December 6, 2000

Activists Press Clinton for Moratorium on Federal Executions
Rising Costs Prompt Postal Rate Hike
And Now For the REALLY Long Form...

Activists Press Clinton for Moratorium on Federal Executions

Civil rights activists urged President Clinton yesterday to put a moratorium on federal executions, according to the Associated Press.

The White House said Clinton is carefully weighing his response to a flurry of letters asking that he halt the Dec. 12 execution of Juan Raul Garza, a marijuana-ring boss convicted in Texas of three murders in 1990 and 1991. Garza could be the first federal death row inmate to be executed in 37 years.

White House spokesman Jake Siewert declined to comment specifically about the Garza case, saying only that Clinton had received a number of letters both for and against federal executions.

"He welcomes hearing from people with strong views on this topic," Siewert said.

The Cato Institute recently hosted the forum "Should the Death Penalty be Abolished?" featuring Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Cato Adjunct Scholar Jarett Decker and others.

In "Are You Death Qualified?" Clay S. Conrad writes about the unique jury selection procedure for capital cases known as "death qualification," in which any citizen with qualms about inflicting death can be disqualified from jury duty. As a result, Conrad writes that "of the over three thousand people on death row in America (the overwhelming majority of whom are guilty), not a single one has received a trial before a jury representative of the community in which they were tried. In each and every case, the juries who tried these prisoners were biased against them." Women and minorities are removed from the panels at a much higher rate than are white males.

Rising Costs Prompt Postal Rate Hike

The U.S. Postal Service's nine appointed governors approved new postage rates "under protest" yesterday, backing a 1-cent hike in the price of a stamp but complaining that other new rates, recommended by an independent commission, will not raise enough revenue to cover the post office's rising costs, according to The Washington Post.

Despite the protest, the governors said they would implement the 4.6 percent overall increase, including the new 34-cent first class stamp, on Jan. 7. The Postal Service had sought an increase in rates of 6 percent. New stamps go on sale Dec. 15.

The board of governors also asked the Postal Rate Commission to reconsider the rates.

Edward Hudgins, director of regulatory studies at the Cato Institute and editor of the new book "Mail @ the Millennium: Will the Postal Service Go Private?" said this about the rate hike:

"Since the creation of U.S. Postal Service 30 years ago the price of a stamp has risen in tandem with the rate of inflation. But in other sectors -- for example, air travel and trucking -- prices have fallen substantially.

"Even though the Postal Service has spent billions of dollars on new technology, its labor costs -- about 80 percent of expenses -- have not fallen in three decades. What’s more, the Postal Service is projected to lose as much as $15 billion of its $65 billion annual revenue as more people pay bills and correspond via the Internet. This will mean either more rate increases in the future or the Postal Service seeking new revenue by offering non-mail services in unfair competition with the private sector.

"The solution to this dilemma is to privatize the U.S. Postal Service."

And Now For the REALLY Long Form...

According to WorldNetDaily, the Census Bureau is now supplementing information gathered during the much-debated national census with an intrusive 23-page "American Community Survey" sent to a sampling of homes every month. Responses, once again, are mandatory.

Questions include: Last month, what was the cost of electricity for this house, apartment or mobile home? In the last 12 months, what was the cost of water and sewer for this house, apartment or mobile home? At what location did this person work last week? Because of a physical, mental or emotional condition lasting six months or more, does this person have any difficulty in doing any of the following activities: learning, remembering or concentrating, dressing, bathing or getting around inside the home?

Director of Regulatory Studies Edward L. Hudgins testified before Congress on the Census Bureau's "American Community Survey" in July. He explained that "there are serious questions concerning the validity of the sample, as well as whether such a sample would be a legally valid basis on which to allocate federal funds or pursue other federal aims." Hudgins also questioned if the federal government should be asking the questions currently contained in the survey.

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