Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise

CDFE Attends New Civil Rights Campaign Launch
 

2008 Congress of Racial Equality Martin Luther King Memorial Reception and Dinner in New York City

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The Center's top officers attend major CORE function

Center President Alan Gottlieb, Executive Vice President Ron Arnold and Director Julianne Versnel crossed the continent from Pacific to Atlantic to attend the 2008 Martin Luther King Day event hosted by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) held at the New York Sheraton Hotel and Towers on January 21.

The nearly 2,000 attendees included numerous non-profit organization leaders:

Bishop T. D. Jakes, Founder and Senior Pastor, The Potters House (2008 Honoree)

Jim Martin, president of 60 Plus Association

Morry Davis and William Suggs of American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE)

Marita Noon, executive director of Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE)

Ralph Connor, Heartland Institute

Jim Sims, Americans for American Energy

Paul Driessen, Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)

David Keene, chairman, American Conservative Union

Top Hispanic Army Officer is CORE's 2008 Buffalo Soldier A highlight of the evening was CORE's presentation of its prestigious Buffalo Soldier Award to retired Lt. General Ricardo S. Sanchez, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004. General Sanchez was the highest-ranking Hispanic in the United States Army when he retired on November 1 2006. He is shown here with CORE National Chairman Roy Innis presenting the award. Buffalo Soldiers is a nickname originally applied to the members of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army by the Native American tribes they fought. The "Buffalo Soldiers" were established by Congress as the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U.S. Army. The term is now used in reference to U.S. Army units which trace their direct lineage back to the 9th and 10th cavalry units whose bravery earned them an honored place in U.S. history.

Roy Innis book launches new civil rights campaign on access to American energy
Energy Keepers Energy Killers: The New Civil Rights Battle
by Roy Innis, with a Foreword by Sean Hannity and an Introduction by Alan Gottlieb, was released at the event. Mr. Gottlieb is an Amazon.com best-selling author for his America Fights Back: Armed Self-defense in a Violent Age, with Dave Workman.

To prevent this political disaster, Mr. Innis called for an "Energy Keeper" campaign to open federal lands to more natural gas, coal and oil production to keep prices within reach of poor and middle income families. One congressman has long led the fight to do just that, and CORE recognized his hard work.

Congressman Chris Cannon receives CORE's first Energy Keeper Award

U.S. Representative Chris Cannon (R-Utah) capped the debut of the new book and civil rights campaign by accepting CORE's first Energy Keeper Award for his leadership defending the energy rights of Americans. Congressman Cannon is chairman of the influential Western Caucus, an organization of over 50 Congressmen working on resource management issues in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman Cannon supported Mr. Innis' call for an Energy Keeper campaign to keep energy supplies abundant and to keep prices affordable for low and middle income Americans.

Congressman will take Roy Innis letter to President George W. Bush

CORE National Chairman Roy Innis gave Congressman Cannon two copies of Energy Keepers Energy Killers: The New Civil Rights Battle. One copy was for the Congressman, said Mr. Innis, and asked him to deliver the second copy, along with a personal letter on CORE letterhead, to President George W. Bush.

Congressman Cannon said he would keep his copy on his desk in the House of Representatives where all his visitors could see it.

He also pledged to deliver the second copy and the letter to President Bush. Congressman Cannon then read the text of the letter aloud to the audience.

Text of Roy Innis letter to President Bush Dear President Bush,   I appreciate the pressures and demands of the office you hold, and therefore present you with this small book on a large topic: the impact of energy policy on the civil rights of all Americans.   I just wrote it, and it is called Energy Keepers - Energy Killers: The new civil rights battle.   The central issue of my book is access to the energy sources beneath the public lands. As you know, public lands belong to the poor, the disadvantaged and minorities – as much as to environmental elites and the legion of wealthy foundations that fund their campaigns to limit our access to energy.   Low and middle income earners bear a disproportionate burden of high energy prices – and those prices are rising because Energy Killers are preventing us from getting and using our own energy.   The Congress of Racial Equality is organizing for a new civil rights battle – to press for Federal relief, not in the form of government charity, but in the form of greater production of fossil fuels from public lands, to increase supplies, reduce imports and temper prices.   I call on you to exercise all the power of your high office – to retrieve the energy that lies buried in American soil, to help our poor, our disadvantaged, our minority families, without making us beggars at the American banquet.   Sincerely, [signed] Roy Innis National Chairman

BUY THE BOOK!   Energy Keepers Energy Killers: The New Civil Rights Battle
is available at Amazon.com. Just click here.

Center officials contributed to the Roy Innis book

Center President Alan Gottlieb agreed to publish Energy Keepers Energy Killers: The New Civil Rights Battle through his commercial firm, Merril Press. Merril's publishing industry connections assured that the book would be pre-sold on Amazon.com. Merril's national distributor was so enthusiastic that they immediately ordered a second 10,000-copy printing before the first printing was formally released.

Paul Driessen, Senior Advisor to both CORE and CDFE, edited the book and, as Mr. Innis wrote in his acknowledgments, "not only encouraged me every step of the way, but also did a vast amount of research and fact checking with many, many experts."

Center Executive Vice President Ron Arnold gave permission to use graphics and the concepts of Energy Reality and the Energy Gap from his recent book, Freezing in the Dark: Money, Power, Politics and The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy, also published by Merril Press.

"The Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise is pleased to carry our relationship with the Congress of Racial Equality into this new area after working with them for years on the problem of malaria in Africa, particularly on Paul Driessen's outstanding 2003 book, Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death," said Mr. Gottlieb.

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