BLOOM WHERE YOU’RE PLANTED!

I am ashamed to admit this; but I, as a contributing writer for the North Valley News, am guilty of not turning in my articles on time! If you “happened across” our last issue and read my article, you definitely noticed it to be an article from a previous edition of our newsletter. The explanation or excuse for my tardiness is this: my son and my son-in-law continuously tease me about my opening statements every month. I usually begin with comments such as, “Can you believe school is out?” or “It’s that time of the year again!”

Without being redundant, and not wanting to cause either of them disappointment, let me say, “Can you believe it is August already?” Time certainly flies when you’re having fun! We have experienced a wonderful summer, and I trust you have enjoyed yours as well. One of the events that was thrilling for me recently was to have my brother DeWayne and his wife Gail fly out to visit us. It had been twenty-nine years since they were last here. We had a great time! I wasn’t ready for them to head home, and I was actually “bummed out” the day they left. You know the feeling, right? The one thing that lifted my spirits that day was thinking about and looking forward to Pastor’s and my annual vacation together. Palm Springs-here we come!

In fact, this article is being penned from Palm Springs. I am sitting with my feet propped up, sipping a glass of ice water, and enjoying the panoramic view from our air-conditioned room! Why? Because it is 108 degrees outside, and anyone with good sense at all wouldn’t be out in this heat! So why Palm Springs? Pastor loves the heat! Again, I have sacrificed for my better half! Just knowing he is enjoying this extreme heat makes me happy. (Really, it does.)

As I run (literally) from the car to whatever air-conditioned place of business, you can hear comments like, “How do people actually live here?” or “I’m so glad I’m saved!” Pastor has reminded me several times in the last couple of days that we have wonderful missionaries and pastor friends that are serving the Lord in extreme heat and humidity. I am more appreciative for where I am geographically located than ever before. Our average temperature is 72 degrees-praise the Lord!

Although I have been prone to grumble every now and again about the “asphalt jungle,” I am very thankful for where God has placed us. I’ve had to learn to “bloom where I am planted!” I might prefer grass to concrete and cornfields to traffic, but that is not where God has placed us. And I shudder to think where thousands of people from the Bay Area would be had it not been for the North Valley Baptist Church.

How about you? Are you allowing God to use you where you are? In light of the Lord’s imminent return, may each one of us “keep on keeping on.” Streets of gold, gates of pearl, and mansions of rare beauty will keep us blissfully happy for eternity. The greatest thrill will be to behold the face of our dear Savior and our loved ones awaiting us. Join me in “blooming where you are planted” today. You will be so glad you did!

Until next month,
Mrs. T.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cindie Trieber has served the people of North Valley Baptist Church for more than three decades as the Pastor’s Wife. She teaches in the college and is a godly mother and “Nana." She recently completed her first book entitled With All My Heart.

UFOs and the Guy Hottel Memo

fbi.gov

A single-page March 22, 1950 memo by Guy Hottel, special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office, regarding UFOs is the most viewed document in the FBI Vault, our online repository of public records.

It’s the most popular file in the FBI Vault, viewed nearly a million times over the past two years. Yet, it is only a single page, relaying an unconfirmed report that the FBI never even followed up on.

The file in question is a memo dated March 22, 1950—63 years ago last week. It was authored by Guy Hottel, then head of our field office in Washington, D.C. Like all memos to FBI Headquarters at that time, it was addressed to Director J. Edgar Hoover and recorded and indexed in FBI records. But the subject of the memo was anything but ordinary...

Read full story | FBI Vault

A Byte Out of History

Alger Hiss was convicted 63 years ago this month.

A Byte Out of History
The Alger Hiss Story

The jury returned from its deliberations on January 21, 1950—63 years ago this month. The verdict? Guilty on two counts of perjury.

Alger Hiss, a well-educated and well-connected former government lawyer and State Department official who helped create the United Nations in the aftermath of World War II, was headed to prison in Atlanta for lying to a federal grand jury.

	Whitaker Chambers testified against Hiss.

The central issue of the trial was espionage. In August 1948, Whittaker Chambers—a senior editor atTime magazine—was called by the House Committee on Un-American Activities to corroborate the testimony of Elizabeth Bentley, a Soviet spy who had defected in 1945 and accused dozens of members of the U.S. government of espionage. One official she named as possibly connected to the Soviets was Alger Hiss.

The FBI immediately began probing her claims to ensure those who were credibly named—including Hiss—did not continue to have access to government secrets or power. As the investigation into Bentley and related matters deepened in 1946 and 1947, Congress became aware of and concerned about the case. Details leaked to the press, and the investigation became national news and embroiled in partisan politics in the run up to the 1948 presidential election.

Chambers, who had renounced the Communist Party in the late 1930s, testified reluctantly that hot summer day. He ultimately acknowledged he was part of the communist underground in the 1930s and that Hiss and others had been members of the group.

	View Soviet spy Elizabeth Bentley’s FBI file.

In later testimony, Hiss vehemently denied the accusation. After all, Chambers had offered no proof that Hiss had committed espionage or been previously connected to Bentley or the communist group.

It could have ended there, but members of the committee—especially California Congressman Richard Nixon—prodded Chambers into disclosing information suggesting there was more to his story and his relationship with Hiss. In later testimony, Hiss admitted knowing Chambers in the 1930s, but he continued to deny any ties to communism and later filed a libel suit against his accuser.

The committee was torn. Who was telling the truth, Hiss or Chambers? And should either be charged with perjury?

A key turn of events came in November 1948, when Chambers produced documents showing both he and Hiss were committing espionage. Then, in early December, Chambers provided the committee with a package of microfilm and other information he had hidden inside a pumpkin on his Maryland farm. The two revelations, which became known as the “Pumpkin Papers,” contained images of State Department materials—including notes in Hiss’ own handwriting.

It was the smoking gun the Justice Department needed. Hiss was charged with perjury; he could not be indicted for espionage because the statute of limitations had run out. An extensive FBI investigation helped develop a great deal of evidence verifying Chambers’ statements and revealing Hiss’ cover-ups.

In 1949, the first trial resulted in a hung jury, but in 1950, Hiss was convicted. Sixty-three years ago today, he was sentenced to five years in prison, ending an important case that helped further confirm the increasing penetration of the U.S. government by the Soviets during the Cold War.

Resources:
- The FBI, World War, Cold War, 1939-1953
- FBI Files on Elizabeth Bentley

Neo-Con War Addiction Threatens Our Future

Lake Jackson, Texas

William Kristol knows what is wrong with the United States. As he wrote recently in the flagship magazine of the neo-conservatives, the Weekly Standard, the problem with the US is that we seem to have lost our appetite for war. According to Kristol, the troubles that have befallen us in the 20th century have all been the result of these periodic bouts of war-weariness, a kind of virus that we catch from time to time.

He claims because of the US “drawdown” in Europe after World War II, Stalin subjugated Eastern Europe. Because of war weariness the United States stopped bombing Southeast Asia in the 1970s, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. War weariness through the 1990s led to Rwanda, Milosevic, and the rise of the Taliban. It was our fault for not fighting on! According to Kristol, our failure to act as the policeman of the world is why we were attacked on September 11, 2001. Of the 1990s, he wrote, “[t]hat decade of not policing the world ended with 9/11.”

That revisionism is too much even for fellow neo-conservatives like Paul Wolfowitz to swallow. In a 2003 interview, Wolfowitz admitted that it was the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia that led to the growth of al-Qaeda:

"(W)e can now remove almost all of our forces from Saudi Arabia. Their presence there over the last 12 years has been a source of enormous difficulty for a friendly government. It's been a huge recruiting device for al Qaeda. In fact if you look at bin Laden, one of his principle grievances was the presence of so-called crusader forces on the holy land, Mecca and Medina.”

But for Kristol and his allies there is never enough war. According to a new study by Brown University, the US invasion of Iraq cost some 190,000 lives, most of them non-combatants. It has cost more than $1.7 trillion, and when all is said and done including interest the cost may well be $6 trillion. Some $212 billion was spent on Iraqi reconstruction with nothing to show for it. Total deaths from US war on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan have been at least 329, 000. None of this is enough for Kristol.

The neo-con ideology promotes endless war, but neo-cons fight their battles with the blood of others. From the comfortable, subsidized offices of magazines like the Weekly Standard, the neo-conservatives urge the United States to engage in endless war – to be fought by the victims of the“poverty draft” from states where there are few jobs. Ironically, these young people cannot find more productive work because the Federal Reserve’s endless money printing to keep the war machine turning has destroyed our economy. The six trillion dollars that will be spent on the Iraq war are merely pieces of printed paper that further erode the dollar’s purchasing power now and well into the future. It is the inflation tax, which is the most regressive and cruel of all.

Yes, Americans are war weary, concedes Kristol. But he does not blame the average American. The real problem is that the president has dropped the ball on terrifying Americans with the lies and imaginary threats that led to the invasion of Iraq. Writes Kristol: “One can’t, for example, be surprised at the ebbing support of the American public for the war in Afghanistan years after the president stopped trying to mobilize their support, stopped heralding the successes of the troops he’d sent there, and stopped explaining the importance of their mission.”

If only we had more war propaganda from the highest levels of government we could be cured of this war-weariness. Ten years ago the US invaded Iraq under the influence of neo-conservative lies. Those lies continued to promote US military action in places like Libya, and next on their agenda is Syria and then on to Iran. It is time for the American people to shout “enough!”

Ron Paul

HELPS FOR A HAPPY HOME

• Have dinner ready: Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal on time. This is a way of letting him know you have been thinking about him, and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospects of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.
• Prepare yourself: Take 15 minutes to rest so you will be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people. Be happy and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.
• Clear away clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, gathering up school books, toys, paper, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too.
• Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces if they are small, comb their hair, and if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.
• Minimize the noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of washer, dryer or vacuum. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad to see him.
• Some DON’TS: Don’t greet him with problems or complaints. Don’t complain at the dinner table. Count this as minor compared with what he might have gone through that day.
• Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax and unwind.
• Listen to him: You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.
• Make the evening his: Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or other places of entertainment; instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his need to be home and relax.
• The Goal: Make your home a place of peace & order where your husband can relax.

When pondering these instructions of yesteryear, it is plain to see that we have come a long way in our homes…in the wrong direction! Let us return to Biblical, loving homes, where each member lives a life of selfless service for the others in the family.

This material was widely used in home economics classes for the training of high school girls in the 1950’s, teaching them how to prepare for married life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cindie Trieber has served the people of North Valley Baptist for more than three decades as the Pastor’s Wife. She teaches in the college and is a godly mother and “Nana." She recently completed her first book entitled With All My Heart.

It took a war to bring the FBI to Paris

An early photo of the U.S. Embassy building in Paris.

Legal Attaché Paris
Then and Now

01/06/11

It took a war to bring the FBI to Paris.

Sixty-seven years ago, in 1944, two FBI agents reported to Colonel Gordon Sheen in France at SHAEF, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. Their mission: to get access, at war’s end, to captured spies, spy documents, and other source material that might assist U.S. investigations of domestic treason, espionage, and subversive activities. Special Agent Freddy Ayer and Special Agent Don Daughters hit the ground running, “liberating” the apartment that had belonged to the counselor of the German Embassy for a place to stay in post-war Paris, then setting up shop at 15 avenue Mozart, 16th arrondissement.

	Special Agent Frederick Ayer

It wasn’t long before the value of an FBI presence was recognized. At the request of U.S. Ambassador Jefferson Caffrey, a permanent legal attaché office was established at the U.S. Embassy in Paris on July 16, 1945. Special Agent Horton Telford was appointed the first “legat” and moved into space on the mezzanine floor of the current embassy on the Place Concorde. He was responsible for “maintaining contact, for mutual cooperation purposes, with all sections of the French Police, the International Criminal Police Commission, and the British Intelligence Service.”

Consider the Dawson case of that era. Francis Washington Dawson was an American citizen and former employee of the U.S. Embassy who was arrested by French police in Paris following the discovery of incriminating documents in an abandoned German staff car that implicated Dawson in acts of treason against the United States. The U.S. Embassy, newly reopened, asked the FBI to get the facts of the case. Our agents jumped on it, securing the complete story from French police, who also gave them access to Dawson for a direct interrogation. After discussing the results with Ambassador Caffrey, the case was concluded to the satisfaction of all concerned.

And so began the friendships and cooperative relationships between the FBI and French law enforcement and intelligence services that flourish to this day.

Today, Legat Paris is staffed with a French-speaking legat, three assistant legats, a linguist, and two office administrators. The mission hasn’t changed all that much—in the words of Assistant Director for International Operations Joe Demarest, the goal is “fostering strategic partnerships with foreign law enforcement, intelligence, and security services as well as other FBI divisions and other government agencies by sharing knowledge, experience, capabilities, and exploring joint operational opportunities.” But if the mission hasn’t changed, the cases sure have.  

Inside the legal attaché office in Paris circa 1946.

Anyone who pays attention to the news could guess that bilateral cooperation with our French colleagues on terrorist investigations would be a top priority—and it is, making up some 75 percent of the office caseload and involving some of the most complex and far ranging terrorist threats in the world today. But major work is also done in areas as diverse as:

• Counterintelligence and weapons of mass destruction;
• Cyber crime, including child pornography and computer intrusions;
• Transnational organized crime;
• White-collar crime; and
• Fugitives and violent crime.

Looks a lot like the FBI’s top priorities, doesn’t it? And the investigations can be deliciously high-tech.

Take, for example, Hacker Croll.

In 2009, Twitter.com realized someone had hacked into its admin server, downloaded confidential documents, and viewed the individual Twitter account profiles of Barak Obama, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Lily Allen, among others. Alerted, the FBI in San Francisco opened an investigation and soon located the hacker—who was sitting just outside Clermont-Ferrand, a beautiful city in central France. 

Legat Paris knew just what to do: it contacted L’Office Central de Lutte Contre la Criminalite Liee aux Technologies de L’Information et de la Communication of France’s Judicial Police. After close consultations, the Judicial Police finalized plans for the arrest—and invited the FBI to accompany the arresting team and to participate in interviews. Twenty-five-year-old Francois Cousteix was arrested on March 23, 2010. He was tried in June, found guilty, and sentenced to prison. C’est la vie! But it never would have happened without the strong and spirited assistance of the French Judicial Police.

fbi.gov

The old-hospital on Addison Ave. is the rumored designated new local “Fusion-Center”

Twin Falls, Idaho

The old-hospital on Addison Ave. is the rumored designated new local “Fusion-Center”, connected to a nearby non-disclosed Operation-Center “multi-jurisdictional enforcement and spying centers, lacking clear guidelines or sufficient oversight, and posing a severe risk to Twin Falls citizens and their civil liberties.”

To quote Obama’s National Security Strategy document: “To seamlessly exchange messages and information, conduct searches, and collaborate. We are coordinating better with foreign partners to identify, track, limit access to funding, and prevent terrorist travel. Recognizing the inextricable link between domestic and transnational security, we will collaborate bilaterally, regionally, and through international institutions to promote global efforts to prevent terrorist attacks.” LMS-Defense will likely provide local tactical training through government contracts in the Twin-Falls area.

Janet Napolitano the Secretary of “Homeland Security” in a document titled: “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” targets, gun-owners, veterans, patriots, and political opponents as the new domestic terrorists and morphs into the priority intelligence targets for Fusion-Centers!

Fusion-Centers are secretly welcomed by local officials that are unaware of a premeditated and planned “EMERGENCY;” Federal money blinds them. The contrived emergency could begin, a Bolshevik style crackdown, martial law, gun confiscation, UN troops; civil war.

Media outlets act as information gatekeepers, and with the help of Schools, clergy-response-teams (churches) coordinated through a chain of command FEMA…Northern-Command…Operations-centers…through fusion-centers… constitutional checks and balance will be ignored and the Commanding Marxist revolutionaries have everything in place to cross, lawful, jurisdictional boundaries. County officials and the Sheriff should refuse federal money and get rid of Fusion-Center NOW!

The operating procedure for a Marxist Revolutionaries is to protect against a counter revolution by relieving collaborators of their guilt and rewarding them with medals and accolades; and then eliminating them. Sound familiar? It can happen here; only God and the Sheriff can stop it.

Dan Gill