top1999-2004 NEWS & COMMENTARY ARCHIVES
NEWS AND COMMENTARY - 2004 - 2005
from the trenches of democracy

THE BILL OF NO RIGHTS

QUOTABLE QUOTES

FOUNDER'S FILE
Commentary by Daniel B. Jeffs,
founder of The Direct Democracy Center

TERRORIST ATTACKS LEAVE AMERICA STEEPED IN FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY

GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY PAGE

ONE SIDE FITS ALL

On-campus ideologues smother academic freedom by choking off critical thinking
By Leila Beckwith
professor emeritus of pediatrics at UCLA
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-academicfreedom28aug28,0,4908691,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

It's time to privatize education

Though the federal "No Child Left Behind" program is a worthy effort to improve our education system, the nation's report card is riddled with mixed results and little to no progress. However, there are deeply entrenched historical reasons for the difficulties experienced by students, teachers, parents and the education establishment in general, which cannot be easily overcome or corrected.

Re: American Caesar: Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned
by Rosa Brooks
L.A. Times commentary September3, 2005
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks3sep03,0,7334703.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

Who is Rosa Brooks?

Rosa Brooks' "American Caesar," comparing President Bush and the hurricane disaster in New Orleans to Emperor Nero's burning of Rome, is undoubtedly one of the most shallow commentaries the L.A. Times has recently published.

Cindy Sheehan, Bush and Iraq
The left-elite news media are not interested in Cindy Sheehan as the grieving mother of a son killed in Iraq who has been wronged by the evil Bush administration ("Vacaville speaks," Inside Politics, Nation, Wednesday).
Washington Times
August 13, 2005

ABOUT CALIFORNIA'S INITIATIVE PROCESS
(letter from the Daniel B. Jeffs, founder DDC)
Re: "Ways to Reform the Initiative Process" by Michael Hiltzik (Golden State) Los Angeles Times C-1 July 28, 2005

Too much government, media and activism, and not enough democracy
Two corrupt mayors caused a second election in less than nine months and exacerbated costly and inept city government in San Diego. A partisan attorney general ignores the California Constitution and tampers with the marriage and re-districting voter initiatives.

Petition the Supreme Court: maybe it's time for concerned citizens to step in, take on the two-party system, and test the constitutional veracity of the Supreme Court before it's too late...

THREAT IN VENEZUELA
While we have our eyes on the Middle East and the recent good news out of there, a danger to democracy is brewing right here in our backyard. Venezuela, long one of Latin America's strongest democracies, is now under siege by its president, Hugo Chavez.

Newsweek Magazine
July 25, 2005 Issue
Lead letter by DDC Founder

The Legacy of a Historic Supreme Court Justice

Before the ink dried on Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation, political adversaries fired the first shots of what will undoubtedly be an unprecedented, uncivilized war over President Bush's nominee to replace her ("O'Connor's Odyssey," July 11).

Founder's letter published in the Washington Times
July 7, 2005

How to help Africa

Rock concerts and President Bush's proposed $1.2 billion plan to fight malaria in Africa over the next five years are almost meaningless, not because the money is sure to be misspent, but because there has been, is and will be only one way to really combat and control the mosquito-borne killer: with DDT ("Live 8 concerts rock the globe for Africa," Page 1, Sunday).

Reject Environmentalism, Not DDT
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
By: Keith Lockitch
http://www.aynrand.org/site/News2?news_iv_ctrl=-1&page=NewsArticle&id=10773
Keith Lockitch has a Ph.D. in physics, and he is a junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, CA.

Founder's letter published in
The Washington Times
July 2, 2005

Re: President Bush on Iraq
June 28, 2005

Founder's letter published
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 10, 2005

'Deep Throat': heroic or not?>
W. Mark Felt is no hero.

Published in the Los Angeles Times
April 9, 2005 - lead letter of three letters

Re: "Cheapskate Conservatives Cheat Students"
By Richard Rothstein
L.A. Times Opinion April 3, 2005

L.A.Time Editorial Page Editor Commended
Andres Martinez was appointed Los Angeles Times Editorial Page Editor in September 2004. His commentary, "Filibuster Doubletalk" is important, worth reading, and a welcome, objective departure from the left-leaning op-ed pages of the newspaper.

FILIBUSTER DOUBLETALK
By Andres Martinez, editor of the editorial page
Los Angeles Times April 6, 2005
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-martinez6apr06,1,429278.column

...The filibuster goes too far in upsetting the balance struck by the Constitution and empowering an obstructionist minority. Surely the founders didn't intend for the Senate's "advice and consent" review of presidential nominees to require a supermajority.

Founder's letter published in USA TODAY
May 18, 2005 Page 10A
(Lead letter of four letters - other letters included)

Eschew (avoid, shun) filibuster - and partisan politics

Founder's letter published in the Washington Times
May 19, 2005

Newsweek's blunders send troubling message

EXIT EXAMS
Founder's letter
Published in the Daily Press March 18, 2005

Exit exams no place for timed essays

THE EMPTY VESSEL OF THE AMORAL GENERATION
IS REALLY A TIME BOMB
February 4, 2005

While disgruntled left-wing Democrats (regressives calling themselves progressives), their unwitting choir -- and liberal elite journalists from what could now be called the "drystream media"

EXTREME SECULARISTS ORGANIZE
March 13, 2004

HILLARY CLINTON'S CRIME IGNORED BY THE MEDIA
January 21, 2005

BAD TIMING FOR POLITICAL NIT-PICKING
January 14, 2004

NOTE TO THE ANTI-AMERICAN CROWD IN AMERICA
February 7, 2004

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