UNDERNEWS October 12, 1999 The Progressive Review 1312 18th St NW (Fifth Floor) Washington DC 20036 202-835-0770 Fax: 835-0779 Web Site: http://www.prorev.com/ Editor: Sam Smith ---------------------------------------------------------- WORD Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell -- Edward Abbey MORNING LINE RASMUSSEN RESEARCH: While Gore has slipped in California, Bradley trails just 46% to 40% with a 5-point margin of error. In Illinois, Bush leads Gore 43% to 35%. However, Bush and Bradley are tied at 40%. In Connecticut, Bush leads Gore handily, but Bradley leads Bush 45% to 40%. In New York, Bush beats Gore easily. However, Bradley beats Bush 46% to 37%. In Michigan, the pattern is similar. Bush beats Gore 43% to 35%. But, in a Bush-Bradley race, it’s Bush 40% to Bradley 38%. Bush is helped by the fact that he is Governor of a large state and will win Texas handily. He is also helped by the fact that his brother is Governor of Florida. So far, in the 12 states surveyed, Bush leads Gore in the Electoral College by a margin of 237 to 0. Rasmussen Research asked about a Bush Bradley match-up in 8 of the 12 states. Bush leads with 132 electoral votes to Bradley’s 41. However, 40 electoral votes are toss-ups .... Remember, in mid-1992, polls showed that Bill Clinton trailed both President George Bush and billionaire Ross Perot. RASMUSSEN RESEARCH http://www.portraitofamerica.com TPR MORNING LINE http://www.prorev.com/amline.htm GREAT MOMENTS IN OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS Weekend All Things Considered featured a trio of talking heads -- led by Dan Shorr -- attacking the Reform Party. One suggested that its candidates were, apparently in contrast to other politicians, driven by "conceit." Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution, a Washington sophistry mill, declared that "the Reform Party is one big sideshow." GOLD RUSH DOW JONES Central Banks are selling gold in order to prevent a further sharp rise in prices from causing a major financial crisis, according to Ted Arnold, analyst at Prudential Bache Securities Ltd. [1] .... If gold prices continue to rise sharply, they could cause major losses at U.S. and European investment and bullion banks and cause a domino effect that could lead to a major financial crisis, Arnold said. "Central banks, according to our sources, have acted swiftly to prevent a repeat of an LTCM-type of crisis by making sure that gold prices remain in a tight range. Enough selling is done by agents of the monetary authorities involved to cap gold ... around the $330 area basis spot London while the floor is very solid in around the $315-$316 area basis spot," Arnold said. THE REVIEW LIST Six questions for the Federal Reserve from Bill Murphy, chair, Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee 1) Do the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department have a policy toward the price of gold? If so, what is it? 2) Do the Fed and the Treasury trade in gold or in securities, futures contracts, or options related to gold, or otherwise influence trading in gold? If so, how? 3) Do the Fed and the Treasury trade in any financial instruments besides U.S. government bonds? If so, which ones and what do the Fed and the Treasury try to accomplish with their trading? 4) Do the Fed and the Treasury have or control brokerage accounts? If so, with which brokers? 5) Do the Fed and the Treasury try to influence the stock and commodities markets? If so, how? 6) Do the Fed and the Treasury lend or lease gold? If so, to whom, for what national purpose, and under what terms? BILL MURPHY'S SITE http://www.lemetropolecafe.com GOLD ANTI-TRUST ACTION COMMITTEE http://www.gata.org AMERICAN INDICATORS HEADWATER TIMES: After declining in the '80s, America's rural population has bounced back in the '90s, according to a new Bureau report. More than 71 percent of the country's rural counties are growing, both because of an influx of urban escapees and because fewer rural residents are skipping town. Though much of the growth is taking place close to big cities (thus the urban sprawl rap), growth is also taking place in more isolated areas. "The new arrivals are a mixed lot of retirees, blue-collar workers, lone-eagle professionals, and disenchanted city dwellers," writes study author Kenneth Johnson of Loyola University-Chicago. "All see a better way of life in rural areas." FEEDBACK SEVERAL READERS CAME OUT OF THE WOODWORK, so to speak, to take exception to our exposé of the apparently fake drywalling photo at Al Gore headquarters opening (in which part of the wall was about to be painted before the spackling had dried). Writes Niki: "Talk about clumsy and trivial! To attempt to discredit a candidate on the basis of a second hand report on the apparently shoddy work of some sub-sub contractor in a temporary headquarters is both--in spades. Come on. You're better than that." Reader Jon Rowe offered an explanation that, while plausible, seems to conflict with Gore's commitment to government efficiency: "There is a kind of quick-drying drywall compound. Usually it's used for patching small holes before final painting. At least that was the case when I last did drywall work about ten years ago. There might well be something on the market today for bigger jobs like smoothing out joints. It would be quite a bit more expensive than the regular kind." CHRIS HARRIES IN TASMANIA writes concerning our story about a reduction in the Antarctic ozone hole: "Down here in Tasmania, living on the edge of the ozone hole, where our schoolchildren have to be kept indoors during midday hours, we have known for some time that the ozone hole, in fact, fluctuates biannually. Each second year it shrinks a little and then fills out the following year. Scientists have been trying to work out why this phenomenon occurs. Next year it will grow again. Sorry to kill the good news, but the ozone hole is not shrinking yet." OUR ITEM ABOUT THE NEW CBS SHOW featuring volunteers trapped on a South China sea island brought notes from European viewers which reminded us that, as always, there is no such things as a "new CBS show." First from the Netherlands, from Sven: "I think this is due to the great success of the program started here in Holland called "Big-Brother" (http://www.big-brother.nl in Dutch I'm afraid) that has many Dutch citizens watching this terrible idea of a program. I don't know if you know the circumstances that these people are in. Nine people are living together for 100 days with no contact (more or less) from the outside world. Every so often they have to nominate someone to leave the group and then the viewers at home call in or email their choice and, bump, out goes that person. So far on person has had the boot and one person left (to be quickly replaced) on her own free will. It is being taped 24 hours a day and can be seen live on the Internet 24/7. Every night there is a synopsis of the past day. This aspect I find interesting because of the way in which the producers frame certain people in the show. BIG BROTHER http://www.big-brother.nl And Anders Püschel writes: "In Sweden we're way ahead of you. A TV show in the state-controlled Sveriges Television called "Robinson", uses the same concept as the series outlined by CBS. It is currently in its third season. It's been a smash hit in spite of initial scathing criticism from newspaper reviewers." WACO MASSACRE JAMES RIDGEWAY, VILLAGE VOICE: The Army's Delta Force and the Navy Seals weren't the only observers at Waco, which, as details spill out, looks more and more like a training op for the international commando set. Among others present were representatives of Britain's elite Special Air Services, infamous for its counterinsurgency operations in Northern Ireland." Ridgeway cites a 1996 letter from the FBI to Senator Charles Robb, which says that "...two SAS soldiers visiting at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, requested and were granted a courtesy visit. The main purpose...was to experience how the FBI operated its command post. They were shown the relationship of the FBI's command post to the tactical operations center, were allowed a visit to the forward tactical area, and were provided generic briefings regarding the incident. Although the [Hostage Rescue Team] had tactical interface with the SAS during routine practice and training, at no time was the SAS called upon to participate in...the siege." DRUG BUSTS According to Spain's El Pais, the postal service is the new way drug traffickers have devised to import drugs into Europe. A packet containing books or records gets sent to Colombia, and a few days later it's sent back apparently intact because the addressee is unknown. In reality it travels back to the full of drugs. According to the Italian paper, Il Messaggero, Australians are losing their taste for alcohol but now spend an average of $230 (US)annually to buy marijuana, about 1% of the country's gross domestic product. THE SIX BILLIONTH US POLLY MCLEAN, DENVER POST: For its size, the African continent is underpopulated. But production and access to food and safe drinking water, a basic human right, are marginal in many societies and a serious problem in others due to variable rainfall, cycles of drought, war and environmental degradation. When food and water is scarce or unavailable millions go hungry. And those most affected by hunger and starvation in Africa are women and children .... The African population has access to only 41 percent of agricultural land, much of which is of poor quality and unworkable. As subsistence farmers, women are particularly affected by inequitable distribution of land not to mention the traditional patriarchal cultural barriers. Then there is the HIV pandemic. According to UNAIDS, for every 10 women living with HIV worldwide, eight live in sub-Sahara Africa. Of the estimated 8.2 million children under the age of 15 who have lost their mother to AIDS, 95 percent are in Africa. DENVER POST http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ CREATIONISM ALBUQUERQUE TRIBUNE: [The state board of education] voted 14-1 Friday to change its science teaching standards -- essentially eliminating any possibility that teaching creationism will find its way into New Mexico science classrooms. The new standards clearly support the teaching of evolution and its methodology. The previous standards did not spell out as specifically what should be taught in science. Students can still ask questions about creationism if they choose. ALBUQUERQUE TRIBUNE: http://www.abqtrib.com/news/100999_evolut.shtml DETAILS SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: One Republican lawmaker believes it is time Utah makes peace with its peculiar past by issuing an official state apology to polygamists for anti-bigamy law enforcement raids in the 1940s and 1950s. Rep. David Zolman says a public apology for polygamist roundups conducted decades ago would erect a "peace bridge" to isolated fundamentalist communities, and end decades of hostile confrontation. "The head-in-the-sand solution of the past century is clearly erroneous and someone has got to do something," the Taylorsville lawmaker said Monday. "The way we have been toward them politically is a travesty." Zolman is attempting to generate support for a public apology in the form of a legislative resolution .... Polygamy was a doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until 1890, when it was officially abandoned. But an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people in several Western states have continued "the principle" despite their ostracization and excommunication by the LDS Church. Zolman, who describes himself as an "orthodox monogamist" with no bigamists in his ancestry, previously has advocated removing the polygamy ban from the Utah Constitution and decriminalizing plural marriage. [After polygamy was banned, it is said that a Mormon senator came under attack from a colleague for his religion's former practice. The critic was a well known roué which led another senator to comment, "I would rather have in the United States Senate a polygamist who didn't polyg than an monogamist who didn't monyg." --TPR] SALT LAKE TRIBUNE http://www.sltrib.com/10121999/nation_w/37094.htm MORE NEWS http://www.prorev.com/indexa.htm#12 Anthrax vaccine boycotted State privacy policies ranked ---------------------------------------------------------- THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW Sam Smith, Editor E-MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED] INDEX: http://prorev.com LATEST UNDERNEWS: http://prorev.com/indexa.htm OTHER HEADLINE NEWS: http://prorev.com/altnews.htm THE REVIEW UNCLASSIFIEDS: http://www.prorev.com/jobs.htm DONATIONS AND ORDER FORM: http://prorev.com/order3.htm UNSUBSCRIBE: Reply with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. REVIEW FORUM: http://www.prorev.com/letters.htm Purveyor of organic news and information for over 35 years. We use no growth hormones, commercial fertilizers or genetically modified truth kernels. 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