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"How dare Senator Daschle criticize President Bush while we are fighting our war on terrorism, especially when we have troops in the field?"  -  Senator Trent Lott, February 28, 2002.

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"I cannot support this military action in the Persian Gulf at this time. Both the timing and the policy are subject to question."  - Senator Trent Lott, December, 1998, criticizing President Clinton during Operation Desert Fox, while troops were in the field.

ARE (TEA PARTY) REPUBLICAN EXTREMISTS THE ENEMY AND TRAITORS TO AMERICA? by R. Blackbird

Extremist (Tea Party) Republicans are selfish, power hungry, hateful of the poor, disloyal to the nation and its people, dishonest, avaricious, scornful of the nation's history, the dignity of its institutions, its standards of political morality, and its vision of advancement for all the people. The Republicans love war as long as they and theirs do not have to put on helmets and carry guns into the fighting. They use lies to start wars that kill hundreds of thousands of innocents and thousands of our own military service people. They love massive war-time profits, unavailable to their rich masters if war is absent.

Those Extremist Republicans hate the rest of us, which they must, in order to pass away from themselves and onto us, the financial burdens and losses their crimes, schemes and thefts cause. They are prolific, incessant, and destructive liars. They are blasphemers for they insist that their hateful and destructive deeds are the work of God. They are apostates for they gleefully attack the poor, the immigrants, the old and the sick, of whom God has commanded all of us to be mindful.

There is no reasoning with them, for all their logic is built on false premises. There is no appealing to them for honor's sake for they have lost all sense of shame and have no honor, there is no appealing to them for the nation's sake for that it what they hate the most.

Extremist (Tea Party) Republicans are the enemy.

Mr. Trent Lott, who seems to be able to talk out of both sides of his mouth at the same time, has always supported a Conservative Christian position especially when it comes to Church and State issues.  It is apparent from the data collected, that the first amendment may be in danger from his past and future actions.   Certainly his ability to choose when he will be for the first ammendment and when he will be against it, is very much available.

We called his office to Inquire about his attitude toward other religions besides Christianity. They replied that Wicca  "..isn't a "Real" religion, and neither is any other religion except Christianity "  Which Christianity are you practicing Mr. Lott?  Read the following and remember: "By their Works may they be known."

(Remember it is best to investigate on your own when looking at allegations about anyone.    Don't believe us, think for yourself and investigate for yourself!  And remember, the First Amendment and Religious Freedom Coalitions do not represent any political party nor do we recommend any political candidate, nor are we involving ourselves in the political process. 

What is it about Republicans and Gay Sex?

TRENT LOTT AND PAYOLA:

A watchdog group affiliated with Ralph Nader asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.

Citing newspaper reports, the Congressional Accountability Project asked the ethics panel to assess whether Lott, R-Miss., pressured high-tech lobbyists for contributions to a nonprofit group in attempt to assist the re-election efforts of Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich.

Abraham is sponsoring a bill supported by the lobbyists that would allow 297,500 more visas for skilled foreign workers to enter the country and work in U.S. companies. High-tech firms say there is a shortage of qualified American workers and they need immigrants to fill the positions.

The nonprofit group, Americans for Job Security, stepped up for Abraham after a series of ads criticized him and the visa legislation. The group responded with ads in Michigan defending Abraham and criticizing his challenger, Democratic Rep. Debbie Stabenow.

``The heart of the matter here is whether Senate Majority Leader Lott corruptly put legislative action up for sale and engaged in an advanced form of arm-twisting,'' Gary Ruskin, the Nader group's director, said in the complaint. ``This renting of influence and abuse of power, if true, subverts the democratic process.''

Victor Baird, chief counsel for the Senate Ethics Committee, said ethics investigations are confidential and committee members and staff cannot even confirm that they received a complaint.

Lott's spokesman, John Czwartacki, has denied that the senator did anything unethical.

``These charges are baseless, politically motivated and have no merit,'' he said.

According e-mails obtained by The Washington Post, The Associated Press and other news organizations, some lobbyists appeared to believe that if they didn't donate to Americans for Job Security, the visa bill would not move.

``I have heard that regardless of our `limitations,' we need to do something for Abraham if we want to see something moved in the Senate,'' one lobbyist wrote.

Spokesmen for Lott and Abraham have said the senators have long been supporters of increasing the number of visas and denied that donations were tied to the bill.

Lott, in the most recent year has seen such opportunities for democratic reform such as tobacco legislation, campaign finance reform, and equal rights for homosexuals. Sadly for the American people, Lott and many members of the Republican-led Senate have endorsed few of these proposals. In addition, Trent Lott has proved himself to be a pawn to business such as the tobacco industry. Lott played a major role in destroying both the tobacco bill written by fellow Republican  John McCain (R-AZ) and the bipartisan campaign finance reform bill submitted by Russ Feingold and John McCain. In addition, Lott has proved himself to be a bigot, both racially and in regards to sexual preference.

Lott & Racism

"Trent is an honorary member," said Arnie Watson, a former state senator, Lott's uncle, and a member of the Council of Conservative Citizens executive board. Trent Lott has proved himself to be a friend of a racist group, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC).  The CCC continues to favor segregation and other such ideas, and its website features such fine statements as "Given what has come out in the press about Mr. Clinton's alleged [sexual] preferences, and his apparent belief that oral sex is not sex one wonders if perhaps Mr. Clinton isn't America's first liberal black president... His beliefs are actually a result of his inner black culture. Call him an Oreo turned inside out" (H. Millard,  1998). According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a liberal group that monitors militias and other rightest organizations, the CCC is "reincarnation of the infamous White Citizens Councils,". In the 1950s and 60s, the White Citizens Council was known as the "uptown Klan". Essentially, it was an upscale Klu Klux Klan designed to attract society's elites to its cause and its membership was generally composed of individuals involved in local businesses and government. After the organization's demise, many members went on to create and lead the CCC. The chief executive of the CCC, Gordon Lee Baum,  was the midwest director for the White Citizens Council and the leader of Mississippi CCC, William Lord, was a regional organizer for the Citizen's Council. Because of these sorts of things, the CCC has even been kicked out of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). David Keene, head of CPAC, said "we kicked [them] out of CPAC because they are racists." According to Baum, the group was also formed by sending out mailings using the old White Citizens council mailing lists.

Trent Lott, who has, in the past, deplored the idea of having a national holiday for Martin Luther King, has done a lot for the CCC, including giving speeches and, evidently, inviting leaders of the CCC to his office in Washington. According to the The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Lott was cited as being a member of the group in November of 1998 by most people in the audience. The paper printed this statement without any objection from Lott's office until the story went national. In 1992, Lott gave a speech to the national conference of the CCC where he stated  "We need more meetings like this across the nation" to offset

same views with the organization. This viewpoint is in radical contradiction with what was evidently a great amount of support given to it by Mr. Lott, as evidenced by the fundraising mailing, the picture in his office, and the speech..

Lott's connections to the CCC should come as little surprise. Lott has, historically, ties to racist groups and individuals. Lott's political career started in the 60s when he was an administrative assistant to Rep. William Colmer, a fanatical segregationist Democrat. After Colmer's retirement, Lott switched parties and was elected as a Republican Representative. At the time Lott was elected, practically anyone running for office expecting to win in Mississippi had to be pro-segregation, and Lott evidently was. In addition, two of Lott's family members are part of the CCC. Acording to a 1989 newsletter published by the CCC, Lott's uncle is an executive of the CCC and his cousin is a member. Lott was also, to an unknown degree, a member of the State Sovereignty Commission, an organization which, in the 60s, sought to preserve the purity of the white race. It gave information to the Klu Klux Klan that led to the murder of three civil rights activists in the summer of 1964 (one of its agents gave the license plate number to Klansmen). The information on Lott came to light after a group filed a lawsuit for information regarding the State Soverignty Commission. Lott's name was cited in the membership roster, but, to Lott's credit, there is no evidence that he ever played any sort of real role (other than being a member) within the group. Lott's legislative record towards civil rights has also been none too race friendly. One of the first bills Lott introduced when he was elected to the House was a bill to halt school desegregation. Lott was also responsible for lobbying President Reagan to defend the federal tax exemption for segregated institutions. Had Lott been successful, this would have allowed racist private schools like Bob Jones University to keep their tax exemptions. Lott has also, in 1982 and 1990, voted against extending the Voting Rights Act  and against the continuation of the Civil Rights Act in 1990.

Lott & Homosexuality

Trent Lott either holds some rather archaic views about homosexuality or has been making overtures to the religious right recently. Signs such as both the threatened split of the Christian Coalition from the Republican Party and the fact that Lott is a church-going Baptist suggest a mixture of the two.
 

Lott's views have also taken shape on American foreign policy. The Republican led Senate has inevitably delayed (and finally, later in the year, killed) the appointment of James Hormel as ambassador of Luxembourg because he is gay. This is despite the fact that he is qualified and that the government of Luxembourg welcomes him to the post. The two factors that Hormel was nominated by a Democrat (Bill Clinton) and that he is gay make him a thouroughly unnacceptable candidate to Lott and many other Republicans.

In instances such as this, I would suggest that individuals such as Trent Lott should learn Hebrew. The basis of the religious right's anti-homosexual beliefs are based on mistranslations (or altered meanings, rather) from the Hebrew text. If one were to pick up a bible written in Hebrew, one would be hard pressed to find any quotes at all referring to homosexuality, much less anything to the effect of "Thou shalt not be a homosexual". It took centuries of mistranslation and misinterpretation of the Bible before the world was successful in persuading the apostate church to finally twist a few scriptures to justify their prejudice against homosexuals about the 10th century AD. In the original Hebrew script, most references often cited by the religious right often rely on passages that refer to male prostitution, not intercourse. See this link by Royce Buehler for more info.

Lott & Tobacco

Over the course of May and June of 1998, Trent Lott and the Republican majority effectively killed S.1415, the National Tobacco Policy and Youth Smoking Reduction Act. Supposively, Trent Lott, who removed himself from voting on this bill (due to a conflict of interest relating to his brother), was in support of such legislation until the bill grew too large and unwieldy. However, this self-expressed opinion is at odd with his actions, by which he encouraged the bill to grow into a huge $516 billion bill. The Republican led Senate, over the course of the bill's lifetime, loaded it with numerous unrelated tax breaks and spending that had nothing to do with tobacco. After the total amount of money managed by the bill reached $516 billion, Lott began to criticize it as a "tax and spend bill" despite the fact that much of the "taxing and spending" within it was added on by members of his own party.

As reported in the June 18, 1998 USA Today, "tobacco industry company officials were saying privately Wednesday that the bill's demise shows their industry still has clout in Washington". This 'clout' is apparent in individuals such as Trent Lott, who have been beneficiaries of tobacco companies in campaign years.  Over the course of his 25 year career in the House of Representatives and the Senate he has accepted a total of $100,000 in donations from King Tobacco. According to the watchdog group Common Cause, $30,850 (donated between him and his PAC, New Republican Majority Fund) of this has come since 1994, just as the pressure increased on tobacco. In addition to Trent Lott, tobacco campaign contributions rose $2.3 million from 1993. In 1997 the total money given by King Tobacco to Republicans was $4.1 million, compared to the much smaller amount (and given in a less critical year) $1.8 million that they gave in 1993. It should be obvious to most that this played no small part in killing the anti-tobacco legislation. "The Republican Senate and Majority Leader Trent Lott, engorged on campaign contributions from the tobacco industry killed it [tobacco legislation] as such as the makers of Marlboro and Camels have killed millions of Americans" (Hartford Courant)

Lott is also not innocent of trying to give a little 'pork' to the tobacco industry. In August 1997, Trent Lott and Newt Gingrich were guilty of, as stated by Representative Jim McDermott (D-Washington), "the biggest piece of pork that they tried to slide by in the middle of the night that I've ever seen in my 27 years in  politics". By giving individuals such as Lott and Gingrich campaign contributions, King Tobacco nearly earned itself a $50 billion tax break in the 104th Congress. In a closed door meeting of 6 individuals (consisting of Trent Lott, Newt Gingrich, and Clinton aides), a deal was agreed upon in August of 1997 where the tobacco industry, by the addition of a few lines into the balanced budget bill, would receive a tax break of $50 billion dollars. The passage of a 'balanced budget bill by 2002' plan in the Senate contained, among other things, a new tax of 15 cents that would be placed on each pack of cigarettes (for a total estimated revenue to the government of $368.5 billion dollars). Following the passage of this bill by Congress, a companion bill was created by leaders of the House and Senate. This is standard practice when dealing with large unwieldy bills, as companion bills traditionally contains minor but necessary bureaucratic revisements to the original bill or small additions that may have been accidentally left out of the main bill. However, the Republican leadership made a rather large 'mistake' when they 'forgot' to include a $50 billion tax break for the tobacco industry in the main bill (done to, as the Republican leadership states, defer the loss of profits that tobacco companies will incur after the passage of this tax). The primary pushers behind this bill were Trent Lott and Newt Gingrich, with reports differing on who played a larger role. The adamancy of the GOP leadership was expressed in the following quote, "According to White House spokesperson Barry Toiv, the GOP leaders said there would be no cigarette tax increase without the $50 billion tax credit to offset industries losses". In light of evidence such as this, it becomes apparent that Senators such as Trent Lott care very little about such things such as preventing teens from smoking and care far more about their campaign war chests.

Lott & the Military

"For years I have stated that I believe we are cutting defense too much, too fast. In my opinion, the President's budget goes too far. We must not cut any spending which reduces our ability to project power, and protect American interests throughout the world. I will continually evaluate the  readiness and capability of our Armed Forces," states Trent Lott on his web page. Many people agree with Lott on this point, that if we continue to cut defense spending, a miscellaneous whacko could arise with a nuclear weapon and powerful military force that could act to overpower the United States, or its economic interests, at least. While I personally disagree with this point of view, there is a logic to it. However, there is little logical in the fact that Trent Lott has suddenly come to the conclusion that he's a better evaluator of the Armed Forces needs than the admirals and generals that run it.

In the yearly military authorization bill, someone has tucked in a request for a new $1.5 billion helicopter carrier. The armed forces did not request such a ship, and was leaning towards refurbishing an older one at the cost of $950 million, if they did anything at all. Oddly enough, the only place that the other helicopter carriers have been built are in Lott's hometown, at Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi.  While Lott claims that the proposal "came out of the blue" in the bill, that the Senate Armed Forces Committee 'saw the wisdom' on its own to build a carrier without the navy requesting one, evidence points to Lott sliding the proposal in. An industry official in Ingall's lobbying department stated "Certainly his work and the work of his staff was very helpful [in getting the new carrier funds approved]" (New York Times, June 23, 1998). In addition, a tried and true method when dealing with 'pork' such as this is to discover which congressman receives the most benefits from such an act. Oddly enough, it would appear to be Trent Lott in this case.

By doing this, it appears that Trent Lott has decided that he knows best, better than all the generals and admirals, what the armed forces need to keep in shape. However, its unlikely that is is Lott's perception. Trent Lott has engaged in an act of pork. Simply put, the creation of this helicopter carrier will ensure jobs and the continued stimulation of the economy in the area around Ingalls shipyard. While this itself is not bad, the cost of $1.5 billion dollars to taxpayers through America, and not just in Mississippi, is unforgivable.

In a short defense of Lott's actions, I should acknowledge that behavior such as this is not rare. John Murtha, Democrat from Pennsylvania and former Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommitee on Defense, made a similair proposal in the 1990 budget. This was to, instead of refurbishing it as the Navy had requested, to rebuild the ship for an extended life and a difference of $700 million dollars. It, too, was likely to be built in a certain place, in Philadelphia. In addition to this, the army, thanks to Congress, keeps open about 2,000 bases that it does not need or want on the North American Continent. General Colin Powell, a leader in the Gulf War and occasionally mentioned as a presidential candidate (though probably not in 2000), advised Congress that these forts were unneccesary as many of them were built to create a defensive line during the Indian wars. Among the highlights of this report were two forts, Fort Douglas and Fort Monroe. Fort Douglas in Utah had been built to guard the stage coach routes (apparantly a neccesity in our modern times, if you happen to be a Utah Senator) and Fort Monroe in Virginia had been built to hold off the British during the War of 1812. Why are these being kept open, you may ask? Largely, its due to politics. The army has little interests in these unimportant bases, but the jobs that it brings to the local area's economy are critical (in the short-term) for the health of the surrounding area. As such, senators will put their own district's temporary needs (and their own ability to become reelected) ahead of the interests of the nation as a whole. ~Information for this paragraph (not the section) came in large part from Adventures in Porkland, by Brian Kelly (Random House, 1992).

Lott & Campaign Finance Reform

Trent Lott claims to be against most versions of a campaign finance reform bill because they interfere with what he regards as free speech. If Lott championed such causes as, say, flag burning, with an equal amount of vigor, then this would be a valid, although misguided, point. However, despite sharing a similar ideological perspective on this issue, Lott rarely finds himself in the same political spectra as the American Civil Liberties Union. In the 105th Congress, Lott agreed with ACLU 33% of the time, and in the 104th a mere 17%. However, Lott and many other Republican leaders have simply taken up a bit of rhetoric in the 'free speech' movement to justify themselves by. Republicans generally outspend Democrats at an enormous rate (the Democratic Committee had a $15 million debt in November of 1997), and it can be argued that this is a large part of the reason that many Republicans are elected. Campaign finance reform, by eliminating or restricting most forms of donations, would remove an unfair advantage that the Republicans hold over both Democrats and Independents.

Lott does claim, however, to be in favor of some sort of campaign finance reform, but the question is what kind. "After the nation's experience with campaign abuses during the 1996 presidential election [referring to the possibility that the Democratic Party accepted donations from China], campaign reform is clearly needed. What did happen with foreign contributions? Did they affect Clinton Administration policies, foreign or domestic? Do we need to  tighten up the prohibition against alien money in U. S. campaigns? I think we probably do," he states on his web page. While these sort of donations are a problem, they are hardly the main source of campaign corruption. Rather, we can look at Lott's attack against the tobacco legislation and 'follow the money'. Over $100,000 later, Lott is now acting to kill tobacco legislation in the Senate, due in no small part to these contributions. In addition, one can ponder Lott's commitment to campaign finance reform when one considers that, on the same day that he struck down a different campaign reformation bill, he went to a $1,000 a plate fundraiser for his PAC.

In addition to simply voting against campaign reformation, Lott actively destroyed it against the wishes of what was, at times, a majority of senators. When enough senators brought their weight to bear for a vote on the floor, Lott lead a filibuster (essentially, stalling and protesting against a bill until a sufficient amount of time has been wasted) against it, which effectively killed it. These sort of actions due little to promote Lott's commitment to fair campaigning. Lott also helped to ensure that Campaign Finance was quietly killed after the passage of the Shays-Meehan campaign finance bill in the house in September. For reference, the Senate bill was sponspored by Russ Feingold (D-Wis) and John McCain (R-Ariz), both of whom were reelected this year.

Trent Lott is notorious for acts of illegal fundraing...although he hasn't been charged with anything. The May 28, 1998 edition of the Wall Street Journal featured an article detailing Lott's fundraising practices of his PAC, the New Republican Majority Fund. Between 1995-1998, there were 144 donors who gave the $5,000 limit. Of these, four out of five of them could be identified as having a business interest pending in specific legislation before Congress. About half of these donors received some sort of personal attention from Lott. For instance, take the case of Worldcom, owner of MCI and the worlds second largest telecommunications firm. It's owner was one of Lotts biggest donors and he allowed Lott to hold a "mixer" at his apartment with other Worldcom executives and a fundraiser at his 8,000 acre estate. The reason? The telecommunications bill was before Congress (it essentially allowed them to acquire MCI) and they desired a favorable vote on it. Unsurprisingly, Lott voted in its favor. In another similar instance, a corporation called World City wanted the Federal Maritime Administration to approve its proposal for the "world's largest cruise ship". It would hold a few hotels and a few other delights. The agency, however, turned the request down. Suddenly, World City flooded congressmen with campaign donations (it previously had donated little to campaigns). Among these were Lott's New Republican PAC. In exchange for the donations, Lott set up a meeting with one of his aides and the Secretary of Transportation (who oversees such things). Lott also wrote a letter to the Secretary that said "It's a significant opportunity for America to show its leadership as both a shipbuilding and tourism nation." Oddly enough, Lott didn't seem to feel this way until after $24,000 had been donated to his PAC by parties associated with World City.

Trent Lott has also been implicated in a somewhat serious fundraising scandal in the early 1980s. In 1993, a Missippi grand jury conducted investigations into Lott regarding a rather strange contracting bid. Hyde's Security Business, which used to be a large government contractor before going bankrupt, won a NASA contract worth $4 million in 1984. In government contracting, the lowest bidder generally wins the bid. However, the Hydes placed 3rd. Although the two bottom bidders were disqualified by the Small Business Association, NASA documents show that Lott's office intervened with questions about "irregularities" in the bidding. In addition, after the Hydes had been sent to prison for tax fraud and false government billings, they received a visit ten years later from two of Lott's lawyers in regards to their grand jury testimony about Lott. Lott also aided family members of the Hydes in getting government jobs at about the same time. Lott recommended some of Hyde's children for government jobs, including one which he gave "my strongest personal recommendation".

While the trail, as detailed in the March 9, 1997 Atlanta Journal Constitution, is rather circumstantial, one can trace a link to what Lott may have gotten out of this. In addition to a $4,000 donation and a free campaign office run out of one of Hyde's buildings, many of Lott's relatives were hired by the Hyde company. Lott's mother was hired two weeks after the company was awarded the contract as a personell director. In later years, Lott's brother-in-law was hired as the Hyde's bankruptcy lawyer. The hiring of Lott's mother is strange, since it was a job, according to an investigator (John Batson, of NASA's Office of Inspector General), that she was unqualified for. Batson also stated that another employee actually handled the tasks, and that Mrs. Lott was often away on medical leave. The 'medical leave' was paid for by Hyde Securities insurance. In addition to the hiring practices of Lott's relatives, Lott also received a hardened black supporter, as the Hyde family that owns the business in black. A firm minority supporter for a Republican legislator is a rarity in Mississippi. Hyde "believed" in Lott strongly enough that he travelled across the state with a few other black Republicans in favor of Lott and other Republicans. They called themselves the "Truth Squad".

Trent Lott also shows his lack of commitment to campaign reformation by allowing his ear to be whispered in by campaign contributors. Individuals who contributed at least $100,000 a year to the the Republican National Committee and who agreed to pay $25,000 for the next three years were taken on a three day retreat to Palm Beach, Florida to meet with Republican leaders. Both Trent Lott and Newt Gingrich were present. Lott stated to the New York Times that "This meeting is an effort to work with those that support the Republican candidates and encourage them to do so, and I think it's the right thing to do". Reading between the lines, its not too difficult to figure out what this really means. Strike up another few hundred thousand dollars for the Republican party, and strike up another few favorable votes to big business in Congress.

Lott Links

Senate Home page:  Contains short biography, current senate proposals, and Trent's views on the above.

The Comedyzine did a funny "To Do" list for Trent Lott.

You can read the bigoted filth of the Council of Conservative Citizens at their website. You can also read about them at this anti-CCC website.