The Continuing Saga of Ronnie Wonderful

(Source: San Francisco Chronicle, 3/5/81)

*C.W.B: Impoverished! Ronnie might have to give up a Cadillac and a Continental or two! It is sad that Ronald Reagan and Nancy haven't the slightest concept of the terrible impact his actions and proposals will have on the poor! He has stated that he wants a 32 billion increase in the military budget. In the face of the "people needs" in this country this is obscene! Military experts tell us that the United States and the Soviet Union each have enough nuclear capability to destroy the other many times over. What then, is the rationale for more?

I would personally feel more secure if we would decrease our arms supplies and begin acting like intelligent human beings. Give peace a chance! Discussion, arbitration, give and take, compromise.

The current practice reminds on of small boys and their disagreements: One gets a stick and the other feels he must get a larger stick, and so on. The difference, of course, is the deadly potential of the arms race.

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(Richard D. Hall, The Modesto Bee, 2/28/81)

WASHINGTON. Interior Secretary James G. Watt is expected to ask Congress to change the law so that he -and not Congress- could open certain non-wilderness lands to mining, grazing, and timber harvesting without delay.

The issue could become the controversial Watt’s first major clash with congressmen and conservation groups.

“We could oppose that very strongly.” Said Terry Sopher of The Wilderness Society, referring to a possible change in the law.

At issue are the 24 million acres in the West administered by Bureau of Land Management which are being studied for possible inclusion in the Wilderness Act.

Under the law, Watt must tell Congress which of those lands his department believes meet the criteria for wilderness. Then it would be up to Congress to decide for itself, and take two separate actions: designating those lands for wilderness and specifically opening the other lands to mining, grazing and timber harvesting.

Watt said after a recent meeting with Western governors that those lands not designated for wilderness should immediately be returned for those other uses. Under the law, he noted, that probably wouldn’t happen.

A spokesman for Watt later told The Bee “it appears likely that he will (seek a change in the law). He is looking on it seriously as an option.”

Many conservationists and conservation groups opposed Watt’s appointment as Interior Secretary because he previously headed the Mountain States Legal Foundation, which challenged environmental laws. The center is financed by many developers and utility companies.

The BLM lands being studied have restrictive uses because they could wind up being declared wilderness areas. Until Congress acts, those restrictions will remain.

*C.W.B: An anti-conservationist in charge at the Interior Department is like putting a fox in charge of the chicken coop! This anti-people administration seems to be winning for the moment though this cannot last long- thank God!

2/28/81 Fuel Cost Update: Cost of unleaded gasoline at our local service station has increased 19 cents since Ronald Reagan lifted controls! Less that half of this increase is due to O.P.E.C. price raises.

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(Source: The Modesto Bee 2/14/81)

WASHINGTON- The federal agency that enforces gun controls would be radically reduced or abolished under the Reagan administration’s deregulation and budget cutting plans.

Any such action undermining the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms would be a victory for “new right” conservative supporters of President Reagan, and for the National Rifle Association, which has tried for years to accomplish the same thing through legislation.

Renewed demands for stricter gun control legislation followed the murder of rock singer John Lennon in New York last Dec. 8.

Hamstringing the bureau would be one of Reagan’s first major concessions to his conservative allies, including the anti-gun control forces which spent heavily in support for his election.

The bureau has been under fire from other quarters as well, stemming from the charges against some of its agents of arbitrary or violent investigative and arrest tactics.

Proposals under study would transfer some functions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to other agencies and possibly eliminate the agency’s gun control enforcement. The agency’s current budget totals $151 million annually.

Federal law requires licensing of gun manufacturers, importers and dealers. Persons buying guns must fill out forms giving their names and addresses.

The law prohibits the sale of firearms to such persons as convicted criminals, fugitives from justice, unlawful users of narcotics, and to insane or mentally incompetent persons.

Presumably, because gun laws would remain on the books, some agency would have to continue the issuance of registration forms and enforcement would be left to local authorities.

The federal gun control law was enacted in 1968 after the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. Repeated efforts in Congress to repeal the law have failed.

*CWB: How many more deaths will occur as a result of this payment of a political debt? The fact that polls have shown that most Americans favor strict gun control laws has not overcome the influence of the National Rifle Association.

Ronald Reagan is consistent in his anti-people program.