Hunter, Duncan Lee
From Bwtm
Duncan Lee Hunter was elected to represent the 52nd Congresional District of the State of California.
"We'll do what the president wants," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.
Duncan "The Duke" "Bush's Rubber Stamp" Lee Hunter
Dumpin' Duncan
Congressmen We Could Do Without
California has its share of wacky politicians, but Reps. Hunter and Pombo take the cake.
October 17, 2006 CALIFORNIA'S REPUTATION FOR WACKINESS doesn't necessarily rest on its representatives in Congress — the roots of our unconventional ways go far deeper — but they certainly haven't hurt. Former Rep. William E. Dannemeyer, for instance, a Republican from Orange County, once suggested quarantining anyone who tested HIV-positive. Former Rep. Ron Dellums of Oakland, an avowed socialist, once said that "we should totally dismantle every intelligence agency in this country."
The state doesn't currently have anyone quite in Dannemeyer's or Dellums' category, thankfully. But two current members of the House of Representatives come close.
Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy), a seven-term congressman who appears to have a vendetta against the environment, has tried repeatedly to eviscerate the Endangered Species Act. He has proposed selling federal wilderness for a pittance to mining interests. His latest bill wouldn't just open up vast stretches of the coast to drilling, it would slash the royalties that companies must pay for shale-oil leases, potentially costing taxpayers billions of dollars. And then there's his tarnished ethics record, which earned him a spot on a watchdog group's list of the 13 most corrupt members of Congress last year.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) may not come up with as many doozies, but the ideas he does have are almost breathtakingly foolish. He has proposed letting parents sue distributors of comic books and other entertainment that might contain objectionable material. After seeing a prisoner menu that included orange-glazed chicken, he decided that U.S. treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay was not just defensible but admirable. "We treat them very well," he told CNN.
Hunter has been best known recently for his whimsical idea, which has taken the form of legislation for two consecutive years, to take Santa Rosa Island away from the general public and make it a hunting playground for disabled veterans. Never mind that the National Park Service opposes the idea and the disabled veterans don't want it. After the proposal died last year, Hunter insisted on bringing it back in 2006.
With congressmen like these, California's reputation for eccentricity is unlikely to suffer. All the same, it's the kind of behavior the state could do without. Better to have our wackiness expressed in, say, our vegan cuisine, where it can do less harm.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-reps17oct17,0,4223027.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
Scandal and waste
Hunter got break on taxes for home
October 08, 2006 Back in the winter of 1994, after reapportionment reshaped California's congressional districts, Rep. Duncan Hunter went shopping for a new home.
The seven-term Republican from Coronado headed east, to the foothills outside El Cajon, where he discovered what would become his quiet retreat from the vagaries of Beltway politics.
The house in Alpine was in bad shape. Hunter and his wife, Helynn, looked past the leaky roof, water-stained drywall and torn-up floors and saw 2.7 acres of potential. They paid the $175,000 asking price and poured $160,000 into repairs and improvements.
Tax rolls listed the property as a two-bedroom, 2½-bath house with 2,946 square feet of living space. The property records were wrong.
According to Hunter's insurance carrier, the house was more than twice that size – about 6,200 square feet. The property also featured a 2,000-square-foot guest house, a swimming pool and tennis court.
A county assessor visited the six-bedroom house soon after Hunter bought it and took pictures, the congressman said.
But the home's description wasn't corrected in the property file. The house was reappraised at $249,000 – above the sale price but below its market value.
The discrepancy resulted in Hunter paying less in taxes than others in similar-sized properties, although the amount he saved is not clear. The county relies on square footage, lot size, comparable home sales and other factors to calculate assessments, but does not discuss specific parcels without a release from the homeowner.
Government watchdogs say the questions are appropriate.
Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor who now runs Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the 1994 transaction and amount of taxes paid do not look good.
Members of Congress “should be avoiding the appearance of impropriety,” Sloan said. “This could be an appearance problem” for Hunter.
Robert Stern of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles said a congressman buying a home so recently owned by the federal government raises serious questions.
“It doesn't surprise me. It bothers me,” Stern said. “The question I would ask is, 'Why didn't (State Street) make a profit on it?' When you buy property, you buy it to sell at a profit.”
Today, many of the houses along nearby Peutz Valley Road are new, rebuilt after the walls of flame that raced across the county three years ago this month.
The least expensive five-bedroom home now for sale in Alpine is listed for $785,000 and features 3,168 square feet on 1.2 acres. If the house sells for that price, the property taxes would be about $8,000 a year.
Like every rebuilt or expanded home, the Hunter residence – which will have five bedrooms and 6½ bathrooms when finished – will be reassessed once a notice of completion is filed with the county.
In the meantime, construction continues. One recent day, a painter was finishing work on the stairs leading to the two-bedroom apartment above the more than 1,600-square-foot garage and workshop.
Hunter said he expects to move into the home before Christmas.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061008/news_1n8duncan.html
Investigative report: Budget going up in smoke
Billowing toward a record high, Forest Service firefighting costs threaten to drain funds from other programs, including reforestation
September 17, 2006 In the Southern California firestorms of 2003, that pressure fell on Edrington. It came from Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, and other politicians, Edrington said.
Hunter lost a home in the fire. Media coverage shows he pushed hard for the Forest Service and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to call in the military. He even pleaded with Gov. Gray Davis.
Hunter's spokesman, Joe Kasper, said in an e-mail that the congressman "coordinated with state and local agencies to help protect property and save lives, and he is widely praised for his efforts."
Edrington, who was sent south from Oregon to deal with the politics of the San Diego fire, is philosophical about the situation, saying it's simply how the system works.
"The folks who were putting the pressure on ... they don't understand that if you get Santa Ana winds blowing, and everything is covered with smoke, you can't use the (aerial) assets," he said.
"And if you have a multithousand-acre brush fire running, dumping retardant ... isn't going to do any good.
"It looks great. People think we're doing a lot. But we look at it and say: 'It's like dumping thousand-dollar bills out of the bomb-bay door.' "
Several studies have examined the high cost of firefighting and suggested ways to control it. Nonetheless, the tab continues to grow: $1 billion in 2000; $1.27 billion in 2002; $1 billion in 2003; and this year nearly $1.2 billion -- and counting.
"The current problem is more political than ever," Forest Service fire researcher John Szymoniak wrote in an August memo.
"The expectation for effective and complete fire suppression by our elected officials on the one hand, and (the Office of Management and Budget) for cost control on the other, (are) ... conflicting objectives which cannot be resolved at the local forest level."
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/24563.html
Trouble brewing
http://www.socalsail.com/wp/2005/12/18/duncan-hunters-on-again-off-again-plan-for-santa-rosa-island/
A Multipronged Tussle Over the Fate of Herds Living in an Island Park
SANTA ROSA ISLAND, Calif., Oct. 3 — There are hunters who dream about places like this.
The game — unusually large Kaibab deer, Roosevelt elk that lope like thoroughbreds along the wind-scoured ridgelines — are trophy quality. All it takes to bag one is a 30-mile trip across the Santa Barbara Channel, a rifle, good aim, a minimum fee of about $8,000 and the existing agreement by the National Park Service to close 45,000 acres of parkland to the public, August through December.
Close a public park to make way for a private hunt? That is not the Park Service’s preference. When it acquired Santa Rosa Island at the time the Channel Islands National Park was formed in 1986, it accepted a 25-year transition period during which the hunting would continue. It wants the animals off the island. The 1,150 deer and elk, park officials say, compromise the native ecosystem — by munching on seedlings of the rare island oaks, for instance.
An advocacy group, the National Parks Conservation Association, is also arguing against continuing to open parkland to private pursuits. Its late 1990’s lawsuit ensured that the herd’s 100-year history on the island would end. Starting in 2008, the herd was to be whittled down, either shipped out or shot. By 2011, it would be gone.
That was the deal until Representative Duncan Hunter came along. A powerful Congressional committee chairman who seems named, if not born, for this dispute, Mr. Hunter, Republican of California, believes the island’s hunt must go on. But the Interior Department is not in his purview. The Defense Department is.
First, Mr. Hunter, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, suggested that military personnel and their guests should enjoy the hunt. Then he said it should continue for disabled veterans.
Neither of these proposals went over. But last week the huge military authorization bill emerged from a House-Senate conference committee with a vestige of the chairman’s original proposal, as inscrutable as the Cheshire cat’s smile. No disabled veterans were mentioned. Not even the word “hunt.”
But by forbidding the park service to “exterminate or nearly exterminate” the animals, Mr. Hunter ensured that, unless someone shipped them out, the deer and elk would remain.
At whose expense? Presumably the Park Service’s, since the families that sold the island ranch to the government will have no more presence here after the transition period ends in 2011.
For whose benefit? That remains unclear. Mr. Hunter’s office is circulating an approving letter from a three-year-old Nebraska group called the Wounded Warriors Project. (A more established group, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, declined after their representative reported that the island’s steep hills and angular drainages were not wheelchair accessible.)
Mr. Hunter said in an interview that, given that only 30,000 people a year visit any of the five islands in the park, accommodating some disabled veterans and their families a few weeks a year was not unreasonable. “We did this as a first step,” he said.
Then, he said, he wants the Wounded Warriors group to put together a plan of use to suit their members. “You’ve got my commitment: I will never hunt there,” Mr. Hunter said. “I only want disabled people who served their country in war. That won’t ruin the day of these environmentalists whose freedom is guaranteed by their service.”
The herds, he said, could be managed by the game management personnel at nearby mainland military bases.
Ms. Capps, who debated sharply with Mr. Hunter on the House floor the day the military authorization bill passed, said the chairman was showing “the arrogance of power” by including an amendment that could not be voted on in its own right.
“This is about what the park means to this country in terms of its values,” she said, adding, “What if there were a hunting operation like this in Yosemite? The Grand Canyon?”
In the next Congress, Ms. Capps said, she plans to introduce legislation to undo Mr. Hunter’s, assuming, as all parties do, that the Senate will follow the House and approve the military authorization bill when Congress reconvenes after the November election. Likewise, Mr. Hunter plans a follow-up to his bill.
The Vail descendants — the first cousins Tim Vail, Nita Vail and Will Woolley — say they believe that the Park Service goal of returning the island to its natural state is hopelessly utopian.
“They’re trying to get it back to a period that never existed,” Mr. Woolley said. Nita Vail added, “The reality is, any kind of ecosystem evolves.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/09/us/09hunt.html?ref=us
Hunting on Santa Rosa Island to continue despite outcry
To the dismay of environmentalists and a local congresswoman, private hunting of deer and elk will continue indefinitely on Santa Rosa Island - closing off the scenic isle to the public for several months a year - under a last-minute addition to a defense-spending bill passed Friday by the House of Representatives and poised for Senate approval.
The language inserted by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, contradicts a 1998 court settlement between the National Park Service and the island's former landowners calling for hunting to cease there by 2011.
The Vail Family, which sold the 54,000-acre island off Santa Barbara to the federal government for $29.5 million in 1986, currently charges hunters up to $17,000 apiece.
They had agreed to scale down hunting beginning in 2008 and discontinue it completely by 2011. All of the deer and elk were to be removed by then.
Blasting Hunter's stated rationale for undoing that deadline - so that disabled veterans would have the opportunity to hunt on Santa Rosa - Congresswoman Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, labeled his provision a “special interest boondoggle.”
One veterans group, Paralyzed Veterans of America, has publicly opposed the idea, she noted.
Capps' district includes Santa Rosa Island, which is 40 miles offshore and the second largest of five islands in the Channel Islands National Park.
Hunter's measure also has drawn vocal opposition from California's Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and environmental groups, who contend the hunting blocks public access and interferes with native plants and animals on the island.
“This is a sad day for those of us who love and treasure Santa Rosa Island,” Capps said in a prepared statement. “It is simply outrageous that this misguided proposal has been inappropriately included in the 2007 Defense Authorization bill, in an act of pure Congressional hubris.”
http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2006/09/30/news/centralcoast/news10.txt
Senate Opposes Military Hunting Plan
04August, 2006 -- The Senate is opposing a House Republican's plan to allow military veterans to hunt nonnative game on a Southern California public island.
Senators passed a resolution against the plan by voice vote late Thursday before leaving for their August recess.
The resolution by California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer says that Santa Rosa Island should not be managed in a way "that would result in the public being denied access to significant portions of the island or that is inconsistent with the responsibility of the National Park Service to protect native resources."
By ERICA WERNER, The Associated Press
Island Hunting Plan Misses Target
A group for disabled veterans shows little interest in a measure to set aside land on Santa Rosa for their use.
03 August, 2006 A controversial plan to establish a hunting haven for disabled veterans on rugged terrain in Channel Islands National Park has already taken flak from the National Park Service, congressional Democrats, environmentalists and local governments in coastal California.
Now, disabled veterans have joined in, shooting down the proposal for Santa Rosa Island that Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has said he crafted for their benefit.
Steve Chawkins, Times Staff Writer
Congressman wants island open to hunting
"This is a wonderful opportunity for paralyzed veterans and severely disabled veterans to have an opportunity for a high-quality outdoor experience," said Hunter, who chairs the Armed Services Committee.
The plan has drawn vehement protests from the Park Service and Democratic lawmakers, who said hunting blocks public access and interferes with indigenous plants and animals.
"What we need to be focusing on are the purposes for which national parks were set aside, and hunting is not one of those purposes," said Russell Galipeau, superintendent of Channel Islands National Park.
"Duncan Hunter never contacted us," said Will Woolley, a Vail family member who also works as a hunting guide on the island. "It makes me nervous. It's not spelled out what our future would be."
Hunter's legislation contains no details on how the deer and elk would be managed once the 2011 deadline has passed, or how the hunts - which now cost from $1,800 to $17,000 - would be made affordable for veterans.
Hunter contends it would not be difficult for the government to run free hunts at no cost to taxpayers, something his opponents dispute.
Disabled veterans' group likes island hunting idea
http://venturacountystar.com/vcs/news/article/0,1375,VCS_121_4765388,00.html
The animals on Santa Rosa Island are massive, prized trophies among hunters who are willing to spend anywhere from $1,000 to $17,000 for a trip there. Warren said disabled hunters could hunt from blinds or cars, which is legal in California with a special permit.
But the National Park Service said keeping hunting on the island greatly limits public access, negatively affects endangered species such as the island fox and compromises the integrity of archaeological sites there.
"There are military bases that provide hunting opportunities for veterans," said Kate Faulkner, chief of natural resources management for Channel Islands National Park. "There is no value added I see in going to Santa Rosa Island."
Hunter, R-Alpine, was successful in his third try at introducing legislation that would continue hunting on the island past 2011. He attached an amendment to a defense authorization bill, which passed the House and is now in the Senate. But California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein introduced successful legislation that would counter Hunter's bill. The two bills will be reconciled in committee.
Park Service officials were hoping to use Friday's tour as an opportunity to show the PVA the value in returning Santa Rosa Island to a natural state, she said.
"This is the chance for the Park Service to explain the purpose of the national park and show the beauty of Santa Rosa Island ... and why deer and elk are not part of the long-term goals," she said.
Warren dismissed claims that leaving the game on the island could affect the endangered species.
"Things happen; we lose animals all the time," he said. "We can't save every animal out there. It just happens."
Hunter has never been on Santa Rosa Island
Now Duncan Hunter has never been on Santa Rosa Island, that part of the Channel Islands National Park system where Roosevelt elk and mule deer make for some great trophy hunting.
Yet for the third time in less than a year, the Alpine Republican is trying to void a court settlement that would end hunting on the island by 2011.
His most recent effort appears to have been pretty successful. This month, Hunter convinced the House Armed Services Committee – his Armed Services Committee – to pass a plan that would allow the hunting to continue indefinitely for disabled vets and other military types.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060522/news_1m22letter.html
could this be an effort to set up a fraud?
http://beachblogger.net/pics/index.php?title=trouble_brewing&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
While House members bicker, families feel 'caught in middle'
Hunter says he began to think about Santa Rosa Island while driving on the coast with a carload of Iraq veterans. One pointed to Santa Rosa and mentioned that elk and deer hunting out there was slated to end.
"It is a little, protected group of animals there. This is not any big deal in terms of stopping anybody from using that huge island," Hunter said on the House floor in mid-May, as he argued for his provision to keep the herds available for hunting. He said his provision mainly saves them from extermination. And, "it would be nice to have a small herd there where veterans, disabled, paralyzed and others, could enjoy that resource."
Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, who succeeded her deceased husband, Rep. Walter Capps, in 1998, represents a district including parts of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. A former nurse and health advocate, she's made education, health and environment issues themes of her tenure.
It's highly unusual for a congressman to push a measure in another representative's district, as Hunter is doing to Capps with his defense bill provision. As it arose for the third time in as many years, Capps took issue in that same Congressional floor session.
"This bill kicks the public off the island, which the public bought for $30 million in 1986," Capps said.
"This ridiculous provision has no place in a defense bill. There have been no hearings, the Pentagon hasn't requested it, and the park service strongly opposes it," said Capps. She says veterans are able to hunt at many mainland bases, such as Hunter-Liggett.
- The elk and deer are not native species. The park service wants them removed by 2011 to restore the island's natural balance.
- It costs up to $20,000 per person for a hunting trip to the island. Corporations and contractors will donate the money.
- In the SOCOM case in Florida family members of Government employees were hired by the rec-center and paid high wages to do token jobs.
- Mr. Hunter has a history of paying family members excessive salaries out of campaign funds.
Lawmaker secures funds to upgrade ship Navy doesn't want
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34288&dcn=e_ndw
Despite strong objections from the Navy, House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., added $25.7 million to the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill to upgrade an experimental high-speed vessel based in San Diego and developed by one of his biggest political donors.
Hunter, whose wife christened the ship in February 2005, has boasted that Titan Corp.'s Sea Fighter is a speedy, innovative, 262-foot catamaran with the potential to pack more combat punch than most larger battleships.
The money in the fiscal 2007 bill would pay for high-tech modifications to the ship's command and control, survivability, armament and other systems to make the vessel, also known as the X-Craft, operationally deployable.
"The committee believes that deployment of Sea Fighter can demonstrate and validate many of the Navy's operational concepts for littoral warfare," according to language in the Navy research and development section of the committee report, under "Items of Special Interest."
But the Navy, which did not request any money for the catamaran, fears the hefty add-on would squander limited ship procurement dollars on a vessel the service doesn't want. Service estimates indicate that readying the catamaran for actual warfare might cost $100 million -- four times the amount authorized in the House bill.
The Sea Fighter is central to San Diego-based Titan's defense portfolio and a lucrative project for Hunter's Southern California district. The experimental vessel also helped sweeten L-3 Communications' successful $2.65 billion purchase of Titan last year.
Gene Ray, Titan's founder and former CEO, said the catamaran is an "incredible" and "outstanding" system. And House Armed Services Projection Forces Subcommittee Chairman Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., defended the system's performance.
Hunter and former Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, a defense appropriator convicted of taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors in return for legislative earmarks, have been two of the program's biggest supporters. Titan was not implicated in Cunningham's federal criminal case.
From 1998 to 2003, Hunter received $47,200 in campaign donations from Titan Corp., more than any other lawmaker, according to the Center for Public Integrity. Cunningham, whose district adjoined Hunter's, came in third -- just behind another Southern Californian, House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis -- with $43,050 in Titan donations.
In the current election cycle, L-3 Communications has given $19,350 to Hunter's campaign, second only to BAE Systems, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Both Hunter and Bartlett would like to produce more Sea Fighters, but Hunter said further development and testing is needed to determine the exact numbers needed. He also wants to arm it with a surface-launched cruise missile called the Affordable Weapon System, another Titan-developed project.
The fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill includes $27 million to complete the design, development and live-fire testing of the weapon system and begin production of an additional 40 missiles.
Like the Sea Fighter, the Navy requested no funds for these missiles, which have failed four flight tests. The next tests are scheduled for this month and July, after which Pentagon acquisition officials will determine whether to move forward with the program.
Up Armor and Body Armor
Money for DC Celebration, None for Troops’ Body Armor
Hunter is the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee
Posted by Mont. Dem. Candidate for Senate Jon Tester:
My opponent, Sen. Burns, said Wednesday in Havre, MT that funding for adequate body armor for our troops on the front lines would “just bust the budget.” Yet he still voted for a $20 million post-war party to commemorate “success” in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A new poll shows that American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are vastly under-equipped and overextended. A VoteVets Action Fund poll of 450 returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans showed that a clear majority feels the Army and Marines are overextended and nearly half said their equipment did not meet military standards. A recently released Pentagon study shows that better body armor could have saved 80 percent of the Marines in Iraq who died of wounds to the upper body.
According to the New York Times, tucked away in fine print in a military spending bill for this past year was $20 million to pay for a celebration in the nation’s capital “for commemoration of success” in Iraq and Afghanistan. A paragraph written into spending legislation and approved by the Senate and House allows the $20 million to be rolled over into 2007 as the money was obviously not spent this year.
Sen. Burns has no plan for success in Iraq and is opposed to funding body armor for our troops, yet he still finds time and money for party planning. That’s just not right, especially when our country is at war with no plan and no exit strategy, and when U.S. troops are being sent to the front lines without the armor and equipment they need to be safe and successful.
My opponent has repeatedly voted to deny American troops in battle more effective, safer equipment:
- Burns voted against $47 billion to repair equipment for U.S. troops
- Burns voted against $361 million to armor military vehicles.
- Burns voted against increased funding for protective gear, including body armor.
- Burns voted against $1 billion for National Guard Reserve equipment.
- Burns voted against prioritizing equipment repairs over tax breaks for millionaires.
Last week, I released my Plan to Strengthen the U.S. Military , which focuses on making the needed investments in equipment and manpower for American troops to be safe and successful. My plan will guarantee that soldiers have the protective gear, equipment, and training they need and are never sent to war without accurate intelligence and a strategy for success. Our troops deserve only the very best from their country after putting their lives on the line for America every day.
http://blog.thehill.com/2006/10/06/money-for-dc-celebration-none-for-troops-body-armor/#more-1443
Report: Army mistakes delayed armor upgrades
March 26, 2006 Army vehicles in Iraq could have been given armor upgrades quicker if officials had better long-term plans and better contract management skills, researchers at the Government Accountability Office found last week.
Instead, their report found, those inefficiencies and mistakes by the Army delayed installation of many of the armor kits by more than a year. That delay placed troops “at greater risk as they conducted wartime operations in vehicles that were not equipped with the preferred level of protection.”
The GAO found that the Army decided in November 2003 troops would need at least 3,780 truck armor kits to upgrade lightly protected vehicles in Iraq.
Those kits weren’t delivered until 2005, and they weren’t all installed until 18 months after the need was identified.
The report criticizes the Army for failing to anticipate the need for the better-armored vehicles, noting that the service was authorized to develop and order kits as far back as 1996.
Hunter is the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Rep. Hunter's committee to expand search for fishy Cunningham deals
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060415-9999-1n15probe.html
Hunter bites the hand that feeds him
House Armed Services Committee chairman Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon), seeking to derail a government-owned Arab company's plans to manage port facilities in six American cities, said Thursday he would introduce legislation not only to kill that deal but also to prevent foreign companies from controlling facilities determined to be critical to U.S. national security.
Hunter's legislation could affect the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, where 13 of the 14 container terminal operations are foreign-owned. "It makes sense in this new age of terrorism that critical infrastructure be owned by Americans," Hunter said in an interview. He said his proposal could apply not only to ports but also to power plants and "other infrastructure that is critical to the nation."
Bill Targets Foreign Role at U.S. Sites
In a speech yesterday Bush called for an end of isolationism.
Smears and slander
Outrageous audio of Hunter justifying the war, smearing liberals
here is an interview with Mr. Duncan Hunter from These Days with Tom Fudge, KPBS:
Mr. Hunter is very good (or bad depending on your frame of view) at framing the issues, he sounds just like Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly.
- 5:50 - the cold war and the ‘success’ in Central America. What about Venezuela?
- 6:20 - Pershing missiles. Yeah that made us a lot of friends.
- 6:25 - smear: “Liberals like everything about the struggle for freedom except the struggle.”
- 7:00 - “Why did we fight this war?” “ Because of a picture I have in the front door of my desk of Kurdish mothers holding their children dead in their arms, killed in mid stride by poison gas.. The History Channel anthropologists show how the mother would have a .45 pistol bullet in the back of her head and the little baby that she was holding would also have a .45 pistol bullet in the back of his head. they executed mothers and children gangland style by the hundreds and thousands.” fear mongering and obscuration , was it gas or a bullet?
- 8:28 - the classic: Al, Hillary and Bill did it.
- 9:00 - Rumsfeld sold Saddam 8,500 liters of nerve gas and it’s still missing, could be any where.
- 11:10 - lie: “They did welcome us with open arms and they pulled down a statue.”
- 12:30 - flip flop: “US is the occupier” I though we were the liberators. “Nothing is guaranteed.” then why did we do this? are we safer or aren’t we?
- 13:30 - Does this sound fishy to you? “cost of defense is 4-5% of GDP, less than during Reagan or Kennedy.”
Outrageous video of Hunter justifying torture
http://movies.crooksandliars.com/cnn_lf_hunter_detainee_food_not_torture_050613-01.ram
Congressman asks President Bush to help save San Diego cross
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee asked President Bush to help save a 29-foot cross standing on San Diego city property from being removed by court order.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, joined Thursday by Mayor Jerry Sanders, asked the president to exercise his power of eminent domain and take over the half-acre cross site atop Mount Soledad.
Hunter, who has backed legislation to protect the cross, sent a letter to the White House requesting "urgent assistance" to keep it intact.
"The federal government has lots of memorials with crosses on it," he said. "According to the court decisions, you'd have to dismantle Arlington (National) Cemetery."
- There are very few crosses visible at Arlington National Cemetery, the grave markers are not cross shaped. Each marker has a small religious symbol on it. There are several crosses, up to ten feet high, as part of displays. On Mt. Soledad the cross is 29 feet tall and is the central symbol; untill recently the cross was the only religious symbol on Mt. Soledad.
read Hunters letter. Mr. Hunter again attacks liberals, blaming "liberal judges".
Supporters of the cross hope to transfer the legal responsibility of defending the cross to the US taxpayer.
Supreme Court Gives Cross in San Diego a Reprieve
04 July, 2006 A long-running legal battle over a 29-foot-tall cross atop one of the highest hills in San Diego took a new twist on Monday when the United States Supreme Court issued a stay temporarily blocking a lower court order forcing the city to remove it.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, without comment, issued the stay pending a further order from the court. The action blocked a ruling by a district court that would have imposed daily fines of $5,000 beginning on Aug. 1 if the city had not taken down the cross.
The stay gave a flicker of hope to supporters of the 20-ton white cross who have been on the losing side of most federal and state court rulings since an atheist, Philip K. Paulson, sued in 1989. Mr. Paulson argued that the cross, in a city property park in the La Jolla district, was an unconstitutional preference of one religion over another.
Mr. Paulson's lawyer, James E. McElroy, said it was not unusual for a justice to issue such an order and called it more a technicality than any reading of the merits.
"All it says," Mr. McElroy said, "is 'Hold on, I'll get back to you with my decision.' "
The first cross was built on the spot in 1913 and figured prominently in Easter sunrise services. The latest was built in 1954 to replace one that had fallen in a windstorm. It was dedicated on Easter Sunday that year as a Korean War veterans' memorial.
After Mr. Paulson sued, the group that built and maintains the cross surrounded it with commemorations of the war dead, including concentric walls with plaques. Mr. Paulson argued that the additions served just to camouflage the true purpose of the cross, to promote Christianity.
Defenders of the cross and city lawyers argue that the cross, with or without the memorial plaques, was intended as a tribute to war dead.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/us/04cross.html
Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial
- Honorary Brick Paver: $100
Individual Recognition Plaque, Honors a veteran on one of three plaque sizes distinctly designed for each veteran.
- Name and photo of veteran
- Rank or rating and branch of service
- War or campaign, such as WWII, Vietnam, Southwest Asia
- Medals and ribbons
- Key tribute to veteran - service statement up to 25 words that 'tells the story' of military service
- Family appreciation statement up to six words
- Military patches and one non-military symbol, such as a religious symbol, veterans' or other organization
$600 to $1,500
http://www.soledadmemorial.com/plaqueoptions.html
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/302006f.asp
Militarism
Hunter pushes for beefed up missile defense systems
October 13, 2006 U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter is calling for President Bush to beef up the nation's missile defense system in the wake of North Korea's reported subterranean testing of a nuclear weapon Monday.
Late Monday, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee sent a letter to the president in which he called for improvement to U.S. missile defenses and for increasing America's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and efforts in North Korea and other parts of Northeast Asia.
Hunter asked for a speeding up of plans for deploying Aegis ballistic radar and missile systems on ships off the coast of North Korea, as well as the deployment of land-based ground-to-air Patriot missiles on the Korean Peninsula. Both missiles are designed to intercept enemy missiles that are in flight.
"The United States must take immediate steps to develop and deploy systems that are capable of addressing the full range of North Korean missile-based threats to the United States, our deployed forces, and our allies," Hunter wrote in his letter to Bush.
On Tuesday, Hunter, R-El Cajon, also went on national television news channels hosted by three anchors ---- Fox News' Neil Cavuto, CNN's Lou Dobbs and CNN's Paula Zahn ---- to bring his case to the American people for strengthening the nation's missile defenses.
The Aegis system is a sophisticated radar system that tracks an incoming missile and guides an intercept missile to destroy it. The manufacturer of the Standard SM-3 missile that is used in conjunction with the Aegis system is Raytheon Co., which also manufactures the Patriot missile. Lockheed Martin manufactures the Aegis system. Both companies have offices in San Diego.
According to the Web site www.opensecrets.org, Hunter has received major campaign contributions from both companies over the years in past campaigns, but "that is just life," he said. As the head of the House Armed Services Committee he receives donations from lots of defense contractors and there is nothing improper about that, he said, noting that he also has killed projects by defense contractors who have been major contributors to his campaigns.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/10/11/news/top_stories/7_02_0110_10_06.txt
There's a new cold war
There are fears the military could be used to challenge the U.S. or India in an effort to hoist impoverished segments of the Country. Today, China holds nearly $200-billion in U.S. debt and Duncan Hunter believes those IOU's are China's Ace.
Hunter: China is becoming a military power. They are doing it largely with American dollars which I think is one of the tragedies of this era. And that we are sending hard cash to China that it is using to purhase a military capability that may one day be used against our own armed forces.
Hunter says that San Diego and the Pacific Theater will see an increase in military operations.
Hunter: Forward deploying Naval assets and projecting power will be required for the next five, ten, fifteen, years.
Hunter's first reaction is military force. His campaign is funded by defense contractors. Hunter makes the US weaker because we don't have a diplomatic response to any threat.
North Korea calls for negotiation on missile issue
As North Korea continues to delay the test launch of a technologically improved version of its Taepodong 2 missile, Pyongyang suggested the missile crisis should be solved through negotiations. In response to the test preparations, many hard-liners in Washington maintained the need for an improved missile defense system while at the same time calling on the government to strengthen diplomatic pressure against the North.
Several U.S. politicians, such as Rep. Duncan Hunter (Republican-California), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee of Congress, stressed that Pyongyang’s actions underscored the need for the U.S. military to improve its missile defense system. Senate majority leader Bill Frist (Republican-Tennessee) in an appearance on the CBS television network said that the test-firing would be justification for U.S. military action.
why wouldn't it stress the need for improving US diplomatic efforts?
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/134808.html
Christo Fascism
Congress restricts military chaplains' sectarian prayers
Nondenominational events off-limits; but guidelines on proselytizing scrapped
Washington -- Congress removed a controversial provision in a military bill on Friday that would have permitted chaplains to offer sectarian prayer at mandatory nondenominational events.
At the same time, lawmakers moved to rescind guidelines issued last year by the Air Force and Navy meant to curtail the risk of religious coercion and proselytizing within the ranks.
For several weeks, wrangling over the chaplain prayer provision had stalled the National Defense Authorization Act, a bill that sets military spending levels.
The House version of the bill introduced language that would have allowed for sectarian prayer, but the Senate version had no such provision.
Chaplains can pray according to the traditions of their faith at worship services, where attendance is voluntary. But they are also called upon to offer prayers at mandatory functions, like changes of command, banquets and speeches.
The provision's backers -- among them Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine (San Diego County), and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee -- contended that Christian chaplains had long invoked Christ in nondenominational settings.
The provision was championed by some evangelical chaplains and Christian groups, like Focus on the Family.
But it was opposed by the Pentagon, the National Association of Evangelicals and a dozen or so ecumenical groups.
They argued that at mandatory events the long-standing custom had been to offer a nonsectarian prayer, for example, mentioning God rather than Christ. Those groups maintained that offering sectarian prayer would create division within the military.
Right to Life Act
H.R.552 Title: To implement equal protection under the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution for the right to life of each born and preborn human person. Sponsor: Rep Hunter, Duncan [CA-52] (introduced 2/2/2005) Cosponsors (99)
Right to Life Act - Declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being. Defines "human being" (and "human person") to encompass all stages of life, including but not limited to the moment of fertilization or cloning.
A BILL
To implement equal protection under the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution for the right to life of each born and preborn human person.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Right to Life Act'.
SEC. 2. RIGHT TO LIFE.
To implement equal protection for the right to life of each born and preborn human person, and pursuant to the duty and authority of the Congress, including Congress' power under article I, section 8, to make necessary and proper laws, and Congress' power under section 5 of the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Congress hereby declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) HUMAN PERSON; HUMAN BEING- The terms `human person' and `human being' include each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including, but not limited to, the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.
(2) STATE- The term `State' used in the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States and other applicable provisions of the Constitution includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and each other territory or possession of the United States.
Most Important ProLife Bill Could End Abortion If Passed
PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH PAC
COMMITTEE TO RE-ELECT CONGRESSMAN DUNCAN HUNTER
So who is:
James Albertine President Global Delta 6307 Mountain Branch Ct. Bethesda, Maryland 20817
Border Fence
stub, please fill in info.
main
Duncan Lee Hunter (born May 31, 1948), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1981 of California (map) in northern and eastern San Diego County. He is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Bio
Hunter was born in Riverside, California. He briefly attended the University of Montana and the University of California, Santa Barbara before enlisting in the United States Army. He served in the Vietnam War in the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 75th Army Rangers. After returning, he enrolled at Western State University College of Law and earned a BSL and JD in 1976, thereafter working as a plaintiff's attorney.
In 1980 he was recruited to run for Congress and defeated the 18-year incumbent Democrat, Lionel Van Deerlin. He was one of many Republicans swept into office from historically Democratic districts as a result of Reagan's coattails—Van Deerlin had been the only representative the district had ever had since its creation in 1963. Representing a district dominated by military bases and personnel, he sought and was granted a seat on the Armed Services Committee. After the 1980 census, many of the more Democratic areas were cut out of Hunter's district, and he hasn't faced serious opposition since. He became chairman of the Armed Services Committee in 2002.
Hunter's son, Duncan Duane Hunter, a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, was deployed to Iraq in 2003.
In November 2004, Hunter and Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner blocked the bill that would have created a National Intelligence Director (NID). Creating a NID was a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. Hunter argued that the military is the biggest consumer of intelligence and any reforms enacted must not endanger the lives of troops on the battlefield. He worked with the Administration to ensure resources needed by the military would not be hindered.
Duncan Hunter plans to introduce legislation to the Senate on Thursday, November 3, 2005 calling for the construction of a reinforced fence along the entire United States–Mexican border. This will also include a border zone on the American side of 100 metres.
On November 18th, 2005, Hunter and fellow Republicans introduced a resolution, in response to Pennsylvania representative John Murtha's, which said:
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.
The bill was condemned as a stunt by Democrats and defeated, 403-3 in the House of Representatives.
Military Service
A Vietnam veteran, he served in the 173rd Airborne and 75th Army Rangers. Hunter utilized the G.I. Bill to attend Western State University Law School in San Diego and, while completing his degree, he supplemented his income by working in farming and construction. After graduating, the new attorney opened a storefront legal office where he served many in the Hispanic community, often without compensation. In 1980, he was asked to mount a challenge for the Congressional seat held by an 18-year incumbent, Lionel Van Deerlin. Despite the district having a 2-to-1 Democrat registration, Hunter won the seat in an upset.
http://www.hunterforcongress.com/pages/bio.html
War debate mostly waged by civilians
External links
- Official Congressional website
- Official campaign website
- USA TODAY - Duncan Hunter associated with Randy "Duke" Cunningham/Brent Wilkes scandal, November 29, 2005.Template:CA-FedRep
