UNDERNEWS
Sam Smith
July 19, 1999
The Progressive Review
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OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL PLATITUDES
The grotesque over-coverage of the Kennedy-Bissett deaths is further
evidence of the degree to which the media has replaced the church in
America. It picks our gods, tells us for whom and how to mourn, defines our
rites of passage, hears confessions, grants absolution, prescribes our
creed, and asks for money before the sermon.
Unfortunately, it is ill-fitted for any of these tasks. A few minutes of the
bland grieving for the bland on MSNBC or Fox News is enough to start one
yearning for the Council of Trent. The media at such times becomes an
intrusive, leering, necrophiliac at the wake.
Since the contemporary media believes that history extends no further back
than the last ratings sweep, such hyperbolic assessments serve mainly as a
form of self-justification for shocked commentators who have shared the
elite lifestyle of the diseased and who, for one brief moment, realize that
they too might die
We learn nothing at such moments about Joe Kennedy Sr.'s connections to the
mob, nor that if Jack Kennedy had lived to complete his term he might, at
best, matched the record of a Carter or a Ford, or that John Kennedy Jr. was
putting out a magazine of minimal import and maximum deficit, whose owner
was thinking of closing it down.
None of this would have been necessary to mention had the media handled the
story with integrity -- as a simple tragedy involving some well-known and
attractive people. But it chose instead to instruct us once more as to who
our heroes are and what our values should be -- something that even at a
more appropriate moments it is woefully unqualified to do.
The Kennedy family spent the weekend in silence and solitude -- attending
two private masses. It is becoming harder to remember but this is what real
people used to do at a time like this.
SIGHTINGS
BUMPER STICKER: Save America. Close Yale Law School
FBI SPIED ON GEORGE CARLIN
Add George Carlin to the list of Americans upon whom the FBI spied. Carlin
made it into the files, according to government documents obtained by APB
News, because of a 1969 spoof on the agency and J. Edgar Hoover. Included in
the file are several letters to Jackie Gleason complaining about Carlin's
appearance on his show and calling him "an alleged comedian" and "a
third-rate hanger-on."
In other rooting about, APB News finds that the National Enquirer, a tabloid
that prides itself on printing what others will not, in 1976 withheld
publication of a photograph -- subject unknown -- at the behest of the CIA.
The memo from Thuermer to then-CIA Director William Colby was primarily
about the agency's relationship with Generoso Pope Jr., the former publisher
of the Enquirer who died in 1989. It confirmed that Pope was a former CIA
employee but not a "distinguished" one. It says he served with the agency in
1951 but left "for personal reasons."
APB NEWS http://www.apbonline.com
TALKING ABOUT TALK
[Even before Talk Magazine could hit the streets, a web site is up
lampooning Tina Brown's new toy.]
"Talk is a small child staring out a big window, looking at a dog, or a
plane, or a poster supporting the campaign of Hillary Clinton for U.S.
Senate. Talk is F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bjork, funny black people, stoic
Filipinos and daring Asians. Talk is astronauts and Kremlinologists, people
who read the New York Times Book Review but don't actually read books, and
Helena Bonham Carter. Talk is a foreigner, often a mysterious foreigner, who
kills for pleasure. Talk is gay people, and lesbians. Talk is civilians
who've slept with celebrities. Talk is celebrities who have died. Talk is
celebrities who are more interesting than other celebrities who have died.
Talk is celebrities who have died but still sleep with other celebrities,
some of whom of have died, others of whom have yet to die, and still others
of whom will never, ever die...ever."
TALK ABOUT TALK http://www.talkmagazine.net
ECO NOTES
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE: Construction of a completely sustainable community
is under way on the island of the Dominican Republic and at the heart of the
development is a waste-to-energy system developed by a United States
technology company. Toups Technology Licensing will install, operate and
maintain the fully self-contained, minimal environmental impact system in
the town of La Caleta .... The land developer, Rancho La Regina
Agropecuario, S.A., will use Toups' Village Concept to make the 2,500-home
planned unit development self-sustainable, pollution-free and independent of
outside utilities and imported fossil fuels ... The Toups waste-to-energy
technology will provide electricity, potable water, water for irrigation,
sewage treatment, garbage collection and treatment, salt water
desalinization facilities, hot water for common areas and swimming pools,
chillers to cool common buildings and alternative fuels for cooking and
motor vehicles in the development.
ENS http://ens.com
campaigns
PACIFIC CRISIS
JULIE CHAO, SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: Rafael Renteria, a former program
director at a Pacifica Foundation radio station, thinks the gravity of the
crisis at KPFA would be better grasped if we imagined the city and year to
be different. "If (this were) Moscow in 1989 ..... the dirty Russians go and
shut down the democratic dissidents of Russia who had a radio station and
had begun to protest the policies of the evil Russian bureaucracy ..... it
would've been worldwide news," he said.
A. CLAY THOMPSON, SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN: The Pacifica Foundation is
likely deciding upon one of two options for KPFA: Selling the frequency for
tens of millions on the open market, or drastically reformatting the
station. The heavy-handed tactics of Pacifica management no longer come off
as ham-handed and clueless. They now look like calculated maneuvers plotted
to achieve long-term goals. One goal would be selling off either KPFA or New
York's WBAI, both of which hold high-dollar commercial spectrum licenses in
prime markets and both of which have been critical of their parent network
for years. The other would be toning down KPFA's politics, upping the number
of cheaply produced music shows, and seeking out a shinier, happier
demographic. Pacifica's Houston and Washington, D.C. outlets have already
gone in this direction.
YAHOO'S PACIFICA COVERAGE
http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/Local/Pacifica_Radio_Protest
DRUG BUSTS
In Myanmar, police have captured two monkeys that were trained to distribute
drugs, collect the money, and bring it back to a local pusher.
PRIME SOURCES AT CBS
DAN RATHER, SATURDAY, C. 11:10 AM: It is deep within the professional id of
CBS News to check and double check. Before we say something is a fact we
like to have two independent sources. We'll be clear with you as we go along
what's fact and what's in the way of speculation.
DAN RATHER, SATURDAY, C. 1:15 PM: We now have Lieutenant Ed Gaynor of the
United States Coast Guard, that they've now found some debris. Lieutenant,
what can you tell us about this debris?"
"LT GAYNOR": Some debris has been spotted and it is consistent with debris
from a Saratoga, whether it's John F. Kennedy's Saratoga we don't know. We
also found Bababooey's teeth were laying all in the bay too. And Howard
Stern and Bababooey [Stern's producer] were all there."
RATHER: Excuse me, when you said you have determined this debris is from a
Piper Saratoga . . . .Well, I'm not sure that we heard correctly there
Lieutenant Gaynor of the Coast Guard telling us, this is breaking
information, I remind you again this is live television, we take in raw
information, we do the best we can to be rock solid in stating fact. But now
earlier there was a report of debris spotted, then there was a report from
the FAA, Bob Orr said, well the FAA in effect steered us away from making
any conclusions that the debris might or might not have anything to do with
John Kennedy's plane. But now, this just in, the Coast Guard Lieutenant says
they have found debris. That debris, I believe that he said, we've lost him
for the moment now, is consistent with a Piper Saratoga but that they
couldn't determine whether it was John F. Kennedy Junior's Piper Saratoga
aircraft. But this puts the late information in a whole new context, a whole
new perspective"
RATHER (LATER): I want to emphasize to you that this is raw information.
Sometimes people call in and say things that aren't true, sometimes you know
cranks, that sort of thing happens. So let's be very, very careful here with
this information. One thought comes to mind. Was this actually the Coast
Guard Lieutenant that we thought we were talking to? He jumped off that
phone very pronto. Let's go to Bob Orr in Washington.
BOB ORR: Dan, I've never understood why when you're in a crisis type story
and when people are hungry for good reliable information, I've never
understood why pranksters think it's funny to come on and just pass out
erroneous information. I can tell you categorically Dan that last report was
completely unfounded. I doubt that it was anybody from the Coast Guard ....
RATHER: I want to nail this point down. We do not know whether any debris of
any significance has been sighted anywhere. On the phone, and we can be
faulted for this, we'll fault ourselves for it if there's fault to be
assessed, a person we believed to be a Coast Guard Lieutenant said that
debris had been found and it was consistent with a Saratoga Piper. We now
have fairly strong reason to believe that that was, however it happened, and
fault ours if it did happen this way, that some person, who for whatever
demented reason, would think that it was get through with a crank call like
that. But nonetheless, with live television, and handling in effect
hot-leaded information, sometimes it happens."
[Cyberalert]
AMERICA'S CROWN PRINCE
After a search of the Net, TPR was unable to confirm that John F. Kennedy
was ever named America's Crown Prince as we were told repeatedly over the
weekend by various television commentators. In fact, a Harlequin Romance
survey of 100 lifestyle editors in 1996 ranked Kennedy only ninth among the
nation's most romantic men. Here is the list:
1. Pierce Brosnan 2. Harrison 3. Denzel Washington 4. Brad Pitt 5. John
Travolta 6. Antonio Banderas 7. Liam Neeson 8. George Clooney 9. John F.
Kennedy Jr. 10. Jimmy Smits
A Parapoll survey by BKG did find that given a choice between being Michael
Jordan at 31 and John F. Kennedy Jr. at the same age, 62% of male
respondents chose Kennedy. There was no breakdown by race.
An on-line poll invited readers to comment on a George magazine article by
JFK Jr. that discussed indiscretion in his family. 38% of respondents chose
not to do so while 22% agreed with the statement, "I thought it was a waste
of time. The Kennedy's are a blot on the moral character of our country, yet
they are in some very sensitive positions. Something ought to be done about
the fact that money buys power." Only 34% offered a positive response.
Finally, according to ratings of the 1997-98 Rosie O'Donnell Show, JFK Jr.
fell behind a number of other celebrities, getting 30% fewer viewers than
Barbra Streisand, 19% fewer than Tom Cruise and 18% fewer than Madonna. JFK
Jr. got about 6% more viewers than Prince.
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