Dear Sir,
We are being governed by executive orders: Executive Order 13107, the Implementation of Human Rights Treaties that was signed by the president on December 10, 1998, must be canceled. It is said to be the "Mother of all Executive Orders." It lays the foundation to implement the objectives of 81 other human rights treaties never ratified by the U.S. Senate, makes the U.N. doctrine the ultimate legal standard which all U.S. policy and legislation must meet, and creates a powerful new federal oversight agency empowered to monitor state and federal laws to ensure their compliance with these unratified treaties. "Human rights" as defined in Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression are authorized, but "... may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations."

Included in the long list of United Nations treaties on human rights is the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. This treaty is vicious, and has not been ratified by the United States because many of us believe that the treaty gives the government authority over children superior to parental authority.

Another unratified U.N. human rights treaty that could be implemented under Executive Order 13107 is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush administrations rejected this treaty because it refuses to recognize one of the most fundamental American economic rights, THE RIGHT TO OWN PROPERTY.

Our rights and liberties are protected and guaranteed under the Constitution of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and NOT THE UNITED NATIONS! It is time for Congress to cancel EO-13107, and to examine the hundreds of previous executive orders which they have negligently allowed to slide through the system.

On February 2, 1999 the president signed Executive Order 13112, Invasive Species, launching another attack on private property "to prevent the introduction of invasive alien species and provide for their control and to minimize the economic, ecological and human health impacts that invasive species cause ..." Despite its purpose, this EO fails to define domesticated species, and as a result of this omission, most agricultural crop and animal species will fall within the definition of alien as indicated in the order. This latest executive order, bypassing elected officials, jeopardizes our entire agricultural community. CONGRESS MUST STOP EXECUTIVE ORDER 13112 ON INVASION OF ALIEN SPECIES IN ITS TRACK!

Write your senators and congressman and express your opposition to these executive orders. For those who have access to the Internet, you can go to freedom.org, which is Sovereignty International, where you will find more information on these executive orders and property rights issues.

Joan Bushong
Mountain Home, Texas

Dear Sir,
I'd like to second Wade Choate's suggestion to get cattle de-listed from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and offer one more suggestion: DO SOMETHING ABOUT CONSISTENCY!

Almost everyone agrees that loss of market share accounts for deteriorating real prices. To date, almost nothing has been done industry-wide to deal with inconsistency:

1. Measure tenderness — LET THE MARKET SPEAK.

2. Sort finished cattle so they would stay in their segment with similar cattle with similar time on feed: (a.) Brahmans fed to finish; (b.) Beef cattle fed to finish; (c.) Holsteins fed to finish; (d.) other cattle fed to finish (roping steers, No. 2 Mexicans, cutting bulls, heiferettes, corrientes, etc.)

Focus all checkoff money and all association personnel on segmenting finished cattle so they would stay in their slot. The grading system originated to differentiate grain-fed cattle from grass-fat cattle. That is all it does. DO SOMETHING OR QUIT COMPLAINING. THE PRICE OF CATTLE TO THE PRODUCERS IS ALL THAT MATTERS.

Laurence M. Lasater
San Angelo, Texas