentionally driving individuals mad. Now that it has moved into a new Agency or Department in 2003, it seems it has been compelled to recreate this very same yet improper authority under new or more contemporary case precedence to not only continue in, but justify its past abuses and overreach of authority that is being used to facilitate racketeering on federal contracts.

One other reason for this is the Coast Guard wishes to lay claim to venue and jurisdiction over not just Lt./ Mr. Shine by declaring him to be "medically/ mentally incompetent" and by even working hard to make him so, but seize venue and jurisdiction over an entire class of civilians in form of Federal Maritime Officers and crew who do not serve in the Coast Guard. Then continue to stretch this out further over other American Civilians as well. This involves complex programs of various forms of racketeering Lt./ Mr. Shine has reported upon in the media, and continues to be retaliated upon for doing so.

The Coast Guard and DHS are doing this by declaring their first newfound victim (in the case of Lt/ Mr. Shine), since the Coast Guard moved into DHS, and to do this absent any proper due process only to declare him to be medically/ mentally incompetent so he cannot properly fight, even raise issues of proper venue and jurisdiction and other legislative prohibitions that have been constructed to prevent just this type of activity.

This is being done so the Coast Guard can maintain its improper and long held control, even newly recreate the improper venue and jurisdiction that it has seized on its own, rather than granted to it through authority from any proper Congressional constructs.

I ask that you not only intervene in Lt/Mr. Shine’s personal case, but to prevent this encroachment of military jurisdiction into any civilian affairs. I believe that these matters and many of the issues Lt /Mr. Shine raises need to be brought immediately before Congressional hearings for official and public recorded testimony. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your response and action in these matters.

Sincerely,

(YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS MUST GO HERE TO BE CONSIDERED BY CONGRESS. INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IF YOU WANT AN EMAIL REPLY)