Two weeks ago, APC Sledgehammer sent out an alert that H.R. 2388, the "Heritage Areas Act," was coming up for a vote in the House Resources Committee. This bill, sponsored by liberal Republican Congressman Joel Hefley of Colorado, will simplify the process for establishing "Heritage Areas" all across the United States. "Heritage Areas" are a new form of federal land use control, and H.R. 2388 will establish an easy to follow format for creating new ones. It is the environmentalists’ dream and a property owner’s nightmare. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the land grabbers won the first round—H.R. 2388 passed the committee.

Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), a staunch property rights advocate, offered a commonsense amendment to H.R. 2388 that Hefley and his land-grabbing colleagues shot down. The amendment would have simply required that property owners be notified when their land falls within a "Heritage Area." Apparently, Hefley prefers that property owners be caught off guard when the feds come for their land.

Again, here are the reasons to oppose H.R. 2388:

- It is federal land use zoning. This means that bureaucrats in Washington get to decide how YOUR communities are developed.

- It places more property under control of the land-grabbing National Park Service (NPS). This is the same National Park Service that can’t properly manage its current allotment of land and currently has a five BILLION dollar maintenance backlog!

- It will damage economic development. Heritage Area = federal land use restrictions = no business = no jobs = no economic development.

We MUST stop the Heritage Areas Act!

**Action to Take**

1. Call your Congressman and tell him or her NO LAND GRABS—NO H.R. 2388! Local zoning restrictions are enough of a headache, the last thing you need is some bureaucrat in Washington telling YOU what’s good for YOUR community! Capitol Hill House Switchboard: (202) 225-3121.

2. Click here to send this APC Action Alert to up to TEN of your friends!

House Passes "Customs Border Security Act"—Your Privacy in Danger

In the name of "security" the House of Representatives recently passed a provision that will allow U.S. customs employees to search any internationally mailed letter or package for just about any reason. A provision in bill H.R. 3129, the "Customs Border Security Act," grants "immunity for U.S. customs employees that perform searches in good faith" of international mail. That means customs officers will be free to search willy-nilly through our letters and parcels, WITHOUT a warrant and WITHOUT any real limits.

"Exercise of these new powers could infringe on the right of innocent Americans to travel and communicate internationally free of unnecessary federal control," Rep. Ron Paul warned his colleagues. "Please say ‘no’ to unconstitutional searches and unaccountable government, and say ‘yes’ to liberty and constitutional government," he pleaded during debate on the bill. As usual, a majority of Rep. Paul’s fellow Representatives ignored his pleas for constitutional rationality, and voted to strip Americans of a bit more privacy.

Given this latest development, do you still think a National ID card is far-fetched? Think again. Reps. Jim Moran (D-VA) and Tom Davis (R-VA) have teamed up to sponsor the "Driver’s License Modernization Act of 2002" (H.R. 4633). It is simply a straight-up, unadulterated, "your-papers-please," national identification system.

Moran and Davis, in bold fashion, are not trying to camouflage their national ID proposal, like so many before them. Their bill openly calls for citizens to carry a new driver’s license imbedded with a computer chip. That chip would contain the cardholder’s biometric information, most likely a face print, retinal scan or DNA.

This insanity must stop!

**Action to Take**

1. Tell your Representative to fight against H.R. 4633! Be sure to tell him/her that any form of national ID system is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! We must get through to Congress that lost liberty DOES NOT EQUAL increased security! Capitol Hill House Switchboard: (202) 225-3121.

2. Click here to send this APC Action Alert to up to TEN of your friends!

Bush Administration Endorses Junk Science on Global Warming

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just issued its "Climate Action Report 2002" to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. This report is nothing but green, global warming propaganda—which seems a bit odd, coming from the administration that so rightly dismissed the UN’s Kyoto global warming treaty.

The Climate Action Report is a compilation of junk science—garbage produced by the environmentally corrupt Clinton-Gore administration. The report states that greenhouse gas emissions have "likely affected the global climate system." In fact, the overwhelming theme of the report is that global warming is a man-made phenomenon that is unalterably changing the planet. The report relies partly on the widely discredited "National Assessment on Climate Change," which the Bush administration withdrew its support from last September.

So why the flip-flop? Why would the President endorse such a nonsensical report that goes completely against his stated policy? Does Bush have so few enemies that he needs to become his worst own?

Whatever the reason, President Bush needs to withdraw the Climate Action Report IMMEDIATELY, lest it cause any more damage. Already, in the week since its release, extreme environmental groups like the National Wildlife Federation are propping up the EPA report and blasting the President, citing the it as evidence of the need for the Kyoto Protocol, mandatory emissions restrictions and other economically disastrous policies.

**Action to Take**

1. Call President Bush and urge him to withdraw the fatally flawed Climate Action Report TODAY! The report is based on junk science and is a threat to the economy and energy supply of our nation. White House Comment Line: (202) 456-1111.

2. CClick here to send this APC Action Alert to up to TEN of your friends!

*Note: 2002 has shaped up to be a vital year. Good patriots are defending liberty on many different fronts. We want to make APC’s Action Alert System the most effective in the nation. If you know of activists who should be receiving these alerts—especially those with distribution lists of their own—please have them contact us via feedback form or fax us at: (540) 341-8917. Thank you.