RUSTLING
AMERICA IN OHIO
By Steve Van Nattan Date:
Thu, 02 Apr 1998 09:55:21 -0500 From: C_______ S_______
Reply-To______________________ To: steve@balaams-ass.com Subject: Land
Grabbers Steve, In Ohio, as well as other states, there is a big
operation going on to deceive farmers and other land-owners and get control of
their land. The front group is called the AMERICAN FARMLAND TRUST. the Governor
APPOINTED a task force to help this group and legislation is pending. There is
a larger group called the LAND TRUST ALLIANCE which is sort of an umbrella org.
and the NATURE CONSERVANCY is one of the many. OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY is a big
player and its EXTENSION DEPT. is a facilitator. Please check out <http://www-comdev.ag.ohio-state.edu/cdwhat.html>
also ...edu/cdsp... for their STRATEGIC PLAN FOR COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
1995-2000. also <http://www.cd.columbus.oh.us/news/newsfea2/nov97/darb1124.html
and ...1125... These are 2 articles from the Columbus Dispatch
concerning land takeover of an area of Columbus. The Amer. Farm. Trust site
<http://www.farmland.org/> All the county extension offices are holding
meetings to brainwash the farmers and bringing in the AFT change agents to do
it. Our tax dollars at work. Please pass this on to appropriate folks. C.
AMERICAN FARMLAND TRUST Here is how it works. I have
lifted some bits and pieces from the AFT Web Page. There is a very evil
scheme behind this program: QUOTE: Purchase of
Agricultural Conservation Easement Programs Purchase of agricultural
conservation easement programs pay farmers to protect their land from development.
PACE is known by a variety of other terms, the most common being purchase of development
rights. Landowners sell agricultural conservation easements to a government agency
or private conservation organization. The agency or organization usually
pays them the difference between the value of the land for agriculture and the
value of the land for its "highest and best use," which is generally residential
or commercial development. Easement value is most often determined by professional
appraisals, but may also be established through the use of a numerical scoring
system which evaluates the suitability for agriculture of a piece of property.
State and local governments can play a variety of roles in the creation
and implementation of PACE programs. Some states have passed legislation that
allows local governments to create PACE programs. Others have enacted PACE programs
that are implemented, funded and administered by state agencies. Several states
work cooperatively with local governments to purchase easements. A few states
have appropriated money for use by local governments and private nonprofit organizations.
Finally, some local governments have created independent PACE programs in the
absence of any state action. Cooperative state-local PACE programs have
some advantages over independent state or local programs. Cooperative programs
allow states to set broad policies and criteria for protecting agricultural land,
while county or township governments select the farms that they believe are most
critical to the viability of local agricultural economies, and monitor the land
once the easements are in place. Involving two levels of government generally
increases the funding available for PACE. Finally, cooperative programs increase
local government investment in farmland protection. PACE programs allow
farmers to cash in a fair percentage of the equity in their land, thus creating
a financially competitive alternative to selling land for non-agricultural uses.
Permanent easements prevent development that would effectively foreclose he possibility
of farming. Removing the development potential from farmland generally reduces
its future market value. This may help facilitate farm transfer to the children
of farmers and make the land more affordable to beginning farmers and others who
want to buy it for agricultural purposes. PACE provides landowners with liquid
capital that can enhance the economic viability of individual farming operations
and help perpetuate family tenure on the land. Finally, PACE gives communities
a way to share t he costs of protecting agricultural land with farmers.
END QUOTE The effect of this would put the farm land under legal authority
of the AFT or whatever agency of the government of green nut group they represent.
Any effort in the future of any particular farm and the family on it would
be a closed case. In fact, the AFT et al could easily show cause at a later
date why the farm residents were not using the farm according to the contract,
and the farm would then revert to the AFT et al. This plan would also open
the way for the Conservancy to enter the farm and find some rare rodent, and the
farm would then be claimed in the name of conservation and the owners would be
run off. This IS happening right now. QUOTE
Competition for land is only one of the problems facing farmers and ranchers.
Financial problems and the burden of complying with regulations are also significant
challenges for commercial agricultural operations. Most farmers say the best way
to protect farmland is to keep farming profitable. State and local governments
have created a variety of marketing programs to support and enhance the economics
of agriculture. Several states and a few local governments have developed programs
that compensate farmers for protecting natural resources.
END QUOTE This was added to AFT's page on options as a brief afterthought.
It is the clue that some other scheme is out there, and I am convinced that
scheme is the land grabbing of the US Government and the Conservancy et al.
AFT is merely a front agency for this attack on the United States. QUOTE
Transfer of Development Rights Transfer of development
rights programs allow landowners to transfer the right to develop one parcel of
land to a different parcel of land. Generally established through local zoning
ordinances, TDR programs can protect farmland by shifting development from agricultural
areas to areas planned for growth. When the development rights are transferred
from a piece of property, the land is restricted with a permanent agricultural
conservation easement. Buying development rights generally allows landowners to
build at a higher density than ordinarily permitted by the base zoning. TDR is
known as transfer of development credits in California and in some regions of
New Jersey. TDR is used by counties, cities, towns and townships. Two
regional TDR programs for farmland protection were developed to protect New Jersey's
Pinelands and the pine barrens of Long Island, N.Y. TDR programs are distinct
from PACE programs because they involve the private market. Most TDR transactions
are between private landowners and developers. Local governments approve transactions
and monitor easements. A few jurisdictions have created "TDR banks" that buy development
rights with public funds and sell them to developers and other private landowners.
END QUOTE And who do you suppose those
state approved land developers are? The Conservancy and their clones and
devilish land grabbers. The tricks will be coming forward down the road
AFTER the deal is cut. Any farmer who is too dumb to keep his farm without
kissing up to the Conservancy deserves to lose it. The only problem is that
America loses too. The Conservancy is a One World agency dedicated to One
Worldism and the United Nations as the sovereign of the world. Farmer--
It is up to you. If you are no different than the rest of the money grubbers
in Brooklyn and Beverly Hills, then you will sign your land over to these land
grabbers. Your kids and the USA will suffer horribly one day as farm land
is systematically taken OUT OF production in ploy after ploy under color of protecting
the environment and the civil rights of rats and lizards. THINK before
you leap. Now, some of you will not believe I could have grabbed
the Nature Conservancy in one hand and this seemingly innocent AFT in the other
and tied their tails together. So I now give you a whole page intact from
the new Ohio office of the AFT. Note where their new director came from
before taking this post! PAGE IN TOTAL: [ AFT-- Ohio ]
[ http://www.farmland.org/Farmland/files/states/ohoffice.htm ]
Contact: 202/659-5170 Helen Pelzman, ext. 3029 Shannon Weller,
ext. 3032 In Columbus: Kevin Schmidt, 614/469-9877 American Farmland
Trust Opens New Ohio Office To Address State's Increasing Loss Of Productive
Farmland Columbus, Ohio, November 4, 1997 -- Responding to the recommendations
outlined in Governor George Voinovich's Ohio Farmland Preservation Task Force,
American Farmland Trust, the nation's leading farmland conservation group, today
announced the opening of its Ohio office and the appointment of Kevin Schmidt
as Ohio field representative to spearhead a series of strong, new farmland conservation
initiatives in the state. With the release of its groundbreaking 1997
report, Farming on the Edge, AFT identified the Eastern Ohio Till Plain, the northeastern
part of the state, as the seventh most threatened agricultural region in the nation.
Between 1982 and 1992, Ohio already had lost 281,000 acres of prime and unique
farmland to development. The new office is housed in the Natural Resources
Conservation Service state headquarters in Columbus. Pat Wolf, NRCS state conservationist,
said, "We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to work cooperatively with AFT.
As NRCS provides technical assistance throughout Ohio, this partnership will help
us further focus on the issue of farmland protection." "Having an Ohio
office enables us to expand our efforts to protect the state's valuable farmland
resources," said Bob Wagner, AFT's director of field programs. "With Kevin on
board, we now can respond far more quickly and efficiently to Ohio's needs."
Building upon AFT's leadership role with the governor's task force, Wagner said
that as AFT's Ohio field representative, Schmidt will: Provide information,
advice and technical assistance in addressing farmland protection issues.
Help shape statewide policy. Develop on-site demonstration projects in partnership
with local entities and individuals. Work with communities to establish local
farmland protection programs. In addition to the office opening, AFT
just released Saving American Farmland: What Works, the definitive guidebook on
farmland protection tools and techniques. Designed for policymakers, planners,
community organizations and concerned citizens, the guidebook is available by
calling (800) 370-4879. The price is $34.95. Before joining AFT,
Schmidt had been a research assistant for the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy in
Queenstown, Md. In this capacity, he developed strategic approaches to protect
farmland and provided recommendations for a refocused conservation effort in the
region. Schmidt holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Le Moyne
College in Syracuse, N.Y., and a master's degree in public management from University
of Maryland, College Park. AFT's Ohio office is located at 200 North
High St., Room 522, Columbus, Ohio, 43215. Schmidt can be reached at (614) 469-9877;
his fax number is (614) 469-2083. END QUOTE OF PAGE
What does, "provided recommendations for a refocused conservation effort
in the region" mean???? I know exactly what that means in the
Conservancy dialect-- It means he was paid to trash farm land for every
possible pretext and drive good farmers mad with environmental intrusions.
He was assigned to buy land for the Conservancy and hand it to the US Government
at an average markup of 20 to 27%. That is how they do it folks. Could
we hear from a victim in Maryland please? How can I be so pushy in my
interpretations? Ask the city of Patagonia in Arazona. Ask
hundreds of farmers all over America who are under total all out assault by these
Nazi type storm troopers. Here are two more actions taken by
the AFT which had NOTHING to do with saving farm land, and the Nature Conservancy
and some of the most potent Liberals in the USA were involved: http://www.farmland.org/Farmland/files/media/marketus.html
Saratoga Springs, N.Y., May 5, 1997 -- An historic tract
of land across the Hudson River from the Saratoga Battlefield National Park in
upstate New York which once had been slated for a nuclear power plant has been
permanently recovered for agricultural and recreational uses. The Beaverkill
Conservancy, an affiliate of the Open Space Institute, a New York nonprofit
that protects open space for public use, today announced it acquired the fee and
easement interests in the property where Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation began
constructing a nuclear power facility 30 years ago. The acquisition was funded
by a grant from the Lila Acheson and DeWitt Wallace Fund for the Hudson Highlands,
established by the founders of Reader's Digest Association, Inc. The acquisition
ensures the 1,000-acre site will be permanently protected from industrial, commercial
and residential development. The Open Space Institute and American Farmland
Trust, a national farmland conservation group, have been working together for
nearly two years to protect the Niagara Mohawk site, which includes two miles
of Hudson River waterfront and hundreds of acres of productive agricultural land.
Their joint efforts will ensure that the site will be permanently protected from
industrial, commercial and residential development. AND:
http://www.farmland.org/Farmland/files/media/marketus.html
AFT strikes again with the Liberal Brown Shirts: Washington,
D.C., June 25, 1997-- In yet another example of a burgeoning national trend, the
sole producer-only farmers' market will soon open in the Dupont Circle area of
the nation's capital. Showcasing everything from apples to zucchini,
the District market will offer city residents regular and ready access to quality
farm-fresh produce and help small local farmers stay in business and keep their
increasingly threatened land in agriculture. Sponsored by American Farmland
Trust, a national nonprofit farmland conservation group based here, the FRESHFARM
Market reflects the comeback of farmers' markets nationally. Last fall, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture released a survey that found the number of farmers'
markets had increased to 2,400, or by nearly 40 percent, since 1994. Nearly a
million consumers now visit farmers' markets weekly, and direct marketing and
sales of fruits and vegetables comes to $1.1 billion annually. "The
growth of farmers' markets across the nation illustrates the importance of the
bridge between farmers and consumers," related Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.
"Farmers, especially small and limited resource farmers, continue to look for
new, innovative marketing opportunities to increase income. And consumers, conscious
of the nutritional benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables, are supporting farmers'
markets in record numbers." American Farmland Trust President Ralph
Grossi, himself a third-generation farmer, hailed the market's launch as a "win-win"
for city residents and farmers alike. "Farmers' markets provide urbanites
with the fresh, nutritious foods they increasingly desire and small local farmers
with an important new outlet for their produce," observed Grossi. "In that way,
producer markets can help farmers remain in business and keep their land in farming.
Keeping land in farming is important because so much of it is now being destroyed
by suburban sprawl. In fact, the U.S. is now losing close to 50 football fields
of prime and unique farmland every hour to sprawl, much of it on the urban edge."
The FRESHFARM Market will be a producer-only market, meaning only "urban-edge"
farmers within a 100-mile radius of the district from the states of Maryland,
Pennsylvania and Virginia will sell their produce at the market. The states collectively
are losing 25,000 to 100,000 acres of farmland annually. Maryland and Pennsylvania
have each taken steps to curb the loss of farmland, the two states together having
protected more than 1,500 farms. Bernadine Prince, FRESHFARM Market
project director for American Farmland Trust, said the market will help educate
District residents about farmers and the need to protect their land from destruction.
About 15 local farmers will operate stands at the market from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
every Sunday through November 23. Prince said the FRESHFARM Market plans
to have educational materials and a "shop with a chef" program. It also will conduct
research to assess the market's impact on the Dupont Circle neighborhood and participating
farmers. "Markets like this one put a face on food by bringing farmers
into direct contact with District residents," Prince said. "Fewer and fewer city
residents have any understanding of what is involved in food production and the
importance of the agricultural resource base in the surrounding area. We believe
farmers' markets can help them better understand what's at stake." AFT
cited a number of reasons for its decision to locate the market in the District,
including the desire of residents there to have greater access to fresh fruits
and vegetables. The typical grocery store vegetable, it pointed out, is picked
before it is ripe and travels an average of 1,200 miles to market, an environmentally
wasteful practice that decreases its freshness and taste. A feasibility
study of potential District market sites identified the Dupont Circle area, easily
accessible by bus and subway and ethnically and economically diverse, as the ideal
location. The study was conducted by Ann Harvey Yonkers, an Arlington native and
long-time District resident, who will manage the market. Yonkers is an accomplished
chef, author and organic gardener. Numerous neighborhood groups endorsed AFT's
plans, including the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, Dupont Circle Citizens
Association, and the Dupont Circle Merchants and Professional Association. National
organizations such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest, National
Trust for Historic Preservation, Rails to Trails Conservancy and Public Voice
for Food and Health Policy also support the project as do nationally prominent
chefs such as Nora Pouillon of Restaurant Nora, Jeff Buben of Vidalia, Tom Myers
of Clyde's, Alice Waters of Chez Panisse and Steve Dunn of Well-Dunn Catering
All regularly purchase fresh, locally grown produce. Who funds Rails
to Trails? Here is how this thing hands together BEHIND YOUR BACKS.
Our job is to dig this up for you: Non-Profit Partners of Rails to Trails,
which was a partner with American Farmland Trust in grabbing the Mohawk land deal.
In 1993, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy initiated a small conservancy program
to rescue exceptional tracts of railroad corridor that would be lost without RTCs
intervention. The Trail Conservancy operates by serving as a short-term intermediary
between railroad companies and trail groups or public agencies. The
preeminent national organization for purchasing open space for recreation is the
Trust for Public Land (TPL), which also conducts appraisals, undertakes
title searches and legal work, and carries out negotiations. TPL has worked on
rail-trail conversions in several states. Other similar organizations
include The Nature Conservancy, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy,
the Open Lands Project and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.
http://www.railtrails.org Guess what the address
of The Trust for Public Land is????? 666 Pennsylvania Avenue,
SE, Suite 401 Washington, DC 20003 Guess what is the
objective of The Trust for Public Land? Since its origin
in 1972, the trust has specialized in working with government agencies or nonprofit
organizations to buy land for public use. So far, it's bought more than 850,000
acres in 43 states, valued at more than $1 billion. Typically, the trust
gets involved in time-sensitive, or complex transactions -- usually involving
properties threatened with development -- which government agencies do not have
the time, or money, to deal with. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for example,
has identified the creation of a refuge on the undeveloped portions of the Rappahannock
as a top priority because of the variety of waterfowl, neotropical migratory songbirds
and other wildlife found in the area. But the agency did not have the
authorization to purchase and manage land, so the trust stepped in to purchase
5 miles of riverfront that was available. The trust had to build a partnership
with other organizations willing to manage the land after it was purchased and
secure funding. The money, in this case, came from a $1.7 million grant from the
North American Wetlands Conservation Council. Such projects sometimes
involve risk on the part of the trust, but generally it is able to recoup its
investment when the preserved lands are eventually sold to the public agency or
other organization, usually at fair market value, though the trust sometimes takes
a loss to make the project happen. "Our role is to orchestrate a win-win
land transaction," said Debi Osborne, the trust's Chesapeake Lands Director. "There's
a number of things we do. We come in early, we take risks, we can do things public
agencies can't. We typically get involved in the more difficult and complex projects."
When a 200-acre development threatened the adjoining Oregon Ridge Park
and Nature Center in Baltimore County, Maryland, the trust secured an option to
buy the property while helping the county, state agencies and citizens put together
a package to purchase the tract. http://www.gmu.edu/bios/Bay/journal/96-03/tpl.htm
IN CONCLUSION: Please understand this-- There
are a number of organizations, similar to the Nature Conservancy, which use vast
sums of money which you will NOT learn the source of, and their objective is to
take America OUT OF the hands of Americans and hand it to Federal agencies and
the United Nations or One World entities. Prince Philip of the UK has taken
over large areas of the world via his World Wildlife Fund. Our government
will defer to such mindless characters for no reason other than to pamper the
jerk. Prince Philip has said publicly that if he could come back by reincarnation,
he would like to return as a virus and kill much of the world's population. He
went hunting in India and killed one of the very last white rhinos in the world
just three days before initiating the World Wildlife Fund. These
One Worlders have NO interest in farm land and farming. They are using agencies
like the American Farmland Trust to move private land into their hands. Once
they accomplish this, they will move the owners off of the land via many ploys
such as habitat issues, preservation of endangered species, and wet land issues.
IT WILL HAPPEN. Dear farmer friend, please take notice.
Talk to your friends about this. DO NOT sign away your farm or your
rights to use it according to YOUR interests. Please consider digging
into this yourself. I am convinced that there is far more to this than I
have just opened to you. You may want to start digging at my Search
Engine page. Go there, and open the drop down box at HotBot. Under
the "Bigoted One Worlders and New Age" listing, you will find American Farmland
Trust listed. Hit that, then start searching and following links and names
of various Liberal groups. This is a sort of gold mine (or sewer) of potential.
I bet there is another very revealing story in this. See if you can
find it. P.S.
I thought you might be interested to see that the Conservancy is working
in the same context as Prince Philip. Prince Philip of the UK is a mojor
One World agitator for the captivation of private land and the herding of the
masses into life killing environments on behalf of the Royal European elite and
the goddess Gaia. Thus: QUOTE:
Marine Conservation Area Created Senator Dan Hays represented
the federal government at a ceremony called Together for Nature - Part One: The
Gift. At the ceremony, Shell Canada Limited, Chevron Resources Canada, Petro-Canada,
and Mobil Oil Canada voluntarily relinquished 350,000 acres of land rights, the
first step in developing the first national marine conservat http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/ip/politics/hays-d/www/west-rep/sprin-97/spring97.html
END OF QUOTE QUOTE:
Prince Philip to Visit London, 28 February (MTI) - Philip,
Prince of Edinburgh, is to arrive in Hungary on 2 March as part of an environmental
mission, the Buckingham Palace spokesman told MTI in London. Confirming
Philip"s previously compiled itinerary, the spokesman said the prince would be
coming in his capacity as honorary president of the WorldWide Fund for Nature.
He is scheduled to see the Gemenc Nature Conservancy Area (S Hungary) and take
a boat trip on the Danube. Hungary is the first leg of the prince"s world tour,
including Turkey, a number of Arab emirates, Mongolia, Japan, the United States
and Canada. END OF QUOTE I want you
to see how these mindless and greedy Royals of the UK will switch gears real fast
when there is cash at stake, and when that cash could end up in their pocket--
Watch this one please-- The Prince gets the gold mine, and the environment
gets the shaft. QUOTE: [] TL: Prince
Philip's 'Biased' Briefing on Madagascar Env peterh foe.press Mar
27, 1995 (at foe.co.uk) peterh@foe.co.uk (Peter Hardstaff)
For immediate release - 12.00 hrs 27 march, 1995 WHO
GAVE PRINCE PHILIP 'BIASED' MADAGASCAR BRIEFING? Friends of the Earth
has reacted with considerable surprise and annoyance to comments reportedly made
by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh to the effect that the environmental impacts of the
proposed RTZ titanium dioxide mine in south-eastern Madagascar have been overstated
[1]. Especially perplexing among Prince Philip's comments is his view
that "Its an area which is not environmentally frightfully significant. I gather
its marginal". In fact, the forests that will be lost to the mine are of global
importance. They represent the last remnants of a unique forest type that once
extended along much of the island's east coast. RTZ's own environmental impact
study shows how the mine will destroy at least two thirds of the forests that
remain and could lead to the extinction of dozens of species found nowhere else
on earth [2]. Charles Secrett, Director of Friends of the Earth, said:
"I am extremely surprised and annoyed by the Duke's reported remarks.
They do not make any sense. Prince Philip has obviously received a very biased
briefing over the environmental impacts of the proposed mine. Dozens of unique
wild animals and plants are under threat and may become extinct if the mine goes
ahead. Even RTZ's own environmental impact assessment study doesn't dispute that".
"We have written to the Palace to ask where he got his information
from and to urge the Royal Family to use its influence, especially if it is a
shareholder of RTZ, to press the company to scrap the mine". The remarks
made by the President of the World Wide Fund for Nature followed a visit to Madagascar
and South Africa. Richards Bay Minerals, another RTZ subsidiary engaged
in titanium dioxide extraction, is embroiled in a long running dispute over proposed
mining in highly sensitive areas on South Africa's east coast. CONTACT:
Charles Secrett Tel: 071 490 0210 Tony Juniper Tel: 071 490 0336 Neil Verlander
Tel: 071 566 1649 [1] The Independent, 27 March 1995, front page headline
"Duke of Edinburgh defends Madagascar Mine". [2] See for instance
Lewis Environmental Consultants' 1992 report Madagascar Minerals: Environmental
Impact Assessment Study Part I: Natural Environment (available from Friends of
the Earth). -- Keywords: environment africa madagascar groups foe
mining terrec uk europe politics / END OF QUOTE:
Now, here is the grand plan exposed. This plan would take all of the central
plains states in the USA away from the people and make them into a habitat for
rats and rabbits. This is a very serious and well funded effort dear reader:
QUOTE Food Summit Speeds UN Agenda by Berit
Kjos http://www.beritkjos.com/text/articles/fssua1196.html
"Where the Buffalo Roam: Reclaiming the Great Plains.î The title
of the cover article in the TWA magazine intrigued me. Flying east across the
Great Plains toward Minneapolis, I scanned the quilt-like farmland below and wondered
which part might be reclaimed for the bison. The article began with
a full sized picture of an old red barn in a golden field. "An abandoned farm
in Mayville, North Dakota," explained the caption, "signifies the decline in self-sustaining
agriculture on the Great Plains." Under a photo of grazing buffaloes was written,
"Buffalo are integral to the region's health." Abandoned farms in Mayville? No
health without bison? Since my husband grew up in Mayville, I knew
well that no one abandons farms in this fertile valley. But contrary facts matter
little to political activists with a green agenda. These deceptive photos help
"prove" the existence of a crisis. They provide the persuasive "information" needed
to "raise consciousness", produce consensus, validate centralized land management,
and speed compliance with unthinkable controls. I read on: Human design,
not natural selection, will be responsible for the great buffalo herds of the
21st century. They are part of a plan to reconstruct naturealready well along
in the initial stages of implementation." The grander scheme, led
by President Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD) together with
the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, means restoring wolves,
owls, snails, bugs and bacteria to an idealized version of their former state.
Whole ecosystems, not just parts, must be reconstructed-often at the expense of
private landowners. With the United Nations' World Food Summit (WFS)
on my mind, I pondered an obvious paradox: How would UN visionaries and their
environmental partners reconcile (1) their desire to return fertile farmland back
to buffalo grazing land with (2) their demand for a global welfare systems promising
"food security" for all? Reconstructing Nature The vision
of buffalo herds roaming free throughout the plains was birthed by academics Deborah
and Frank Popper in distant New Jersey. They interpreted statistics showing reduced
population in many rural communities to mean that farming the Plains had been
an "ill-conceived" notion from the beginning. "The best use for the Great Plains",
argued the Poppers, was to ban farming altogether, create a "Buffalo Commons",
and restore the land to its original condition. Other land-use planners from distant
states agreed. But farmers were afraid . "We're tremendously concerned
about losing our property rights," said Mike Schmidt, a South Dakota rancher.
"Right now, two things are particularly scary for us-endangered species and wetlands
Essentially, they can determine how you use your land." Schmidt has
reason to fear. The "Buffalo Commons" envisioned by idealistic planners is huge
enough to touch everyone. "To really do any good, we have to plan over large geographies,"
says Bruce Stein, the director of external affairs for conservation science at
the Nature Conservancy, a powerful advocacy group for ecosystem planning. "A natural
system needs room to function." A "healthy Great Plains would encompass
every square meter of the Plains, from the prairie provinces of Canada through
Oklahoma and Texas," added Glen Martin who wrote the TWA article. It would include
Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, and the Dakotas as well as the "adjacent
ecosystems, such as the boreal forests of northern Michigan and Minnesota and
aspen groves of the eastern slopes of the Rockies. Some Great Plains species need
more than one habitat to thrive." So do some humans, but that matters
little. Aware of opposition, restoration scholars are willing to start
small: by connecting big chunks of biodiverse ecosystems with corridors to aid
animal migrations. This agenda matches that of The Wildlands Project conceived
by convicted "eco-warrior" Dave Foreman who co-founded the militant eco-group
Earth First and serves as on the board of the Sierra Club. "Embraced
by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency),
The Nature Conservancy, UNPED (United Nations Environment Programme), UNESCO,
and the Sierra Club," says Henry Lamb, publisher of éco-logic, "the Wildlands
Project wants to return 'at least 50 percent' of the land area in America to 'core
wilderness areas' where human activity is barred." These "core wilderness
areas", Lamb explains, would "be connected by corridors" and "surrounded by buffer
zones" in which there may be managed human activity providing that biodiversity
protection is the first priority." Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska)
shares Henry Lamb's concern. In June 1996, he introduced "The American Land Sovereignty
Protection Act." It would have protected private property owners and required
Congressional approval of international land designations in the US-something
most Americans would have taken for granted. But it failed to pass-in spite of
his persuasive words to the House of Representatives: More
and more of our nation's land has become subject to international land-use restrictions...
A total of 67 sites in the United States have been designated as UN Biosphere
Reserves or World Heritage Sites. These programs are run by UNESCO-an arm of the
UN... The Biosphere Reserve program is not even authorized by a single U.S. law
or even an international treaty. That is wrong. Executive branch appointees...
should not do things that the law does not authorize. ...the power
to make all rules and regulations governing lands belonging to the United States
is vested in the Congress... Yet the international land designations under these
programs have been created with virtually no congressional oversight.
Even so, the Presidentís Council on Sustainable Development, like the other
national CSDs around the world, continues to pursue its intrusive plan for land
management based on UN guidelines. It suggests using government regulations, tax
incentives and disincentives, the media, and persuasive ìscientificî
information to manage lands, people, communities, consumption, transportation,
and knowledge. Its authors include Bruce Babbitt (Secretary of the
Interior), Jay Hair (former National Wildlife Federation president who formed
a partnership with John Denver's New Age-globalist organization Windstar), Madeline
Kunin (Deputy Secretary, Department of Education), and Timothy Wirth (Undersecretary
of State for Global Affairs). Its "principal liasons" include the
EPA, The Nature Conservancy, and the Sierra Club-the same organizations that support
the Wildlands Project. In light of this liason, ponder the comment by Wildlands
Project Director Reed Noss: "The collective needs of non-human species must take
precedence over the needs and desires of humans." Even when people
are starving? Managing Food "World leaders will assemble
in Rome from 13 to 17 November, 1996, making a public commitment to action to
eliminate hunger,î stated the official "Brochure" available on the World
Food Summit's world wide web page. "As preparations for the Summit proceed, world
grain stocks have dwindled to dangerously low levels... a reminder of the fragility
of food supplies in a world that must produce more each year to feed a rapidly
increasing population. An estimated 800 million people still are chronically undernourished.
The agreements reached at the Summit will place foodat the top of the global agenda
alongside peace and stability." The "agreements" are a two-part contract:
the World Food Summit (WFS) Document and the Plan of Action. Signed by the participating
nations, this contract holds nations accountable for fulfilling their assigned
part of the UN agenda. Under the noble banner of "civic government", it links
local and international NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) directly to UN agencies,
bypassing Congress and state legislatures that cling to old notions of sovereignty.
The real issue is control. Who will manage and monitor the global
production and distribution of food? How will they manage information, motivate
the masses, and establish consensus and solidarity? Just as US educators
promise "local control" while implementing the global education plan, so the WFS
acknowledged national sovereignty, but mandated compliance. Each nation that signed
the contract agreed to a monstrous system of old and new UN resolutions starting
with Commitment One: "We will ensure an enabling political, social, and economic
environment designed to create the best conditions for the eradication of poverty
and for durable peace ." What does that mean? The Marxist economics
and social "equality" touted by the UN? The jubilant reception of
Fidel Castro and his hard-line Communist message gives a clue to the world's hostility
toward Western capitalism and free enterprise. No wonder the WFS contract tells
nations to "reallocate resources" as "required to ensure food for all" (#59,e)
-not through foreign aid, but through total worldwide social and economic transformation.
During a televised "World Food Summit Preview"featuring U.S. Under-Secretary
of State Timothy Wirth and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, a reporter asked
if the US might be "negotiating away some rights" and "accepting restraints on
what we can plantwhat fertilizers we can use, what chemicals we can use on the
land." Obviously irritated by the question, Glickman, who heads the
US delegation to the WFS, answered, "We were never headed in that direction. We
would never have accepted that!" Yet, minutes later, he mentioned his plan to
restrict the use "of pesticides, herbicides and insecticide." The
WFS contract doesn't detail the specific "preventative measures". Apparently,
the more sensitive parts of the agenda were discussed in settings less open to
critical eyes. As a UN news release suggested, the gathering of international
leaders "might yield more than the summit itself": Canadian Agriculture
Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters that he hoped to have unofficial talks.
'Part of what will happen in Rome,' he said, 'apart from the official agenda,
is a great deal of corridor conversations, which on occasion can be more valuable
than the official proceedings.' Far more sobering than the stated
goals and steps is the establishment of a legal framework for global governance.
Most official contracts signed by nations at former UN Conferences reach beyond
stated topics such as saving the earth, protecting the children, eradicating poverty,
empowering women, and feeding the poor. Those issues fit into a larger context
which involves a vast "systemic" plan for global transformation-a reality which
begs the question: Could each current issue simply be the "crisis" needed to persuade
the masses to accept totalitarian controls? For example, the WFS contract
calls for "protecting the interests and needs of the child consistent with the
World Summit for Children [and] the Convention on the Rights of the Child." (#17)
Are children's rights being used as a smokescreen that justifies government plans
to develop "human resources" without hindrance from parents with contrary beliefs
and values? In a 1993 speech at the International Development Conference,
James P. Grant, past executive director of the United Nation's Children's Fund
(UNICEF), said- Children and women can be our Trojan Horse
for attacking the citadel of poverty, for undergirding democracy, dramatically
slowing population growth and for accelerating economic development.
The WFS contract asked governments, ìin partnership with all actors of
civil societyî to ìestablish legal and other mechanisms, as appropriate,
that advance land reform.î (#15, b) Could this mean the rights of the poor,
especially of women, to "access to land" might be emphasized over and above the
property rights of present land owners? The UN contract signed at Women's Conference
in Beijing indicated such a "right", and the WFS affirmed that suggestion: "Support
and implement commitments made at the Fourth World Conference on Women." (#16,a)
Nations that signed the WFS contract agreed to Commitment 7: "implement,
monitor, and follow-up this Plan of Action at all levels in cooperation with the
international community." President Clinton took a big step toward fulfilling
his part through Executive Order 13011. Creating a massive information technology
management system linked to international systems, it helps federal agencies-FBI,
CIA, FEMA, EPA and Departments of State, Education, Labor, Health and Human Services,
Agriculture, Interior, etc.-exchange and monitor information around the world.
According to UN guidelines, all people and all places would be monitored-schools,
homes, workplaces.... All who violate the new standards for tolerance, gender
equity, or sustainable living at home or at work would be tracked through the
vast UN-controlled data system. Globalist leaders know that only a
new set of beliefs and values will prepare the Western world to accept what Al
Gore calls "sacrifice, struggle and a wrenching transformation of society."The
3 Eís of Sustainable Development (Environment, Economy, and Equity) must
become the worldís central organizing principle. Every nation must submit
to a ìsystem-wide coordination within the framework of the coordinated
follow-up to UN conferences" Resident UN coordinators would guide and monitor
"the allocation and use of financial and human resources" (#59,h,e), while nations
with representative government would yield their sovereignty to a monstrous multilevel
global bureaucracy controlled by socialist UN rulers. All this would
be hard for Americans to swallow unless persuasive and strategic information can
change their minds. So the UN calls for "system-wide advocacy" to guide its agenda
through the "difficult times of economic transition, budget austerity and structural
adjustment" ahead. (#59,m,n) "Improve the dissemination and
utilization of information and data needed to guide and monitor progress" states
the contract. (#59,c) The validity of new data matters less than its power to
stir feelings and motivate the masses to accept the new socialist criteria for
economic equality.As Stanford University environmentalist Stephen Schneider said,
ìwe need to get some broad based support Ö.So we have to offer up
scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements and make little mention
of any doubts we might have...."1
To rally public support, advocacy must outweigh integrity. Last April a public
health agency told its employees to dispose of any data that contradicted politically
correct policies and conclusions. A memo to employees of the Office of Environmental
Health Hazard Assessment told workers to discard all documents ìwhich contain
other policy proposals not adopted or reflectedî in its final policy decisions.
"Only those communications which are reflected or embodied in the final decision
or document shall be kept on file." What counts is the appearance
of consensus-the key to managing people through "civic government." To ensure
conformity to UN policies at every level of society, the "WFS Plan of Action builds
on consensus reached." (#10) This strategy, which uses planned dialogues and politically
correct data to create a collective mindset, is already being used in American
schools, workplaces, communities, and government agencies. It is promoted through
UN literature, the US Department of Education's Community Action Toolkit, and
Sustainable America, the 1996 report by the President's Council on Sustainable
Development. In fact, the worldwide "human resource" management system envisioned
by socialist leaders decades ago is almost in place. Managing people.
"Raise the global profile of food security issues through system-wide advocacy,"
states the WFS contract. (#58.12) It uses words such as advocacy, civil society,
participatory, and empowering to indicate the strategic blend of propaganda and
dialogue used around the world to win grass-roots public support for the global
agenda. At each level of society, facilitators are being trained to
use the consensus process. Emotional phrases such as "food insecurity" and "vulnerability
information" evoke the public sympathy needed to change attitudes and spur desired
action. The WFS contract states, "To prevent and resolve conflicts
peacefully and create a stable political environment, througha transparent and
effective legal framework governments. will reinforce peace, by developing conflict
prevention mechanisms promoting tolerance. Develop policy making processes that
are democratic, transparent, participatory, empowering." (#14) "Promoting
tolerance" is key to the paradigm shift from biblical to earth-centered beliefs
and values. The 1995 UNESCO Declaration on Tolerance, signed by member states,
defines tolerance as "respect, acceptance and appreciation" of the world's diverse
cultures and lifestyles-an attitude that "involves the rejection of dogmatism
and absolutism." It is "not only a moral duty, it is also a political and legal
requirement." Since "intolerance is a global threat," UNESCO demands an international
"response to this global challenge, includingeffective countermeasures."
Why discuss tolerance, consensus building, compromise, and conflict resolution
at a UN summit on food? The answer is two-fold. First, UN leaders warn us that
intolerance causes conflict, which hinders food production and causes poverty.
Second, since intolerance implies resistance to the new global values and solidarity,
it is a threat to the implementation of the whole UN plan. Therefore intolerance
must be quenched, while "tolerance promotion and the shaping of attitudes. should
take place in schools and universities... at home and in the workplace."
The solution, as you saw, is the consensus process, also called conflict
resolution, Hegelian dialectics, and the Delphi Technique. To unify people who
embrace opposing values, the public must be engaged in "participatory" dialogues.
Led by trained facilitators, these dialogues produce the collective thinking which
prods participants beyond the old truths into the ambiguous realm of imagination
and evolving truths. The ground rules demand that everyone participate
and find "common ground." They forbid dissent and argument, no matter how unsound
the "scientific" evidence used to back the preplanned consensus. "Adversarial
processes" must be replaced with "collaborative approaches to resolving conflicts"
through "education, information and communications" until "people, bonded by a
shared purpose" learn to comply. It's already happening across America.
Young and old are being trained to blend their values, adapt their beliefs, think
as a group, and conform to the new standards. Like other nations, America is following
the Pied Piper into a new world order whose architects may sound wise and compassionate,
but are neither rational, factual, honest or tolerant. Population
Control Notice the paradoxes. The United Nations promises human rights,
but mandates social engineering. It promises peace, but creates conflict. It touts
science, but twists it into propaganda. And it pledges food security, but limits
land use. How, then, can it reconcile its vision of a global welfare system with
its green agenda, including the huge Biosphere reserves? The Global
Biodiversity Assessment (GBA) suggest an answer: simply cut the world population
by about 80%-or return to a feudal lifestyle (no cars, planes, air conditioners
) Meeting the need for "scientific and technical assessments" mandated in the
UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the GBA estimates that,
an 'agricultural world' in which most human beings are peasants, should be able
to support 5 to 7 billion people.... In contrast, a reasonable estimate for an
industrialized world society at the present North American material standard of
living would be 1 billion [people]. For globalist leaders
such as Undersecretary of State Timothy Wirth, the process is too slow. ìWe
hope the senate will... ratify the Biological Diversity Treaty which is essential
to all the issues," he told the above reporters, "[and to the] continuing emphasis
on the increasing need for population stabilizing ... " A crusader for Malthusian
economics and China's one-child family planning, Wirth has indicated that by protecting
women fleeing China's oppressive abortion policies, "we could potentially open
ourselves up to just about everybody in the world saying 'I don't want to plan
my family, therefore I deserve political asylum." Wirth's views may
sound too radical for consensus, but that depends on whose voice is heard. UN
leaders tells us that solving the worldís problems must involve the participation
of all members of society, but they demonstrate the opposite. They promise to
include everyoneóglobal and national leaders, non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), women, youth and "other sectors of civil society"-if they share their
vision. But dissenters are left out. Today's typical consensus process
allows resisters a moment to expose themselves, but it refuses to record their
objections. So does the new civil society. "Bella Abzug's NGO Forum will submit
a document supposedly representing 1,200 NGOs and millions of persons worldwide,"
observed Eagle Forum leader Cathie Adams, "The supporters of that document claim
to represent the world's civil society. It's interesting, though, that conservative
groups like Eagle Forum have experienced tremendous harassment regarding accreditation
for the Rome event. Clearly, the 'new civil society' cannot accommodate traditional
family values. The radical feminists are extremists attempting to stifle any conservative
views." So do the socialists behind the UN agenda. As Andrei Vishinsky
wrote in The Law of the Soviet State "In our state, naturally, there can be no
place for freedom of speech, press, and so on for the foes of socialism."
Exclusion and hostility have pursued Jews and Christians throughout history.
Biblical values simply don't fit a world that has turns its back to God. "If you
were of the world, the world would love its own," Jesus told His friends. "Yet
because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore
the world hates you.... If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you...
because they do not know Him who sent Me." Moments later, Jesus encouraged
His friends with a promise: "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you
may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer,
I have overcome the world." (John 15:19-21, 16:33) In a world of confusion, conflict,
and catastrophe, He alone offers the hope, strength, and guidance that can bring
victory over evil. _____________ For practical information
about the U.S. implementation of the U.N. agenda for educating the masses, read
Brave New Schools (Harvest House Publishers). Available through Christian bookstores,
by calling 800-829-5646, or through this web page: http://www.beritkjos.com
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