darby report 297michaeldarby.net/darbyreport/297.pdf · darby report 297 31 october 2004 page 2...

Darby Report 297 31 October 2004 Page 1

Darby Report 297 Sunday 31 October 2004

CONTENTS Click the page number to read:

The Substance and the Sham — the Presidential Election 1 As Bill Clinton Once Said 2 The Character of Kerry 4 A Clear Moral Vision 5 The Darby Report prediction 7

Domestic Dictatorship 9 Junior Cricket 11 Important Charity Event 13

The Substance and the Sham On 9 October 2004 Australians voted for the substance rather than the sham, which mean that the Coalition led by Prime Minister John Howard convincingly defeated the Labor Party led by Mark Latham. The future of civilisation will be advanced if USA voters are similarly wise on 2 November. Subscribers whose mailing list includes citizens of the United States of America, please forward this issue of the Darby Report and help secure victory for George W Bush. Following are three items from the mailbag which deserve wide distribution:

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For the Darby Report presentation of the latest Australian Federal Election figures, please click HERE.

http://www.geocities.com/queenslanders/DR295/DarbyReport295Tue12Oct04.pdf


Forwarded by Eric Bruckner in France

As Bill Clinton Once Said STEPHEN F. HAYES, Wall Street Journal, 27 October 2004 Mr. Hayes, of The Weekly Standard, is the author of "The Connection: How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America," recently published by HarperCollins

Saddam did have links to al Qaeda. With Bill Clinton alongside him at a campaign rally on Monday, John Kerry said he'd asked his fellow Democrat if he had anything in common with George W. Bush. Mr. Clinton's tart response - we were told - had been: "In eight days and 12 hours, we will both be former presidents." Well, it appears that Messrs. Clinton and Bush have a lot more in common than that piece of wishful thinking. Both have warned - Mr. Clinton first, of course - that the nexus between rogue states like Iraq and terrorists like al Qaeda poses the greatest threat to America. On this point, in fact, Mr. Clinton has much more in common with Mr. Bush than he does with John Kerry. According to 9/11 Commission co-chairman Thomas Kean, Mr. Clinton believed with "absolute certainty" that Iraq provided al Qaeda with weapons of mass destruction expertise and technology in the 1990s. He believed it as president when he ordered the destruction of the al Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan, and he believes it now. And it's not just Mr. Clinton. According to Mr. Kean,

"Top officials - Bill Clinton, Sandy Berger and others - told us with absolute certainty that there were chemical weapons of mass destruction at that factory and that's why we sent missiles."

A brief chronology: On Aug. 7, 1998, al Qaeda terrorists bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 257--including 12 Americans - and injuring more than 5,000. On Aug. 20, 1998, the Clinton administration retaliated. Tomahawk missiles struck an al Qaeda terrorist training facility in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan. Destroying a bin Laden camp in Afghanistan was a no-brainer. But the decision to take out the al Shifa plant in Sudan was immediately controversial. Top Clinton administration officials said that the building was a chemical weapons factory.

"There is no question in my mind that the Sudanese factory was producing chemicals that are used - and can be used - in VX gas,"

said President Clinton, addressing the nation after the strikes. "This was a plant that was producing chemical warfare-related weapons, and we have physical evidence of that."


The Sudanese denied this. And when reporters on the ground found aspirin bottles and other drug paraphernalia the Clinton administration, on Aug. 24, 1998, made available a "senior intelligence official" to provide more information. The official told reporters that the intelligence indicated "strong ties between the plant and Iraq." He cited the presence of O-ethylmethylphosphonothioic acid, known as Empta. It is a precursor for deadly VX nerve gas. The official was asked which countries make VX using Empta. "Iraq is the only country we're aware of," the official responded. "There are a variety of ways of making VX, a variety of recipes, and Empta is fairly unique." The following day, Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering, one of a handful of top officials involved in the decision to target al Shifa, spoke to reporters at the National Press Club. He was asked about an Iraqi connection.

"We see evidence that we think is quite clear on contacts between Sudan and Iraq. In fact, al Shifa officials, early in the company's history, we believe were in touch with Iraqi individuals associated with Iraq's VX program."

Both the Iraqis and the Sudanese denied this. Sudanese officials made their case by pointing out that the al Shifa factory had been granted a contract for $199,000 to produce good s under the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food program. But the contract was never fulfilled and that program has, since the fall of Saddam's regime, been exposed as an elaborate money-laundering scheme that allowed Saddam to circumvent sanctions. In the days after the U.S. strikes, the Iraqi regime was characteristically defiant: Iraqi Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan denounced U.S. "terrorism" against Sudan and on Aug. 27, 1998, Babel, a state-run Iraqi newspaper published by Uday Hussein, pronounced Osama bin Laden an "Arab and Islamic hero." Under press scrutiny, the Clinton administration vigorously defended the strikes. Bill Richardson, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., cited "Sudan's support for terrorism, their connections with Iraq on VX and Sudan's leadership support for Osama bin Laden." Sandy Berger suggested that al Shifa was a dual-use facility like those U.N. inspectors had found in Iraq. The Clinton administration had "information linking bin Laden to the Sudanese regime and to the al Shifa plant," he wrote in the Washington Times on Oct. 16, 1998. He added: "We have information that Iraq has assisted chemical weapons activity in Sudan." This was not a peripheral argument. To justify its response to these al Qaeda attacks the Clinton administration repeatedly cited an Iraqi connection with al Shifa. Mr. Kean says that the 9/11 Commission heard from some intelligence officials who raised questions about the presence of chemicals at al Shifa. "We still can't say for certain that the chemicals were there," Mr. Kean says, naming Clinton administration officials who testified before the commission. "If they're right and there was stuff there, then it had to come from Iraq. They're the ones who had the stuff, who had this technology." Whatever the outstanding questions on al Shifa, there is little doubt that Iraqi scientists were helping al Qaeda terrorists in Sudan. Michael Scheuer, who ran the CIA's bin Laden unit from 1996 to 1999, wrote in his 2002 book "Through Our Enemies' Eyes," that


"we know for certain that Iraq and Sudan have been cooperating with bin Laden on CBRN [chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear] weapons acquisition and development."

(Mr. Scheuer, who writes as "Anonymous," has been a favorite of Bush administration critics since the publication this summer of "Imperial Hubris," his scathing indictment of the war on terror.) John Gannon, former chairman of the National Intelligence Council and deputy director of the CIA, agrees. "The consistent stream of intelligence at that time said it wasn't just al Shifa," Mr. Gannon recalls. "There were three different structures in the Sudan. There was the hiring of Iraqis. There was no question that the Iraqis were there. Some of the Clinton people seem to forget that they did make the Iraqi connection." That journalists also seem to have forgotten that the Clinton people made the Iraqi connection is strange. The central question of the presidential campaign is this: Was the Iraq war a diversion from the war on terror, as John Kerry claims, or the central front of the war on terror, as George W. Bush contends? Recent intelligence that Iraqi scientists provided WMD expertise to al Qaeda - especially if that intelligence led to military action - seems highly relevant. So who is right? Did Iraq provide al Qaeda with WMD technology and expertise, as Bill Clinton claimed in the late 1990s and continues to believe today? Or is John Kerry correct when he claims, as he did last week in Dayton, Ohio, that Iraq "had nothing to do with al Qaeda?" Now is a good time to ask.

* * * * Forwarded by Eric Bruckner in France

The Character of Kerry To: [email protected] October 22, 2004 The Editor The Wall Street journal Dear Sir/Madame: As a graduate of the Yale class of 1966, I resent the self-serving lies and misrepresentations advanced by my classmate John Kerry. Herewith, a few corrections:


John Kerry has been using the Pershing name to dramatize his Vietnam experience, claiming to have been a close friend of Richard Pershing, the grandson of General (Black Jack) Pershing. Richard Pershing was a member of the Yale class of 1966, and he was killed in Vietnam shortly after we graduated. However, Kerry's constant references to his 'dearest' friend are exaggerated and exploitative. In fact, Dick Pershing and I roomed together for all 4 years at Yale. I don't remember John Kerry ever being in our room or even being a particular favorite of Dick's. In this regard, it is particularly revealing that a recent biography of General Pershing, Until The Last Trumpet Sounds (by Gene Smith), includes an entire chapter on Dick, primarily on his years at Yale; the name John Kerry does not appear. The Pershing Family did know Kerry, but they disliked him intensely. This antipathy stemmed primarily from an incident at the Pershing home on Park Avenue not long after Dick's death: at a gathering of friends and family, Kerry worked the room with his anti-Vietnam message, incurring the undying enmity of Mr. and Mrs. Pershing and Dick's older brother Jack, a Green Beret. The family was shocked and insulted by Kerry's insensitivity. Kerry has implied - as recently as the first Presidential debate - that he became disillusioned about Vietnam by his military experience. However, as early as 1965, in his Junior year at Yale, he was giving anti-war speeches; and his Class Day Oration in 1966 - prior to graduation - criticized American involvement in Vietnam. These sentiments clearly antedated his Vietnam experience. So why did he join the Navy? He told some classmates that it would help his career. The above pattern suggests a callous and opportunistic personality - hardly what I would call Presidential. David Schlossberg, MD Yale '66

* * * * Forwarded by North American correspondent Erich Kern

A Clear Moral Vision Rev. Robert Sirico

Acton News and Commentary Dear Friends: It is not often that I write a letter like this to our friends, subscribers and supporters but, given the vibrant debate that is occasioned by the American elections in a few days, I thought I should share some reflections that you may find useful.


Our motivation in beginning the work of the Acton Institute almost 15 years ago was to make a concerted, intelligent and faithful effort to promote and secure what we have repeatedly called 'the free and virtuous society.' It is my conviction that both these elements are necessary if we want society to be worthy of human dignity. The element of freedom is critical because the human person is created with a destiny beyond this world, which requires his liberty to seek and pursue. It seems to me to follow logically then that interventions of a political nature must be limited, not merely for reasons of efficiency - that things would work better - but also, and more importantly, for reasons of morality. Man must be free to pursue his destiny because that is what he was created for. Religious freedom, as well as the freedom of enterprise, logically flow from this idea. We call for the minimization of taxes, regulations and other forms of control, at the same time as we call for the freedom of expression and assembly and the like, even when, at times, we do not agree with those expressions. This is where virtue comes in. It is not enough for people to be free; the more profound question is:

What ought I do with my freedom? In many ways, religion, faith, commitment to God and lives of integrity and virtue, help in the construction of a society that promotes generosity, moral accountability, stability and peace. For these reasons, it is astounding to me that in the course of the political discussion over the past few months, and especially in the last few days, numerous intellectuals, editorial writers and journalists insist on identifying the integration of faith, character, values and morality with theocracy. There appears to be a literal panic in some quarters that if religion influences the social and political decisions that Americans make in the coming days, the values of tolerance and pluralism (rightly understood), will disappear. I believe the opposite is the case and that in order to protect so free and prosperous a society, a clear moral vision and commitment is an essential part of the political debate. In a land where liberty is prized, only the intolerant would forbid the expression of this clear moral vision. I know enough about politics (though I am not a member of any political party) to know that you cannot bring the kingdom of God to earth by means of it; and as valuable as democracy is as a process, a majority vote cannot determine the truth of a thing. So my rule of thumb in evaluating platforms, policies and candidates is:

Will this promote liberty (which is the highest political end of man)? And will it protect human life, especially when vulnerable?

This leaves lots of room for prudence, of course, and Lord knows, plenty of room for debate.


I write to you now with these reflections in the hope that they will encourage those of you eligible to vote in the U.S. elections to do so prayerfully and intelligently, and to vote the values of your moral convictions without fear. And I encourage you to encourage others to do likewise. I am aware that many of our subscribers are priests and ministers, and I would encourage you, likewise, to pose these considerations to your congregations on Sunday morning. One of the greatest models of how to live the tension of being in the world yet not of it, was Thomas More, the great English statesman. In his life, writings and martyrdom we see a man who witnessed to the "inalienable dignity of man's conscience" while remaining faithful to legitimate authority and political institutions. It was he who said that "man cannot be separated from God, nor can the affairs of state be separated from morality." Please vote on Tuesday. Rev. Robert Sirico President & Co-founder Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty 161 Ottawa N.W., Suite 301 * Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Telephone: 616/454-3080 * Facsimile: 616/454-9454 * www.acton.org

* * * * The Darby Report prediction This assessment awards Florida to Kerry on the assumption that four years of voter registration campaigns plus outright fraud on the part of the Democrats must have an effect somewhere. On my figures, Bush can afford to lose both Ohio and Pennsylvania and still win. If Bush loses Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado, and the other predictions are correct, then a 269:269 result will cause headaches, to the extent that the President will be chosen by the House of Representatives and the Vice president will be chosen by the Senate.

For the Darby Report presentation of the latest Australian Federal Election figures, please click HERE.

http://www.geocities.com/queenslanders/DR295/DarbyReport295Tue12Oct04.pdf


Electoral votes for STATE George W Bush John F Kerry Alabama 9 Alaska 3 Arizona 10 Arkansas 6 California 55 Colorado 9 Connecticut 7 Delaware 3 District of Columbia 3 Florida 27 Georgia 15 Hawaii 4 Idaho 4 Illinois 21 Iowa 7 Indiana 11 Kansas 6 Kentucky 8 Louisiana 9 Maine 1 3 Maryland 10 Massachusetts 12 Michigan 17 Minnesota 10 Mississippi 6 Missouri 11 Montana 3 Nebraska 4 1 Nevada 5 New Hampshire 4 New Jersey 15 New Mexico 5 New York 31 North Carolina 15 North Dakota 3 Ohio 20 Oklahoma 7 Oregon 7 Pennsylvania 21 Rhode Island 4 South Carolina 8 South Dakota 3 Tennessee 11 Texas 34 Utah 5 Vermont 3 Virginia 13 Washington 11 West Virginia 5 Wisconsin 10 Wyoming 3 Total 319 219

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Domestic Dictatorship The great Estonian-American cartoonist Edmund Valtman – who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1962 – was an eyewitness to the plundering by dictatorships of the nation of his birth, and like all Estonians he lost relatives in the infamous Soviet deportations. His cartoons of dictators have a special poignancy. Valtman’s Castro and Brezhnev (below) are among his best known works.

Why does the Gauleiter of Warringah have less legitimacy than these two dictators? The answer is that Fidel Castro still enjoys the support of as many as thirty percent of the population of Cuba and Leonid Brezhnev had the backing of perhaps twenty percent of the citizens of the Soviet Union. The rule of the Gauleiter of Warringah is welcomed only by:

• the handful of zealots who waged an effective campaign of political sabotage against the democratically elected Council

• the card-carrying Labor Party members who signed letters to the Minister asking for the Gauleiter’s term to be extended

• the minority groups who applaud the Gauleiter’s contribution to their ongoing campaigns to close Manly Hospital and Mona Vale Hospital

• the property developers who eagerly await windfalls from the sale of hospital land and from the Gauleiter’s collectivist “master plan” for the Dee Why CBD.

• the Labor Party Minister for Local Government who appointed the Gauleiter and who has now extended his anti-democratic regime until 2008.


The Gauleiter of Warringah does not share the murderous characteristics of his predecessors in the role – such as Terboven in Norway and Wagner in Alsace. But like earlier Gauleiters, he knows who the boss is. A democratically elected Council is responsible to the voters, and each member of that democratically elected Council knows that there is an obligation to face the voters at the next election. Each Gauleiter is only interested in pursuing the prescribed goals of the source of the Gauleiter’s power which in the case of Terboven and Wagner meant the Third Reich. And in the case of Dick Persson the Administrator of Warringah, the Gauleiter serves not the aspirations of the people of Warringah but the goals of the Australian Labor Party. By extending until 2008 the control of Warringah Municipality by an unelected Labor hack the NSW Labor Government has declared war on the people of Warringah, and has also declared war upon democracy. Labor knows that any freely elected Warringah Council will stand in the way of Labor’s goals, which include closure of Manly Hospital and Mona Vale Hospital, the sale to Labor’s mates of the valuable hospital real estate, and wholly inappropriate Soviet-style over-development in the Dee Why CBD. The current Member for Manly, the first politician ever to demand the removal of a major hospital from his own electorate, is doubly disgraced by his approval of gauleiter rule over his constituents who reside in Warringah. Coupon The coupon below is intended for the use of persons of good will who live in the Manly-Warringah-Pittwater area. Please forward this Darby Report to your friends who are residents of the Northern Beaches.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Please email to [email protected], post to Community Expressions PO Box 401 Manly 1655, or fax to 9971 5388. (All boxes are optional. Kindly tick the boxes which apply)

I want democratic free elections in Warringah. I want Manly Hospital retained and adequately funded. I want Mona Vale Hospital retained and adequately funded. I oppose the construction of a hospital on the Warringah Civic Centre site. I reject the right of any unelected administrator to foist a “master plan” upon Dee Why. Enrol me as a member of Community Expressions (no fees to pay).

Mr/Mrs&c: Signature: Inits: Surname phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Address: email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“He who fears the ballot box, should be feared by all” – Michael Darby


Junior Cricket Australia’s victories in India have boosted popular enthusiasm for one of the world’s great games. Cricket encourages excellence and is indeed a game for champions. However, the game which has given scope to the masterful skills of W.G. Grace, Don Bradman, Wes Hall, Richard Hadlee and Sachin Tendulkar is structured in a fashion sometimes inappropriate for the development of youngsters of average or below-average ability. Not all youngsters develop at the same rate, and there are other reasons why kids may arrive at their first primary school encounter with cricket, without possessing even rudimentary ball skills. The child who comes to primary school from an environment of backyard cricket, older siblings and sportive parents begins organised sport with a momentum which is not shared by all. Even at a very junior level, some sporting coaches focused their coaching effort on winning to the exclusion of concern for motivating the uncoordinated and encouraging the inept. A child can play four seasons of cricket at primary school without ever being asked to bowl, without ever keeping wickets, while being accustomed to batting at the bottom of the order with no expectation of facing more than a couple of balls before dismissal. Junior Cricket needs a variant of the game which encourages all youngsters, which can be played by boys and girls with a range of age, size and talent, but which places no impediment in the way of future stars of the game. This variant of the game is named for life-long cricket enthusiast, a useful right-hand middle-order batsman for Manly Veterans (1950-1960) and the man who introduced cricket to Taiwan in 1961, the late Douglas Darby, who for 33 years represented Manly in the NSW Parliament.

DOUG DARBY RULES FOR JUNIOR CRICKET Team Size Each team has twelve members. In each innings, twelve bat and eleven field. Duration The game is played in four sessions, each of six 6-ball overs (the short game). If a longer version is required, the game may be played in four sessions, each of twelve overs (the long game). In either case, the single innings of each team is played in two alternating sessions. A two-innings game is also possible.


If bad weather causes cancellation of the game after the first half is completed and before the completion of the second half, then the scores at the end of the first half (each team having batted for one session) become the result. Principal variations from the regular game There are six batting pairs on each team. Each pair comes to the wicket together to face a specified number of overs. When a batter is out, the batter is not dismissed, but instead is debited a penalty expressed in runs. Each member of the bowling side (other than the ’keeper) bowls at least one over in the short game, and at least two overs in the long game. Before each game Part of each team’s kit is a bag of marbles, numbered one to twelve. The precursor to the game is the draw, when in the presence of the other team each player draws a marble from the bag to establish individual roles for the game. The Results of the Draw

• The player with the number one marble is the scorer for the team’s first session in the field.

• The player with the number two marble is the wicketkeeper for the team’s first session in the field. For the team’s second session in the field the wicketkeeper and the scorer reverse roles.

• The players with marbles numbers one and two form batting pair “A” • The player with marble number three is the captain • The players with marbles numbers three and four form batting pair “B” • The player with marble number five is the vice-captain • The players with marbles numbers five and six form batting pair “C” • The players with marbles numbers seven and eight form batting pair “D” • In the short game, players with marbles seven and eight each bowl two overs. • The players with marbles numbers nine and ten form batting pair “E” • In the long game, players with marbles numbers nine and ten each bowl three

overs • The players with marbles eleven and twelve form batting pair “F”. • In the long game, players with marbles numbers eleven and twelve each bowl

three overs. Responsibilities of the Captain

• Meet the umpires • With the opposing captain, toss for choice of batting or bowling first. • Nominate the order in which batting pairs come to the wicket • Nominate the order of bowling • Consult with bowlers on field placement • Lead applause when the opposing captain comes to the crease • At the end of the game, lead the team in congratulating the opponents, and in

thanking the umpires.


Responsibilities of the Vice-Captain

• Ensure each batting pair is padded-up with safety gear including mouthguards one over before required.

• Cooperate with the scorer to ensure that all team names are correctly recorded in the scorebook.

• Conduct stocktakes of team kit before the game and after the game. Batting procedure Each batting pair comes to the wicket together for two overs in the short game or for four overs in the long game. When declared “Out” by the Umpire, the batter remains at the crease, but is debited three runs. No doubt some batters will receive negative totals, but every ball they face offers the potential of improvement. This “three run” debit factor may be varied by the competition organisers, perhaps increasing with the ages of the participants. All other laws of Cricket apply. Conclusion Under Doug Darby Rules junior sport will give every youngster an opportunity to learn and exercise all the skills of the great game, plus provide leadership and administrative experience for all.

* * * * * * * * * * * * IMPORTANT CHARITY EVENT

The Darby Report is published by Michael Darby PO Box 401 Manly NSW 1655 [email protected] 02 9972 9316

Bowel Cancer & Digestive Research Institute Australia

Research Awards Dinner The Strangers’ Dining Room, NSW Parliament House

Wednesday 1 December 2001. Pre-dinner drinks at 7pm

Parliamentary Host – The Hon Frank Sartor MLA Minister for Science and Medical Research, Assistant Minister for Health (Cancer)

Tickets: $165 per head, including a requested tax deductible component of $70 Tables of tens: $1,650, including a requested tax deductible component of $700

Black Tie

Featuring presentations from past and current Research Awardees

Entertainment Michael Darby the Poet

Celebrity Auctioneer Dr Ric Gordon, Channel 9 ‘Today Show’

RSVP to Debra Wayland 02 9926 8403 by 10th November please

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