[CTRL] Privacy?
-Caveat Lector- Here Comes The Beast! Clinton OKs massive attack on privacy (Source: New York, NYT-07-27-99 2104EDT) No. 128, 2 - 8 August 1999 If you thought "Know your customer" was dead, wait until you read the following article. The Federal Government, with William Jefferson Blythe "I Did Not Have Sex With THAT Woman!" Clinton wants to access your bank accounts, corporate networks, and gather information that it has no business knowing. And all in the interests of "national security." The plan was created in response to a presidential directive in May 1998 requiring the executive branch to review the vulnerabilities of the federal government's computer systems in order to become a "model of information and security.'' In a cover letter to the draft plan Clinton writes, "A concerted attack on the computers of any one of our key economic sectors or governmental agencies could have catastrophic effects.'' But the plan strikes at the heart of a growing controversy over how to protect the nation's computer systems while also protecting civil liberties particularly since it would put a new and powerful tool into the hands of the FBI. Increasingly, data flowing over the Internet is becoming a vital tool for law enforcement, and civil liberties experts said law enforcement agencies would be under great temptation to expand the use of the information in pursuit of suspected criminals. "The report clearly recognizes the civil liberties implications,'' said James X. Dempsey, staff counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington civil liberties group, "But it brushes them away.'' (Read that: ignores civil liberties) The draft plan states: "As access to relevant networks is premised on 'consent' of the user to allow session monitoring, the collection of certain data identified as anomalous activity or a suspicious event would not be considered a privacy issue.'' Dempsey conceded the legal validity of the point, but said there was tremendous potential for abuse. "My main concern is that Fidnet is an ill-defined monitoring system of potentially broad sweep,'' he said. "It seems to place monitoring and surveillance at the center of the government's response to a problem that is not well suited to such measures.'' The federal government is making a concerted effort to insure that civil liberties and privacy rights are not violated by the plan, Hunker said. He said that data gathered from non-government computer networks will be collected separately from the FBI-controlled monitoring system at a separate location within a General Services Administration building. He said that was done to keep non-government data at arm's length from law enforcement. The plan also has drawn concern from civil libertarians because it blends civilian and military functions in protecting the nation's computer networks. The report notes that there is already a Department of Defense "contingent'' working at the FBI's infrastructure protection center to integrate intelligence, counterintelligence and law enforcement efforts in protecting Pentagon computers. "The fight over this could make the fight over encryption look like nothing,'' said Mary Culnan, an professor at Georgetown University who served on a presidential commission whose work led to the May 1998 directive on infrastructure protection. "The conceptual problem is that there are people running this program who don't understand how citizens feel about privacy in cyberspace.'' The government has been discussing the proposal widely with a number of industry security committees and associations in recent months. Several industry executives said there is still reluctance on the part of industry to directly share information on computer intrusions with law enforcement. "They want to control the decision-making process,'' said Mark Rasch, vice president and general counsel of Global Integrity, a company in Reston, Va., that coordinates computer security for the financial services industries. One potential problem in carrying out the government's plan is that intrusion-detection software technology is still immature, industry executives said. "The commercial intrusion detection systems are not ready for prime time,'' said Peter Neumann, a computer scientist at SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., and a pioneer in the field of intrusion detection systems. Current systems tend to generate false alarms and thus require many skilled operators. But a significant portion of the $1.4 billion the Clinton administration has requested for computer security for fiscal year 2000 is intended to be spent on research, and government officials said they were hopeful that the planned effort would be able to rely on automated detection technologies and on artificial intelligence capabilities. For several years computer security specialists have used software variously known as
[CTRL] Mencken on Gun Control
-Caveat Lector- Editor's note: MSRPA member Jack Tishue brought the following to DownRange's attention. It is a copyrighted article by H. L. Mencken originally published in 1925 (during Prohibition) by The Evening Sun (where Mencken was editor at the time) and reprinted in the March 1, 1926 issue of The American Rifleman. THE UPLIFTERS TRY IT AGAIN by H. L. Mencken (Copyright, 1925, by The Evening Sun. Republication without credit not permitted.) I. The eminent Nation announces with relish "the organization of a national committee of 100 to induce Congress to prohibit the inter-State traffic in revolvers," and offers the pious judgement that it is "a step forward." "Crime statistics," it appears, "show that 90% of the murders that take place are committed by the use of the pistol, and every year there are hundreds of cases of accidental homicides because someone did not know that his revolver was loaded." The new law or is it to be a constitutional amendment? will do away with all that. "It will not be easy," of course, "to draw a law that will permit exceptions for public officers and bank guards" to say nothing of Prohibition agents and other such legalized murderers. "But soon even these officials may get on without revolvers." More than once in this place, I have lavished high praise upon the Nation. All that praise has been deserved, and I am by no means disposed to go back on it. The Nation is one of the few honest and intelligent periodicals published in the United States. It stands clear of official buncombe; it prints every week a great mass of news that the newspapers seem to miss; it interprets that news with a freedom and a sagacity that few newspaper editors can even so much as imagine. If it shut up shop then the country would plunge almost unchallenged into the lowest depths of Coolidgism, Rotarianism, Stantaquaism and other such bilge. It has been for a decade past, the chief consolation of the small and forlorn minority of civilized Americans. But the Nation, in its days, has been a Liberal organ, and its old follies die hard. Ever and anon, in the midst of its most eloquent and effective pleas for Liberty, its eye wanders weakly toward Law. At such moments the old lust to lift 'em up overcomes it, and it makes a brilliant and melodramatic ass of itself. Such a moment was upon it when it printed the paragraph that I have quoted. Into that paragraph of not over 200 words it packed as much maudlin and nonsensical blather, as much idiotic reasoning and banal moralizing, as Dr. Coolidge gets into a speech of two hours' length. II. The new law that it advocated, indeed, is one of the most absurd specimens of jackass legislation ever heard of, even in this paradise of legislative donkeyism. Its single and sole effect would be to exaggerate enormously all of the evils it proposes to put down. It would not take pistols out of the hands of rogues and fools; it would simply take them out of the hands of honest men. The gunman today has great advantages everywhere. He has artillery in his pocket, and he may assume that, in the large cities, at least two-thirds of his prospective victims are unarmed. But if the Nation's proposed law (or amendment) were passed and enforced, he could assume safely that all of them were unarmed. Here I do not indulge in theory. The hard facts are publicly on display in New York State, where a law of exactly the same tenor is already on the books the so-called Sullivan Law. In order to get it there, of course, the Second Amendment had to be severely strained, but the uplifters advocated the straining unanimously, and to the tune of loud hosannas, and the courts, as usual, were willing to sign on the dotted line. It is now a dreadful felony in New York to "have or possess" a pistol. Even if one keeps it locked in a bureau drawer at home, one may be sent to the hoosegow for ten years. More, men who have done no more are frequently bumped off. The cops, suspecting a man, say, of political heresy, raid his house and look for copies of the Nation. They find none, and are thus baffled but at the bottom of a trunk they do find a rusted and battered revolver. So he goes to trial for violating the Sullivan Law, and is presently being psycho-analyzed by the uplifters at Sing Sing. With what result? With the general result that New York, even more than Chicago, is the heaven of footpads, hijackers, gunmen and all other such armed thugs. Their hands upon their pistols, they know they are safe. Not one citizen out of a hundred that they tackle is armed for getting a license to keep a revolver is a difficult business, and carrying one without it is more dangerous than submitting to robbery. So the gunmen flourish and give humble thanks to God. Like the bootleggers, they are hot and unanimous for Law Enforcement. III. To all this, of course, the uplifters have a ready answer. (At having
[CTRL] (Fwd) ZNet Commentary Aug 2 Mokhiber/Weissman and a Chomsky Fo
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Here then is today's ZNet Commentary... -- Biotech Untamed By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman When Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman wanted to address the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to rave about the biotech industry and its wonders, he called Gene Grabowski. Grabowski, a former Associated Press reporter and currently a spokesperson for the Grocery Manufacturers of America, sits on the Press Club's speakers committee. Grabowski was happy to oblige Glickman's request. After all, GMA and Glickman are bosom buddies on the issue of biotech foods -- they both agree that since biotech foods are no different from conventional foods, there is no need for labeling. Last week, Glickman addressed a National Press Club ballroom packed with biotech industry and agribusiness executives, with reporters bringing up the rear. And he didn't disappoint them. Glickman hyped the benefits of biotech foods, and downplayed the risks. The title of the speech reflects his affection for the industry: "How Will Scientists, Farmers, and Consumers Learn to Love Biotechnology, and What Happens If They Don't?" Some reporters misinterpreted Glickman's "five principles to guide the oversight of biotechnology in the 21st century" -- an arm's length regulatory process, consumer acceptance, fairness to farmers, corporate citizenship, and fair and open trade -- as meaning the government was serious about reining in an industry that has run roughshod over public health concerns. In fact, the speech could have been written -- was it? -- by the Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO) or its member companies such as Monsanto and Genentech. The day after Glickman's speech, a reporter asked BIO president Carl Feldbaum whether the speech represented a "big blow" to the biotech industry. "It was a good speech," Feldbaum said. "We are quite comfortable with his five principles. As you get into the details, I could not find much to quibble with. It is in no way a blow to the biotech industry. It was quite positive." After the speech was over -- and the pro-biotech audience loved it -- we joined a group of reporters to seek some clarifications from the Secretary. We asked Glickman why the USDA spent $100,000 to help develop the terminator seed technology -- if farmers plant these seeds, still in final development, the resulting crop would produce seed that is sterile, and farmers would be forced to buy new seed from the companies. At first, Glickman handed the question over to his aide, Keith Pitts. But we wanted Glickman to answer the question. "I certainly don't like the name of it -- it scares the hell out of me," Glickman said. Okay, so the name scares you. But what about the technology itself? Does that scare the hell out of you? "We need to study this," he said. But sir, do you think this technology should be allowed onto the market? Another Glickman associate yells that "he has answered the question." But Glickman realizes he hasn't answered the question. "In the future, we have to be very careful at USDA so that we don't finance the kind of arrangements that exclude family farmer choices," Glickman said. In his speech, Glickman made the point that genetically engineered foods are already in the food supply. For 1998 crops, 44 percent of U.S. soybeans and 36 percent of U.S. corn were produced from genetically modified seeds. Are you concerned Mr. Secretary that we are already eating genetically modified foods without knowing it, without it being labeled? "You may be, I don't know if you are or not," Glickman responded. "I eat everything. If anything is there, I eat it. I presume it is safe and good." "By and large, people have confidence in this country's system of food safety regulation," Glickman said. "The FDA is viewed as independent." But the FDA is being sued for allowing biotech foods on the market without adequate review. And the man who approved the foods at the FDA came to the FDA from a law firm where he represented Monsanto, and after his stint at the FDA, he went to work directly for Monsanto's Washington office, where he sits today. "All I can say is that the food system is safe," Glickman said. Glickman was dismissive of the Europeans for opposing biotech imports from the United States. "When you go over there [to Europe] the attitude is -- don't confuse me with the facts," Glickman said. In fact, European concerns about food safety are grounded in a moral and ethical belief system foreign to corporatists like Glickman. The Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) has raised the question -- "do we have the right to experiment with, and commercialize, the building blocks of life?" "I personally have no wish to eat anything produced by genetic modification, nor do I knowingly offer this sort of produce to my family or guests," Prince Charles has said. When asked about Prince Charles'
[CTRL] Brits' Secret
-Caveat Lector- Britain's Secret Shame Foreign Affairs Editorial Opinion (Published) Keywords: OPERATION KEELHAUL, REFUGEES, NATO, WWII Source: Toronto Sun/Edmonton Sun Published: 7/25/99 Author: Peter Worthington Posted on 07/29/1999 20:24:31 PDT by Antiwar Republican The Edmonton Sun Copyright © 1999, Sun Media Corporation BRITAIN'S SECRET SHAME OPERATION KEELHAUL SAW ESCAPEES FROM COMMUNISM FORCED BACK TO THE SOVIET UNION Sunday, July 25, 1999 BY PETER WORTHINGTON, TORONTO SUN Dateline: TORONTO The chilling word of our times ethnic cleansing has different meanings to different people, but at its most benign it is forcing people to become refugees, as happened in Kosovo and, before that, in Bosnia. Britain and NATO have said it was Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's alleged plan to "ethnically cleanse" Kosovo of its Albanian population that ostensibly caused the NATO air strikes. NATO's daily press briefings during the 78 days of air strikes, via the ubiquitous working class accent of Britain's Jamie Shea, seldom failed to mention the horrors of "ethnic cleansing." A cynic might have noted that it was Britain itself, after the Second World War, which escalated "ethnic cleansing" into state policy only in those days it was called "forced repatriation." Immediately after the Second World War tens of thousands of refugees, possibly hundreds of thousands prisoners of war, escapees from communism were forcibly sent back to Stalin's Soviet Union and Tito's Yugoslavia and certain death. Britain instigated the policy, which the U.S. echoed, giving it the cynical code name Operation Keelhaul. This shameful policy has been dubbed by Alexander Solzhenitsyn as the "last secret" of the Second World War, in violation of every tenet of decency and justice. British troops forced men, women and children into boxcars headed for the U.S.S.R. and Yugoslavia, using rifle butts as prods. One British regiment, the London Irish, refused, saying their duty was to fight German soldiers, not club refugee women and children. American soldiers were more inclined to open the gates of refugee camps and look the other way as they fled. Forced repatriation was a humanitarian and political abomination a war crime every bit as much as the ethnic cleansing by Serbs of Albanian Kosovars. No one has worked harder or done more to expose Britain's shameful secret than British historian Count Nikolai Tolstoy. For some 25 years, he's dedicated himself first to exposing the policy for the world to see, second to perhaps identify those responsible. He's succeeded admirably in the first, failed wretchedly in the second and suffered accordingly. Tolstoy is the great grand nephew of Russia's great novelist (War and Peace) and humanitarian, Count Leo Tolstoy, who repeatedly put his body on the line against injustice. Nikolai has written three books on forced repatriation, each more revealing than the previous one, as more suppressed information came to light. Britain has embargoed files pertaining to the policy. In 1977 his Victims of Yalta was published, followed by Stalin's Secret War in 1981, and then his most controversial book, The Minister and the Massacres, 1986, in which he named names, was sued, and lost a libel case that I consider a travesty and which has been condemned by the Human Rights Court at Strasbourg, France. Periodically, Tolstoy visits Toronto, usually to be feted by grateful Slovenes, Serbs, Croats, Russians, Cossacks, etc., whose relatives and countrymen died by the tens of thousands when the British forced them back to Stalin and Tito and death. Britain's Lord Aldington, formerly Brig. Toby Low, successfully sued when Tolstoy identified him as a key figure in implementing the policy. Aldington acknowledged signing the repatriation orders, along with others, but said there was no way he could have known the refugees would be killed, and that if he had known, they would not have been sent back. "We were told that international law would be obeyed," he said at the time. A jury found against Tolstoy and awarded Lord Aldington nearly $3 million in damages in 1990. Tolstoy, who declared bankruptcy, was denied the right to appeal. He was in Toronto this spring and is anything but subdued. He says he hasn't paid anything, won't pay, can't pay, and has a book in the works about his trial. So far, there's been no serious attempt to collect damages and he feels the courts are embarrassed by the whole process. Forced repatriation was such an appalling policy that even Winston Churchill omitted any reference to it out of his Nobel Prize winning history of the Second World War. While muted, the issue is far from dead. The European Commission on Human Rights in Strasbourg has supported Tolstoy. A semi retired American lawyer, Charles O'Neall, living in Switzerland, was so offended at the trial that he offered
[CTRL] Good Intentions
-Caveat Lector- Neo-colonialism in the Balkans? By our Internet editors, based on an interview by Jeroen Brouwers, 29 July 1999 Picture: The destroyed Mosque in Djakovica, Kosovo (photo Jan Jansen, Amnesty)The international community has reached deep into the pockets to give help to Kosovo. The first donor conference in Brussels produced a total amount of 4.2 billion guilders. Dutch Minister of Co-operation and Development Herkens promised 30 million guilders. That brings the total Dutch aid to Kosovo to nearly 120 million guilders. André Gerrits of the Institute of Eastern Europe in Amsterdam contends that the West must learn a lot more lessons from the Bosnian experience, where rebuilding has been under way for four years already. And it's not an attractive prospect when virtually all the functions of government are still in the hands of the international community. André Gerrits: "The core of the problem is that we are inclined to think that we can simply export our democratic norms and values in this type of situation. A typical Western overestimation, which moreover is accompanied by an inability to accept setbacks. Time after time the Picture: High Representative Carlos Westendorpinternational community in Bosnia has reacted to setbacks by strengthening the mandate of the UN High Representative. Carlos Westendorp now enjoys almost unbridled power. He can hire and fire officials at his discretion, he can sack or arrest legislators, he can promise or block economic aid. In fact, a modern colony has been created under the guise of a protectorate. One of the most negative consequences is that there's also a sort of neo-colonist culture of dependency. People don't use their own strength, don't draw on their own resources, but leave it to the international community. Also the economy of Bosnia is showing virtually no growth, and would founder without international money". According to Gerrits, the way that the international community is intervening in the region, and the extent to which it interferes in day to day matters, is becoming a more and more significant factor. A factor which often has an effect on the actual situation in the Balkans. As an example he cites the excessive influence that NGO's have in the Balkans at the moment: "Another problem, crazy as it sounds, is that the international community is concentrating too much on the Balkans. The NGO's are active in the region in enormous numbers, and seem to do it out of a sort of organisational need. It seems banal, but in fact they're doing it purely out of self-interest, to justify their existence. Activity in the Balkans has become an organisational imperative in this world. This is only strengthened by the fact that the Balkans are a region "where the money is". This focus on the Balkans is also at the cost of regions in Africa where the problems are far greater". Gerrit has no clear suggestions for a different policy. But he definitely thinks that the West must stop its paternalistic patronising and return to a more discrete approach: "I think that the West should realise that it must lower its ambitions. We mustn't get the idea that we can set up a sort of democratic administration against the wishes of the local population. We should direct our efforts much more towards the creation of the infrastructure for the gradual building of a sound administration and a native economy. And we must certainly not respond to every setback by strengthening the mandate of the international community". Never fails to amaze *how* the West can assume that cultures from other parts of the world are as fertile soil waiting for the seeds of democratisation to be planted. Like palm trees in the Northern Tier. From www.mw.nl/foreign/eng/html/balkan290799.html AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest
[CTRL] Globalisation Crisis
-Caveat Lector- - --- DISSENT / SUMMER 1999/ VOLUME 46, NUMBER 3 - --- The Crisis of Globalization James K. Galbraith The doctrine known as the Washington Consensus was, after its fashion, the Apostle's Creed of globalization. It was an expression of faith, that markets are efficient, that states are unnecessary, that the poor and the rich have no conflicting interests, that things turn out for the best when left alone. It held that privatization and deregulation and open capital markets promote economic development, that governments should balance budgets and fight inflation and do almost nothing else. But none of this is actually true. The truth is that poor people -- vast majorities in most countries of the world -- need to eat every day. Policies that guarantee that they can do so, and with steadily improving diets and housing and health and other material conditions of life over long time spans, are good policies. Policies that foster instability directly or indirectly, that prevent poor people from eating in the name of efficiency or liberalism or even in the name of freedom, are not good policies. And it is possible to distinguish policies that meet this minimum standard from policies that do not. The push for competition, deregulation, privatization and open capital markets has actually undermined economic prospects for many millions of the world's poorest people. It is therefore not merely a naive and misguided crusade. To the extent that it undermines the stable provision of daily bread, it is actively dangerous to the safety and stability of the world, including to ourselves. The greatest single danger right now is in Russia, a catastrophic example of the failure of free market doctrine. But serious dangers have also emerged in Asia and Latin America and they are not going to go away soon. There is, in short, a crisis of the Washington Consensus. The crisis of the Washington Consensus is visible to everybody. But not everybody is willing to admit it. Indeed, as bad policies produced policy failures, those committed to the policies developed a defense mechanism. This is the argument that treats every unwelcome case as an unfortunate exception. Mexico was an exception -- there was a revolt in Chiapas, an assassination in Tijuana. Then Korea, Thailand, Indonesia became exceptions: corruption, crony capitalism on an unimaginably massive scale, was discovered, but after the crisis hit. And then there came the Russian exception. In Russia, we are told, Dostoyevskian criminality welled up from the corpse of Soviet communism to overcome the efficiencies and incentives of free markets. But when the exceptions outnumber the examples, there must be trouble with the rules. Where are the continuing success stories of liberalization, privatization, deregulation, sound money and balanced budgets? Where are the emerging markets that have emerged, the developing countries that have developed, the transition economies that have truly completed a successful and happy transition? Look closely. Look hard. They do not exist. In each of the supposed exceptions Russia, Korea, Mexico, and also Brazil state-directed development programs have been liberalized, privatized, deregulated. But then, capital inflows led to currency overvaluation, making imports cheap but exports uncompetitive. As early promises of "transformation" proved unrealistic, the investor mood soured. A flight to quality began, usually following moves to raise interest rates in the "quality" countries -- notably the United States in 1994 and in early 1997. A very small move in U.S. interest rates in March 1997 precipitated the outflows of capital from Asia that led to the Thai crisis. I have elsewhere called this the "Butterfly Effect," with Alan Greenspan in the role of the butterfly. The Russian case is especially sad and dramatic. In 1917 the Bolshevik revolution promised a war-weary Russian people liberation and deliverance from oppression. It took them seventy years to forget the essential lesson of that experience, which is that there are no easy, sudden, miraculous transitions. In 1992, the advocates of shock therapy followed the Bolshevik path, against the good sense of much of the Russian political order, by Bolshevik means. This was the true meaning of Yeltsin's 1993 military assault on the Russian parliament, an act of violence which we in the West tolerated, to our shame, in the name "economic reform." Privatization and deregulation in Russia did not create efficient and competitive markets, but instead large and pernicious private monopolists, the oligarchs and the mafiosi, with control over competing industrial empires and the news media. And these empires sponsored their own banks, which were not banks at
[CTRL] Moldy-ing Public Opinion
-Caveat Lector- July 30, 1999 WAR PROPAGANDA AT TAXPAYERS EXPENSE It wasnt enough for the Clintonians that virtually the entire news media marched in lockstep to the beat of the war-drums during the liberation of Kosovo; it wasnt enough that television broadcast nothing but endless loops of fleeing Kosovars, with close-ups of their tears-streaked faces; it wasnt enough that the pundits (the approved ones, anyway) only dissented to the extent that they wanted more Serb blood, and sooner. What the War Party wants is not majority support, but unanimity: no dissent is their goal. Toward that end, the Clinton gang has come up with what else but a new government agency! 'SPINNING' AS A FUNCTION OF GOVERNMENT Citing a former administration insider, the Washington Times [July 29, 1999] has revealed that "a new multiagency plan to closely control the dissemination of public information abroad is really aimed at 'spinning the American public.'" What really sticks in the Clintonians' craw is that, in spite of an unprecedented barrage of war propaganda masquerading as news unleashed during the recent war, "the U.S. public has refused to back President Clinton's foreign policy." According to this unnamed official, the Clintonians are miffed that coverage of foreign news is "distorted" and are convinced that "they need to fight it at all costs." How? By "using resources that are aimed at spinning the news." And due to the extra-constitutional magic of Presidential Decision Directives, whereby the President can conjure new policies and the agencies to carry them out, the Congress is powerless to stop him. A SOW'S EAR And please don't tell me about the congressional "power of the purse." The recent revelation that the Pentagon has been spending money hand-over-fist on programs not authorized by Congress has shattered that myth hopefully forever. TOP SECRET This new addition to the federal nomenklatura, the International Public Information (IPI) system, created by Presidential Directive 68, is to be chaired by Morton Halperin, formerly "Senior Director for Democracy" at the National Security Council, and now head of policy planning at the State Department. The IPI working group, which met for the first time on Wednesday, is nothing if not ambitious: the IPI charter, still classified Top Secret, blends the functions of agencies like the old USIA and Radio Free Europe, ostensibly aimed overseas, with the scope and spirit of such World War II era organizations as the Office of War Information, which blanketed the US with pro-New Deal propaganda. The leaked text of the draft charter is written in typical bureaucratese, but the meaning is unmistakable: overseas propaganda will "be coordinated, integrated, deconflicted and synchronized with the [IPI] to achieve a synergistic effect" at home. Translation: American taxpayers will be footing the bill for the their own indoctrination.. BACK TO WILSONIANISM While all administrations since FDR's have used the governmental apparatus to make propaganda, they have usually done so under the rubric of selling the American line abroad. Especially during the Cold War, when the American elites saw the US locked in an ideological conflict with the Communist bloc, such institutions as Radio Free Europe and the USIA were justified as a method of selling "the American way" to the wavering Europeans and the Third World masses. Such programs had definite domestic political uses, but were rationalized as essential to the war against Communism. With the Clintonians, however, even this kind of pretense has been dropped, and we are going back to the era of Woodrow Wilson. THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION It was Wilson who first mobilized American intellectuals in a whole series of government-created and financed organizations whose sole purpose was to hector Americans into supporting his holy crusade to make the world safe for capital-'D' Democracy. The Committee on Public Information, created by Wilsonian decree, flooded the country with pamphlets, leaflets, and posters designed to inflame the war spirit and anathematize the Germans. Our noble allies, the British and the French, were depicted as angelic upholders of the human spirit against the demonic depredations of the Huns. HISTORIANS IN THE SERVICE OF THE STATE Wilson and the Wilsonians virtually militarized academia in an all-out effort to indoctrinate Americans in the justice of the Allied cause. Even the professional historians were enlisted: the National Board for Historical Service, a government agency, recruited American historians to the task of proving German war guilt and documenting the Huns' inherent barbarity. In their secular evangelism to spread the Word of Progressive Uplift to every corner of the earth, America's intellectuals did not have to be drafted into the army of war propagandists. They volunteered gladly,
[CTRL] Hot 'Lanta
-Caveat Lector- www.wsws.org - WSWS : News Analysis : North America : US Violence The Atlanta massacre: what it says about America By Barry Grey 31 July 1999 Back to screen version The US has witnessed yet another shooting rampage, this time in the exclusive environs of the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. By now the basic facts are well known: Mark Barton, a 44-year-old chemist-turned-stock market day-trader, killed his young wife and two children (from a former marriage) last Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Thursday went on a shooting spree at two brokerage firms. When Barton was finished, nine lay dead at the offices of All-Tech Investment Group and Momentum Securities, and another seven had been critically wounded. Some hours later, cornered by the police, Barton took his own life. To all appearances, Barton, a devoted father and Boy Scout master, was a fairly typical middle class resident of the quiet Atlanta suburb of Morrow. But his benign countenance masked a man in agonizing despair. He was reportedly in the midst of a painful separation from his wife, and deep in debt as a result of losses from his stock market ventures. He had ceased trading at All-Tech since April, evidently because securities bets gone sour had wiped out the $40,000 minimum required to maintain his account with the day-trading firm. Some press reports estimate his losses at more than $80,000. I have been dying since October, he wrote in a computer-generated note left at the apartment where he killed his sleeping wife and children. I wake up at night so afraid, so terrified that I couldn't be that afraid while awake. It has taken its toll. I have come to hate this life and this system of things. I have come to have no hope. Barton's note goes on to explain that he killed his children, whom he loved, to spare them a lifetime of pain. He loved his wife as well, but in some way held her responsible for his demise. His message concludes: I don't plan to live very much longer, just long enough to kill as many of the people that greedily sought my destruction. You should kill me if you can. This is clearly a man whose mental and emotional being had collapsed. It may not have been the first time Barton snapped. Although never indicted, he was the prime suspect in the brutal slaying of his first wife and mother-in-law six years ago. Barton took out a $600,000 life insurance policy on his first wife shortly before she and her mother were found slashed to death at a campground in northeast Alabama. He continued to protest his innocence of that crime, making a point of it in the confession-suicide note he left with the bodies of his current wife and children. Much has been made in the media of Barton's vocation as a day-trader, and there can be little doubt that the frenzied, pressurized life of a small-time market gambler played a significant role in his undoing. Some reports say he often traded thousands of shares at a time, rooted in front of a computer screen, in accordance with this particularly alienated form of social practice, in an attempt to cash in on the momentary fluctuations of various stocks. One industry source said the average day-trader, of whom there are an estimated 5 million in the US, makes between 2,000 and 3,000 trades in the course of a market day. That averages out to more than 300 trades per hour. And while there may not be a direct causal relationship between Barton's murder spree and the sharp drop in the market on Thursday (down more than 200 points when Barton walked into Momentum Securities), witnesses have reported that the assailant spoke of the day's losses before he pulled out his guns and began firing. In a concentrated way, the get-rich-quick fever which permeates the bull marketand is promoted by the media as the highest form of human endeavordominates the life of such people. In a matter of minutes, a lifetime's savings can be wiped out, and most of those who enter into this form of activity end up on the losing side. But it would be a form of self-delusion to conclude that day-trading in and of itself is the explanation for this latest example of social pathology. In any event, the phenomenon of day-trading is organically linked to a complex nexus of economic, social and psychological conditions that make up present-day America. No less vacuous are the attempts to reduce this latest massacre to a question of gun control (in the manner of Hillary Clinton and other liberal politicians), or the need for even more draconian law-and-order measures (as suggested by some pundits who have focused on the failure to arrest Barton for the murder of his first wife). Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell has been widely quoted in connection with Thursday's rampage. However the one remark of some honesty and perception which he made,
[CTRL] (Fwd) FW: ZNet Commentary July 31 Cynthia Peters
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- From: "Michael Albert" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:FW: ZNet Commentary July 31 Cynthia Peters Date sent: Fri, 30 Jul 1999 20:25:00 +0100 NOTE 1: I intended to bill credit cards for donations today for July but unexpected guests and work interfered. It probably won't occur until Monday as a result... NOTE 2: We are hard at work on the new features of the Sustainer Program described in mailings and on the Sustainer Pages, elements will be in place soon. --- Here is today's ZNet Commentary Delivery from Cynthia Peters. The attached file is the same material in nicely formatted html so that you can read it in your browser if you wish. To pass this comment along to friends, relatives, etc. please note that the Commentaries are a premium sent to Sustainer Donors of Z/ZNet and that to learn more about the project folks can consult ZNet (http://www.zmag.org) and specifically the Sustainer Pages (http://www.zmag.org/Commentaries/donorform.htm) which include lists of writers, writer biographies, and other features of the Z Sustainer Program. Here then is today's ZNet Commentary... -- Give `em Ritalin: The Miracle Drug for Kids' Number 1 Disorder "Although the exact number of people taking Ritalin is not known, this year, experts estimate, as many as two million Americans - the vast majority of them children -- will take the medication, some as often as five times a day. Critics within the medical community itself say the drug is being overprescribed by doctors whose understanding of ADHD [Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder] is woefully inadequate. They charge that the hallmark symptoms of the disorder - inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity - could describe just about any child." -- "The Rise of Ritalin" from The Morning Journal Although there is no medical proof that there is such a thing as Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), over 3.5 million children in the United States are diagnosed as having some form of it. It is considered America's number 1 childhood psychiatric disorder and in the U.S. we prescribe Ritalin to treat it at a rate that is five times higher than the rest of the world combined. Ritalin and other medications represent the second prong in what appears to be the medical community's two-pronged effort to treat or control the "disorders" suffered by a whopping 10 to 20 percent of U.S. children [Boston Globe, 6/28/99]. (See my previous July 1999 commentary, "Children: Their Deficiencies, Disorders, and Developmental Delays" for discussion of behavior modification - the other prong in the treatment effort, spearheaded by the new medical specialty Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.) Peter R. Breggin, M.D., of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology writes in Talking Back to Ritalin (published by Common Courage Press) that: · A large percentage of children become robotic, lethargic, depressed, or withdrawn on [Ritalin]. · Withdrawal from Ritalin can cause emotional suffering, including depression, exhaustion, and suicide. This can make children seem psychiatrically disturbed and lead mistakenly to increased doses of medication. · Ritalin is addictive and can become a gateway drug to other addictions. It is a common drug of abuse among children and adults. · ADHD and Ritalin are American and Canadian medical fads. The U.S. uses 90% of the world's Ritalin. CibaGeneva Pharmaceuticals (also known as Ciba-Geigy Corporation), a division of Novartis, is the manufacturer of Ritalin. It is trying to expand the Ritalin market to Europe and the rest of the world. · Ritalin "works" by producing malfunctions in the brain rather than by improving brain function. This is the only way it works. · Short-term, Ritalin suppresses creative, spontaneous and autonomous activity in children, making them more docile and obedient, and more willing to comply with rote, boring tasks, such as classroom school work and homework. · There is a great deal of research to confirm that environmental problems cause ADHD-like symptoms. · A very small number of children may suffer ADHD-like symptoms because of physical disorders, such as lead poisoning, drug intoxication, exhaustion, and head injury. Physical causes may be more common among poor communities in the United States. · Ciba spends millions of dollars to sell parent groups and doctors on the idea of using Ritalin. Ciba helps to support the parent group, CH.A.D.D., and organized psychiatry. · The U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) push Ritalin as vigorously as the manufacturer of the drug, often in even more glowing terms than the drug company could get away with legally. Dr. Breggin goes on to
[CTRL] (Fwd) U.S.-Russia, Nuclear Dangers, NATO
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date sent: Fri, 30 Jul 1999 14:53:40 -0600 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Progressive Response [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:U.S.-Russia, Nuclear Dangers, NATO - - -- The Progressive Response 30 July 1999 Vol. 3, No. 27 Editors: Martha Honey and Erik Leaver - - -- The Progressive Response (PR) is a weekly service of Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF), a joint project of the Interhemispheric Resource Center and the Institute for Policy Studies. We encourage responses to the opinions expressed in PR. -- -- Table of Contents *** U.S. RUSSIAN MILITARY RELATIONS *** By John Feffer *** LIVING (STILL) WITH NUCLEAR DANGERS *** By Lisa Ledwidge *** NATO EXPANDS EAST *** By William Hartung and Richard Kaufman -- -- (Editor's note: While U.S.-Russian relations have been deeply troubled over the last nine months, some small steps were taken this week as Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin and Vice President Gore announced the resumption of arms control talks in Moscow next month. Further steps at reaching common ground will be undertaken today as the U.S. and Russia join the discussions at the Balkan Stability Pact meetings in Sarajevo. Looming over any improvement in U.S.-Russian relations lies three major issues: the United States' National Missile Defense system, nuclear arms reductions, and the role of NATO in Kosovo and more importantly, in Eastern Europe. All three articles in this week's issue are excerpted from a forthcoming book produced by the In Focus Project titled, Global Focus: U.S. Foreign Policy at the Turn of the Millennium, edited by Martha Honey and Tom Barry. It will be released by St. Martin's Press in January 1999.) -- -- *** U.S. RUSSIAN MILITARY RELATIONS *** By John Feffer If the U.S. government had wanted to destroy Russia from the inside out, it couldn't have devised a more effective policy than its so-called "strategic partnership." From aggressive foreign policy to misguided economic advice to undemocratic influence-peddling, the U.S. has ushered in a cold peace on the heels of the cold war. Containment remains the centerpiece of U.S. policy toward Russia. But it is a "soft" containment. It is Containment Lite. On the foreign policy front, for instance, Containment Lite has consisted of a three-tiered effort to isolate Russia: from its neighbors, from Europe, and from the international community more generally. The Clinton administration's policy of "geopolitical pluralism," designed to strengthen key neighbors such as Ukraine and Kazakhstan, has driven wedges into the loose confederation of post-Soviet states. By pushing ahead recklessly with expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) both in membership and in its mission, the U.S. government is deepening the divide that separates Russia from Europe, effectively building a new Iron Curtain down the middle of Eurasia. Instead of consulting with Russia over key foreign policy issues such as Kosovo, the Iraq bombings, and allied policy toward former Yugoslavia, Washington has attempted to steer Moscow into a diplomatic backwater where it can exert little global influence. Part of this three-tiered foreign policy of "soft" containment has been to eliminate Russia's last claim to superpower status--its nuclear arsenal--without providing sufficient funds for mothballing the weapons and without pursuing commensurate reductions in U.S. stockpiles. By implementing a missile defense system, the U.S. has put several arms control treaties in jeopardy; by opposing key sales of Russian military technology, arguing that these sales would lead to arms proliferation while itself continuing to export weapons technology, the U.S. has applied a double standard. By announcing the largest increase in the military budget since the end of the cold war, the Clinton administration began 1999 with a clear signal that Russia's decline would have little effect on the Pentagon's appetite. Under its cold war containment policy, the United States relied on aggressive rhetoric and military might to confront a powerful Soviet Union. By contrast, today's Containment Lite takes advantage of Russia's economic and military weakness and, at first glance, has relied more on carrots than sticks. In reality, however, the U.S. has wielded these carrots much like cudgels. Washington's aid and investments, expert advice, and high-profile workshops are designed to reduce the military and diplomatic reach of its erstwhile superpower rival and to remake the
[CTRL] (Fwd) Release: California bank spying
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date sent: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 01:45:17 -0700 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Release: California bank spying To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Libertarian Party announcements list) Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- === NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100 Washington DC 20037 World Wide Web: http://www.lp.org/ === For release: July 29, 1999 === For additional information: George Getz, Press Secretary Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] === Have YOUR bank records been turned over to the prying eyes of bureaucrats? WASHINGTON, DC -- Hundreds of banks around the USA have started turning their complete customer database -- including Social Security numbers and account balances -- over to government agencies to comply with federal child support laws, the Libertarian Party warned today. "Politicians are now using the Deadbeat Dads law to violate your financial privacy -- even if you've never had children," said Steve Dasbach, national director of the Libertarian Party. "And if that's not bad enough, the law also prohibits your bank from notifying you that your account information has been turned over to the prying eyes of bureaucrats." The Financial Institution Data Match program, an outgrowth of the 1996 Deadbeat Dads law, requires banks to search their databases every three months for matches against state-provided lists of parents who have fallen behind in child support payments. But banks without the resources to comply have been forced to turn their entire customer database over to state agencies -- and allow government bureaucrats to do the searches instead. The result, according to the Los Angeles Times, is that 197 banks, credit unions, and life insurance companies in California are turning over their entire customer database to the State Franchise Tax Board, which combs through every customer's account to determine who's in arrears on child support. Many other states have similar programs. "Without your knowledge or permission, government bureaucrats can get access to your most private financial information," said Dasbach. "In the name of catching a few guilty people, the privacy of millions of innocent people is violated." Perversely, those innocent people may have the most to fear when their state adopts the Financial Institution Data Match program, Dasbach warned. For example, California government officials have already: * Seized the bank accounts of innocent people. "An investigation last fall discovered the Los Angeles County district attorney's office had seized the bank accounts of dozens of men who were later determined not to be the fathers of the children in question," said Dasbach. "Incredibly, politicians who enacted the Financial Institution Data Match program made it almost impossible to protect yourself from false seizures, because it's illegal for your bank to tell you that it has forwarded your account information to the state. The only thing that's private is the government's power to snoop on you." * Tried to sell millions of individual bank account records to private companies. "In June, the California Employment Department was forced to back down after the public discovered its scheme to sell salary data on 14 million residents," noted Dasbach. "As long as politicians have access to this information, it's only a matter of time before their greed overcomes them, and they sell it to the highest bidder. And if your bank records are put up for sale, everyone from prospective employers to creditors to private individuals could learn every detail of your family's financial habits." * Jailed innocent people. "Last fall, an innocent California man was imprisoned for 26 hours before it was discovered that he had the same name as a man sought for back child support," said Dasbach. "Only the government would claim it is protecting children by destroying their parents' privacy, seizing their bank accounts, and hauling them off to jail. If politicians really care about protecting children, let them prove it by abolishing the Deadbeat Dads law -- and getting out of the bank spying business entirely." -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBN6AUYdCSe1KnQG7RAQF57AP/SwQQ8AJjxL2E3HKF5mdOWCD5LqOHjqxC qN8IqDfdsN2Acc8BbKUFtrhmY3zCUB8LbteAcdcFnyIpy4Bvot8TZ5dmq/X25HrV y90xhgZj5mFBGglG/x9A6ieNDrr7z7ihi7KAiuSrchjqMb/R70ttHSuEmqOSITj2 ZEnMGtU7zTc= =V4hq -END PGP SIGNATURE- The Libertarian Party http://www.lp.org/ 2600 Virginia Ave. NW, Suite 100 voice: 202-333-0008 Washington DC 20037 fax: 202-333-0072 For
[CTRL] Legal Shenanagins
-Caveat Lector- No. 1312July 22, 1999 TIME FOR CONGRESS TO HOLD THE LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ACCOUNTABLE VIRGINIA THOMAS AND RYAN H. ROGERS Link to: | Full Text | PDF (746k) | Note: PDF version contains both the Executive Summary and the Full Text. - Produced by The Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies Published by The Heritage Foundation 214 Massachusetts Ave., N.E. Washington, D.C. 20002-4999 (202) 546-4400 http://www.heritage.org Picture: Heritage 25: Leadership for America - --- The Legal Services Corporation (LSC), a federally funded agency that provides free legal aid to the poor through 269 grantee offices around the country, is asking Congress for a $40 million increase in funding for fiscal year (FY) 2000. The request, which will be considered under the Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, represents a 13 percent increase over FY 1999 funding--despite the fact that various government watchdogs and the media have reported serious problems with the LSC's case-reporting statistics and performance numbers. Information on the LSC's handling of cases is important because it is the only tangible information on the agency's overall performance currently available to Congress. Congress relies on the accuracy and integrity of reporting on performance measures to determine the amount of funding agencies should receive, and agencies use their performance numbers to justify their budget requests to congressional appropriators. Until this year, Congress has not seriously questioned the accuracy of the LSC's reported numbers. But preliminary audits conducted by the LSC's own inspector general (IG) in 1998 have caused Members of Congress and the media to question the accuracy of LSC's 1997 caseload data. Every program audited by the IG, and more recently by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), since the 1997 case statistics were released in the LSC's 1998 Factbook has demonstrated serious misreporting of the LSC caseload, and this has given rise to concerns about systemic performance deficiencies throughout the agency. In fact, the IG and GAO audits reveal that for 11 grantees that reported 370,000 cases, only 198,000 cases were deemed valid. For the most part, audited LSC grantee offices overstated the number of cases handled, either because the cases were ineligible to be counted in the first place or because a case was counted more than once. In other instances, the statistics were inflated because telephone contacts and nonexistent cases were included in the numbers. Investor's Business Daily even quoted a former LSC employee who said that telephone calls made to the LSC offices were counted as cases simply to "build up numbers to report to LSC and other funding sources." Despite the heightened scrutiny the agency received due to mounting evidence of misreporting, LSC officials still have not been forthcoming with accurate data for Congress. As early as July 1998, the agency's inspector general told LSC President John McKay that case statistics at several offices were seriously flawed. In October 1998, when it approved a $17 million increase in LSC funding--the first such increase in two years--Congress was still unaware of this information. In fact, the LSC's leadership did not report these performance problems to Congress for another five months, until March 1999. The agency should have viewed the IG's findings as serious enough to bring to the attention of Congress before this $17 million decision was made. As the evidence of management problems has emerged, many Members of Congress have become concerned that the LSC misled Congress intentionally. On May 3, 1999, five Members asked the GAO to audit additional LSC grantee offices to assess how widespread the reporting error problem is before Congress considers LSC funding for FY 2000. The GAO's recently released findings further discredit the LSC's 1997 case numbers and raise serious questions about all of the data supplied by this federal entity to Congress. No one would deny that the less privileged in society benefit significantly from free legal assistance. But it is entirely unacceptable for Congress or the states to continue to disburse taxpayer funds to LSC programs without considering credible and accurate information on how current money is being spent. Indeed, just as donors would alter their charitable contributions if they learned a charity had misrepresented its activities in its annual report, so too should Congress be vigilant with taxpayer dollars when LSC misrepresents the number of clients served. In 1993, Congress passed the Government Performance and Results Act with bipartisan support and the Administration's stamp of
[CTRL] Influence, Inc., or,
-Caveat Lector- the Virtual Smoke Filled Room Emerges I n f l u e n c e I n c. SUMMARY Nineteen ninety-eight was a tough year for Congress. With impeachment in the air and control of the House of Representatives at stake, Congress stalemated on most of the big policy issues it faced. Despite lofty goals and campaign promises, there were no breakthroughs on Social Security and Medicare reform, banking modernization, managed health care legislation, electricity deregulation, anti-smoking legislation, or campaign finance reform. The speaker of the House quit and his designated successor resigned before even taking office. The 105th Congress born with an activist agenda and promises of bipartisan cooperation ended with a bitterly divided House voting to impeach a shamed president. But not everybody on Capitol Hill had a bad year in 1998. Washington's lobbying industry thrived amid the partisanship and inaction. Expenditures on federal lobbying last year increased nearly 13 percent, to $1.42 billion from $1.26 billion in 1997. Congress' preoccupation with impeachment and reelection in the second half of 1998 did nothing to dampen lobbying spending, which actually was slightly higher ($713 million) in the second six months of 1998 than in the first half ($710 million). The number of lobbyist-client relationships (either an interest lobbying on its own behalf or paying an outside firm to lobby for it) increased 21 percent, to 15,705 in 1998 from 12,960 in 1997, according to the Senate Office of Public Records. More dramatically, the number of registered lobbyists swelled to 20,512 by June 15, 1999, a 37 percent increase from the 14,946 lobbyists registered on Sept. 30, 1997, and a 10 percent increase from the 18,590 lobbyists registered on Sept. 30, 1998, according to the Senate Office of Public Records. The number of organizations that reported spending more than $1 million during the year increased by 43 to 261 in 1998. Thirty-nine spent more than $5 million on lobbying, nine spent more than $10 million, and three spent more than $20 million. The number of lobbying firms that reported earning more than $1 million increased by 16 in 1998 to 117. In all there were more than 38 registered lobbyists and $2.7 million in lobbying expenditures for every member of Congress. This report marks the first time that year-to-year lobbying trends have been tracked on a comprehensive basis. The Center's inaugural report on 1997 lobbying provided the first-ever in-depth study of lobbying spending for an entire year, based on the new reporting requirements mandated by the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. It also established a baseline for analyzing the patterns of lobbying spending from one year to the next. With a few notable exceptions, many of the big players identified in the 1997 lobbying report remained unchanged in 1998. The elite lobbying firms in 1997 remained among the top-grossing firms of 1998. Only one of the 20 top spending industries in 1997 dropped out of the list in 1998. Chemical related manufacturing dropped from 14th place to 22nd place, and hospitals/nursing homes moved from 22nd place to 20th. Likewise, most of the organizations that led the list of big spenders on lobbying in 1997 were near the top of the list in 1998 as well, although several swapped places in the rankings. Many of the leading firms on K Street the heart of Washington's lobbying industry prosper from year to year because they represent a broad range of clients with a wide variety of policy interests. Just as shrewd investors diversify their portfolios to ride out the fluctuations in the markets, lobbyists who represent many kinds of clients can avoid the boom-or-bust that can occur when Congress' priorities change. Likewise, organizations trying to influence Congress on a variety of issues, such as the Chamber of Commerce of the United States (fourth leading spender in both years studied), are likely to remain active from one year to the next. Sometimes the gridlock that afflicted Congress in 1998 can be profitable to Washington's lobbyists. Banking "modernization" legislation, which would essentially break down the legal firewalls that separate the banking, securities, and insurance industries, is a subject of perennial debate in Congress. It's no coincidence that the commercial banks, insurance, and securities and investment industries ranked among the top 20 in 1997 and 1998. Congress' failure to act guarantees that the issue will be back the next year with another big payday for the army of lobbyists working that high-stakes legislation for the competing interests. In other cases, however, the currency of an issue before Congress can dramatically affect the lobbying spending of relevant interest groups. During the first half of 1998, Congress picked up where it had
[CTRL] (Fwd) Budget Priorities
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date sent: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 15:52:39 -0700 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Budget Priorities Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Thursday, July 29, 1999 BUDGET PRIORITIES LINDA GORDON, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.wisc.edu/history/gordon/about.html Professor of history at the University of Wisconsin/Madison, Gordon said: "The budget surplus provides Americans with an opportunity for a conversation about our priorities. Most Americans want better schools, better policing, cleaner air and water, an end to global warming, and above all, medical insurance for everyone. Taxes offer a fair and efficient way of providing these and many other services to the public. Buying these things privately is either impossible or more expensive for everyone. The proposed tax cuts, which benefit mainly those who live on investments and inflated CEO-type salaries, will further the deepening inequality which in turn further degrades everyone's standard of living." JANE MIDGLEY, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.wilpf.org Coordinator of the Women's Budget Project, Midgley said: "Any federal budget surplus should be invested in the social infrastructure of the country and not thrown into tax breaks for the rich. Over 50 percent of discretionary spending goes to the military while programs like housing, welfare, and community development are shrinking as a percentage of the budget. This has a large impact on the increasing numbers of women who are single heads of households and who rely on government assistance to provide a decent standard of living for their families." DERRICK LEON DAVIS, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.ombwatch.org/ia/ Outreach director for the Prince George's County public schools Head Start program, Davis said: "If the proposed tax cuts are passed in Congress, approximately 290 of our children will lose their services in FY 2000... At this time of billion-dollar budget surpluses, we have a great opportunity to bring Head Start's Comprehensive Early Childhood and Family Development Services to more children and families, in Maryland and across the country." PATRICK LESTER, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.chn.org Senior program associate with the Coalition on Human Needs, Lester said: "The tax cuts assume continued budget surpluses which are themselves based on drastic cuts in domestic programs. For example: Veterans Administration medical care cuts would result in nearly one out of two veterans losing care; federal spending for education in discretionary programs would be cut almost $30 billion in real terms in the next 10 years... Average Americans want the government to invest intelligently to meet the needs of families, neighborhoods, the environment and communities rather than give the middle-class a tiny cut in taxes while handing over hundreds of billions of dollars to the wealthy." For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are
[CTRL] (Fwd) FECInfo
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date sent: 28 Jul 99 1650 EST From: FECInfo - Public Disclosure, Inc [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Complete re-transmission... *** Some of the earlier e-mails had some listings omitted due to a computer glitch. Sorry for the inconvenience. *** NEW SOFT MONEY REPORTED Some of the soft money accounts of the national parties have just reported their receipts for June 1999. Reminder: the DNC and the RNCC are not monthly filers with the FEC. Their first 1999 report, covering the first six months, will be filed within a week. Highlights: *The NRSC received an over $180,000 bundle from various financial stock and option exchanges. *Labor groups picked up their pace by giving a total of more than $450,000 to the DCCC and DSCC. *Two trial law firms involved with tobacco settlement moved into top tier giving with contributions of $250,000 and $100,000. *Insurance/ health care/chain drug store companies continue their monthly flow of donations. *Financial companies and investors make $50,000 to $100,000 the going rate. *C. Michael Kojaian, ex vp, Kojaian Corp (Bloomfield Hills, MI) gives RNC $250,000. *Seventeen entities give $100,000 or more to the parties, including two new to the $100,000 club David M. Alameel (Dallas, TX), Lawrence DeGeorge (Jupiter, FL) *NRSC gives $400,000 to the Foundation for American Renewal, Indianapolis, IN Questions to ask: Who made the decision to give? Why did they give? Were they asked to give? By whom? Details of donations of $25,000 or more: New York Mercantile Exchange $50,000 6/15 to NRSC; $5,000 6/18 to DSCC Chicago Board of Trade $25,000 6/30 to NRSC NASDAQ $20,000 6/30 to NRSC; $1,250 6/24 to NRSC; $1,250 6/24 to NRSC Securities Industry Assn $25,000 6/14 to NRSC Chicago Board of Options Exchange $15,000 6/30 to NRSC; $1,250 6/24 to NRSC The Bond Market Assn $6,500 6/24 to RNC; $500 6/18 to NRSC; $4,000 6/3 to NRSC National Assn of Securities Dealers $10,000 6/30 to DCCC Chicago Mercantile Exchange $5,000 6/14 to NRSC Boston Stock Exchange Inc $1,250 6/224 to NRSC Chicago Deferred Exchange $10,000 6/2 to NRSC Chicago Stock Exchange $1,250 6/24 to NRSC Cincinnati Stock Exchange $1,250 6/24 to NRSC Options Clearing Corp $1,250 6/24 to NRSC Pacific Exchange $1,250 6/24 to NRSC Philadelphia Stock Exchange $1,250 6/24 to NRSC Chicago Options Exchange $15,000 to DCCC United Brotherhood of Carpenters $100,000 6/30 to DCCC American Federation of Teachers $75,000 6/18 to DCCC; $1,000 6/21 to DCCC; $25,000 6/28 to DSCC Int'l Longshoremen's Union COPE $100,000 6/29 to DCCC Laborers Political League $50,000 6/21 to DCCC Hotel Restaurant Employees Union PAC $50,000 6/30 to DCCC Communications Workers Union $50,000 6/9 to DSCC Ness, Motley Loadholt Richardson Poole, Barnwell, SC $250,000 6/30 to DCCC Provost Umphrey Law Firm, Beaumont, TX $100,000 6/8 to DSCC Assn of Trial Lawyers $25,000 6/21 to DCCC Chubb Group of Insurance Co $40,737.04 6/30 to NRSC; $5,000 6/17 to DCCC Great West Life Insurance Co $25,000 6/29 to RNC; $10,000 6/1 to NRSC American Council of Life Insurance $25,000 6/25 to DCCC; $2,500 6/25 to RNC; $15,000 6/22 to NRSC New York Life $25,000 6/3 to NRSC; PAC $500 6/22 to NRSC AFLAC $25,000 6/28 to NRSC Metropolitan Life $15,000 6/29 to DCCC; $7,500 6/22 to NRSC Conseco Services $10,000 6/25 to RNC; $20,000 6/28 to DSCC Alan Solomont (pres, ADS Management) Weston, MA $25,000 6/9 to DSCC Kmart Corp $25,000 6/30 to RNC; $1,000 6/25 to RNC; $25,000 6/25 to NRSC; $10,000 6/10 to NRSC Metabolife International San Diego, CA $25,000 6/30 to DCCC; $20,000 6/25 to DSCC CVS Pharmacy Corp, $50,000 6/23 to DCCC Rite Aid Headquarters Corp $25,000 6/30 to DCCC; $10,000 6/29 to DSCC Bayer Corp $40,000 6/16 to RNC Eli Lilly and CO $25,000 6/18 to DCCC Merck Co $25,000 6/25 to RNC Bristol Myers Squibb Co, $20,000 6/15 to DSCC First Union Corp $100,000 6/30 to RNC; $75,000 to NRSC CitiGroup $50,000 6/23 to DCCC; $1,200 6/10 to DCCC J.P. Morgan $50,000 6/23 to DCCC Fidelity Investments $25,000 6/17 to DCCC; $1,000 6/7 to DSCC; $250 6/23 to NRSC Fleet Financial Group, Boston, MA $25,000 6/29 to DCCC Sloan Financial Group, Durham, NC $25,000 6/17 to DCCC Pacific Capital Group, Beverly Hills, CA $25,000 6/7 to DSCC VISA USA Inc $25,000 6/10 to DSCC; $25,000 6/25 to NRSC; $12,500 6/30 to DCCC HD Vest Financial Services, Irving, TX $25,000 6/22 to NRSC Prudential Securities $25,000 6/3 to NRSC Walter Shorenstein ( pres, Shorenstein Co) San Francisco, CA $25,000 6/30 to DCCC Theodore Day, Reno, NV $25,000 6/28 to NRSC C. Michael Kojaian (exec vp, Kojaian Corp) Bloomfield Hills, MI $250,000 6/30 to RNC Fannie Mae $50,000 6/10 to DCCC; $50,000 6/28 to DCCC; $50,000 6/28 to DSCC Ian Cumming (chairman, Leucadia National Corp) Salt Lake City, UT $100,000 6/30 to DCCC Lawrence J. De George (chairman and CEO, Deg Capital Partners) Jupiter, FL $100,000
[CTRL] Waco Suit
-Caveat Lector- Burning Questions Branch Davidian Survivors' Suit May Resolve Concerns Over Feds' Conduct by JOHN COUNCIL Texas Lawyer/TexLaw July 26, 1999 For six years, hundreds of containers of evidence relating to the federal government's raid on the Branch Davidian compound have sat in an Austin storage room, protected by the Texas Department of Public Safety and rarely seeing the light of day. Requests from the public and the media for access to that evidence - which includes videotapes, photographs and audiotapes that may paint an unflattering picture of the government's conduct during the 1993 raid near Waco - have typically been met by confounding replies from federal and state officials. "The DPS says, 'We have it, but we don't control it.' The DOJ [U.S. Department of Justice] says, 'We don't have it. Ask DPS,' " says Michael A. Caddell, a Houston lawyer who's suing the federal government on behalf of the Branch Davidians' surviving family members. "It's like chasing your tail. It's the kind of games playing that makes people not trust the government." But all of that soon may change. Caddell's civil suit is proceeding thanks to a July 1 order issued by U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Waco. Caddell hopes the suit and the discovery it produces will clear the s moke around what happened on April 19, 1993, the day the compound burned to the ground killing 73 people inside (18 other people died from gunshot wounds) after a 51-day standoff. Caddell believes the government may be responsible for some or all of those deaths, and believes some of the evidence will show that agents shot into the compound on that final day and used pyrotechnics that caused the co mpound to burn. The government denies those allegations, and in motions to dismiss the case, DOJ lawyers assert that sovereign immunity protects the government from such tort claims. The government has long maintained tha t the Branch Davidians set fire to the compound. Many of the civil suits filed against the defendants were consolidated in 1996 to be tried before Smith. In motions, the government defendants asked Smith to dismiss the suit. Smith dismissed all of the claims against the individual defendants (except those against Lon Horiuchi, an FBI sniper accused of firing into the compound), but he allowed some of the controversial claims against the ATF and FBI to go forward. "If one or more ATF agents shot into the compound indiscriminately and without provocation, such would be the type of behavior that could lead to liability," Smith wrote in his order. "There is insufficient evidence at th is point for the court to determine, as a matter of law, how the fire was started in the compound (although there is nothing to support plaintiffs' claim that the government started the fire intentionally)." "If it is determined that some of the Davidians actually started the fire in the case, the United States would not be liable for failing to protect the remaining Davidians," Smith continued. "Likewise, there would be no l iability based upon the Government's failure to end the stand-off successfully." A DOJ spokesman says the government has not decided how to proceed with the case or whether to appeal Smith's order. "We're still in just the reviewing stage," says Myron Marlin, who suggests that the DOJ prevailed in Smith's order. "We got something like 100 claims thrown out," he says. Some of those discarded claims included RICO actions against the government. Marlin declines to comment on specific questions about the suit because it is pending. But Caddell says Smith's ruling leaves the main issues in the suit intact. "Smith has ruled that we can go to trial on, [what] is for me, what the lawsuit is all about." Shots Fired Caddell's discovery process may actually be aided by independent chroniclers of the Branch Davidian raid who have doggedly pursued evidence about the stand-off for years. Or, at least, those people may give Caddell a glim pse of what he's in for. One of them is David T. Hardy, an Arizona lawyer who has been trying to pry the evidence loose for a book he intends to write. Hardy filed suit against the FBI and the ATF after they dragged their feet on releasing eviden ce, including infrared tapes shot by federal agents. Some independent investigators claim those tapes show agents shooting at the compound on the day it burned. On July 6, Senior U.S. District Judge Alfredo C. Marquez of Arizona awarded Hardy $32,000 in attorneys' fees for his three-year quest to get information from the government. "The court's decision to award attorney fees tips in favor of the plaintiff because of the unreasonableness of defendant's excuses for withholding information," Marquez wrote. "The FBI's conduct was far superior to that o f the ATF, but in this court's opinion FBI stonewalled the release of the most controversial of plaintiff's requests: the FLIR (infrared) tapes." Hardy
[CTRL] Keeperer of the Secret
-Caveat Lector- Keeper of the Secret? By WILLIAM ANDERSON The recent deaths of John F. Kennedy, Jr., his bride, and her sister, are tragic for their families, their friends, and the staff at George Magazine. For all of the media hype, however, it is not a national tragedy any more than it is a national calamity that several other private pilots died in crashes on the same day. Of course, the sudden death of a celebrity will always arouse more interest than the passing of someone who is obscure, and JFK, Jr., and his wife were always in the public spotlight. But in reality, their deaths will change almost nothing in our own lives. The untimely passing of this young man, however, reminds us of another tragedy, one more subtle but surely more injurious to the national health. That misfortune is the continuing belief that some of those who have died "before their time" were the keepers of the secret of how to make socialism work, and that their deaths have left the rest of us with no hope that we can have the Great Socialist System managed by an Enlightened Elite. During the first wave of hype which followed news of the crash, an American University professor of history told MSNBC's Brian Williams that the nation "had lost hope" with the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. Hope was regained only with the ascension of his son into the public eye, he added, and now the people of the United States will have to struggle once again. That someone with an earned doctorate in history actually believes this says more about American University than it does the country's state of affairs. Members of the media certainly have been pushing a similar view. Today's Katie Couric spoke of the "golden years of Camelot," which is what the media calls the years of the Kennedy presidency. Other commentators spoke of the "lost hope" with the assassination of Bobby Kennedy in 1968. During that election campaign, Bobby Kennedy embraced not only union activist Caesar Chavez, but also embraced the most anti-private property agenda by a Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin Roosevelt. Had not Teddy Kennedy driven off the Dyke Bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in July 1969, many believe that the youngest of the Kennedy brothers might have been elected President of the United States. If that is true, then one can surely say that Mary Jo Kopechne died for her country. What we have heard in the media both from academics and talking heads is that the Kennedys have been the keepers of the secret. Their dedication for "public service" make government attractive, and, in turn, allows Americans to use the state as a low-cost and highly effective means of solving social problems. Socialism, or at least a society in which the state is pre-eminent and beloved by all, can be possible if all of us follow the Kennedy ideal and serve our fellow citizens just as they have done. For the past century, statists have assured us that socialism can be successful, provided the right leaders are in place. However, if those leaders die before their time, then we are left to struggle until the next "keeper of the secret" appears. Lenin's death in 1924, we are told, truncated the success of the Bolshevik Revolution and led to the rule of Josef Stalin, who led true socialism astray. Even before Lenin, some socialists believe that the killing of the marxist Rosa Luxembourg in Berlin in 1919 kept successful socialism from appearing in Germany. Luxembourg apparently knew the "secret," but was unable to share it with the rest of us before her murder. The reality of the John F. Kennedy years in the White House was hardly a mythical kingdom of Camelot. Kennedy managed to win the 1960 election with the help of corrupt politicians in Chicago and Texas, along with mobster Sam Giancana, who was recruited by JFK's father Joe. In return, JFK shared Giancana's mistress during his three-year stay at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Kennedy's presidency gave us the Vietnam War, the needless Cuban Missile Crisis, a full-scale leap into the Keynesian abyss of the New Economics, and a tawdry affair with Marilyn Monroe that ultimately led to her suicide. While the president and his wife, Jackie, cut fine figures on the social scene, his brief term in office started the country down a path from which it has not recovered. Bobby Kennedy was not satisfied with the wreckage of the JFK-LBJ years and pledged to add to the mess. His campaign was anti-enterprise, anti-private property, and pro-political wealth transfers. He embraced some of the loudest thugs of the labor union movement and made it be known that the peacetime share of government would grow during his administration. Like his brother, Bobby supported intervention abroad and at home. No place was to be safe from the heavy hand of the U.S. Government. Teddy Kennedy was even more radical than Bobby. After observing the
[CTRL] (Fwd) ZNet Commentary July 28 Dan Georgakas
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- -- Hillary as Senator: Just Say No By Dan Georgakas Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign to become the senator for New York offers the New York Green Party a unique opportunity to focus national attention on truly progressive solutions to our health and environmental problems. Clinton's candidacy is mainly the inspiration of the West Side and Southampton liberals who are long on celebrity consciousness and think progressive politics is a matter of charity rather than self-interest. Briefly, they believe Clinton will mobilize women voters, labor, and minorities in New York City to provide the edge needed to win a statewide campaign. The enormous amounts of money she can generate as well as the glitterati who will campaign for her are extremely appealing. Another strong assumption is that even those turned off by Clinton's shortcomings could not bring themselves to vote for likely Republican candidate Rudolph Giuliani. Black voters, in particular, are expected to turn out in large numbers, both to support the Clinton record on race and to express their outrage with Giuliani. The Republican side is divided by intra-party power politics, but there is little doubt that Giuliani will win the primary. He has considerable strength upstate if only because Clinton is so disliked and despite black opposition in New York City, he would do better in the city than any other Republican hopeful. He has strong support among conservative Jews and significant support among Hispanics. His liberal social views play well in the Republican suburbs and among NYC yuppies. And the fall in crime wins him votes among many of those Nixon termed "the silent majority." Early polls had Clinton ahead of Giuliani, but in what amounted to a statistical tie. Polls from early July show Giuliani slightly ahead in what remains a near dead heat. All expectations are that the election will be neck and neck all the way. Enter the New York Green Party. In the last election, the Green Party pulled over 5% of the vote for governor to get automatic ballot status. Should the Greens do just as well or better with a good candidate for the senate, it could tip the balance, perhaps depriving Clinton of victory but in any case cutting her chances drastically as most Green voters come from liberal rather than conservative politics. Two factors argue strongly that the Greens should make such an effort. Most important, anyone with a memory longer than the last commercial will remember that it was Hillary Clinton who almost singlehandedly strangled the momentum that had been built for health reform. With all her committees and studies, she never even considered a single-payer system. With health reform once more heating up as a major issue, a Green candidate running on a single-payer program similar to Canada and Sweden not only would be attractive but will be heard. Intense media will cover the Clinton effort and the prospects that a Green candidate running on a health plank could tip the contest will not go unnoticed. Even the ultra-conservative radio talk shows would take up the issue as the hosts rant against socialized medicine. The second issue, of course, is the environment. Al Gore has been a total sellout on this issue whether it is allowing genetically altered organism s into the environment or any number of traditional Green issues. The Greens should hold him accountable, and we can be sure that Clinton will be compelled to defend his record. Giuliani's recent assault on the public gardens in New York City provides another attack point totally natural to the Greens. The community groups most affected by Giuliani's attack might welcome a chance not only to cast a vote against their nemesis but for a candidate who has adopted their views as a plank in his or her political platform. A reasonable objection may be that the national discussion possible by this sategy is not worth the possible cost of putting Giuliani into the senate. That argument falls short on several counts. However objectionable Giuliani's governing style might be, among Republicans he is actually a moderate. Given his abrasive personality, his actions in Washington would likely be a constant source of angina for the conservative wing of the party. His victory would also serve to boost the moderate wing of the party nationally. Hillary Clinton's own worth on the national scene is questionable. She has shown no legislative skill whatsoever in attempting her Frankensteinian health scheme and she would undoubtedly follow the same kind of policies as her husband, which amount to compromising away major political points to get incremental gains at best. In short, her legislative experience is nil, and her administrative record is a disaster. What could be gained by the Greens and the progressive movement in general is enormous. The media exposure that would be possible is
[CTRL] From Chechnya With Love
-Caveat Lector- Gangs create terror zones at Russia-Chechnya border By David Filipov, Globe Staff, 07/28/99 PictureALYUGAYEVSKAYA, Russia - The last thing Lidiya Semyonova and her friends probably felt was the way their relief abruptly turned to terror. They were strolling back to their homes in this small, dusty border village late one night when a Russian police patrol offered to escort them. Here in the violent badlands that separate Russia and breakaway Chechnya, a little armed protection is never a bad idea. Only this time it was not enough. Sometime after midnight, gunmen opened fire from close range on the officers' jeep, riddling it with machine-gun bullets and rocket-propelled grenades. Semyonova, 24, three other young women, and two police officers died instantly. Two others were seriously wounded. The gunmen gathered the Russians' weapons and disappeared into the woods that mark the border with Chechnya. That attack last week - unexplained and senseless - was typical of the wave of bloodshed that has left dozens dead and hundreds missing, turning the territory surrounding the separatist North Caucasus republic into a virtual war zone. Russia lost control over Chechnya in 1996, when its troops were forced to withdraw after two years of fighting with rebels that killed 80,000 people by most estimates. Now, with the recent events on the Chechen border, Moscow is having trouble protecting its own territory. Armed gangs operating around Chechnya have already turned the border regions of Stavropol, Dagestan, and Ingushetia into zones of terror, where murder is common, hostage-taking for ransom is a daily event, and cattle-rustling and car theft are no longer looked upon as serious crimes. ''We demand Moscow's help with the border,'' said Yuri Samarkin, deputy head of the local administration, about Galyugayevskaya. ''But it's only getting worse.'' In the last three months, the gangs have grown bolder, launching full-scale military attacks on the undermanned, poorly equipped, and woefully few Russian police checkpoints set up along the border. The shooting near Galyugayevskaya was followed by two more deadly attacks the next day, once again by unseen gunmen against Russian police patrols. This time, two Russian commanders were killed and seven police wounded. ''Officially, there's not supposed to be a war on, but the killing hasn't stopped and we find corpses every couple of days,'' said Sergeant Yevgeny Tkachenko, 23, as he and two comrades patrolled the sand dunes that span the unmarked border between the Stavropol region and Chechnya. The other day he came across the bodies of two fellow police who had been shot in an ambush, again at close range. The gunmen took the jeep and fled to Chechnya. Officially, Tkachenko and his men are just police officers patrolling their own Russian territory in the border town of Mirny - on cop's pay of less than a buck a day. But when they put on their 40-pound flak jackets in the sweltering heat and leave the heavily guarded police compound to patrol the border, they have the furtive, watchful look of soldiers in an occupying army - eerily reminiscent of the way Russian forces in Chechnya's capital, Grozny, used to look during the war. That is because gunmen from the other side can easily cross the border, an essentially unguarded and unmarked stretch of sand. The 200 men in Tkachenko's force are hard pressed to protect themselves, much less prevent anyone from crossing the 80 miles of no man's land they are supposed to be guarding. One night last week, someone crept up to within shooting range of the compound and had begun digging breastworks before they were detected and forced to flee. ''Most of the people in these villages are Chechens, and some of them are spies,'' Tkachenko said as his patrol lumbered over the dunes in a borrowed van. He was going to explain what that meant when a voice crackled excitedly over his walkie talkie: ''Get OUT of there RIGHT NOW!'' The van spun around and sped away as quickly as it could. An armored personnel carrier rumbled in the opposite direction toward a nearby checkpoint that was under attack. The toll this time: four Russian servicemen wounded. Tkachenko, like many Russians here, would solve the problem by installing fences, watchtowers, trip wires, and a legitimate border guard force. But that would merely legitimize Chechnya's claim to independence, which Moscow refuses to accept. There is another reason people in Stavropol do not want the border closed. The huge, largely agricultural region depends heavily on trade with oil-rich Chechnya for fuel, which it pays for in grain and flour. A closed border would cause even more economic chaos in an already dirt-poor region. And closing the border would hardly improve the lot of the hundreds of ethnic Russians who still live in Chechnya and
[CTRL] Storm Clouds on the Economic Horizon ?
-Caveat Lector- www.wsws.org WSWS : News Analysis : North America : US Economy Dollar fears send tremor through markets By Nick Beams 29 July 1999 Back to screen version Barely weeks after spokesmen for the International Monetary Fund and other global financial institutions declared that the so-called Asian financial crisis had run its course, world financial markets have been experiencing a new round of jitters. This time, though, the cause of the nervousness is not emerging markets but the situation in the United States. The immediate cause of the turbulence, which saw significant falls on Wall Street and markets around the world, appears to have been the testimony of US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan to the US Congress last week. He hinted at possible further interest rate rises following the Fed's recent decision to lift rates by 0.25 percentage points. In addition to the fears of interest rate increases, the instability is being fueled by concerns that the value of the US dollar could start to slide against major world currencies in the wake of continuing record US trade deficits. The trade gap for May rose to a record $21.3 billion, a 14.8 percent increase on the previous month and the worst trade performance since monthly statistics were first collected in 1992. If present trends continue, and the indications are that they will worsen rather than improve, the deficit for the year will reach $225 billion, representing a 37 percent increase over last year's record trade gap of $164.3 billion. In trading on currency markets earlier this week, the euro, after falling to near parity with the dollar at the beginning of the month, rose as high as $1.07. Overall, the US dollar fell by 5 percent against both the euro and the Japanese yen in the space of a week. The drop in the dollar prompted statements by incoming US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers that the US remained committed to a strong dollar. Speaking to reporters after delivering a speech in Washington, Summers said: As I've said many, many times a strong dollar is very much in the interests of the United States. That has been our policy and will continue to be our policy. Debt and share bubble cause concern But the fear in international markets is that growing financial problems in the US economy, including the stock market bubble and the rising level of international debt, could overwhelm policy considerations and aims. In his Humphrey-Hawkins testimony to the US Congress last week, Greenspan pointed to both these processes. While repeating his previous assertions that technological innovations had boosted the productivity of US firms, he warned that the interpretation that we are currently enjoying productivity acceleration does not ensure that equity prices are not overextended. There can be little doubt that if the nation's productivity growth has stepped up, the level of profits and their future potential would be elevated. That prospect has supported higher stock prices. The danger is that in these circumstances, an unwarranted, perhaps euphoric, extension of recent developments can drive equity prices to levels that are unsupportable even if risks in the future become relatively small. Such straying above fundamentals could create problems for our economy when the inevitable adjustment occurs. During his testimony Greenspan again expressed a fear that the fall in US unemployment could lead to a push for wage increases, necessitating a tightening of monetary policy. But even if wages were held down there were other imbalances in the US economy, which could have important implications for future developments. One of these factors is the growth of indebtedness in the US economy. With US savings levels now at negative levelsa phenomenon not seen since the 1930sinvestment has been increasingly financed by the inflow of capital from overseas. But this process cannot continue indefinitely. As Greenspan put it: As US international indebtedness mounts ... and foreign economies revive, capital inflows from abroad that enable domestic investment to exceed domestic saving may be difficult to sustain. Any resulting decline in demand for dollar assets could well be associated with higher market interest rates, unless domestic saving rebounds. Questioned on whether the dollar could retain its strength in the face of the record trade deficit, Greenspan pointed out that the current account deficit was becoming an increasingly larger proportion of GDP and we've asked ourselves how long that can be sustained without inducing imbalances to the structure of the economy. Theoretically that obviously cannot go on indefinitely, something has got to give somewhere. Where it apparently will give at some point in the future is a lesser inclination to hold dollar claims on the United States. While Greenspan assured his
[CTRL] (Fwd) Release: 1999 pork-barrel spending
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date sent: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 13:20:17 -0700 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Release: 1999 pork-barrel spending To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Libertarian Party announcements list) Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- === NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100 Washington DC 20037 World Wide Web: http://www.lp.org/ === For release: July 27, 1999 === For additional information: George Getz, Press Secretary Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] === How politicians spent $1.7 million on dung, and other eye-popping tales of federal pork WASHINGTON, DC -- Politicians in Washington, DC have budgeted more than $1.7 million this year for the study of manure -- yes, manure -- and that stinks to high heaven, the Libertarian Party said today. "Talk about government waste," said Steve Dasbach, the party's national director. "Apparently nothing is safe from politicians' urge to spend our money -- even cow pies and chicken droppings." According to a new study by Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), at least three government programs are devoted to dung: A Mississippi research project on "manure handling and disposal" (cost: $500,000); a Maryland study "to determine the feasibility of using poultry litter to generate electric power" ($225,000); and a Missouri "outreach project associated with animal waste" ($1 million). "The only thing not being subsidized is bull manure," noted Dasbach. "On the other hand, there's plenty of that to go around in Washington." But manure research is just the tip of the "dung heap" when it comes to government waste: CAGW uncovered a whopping 2,838 pork-barrel projects in the 1999 fiscal budget. Total cost to taxpayers: $12 billion. CAGW defines "pork-barrel" as any project that serves only a local or special interest, was not the subject of Congressional hearings, or was not competitively awarded, among other criteria. In the 3,000-page Omnibus Appropriations Act, Congress doled out money to a mind-boggling array of special interest groups, ranging from a museum for Frank Sinatra, to Irish pony trekking centers, to the Toledo Mud Hens, to blueberry growers, to the World Alpine Ski Championships. For example, profiting from pork-barrel money in 1999 were: * Foreigners: $1.5 million to promote silk production in Laos; $19.6 million to "aid the peace process" in Northern Ireland by funding golf videos, Irish sweaters, and pony trekking centers; and $1.2 million to subsidize a park on the Galapagos Islands (owned by Ecuador). * Bugs: $750,000 for grasshopper research (Alaska). * Skiers: $600,000 for the World Alpine Ski Championships (Colorado). * Fruits and vegetables: $220,000 for blueberry research (Maine); $100,000 for Vidalia onion research (Georgia); $250,000 for "small fruits" research (Hawaii); $750,000 for soybean and corn research (Mississippi); and $1.3 million for rice research (Arkansas). * People who don't like snakes: $1 million for the "eradication of Brown Tree Snakes" (Hawaii). * People who don't like grain elevators: $250,000 to demolish abandoned grain elevators (Tonawanda, New York). * Museums and Institutes: $300,000 for a National Museum of American Music honoring Frank Sinatra; $750,000 for the shipwreck-themed Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum (North Carolina); $1 million for the Lewis and Clark Exhibit (Washington); $300,000 for the National First Ladies Library (Ohio); $6 million for the Robert J. Dole Institute for Public Service and Public Policy (Kansas); and $100,000 for the Black World History Wax Museum in St. Louis (Missouri). * Eskimos: $1 million to "develop and train Alaska natives for employment in the petroleum industry." * Fish: $3.3 million for shrimp aquaculture (Arizona, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and South Carolina); $750,000 for fish farming (Arkansas); and $750,000 for "fisheries development" (Hawaii). * Classical music lovers: $500,000 to restore the Boston Symphony Hall. * Wacky energy ideas: $1 million to study how to turn rice into ethanol (California) and $300,000 to study "the economic feasibility of capturing and utilizing methane from agricultural waste products for heat and power production" (Vermont). * The water taxi business: $500,000 for water taxis in Savannah (Georgia) and $250,000 for water taxis for King County (Washington). * Big-business interests: $5.1 million for wood research (for the forest/timber industry); $1 million for wine-related research; $197,000 for "beef producers'
[CTRL] Is that you, Harvey?
-Caveat Lector- From BostonHerald http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/colm/sciacca07261999.htm Harebrained stunt dogs Gore campaign by Joe Sciacca Monday, July 26, 1999 As if poor Al Gore didn't have enough problems on the campaign trail, he's now being stalked by a rabbit. A 7-foot rabbit with a bushy tail, floppy ears and, unfortunately for the vice president, the determination of a turtle not a hare. ``When he first saw me in D.C., I think it was March, he got out of his car, stopped, stared and just walked away,'' the rabbit said. ``The Secret Service made me sit in the back of a car while they ran my Social Security number. But now, I have major clearance.'' The rabbit has chased Gore from state to state, albeit very slowly because, as it explains, ``My feet are 3 feet long. '' Gore stops in New Hampshire. He sees the rabbit. Iowa, he sees the rabbit. Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit. While George W. Bush has merely the occasional pink elephant with which to cope, Gore is being driven bonkers by a bunny. He wants it to stop. Gore aides have called PETA - the rabid animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - and repeatedly complained and last week, the rabbit himself reports, the vice president's campaign committee called and requested peace talks. At issue is Gore's support of a High Production Volume Chemical Testing program that will test the hazards of chemicals like turpentine and rat poison on birds, fish and yes, rabbits. You don't want to know the details. Gore's campaign office didn't return my call on this one, but has maintained in the past that the tests are needed to protect the public health and will be carried out as humanely as possible. Personally, I'm not a PETA type. If we were meant to exist on seaweed and wheatballs, we'd have sponges, not teeth. I admit I feel a twinge selecting a lobster for execution, but drawn butter and an ear of corn usually help me feel better. But the rabbit that is terrorizing Al Gore? I have to say, I love it. And PETA, you've got to love them, just for the entertainment value if nothing else. Who else would try to put up billboards in cattle states like Texas, Kansas and Colorado proclaiming that ``Eating meat can cause impotence.'' And decry the serving of seafood at the New England Aquarium cafe as ``the equivalent of eating poodle burgers at a dog show.'' OK, so they pushed the envelope a little when they protested Wheaties putting the picture of a professional bass fishing champion on its box, calling the cereal ``The Breakfast of Lip-Rippers.'' Sure, they went too far declaring Thanksgiving ``murder for turkeys'' and putting a sign in front of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa proclaiming ``Jesus was a vegetarian.'' But there is a strategy to the stunts and sometimes, incredibly, it works. Procter Gamble chairman John Pepper ignored PETA until an activist hit him in the face with a pie. Then he called PETA, which agreed to stop the ``pie deliveries'' after he said he'd consider an end to animal testing. And, an Associated Press poll recently showed that two-thirds of Americans equate animal suffering with human suffering and believe that animal testing for cosmetics is unnecessary. Whatever the case, PETA's ``main rabbit guy,'' 27-year-old Jason Baker, is planning his travel schedule - New York, Maine and Tennessee - which somehow happens to coincide with Gore's. ``It's kind of hectic and the costume isn't your ordinary rabbit suit. It's huge. It's heavy,'' he said. ``It's so hot I have to wear an ice vest. You've got to keep fluids in you.'' Carrot juice, undoubtedly. Baker, of course, is no novice. ``I was a cow once, and a pig and a chicken,'' he said. ``I wore a diaper once, it was a little embarrassing. And I was a condom to promote cruelty-free condoms.'' This line of work should help this young man when he discovers in a few years that it takes a real job to put tofu on the table. I can hear his job interview, ``So, Mr. Baker, you were a, uh, condom . . .'' He's not easily deterred. ``If we get vilified for this issue, fine. We're not out to make friends. We're out to help animals.'' And while Clinton may be advising him to hold out for those naked fur-protesting fashion models, Gore might just have to hop to it. AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer
[CTRL] Roma + : 07-26-99
-Caveat Lector- From www.lineone.net/express/99/07/20/features/f0700view-d.html VIEWPOINT John Laughland Within a month of the end of the bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, Nato governments and Belgrade have struck up a curious alliance. They are united in a conspiracy of silence about the tens of thousands of Serb and gipsy refugees from Kosovo, driven from their homes by Albanians. I realised the scale of this new humanitarian catastrophe on a recent visit to Kosovo as I toured camps of terrified people. On Friday, the spokesman for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees confirmed this when he said revenge attacks were far worse than had been expected. If action was not taken, he said, Kosovo would soon be completely ethnically cleansed of Serbs and gipsies. But his words are likely to go unheeded, for these poor terrified people are an ideological threat to Tony Blair as much as they are to Slobodan Milosevic. Officially there are no refugees at all in Serbia. Their existence proves that Yugoslavia has lost control of Kosovo. Whatever concessions Nato made on paper (the most important being recognition that Kosovo is an integral part of Yugoslavia), the reality is that Nato and the Kosovo Liberation Army are now in charge. But, for Nato, the flood of refugees destroys the fiction that the war was fought for moral principles. Time and again during the war Mr Blair said: "This is not a war for territory but for values." Ethnic cleansing was unacceptable and had to be stopped. However, if this were the real reason for the war, Nato should logically be now bombing the Albanian capital, Tirana, or attacking the KLA headquarters all over the province. Instead, Nato is turning a blind eye to Albanian atrocities. Far from exerting pressure on the KLA, Mr Blair was photographed recently enjoying a convivial joke with its leader, Hashim Thaci. And while the International Criminal Tribunal prosecutor, Louise Arbour, is travelling in Kosovo to draw attention to Serb atrocities against Albanians months ago, she is ignoring atrocities now being committed by Albanians under her very nose. The West even looks the other way, despite its huge military presence in the province, as the Albanian Mafia charges Albanian refugees ransom money before allowing them to leave the camps and return home. Serb and gipsy refugees, pouring across the border in their hundreds every day, told me how they were chased from homes which were then burned before their eyes; how women had been raped; how neighbours had been shot or had their throats slit. They also said Albanians were killing "loyal Albanians" - Kosovars who had worked for the Yugoslav state, for instance as postmen or in factories. The refugees also all complained that Nato troops were doing nothing to protect them. One 30-year-old mother of three tried to alert a British soldier to looting and violence by Albanians. He replied: "We have no mandate to arrest people." In the French sector, uniformed KLA soldiers walk around unmolested, in contravention of the demilitarisation agreement. The gipsies' fate is particularly tragic. All over Eastern Europe they are a persecuted minority. Only in Serbia, it appears, did they live free from discrimination. But Albanians seem to have a particular hatred for them. I was taken to a former gipsy quarter in the town of Kosovska Mitrovica: all the houses stood empty, torched and smashed up by Albanians. "We cannot live with the Albanians any more," cried one desperate gipsy woman waiting by the roadside with her family and a few suitcases. "They are animals." If Nato is now declining to stand by the very principles it enunciated only a few weeks ago, what credibility can there be for the stated justification of the war in the first place? Two elements must make us sceptical. First, there was no refugee crisis (and thus no "ethnic cleansing") until the bombing started. There were many internally displaced people within Kosovo, fleeing the civil war, but mass movement into Macedonia and Albania began only after bombing started. The more we bombed, the more came out. Many were therefore fleeing bombs, not Serbs. In any case, hundreds of thousands of Albanians remained in Kosovo during the conflict, untouched by Serbs. Second, as a KLA leader told an American journalist two years ago in Istanbul, the KLA strategy for Kosovo independence (which was executed from January 1998 onwards) was to attack and kill Serbs in order to provoke reprisals. These were presented to the West as racially motivated ethnic cleansing; in reality they were a (doubtless brutal) reaction to a brutal terrorist insurrection - a fact systematically obscured by Nato propaganda. A final thought. The tens of thousands of Serb refugees are a potent force for the destabilisation of Serbia. They are already voicing discontent that Belgrade is not helping them
[CTRL] Pleading the 25th
-Caveat Lector-
From www.mikenew.com/kosovo_ed.html
Kosovo: The New World Army Evolves
Daniel D. New
Based upon the precedent of Macedonia, and the lack of
Congressional backbone to stop the placement of American troops
under foreign officers, the New World Army is becoming a reality.
When Army Specialist Michael New refused to wear a United Nations
uniform and serve under a general from Finland, his attorneys
pointed out that the precedent would lead to more deployments
based upon the Globalist Agenda of George Bush and Bill Clinton.
The House of Representatives, perhaps because they are closer to
the pulse of the People, actually passed legislation in 1996 to
forbid the forced deployment of American troops under the United
Nations. (HR2540, Tom DeLay). The bill never came out of Senate
committee. But time has passed and like our society at large, the
attention span of Congress is short and there are matters more
pressing.
In 1812-14 we fought a war with Great Britain over the issue of
His Majestys Ships pressing American citizens into service in
the Royal Navy. We considered our citizenship as sacred, and as
an issue of sovereignty. We argued, at the point of cannon and
sword, that no nation could impress the citizens of another
nation into service against their will that such was a return
to feudalism. Washington was burned, but we won the war and
sovereignty was maintained. For a while.
How ironic that in Kosovo, American citizens will be forced to
serve under British soldiers, against their will, this time
ordered there by an American President!
At issue is not the quality of the British officer in question.
Hes no doubt a gentleman and a fine officer. The entire issue is
whether it is legal, whether it is lawful, and if so, whether
American citizens are no longer sovereigns. Is the "Grand
Experiment" in self government expired? Many say this is the end
of the Republic, and they may well be right.
When Americans are forced to bear arms in a conflict not their
own, they are turned into involuntary mercenaries. No semantic
smokescreen can make it anything else.
When a soldier accepts extra pay for the hazardous duty of
serving a foreign power, under foreign officers, he becomes a
voluntary mercenary. Lets start calling a spade a spade.
When Congress abrogates its responsibility to control the
military involvement of this country, as clearly stated in the
Constitution, it has thrown in the towel and is no longer
functioning as intended by the Framers. Only Congress can declare
war. George Bush broke the law, but appealed to what he
maintained was a higher law the United Nations when he
illegally defended Kuwait. At least he acted under color of law.
Bill Clinton has built upon the Bush legacy of
internationalization of our military by telling Congress AND the
United Nations that he will do as he pleases, that he does not
need either of them, and Madelaine Albright has the temerity to
boldly proclaim the grand lie that the President is acting with
Constitutional authority.
The only authority he has, if any, for these acts of treason must
be found in Presidential Decision Directive #25, a top-secret
document that even your Congressman is not allowed to read! This
is the document whereby the president has authorized himself (!)
to ignore Congress, ignore the Constitution, and to place our
soldiers wherever he feels they are most needed.
Bill Clinton is a rogue head of state. He is acting without any
authority whatsoever. He is committing impeachable offenses at an
ever-increasing pace, now that the Senate has capitulated and
strangled on phony polls and public opinion rather than their
sworn constitutional duty. The age-old struggle of Rex Lex has
once again prevailed over Lex Rex. ("The King is over the Law"
vs. "The Law is over the King.")
Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the
governed. (Have you heard this somewhere before?) Whenever any
government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of
the People to alter or abolish it.
Via www.mikenew.com/pdd25.html
PDD 25
The document below was allegedly; " Released on the WWW by the
Bureau of International Organizational Affairs, U.S. Department
of State, February 22, 1996" This State Department release is no
more than an unclassified summary. The details of the actual
Secret PDD 25 are still concealed from public scrutiny.
Clinton Administration Policy on Reforming Multilateral Peace
Operations (PDD 25) Released on the WWW by the Bureau of
International Organizational Affairs, U.S. Department of State,
February 22, 1996
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Last year, President Clinton ordered an inter-agency review of
our nation's peacekeeping policies and programs in order to
develop a comprehensive policy framework suited to the realities
of the post-Cold War period. This policy review has resulted in a
Presidential
[CTRL] Staggering Numbers
-Caveat Lector- From http://www.gatewayva.com/rtd/dailynews/virginia/pot0726.shtml Going to pot: Weed making comeback / Marijuana growing on rise in Va. Monday, July 26, 1999 BY REX BOWMAN Times-Dispatch Staff Writer ROANOKE -- Some speak about the moonshining that goes on in the western hills of Virginia as if the illicit trade defines the state's lawless spirit; but bootleg whiskey is only half the story. The other half is marijuana. In Virginia's cornfields, in roadside ditches, greenhouses and national forests, on back porches and mountain slopes, alongside railroad tracks, beneath power lines and around the muddy banks of swimming holes, marijuana plants are growing tall and in abundance. More than ever, law enforcement officials say, pot growers are staking their claim to the commonwealth's fertile soil. But they're becoming as wily as the secretive moonshiners: Police say the trend over the past few years is for professional pot growers to spread their lucrative crop out over many plots, reducing the chances that agents will find and seize all their plants. Consequently, while arrests are up, seizures are down. "You used to have large plots with 2,000, with 3,000, or with 6,000 plants, and commercial airliners could look down and see them from 20,000 feet," said state police 1st Sgt. J.C. Lewis, statewide coordinator for marijuana eradication. "Now, instead of putting all their eggs in one basket, they may have five or six plots with 100 or 200 plants each." Agents are also turning up more small operations where growers lavish their attention on no more than 20 plants, said state police Lt. Mark Petska, deputy assistant director of the Drug Enforcement Division. Baby boomers who learned to roll joints and toke on bongs in the tie-dyed '60s are beginning to grow their own, keeping some for themselves and selling the rest to an intimate circle of friends, Petska theorized. Marijuana use among teen-agers, meanwhile, is up from a decade ago, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. It all adds up to one thing, say proponents of legalizing marijuana: Time for the law to cry uncle. Despite the millions of dollars spent to stamp out Virginia's massive marijuana crop, they say, the legions of pot smokers and growers have been undeterred, and as things now stand, the "war" against this particular drug is a quagmire of wasted resources. "You can only fail so much before people start questioning the public policy, and the policy is a failure," said Lennice Werth, a Crewe resident and head of Virginians Against Drug Violence. "And it's not even a policy, it's a crusade. We're against prohibition because the prohibition of drugs is what causes drug-related violence." A House of Representatives subcommittee recently turned back various drug-legalization proposals. Werth conceded that Virginia's General Assembly will likely be as unreceptive to any legalization plans. "Legislators are followers, not leaders," she said, "so it's up to the public to lead on this." Though Virginia law enforcement officials claim to arrest more pot growers per capita than most other states, it's tough to make a dent in the unlawful trade because the Old Dominion is such a large producer. The state agriculture department keeps no statistics on marijuana, but the Washington-based National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws estimates that marijuana is the commonwealth's largest cash crop, surpassing even tobacco. Saying that its numbers are conservative and based on DEA's eradication data, NORML estimates that Virginia pot growers in 1997 harvested more than 121,600 plants worth $197 million. Nationwide, pot wholesale revenues ranged between $15.1 billion and $26.3 billion. Lewis, the state police marijuana eradication coordinator, said he couldn't begin to estimate the value of Virginia's crop. "It's grown throughout the whole state, in back yards, in gardens, on mountain tops," Lewis said. "It's everywhere." No more so than in western Virginia, which has two contraband capitals, according to Petska. If Rocky Mount is the center of the state's moonshining trade, he said, then Roanoke is the heart of pot country. The Allegheny highlands north of the city feature vast forests and hidden hollows that make it difficult for agents to spot marijuana fields. The rugged terrain south and west of Roanoke is largely rural and ideal for pot growers looking to stay out of sight. And where once the area around Wytheville was the site of some of the most high-intensity pot farming, Petska said, the illicit agriculture in recent years has spread east, to Pulaski, Floyd, Franklin and Henry counties, where rural landscapes and woodlands abound. "Unlike Norfolk, for instance, you don't have houses on top of each other and large subdivisions," Lewis said. "In Roanoke and Salem, or around there, you can
[CTRL] (Fwd) Tax Cut?
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date sent: Fri, 23 Jul 1999 16:31:35 -0700 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Tax Cut? Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Friday, July 23, 1999 TAX CUT? These analysts are available for interviews about the tax bill just passed by the House of Representatives and the implications of such legislation: MICHELE McGEOY Michele McGeoy is the CEO of RH Solutions and a member of Responsible Wealth, a national network of affluent Americans working for fairer and more effective economic policies. She said: Wealthy people like me, Ive discovered over the years, tend to find we have friends we never knew existed. My newest friends sit in Congress. They must really like me. With all the problems in the world today, theyre worried that I'm not rich enough... The so-called budget surplus that congressional leaders want to spend on tax breaks is largely the product of past and future cutbacks on everything from Medicare to bridge repair. MATT GARDNER, [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.ctj.org A policy analyst with Citizens for Tax Justice, Gardner, said: The House has decided to gut the estate tax, which is only levied on 1.6 percent of the highest-valued estates. And the House made it a priority to substantially reduce tax rates on capital gains; more than 90 percent of the benefit will be enjoyed by the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans. (Capital gains is income from the sale of stock and other property.) And the bill still includes billions in corporate welfare for multinational corporations. DEAN BAKER, www.preamble.org An economist with the Preamble Center, Baker said: The Republicans want to cut capital gains taxes at a time when almost every serious economist in the country thinks the stock market is already hugely overvalued. What is the point of making the bubble even larger? Many of the other tax cuts make about as much economic sense. By eliminating the inheritance tax, are we trying to give people an incentive to die? The claim that these tax cuts will help the economy is ridiculous on its face. The cuts are simply a way to give more money to the wealthy, which is not at the top of most peoples priorities just now. CHUCK COLLINS, [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.stw.org Chuck Collins is the co-director of United for a Fair Economy and co-author of "Shifting Fortunes: The Perils of the Growing American Wealth Gap." He said: This is Robin Hood in reverse. Low- and middle-income Americans will lose more than they gain -- through the health, education, and other budget cuts required to pay for these tax windfalls for the already rich... This legislation would only exacerbate income and wealth inequality in the U.S., presently at its greatest point since the 1920s. For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484- AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
[CTRL] Royal Tea
-Caveat Lector- From www.morrock.com/homebrew.htm American royalty By SAM WAMMACK TMNS Correspondent July 23, 1999 John F. Kennedy, Jr. apparently flew his private plane into the ocean last Friday night -- causing an accident which killed him, his wife, and his sister-in-law. A fatal accident of any kind is always a tragedy, and my sympathy goes out to the families of those three young people. With that said -- where the heck did this idea of "royalty" come from? During five days of near-continuous news coverage, JFK Jr. has repeatedly been called "America's Crown Prince" on television. The government turned out half the Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard to continue this expensive search for days -- even though it became obvious after the first few hours that there could have been no survivors. Why the special treatment? JFK Jr. was the son of a president, but he held no public office and he was a private citizen just like you and me. If I sink my bass boat in Tablerock Lake and turn up missing -- will there be admirals and generals giving press conferences, surveillance planes in the air, and Dan Rather waxing poetic on TV for five days? I doubt it. I think a couple of things are going on. First, the press loves the Kennedy family -- they covered for and romanticized JFK Senior's administration, they wanted Robert and then Ted in the White House, and they were going to run JFK Jr. for president in 2008 or so. Now, like Uncle Teddy 30 years ago, JFK Jr. has had an accident and screwed up the plan -- and the press is having a hissy fit. If this plane crash had "only" killed a Nixon daughter or one of Reagan's kids, it wouldn't have gotten much press -- but the newsies just love those Kennedys. Second, though, and more seriously, there seems to be a yearning to establish an aristocratic and "royal" class of people in this country -- and that yearning is being actively fueled by the media. The supermarket tabloids reflect a society that idolizes entertainers and those who are born into or marry wealth and power. We have come to value showmanship and position over substance, and we are forgetting that our greatness was achieved as a republic. Our heroes used to be Abe Lincoln, Davy Crockett, and Babe Ruth -- not Madonna, Elvis, and Princess Diana. The idea of "royalty," a class of people who are our natural leaders by virtue of their birth or marriage, is disgusting and distinctly un-American. That's exactly what this country is NOT about -- and it's the issue for which we fought a long and bloody war with Britain to gain our independence. As another part of this phenomenon, Hillary Clinton seems to feel that she should be a U.S. Senator from New York -- not based upon any personal achievement, but upon her fame as the wife of the President. Amazingly, some of the public and most of the press seem to think that's a fine idea. Our thinking as a nation has obviously changed about such things. Just imagine what would have happened if Mamie Eisenhower or Bess Truman had picked out a state in which they had never lived and tried the same thing -- the press and the voters would have laughed them out of town. Actually, if having, um, "relations" with Bill Clinton is enough to qualify a person for Congress, then there are probably plenty of qualified people around to fill all 535 seats. And a mighty fine bunch of women they would be, too, from the samples I have seen. If anyone doubts what a poor idea "royalty" really is, all you have to do is look at the experiences of other countries. In Russia and France the "royals" got pretty excessive, but when the people of those countries finally grew sick of their aristocracy, they got rid of them quickly, permanently, and fatally. In Great Britain, they just let 'em linger. So far as I can tell, the modern royal family in Britain serves several purposes. They cost British taxpayers a great deal of money, they serve as an example of a superbly dysfunctional family of English rich folks, and they make Americans happy that we kicked George III out of here when we had the chance. I suppose that all the royal tradition, pomp, and ceremony also serves as a reminder to the Brits of the glory of the Empire. You know -- it makes them remember back to the good old days when the British Army was out there bravely taking countries away from barefoot natives all over the world. One commentator said that JFK Jr. was "the closest thing America had to a prince." I hope so, because Martin Luther King had it exactly right -- I would much rather live in a country where all people are judged by the "content of their character" and not by the economic and social situation of their relatives. AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing,
[CTRL] (Fwd) ZNet Commentary July 26 Edward Herman
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- From: "Michael Albert" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:ZNet Commentary July 26 Edward Herman Date sent: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 22:11:59 +0100 Here is today's ZNet Commentary Delivery from Edward Herman. The attached file is the same material in nicely formatted html so that you can read it in your browser if you wish. To pass this comment along to friends, relatives, etc. please note that the Commentaries are a premium sent to monthly donors to Z/ZNet and that to learn more about the project folks can consult ZNet (http://www.zmag.org) and specifically the Commentary Page (http://www.zmag.org/Commentaries/donorform.htm). Here then is today's ZNet Commentary... -- RESISTING ILLEGITIMATE AUTHORITY By Edward S. Herman My feeling that the government in Washington represents illegitimate authority ebbs and flows, but it has gathered strength over the past few years, and even months. One reason is the blatant further dollarization of the electoral process, with Bush having raised over $37 million, Gore and Bradley each having lined up substantial Wall Street and Silicon Valley contributors and jousting for more, and candidates who fail to sell themselves to large monied interests dropping out of the competition. The law of the market--"them that pays gits"--clearly and blatantly rules politics. This is plutocracy, not democracy, and trickle-down politics produces trickle-down economic policy, plus other nasties. A second reason for my strong sense of alienation--and one of the nasties--is the multiple bombings and blatant aggressiveness of the U.S. national security state. The last time the U.S. left issued a "Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority" was during the Vietnam War, when the security state was devastating a distant peasant society. Well, for several months in 1999 the security state was leveling one country while intermittently bombing and continuously sanctioning and starving another into submission, after having bombed two other countries in 1998. Without any external force to contain it, the security state, having armed itself to the teeth, threatens and attacks anybody getting out of line, and IT defines the line--which is completely self-serving and devoid of moral force or legality (see Chomsky's forthcoming The New Military Humanism: Lessons From Kosovo [Common Courage], chaps. 2, 6-7). A third reason is anger at the ruling elite's treatment of the poor and other unimportant people and its associated budget priorities. The Personal Responsibility Act of 1996 (in non- Orwellian: The Government Irresponsibility Act of 1996), ending the federal government's commitment to protect the poor, was an act of savagery, pushing large numbers into the market (and street) without any parallel policies of job training, child and health care, and job provision. This took place in a society where the rich are prospering mightily, helped by a massive restructuring of taxes and expenditures to their benefit carried out by plutocratic authorities. Business Week of August 2 reports "staggering" business profits and business "swimming in cash," with "a record $861 billion in retained earnings on their books." But these folks have no cash to spare, and as progressive CEO Michele McGeoy says, congress is "worried that I'm not rich enough," so that the plutocratic agents strive to give her more. With prospective budget surpluses which, as McGeoy says, are "largely the product of past and future cutbacks on everything from Medicare to bridge repair," the plutocratic right is pressing for regressive tax cuts, whereas the plutocratic "left" (Clinton) proposes pumping up Medicare and reducing the national debt. The well-being of the poor and non- elite non-poor, and even the environment and infrastructure, are of little concern to the ruling elite. The public has a different take on help to the poor and investment in the environment and infrastructure. For the past several decades polls have shown that the general public tends to support populist policies and oppose deregulation, mergers, militarism, and free market trade policies. Recent polls show that only 5 percent of the public name tax reduction as top priority, far below education, health care, Social Security, and other matters; and while the plutocrats arrange for tax reductions favoring the elite, 66 percent of the public believes "upper-income people" already pay too little. Political scientist Ben Page has pointed out that there are major "elite-mass gaps," with "ordinary citizens...considerably less enthusiastic than foreign policy elites about the use of force abroad, about economic or (especially) military aid or arms sales, and about free-trade agreements. The average American is much more concerned than foreign policy elites about jobs and income at home." Page also
[CTRL] Politics of Celebrity
-Caveat Lector- WSWS : News Analysis : North America The death of JFK Jr. and the politics of celebrity By Martin McLaughlin 24 July 1999 Back to screen version A week-long media barrage on the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. culminated in the burial at sea Thursday of the ashes of Kennedy, his wife Carolyn and her sister Lauren, and the memorial service Friday in New York City. While both the burial and the funeral were private and closed to the press, the American media nonetheless gave them virtually continuous coverage, with the television networks showing hour after hour of long-distance shots of the naval warship from which the ashes were to be scattered and the cathedral in Manhattan where a select group of mourners gathered. The Clinton administration's authorization of the use of a Navy ship to conduct the burial at sea was unprecedented, given that the victims were private citizens who had never served in the military. This decision only underscored the quasi-official character of the whole process by which public opinion has been besieged with the claim that the death of JFK Jr. represents an enormous loss to society. There are contradictions too many to enumerate in the presentation of this fairly undistinguished multi-millionaire as a model of social virtue. Article after article, broadcast after broadcast, celebrates Kennedy's alleged role as a philanthropist and benefactor of the poor, although he did little more than follow the prescribed course for any scion of a wealthy capitalist family who wishes to present the image of noblesse oblige a little charity work, a few foundation meetings, all very useful for a future political resumé. One obvious question related to the plane crash remains unanswered. According to the media presentation, JFK Jr. was universally admired and beloved, a regular guy who befriended ordinary people, a man treasured by his elite friends. Why was it then, that none of these friends and admirers sought to prevent him from putting his life and the lives of his wife and sister-in-law at risk with the reckless decision to fly a small plane under adverse conditions? A colossal machinery has been set into motion to magnify the grief after the event, but there apparently was not a word of wisdom said beforehand. Thousands of Americans die in accidents every year, but none of these deaths are singled out as a national tragedy. On the contrary, the political and media establishment resolutely opposes drawing any social conclusions from such incidents, even when they are fairly obviousthe large number of tornado deaths among poorer sections of workers compelled to live in mobile homes, or the horrendous rate of road deaths among overworked truck drivers. Aside from concern that examination of the social implications of such accidents might pose a threat to corporate profits, there are broader ideological issues. The trend in America over the last several decades has been to reduce all the social evils produced by the profit systemhunger, homelessness, drug abuse, unemploymentto issues of individual responsibility. Yet in the death of John F. Kennedy Jr., the full power of the American media and the government is being mobilized to present the death of an individual who made no significant contribution to American society as a calamity of historical dimensions. In part, this could be attributed to the machinery of media manipulation going about its work almost automatically. It has become routine for the press and television to take any unfortunate event involving even a minor celebritysuch as the skiing death last year of Congressman Sonny Bonoand milk it for every possible drop of sentimentality. But the official response to the death of JFK Jr. goes beyond this. Other considerations are involved, some of them suggested by a column which appeared Wednesday in the Washington Post, written by Charles Krauthammer. First, a word about style. Krauthammer begins the column, Heir to Camelot, with a quote from Moby Dick, and ends it by comparing JFK Jr. to Prince Hal (the future Henry V of England). It is pretentious in the extreme to cite the writings of literary geniuses to describe an incident of so little intrinsic importance. References to Shakespeare and Herman Melville cannot give the death of John Kennedy Jr. the broad historical significance which it lacks. Krauthammer claims Kennedy's death evoked a feeling of national loss, the kind one feels at the death not just of youth but of royalty. American politics is democratic only in theory, he declares, In practice, we are lovers of dynasty. Kennedy was the only son of the assassinated president. And it is precisely the death with him of that nameand the redemption, nay restoration, that it promisedthat added so strangely and deeply to the sense of national loss at his death... Can there be any doubt
[CTRL] Environmental Issues
-Caveat Lector- From TheIndependent (UK) BALKAN AFTERMATH: WAVE OF SICKNESS SWEEPS SERB TOWN MADE TOXIC BY NATO BOMBS THE ECOLOGICAL time bomb is ticking. Nobody knows when or how it will explode. For the moment, the visible effects are almost routine. In recent weeks many people in the Serbian town of Pancevo have come out in red blotches and blisters, after lying in the grass for a few minutes, for example, or after picking vegetables. Theoretically it could be just a common batch of allergies. But, says Zoran Nedic, dermatologist and secretary of the health committee in Pancevo, "I've never seen anything on this scale." The number of skin problems has doubled in recent weeks. Dr Nedic sees this as the tip of the iceberg. A United Nations mission, led by the former Finnish environment minister Pekka Haavisto, has been in Pancevo this week to assess the potentially devastating scale of the problem. Everybody in Pancevo, a town of 150,000, shares the fear of what they describe as the ekologicheska katastrofa - Nato bombing of the town has unleashed a poisonous cocktail of thousands of tons of toxic chemicals into the water, air and soil. The fertiliser factory was bombed, releasing huge amounts of ammonia into the air and into the Danube. The oil refinery was repeatedly bombed: 20,000 tons of crude oil were burnt up in one bombardment alone, and a cloud of black smoke hung in the air for 10 days. The petrochemicals factory was bombed: 1,400 tons of ethylene dichloride poured into the Danube, and high concentrations of vinyl chloride, the main constituent of PVC, were released into the atmosphere at more than 10,000 times the permitted level. And so it goes on. The official list of environmental damage runs to six closely typed pages, from the first bombing raid, on 24 March, to the last, on 8 June. Each of these events separately would, in ordinary times, set environmental alarm bells ringing. When combined in a multiple cataclysm - in the early hours of 18 April, several factories were bombed within a few minutes of each other - the effects are incalculable. As Dr Nedic points out: "Never in history have a petrochemicals factory, an oil refinery and a fertiliser factory all been on fire during a single day." He predicts that cancer rates will be "sharply up" in the years to come. Dr Sava Stajic, of the Pancevo Society against Cancer, notes that cancer levels were already higher than average in the area because of the industrial pollution from the factories in previous years. But he, too, argues that there will be an "epidemic increase" because of the hundreds of thousands of tons of "highly toxic and carcinogenic chemicals" that have been released - including uncertain quantities of chlorine, mercury, hydrocarbons, ammonia, nitrogen and sulphur oxides, phosphorous compounds and hydrogen halides. It is a case of "name a toxic chemical, and it is on the list". The mayor of Pancevo, Srdjan Mikovic, deeply resents Nato's willingness to bomb the town without consideration for the effects - what he describes as "a serious intention to kill the town". He and the city council represent the anti-Milosevic opposition. But he argues that the destructive bombing of the town has done much to destroy pro-Western feeling. He points to a cupboard where he has stowed the British and American flags that he used to keep on his desk. "We received their ambassadors here. We never dreamed that these countries might bomb us." Certainly there can be no chance to plead ignorance of the implications. Many factories were built and installed by Western companies. After the fires, "black rain" fell on Pancevo and the surrounding area, covering plants with a slimy layer. There was an official warning against eating vegetables fresh and without careful washing. But most fear that the longer- term effects will be much more drastic than the problems of coping with greasy lettuce. The Danube may have been affected downstream into Romania. Crop changes in the surrounding area seem inevitable. The black jokes abound. How do children in Pancevo count to 30? By counting on the fingers of both hands. Dr Nedic argues that talk of biological change is more than just fantasy. "A lot of the chemicals released are not just carcinogens but can also cause mutation," he said. Timothy Garden, Review, page 4 Chinese Embassy Attack Was CIA Error THE CHINESE embassy in Belgrade that was erroneously bombed during Nato's Kosovo operation was the only target of the conflict that was nominated by the Central Intelligence Service, it was revealed yesterday. Testifying before Congress about the most diplomatically costly mistake of the war, the head of the CIA, George Tenet, said that the building was thought to house a Yugoslav arms agency. The error was ascribed to a failure in updating by the Pentagon's mapping agency. However, Mr Tenet said
[CTRL] Myth-tifying
-Caveat Lector- From LA TIMES Friday, July 23, 1999 Commentary Coverage a Senseless Tragedy in Itself By HOWARD ROSENBERG, Times Television Critic Picture: If you dare to raise questions about any of this, you're immediately branded a heartless, soulless, mindless cretin. However . . . Now that John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife and sister-in-law have been buried at sea on live television--delivered there Thursday like heads of state and eulogized by somber celebrity anchors against a medley of chopper pictures from the heavens and file footage of a toddling John-John--doesn't this set a precedent? The thunderous homage to the late Princess Diana notwithstanding, these are really uncharted waters. It's a grim thought, and of course, here's hoping it doesn't happen. But holy hypothetical! What if Ron Reagan Jr.--son and namesake of another beloved president--should die as prematurely as John F. Kennedy Jr., and his family would want to have him buried at sea too? Would this spectacle recur? Would we go through this again . . . and again, with the cameras, commentators and choppers on call as the occasion demands? Or would the media say no, because the Reagan family's record of suffering doesn't match the Kennedys? In other words, this is all a bit crazy and hysterical, don't you think? To say nothing of manipulative. Television had already explored to the hilt the Kennedys' perilous, oft-lethal encounters with flying. Now, on to something else. The sea. "And John Kennedy Jr. goes down to the sea for the last time," concluded a Thursday profile on CNN set to melancholy music. To music. Because their staffs have to shut their yaps once in a while, some of the networks on Thursday also reran an audiotape of John F. Kennedy Sr.'s monologue about humankind coming from the sea and "going back from whence we came." In case you didn't catch the irony--the adult son's death and burial now giving meaning to the father's words--MSNBC delivered it with a sledgehammer by simultaneously showing grainy footage of 2-year-old John-John at the wheel of a boat. If only some of these TV people would go back from whence they came, for this was one more cheap emotional whirlpool in a sea of them. Moments later, ever-present New York Daily News columnist Mike Barnicle, a neighbor and friend of the Kennedys--as many reporting and commenting on this story on TV appear to be--said he was sure that JFK Jr.'s uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy, the senator from Massachusetts, could "hear his family's history on the wind." That is if he could hear anything above the roar of inflated rhetoric. And you wonder why they call the Kennedys mythic. The facts are that John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died tragically, delivering an unthinkable blow to their families and causing much of the nation to feel very sad about the loss of this trio of beautiful, accomplished 30-somethings. It's the shameless litter of the surrounding coverage that's so maddening. That includes TV reporters repeatedly asking the obligatory question: "Who will carry the Kennedy banner now?" As if JFK Jr. had done that. And as if his uncle's senatorial career were chopped liver. It also includes TV dwelling on long lines of bouquet-bearing mourners sadly queuing up in long lines outside Kennedy's residence in New York's TriBeCa district. As if they represented mainstream America. On Thursday, CNN read the signs some had brought with them, including: "John-John, God has voted you president in heaven." Now there's perspective. You look at these long faces and see, in essence, the same worshipful pilgrims who travel annually to Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in Memphis to tearfully light candles on the anniversary of his death. The same ones who continue to hang out at the graves of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. The ones who stand outside and shout at stars arriving for the Emmy and Oscar ceremonies. The ones who because of some internal void find meaning and personal expression only through the lives of celebrities, instead of living fully themselves. If Kennedy was as grounded and straight-thinking as many now say he was, he would have despised all of this. That includes the relentless fawning over his image. CNN's star reporter, Christiane Amanpour, who also works for CBS, was on "60 Minutes" Sunday, being interviewed by Mike Wallace about her close friendship with JFK Jr. since college. And her easy, relaxed way of recalling him as someone she adored, without elevating him to divinity, was not only full of intimate insights, but also departed refreshingly from the swollen verbiage of many other newscasters. Yet her appearance also symbolized a media phenomenon of the last couple of decades that may explain some of TV's detail-by-detail obsession
[CTRL] Magical Oily NATOical Tour/Expedition - MONTE
-Caveat Lector- KARABAKH, ABKHAZIA WHERE NEXT FOR NATO? "Kosovo may become a next step in the evolution of a new European or even international order" Michael Lemmon, US Ambassador to Armenia, April 1999. It would have been unthinkable even a year ago to imagine the NATO alliance calling the shots in the former Soviet Union. But that may very well soon be the case. The Caucasus region seems to be bubbling up with many of the ingredients which led to the Kosovo conflict plus oil. This report consist of the following three chapters: Introduction Armenia and Karabakh Georgia and Abkhazia First published: 19 June 1999 The publications of the British Helsinki Human Rights Group do not express a corporate view. The Group is, however, grateful to the authors of its reports. Any views or recommendations expressed in the Group's reports are those of their authors alone. KARABAKH, ABKHAZIA WHERE NEXT FOR NATO? It would have been unthinkable even a year ago to imagine the NATO alliance calling the shots in the former Soviet Union. But that may very well soon be the case. The Caucasus region seems to be bubbling up with many of the ingredients which led to the Kosovo conflict plus oil. From the early 1990s, Western businessmen led by the US have invested billions of dollars in oil and gas exploration projects in the Caspian Sea and Central Asia. However, the way these resources reach Western markets has still not been satisfactorily solved. As well as the decrepit state of post-Soviet infrastructure, there are unresolved political problems in the Caucasus region. Separatist movements in Georgia and a dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the status of the break-away region of Nagorno-Karabakh have made the choice of a route for pipelines to carry oil and gas to Western markets extremely problematic. Even though American relations with Iran have thawed somewhat recently, an Iranian route is still regarded as taboo by Washington. At the moment oil reaches the West via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline in Russia and the Baku- Supsa route via Georgia. But these are not ideal solutions: an explosion ruptured the Novorossiysk pipeline on 14th June and it was closed down. Supsa is a small-scale operation and can only cope with c.10% of expected capacity at the moment. The plan to construct a pipeline to pump oil from Baku to the Turkish port of Ceyhan in Turkey has hit many obstacles, including money. One reason why these projects are so unsatisfactory and why the costing is even more prohibitive than it need be is that they have to give Armenia a wide berth. Unlike the other Caucasian republics, Armenia has shown no desire to join NATO (apart from some participation in partnership for peace projects). It houses several large Russian military bases and recently updated its missile systems and took delivery of advanced jet fighters. It is widely accepted that Armenia came out of the war with neighbouring Azerbaijan in 1994 as the victor because it was supported by the Russians. Since then Armenia has been Russias closest military ally in the region. Neighbouring Georgia and Azerbaijan have followed a very different path. With Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Moldova they have opted out of the CIS security pact and formed a joint security alliance known as GUUAM. GUUAMs founding charter pledges military cooperation within the group and also with NATO. At the same time both Azerbaijan and Georgia have taken steps to bring themselves closer to NATO itself. On 30th May Georgia became an associated member of the NATO parliamentary assembly and on 31st May Azerbaijan gained the less prestigious position of observer status. Azerbaijan has been asking for NATO membership for some time and some commentators say that a US military presence in Azerbaijan is inevitable. On 14th June, 1999 fighting broke our between the forces of the breakaway republic of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan for the first time since 1997. Each side blamed the other and, indeed, the incident may be no more than one of many skirmishes that have occurred since a cease-fire in 1994. Meanwhile, in early June Georgian and Abkhaz officials met in Istanbul to try to find a way out of the impasse that has existed there since 1993. There are signs that attempts may be underway to solve the smouldering problems of the Caucasus region once and for all the US ambassador at large and special advisor to the Secretary of State for the newly independent states, Stephen Sestanovich, visited the Caucasus in May to set out the USs position. But, while Georgia and Azerbaijan may be amenable to the Wests blandishments how can Armenia be brought on board without creating a confrontation with Russia? Armenia and Karabakh Negotiations over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh have been held sporadically since 1994 under the aegis of the OSCEs Minsk process. Co-chaired by
[CTRL] Ted Mack Redux ?
-Caveat Lector- Wednesday, July 21, 1999 Pacific Prospect Cox Report Was 'an Exercise in Amateur-Hour Paranoia' PictureThe House report on Chinese spying drew sinister implications out of tenuous reasoning. By TOM PLATE PicturePicturePicturePicture ADVERTISEMENT Picture Picture: NextCard Internet Visa - Apply Now Picture Picture: AutoSource Picture: The deep chill that draped over U.S.-China relations after the May release of the House select committee report on Chinese espionage was hardly the report's fault. The bilateral, as they call the relationship in Washington, is inherently tense, fragile and unpredictable. The NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade didn't exactly warm relations or calm nerves. Nor did this month's in-your-face declaration by Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui that Taiwan was abruptly abandoning its 50-year policy of accepting the idea of "one China," although it may have jarred Washington and Beijing again into accepting the need not to let tensions get out of hand. But at the same time, China-U.S. negotiations over Beijing's admission to the World Trade Organization are in disrepair. So are Sino-U.S. talks designed to settle the touchy issue of compensation over the NATO bombing. Pointedly, U.S. warships are still barred by Beijing from docking in Hong Kong. But if the Cox report, as the House spying probe is known, can hardly be blamed for all this, the report itself looks today to be something far less helpful in understanding America's true security problems than it did in May. More and more experts are coming to agree with Warren Rudman, chairman of the president's foreign intelligence advisory board, which reviewed security lapses at U.S. labs. He sees the Cox report as an exercise in amateur-hour paranoia: "Possible damage has been minted as probable disaster," said the former New Hampshire Republican senator. "Workaday delay and bureaucratic confusion have been cast as diabolical conspiracy." One internationally respected West Coast scholar who also takes this view is Jonathan Pollack, Rand's senior East Asia expert. Going beyond Rudman, he believes the report plays with fire. Today, at Rand's headquarters in Santa Monica, Pollack will, in a public briefing, denounce the report. Pollack's condemnation is no mere academic exercise. He is no anti-Republican pinko, and Rand, which for years existed on Pentagon largess, is no Beijing-by-the-Santa-Monica-Bay. Pollack is angry because he believes the issue of Chinese spying deserved a far more probative and prudent assessment than it got from the bipartisan panel chaired by Christopher Cox, a conservative Orange County congressman. "The report was an unbelievable rush to judgment," says Pollack, summing up weeks of painstaking analysis. "I find myself bemused by it all--and deeply disturbed." Pollack views the Cox work as drawing too many sinister implications out of tenuous reasoning and even thinner evidence: "It is particularly weak on the nuclear espionage issue, the most important one. Who did what to whom is very unclear in its spotty narrative. There are too many unhedged judgments, too many unexplained statements. As a serious document, it simply does not cohere. One has to conclude that the committee knew the answers it wanted before it started out. If it were a PhD thesis at Rand, I'd flunk it." Pollack, worried about the report's fall-out effect on public opinion about people in the U.S. of Chinese ancestry, harks back to the World War II anti-Japanese hysteria in America, especially virulent in California. Could something as vile as this surface in the heat of a new cold war with China? The Cox report, he fears, can be read to raise questions about all Chinese Americans: "Do we really want to believe the worst--that they could all be spies? . . . Is the implication that my Chinese graduate student or a Chinese visitor can be a spy? There is a fine line between prudence and paranoia." It's hard to believe that any sane American can really buy into such red-under-every-bed rubbish. Is the nation prepared to assume that the 80,000 Chinese who visit the U.S. each year must perforce be viewed as spy suspects--that, in the report's unblushing language, all Chinese Americans are potential "sleeper agents, who can be used at any time but may not be tasked for a decade or more?" When Cox's committee released its report, the hope was that it would establish a new high watermark in political probity. After all, the issue was theoretically grave, and Cox himself is no intellectual lightweight. But today the spy report seems to have done little aside from seconding the Rudman view that the nation's nuclear labs tend to leak like a sieve and must be leak-proofed. Indeed, the Cox report has added nothing, except to raise anew the question of whether Washington is capable of producing anything
[CTRL] Cox Sure ?
-Caveat Lector-
July 22, 1999
The Silence at the Times
Memo To: Howell Raines, NYTimes editorial page editor
From: Jude Wanniski
Re: Chinese Espionage at the National Labs
There has been a lot going on in the last week or so about the
China Espionage story that had been so big in the news pages of
the Times since Jeff Gerth broke the story in April. Ive been
keeping the Times editors informed from the first days about my
suspicions that the story was incorrect in all particulars --
that the Beijing government did not penetrate our national
nuclear labs, that it stole no secrets from us, and that our
scientists did not give any to them. I informed you when the
report commissioned by Jack Kemp of Empower America was issued,
based on the evaluation and assessment of a nuclear physicist who
had worked at the labs and served as deputy assistant secretary
of Army in the Reagan administration. The report of Dr. Gordon
Prather concluded that the report of the Cox Commission, which
treated the Chinese espionage story as a proven fact, was as
empty of evidence as I had suggested would be the case all along.
As far as I know, the Times has not had a line about the Prather
Report, which Jack Kemp has been defending in his talks with the
news media, most recently on MSNBC. My working assumption has
been that the Times is embarrassed at having trumpeted the spy
story without having it sufficiently vetted by people who knew
something about nuclear weaponry and the operation of the labs. I
also assumed the story would have "legs," moving forward in a way
that would force the Times to put aside its embarrassment and let
its readers in on the news that maybe the Chinese did not
penetrate our national labs and now did not possess all our most
vital nuclear secrets.
In the last week, Rep. Jack Spratt [D-SC], a member of the Cox
Commission who signed its report, now has issued his own report
detailing his misgivings about its findings. His report, which
can be found on his website at
http://www.house.gov/spratt/n10626.htm was written without
knowledge of the Prather Report yet offers an assessment that
almost is identical to that of Dr. Prather. The only mystery to
me is why he would sign the Cox Commission report when his
misgivings cover almost every word of the commission report. If
you have not seen Spratts statement, I suggest you go to the
address I provided and read it in its entirety. Then I suggest
you go to the website of Insight magazine
http://insightmag.com/articles/story3.html where you will find a
report by Sam Cohen, a prominent nuclear scientist who is
credited with development of the "neutron bomb," although Cohen
points out in the article that a true "neutron bomb," a
zero-fission bomb, has never been developed. Cohen practically
ridicules the Cox Commission for its findings, with many of the
same arguments in the Prather Report and in the Spratt statement
of misgivings.
Once you read the material, Howell, I think you will agree that
this is an important story and deserves space in the Times even
though it makes Jeff Gerths "scoop" look bad. My belief is that
the Cox Commission deserves to be flogged for its sloppiness --
putting together a report because it wanted to believe in Chinese
espionage so much that it did not want to vet the findings with
experts in nuclear weaponry. Rep. Chris Cox [R-CA], who was
assigned the committee chairmanship back when Newt Gingrich was
speaker, is a Catholic with very pronounced views on Chinas
human rights record, who I believe has been, as a result, biased
in his inquiries from the outset. As a fellow Catholic, Ive told
him Chinas problems with the Vatican can be worked out if the
Vatican agrees to recognize Beijing, not Taiwan, as the
sovereign. We dont have to find reasons to antagonize the
Beijing government, giving their hawks reason to shout down those
who are eager to expand a constructive engagement with the United
States. I was a hawk for more of my life, a Cold Warrior, and Im
ready to take up intellectual arms against Beijing if our
national security was at issue. I not only do not believe it is,
but that my old Cold War allies are bent on igniting an
adversarial relationship. That I will not buy. This is no small
matter, Howell, which is why I have spent so much time on it,
giving heartburn to many of my friends in the Republican Party
because Ive been questioning the reliability of the Cox report.
(Although the more news comes out as in Insight, the more my old
friends are realizing they may have been too quick to believe in
the spy story themselves.)
Please pass this memo on to Joe Lelyveld and Mr. Sulzberger. They
surely have been following the story as it has progressed and may
agree that the Times should swing into action, embarrassment or
not.
X
{{From polyconomics.com}}
And now for Spratt:
Statement of U.S. Rep. John Spratt
[CTRL] Reassessment
-Caveat Lector- ISSUE 1518Thursday 22 July 1999 Picture PicturePictureNato admits air campaign failed By Tim Butcher and Patrick Bishop NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia had almost no military effect on the regime of President Milosevic, which gave in only after Russia withdrew its diplomatic backing. This is the gloomy assessment of a private, preliminary review by Nato experts of the alliance's 78-day Operation Allied Force bombing campaign against Yugoslavia over Kosovo. At the same time, British diplomats have concluded that Milosevic had no intention of honouring any diplomatic agreement which reduced his hold on Kosovo - despite his vaunted willingness to enter the negotiations at Rambouillet and the peace talks in Paris which preceded the bombing campaign. The experts nevertheless judge that, diplomatically and politically, the operation was a success because the 19-member alliance remained united throughout and left Belgrade so isolated that it was forced to submit to Nato's terms. Despite the outcome, preliminary inquiries into the war are revealing some uncomfortable truths for soldiers and politicians seeking lessons from the Kosovo operation. Their findings will shape new military and diplomatic approaches as to how the West deals with maverick leaders and rogue states which confront them in future. The main finding of the Nato inquiry is that despite the thousands of bombing sorties, they failed to damage the Yugoslav field army tactically in Kosovo while the strategic bombing of targets such as bridges and factories was poorly planned and executed. Changes are being considered within Nato, including the radical overhaul of how strategic targets are identified and considered for attack. Any future operation by Nato is likely to involve heavier, more ruthless attacks on civilian targets such as power stations and water treatment plants at an earlier stage of the campaign. There is also an urgent operational requirement for more sophisticated surveillance equipment including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to find small hidden tactical targets such as tanks and artillery pieces. As it was, by parking a tank, for example, in the ruins of an old house, the Serbs made it invisible from the air. A team of Nato bomb damage experts is yet to complete its work on the ground, but so far the assessment is that only a handful of tanks, guns and armoured personnel carriers were damaged. Military sources said that it was likely that the damage would have been greater had the Serb forces been actively engaged on the ground by the Kosovo Liberation Army and forced into the open. Without adequate surveillance assets, including low-level UAVs such as the British Phoenix system which only arrived in the Balkans in June, Nato was simply unable to spot well-hidden Serb military units in Kosovo. A wave of new air-launched missiles, including the RAF's Brimstone, will give Nato jets a more sophisticated missile for destroying targets on the ground. The second part of the campaign was the strategic bombing of military targets, including air defence systems, as well as the civilian infrastructure of Yugoslavia and the Milosevic regime. Military experts now concede that by breaking down this part of the campaign into phases, the alliance made a serious error. The political leaders of Nato wanted to threaten Belgrade with bombing and believed that a series of steps would be most effective, because it would gradually increase the pressure on Milosevic to negotiate. The Yugoslav leader was told at the outset of the bombing that Phase I targets such as command bunkers would be hit and that, if he did not comply, he could expect Phases II and III - which would be wider bombing. Nato sources now concede that this was an error as Phase I did not cause any significant military pain to the regime - all the main military assets and personnel had long been evacuated from obvious targets. Furthermore, Milosevic was able to use the state-controlled media to prepare the wider Yugoslav public for a long campaign, kindling a sort of Blitz spirit that reduced public opposition to his rule. Nato believes that the bombing in the latter weeks of Operation Allied Force against bridges, factories and other civilian targets was more effective but it could have been much more so had it been done earlier. On the diplomatic front, Foreign Office officials have concluded that Milosevic never had any intention of co-operating with the outside world to find a solution to the Kosovo problem that would reduce Serb control of the province. The undertakings he gave to the American special envoy Richard Holbrooke last autumn which averted an earlier threat of Nato punishment were worthless. They now accept that the numerous ultimatums issued to Milosevic during the course of the Kosovo crisis should have been backed up with the credible
[CTRL] China Policy?
-Caveat Lector- Clinton: "What's GOOD for Kosovo's 1.8 Million Albanians is BAD for 21 Million Taiwanese" Does Clinton Have the Republican Senate in his Back Pocket on his Changing China Policy? By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources, (www.originalsources.com) July 21, 1999 Does anyone remember what our China policy was BCI (Before Clinton's Impeachment)? Or, put another way, does anyone CARE what it was? Before the 1996 Presidential election really heated up, a democratic election was planned in Taiwan in March of 1996, and China began "war games" with live ammunition in the Taiwan Straits to remind voters that they didn't REALLY want independence and that they would be safer if they didn't move too close to Western notions of democracy. In response, Clinton sent the U.S. aircraft carrier Nimitz and its battle group steaming into the South China Sea to join the carrier Independence and its battle group off Taiwan. It was the largest U.S. fleet to be assembled in Asia since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. The first direct vote to be held in Taiwan elected Lee Teng-hui, although, Beijing claimed, their war games cut his support from 41% of the total to 21%. That dispute, besides bringing much of the US fleet to the Taiwan Straits, also prompted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to tell China it had the "right to unify its lands," the United States notwithstanding, and Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher to warn the world to be on guard against China because of what she called its willingness to "use military threats against other countries, especially Taiwan." For much of the past three years the tensions between Taiwan and the mainland had sunk below the media's radar screen to the bottom of a news pile while they concentrated on things like Monica Lewinsky, Impeachment of Bill Clinton, and Clinton's enthusiastic dismemberment of Yugoslavia during which he allowed arms through the UN blockade to Bosnia and Herzegovina (population 2.6 million) Muslims, and Croatia,(5 million), and urged UN membership for Slovenia (1.9 million) and Macedonia (2.1 million). However, it appears that China and Taiwan have once again taken up their respective roles. Only, this time something is very different. We don't have ANY warships in the Taiwan Straits and President Clinton President Clinton said yesterday that "he strongly reaffirmed the United States' "one China" policy in a recent telephone call to Chinese President Jiang Zemin. He made the call to reassure Jiang that the United States does not support a separatist movement by Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui, who wants to deal with China on a "state-to-state" basis. Clinton told reporters, "We've made it very clear our policy has not changed and we would take very seriously any abridgement of it." China has said it would use military force to block Taiwan from breaking away from the mainland." Janet Taylor, a reader e-mailed me the UPI article with Clinton's statement and asked: "I saw this on UPI. Why is it acceptable for KLA led Kosovo to break away from Yugoslavia and wrong for Milosavic to try to stop them? Why is it wrong for Taiwan to try to break away from China and right for US to step aside and reassure the China-coms that we agree with them and in effect say that we will look the other way? Am I looking at this the wrong way? I am not the best in foreign politics and probably need to be corrected on some point I have missed. As I am looking at it right now, if I lived in Taiwan now I would be leaving on the first available plane with a long visa and be ready to claim political asylum someplace. Probably, the US would not be my best destination as the US would not want to embarrass China by accepting someone who claimed a need for political asylum from China, the administration's strongest supporters." I wrote Janet back a comforting letter (I hope) and advised her to start worrying about herself only when the Clinton Taiwan, (population 21.6 million) Foreign and Yugoslavia Foreign policy BEGAN to make sense to her. Clinton told reporters, "We've made it very clear our policy has not changed and we would take very seriously any abridgement of it." However, Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui apparently is convinced that Clinton's Foreign Policy is quite a bit different than his 1996 policy when he sent warships into the Straits. The Wednesday edition of Singapore's Straits Times reports, "In an apparent backdown from his divisive 'two-states' theory, President Lee Teng-hui clarified yesterday that he was not seeking independence for Taiwan. ' did not say this to declare independence,' he said in televised remarks about his comments a week ago which infuriated Beijing. "But Beijing remained unconvinced, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhang Qiyue saying that his theory was a complete negation and challenge to the 'one-China' principle that has been
[CTRL] Tragicness
-Caveat Lector- From Slate.CoM frame game Dead Kennedys By William Saletan Drawn by the scent of blood in the water, the media have swarmed the crash site of John F. Kennedy Jr. While pedestrian reporters investigate the disaster, pundits debate the more entertaining question: Why does this keep happening to the Kennedys? Some say the whole family is "reckless." Others argue that the Kennedys are admirably bold and that it's unseemly to criticize them. Each camp oversimplifies the truth. There are two Kennedy traditions: courage, gravity, and martyrdom on one side; recklessness, frivolity, and mayhem on the other. The "recklessness" spin, fueled by talk radio and the Internet, says the Kennedys seek "adventure," "live close to the edge," are "wild" and "addicted to risk," and have a "dangerous streak." This spin laughably equates all dangerous behavior. "Taking physical risks is a Kennedy family tradition," says Newsweek. "During World War II, the oldest son, Joe Jr., ... died on a virtual suicide mission. ... Jack Kennedy chose PT boats, rickety crafts whose crews boasted that 'they were expendable.' Bobby Kennedy's children always seemed to be falling out of trees." To prove that young John Kennedy was reckless, these spinners paste together weak bits of evidence. As a boy, he used to evade his Secret Service agents. He once took a survival course. Another time, he went to Africa and was charged by a rhinoceros. "He learned through all these experiences to make light of danger," asserts Newsweek. Later, he enjoyed rock climbing, paragliding, scuba diving, kayaking, and Rollerblading. He asked permission to rappel down Mount Rushmore. He launched a magazine--demonstrating, according to Reuters, that "like other members of his legendary family, Kennedy had a taste for danger and took risks." He invited Larry Flynt to a black-tie dinner. He even lived "in an edgy warehouse district." The "courage" spin puts an equally simplistic gloss of nobility on the family's escapades. As questions about recklessness bounced around the Sunday talk shows, Kennedy pal Douglas Brinkley argued that "John Jr. and the Kennedy family [are] 'in the arena,' and they're living a vigorous life." "They're bold," agreed Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. "They have always had courage. They've always wanted to live to the fullest." Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen admonished critics, "It is an active family, an achieving family, and so its members have taken some chances." The New York Times boasted that "the Kennedys have always been risk-takers, in play, politics and war. At its best, there is a certain nobility to the Kennedys' refusal to let life intimidate them." But not all the family's risk-taking has been "bold" or "wild." Some Kennedys have been far more reckless than others. Was John Kennedy's death reckless? Let's consider the criteria. 1. Who caused the tragedy? Most of the coverage depicts John as the victim of a family "curse." The Kennedys are "stalked by tragedy," suffering "bad luck" or a "near-biblical blight" that has been inflicted, according to Mario Cuomo, by "gods." Not only were Jack and Bobby assassinated, but "the younger generation of Kennedys has been haunted by bad news as well," says the Post--"as if fate were picking them off," laments Time. This passive language obscures an important distinction. Whereas Jack and Bobby were murdered, the "younger generation," far from being "haunted" or "picked off," caused its own grief. Joe overturned a jeep, leaving his brother's girlfriend paralyzed. Bobby Jr. introduced mescaline to his 13-year-old brother David, who eventually died of a drug overdose. Michael slept with his kids' teen-age baby sitter and later skied into a tree. William Kennedy Smith, their cousin, went out on the town with Uncle Teddy, brought home a woman, and ended up being tried unsuccessfully for rape. Which of these traditions does John Kennedy belong to? The Times argued that like Jack and Bobby, John was "cut down far too early." Again, passive language distorts the facts. John was at the controls when his vehicle crashed--just like Cousin Joe and Uncle Teddy. 2. Who's the victim? On Meet the Press, Tim Russert played the 30-year-old video clip in which Ted Kennedy tried to explain to the nation why, having driven his car off a bridge after a party on Chappaquiddick Island--and having swum to safety while his young campaign aide, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned in the car--he had failed to report the accident to police. In the clip, Kennedy raised the question "whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys, whether there was some justifiable reason for me to doubt what had happened and to delay my report." Russert offered the clip as an omen of the "curse" that would strike John Kennedy 30 years later. Russert's guest, columnist Mike Barnicle, heaped praise and sympathy on
[CTRL] Stormont
-Caveat Lector- Wednesday, July 21, 1999 IRA warns on progress of Agreement 10.00 p.m. The IRA tonight issued a hardline statement which is highly critical of both unionists and the British government for the lack of progress in implementing the Belfast Agreement. A strongly-worded statement claimed the potential of last year's accord to "deliver tangible" progress had substantially diminished. The statement recalled that the first of its cessations of violence, which collapsed with the Canary Wharf bombing in London, had "floundered on the demand of the Conservative government for an IRA surrender". And it added: "Those who demand the decommissioning of IRA weapons lend themselves, in the current political context, inadvertently or otherwise, to the failed agenda which seeks the defeat of the IRA. "The British Government have the power to change that context and should do so." The IRA declaration was issued in Dublin following last week's failure to establish a power-sharing governing executive in Northern Ireland. - (PA) Wednesday, July 21, 1999 IRA statement - full text "The argument that the present political process can deliver real and meaningful change has been significantly undermined by the course of events over the past 15 months. "This culminated in the failure last week to establish the political institutions set out in the Good Friday agreement. "The agreement has failed to deliver tangible process and its potential for doing so has substantially diminished in recent months. "The credibility and motivation of unionist leaders who signed up to the agreement is clearly open to question. They have repeatedly reneged on the commitments they made in signing the agreement and successfully blocked the implementation of its institutional aspects. "It is clearly their intention to continue their obstructionist tactics indefinitely. There is irrefutable evidence that the unionist political leadership remains at this time opposed to a democratic peace settlement. "Recent events at Stormont cannot obscure the fact that the primary responsibility for the developing political crisis rests squarely with the British government. They have once again demonstrated a lack of political will to confront the unionist veto. "Over the past five years we have called and maintained two prolonged cessations of military operations to enhance the peace process and underline our definitive commitment to its success. "We contributed in a meaningful way to the creation of a climate, which could facilitate the search for a durable settlement. "The first of these cessations floundered on the demand by the Conservative government for an IRA surrender. Those who demand the decommissioning of IRA weapons lend themselves in the current political context, inadvertently or otherwise, to the failed agenda which seeks the defeat of the IRA. "The British government have the power to change that context and should do so. "It remains our view that the roots of conflict in our country lie in British involvement in Irish affairs. "Responsibility for repairing the damage to the argument that the present political process can deliver real change rests primarily with the British government." From TheIrishTimes AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting
[CTRL] Ethnic Justice ?
-Caveat Lector- July 21, 1999 Albanians Vent Their Anger On Roma By Jeremy Bransten For 600 years, the Yugoslav town of Kosovo Polje has stood for martyrdom and defeat. It was here in 1389 that the Turks vanquished the Serbs, launching centuries of Ottoman domination. And it was here in 1987 that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic used that bitter historical memory to launch his career as a nationalist politician. As our correspondent in Kosovo reports, Kosovo Polje is once more a place of national tragedy. It is not the tragedy of the Serbs or the Albanians, however, but of the Roma (Gypsies), accused by ethnic Albanians of collaboration with the Serbs. When ethnic Albanians began returning last month after Serbian troops were forced to withdraw from the province, they found scenes of devastation. In many places, charred rubble and looted shops were all that remained of their homes and workplaces -- the handiwork of Serbian forces. But many ethnic Albanians say that among those who looted were the Roma. In numerous incidents, returning Kosovar Albanians have accused their Romany neighbors of having collaborated with Serbs. Cases of Roma stealing property in war-ravaged towns have, indeed, been documented by KFOR forces. Anger in the Albanian community mounted, and retribution was swift and indiscriminate. Mirroring the actions of the Serbs against them, ethnic Albanians began to set entire Romany neighborhoods on fire. Terrified Romany families fled for their lives. Several thousand of them ended up on the grounds of an elementary school in the village of Kosovo Polje. For the past month, the school has been turned into a makeshift city: 2,500 Roma crammed into small outdoor shelters held together by plastic sheeting and cardboard. There are no showers and only two public toilets. Ibrahim is the leader of the Roma in the camp. He says that, at first, everyone had to scrounge for food and fend for themselves. Then, with the help of KFOR soldiers, international charities were brought in to take care of basic food and medical needs. "In the beginning, we didn't have any kind of help from the UN and UNHCR. So we went to KFOR forces and asked them, first of all, for security. The KFOR forces acted as intermediaries and brought us some help from humanitarian organizations. Up to now, we've had assistance from OXFAM for water; Medicins du Monde has given us medicine; and Aid Children Direct has been providing food." Ibrahim admits there were a few cases of looting by Roma, who numbered around 40,000 out of Kosovo's prewar population of 2 million. But Ibrahim says his people are being blamed for crimes they did not commit. He says Roma -- for the most part -- did not take sides in the conflict between ethnic Albanians and Serbs. Now, he says, they are simply easy targets for the Kosovar Albanians: "It is not a question of thievery or stolen things. On the part of my people, I know it is not true that we participated in such things. There were some minor cases. But Albanians know very well who did most of it. It was done by the Serb paramilitaries who are now in Serbia. And since they (Albanians) cannot go to Serbia, they have taken out their revenge on us." Fifty-year-old H.G. -- he is too frightened to give his full name -- lies wrapped in a filthy blanket in a small tent with his wife and seven children. H.G. used to work in the sanitation department of the provincial capital, Pristina, as a water truck driver. He says he continued to work during the NATO bombing campaign, helping to clear rubble and perform other tasks. But H.G. says that when Serbian soldiers asked him to collect and bury the bodies of dead Kosovar Albanians, he refused and was dismissed. Soon, the bombs stopped falling and Pristina's ethnic Albanians began returning home. That was when H.G. says his nightmare began. He says five Albanian men armed with wooden clubs showed up at his house: "They beat me so badly that I fell down and lost consciousness. They beat me so badly you can still see the scars on my head. They almost killed me. The only thing they didn't do was to shoot me with a pistol." H.G. says he was taken away by his attackers to another location, where he was also beaten. When they released him, H.G. says he fled to his aunt's house, where his family had taken refuge. Within a couple of days, however, he says more men with clubs and kerosene containers arrived. They gave H.G. and his family 10 minutes to flee. Eventually, he says, they made it to the school at Kosovo Polje. Sitting by a neighboring tent, 19-year-old A.K. tells an equally harrowing tale. He says it was June 21 when he walked from his house to see his uncle in another part of Pristina. He says that when he arrived at his uncle's street, his Albanian neighbors told him that someone wanted to have a word with him. He said they called over more neighbors, who
[CTRL] CTBT
-Caveat Lector- Publications of the Center for Security Policy No. 99-D 82 --- -- --- DECISION BRIEF 21 July 1999 Non-Starter: Clinton's Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is Unworthy of Senate's Time -- Let Alone Its Consent (Washington, D.C.): It must be asked: Why was President Clinton's Rose Garden statement yesterday -- in which he urged Senate hearings this fall and final action on the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty -- all but ignored today by the Nation's leading newspapers? Perhaps the deafening silence in the press is a function of the transparent dishonesty of some of his claims on behalf of the Treaty -- and about what would happen if the Senate did not approve its ratification. Perhaps it was a reflection of the evident irrelevance of this multi-lateral arms control accord to the ongoing spread of nuclear weapons technology. Whatever the reason, the White House press corps' failure to publicize these presidential remarks does not bode well for the power-play that anti-nuclear activists within and outside the Clinton-Gore Administration hope to unleash in the next few weeks in a bid to secure Senate advice and consent to this controversial and fatally flawed accord. The centerpiece of this campaign is to be an international conclave convened in New York in mid-September, nominally for the purpose of reviewing the CTBT's progress toward entry-into-force. Its real objective, however, is provide the Administration with artificial leverage on Senators who otherwise see no reason to give this treaty priority over other, more pressing legislative matters.(1) A similar tactic was employed successfully in 1997 to buffalo Members of the Senate into approving another defective arms control agreement, the Chemical Weapons Convention.(2) It is to be hoped they won't fall for this gambit again. Clinton's False Pretenses The following were among the more egregious misrepresentations in Mr. Clinton's statement: "We have, today, a robust nuclear force." The fact is that we are not sure whether today's U.S. deterrent is "robust." In the interval since 1992, when the United States unilaterally suspended its underground nuclear test program, officials at the national laboratories responsible for certifying the stockpile have been reduced to making informed guesses about the actual condition of our arsenal. Historical experience suggests that, in the absence of performing actual nuclear tests, it is entirely possible -- if not actually likely -- that some weapons in the inventory will not work according to their specifications. This possibility has become of sufficient concern that one laboratory director has reportedly indicated recently that, but for Mr. Clinton's moratorium on nuclear explosions, a resumption of underground testing would probably be judged to be desirable at this point. "Nuclear experts affirm that we can maintain a safe and reliable deterrent without nuclear tests." Actually, some do; some don't. In fact, until Mr. Clinton's first Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary blackmailed the U.S. nuclear laboratories into agreeing to support the CTBT, virtually no one in positions of responsibility for the American deterrent believed that it could be safely and reliably maintained in the absence of periodic underground testing.(3) Today, even those in such positions who are still willing to argue that exacting safety and reliability standards can be satisfied in the absence of testing insist that a host of expensive new experimental facilities and techniques are required to permit stockpile stewardship to be maintained. It is instructive, then, that anti-nuclear activists have -- as part of their increasingly shrill campaign for the CTBT -- made clear in a form-letter now being sent to Senators that they not only want a permanent halt to all U.S. nuclear tests. They also want the Senate to reject investment in the equipment that even the Clinton Administration claims (for the moment) is necessary to ensure the future viability of the American deterrent. "If our Senate fails to act, the treaty cannot enter into force for any country." The implication is that if, on the other hand, the Senate does act, the CTBT will come into force. This is not the case. Unless and until all other nuclear powers -- including North Korea, which has shown no interest in joining the treaty regime -- become state parties, the Comprehensive Test Ban cannot, by its own terms, come into force. No Bar to Proliferation President Clinton also made unwarranted claims about the positive effect the CTBT would have on others' nuclear weapons programs. He declared: "The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty will strengthen our national security by constraining the development of more advanced and more destructive nuclear weapons, and by limited the possibilities for more
[CTRL] The Sol(ana) Also Rises
-Caveat Lector-
From TheIndependent (UK)
KOSOVO FACES `TOTAL ANARCHY'
THE DANGER facing Kosovo is no longer starvation but descent into
anarchy, the Liberal Democrat leader, Paddy Ashdown, warned
yesterday.
Mr Ashdown, on a fact- finding mission to the province, the
latest of many trips to the Balkans, said: "The situation now in
Kosovo is a race between order and disorder and disorder has a
head start."
Speaking from the capital, Pristina, he said: "The world probably
believes that there is a humanitarian crisis in Kosovo - there is
a humanitarian challenge but I'm reasonably convinced that it
will get through the winter. There isn't a humanitarian crisis,
but there is an administrative crisis and unless we tackle that
there is a danger that Kosovo will simply descend into Balkan
chaos."
Mr Ashdown's remarks reflect growing fears that the international
forces running Kosovo are failing to keep the province under
control. Every day, Serbs are driven out of their homes by
Albanians who have returned to rule the roost. Meanwhile,
Albanians settle scores among themselves.
Slobodan Milosevic's Serb-run police are gone; the only Albanian
force that could replace it is the Kosovo Liberation Army, whose
supporters include a heavy sprinkling of thugs.
Kosovo Serbs are so frightened that most have fled. Those who
stay are deeply scared. Nor is this just ethnic revenge.
Criminals from Albania and from Kosovo itself have the run of the
unpoliced province.
For this problem to be fully addressed, the now powerful KLA,
with all its murky connections, will need to have its wings
clipped. But it will be difficult to bring under control a force
that Kosovo Albanians are more loyal to than ever before.
SPANISH RACISTS INCREASE ATTACKS
RACISTS GANGS in Catalonia are mounting a wave of attacks against
African immigrants, copying last week's assault on an ethnic
Moroccan community near Barcelona.
Three Gambian women, one pregnant, were injured when a fire
destroyed the ground floor of their apartment block in Girona,
north-east of Barcelona, early on Monday. One women broke her
leg, wrists and ribs jumping from a first-floor window. Some 27
Gambian women who lived in the block were evacuated.
Hours later, a fire damaged the entrance to a mosque in the
nearby town of Banyoles. Last week, 300 residents of Banyoles
signed a petition demanding that the mosque be closed because it
had been built illegally and attracted "too many" people.
Yesterday the Civil Guards reported that calm had returned to
Terrassa, near Barcelona, where 11 skinheads were arrested last
week after racist attacks against Moroccan immigrants.
On Monday night police said they had arrested a man in Barcelona
over a web page on the Internet that threatened a massacre to
"rid the area" of non-whites.
First we have the NATO leadership adventuring in the Balkans
to "cure" ethnic problems; now we find the same kinds of
problems and they're local to the leadership. In 'winning' the
Cold War, Europe has been left without an identifiable enemy;
and so it appears one (or more) has to be created. In each and
every one of the 'hot spots' (Iran {Persia} - Turkey also comes
to mind), old (as in almost ancient) feuds are springing forth
like the desert hafter a heavy rainy season: all kinda stuff
that many had never seen or had forgotten about comes back to
life. Recall the Spaniards had a little problem with the Moors,
oh, way back when, what?, the Inquisition was on? And Slobo
must be at least slightly amused that Kosovo has been spun and
now may be spinning out of control. Any bets on his being asked
to intervene?
AER
~~~
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said
it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your
own reason and your common sense." --Buddha
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
[CTRL] (Fwd) Pacifica Crisis
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Tuesday, July 20, 1999 Uproar Over Free Speech and Lockout: Unprecedented Stifling of Radio Station A nationwide outcry is growing as the Pacifica Foundation continues its lockout of staff and volunteers at radio station KPFA in the San Francisco area. A week ago, the foundations management halted the stations evening newscast in mid-sentence while the news anchor was reporting on the latest developments in the KPFA-Pacifica conflict. Since then, archival tapes have been airing. Among those who can be called for interviews are: MATTHEW LASAR, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.savepacifica.net Author of "Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network" (Temple University Press, 1999), Lasar said: The Pacifica Foundation is clearly abandoning the most basic precept of community broadcasting -- that those who work at and support a station have something to do with its policies. Pacificas actions here are unprecedented in the organizations history. AILEEN ALFANDARY News co-director at KPFA, Alfandary said: There are disturbing indications that Pacifica is considering the sale of KPFAs or [New York City station] WBAIs lucrative frequencies. Equally troubling is that Mary Frances Berry, the chair of Pacificas board and of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, would use her Justice Department connections in an apparent attempt to get the Berkeley police to crack down on nonviolent protesters. ANDREA BUFFA, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.media-alliance.org Executive director of Media Alliance, a 22-year-old media accountability organization based in San Francisco, Buffa said: The Pacifica Foundation really underestimated the breadth and depth of support for KPFA. J. IMANI, [EMAIL PROTECTED] A member of KPFA local advisory board, Imani said: Berry wants to diversify Pacifica from the top down; weve been working to diversify it from the bottom up. BEN H. BAGDIKIAN, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Author of "The Media Monopoly," a former top editor at the Washington Post and former dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, Bagdikian said: The national board has only limited time to reverse the present course of events if they wish to preserve Pacifica and what it stands for. MARY FRANCES BERRY The chair of the Pacifica Foundation, Berry did not respond to IPAs request for comment. For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
[CTRL] (Fwd) Reason-Express: REx29, v2
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date sent: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 21:46:26 -0500 From: "Jeff Taylor" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Reason Express List Member [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Reason-Express: REx29, v2 Welcome to Reason Express, the weekly e-newsletter from Reason magazine. Reason Express is written by Washington-based journalist Jeff A. Taylor and draws on the ideas and resources of the Reason editorial staff. For more information on Reason, visit our Web site at www.reason.com. Send your comments about Reason Express to Jeff A. Taylor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) and Virginia Postrel ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). REASON Express July 19, 1999 Vol. 2 No. 29 1) Kennedy Mystique or Media Myopia? 2) Latest Take on the Breast-Bottle Debate 3) Encryption: A Threat to Our American Way of Life 4) Report: The Best Teachers Know Their Subjects (Duh!) 5) Quick Hits - - A Man of Leisure - - Accepting for the moment that the round-the-clock coverage of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s mishap was right, proper, and proportional, what does the coverage tell us about the media? That news reporters operate with two distinctly different sets of rules: one for themselves, and people like themselves, and one for everyone else. The networks, commentators, and editors who assume their fellow citizens are unequipped to navigate across a slick shower stall, plan for their own retirement, or hold a pointed stick, fell all over themselves to understand, accept, and even applaud Kennedy's risk-taking spirit. Some went so far to label him a "daredevil," citing his parasailing and Rollerblading excursions. But if Kennedy was a daredevil, then the country is chock full of them, all willing to assume far greater risks than the average nightly newscast gives them credit for. Somehow the mainstream media have managed to misplay one of the greatest developments of the 20th century, the spread of leisure from a privileged few to the masses. Think--when was the last time you met someone who wasn't "into" some particular weekend activity? In the past 10 years, it has become even harder to miss the proliferation of ever-more-intense leisure experiences--hang gliding, paintball, parachuting. mountain biking. These are not the pastimes of the risk averse. So perhaps those intent on finding a legacy for the latest fallen Kennedy should focus on the rehabilitation of an all-too-common epithet: risktaker. http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/kennedyplane990718.html W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm track the development of leisure in America at http://www.reason.com/9512/COXfeat.html and http://www.reason.com/9808/fe.cox.html Nick Gillespie on the myth of disappearing leisure time http://www.reason.com/9805/citings.html#9 ** - - Pulling A Breast - - From the British Medical Journal comes an example of a scientific study which is less scientific than it appears. German scientists claim to have found a link between breast milk and the avoidance of obesity later in life. The results were cited as "powerful ammunition for the campaign to encourage mothers to choose the breast over the bottle." Many studies have shown that breast milk is better than formula on several counts, but what about this one? Does it really supply "powerful" evidence? Over 9,000 children were studied, and the authors did find a correlation between those who were bottle-fed and those who entered school obese. But a clear cause was not found. The best the authors could do was suggest that bottle-fed children are encouraged to finish each and every bottle, and thus add extra pounds. But that points to something which even exhaustive surveys on family background age, income, etc. cannot capture: parenting skills. Could it be that the breast-fed kids had, on average, better parents? Such a thing sounds impossible to measure and, of course, doesn't rule out there being excellent parents who bottle-feed, but a thought experiment might help. Suppose we have red Jell-O and green Jell-O, identical in every way except for color and the process by which it becomes Jell-O. The red Jell-O just needs warm water. The green Jell-O needs a complicated process requiring a degree in chemical engineering to produce Jell-O. Any mistakes and the stuff vaporizes. Should we be surprised if, five or 10 years on, the kids who ate only green Jell-O scored higher on standardized tests than those who ate only red Jell-O? Of course not. And researchers would say they would never let such an obvious thing slip by them. But in the breast-bottle arena something very similar happens. Breast-feeding can be very difficult. It can be painful, highly inconvenient, and sleep depriving (bottle-fed babies seem to sleep better). Given these factors, it follows that most mothers who breast-feed are highly attuned to their child's diet. Breast-feeding moms can be
[CTRL] Teddy the DrugStories
-Caveat Lector- From counterpunch.org July 15, 1999 Ted K., the CIA LSD It turns out that Theodore Kaczynski, a.k.a. the Unabomber, was a volunteer in mind-control experiments sponsored by the CIA at Harvard in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Michael Mello, author of the recently published book, "The United States of America vs. Theodore John Kaczynski," notes that at some point in his Harvard years--1958 to 1962--Kaczynski agreed to be the subject of "a psychological experiment." Mello identifies the chief researcher for these only as a lieutenant colonel in World War II, working for the CIA's predecessor organization, the Office of Strategic Services. In fact, the man experimenting on the young Kaczynski was Dr. Henry Murray, who died in 1988. Murray became preoccupied by psychoanalysis in the 1920s, drawn to it through a fascination with Herman Melville's "Moby Dick," which he gave to Sigmund Freud, who duly made the excited diagnosis that the whale was a father figure. After spending the 1930s developing personality theory, Murray was recruited to the OSS at the start of the war, applying his theories to the selection of agents and also presumably to interrogation. As chairman of the Department of Social Relations at Harvard, Murray zealously prosecuted the CIA's efforts to carry forward experiments in mind control conducted by Nazi doctors in the concentration camps. The overall program was under the control of the late Sidney Gottlieb, head of the CIA's technical services division. Just as Harvard students were fed doses of LSD, psilocybin and other potions, so too were prisoners and many unwitting guinea pigs. Sometimes the results were disastrous. A dram of LSD fed by Gottlieb himself to an unwitting U.S. army officer, Frank Olson, plunged Olson into escalating psychotic episodes, which culminated in Olson's fatal descent from an upper window in the Statler-Hilton in New York. Gottlieb was the object of a lawsuit not only by Olson's children but also by the sister of another man, Stanley Milton Glickman, whose life had disintegrated into psychosis after being unwittingly given a dose of LSD by Gottlieb. What did Murray give Kaczynski? Did the experiment's long-term effects help tilt him into the Unabomber's homicidal rampages? The CIA's mind experiment program was vast. How many other human time bombs were thus primed? How many of them have exploded? There are other human time bombs, primed in haste, ignorance or indifference to long-term consequences. Amid all the finger-pointing to causes prompting the recent wave of schoolyard killings, not nearly enough clamor has been raised about the fact that many of these teenagers suddenly exploding into mania were on a regimen of antidepressants. Eric Harris, one of the shooters at Columbine, was on Luvox. Kip Kinkel, who killed his parents and two students in Oregon, was on Prozac. There are a number of other instances. Apropos possible linkage, Dr. Peter Breggin, author of books on Prozac and Ritalin, has said, "I have no doubt that Prozac can contribute to violence and suicide. I've seen many cases. In the recent clinical trial, 6% of the children became psychotic on Prozac. And manic psychosis can lead to violence." A 15-year-old girl attending a ritzy liberal arts school in the Northeast told us that 80% of the kids in her class were on Prozac, Ritalin or Dexedrine. The pretext used by the school authorities is attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, with a diagnosis made on the basis of questions such as: "Do you find yourself daydreaming or looking out the window?" Ritalin is being given to about 2 million American schoolchildren. A 1986 article by Richard Scarnati in the International Journal of the Addictions lists more than a hundred adverse reactions to Ritalin, including paranoid delusions, paranoid psychosis, amphetamine-like psychosis and terror. Meanwhile, uncertainty reigns on the precise nature of the complaint that Ritalin is supposed to be treating. One panel reviewing the proceedings at a conference on ADHD last year even doubted whether the disorder is a "valid" diagnosis of a broad range of children's behavior, and said there was little evidence Ritalin did any good. In 1996, the Drug Enforcement Administration denounced the use of Ritalin and concluded that "the dramatic increase in the use of [Ritalin] in the 1990s should be viewed as a marker or warning to society." Indeed. Land mines now litter the terrain of our society, waiting to explode. CP AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha
[CTRL] All Aglow
-Caveat Lector- Wednesday, July 21, 1999 Radiation used to develop varieties of plants geneticist - --- By Dick Ahlstrom, Science Editor Consumers seem frightened of genetically engineered foods but indifferent to foods altered by genetic mutation. Plant specialists regularly use radiation and mutagenic chemicals to develop new plant varieties, according to a plant geneticist from Teagasc. Most beers on the market are made using a barley variety produced in 1965 by x-ray induced mutation, said Dr Beant Ahloowalia of Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority. The technique involved using exposure to powerful chemicals or radiation to cause unpredictable breaks in a plant's genetic code which may then recombine to produce new traits. The technique differs from genetic engineering which involves inserting genes, often from another species, into a plant or animal in the expectation that the recipient will take on the new trait given by the gene. Mutation is far less targeted, but it also could produce new traits. The public seemed largely unaware of its use, Dr Ahloowalia told delegates yesterday at the 11th International Congress on Radiation Research in UCD. "You can mutate or you can put in a transgene, but the public acceptance of mutation is much better than with transgenes," he said. `In the absence of the acceptance of GM foods, the process of mute genesis allows the development of novel varieties." Unlike GM technology, mutation technology is freely available to any researcher via UN agencies. More than 2,000 important crops and ornamental plants have been developed using mutation, including new rice varieties, short stem grains, tomato, pepper and potato varieties. Another significant crop modified by mutation is the sunflower. Mutated varieties produced oil which was better at helping to reduce cholesterol in the diet. There was also the celebrated mutation of a Japanese pear variety in an orchard adjacent to a nuclear reactor, he said. A fungus struck the orchard and the crop was lost except for one tree near the reactor, which had a healthy crop. It was found to be a radiation induced mutation which conferred resistance to the pathogen. "Most mutants are degenerate and worthless," said Dr Alan Cas sells of UCC. These were quickly discarded but promising varieties were tested to ensure they were safe for consumption. "What the consumer wants is reassurance." Mutation was useful for correcting a characteristic defect or for introducing novel characteristics, he said. The mutant was usually compared to the source plant when assessing new or altered traits, for example the plant's response to pathogens. If plant held promise it was put through a battery of high-technology tests which scanned its new genetic make-up. This "data mining" allows researchers to test unexpected changes in the genetic code. Plants could be selected for disease or drought resistance after irradiation as a way to develop resistant varieties, said Dr S. Moham Jain of the University of Helsinki. He described inoculating 400 strawberry plants with a fungus; 20 were found to have developed resistance to the fungus. They were also found to have acquired resistance to drought. Wednesday, July 21, 1999 Scientists debate level of tolerance to radiation - --- By Dick Ahlstrom The argument that there is no safe level of exposure for nuclear radiation is wrong and is not supported by scientific studies, according to a US researcher who said that cells were very efficient at repairing radiation damage. "A single fallacy is often more acceptable than a complicated truth," said Dr Otto Raabe of the University of California, Davis. He was addressing a radiation conference in Dublin yesterday organised by the Dublin Institute of Technology during a session on the "linear no-threshold" debate. The linear no-threshold (LNT) theory assumes that any exposure to radiation carries a risk of developing cancer. It is widely applied by radiological protection agencies and endorsed by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). "The evidence for the threshold has been known for a long time," Dr Raabe said. A new Russian study pointed towards a threshold for radiation, a level that the body could tolerate without subsequent cancers. Breaks in the genetic code inside the cell were commonplace and quickly repaired. On average there are up to 150,000 breaks per cell daily. "We already have a background of DNA breaks," he said, and any contribution to this total by radiation was minor. "There are still uncertainties that we can't work out because of statistical difficulties," he acknowledged, but there was no connection between threshold and risk. Dr Jack Valentin, scientific
[CTRL] Bow-Wake?
-Caveat Lector-
Publications of the Center for Security Policy
No. 99-D 81
-
---
DECISION BRIEF
19 July 1999
Don't Let the F-22 Fall Victim to a Defense 'Train Wreck'
(Washington, D.C.): When the House Appropriations Committee voted
last week to defer production of the Air Force's next generation
fighter plane, the F-22, the image that came to mind was that of
the cartoon character Pogo who once famously declared, "We have
met the enemy and it is us." Unless the Republican-led Congress
comes to grips with the central reality of the defense budget --
namely, that its present and projected funding levels are
woefully inadequate to meet America's future security needs --
the GOP will become fully implicated in the Clinton
Administration's hollowing-out of the U.S. military.
The F-22: America's Qualitative Edge
To be sure, critics of the F-22 cast this fight in narrower
terms. They claim that an aircraft with its characteristics --
low-observability ("stealth"), supersonic cruise capability (that
is, the ability to fly at supersonic speeds without having to
utilize afterburners that consume huge quantities of fuel) and
sophisticated avionics and weapon systems -- is no longer needed
to dominate the skies. They contend that, with the decline in the
technical skills and productivity of the former Soviet
military-industrial complex, the United States can safely make do
with far less sophisticated and expensive warplanes.
Unfortunately, as the war in Kosovo reminds us, threats to U.S.
pilots can come from the ground as well as the air. We owe it to
those asked to fight the Nation's future wars to ensure that they
are given platforms for doing so that are as immune as possible
to the continuing improvements being made by potential
adversaries in both air-to-air and terrestrial anti-aircraft
weapons. As one retired Air Force general recently put it, "We
don't want a fair fight. We want to win decisively."
Bait and Switch
Another source of the flak the F-22 is taking arises from the
perennial temptation to forego a near-term defense expenditure in
favor of an outlay that is farther off. In recent years,
Democratic critics of the Pentagon have made an art form of this
gambit, promising to support the next program as long as the
present one is terminated, only to oppose its successor when its
turn comes. Even normally responsible Republicans are susceptible
to this siren's song when, as has been the case with the F-22,
the estimated production costs have inexorably grown as the
various technical challenges associated with this extraordinary
plane's development have been overcome.
The alternative some prefer is to skip the F-22 and procure
instead another promising aircraft called the Joint Strike
Fighter (JSF), now in the early stages of development. Estimates
of the multi-service, multi-mission, multi-mode JSF's ultimate
price tag and performance characteristics, however, are currently
as soft as the F-22's used to be. If anything, the JSF may cost
more than the F-22 when the former reaches the latter's level of
programmatic maturity.
Others favor a two-step procurement strategy, involving the
purchase first of up-to-date versions of the F-15 and F-16 as a
stop-gap awaiting the maturing of the JSF, which would then be
purchased in quantity when it becomes available. Producing
modernized F-15s and -16s is probably a good idea under all
circumstances, but it would be a mistake to kill the F-22 (which
would be the practical effect of the proposed delay in
production) to pay for it.
The Coming 'DoD Train Wreck'
The painful truth is that the problem is far larger than the fate
of the F-22, or even that of the Pentagon's aviation account more
generally. This reality is evident in the fact that House
appropriators found lots of areas into which to reallocate the
roughly $1.5 billion sought by the Clinton Administration for the
purpose of producing the first six F-22s.
An impressive analysis conducted by Dr. Dan Goure of the Center
for Strategic and International Studies and Jeffrey Ranney, a
strategic planner at the defense consulting firm MSTI, quantifies
this problem. According to these highly respected experts, there
is a $376 billion deficit in the funding needed over the next
five years to meet the Clinton Pentagon's own modernization goals
as defined in its latest blueprint, the 1997 Quadrennial Defense
Review (QDR). In fact, the Goure-Ranney study, entitled "Averting
the Coming Department of Defense Train Wreck," suggests that the
procurement shortfall in Fiscal Year 2000 alone is $71 billion.
If the QDR projections prove unduly optimistic, moreover, even
that staggering amount would actually be understated.
What's to be Done?
The good news is that the procurement "gap" -- and similar,
although less acute, shortfalls in the research and
[CTRL] AlbanAm PAC Information
-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.siri-
us.com/backgrounders/Archives_Kosovo/AlbanianAmericanPac-1980-
98.html
Just the beginning ... extensive list at site
SIRIUS: The Strategic Issues Research Institute
Benjamin C. Works, Director
718 937-2092; www.siri-us.com;
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--Speak the Truth and Shame the Devil--
June 14, 1999
ARCHIVE: Albanian American PAC Contributions to Candidates,
1980-2000
Note: The information in this archive is drawn from Public
Records and internet websites.
Introduction:
The following information is drawn from website files of Federal
Election Commission ("FEC") political campaign contribution
records. It shows, in summary, the candidates who have received
money from Albanian American Political Action Committees
("PACs").
The Public Disclosure, Inc. Website where original records may be
found is:
http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/
Other information is available at the FEC site: www.fec.gov;
and at The Center For Responsive Politics: www.opensecrets.org
The current file contains information dating from 1988-2000, but
as archivists explore, more information will be added, going
further back in time, as it is necessary to test campaign records
back to 1976, while website archives date back to 1980.
The file also contains the names and addresses of 24 Congressmen
who formed the Albanian Issues Caucus in the 1997-1999 Session.
Caucus member Charles Schumer has since been elected to the US
Senate. This file is posted by an Albanian American website
"frosina" in Boston. See:
http://www.frosina.org/AlbCaucus.htm
Readers are encouraged to contribute to this and other archives.
Benjamin Works
* * * *
AER
~~~
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said
it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your
own reason and your common sense." --Buddha
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
DECLARATION DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
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[CTRL] (Fwd) NCPA Policy Digest 7-19-99
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date sent: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 09:09:56 -0500 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "John C. Goodman" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:NCPA Policy Digest 7-19-99 National Center For Policy Analysis DAILY POLICY DIGEST Monday, July 19, 1999 PointCast can automatically load NCPA's Policy Digest summaries on your desktop for easy reading. For information go to http://www.ncpa.org/pointcast.html IN TODAY'S DIGEST o ARCHER'S TAX CUTS AMOUNT TO JUST 0.7 PERCENT OF U.S. OUTPUT, say analysts, and if anything are too smallNCPA o TAX CREDITS COULD SOLVE THE UNINSURED PROBLEM by extending coverage to the self-employedNATIONAL JOURNAL o "SUCCESS FOR ALL" PHONICS READING PROGRAM WORKS for disadvantaged children, according to recent studiesWALL STREET JOURNAL o CLOTHING PRICES ROSE 13 PERCENT, WHILE OVERALL PRICES ROSE 34 PERCENT in the 1990s, indicating new clothes are affordableNEW YORK TIMES o U.S. VIOLENT AND PROPERTY CRIME RATES FELL IN 1998, reaching the lowest level recorded in 25 yearsUSA TODAY o FEWER TAXPAYERS ARE USING THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE CHECK-OFF, and presidential candidates may not receive all their matching funds this yearWASHINGTON TIMES o WEST VIRGINIA PASSED FLORIDA IN HAVING THE HIGHEST MEDIAN AGE of any state, at 38.6 yearsNEW YORK TIMES o THE SEATTLE MARINERS' SAFECO FIELD COST $517 MILLION, and taxpayers are being asked to pick up a $100 million cost overrunNEW YORK TIMES IN TODAY'S NEWS LIBERALS REACT TO THE ARCHER TAX CUT PLAN Last week, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas) began to move an $864 billion tax reduction through his committee. Within hours, the union-backed Citizens for Tax Justice had calculated that the top one percent of taxpayers would get 46.1 percent of the tax relief and the lowest 60 percent would get a mere 7.2 percent. This ignores most provisions except those benefiting the rich. It ignores the impact on jobs and economic growth, and exaggerates the effect of cutting the capital gains tax. The liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities charged the plan would reduce revenues by $2.8 trillion in the second 10 years after passage. This makes assumptions far outside the normal budget estimation period, and fails to put the numbers into context. GDP over the 2010 to 2019 period will amount to $173 trillion, using the Center's methodology. Between 2000 and 2009 the tax cuts amount to just 0.7 percent of GDP (see figure http://www.ncpa.org/pd/gif/pd71999.gif). Finally, Louis Uchitelle in the New York Times argues tax cuts will be too stimulative, potentially stoking inflation. He quoted several recent and former Federal Reserve officials to the effect that tax cuts will require the Fed to raise interest rates, which will cause the stock market to crash. This argument is based on Keynesianism, which views budget deficits as economically stimulative. But if true, it really argues in favor of an even bigger tax cut because if deficits are stimulative, then surpluses must be depressing. The Archer plan would only reduce the total budget surplus by 2.8 percent the first year, rising to 24.5 percent by the fifth year. Even at its highest point, in the year 2009, there will still be an annual surplus of more than $200 billion. Source: Bruce Bartlett, senior fellow, National Center for Policy Analysis, July 19, 1999. For text http://www.ncpa.org/oped/bartlett99.html For more on Current Tax Legislation http://www.ncpa.org/pi/congress/cong2.html TAX CREDITS COULD SOLVE UNINSURED PROBLEM The problem of the growing uninsured population has sparked bipartisan interest in Washington to use some form of health care tax credits, according to observers. Questions to be addressed include whether the tax credit should go to those who get employer-sponsored health insurance as well as to low-income people, and how Congress should pay for a tax credit program. NCPA President Dr. John C. Goodman and the Health Insurance Association of America have proposed a plan in which the federal government would take the subsidies it currently dispenses to offset the private sector's costs of caring for the uninsured and redirect them. Goodman notes that: o Federal and state governments spend $41.8 billion every year on a variety of programs, but the money could be used to cover the uninsured. o For example, the government gives $9.2 billion a year through Medicare and Medicaid to hospitals whose patient populations include a disproportionately high number of people without insurance. o Fewer uninsured patients -- or none at all -- would make those payments unnecessary. Goodman's plan would give every American
[CTRL] Tangled Webs - Balkans
-Caveat Lector- Gets better the further down one reads Hawks and Eagles: "Greater NATO" Flies to the Aid of "Greater Albania" By Diana Johnstone Spring-Summer 1999 # 67 On March 24, NATO launched its first full-scale aggressive war against a sovereign state. It was certainly not meant to be the last. NATO, it was repeatedly stated, had to prove its resolve. The action was meant to be exemplary, a model for future NATO actions elsewhere and a warning to the world. Yugoslavia had neither attacked nor threatened any other country. NATO acted illegally, without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council. By flouting the basic principles that underlie the fragile structure of international legality, the Clinton administration and NATO chose might is right as the law of the new millennium. This appalling adventure, presented by servile media and ignorant politicians as a humanitarian necessity, set off precisely the humanitarian catastrophe its apologists claimed it was meant to prevent. Countless thousands of frightened ethnic Albanian civilians fled over rough terrain into neighboring countries. They were fleeing from the NATO bombing and Serb reprisals, in proportions it was not possible to measure. Both NATO and its armed Albanian allies in the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK or KLA) needed to persuade the world that Milosevic (the semi-fictional personification of evil on the one hand, and Serbia on the other) was carrying out genocide in Kosovo. The genocide story was necessary to justify both the bombing and the next phase of the NATO-KLA scenario, the invasion of Serbia to liberate Kosovo. After a week of bombing, this much could be said with certainty: NATO leaders had lied so blatantly about things that could be checked, that there was no reason to believe anything they say about things that could not. Among the many lies in the current torrent, one lie played a key role in the justifying of the NATO bombing, the no alternative lie: Since Milosevic refused peace negotiations, we had no choice but to bomb.(1) The no alternative lie incorporated several falsehoods in one. Milosevic had not refused peace negotiations. For months, the Serbian government had been offering to negotiate, while the ethnic Albanian leaders refused. The Serb side had presented quite comprehensive and reasonable proposals for extensive self-government in Kosovo. For years, but especially during recent months, both the Serbian government and non-governmental groups have made compromise proposals for Kosovo, all including autonomy, democracy and extensive cultural rights, while the nationalist leaders have insisted on only one demand: secession. The Rambouillet peace agreement was in reality an ultimatum to Yugoslavia to accept a NATO protectorate on its soil. It was designed by State Department official Christopher Hill to satisfy KLA leaders, and was agreed upon only by those two parties and the European Union representative, not by the entire Contact Group (including Russia) which was theoretically sponsoring it. No sovereign state in the world could accept such an ultimatum. Top U.S. officials openly coaxed reluctant Albanians into signing the agreement by telling them that their signatures were needed in order to justify NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia. The peace agreement was thus in reality a war agreement. The War Agreement of Rambouillet The conflict between ethnic Albanians and Serbs is a very old one, which can be traced back over three centuries. It is older than the Israeli-Palestinian or Northern Ireland conflicts, not to mention countless other ethnic conflicts in the world. The peace process in such cases is expected to be long and delicate. Only in Kosovo, governments and media suddenly decided that the conflict had to be settled in two weeks, at Rambouillet, on terms laid down by the United States. Why the hurry? Because the United States was keen to lock in NATOs new mission as global intervention machine with a show of force prior to the 50th anniversary of NATO summit in April.(2) NATO had carefully planned the operations six months in advance. Peace negotiations broke down just when NATO was all set to go. For many months, the Serbian government had offered to negotiate. High-level government teams went repeatedly to the provincial capital, Pristina, to hold talks with Ibrahim Rugova and other non-violent ethnic Albanian leaders. On one pretext or another, the Albanians refused to negotiate. It is probable that two factors weighed heavily in their refusal: fear of going against the rising armed rebel movement, the Kosovo Liberation Army, (UCK/KLA), hostile to any compromise and ready to assassinate traitors who dealt with the Serbs; and expectations that strong U.S. pressure on Yugoslavia would bring them more than negotiations with Belgrade. At Rambouillet,
[CTRL] (Fwd) ZNet Commentaries July 17 Vandana Shiva
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- From: "Michael Albert" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:ZNet Commentaries July 17 Vandana Shiva Date sent: Fri, 16 Jul 1999 21:58:49 +0100 Here is today's ZNet Commentary Delivery from Vandana Shiva. The attached file is the same material in nicely formatted html so that you can read it in your browser if you wish. To pass this comment along to friends, relatives, etc. please note that the Commentaries are a premium sent to monthly donors to Z/ZNet and that to learn more about the project folks can consult ZNet (http://www.zmag.org) and specifically the Commentary Page (http://www.zmag.org/Commentaries/donorform.htm). Here then is today's ZNet Commentary... -- MONSANTO'S EXPANDING MONOPOLIES FROM SEED TO WATER by Dr. Vandana Shiva Over the past few years, Monsanto, a chemical company, has positioned itself as an agricultural company through control over seed the first link in the food chain. Monsanto now wants to control water, the very basis of life. In 1996, Monsanto bought the biotechnology assets of Agracetus, a subsidiary of W.R. GRACE, for $150 million and Calagene, a California based plant biotechnology company for $340 million. In 1997, Monsanto acquired Holden seeds, the Brazilian seed company Sementes Agrocerus and Asgrow. In 1998, Monsanto purchased Cargill's seed operations for $1.4 billion. It bought Delta and Pine land for $1.82 billion and Dekalb for $2.3 billion. It bought Unilever's European wheat breeding business for $525 million. In India Monsanto has bought Mahyco, Maharashtra Hybrid Company, E.I.D. Parry and Rallis. Mr.Jack Kennedy of Monsanto has stated "We propose to penetrate the Indian Agricultural sector in a big way. MAHYCO is a good vehicle." According to Robert Farley of Monsanto "what you are seeing is not just a consolidation of seed companies, it is really a consolidation of the entire food chain. Since water is an central to food production as seed is, and without water life is not possible. Monsanto is now trying to establish its control over water. During 1999 Monsanto plans to launch a new water business, starting with India and Mexico since both these countries are facing water shortages. Monsanto is seeing a new business opportunity in water because of the emerging water crisis and the funding available to make this vital resource available to people. As it states in its strategy paper, "first we believe that discontinuities (either major policy changes or major trendline breaks in resource quality or quantity) are likely, particularly in the area of water and we will be well positioned via these business to profit even more significantly when these discontinuities occur. Second, we are exploring the potential of non-conventional financing (NGO's, World Bank, USDA etc.) that may lower our investment or provide local country business building resources." Thus, the crisis of pollution and depletion of water resources is viewed by Monsanto as a business opportunity. For Monsanto "Sustainable Development" means the conversion of an ecological crisis into a market of scarce resources. "The business logic of sustainable development is that population growth and economic development will apply increasing pressure on natural resource markets. These pressures and the world's desire to prevent the consequences of these pressures if unabated, will create vast economic opportunity when we look at the world through the lens of sustainability we are in a position to see current and foresee impending resource market trends and imbalances that create market needs. We have further focussed this lens on the resource market of water and land. These are the markets that are most relevant to us as a life sciences company committed to delivering "food, health and hope" to the world, and there are markets in which there are predictable sustainability challenges and therefore opportunities to create business value." Monsanto plans to earn revenues of $420 million and net income of $63 million by 2008 from its water business in India and Mexico. By the year 2010 about 2.5 billion people in the world are projected to lack access to safe drinking water. At least 30% of the population in China, India, Mexico and US is expected to face severe water stress. By the year 2025 the supply of water in India will be 700 cubic kilometers per year while the demand is expected to rise to 1050 units. Control over this scarce and vital resource will of course be a source of guaranteed profits. As John Bastin of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development has stated "Water is the last infrastructure frontier for Private investors." Monsanto estimates that providing safe water is a several billion dollar market. It is growing at 25 - 30% in rural communities and is estimated to be $300 million by the year 2000
[CTRL] Unity
-Caveat Lector- From Int'l Herald Tribune Paris, Saturday, July 17, 1999 British Press Chases the 'Huns' Again and Germans Feel the Pain - --- By William Drozdiak Washington Post Service - --- BERLIN - Britain and Germany are at war again. But this time, the battlefield is splattered with ink rather than blood. The leaders of the two allies, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, get along famously as kindred souls who espouse the same kind of centrist social democracy. But newspapers in both countries have been waging a viciously chauvinistic campaign that would make readers think the Blitz is still going on. For months, the war of words has steadily escalated. British commentators have suggested that moving the seat of Germany's government back to Berlin will resurrect Nazi ghosts, hinting at an evil Teutonic gene that will strive to channel a secret power lust into leadership of a European super-state. In turn, a new generation of German writers and diplomats, feeling more liberated by virtue of what former Chancellor Helmut Kohl called a ''late birth,'' have struck back at the Brits by accusing them of engaging in a xenophobic frenzy rooted in the insecurity of a lost empire. Despite appeals for restraint by Mr. Blair and Mr. Schroeder, the broadsides reached an unprecedented degree of animosity this week after A.A. Gill unleashed a brutal diatribe in The Sunday Times of London lamenting the ''undiluted misery, humiliation and groveling apology'' of German history. One possible remedy, he suggested, would be to hang a sign on the Brandenburg Gate emblazoned with the slogan, ''Amnesia Macht Frei.'' ''By any measure you care to choose, the creation of a greater Germany has been the greatest disaster, the cause of more misery than any other political act in our continent's history,'' Mr. Gill wrote. ''What can they do to stop us seeing them as Europe's psychopaths?'' The article stirred feelings of public outrage rarely seen in modern Germany, where a stoic response to the Nazi label was long considered the price to pay for postwar reconciliation and a new sense of European kinship. But with the ascendancy of Mr. Schroeder, who claims to represent the 50 million Germans, or two-thirds of the population, without any personal ties to the war, there has been a clear tendency to fight back and defend national interests. Within the past few months, Germany has stunned its partners by insisting it would no longer accept paying the highest net contribution, about $12 billion a year, to the European Union. Recently, Mr. Schroeder declared his cabinet would boycott informal EU ministerial sessions unless German was recognized as an official working language along with English and French. Gebhardt von Moltke, Germany's ambassador to London, said he very rarely feels moved to take up his pen in response to an article. But after reading the Sunday Times piece, he fired off a letter to its editor, John Witherow, complaining about its ''profound xenophobia'' and the detrimental impact it would have on relations between the two countries. What disturbed Mr. von Moltke, and many other Germans, was what he described as the ''irresponsible'' way of reviving hostile stereotypes and denigrating a half-century of Germany's accomplishments as a faithful, trustworthy member of the Western alliance of democracies. ''Germany is the country that invented the idea of predestination, the Lutheran concept of being born into a sin, and it is only in Germany that I've ever really understood what that truly means,'' Mr. Gill said. ''For hating the Hun is perhaps the only thing that truly emulsifies the rest of us.'' The characterizations shocked many Germans, even those with close ties to Britain. ''It's racist rant, pure and simple,'' said Thomas Kielinger, London correspondent for the German newspaper Die Welt. ''There is a place for provocative journalism and views of an inbred little Englander, but this really went beyond the bounds of decency.'' Many of the anti-German tirades have been uncorked by newspapers controlled by the publisher Rupert Murdoch. In February, The Sun tabloid branded Germany's then Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine as ''the most dangerous man in Europe'' because of his strong support for a single currency. When Mr. Lafontaine left politics a few weeks later after losing a power struggle with Mr. Schroeder, the Sun exulted in a front-page headline: ''Ve haf vays of making you quit.'' When the former Tory minister Lord Tebbit disparaged Mr. Blair's efforts to build a working relationship with the German chancellor by saying, ''If Blair wants to be in step with Schroeder, he will have to learn the goose-step,'' the political writer Hugo Young said it was
[CTRL] (Fwd) [FAIR-L] Action Alert: ABC AGREES WITH DRUG INDUSTRY: AF
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date sent: Fri, 16 Jul 1999 10:26:49 -0400 Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: FAIR [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:[FAIR-L] Action Alert: ABC AGREES WITH DRUG INDUSTRY: AFFORDABLE MEDICINE FOR AFRICANS IS DANGEROUS To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] FAIR-L Fairness Accuracy in Reporting Media analysis, critiques and news reports Action Alert: ABC AGREES WITH DRUG INDUSTRY: AFFORDABLE MEDICINE FOR AFRICANS IS DANGEROUS On July 8, ABC's World News Tonight aired two stories on the subject of treating AIDS in African countries. ABC's conclusion: It's better for poor Africans to die than to have access to cheap AIDS drugs. The South African government is currently in a trade dispute with the United States over this issue: South Africa, which is in the midst of an AIDS epidemic, claims the right to license local pharmaceutical manufacturers to produce cheap generic versions of AIDS drugs that would otherwise be unaffordable for poor South Africans. The U.S. has taken the side of American pharmaceutical companies, who are trying to put a stop to the practice, known as "compulsory licensing." The ABC stories were largely a brief for the drug industry. Jennings started out by framing the debate: "Should the wealthier nations provide AIDS drugs to those countries that cannot possibly afford them?" The debate over compulsory licensing has nothing to do with wealthy nations providing drugs; its about whether poor nations should be allowed to produce their own generic drugs, as they are authorized to do under international trade laws. In the first segment, ABC News correspondent Jackie Judd claimed that "many health professionals agree" with the drug industry's claim that "cheaper drugs alone are never the answer," since AIDS "patients need to be closely supervised, which the South African medical system cannot provide." But Judd presented no evidence that anyone has ever argued that "cheaper drugs alone" are the "answer." This argument seems, instead, to be a straw man manufactured by the pharmaceutical industry to justify its opposition to the production of cheaper drugs. The only "health professional" Judd used as an on-air source for this claim was Thomas Bombelles, a spokesman for PhRMA, a consortium of large pharmaceutical companies. Before her story aired, Judd had in fact contacted James Love, a health economist who directs the Consumers' Project on Technology in Washington, and one of the United States' leading experts on compulsory licensing for AIDS drugs. Love told Judd that the industry's spin was wrong -- that compulsory licensing would have a positive effect on public health in Africa. But neither Love, nor his concerns, was mentioned in Judd's piece. Judd also could have quoted Mark Biot, who oversees AIDS programs worldwide for Doctors Without Borders. He told the Chicago Tribune (4/28/99) that "clinics in most of the larger cities of the developing world would be fully equipped to handle AIDS patients if they had access to affordable drugs." The Tribune reported that physicians who treat AIDS in developing countries call the drug industry's warnings about resistant strains a "false issue." The second segment was by ABC reporter Richard Gizbert in Zambia. After introducing a Zambian AIDS patient named Veronica, Gizbert says "The newest [AIDS] drugs are hard to get here as well. But even if they were available, Zambian officials believe it is better to let someone like Veronica die than to give the drugs without the proper supervision. Because in Zambia, they agree with the drug companies, that anything less than a full course of treatment with the right drugs could result in the HIV virus mutating into something even more deadly." Again, ABC is stressing that Zambian officials "agree with the drug companies." In fact, the Zambian health official quoted in the broadcast says only that "supportive services" are needed for AIDS patients--hardly a startling position. Gizbert concludes by reporting that "Zambia is letting its people die today so that thousands, maybe even millions can be saved tomorrow." No evidence is presented that the Zambian government is choosing to allow people to die. As Gizbert himself reports, Zambia does not have the resources to provide drugs to its AIDS-stricken population even if it wants to. After the segments, anchor Peter Jennings added "one final note about the drug companies -- Glaxo Wellcome that makes the AZT drug has cut drug prices to some African countries. And Bristol-Myers Squibb, the makers of three of the AIDS drugs, says it is spending $100 million in Africa on AIDS-related programs." Jennings did not mention that AZT normally sells in the U.S. for more than ten times the cost of production--or that the drug was
[CTRL] Sheaism
-Caveat Lector- Via www.transnational.org/features/nothingcompares.htm Nothing in My 30 Years of Reporting Wars Compares with the Present Propaganda Dressed as Journalism By John Pilger New Statesman, London 12th July 1999 On 17 June, the Guardian published a letter by Ben Bradshaw MP, a new Labour bomber. "In one radio discussion I did with [Pilger]," he wrote, "he even suggested the refugees were inventing stories of massacres." He demanded my apology. I took the trouble to get a tape of Scott Chisholm's programme on Talk Radio, on which Bradshaw and I appeared. What I actually said was that refugees "often tell the truth, but this is sometimes difficult to verify" - the opposite of what Bradshaw wrote. Bradshaw's smooth transition from an incomplete career at the BBC to obedient Blairite MP was reflected not only in his distortion of what I said, but in his indignation. "Why," he said to me, "are you criticising America and Britain . . . your own countries [sic] . . . as the baddies?" Not having the nationality of either of the countries he nominated, I am left unsure of my assigned place in the goodies and baddies game; I should be told. Geoffrey Hoon, the new Foreign Office minister, is another who clearly believes he can make up anything to justify Britain's support for violence and oppression in many parts of the world. In another letter in the Guardian, Hoon wrote that my "claim that Nato slaughtered 10,000 innocent people is make-believe". But I made no such claim; I wrote that Nato had killed or maimed 10,000. That is the sum of the generally accepted, if conservative, figure of 1,200 civilian deaths and more than 8,000 wounded, most of them seriously. Add to this an unknown number of Yugoslav army casualties, mostly young conscripts. Together with the ethnic Albanian dead, whose numbers are still in question, they are the victims of two distinct campaigns of terror: that of Slobodan Milosevic's murderous special units and that of Nato's cowboy pilots, whose cluster bombs, hi-tech versions of nail bombs, are designed for the destruction of human beings. It requires a certain contortion of intellect and morality to condone one set of atrocities as "blunders" while humanising one group of victims and dehumanising another. This is Sheaism, a new word for the OED. Hoon wrote that it was "just plain sick" to suggest that Nato provoked a pattern of Serb atrocities. From 24 March, the escalation of both atrocities and the flood of refugees is clear in reports to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The bombing, reported investigators of the International Strategic Studies Association, "contributed heavily, perhaps overwhelmingly". Hoon's letter was in response to a column I wrote about Burma, in which I pointed out that Labour had reneged on its pledge to impose legal sanctions on investment that underwrote the modern-day slavers in power in Rangoon. As a result, the British multinational Premier Oil has continued to do deals worth hundreds of millions in hard currency with the Burmese generals, allowing them to re-equip one of the biggest armies in the world, the tool of their oppression. Aung San Suu Kyi has described Premier Oil as "a disgrace" and called on the Blair government to honour its pledge. In his Guardian letter Hoon made no mention of Premier Oil, ignored Aung San Suu Kyi's plea and misrepresented her position, suggesting that her campaign to curb tourism had been a British government initiative. Even by the standards of what the former desk officer, Mark Higson, called the Foreign Office's "culture of lying", this was a cracker. It is this dissembling and hypocrisy, wedded to a born-again, deeply reactionary world-view, that inspires the "new moral cause" announced by Blair. The spun truth of its application in the Balkans is now unravelling for all to see, as it usually does when the media pack departs. Few now doubt that the Rambouillet talks were a set-up, used to "deliberately set the bar higher than the Serbs could accept", a US State Department official has now admitted. The terms that the Serbs accepted in June were virtually the same as those they themselves offered before the bombings began. The whole bloody travesty was almost certainly avoidable. Thousands of men, women and children, including those Kosovars Nato was claiming to "save", would now be alive were it not for the post-cold-war machinations of American power, egged on by Blair, Robertson and Cook with their few ageing Harrier aircraft and squadrons of propagandists. Ian Black, the Guardian's man at the Foreign Office, who reported the Rambouillet talks, admitted that he never read the Rambouillet document in full. Now that reverse ethnic cleansing is under way in Kosovo, under Nato auspices, the drums are silent. No one is putting out more flags as thousands of Shea's "missing" Albanians have been "found" in their
[CTRL] Quarter Century
-Caveat Lector- From Irish Times Thursday, July 15, 1999 Comparison with 1974 shows how far we have come - --- Opinion/Mary Holland Have we passed the Point of No Return? This was the phrase used by Hugo Patterson, the spokesman for the Northern Ireland Electricity Service, on BBC Radio Ulster on May 28th, 1974. He was saying that a complete shutdown of power in Norther Ireland had already begun and could not be reversed. It was this statement, marking the climax of the Ulster Workers' Council strike, which led to Brian Faulkner's resignation and the downfall of the first power-sharing executive. Comparisons have been drawn between Sunningdale and the Belfast Agreement, which faces another moment of crisis today. The accord has been described as "Sunningdale for Slow Learners" because it includes the same ingredients for a settlement - power-sharing in Northern Ireland and institutional links between Belfast and Dublin. The sneer has usually been directed at Sinn Féin - but in fact it serves to underline how far both communities travelled in the intervening years. There has been loose talk this week that Northern Ireland is in danger of losing the best opportunity for peace in this generation and is facing into the abyss. But one has only to look back, in the most cursory way, at the situation that prevailed in 1974 to realise, with gratitude, how utterly things have changed. The violence was at its height. The IRA was committed to securing British withdrawal from Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin had no effective political strategy. The unionist community was so deeply alienated by the Sunningdale proposals that the UWC strike of 1974, organised by loyalist paramilitaries, commanded widespread support among the Protestant middle class, including the civil service. In May 1974 Northern Ireland was facing a crisis where food supplies were running short, there was no gas, the sewage system was threatened and the telephone network was on the verge of collapse as power ran low. Today there is peace, albeit imperfect, on the streets. The political climate has been transformed. The republican movement has accepted the principle of consent and is committed to the political process. We may even see decommissioning, sooner rather than later. The unionist political community has travelled an equal distance. An opinion poll of unionist voters in the Belfast News Letter last week registered widespread opposition to The Way Forward document, while it also showed an overwhelming majority of unionist voters in favour of power sharing - 84 per cent of Ulster Unionist supporters, 71 per cent among PUP/UDP, and 58 per cent approval among those who voted for the DUP. In the debate of the past few weeks the issue of cross-Border bodies, which seemed at one time likely to wreck the Good Friday agreement, has hardly surfaced. As with so much else, the unionist community has taken time to get used to the idea and now largely accepts that closer co-operation with this thriving State makes sense. One could go on and on. The past 25 years have been bitter for both communities. At one level it seemed that for almost 20 years no progress was made. The violence continued. Politics consisted of one botched initiative after another, with failure adding to the sense of hopelessness. But at a deeper level the necessary shifts in attitude were taking place. Some people would argue that what is on offer now could have been achieved in 1974 and that over 2,000 lives would have been saved. We will never know if that is true or not. What we can say is that the long and painful years of learning have helped to bring both communities to where we are today. Last Monday night on Questions and Answers, Inez MacCormack, the incoming president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, spoke movingly of how so called ordinary people have worked to forge understanding across the sectarian divide. It hasn't been easy, not at all. Often they have been frightened and mistrustful. But they have persevered and thus helped to create the sea change in political attitudes in Northern Ireland. At a time like this the whole process can look dreadfully fragile. Tony Blair issues dire warnings about the consequences of failure. The Taoiseach, who really should know better, seems to have caught the British Prime Minister's taste for the apocalyptic. In an article in this newspaper a couple of days ago, Mr Ahern wrote that what happens this week "could determine the future of Northern Ireland for a long time to come, for better or worse". This is nonsense. It will be a marvellous and happy day for all the people of this island if it proves possible to set up a power-sharing executive, with the support of both communities in the North. But if it does not happen, then the two governments and the
[CTRL] East Comes West?
-Caveat Lector- From TheIndependent GERMAN PHONE TAPS ARE ROUTINE GERMANY'S SECRET services can routinely listen to anyone's international telephone calls, as long as they do not pass their findings to the local police, the country's highest court ruled yesterday. The judgment of the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe settles a legal battle waged for the last five years by the Tageszeitung newspaper and a law professor, who argued that state eavesdropping was endangering civil liberties. Their target was a law passed in 1994 which for the first time authorised a wide-spread surveillance of German citizens. The Federal Intelligence Service will not say how many calls, fax and data transmissions it intercepts every day, but estimates run into thousands. About 1,400 of its operatives, roughly a quarter of the total, are tapping into satellite traffic. Germany is believed to have the fourth most extensive eavesdropping operation in the Western world, after the US, Britain and Israel. At the service's headquarters in the Munich suburb of Pullach, and at 10 other listening stations, a formidable array of electronic equipment filters calls for their content, looking for key words. Mention "cocaine", "weapons", "revolution" or their various euphemisms, and the call will trigger alarms. The conversation can then be recorded and - until the latest ruling - the police informed of its contents, without the caller ever finding out. But the police must now be kept out, and it will no longer be within the service's remit to trawl the ether for forgers of foreign banknotes. But, to the disappointment of civil rights activists, its other current practices will continue. Its only limitation is computer and telephone technology. No one has yet produced reliable speech-recognition software for the organisation's powerful computers, and the system can easily be overloaded by pranksters. They fought the GDR Stasi over this same sort of issue, no? AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Right Away
-Caveat Lector- From NewsMax Whittling Away Our Constitution One Right at a Time Ken HamblinJuly 15, 1999 Add another name to our nation's hall of shame _ and one even scarier subtext, if you read carefully. Media reports have been rife with details about how Benjamin Nathaniel Smith, the youthful white supremacist who is our nation's newest incarnation of hatred personified, was able to purchase two handguns _ a .380-caliber semiautomatic and a .22-caliber handgun _ to use in pursuit of his grotesque racist ideology. His rampage included firing shots at six Orthodox Jews in Chicago, murdering former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdson _ a black man _ shooting at an Asian couple in Northbrook, Ill., and killing 26-year-old Won Joon Yoon, an economics student from Bloomington, Ind. What Smith did was repulsive, and I commend him for the consideration he showed us by extinguishing his own unhappy, twisted little life at the end of his shooting spree. Unfortunately, his legacy may be yet another nail in the coffin in which the gun-grabbers hope to entomb our Second Amendment rights to keep and bear firearms. Ironically, the same weekend Smith began his rampage, USA Weekend published the results of a survey indicating that more than half of Americans are ready to trade some of their unique freedoms for greater personal and community safety. ``Fifty-two percent say the right to bear arms should be modified or eliminated,'' the report said. Don't get me wrong, now. I respect the opinions of those Americans who responded to USA Weekend's poll, even those 52 percent with whom I find myself in such complete disagreement. Why am I being so accommodating toward people whose views in this matter I find both shortsighted and highly dangerous? Because I understand, as I can only wish they did, that the Constitution they're so ready to casually tamper with is the very document that guarantees them the right to be in opposition to me and my view of this world. I also understand, perhaps better than they do, how dizzying it can be to be bombarded by liberal screeds about the evils inherent in our Second Amendment rights _ even though these rights make us unique among all the nations on this earth. Not so coincidentally, I suspect, I happened upon another story in the same publication on the same day, with a headline that I found just as alarming. ``1st Amendment a Loser in Poll,'' it said. ``Too Much Press Freedom Seen.'' According to this article, a surprisingly similar 53 percent of those questioned in a survey _ conducted under the auspices of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville _ believe ``the press has too much freedom,'' representing a rise of 15 percentage points since 1997. I talked with Paul McMasters, the center's ombudsman and a leading defender of the First Amendment, on my syndicated talk-radio show. According to him, my take on this poll _ that Americans are being dumbed down about the rights our forebears gallantly defended _ was uncomfortably accurate. His evident concern about the Vanderbilt poll results made me hope that some of those folks in academia _ and especially those who adore the liberal media, who have been working to make the Bill of Rights into a document more to their liking _ may at last be beginning to understand something we Second Amendment nuts have grasped for a long while. That simple thought is that, without the Second Amendment, there's a good chance there'll be no First Amendment. It's apparent, at least to me, that you can't selectively dupe the American people. You can't coax them into willingness to throw away one inalienable right, while making sure that they cherish another. They can't be brainwashed to shrug off one right _ the right to bear arms _ and remain passionately protective of another right _ the right to free speech. No matter how much that scenario fits the political agenda of the left. The Vanderbilt poll makes it frighteningly apparent that, if you propagandize to abolish the Second Amendment _ making us more like Australians, Mexicans and the English _ then you had best be prepared to cope with a populace ignorant and indifferent about the First Amendment. This chilling reality was confirmed by McMasters, when he told me that, of all our inalienable rights which were mentioned in the survey, the one that provoked the most negative reaction was freedom of the press. c.1999 Ken Hamblin Ken Hamblin is the author of Pick a Better Country. He writes a column for the Denver Post and has been a radio talk-show host for 15 years. His program is syndicated by American View Inc., and currently is carried by 120 stations across the country. AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
[CTRL] KPFA
-Caveat Lector- Via Z-Mag.OrG FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: July 13, 1999 Belinda Griswold 415-546-6334 x313 CONTROVERSIAL EMAIL RECEIVED DETAILING POSSIBLE CLOSURE OF KPFA AS LAWSUIT IS FILED TO FORCE ACCOUNTABILITY COMMUNITY LEADERS DECRY CRACKDOWN BERKELEY, CA - At a press conference at 1:30 p.m. today, Media Alliance Executive Director Andrea Buffa will release a controversial email she received yesterday that describes plans by Pacifica Radio to close KPFA and possibly sell another Pacifica station, WBAI in New York. The email appears to have come from Pacifica board of directors member Michael Palmer. "We are working to confirm the authenticity of this email and call on Michael Palmer and Pacifica Board Chair Dr. Mary Frances Berry to immediately publicly confirm or refute this email," Buffa said. Phone calls by Media Alliance and several Pacifica board members to Palmer have not been returned. Local Internet service provider IGC was contacted about verifying the path by which the email was sent to Media Alliance. IGC's tech services department has stated that the email looks to have legitimately been sent from Palmer's account. The full text of the email is available at www.zmag.org or www.counterpunch.org. The press conference takes place immediately preceding a hearing at Berkeley Municipal Court at which charges will be filed against a group of peaceful protesters who blocked the entry to Pacifica Foundation's office in Berkeley last month. The demonstrators prevented Pacifica Foundation Executive Director Lynn Chadwick from entering her office on June 22. Chadwick initiated a citizen's arrest when Berkeley police refused to cite the activists. Local community leaders decried the decision, calling it a terrible contradiction. Meanwhile, a group of local stations' advisory board members from Los Angeles, Berkeley and New York is pressing ahead with a lawsuit intended to reverse Pacifica's recent governance changes that eliminated local say on the national board. Oakland attorney Dan Siegel will file suit within the next few days to restore the last shred of local control at Pacifica: the ability of local station boards to recommend members to the national board. Seigel will also attend the press conference. "Pacifica, when faced with the question of changing its method of choosing its leadership, opted for the least democratic option imaginable. It is time to revisit this issue, and it should be unnecesssary to require a court order to do so," Siegel said. Yesterday, Pacifica national board chair Dr. Mary Frances Berry arrived in Oakland, told neither staff nor listeners of her visit, and attempted to negotiate with KPFA's union leaders. Shop stewards met with Berry to remind her of her promise to meet with the KPFA steering committee, which both listeners and staff have designated as their representative, and refused to negotiate further. KPFA paid staff, volunteers, local advisory board members, subscribers, and listeners will continue to press Pacifica to: 1) Rehire respected KPFA station manager Nicole Sawaya, whose termination touched off massive protests in Berkeley and the firing of two veteran programmers because they violated Pacifica's on-air "gag rule"; 2) Participate in mediation and allow for investigation of the dispute between local interests and the national bureaucracy; and 3) Reverse the disciplinary or adverse actions taken against KPFA and Pacifica staff since Sawaya's termination. And the referenced lettre: Letter Regarding Proposed Pacifica SALE The following letter was sent to Andrea Buffa, the Executive Director of Media Alliance. As the header notes the intention was apparently for Michael Palmer of the Pacifica Board to send it to Mary Berry the chair of the board. Efforts to determine its veracity have been pursued by many actors through many avenues...as of yet final authenticity is not absolutely certain...the principals are not answering calls, but traces of the source do accord with this being a real letter...see: Related Press Release -- From: Palmer, Micheal @ Houston Galleria, [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'Mary Francis Berry', [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello Dr. Berry, I salute your fortitude in scheduling a news conference opportunity in the beloved Bay Area regarding one of the most pressing issues of our time But seriously, I was under the impression there was support in the proper quarters, and a definite majority, for shutting down that unit and re-programming immediately. Has that changed? Is there consensus among the national staff that anything other than that is acceptable/bearable? I recall Cheryl saying that the national staff wanted to know with certitude that they supported 100% by the Board in whatever direction was taken; what direction is being taken?
[CTRL] After Tiananmen
-Caveat Lector- WSWS : News Analysis : Asia : China A hand held out to Beijing: US policy after Tiananmen Square By James Conachy 15 July 1999 Back to screen version Censored US State Department documents from 1985-1989, obtained under Freedom of Information legislation and now published on the Internet, provide a damning indictment of the conduct of the Republican administration of President George Bush in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The documents prove that the US government was not concerned with the suppression of the Chinese working class, but the possibility that it may cause disruptions to the political, military and economic relations developed with the Beijing regime since 1971. In the days immediately following the military assault on the capital, with virtually every urban centre of China convulsed with protests and demonstrations, US officials were preoccupied with trying to assess whether Deng Xiaoping would get away with the military crackdown or whether it had aggravated the social and political tensions in China to the point of civil war. Cables and summaries on June 6 itself are dominated by reports, later to be downplayed, that fighting was breaking out between the 27th Army deployed by Deng Xiaoping into Beijing and other military units sympathetic to the students and workers. A summary prepared for the US Secretary of State refers to the Chinese government and military heads as feeling like they are fighting for their lives and surrounding their residences with armoured vehicles and troops. From June 9, following the first public appearance and a speech by Deng Xiaoping, the US officials became convinced that the regime would survive and Washington responded accordingly. On June 30, Undersecretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and national security advisor Brent Scowcroft made a secret visit to Beijing for discussions with Deng Xiaoping. The day before, the State Department prepared a document entitled Themes, to provide the Chinese government with an outline of the US attitude toward what it described only as the recent developments. It makes little mention, and no condemnation, of the murder of thousands of Chinese workers and students. The document openly states that how the GPRC (Government of the Peoples Republic of China) decides to deal with those of its citizens involved in recent events in China, is, of course, an internal affair and refers to the personal friendship that president Bush had with so many of China's leaders. It details the mutual foreign policy interests shared by the US and China, such as blocking Soviet influence in North Korea and Asia generally, assisting China in dealing with what are described as Vietnamese threats to China's interests and facilitating better relations with Japan. In reference to the limited diplomatic sanctions imposed by the US following the massacre, it states that president Bush wants to manage the short-term events in a way that will ensure a healthy relationship over time. It warns China, however, of the pressure on the president by both public opinion and elements in the US Congress, and the demands for legislation to end many aspects of our economic, military and political relationship. It assures Beijing that president Bush will resist these pressures and concludes by stating that the degree to which the President is able to maintain his current prudent course will depend, in large measure, on how events develop over the coming weeks in the PRC. Further arrests and executions will inevitably lead to greater demands in the US to respond. Efforts at national reconciliation, on the other hand, will find a cooperative US response. The cooperative US response was forthcoming regardless of the fact that arrests and executions did not halt in the slightest. By 1990 investment was entering China at an unprecedented rate to exploit a subdued working class, facilitated by the open US market. This is the actual historical record that should be considered whenever official concerns are expressed in Washington regarding human rights in China. - --- Copyright 1998-99 World Socialist Web Site All rights reserved AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
[CTRL] Sharing the Wealth ...
-Caveat Lector- ... of knowledge, technology, whathaveyou From World Tribune Key N. Korean missile parts "made in Japan," lawmakers charge July 14, 1999 By Edward Neilan Special to World Tribune.com TOKYO--Globalization is already a fact of life in the international missile and military armaments "community." Or, put another way, no country's military weapons arsenal is completely homemade; every nation relies on some imports, some more than others. This was the point made indirectly by two young Japanese members of the Diet's upper House of Councillors recently at a press conference promoting their article in the current issue of a leading political magazine on "Japanese components used in North Korean Taepodong missile." Ichita Yamamoto,41, and Keichiro Asao, 35, are bringing a new level of transparency to discussion of security affairs. Previously, such debate on North Korea's missiles was virtually taboo for a range of political and social reasons, not the least being the complications surrounding Japan's 600,000-strong Korean minority. All that changed last Aug. 31 when Pyongyang launched a three-stage rocket, part of which flew over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. North Korea said its rocket was fired to send a satellite into orbit, but Japan said it was for testing a Taepodong missile. The event lifted the lid on a debate in Japan over what to do about the threat from its next-door neighbor. In their article, lawmakers Yamamoto and Asao claim key parts of the Taepodong and North Korean semi-submersible boat used in a raid on South Korea were "Made in Japan." For that matter, each of the spy boats was powered by three U.S.-made Mercury marine engines. The youthfulness shown by the lawmakers was enhanced by the fact that they were speaking fluent English, a rarity among Diet members. Both were educated in the United States---Yamamoto at Georgetown University and Asao at Stanford University. "We're still too young to be taken seriously by our political colleagues, but we'll get there," said Yamamoto, who has held a Councillor seat for four years. As for a suggestion to directly cut off remittances from Korean residents in Japan to the North, both said it was too politically sensitive a step at this time. "If North Korea persists in its missile testing, such steps can be weighed," said Asao. The pair did not allege that Japanese manufacturers knew their products were ending up in North Korean missiles and other weapons. Many such components are sold on an "off the shelf" basis and do not require documentation. A Japanese military analyst attending the press conference claimed that Japanese components were used in the U.S. Patriot missiles deployed in the Gulf War. "Semiconductor chips in sophisticated missiles can come from a variety of sources--U.S., Japan, South Korea or Taiwan,"he said. North Koreans can openly buy parts in the electronics bazaar at Tokyo's Akihabara district and ship them to the North on Pyongyang's own shipping line which sails regularly from Niigata Port on the Sea off Japan. Because Japan has no security law, a variety of sophisticated radar, sonar and other guidance systems can be purchased openly and sent to the North and assembled into completed missiles. There have been reports that a Pyongyang test of a Taepodong-2 missile, with a range of 4,000 to 6,000 miles, is imminent. Other reports have suggested China is asking North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to refrain from raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula through another missile test. But analysts point out that raising tensions, then backing off, repeatedly, has been the North's policy scenario played for nearly 50 years since the Korean War gunfire ended in an uneasy truce. Japan needs to demonstrate deterrence and diplomacy toward North Korea but so far neither seems to be a visible reality. Will it take a direct hit in Hibiya Park by a yet-to-be-tested Taepodong-4 to stir the Diet into meaningful action on this issue? Edward Neilan ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is a veteran journalist, based in Tokyo, who covers East Asia and writes weekly for World Tribune.com. July 14, 1999 AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand
[CTRL] Striking Light
-Caveat Lector- WSWS : News Analysis : Science Technology : The Internet and Computers New techniques to boost the Internet's capacities By Luciano Fernandez 16 July 1999 Back to screen version The rapidly increasing demands being placed on international communications networks are fueling some remarkable technical developments in the field of fibre optics. The main impetus has been the tremendous expansion in the use of the Internetboth in the number of users and in its extension to areas such as graphics, sound, video and potentially other areas of communications such as voice and video conferencing. The growth in the number of people on line is staggering. In June 1997 it was estimated that 82 million people were using the Internet, with forecasts that by 2002 up to 329 million people would be going on line each day. Up to 16.6 million people across Europe use the Internet. In Britain it was estimated that 25 percent of the population would be on-line by the middle of 1999. In Australia up to 30 percent of households are already online. In countries like India and Indonesia, Internet usage is low per head of population but still numbers in the millions, especially among younger, educated layers. The establishment of the World Wide Web in 1993 made possible the extensive use of graphics, sound and video and has led to more and more complex designs for web pages and sites. Each of these new applications has led to greater demand for carrying capacity, technically known as bandwidth, to ensure ease and speed of access to Internet sites. Over the past 20 years, the use of fibre optic cables by major communications companies has allowed them to stay ahead of demand and substantially improve telecommunications internationally. But the rapidity of the growth of the Internet and telecommunication usage has created pressures on existing fibre optic systems. They are in danger of becoming overloaded and unable to cope with demand. To lay more cable using the same technology is a very expensive exercise. The other option is to develop new technologies that will enhance the capacities of existing cables. It is the latter to which most attention has been given. Major firms have spent millions to develop the technology needed to expand bandwidth, and there have been some remarkable results. Information is carried along a fibre optic cable by a laser beam of light at a certain frequency (or colour). In the past, a single fibre optic thread has had the capacity to transmit a single frequency. Now, however, scientists have developed the technical means to enable a number of frequencies to pass along a single fibre. Two technical breakthroughs were necessary. Firstly, tiny optical filters, called in-fibre Bragg gratings, were developed that create light of a number of slightly different, but distinct frequencies. Bragg gratings are manufactured by irradiating the fibre core with UV light, a process that permanently changes the glass's refractive properties, according to a definite pattern. Secondly, a means of amplifying the signal was developing by doping or adding minute quantities of rare-earth ions to the core of the optical fibre. These components are very effective and also inexpensive to produce, and have rapidly replaced the outdated and cumbersome optical devices that were used previously. The outcome has been a system known as Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) that has dramatically increased bandwidth. In the past when one frequency was able to pass through an optic cable, the fibre's capacity was around 2.5 gigabits per second (Gbps). In 1996, Bell Laboratories developed a multiplexer able to pass eight frequencies along an optic cable, boosting the bandwidth to 20 Gbps. Present DWDM technology allows as many as 400 frequencies to be transmitted simultaneously or about 1,000 Gbpsroughly equivalent to the transfer of the information contained in 20,000 novels each second. So quickly is this technology developing that by the end of the year scientists are preparing to pass up to 1,000 frequencies along an optic fibre, which has the thickness of a human hair. Experiments are now being prepared to test the possibility of transmitting at a trillion bits (terabit) of information per secondmore than was being passed through the entire Internet a year ago. DWDM will reduce costs significantly. In an ordinary fibre optic cable, the signal requires boosting after 40 kilometres, but with the DWDM system the signal only needs to be boosted after 100 kilometres. DWDM also uses fewer components and is more reliable, which means a saving in installation and maintenance costs. It has being calculated that as DWDM technology is introduced more widely its costs will drop by a further 30 percent each year. It can also be used in inter-office and metropolitan networks and by smaller operators such as
[CTRL] All Ears
-Caveat Lector- From TheIndependent (UK) HOW BRITAIN EAVESDROPPED ON DUBLIN THE MINISTRY of Defence "Electronic Test Facility", a rather mysterious 150-ft high tower stands isolated in a British Nuclear Fuels Limited site at Capenhurst, Cheshire. Locals knew that the tower housed a dark secret but did not know what it was. That secret is now out. The tower was craftily erected between two BT microwave radio towers carrying telephone traffic. The ETF was the ideal place to discreetly intercept international telephone calls of the Irish government, businessmen and those of suspected of involvement with IRA terrorism. Channel 4 filmed extensive BT equipment inside the building, including optical fibre cables linking the tower to the MoD's communication system. The hi-tech white ETF tower included eight floors of advanced electronic equipment and three floors of aerial galleries. These were used to extract and sort the thousands of communications passing through every hour. Fax messages, e-mails, telexes and data communications were automatically sorted by computers scanning their contents for key words and subjects of interest. Telephone calls could be targeted according to the numbers dialled or by identifying the voice of the speaker. At the time the tower first came into operation the IRA campaigns were raging. Relations between the British and Irish government's were not always smooth, with the British suspecting their Irish counterparts of being sympathetic to the IRA. Since the early 1990s, the British electronic spy agency GCHQ and its American counterpart NSA have developed sophisticated libraries of voice profiles to use in scanning international telephone messages. The ETF tower was operated by personnel from an RAF unit based in Malvern, Worcestershire. The "special signals" section of the RAF "Radio Introduction Unit" install and run projects for GCHQ. According to local residents, the site was manned 24 hours a day by a team of two to three people, until the start of 1998. Besides the Capenhurst tower, communications to and from the Irish Republic were also intercepted at a similar but smaller GCHQ station in County Armagh. This intercepts microwave radio and other links between Dublin and Belfast. A third GCHQ station at Bude, Cornwall, intercepts western satellite communications, including to and from Ireland. From 1990 until 1998 the Capenhurst ETF tower intercepted the international communications of the Irish Republic crossing from Dublin to Anglesey on a newly installed optical fibre submarine cable, called UK-Ireland 1. From Anglesey, the signals were carried across Britain on British Telecom's network of microwave radio relay towers, centred on the BT Tower in London. The key link, from Holyhead in Anglesey to Manchester, passes directly over the Wirral peninsula to the south of Birkenhead. The ETF tower was built to pop up into this beam. When the new cable was planned in the mid 1980s, intelligence specialists at the Defence Ministry and GCHQ Cheltenham, the electronic spying headquarters, realised that the radio beams passed directly over the nuclear processing plant at Capenhurst. During 1988, a temporary interception system was built on the roof of the BNFL factory. When tests of the Irish interception system proved successful, intelligence chiefs decided to go ahead with a full-scale system. Within the Defence Ministry, the project was classified "Top Secret Umbra". The codeword Umbra is used to designate sensitive signals intelligence operations. Not even BNFL, on whose land the ETF tower was built, was let into the secret. The Ministry of Defence held a meeting with residents early in 1989 and urged them not to talk about the site. In return, they were given free fencing and double glazing. The architects were told that the tower had to contain three floors of aerial galleries, each with four special "dielectric" windows. These are opaque to visible light, but allow radio beams to enter. By building the tower in this way, no-one could see what aerials were inside, or where they were pointing. But the architects' plans, lodged at the local authority offices, revealed the true purpose of the tower. The plans revealed that the radio transparent windows had to be aligned on an extremely precise compass bearing of 201.12 degrees to magnetic north. Aerials pointing through these windows would point precisely at the British Telecom towers at Gwaenysgor, Clwyd, and Pale Heights, near Chester. These are the towers carrying the Ireland's international communications links through Britain. During installation in 1989 and 1990, defence officials were concerned to conceal what was going into the tower. To disguise it, contractors vans were repainted in the livery of BT and other public utilities. BT refused to say whether this had been done with their knowledge and consent.
[CTRL] Brave New World
-Caveat Lector- From www.morrock.com/tech.htm Huxley's hatcheries By MICHAEL R. ALIX TMNS Technology Editor July 14, 1999 Aldous Huxley, often mistakenly taken for a science fiction writer, did write at least one science fiction book, Brave New World (1932). That was almost seventy years ago, when bio-engineering was just a glint in a scientist's eye. Today, the hatcheries of Brave New World are closer to reality. While we endure the growth of the Internet, we look to its generational cousin as a work of horror, Frankenstein's hobby revisited, and wonder where it will lead. While bits attain some kind of clarity in our minds as information packets as decipherable as the semantic folios of the library of Babylon, genes, DNA, and embryos retain much of their gelatinous mystery, as goo that's formless and indecipherable outside of cyclotrons and laboratory vials. And yet, this goo is shedding its mysteries, promising a Brave New World more harrowing than the open society of the Net. The specter of eugenics, which raised its head in Huxley's time, when Huxley's grandpa was still "Darwin's Bulldog" and when the British elite could dream up the bio-engineered paradise/hells of Brave New World, The Time Machine, and The Island of Doctor Moreau, raises its head anew. Brave New World begins with a "walk-through" of a modern human hatchery, where embryos are coaxed to split over and over again to produce hundreds of genetic twins. In today's laboratories, the same effect can be achieved through cloning. The British dreamers foresaw that the point to engineering life might not be a better human race, but a safer and happier one. After eons of warring and killing, history is a bad dream that the new world wants to awaken from. Do we need such an awakening? The fruits are tempting. Life hitherto has been a license for brutes to mistreat their progeny, to breed viviparously (randomly), and to raise differences among people that can be exploited for their destruction. The happy, the peaceful, the satisfied, and the healthy are less prone to the resentments that mollify moral monsters such as Caligula, Hitler, and Stalin. That's not to say that only the discontented do evil, but that a happier humanity might be less prone to such temptations. Is eugenics really so scary? Arguably, democracy, with its attendant ideology "demodoxy," the belief in averageness -- in time-tested values, in the pure forms of immortal ideas -- leads to a eugenics of sorts. So does power lust, the ideology to win-win, achieve success at all cost -- in short, the elitism of people who feel that by their culture or by their birthright, they are privileged. Oddly, the same will to privilege seems to have embolded both hereditary aristocracies and terrorist fraternities in the past. And nationalism, in many respects, resembles a terrorist fraternity. Consider, in passing, the qualms of the American founding fathers, who feared sectarianism would render their political machine a whim of history, and who did all they could to equilibrate it. There will come a time, as we begin to think about the new artifices that science is bringing to our societies, when we will have to decide that progress means perhaps a co-existence of artificial forms and natural ones, of eugenics and random selection. If we can decimate genetic disease, we may also provide some strengths to the genome that will render it stronger in other ways than merely counteracting disease. We may want to live longer, for example, or guarantee a range of propensities to the people whom we launch into a future that won't be ours. Do we want -- or will they want -- health and happiness? Do we want longevity? Do we want a better guarantee of social acceptance and adaptation to the functions of the real world? These are not flighty questions, nor are they best left to experts. They are a matter for present reflection -- before our own Brave New World, for better or for worst, dawns upon us. Related Link: Brave New World? A Defense of Paradise-Engineering http://www.huxley.net/ AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the
[CTRL] Pinochet Papers
-Caveat Lector- WSWS : News Analysis : South Central America Clinton's selective declassification Chile documents expose criminal role of US foreign policy By Bill Vann 13 July 1999 Back to screen version The Clinton administration's release of some 5,800 documents relating to the 1973 military coup in Chile has provided a glimpse of the murderous role of US foreign policy in Latin America and internationally. No major US newspaper or broadcast media outlet has conducted any serious examination of the documents. Outside of a few cursory news reports on the day of their release, the declassification has been treated by the American media as a non-event having to do with the distant history of a foreign land. The White House has itself asserted that its principal aim in declassifying the formerly secret material is to further the process of truth and reconciliation in Chile," as if the bloody events there 25 years ago had nothing to do with the activities of the US government outside of its innocent collection and storing of reams of cables, memoranda and secret intelligence reports on the carnage that took place there. In reality, the documentsthough clearly the most incriminating material remains locked in the secret archives of the CIA and the Pentagonshed significant light on Washington's crimes against the Chilean people. They further illuminate US complicity in the murder, torture and imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of workers, peasants, students and others seen as real or potential opponents of the military dictatorship and American interests. The Clinton administration initiated the release of the documents at the end of May largely as a damage-control operation. Mounting international attention has been focused on the Chilean events by the ongoing legal wrangling over Spain's demand for the extradition of the former dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, who is in British custody. Legal arguments over General Pinochet's crimes have inevitably touched upon Washington's involvement in the military coup that brought him to power in 1973 as well as in his subsequent reign of terror. With Pinochet's detention the White House also faced renewed demands from the families of Americans killed in the repression, including Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, who were among those rounded up and executed in the National Stadium in Santiago. Whatever the motives of the White House, the thousands of documents chronicling Washington's role in organizing and supporting one of the most horrific bloodbaths of the twentieth century comprise an incontestable refutation of the democratic pretensions of US foreign policy. Coming at a time when the Clinton administration portrays its military intervention in the Balkans as a matter of the US standing up to the repression of a ruthless dictator, these papers confirm once again that US imperialism has not only defended its interests precisely through such regimes, but has served as their principal sponsor in Latin America and internationally. Significantly, the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which had the most intimate involvement in the 1973 coup and the closest working relations with the Pinochet dictatorship's security apparatus, supplied only a fraction of the declassified material, just 490 documents between them. The lion's share came from the State Department and the rest from the Justice Department, the FBI and the presidential libraries of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Notwithstanding the extreme selectivity of the CIA in determining which of the massive number of documents on Chile were fit for release and its blacking out of incriminating material in even these files, this material still provides a glimpse of the intimate relations that existed between the agency and the butchers of the Chilean military. One declassified cable sent September 8, 1973 from the CIA's Santiago station to the Directorate of Operations in Washington spelled out in detail the plans for the coming coup. The name of the agency's informant was blacked out. According to this document, the Chilean Navy had decided to begin an action in Valparaiso ... to overthrow the Government of Salvador Allende and that the Air Force will support this initiative. It goes on to state that General Gustavo Leigh, the commander-in-chief of the Air Force, has made contact with Gen. Pinochet, commander-in-chief of the Army, who has told him that the Army will not oppose the Navy's action. The cable from the CIA's operatives in Chile said that their informant believes that the Army will join the coup after the Air Force supports the Navy. The cable concludes that the coup will take place on September 10 or at least during the week of Sept. 10. On that day, the CIA mission sent a new cable to Washington providing more specific information: The coup attempt will begin on Sept.
[CTRL] Camille on Hillary
-Caveat Lector- From www.iwf.com Picture Picture: The Women's Quarterly Logo - --- By Camille Paglia Picture Interview: I Told You So! I Told You So! Camille Paglia sounds off to TWQ editor Charlotte Hays about the feminist establishment, the Clinton scandals, and why Gloria Steinem is out of touch TWQ: The first question I want to ask you is about Monica. Is she a vixen or a victim? Did she get what she wanted? PAGLIA: Well, Monica Lewinsky herself bores me silly because she is a kind of a prototype of a narcissistic and spoiled American girl that I have been seeing develop over the last twenty-five years as a teacher--not at my school, the University of the Arts, where most people don't have those kinds of economic advantages. But I certainly saw this coming from my first job at Bennington College and later as a visiting instructor at Wesleyan and Yale. And I have been warning about this for years and saying that we are raising up a whole generation of young people who are completely removed from any sense of the outside world. To me, the most damaging thing Monica did to herself was her response to Barbara Walters' early question: "When you went to the White House as an intern, were you interested in politics?" And Monica Lewinsky is so shallow and her family is so shallow that she said, "No, not at all,"-and in a very high and superficial voice that you would use having a drink off Rodeo Drive or something. I was just amazed at that! Our educational system at the primary and secondary level is so flawed that we have girls who would go to the White House as a tremendous career opportunity for themselves and come out of that experience in Washington undented by any sense of wider political or historical realities. TWQ: What would you advise her to do? PAGLIA: I would advise Monica Lewinsky to get the hell off the public stage before she damages the cause of women any further. TWQ: What has been her impact on the establishment feminist movement? PAGLIA: Ohhh, I have been in hog heaven over that! Never, never did I dream that Gloria Steinem would shoot herself in every one of her eight feet-but she did over Monica Lewinsky! Christina Hoff Sommers was an early warrior in this battle, and we were together in all of this in the early 1990s. And now, of course, a horde of other women have come onto the scene, and we no longer have to take all the abuse. Christina and I have for years tried to get people to see that the feminist establishment did not speak for all women. In fact, I'm the one who coined the term "feminist establishment." When I went out on my first publicity tour after Sexual Personae and in my early articles in 1990, 1991, 1992, I drilled that phrase in every interview. I kept on saying, "feminist establishment, feminist establishment"-to try to drive that wedge into media consciousness and to make them understand that the leaders of the feminist organizations based in Washington and New York not only did not speak for all women but they did not speak for all feminists either. They were as divorced from the actual historical currents within feminism as the leaders of the Communist Party were in the Politburo or the more recent Soviet Union, where they were living like the dukes of the Romanovs. At any rate, year by year, my campaign to portray--correctly portray--the feminist leaders as out of touch with women has really succeeded-and they helped me enormously! I feel that my record, in terms of my feminist responses to the various sexual scandals from the early 1990s, is now being proved to have been the correct one. In 1986, for heaven's sake, in my own university, I lobbied for the adoption of moderate sexual harassment guidelines, but at the same time I felt there was a fascist extremism in feminism coming out of Catharine MacKinnon that was pushing these things toward authoritarian extremes that I, as a libertarian, could not support. And so in 1991, I was the only feminist out there who was attacking Anita Hill! One week into those hearings, I wrote a piece for the Philadelphia Inquirer that begins, "Anita Hill is no feminist heroine." And I felt Clarence Thomas was quite right: He was the victim of a high-tech lynching. Then when Paula Jones came along in 1994, I was the only feminist immediately out there saying, "I find her case credible." I was on the "Larry King Show" in May 1994--that transcript is in my book, Vamps Tramps. I went against Eleanor Smeal, who was saying, "This is just a put-up job by the right wing,"--the same thing Hillary tried all last year. And I said, "Oh, really? Well, Anita Hill's case was a put-up job by the feminist establishment." It's comical the mess that Steinem made over Monica Lewinsky, but the real hypocrisy was in the Paula Jones case in 1994. If in fact the feminist
[CTRL] No Lessons
-Caveat Lector- Via NewRepublic Kosovo no War, no Foreign Affairs News Keywords: KOSOVO, Source: Anchorage Daily News Published: July 2, 1999 Author: George C. Wilson Posted on 07/12/1999 18:19:25 PDT by rollin Anchorage Daily News July 2, 1999 No War, No Lessons After Kosovo, Stevens Says By George C. Wilson, Legi-Slate News Service Washington -- There are no military lessons to be learned from NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic because it was not a war at all, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said Thursday. The World War II bomber pilot told defense reporters over breakfast that "we never had an engagement" with the Yugoslav military. "They never came to war with us," Stevens said. "We just bombed the hell out of them until they signed an agreement. "We had 780 million people (in the NATO alliance) attacking 20 million people, and they finally came to their knees after (NAT0 forces) bombed for four months. What's the precedent out of that? There's no precedent out of that. I don't see it having any relationship to the ability of the Army on the ground in a war. "We never fought anybody there" in the Balkans over Kosovo, "not even their planes," he said. "This was just a bombing campaign until we bombed them into submission. And I guess if you can find another country that was located like Serbia was -- where it was completely surrounded by people friendly to us -- where we had free access to it all the time, I guess we could bomb anyone into submission if you wanted to take on that task. "But defeating 20 million people the way we defeated them," Stevens continued, "I don't think that's something we should go around holding our head high in the air (about) and saying we're superior" because "we ended the war by the air. The war never started. "I think it's an anomaly," Stevens said of the air war against Milosevic. "I don't think it's a lesson at all." Stevens' remarks came against a backdrop of postwar audits by Air Force generals who have emphasized in recent closed-door meetings, that their bombing campaign, while highly professional, was no cause for gloating, participants told LEGI-SLATE News Service. The bombing wore out air crews and aircraft and used up the inventory of smart weapons that will cost billions to replenish, the generals said. The strain of the Kosovo bombing campaign has compelled Air Force leaders to focus on what they call "reconstitution" -- curing the downsized service of ills inflicted by such sudden and intense deployments as those to the Balkans. One ill is the stress imposed on Air Force families whose unhappiness often prompts airmen to quit the service. The Air Force is now critically short of pilots and is looking for additional ways to stem the exodus. Stevens recalled that airmen based in Aviano, Italy, expressed much less enthusiasm to him about bombing Yugoslavia than attacking the Iraqi military during the Persian Gulf War of 1990-91. In giving his views on a wide range of other military matters, Stevens made these points: * The Army. It should be enlarged beyond its projected active-duty strength of 480,000 and a "portion" of it should be trained in peacekeeping since that mission predominates these days, he said. Stevens said the Army trains its volunteers "to be warriors, and we end up putting them at intersections at Haiti, the Balkans, Kuwait and now Kosovo. Let's train some people to be peacekeepers in the sense of being able to carry light arms and be able to defend themselves and be on the streets of Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti and wherever the hell they want to put peacekeepers." Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, the newly sworn-in Army Chief of Staff, said at his first news conference on June 23 that 480,000 "may not be enough" people to carry out the Army's missions. He said he would withhold final judgment until a manpower study in completed. Other Army leaders have warned that enlarging the Army would put an extra burden on recruiters who already have trouble signing up enough volunteers to fill the ranks. * China. "I really don't look at China as a threat to the United States" in the sense of it stealing our most vital secrets through spying, Stevens said. "I served in China in World War II. I've been back there many times. I think the bulk of Chinese people look at us as friends. We've got to wait out another generational change" in China's top leadership to achieve better harmony," he said. "There's a substrata coming together of younger people in the Peoples Republic of China and Taiwan. And if you want to look at the industrial base, a great portion of the industrial base for Taiwan is on the mainland. This means to me that if we stop worrying about these guys who are rattling cages and look at the bulk of the population and where it's going, we can have a great bond of friendship
[CTRL] Encounters
-Caveat Lector- From TheNewStatesman How the CIA plotted against us The NS made the left seem clever. Something had to be done, reports Frances Stonor Saunders Picture"Have you seen Encounter?" Mary McCarthy asked Hannah Arendt in October 1953, after reading the debut issue. "It is surely the most vapid thing yet, like a college magazine got out by long-dead and putrefying undergraduates." McCarthy was not alone in denigrating Encounter. Anthony Hartley, also in October 1953, remarked somewhat prophetically that "it would be a pity if Encounter, in its turn, were to become a mere weapon in the cold war". More mischievous was an item in the Sunday Times's Atticus column, which referred to the magazine as "the police-review of American-occupied countries". And A J P Taylor, writing in the Listener, complained: "There is no article in the [first issue] which will provoke any reader to burn it or even to throw it indignantly into the waste-paper basket. None of the articles is politically subversive . . . All are safe reading for children." It is a measure of Encounter's success that it was able to ride these criticisms and establish itself in the "newborn Euro-American mind" as the leading review of its day. People still remember Nancy Mitford's famous article "The English aristocracy", a bitingly witty analysis of British social mores which introduced the distinction between "U and Non-U". Or Isaiah Berlin's four memorable essays on Russian literature, "A marvellous decade". Or Vladimir Nabokov on Pushkin, Irving Howe on Edith Wharton, David Marquand on "The Liberal revival", stories by Jorge Luis Borges, critical essays by Richard Ellmann, Jayaprakash Narayan, W H Auden, Arnold Toynbee, Bertrand Russell, Herbert Read, Hugh Trevor-Roper - some of the best minds of those decades. The cultural side of Encounter (which political nymphomaniac Melvin Lasky sneeringly referred to as "Elizabeth Bowen and all that crap") thus secured its respectability among the intelligentsia. And yet, when it finally folded in 1991, few were willing to grant it a proper testimonial. It had become gouty, smug, anachronistic. Reeking of the cold war at a time when that conflict was all but exhausted, it had become a "whifflebird", the name one New York intellectual invented for a fabulous creature that "flies backward in ever decreasing circles until it flies up its own asshole and becomes extinct". Encounter's demise can be traced directly to its origins as part of the "high-minded low cunning" of those British and American intelligence agents responsible for running the cultural cold war. Meeting in Whitehall in early 1951, the top echelons of the CIA and MI6 discussed the idea of an "Anglo-American left-of-centre publication" aimed at penetrating the fog of neutralism which dimmed the judgement of so many British intellectuals, not least those close to the New Statesman. What they needed was a voice that could oppose the "soft-headedness" and "terrible simplifications" of Kingsley Martin's magazine, and its "spirit of conciliation and moral lassitude vis-a-vis Communism". The Foreign Office's secret subventions to Tribune had been a gesture in this direction. In April 1950 Malcolm Muggeridge, after meeting its editor Tosco Fyvel, reported that Tribune was "obviously badly on the rocks, and I said that in the interests of the cold war [it] should be kept going as a counterblast to the New Statesman. Developed one of my favourite propositions - that the New Statesman's great success as propagandist had been to establish the proposition that to be intelligent is to be Left, whereas almost the exact opposite is true." The New Statesman and Nation was flourishing, its weekly circulation of 85,000 showing an impressive resilience to attempts to sap its "ideological hegemony". In these pre-Encounter days the CIA was dishing out secret subsidies to Michael Goodwin's journal Twentieth Century, on the specific understanding that it should address itself to rebutting the New Statesman's positions. "I fully agree the New Statesman is an important target, and must be dealt with systematically," Goodwin told his backers in January 1952. But Goodwin's efforts were not enough to satisfy his secret sponsors, who now followed up their Whitehall meetings with a definite proposal for a new magazine. Cleared at the highest levels of the CIA and MI6, the project was passed down the lines and into the hands of three intelligence officers: Michael Josselson, Lawrence de Neufville and Monty Woodhouse. Woodhouse, a dashing, daring spy of the old school, was assigned to the Information Research Department, the Foreign Office's secret ministry of cold war. Josselson and de Neufville were acting under cover of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, the organisation born in Berlin in 1950 as the beachhead from which western culture would be defended against communist
[CTRL] GOP Loom-ing
-Caveat Lector- Excerpt from San Jose Merc News http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/front/docs/hoover12.htm Published Monday, July 12, 1999, in the San Jose Mercury News Bush renews think tank's link to high-level GOP policy BY MARY ANNE OSTROM Mercury News Staff Writer In his first Silicon Valley campaign speech earlier this month, Texas Gov. George W. Bush promised he'll have a plan to cut taxes. He then singled out a center table occupied by Hoover Institution fellows that Thursday morning and playfully pleaded, ``Won't we, Taylor, Cogan, Boskin?'' ``Friday afternoon,'' someone shouted back, prompting ripples of laughter in the Palo Alto hotel ballroom. Indeed, last week John Taylor, John Cogan and Michael Boskin -- who worked for Ronald Reagan and Bush's father, among others -- could be found scurrying among their Hoover offices, busily devising what the GOP presidential hopeful ordered. Not since the Reagan era has Stanford University's world-renowned think tank -- founded 80 years ago by a man who himself would become president -- been so intimately linked with a single presidential candidate. Six decades ago, Herbert Hoover dedicated the 285-foot tower at Stanford, saying, ``The purpose of this institution is to promote peace.'' End excerpt Link http://www.hoover.org/ HOOVER INSTITUTION Picture Mission Statement This Institution supports the Constitution of the United States, its Bill of Rights and its method of representative government. Both our social and economic systems are based on private enterprise from which springs initiative and ingenuity. . . . Ours is a system where the Federal Government should undertake no governmental, social or economic action, except where local government, or the people, cannot under-take it for themselves. . . . The overall mission of this Institution is, from its records, to recall the voice of experience against the making of war, and by the study of these records and their publication, to recall man's endeavors to make and preserve peace, and to sustain for America the safeguards of the American way of life. This Institution is not, and must not be, a mere library. But with these purposes as its goal, the Institution itself must constantly and dynamically point the road to peace, to personal freedom, and to the safeguards of the American system. AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory
[CTRL] Constitution
-Caveat Lector- Via SpinTechMag.CoM SpinTech: July 12, 1999 Picture How The Constitution Aids Federal Power-Grabbers by Sunni Maravillosa Hologram of Liberty, by Kenneth Royce (AKA Boston T. Party) (Javelin Press, 1997) 229 pgs. ISBN # 1-888766-03-4 At age five or so, I discovered that Santa Claus is a myth. Having been suspicious of the story for some time, that discovery did not shock me nearly as much as the realization that my parents -- whom Id completely trusted up until then -- had lied to me. Thus began my tendency to be skeptical of nearly everything, and everybody. My skepticism has been lulled in certain areas by my public school indoctrination, most notably American history. Kenneth Royces book Hologram of Liberty has permanently changed that. Royce is better known as Boston T. Party, author of several libertarian books, including Bulletproof Privacy and Boston on Guns and Courage. In Hologram of Liberty, he examines the historical record surrounding the Constitutional Convention as well as the Constitution itself, and concludes that the primary reason for our current non-free condition is the Constitution itself -- it was not intended to preserve states or individuals liberties, but to be a slow-working power-grabber for the federal government. Hologram of Liberty is not based on "patriot mythology", nor on minutiae or legalistic sleight-of-hand. Royces research is thorough and relies on many respected scholarly works. While some hypotheses leave more room for nagging questions than others, the essential points of his work are solidly grounded. As I was recently chastised for questioning the Constitution and its authors in an essay, Royce provides me with evidence that both deserve tighter scrutiny from libertarians than theyve received. Let me say before going any further that Royce -- and I -- are not out to mindlessly bash the Constitution, nor to denigrate the founders of the United States. Royce states in Hologram of Liberty that he is "for true Liberty under a constitution" (emphasis in original). My motives overlap his in writing the book; in reviewing it, I want to share information and ideas, and spark further thought with the goal of creating a better, more freedom-respecting system of government. Given the current abysmal state of the American system, it is better to eye sacred cows critically -- and to slaughter them if necessary -- with the intent to improve the system rather than to fence them off worshipfully while tyranny grows. Royce focuses his attention on two primary areas: the men who wrote the Constitution; and the actual writing of the document. From each he builds his case in a clear, logical style that makes it easy to understand his points. He challenges all who claim to love liberty to set aside preconceived ideas and examine his evidence, and invites scholarly refutations of his claims. The Founders: Patriots or Elitists? The first myth debunked by Royce is that all Founders are created equal. While most people seem to think of the Founding Founders as a specific group of men -- those who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, and collaborated on the framing of the Constitution -- whose goals and motives were generally similar and freedom-oriented, this is not the case. Of the 55 delegates who comprised the Constitutional Convention, only eight were signees of the Declaration of Independence, and only six signed the Articles of Confederation; most were politicians and lawyers. More importantly, the revolutionaries whose inspiring words we rightly cherish were not among those 55: some were not chosen as delegates, while others refused to serve, and Thomas Jefferson and James Adams were out of the country. Thus, the flavor of the groups that participated in various aspects of this countrys formation are quite different. Most individuals are aware that the debate concerning the Constitution centered on the philosophical differences between Jefferson -- an agrarian and staunch defender of liberty -- and Alexander Hamilton -- an Anglophile federalist who advocated a strong federal (i.e., national) government. Royce fills out the picture even more with his careful documentation of the federalists careful advance planning and propaganda campaign to create an atmosphere of concern with respect to the Articles of Confederation, and the need to devise a "better" system. Although many naïvely view the Founders as being "above politics", Royce in many cases uses the federalists own words to debunk that myth. He shows the "bait and switch" used by the federalists to co-opt the Convention from its original purpose. Quoting extensively from The Federalist, Royce documents the overblown rhetoric and specious arguments employed by (mostly) Hamilton and James Madison to enlist popular support for the Constitution. Their motives for seeking
[CTRL] Watergate Rising
-Caveat Lector- From www.insightmag.com/articles/story2.htm Beginning Just What Is a War Criminal? - --- By James P. Lucier - --- Jerome Zeifman, former Watergate committee counsel, has filed charges before the International Criminal Tribunal that threaten Bill Clinton with a war-crimes indictment. Picture: We have achieved a victory for a safer world, for our democratic values and for a stronger America Unnecessary conflict has been brought to a just and honorable conclusion," said President Clinton in his address from the Oval Office on June 10. . . . . Victory? "The decision to attack Yugoslavia [was] counterproductive, and our destruction of civilian life [is] senseless and excessively brutal," wrote former President Jimmy Carter in a New York Times op-ed article on May 27. . . . . "The proposed deployment to Kosovo does not deal with any threat to American security as traditionally conceived," former secretary of state Henry Kissinger wrote in the Washington Post on Feb. 22, a month before the bombing campaign was unleashed. . . . . There is a pattern here, and it is creating concern on both left and right. "The armed forces of the United States have participated in nondefensive, aggressive military attacks on former Yugoslavia, which have not been necessary to defend the national security of the United States," writes Jerome Zeifman, former chief counsel for the House Watergate committee, in allegations seeking the indictment of Clinton and Secretary of Defense William Cohen for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. These formal legal documents have been submitted to the [U.N.-established] International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, or ICTY, at The Hague. End of excerpt Text of Proposed IAE Indictment of President Clinton and Defense Secretary Cohen for War Crimes The full text is available on the IAE Website at www.iethical.com. AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Raw Power
-Caveat Lector- From www.phillynews.com/inquirer/99/Jul/11/opinion/RUBIN11.htm Trudy Rubin / Worldview Much of world sees Kosovo war as a show of raw American power TETOVO, MACEDONIA - Americans were told the war in Kosovo was a humanitarian struggle to prevent the murder and expulsion of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo. But ask the leading ethnic Albanian politician in neighboring Macedonia, where hundreds of thousands of Kosovar refugees took shelter, and he sees things very differently. Arben Jaffari, ally of Kosovo leaders and spokesman for the large number of ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, believes the war was about power, pure and simple. "It proves there is a new relationship between global forces and that NATO is on top," he tells me. "The war tested weapons, it tested political loyalties, it showed that the Russians have nothing to offer," he says with relish, sitting in his political office in this all-Albanian town. Jafferi is busy writing an article entitled "The Kosovo war: leading the world towards a new century." Welcome to the real world. We think we bombed to save Albanians' lives, but they think we bombed to show who really runs the world. And they are not the only ones. Much of the world is busy trying to assess the meaning of NATO's bombing campaign to the 21th century world. They care little for the irony that NATO bumbled into the war, believing that Yugoslavia would give in within days. They see the war as a victory for raw American power. After all, three-quarters of the missions were flown by Americans. Only European leaders endorse the argument that NATO intervention was humanitarian. Other parts of the world are more likely to assume some deeper geopolitical motive. The Chinese think we bombed their embassy to show who was boss. Russian resentment of a perceived NATO dictate is plain in Pristina. Commanders of the 700 Russian troops who dashed to take the airport ahead of NATO have sulked to themselves, refusing to send a liaison to the media center in downtown Pristina run by KFOR (the predominantly NATO force in Kosovo). Russian generals in Moscow are said to believe that NATO is redefining Europe's power balance, outflanking Russia to the south by basing 50,000 troops in the Balkans and contemplating the accession of several new Balkan members to NATO. So it will be instructive to see how the 3,600 Russians scheduled to deploy in Kosovo relate to U.S., French, and German commanders within whose sectors they will be based. Two thousand Russians will soon arrive inside the American sector. Will they play by NATO's rules? Gen. John Craddock, U.S. commander within Kosovo, says he believes the terms governing the Russian presence are clear: "I'll tell them what they can and cannot do. I have tactical control." But will Russians commanders on the ground obey Craddock or follow their own interests? Already, Russian commanders say they won't arrest suspected Serbian war criminals in Kosovo. NATO-Russian military relationships in Kosovo will reveal whether Moscow still wants to cooperate with the western alliance. The Europeans, too, have had strong reactions to the U.S.-led bombing campaign. Dismayed at the technology gap between European and U.S. forces, they are determined to prove that their militaries of are ready for prime time. The British have taken the lead, led by the tough Gen. Mike Jackson, who is the commander of KFOR. They have the biggest force, at 13,000, and play tough. They are happy to run the show if U.S. politics dictate that U.S. forces should take a backseat, running the quietest of the five Kosovar zones, in the southeast. But pacifying Kosovo, after the war's end, doesn't prove European troops can match the Americans. That will take bigger defense budgets, which European publics don't support. Moroever, the Europeans have taken on other huge challenges in Kosovo, in an effort to demonstrate political strength. Along with the United Nations, they've pledged to set up civilian government in Kosovo, and to reconstruct Balkan economies. In effect, they have pledged to do for the Balkans what the United States did for them with the post-World War II Marshall Plan. This is a tall order. It's not clear that European governments have the will or the wallet. If they don't, it may dash British and French hopes that the European Union can become more of a political and military force. So consider Kosovo a power testing ground, where challengers jockey to narrow the U.S. lead. - --- Trudy Rubin's column appears on Wednesdays and Fridays. Her e-mail address is [EMAIL PROTECTED] Picture - ---Inquirer | Search | Classifieds | Yellow Pages | Money| Technology| HOME team | Health | Philly Life | Headbone Zone | Video | Site Index
[CTRL] Oil Popline
-Caveat Lector- From NewsUnlimited (TheGuardian) Oil pipeline disaster 'imminent' Michael Sean Gillard, Andrew Rowell and Melissa Jones Monday July 12, 1999 An ecological disaster far worse than the Exxon Valdez catastrophe in Alaska 10 years ago could happen at any moment, according to six senior employees of the company that runs the 800-mile Alaskan oil pipeline. The six whistleblowers have written to BP Amoco's chief executive, Sir John Browne, and three US congressmen warning of an imminent threat to human life and the Alaskan environment from irresponsible oil operations there. The letter contains evidence of compliance failures, falsified safety and inspection records, intimidation of workers and persistent violations of procedures and government regulations. The whistleblowers fear a possible rupture of the ageing pipeline or an explosion at the Valdez oil tanker terminal. BP Amoco owns 50% of the company, Alyeska, which operates both installations on its behalf. The Exxon Valdez disaster was one of the most ecologically destructive spills ever. The Alaska state government blamed oil industry complacency and broken promises. The whistleblowers, all senior employees on the 22-year-old Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (Taps), believe conditions exist today for an even worse disaster. "It's not a matter of if it is going to happen, it's when it is going to happen," said one. The group provided the Guardian with evidence of compliance failures, illegalities and mismanagement: Alyeska's quality assurance programme, vital to the safe operation of Taps, is being deliberately undermined by middle management. Alyeska executives turn a blind eye to "the culture of harassment, intimidation, retaliation and discrimination". Alyeska executive management instructed middle managers not to issue critical audit reports of Taps safety and quality compliance because it could "negatively influence" their employment prospects. Alyeska executive management instructed middle managers "to disregard and/or circumvent" compliance manuals and codes of conduct and to "tone down, alter or delete negative reports including internal audits and surveillance reports". Maintenance and inspection records before 1996 are lost and audit results were falsified to make it seem otherwise. Record keeping is "totally dysfunctional" and Alyeska executive management is hiding the problem from government regulators. The six whistleblowers are risking their careers. They say they represent a much bigger group of concerned employees who are too afraid to speak out because of an embedded "shoot the messenger" culture in the Alaskan oil industry. The scandal is a blow to Sir John, who has spent two years repositioning BP as the leading "green" oil and gas company. The letter demands "immediate intervention" by the chief executive and the US government to "send credible and qualified auditors to verify the evidence" that the whistleblowers are willing to provide. The Guardian has established that senior executives in Alaska were made aware of many of these problems. But the group says Alyeska is gambling with people's lives and the environment by not addressing the problems. "It's more dangerous now than it ever was because Alyeska is being run by spin doctors," said one whistleblower. The last time senior Taps inspectors blew the whistle, in 1993, there was a congressional investigation in Washington. An audit questioned the integrity and safety of the pipeline, which carries 1m barrels of oil a day. BP Amoco and Alyeska's other main owners, Exxon and Arco, were told to address the many "imminent threats" identified by the auditors. Six years later, the whistleblowers say these safety issues have been "consistently disregarded". Last night no one from BP Amoco was available to comment. This latest scandal could threaten BP Amoco's proposed merger with the US oil giant Arco, announced last April. The $26bn deal would give the company a near monopoly in Alaska with 74% of the oil fields and 72% of the pipeline. However, the merger is under anti-trust investigation by the European Commission - with a decision due in October - and by the US senate. Environmental and safety considerations could now be used by political and environmental lobbyists to frustrate the merger. This is especially so in Alaska, where Alyeska's licence to operate the pipeline is also under government review. In Britain, safety concerns have been raised in the North Sea, where BP Amoco is the largest producer. Charles Woolfson, a senior lecturer in industrial relations at Glasgow University, said cost-cutting across the oil industry was creating the conditions for another Piper Alpha disaster. "Testimony from offshore workers suggests they feel safety is being compromised," he said. "The Exxon Valdez didn't happen out of the blue. There were serious
[CTRL] Economic Chaos Benefits
-Caveat Lector- From www.newdawnmagazine.com.au/current.htm Masterstroke: Who Benefits from World Economic Chaos Picture By SUSAN BRYCE While the Packer and Murdoch controlled media keep Australians updated on corrupt IOC officials and cricket scandals, and we digest the latest information about the Clinton presidential penis over our soggy breakfast corn flakes, the world economic crisis is pushed to the back of editorial agendas. The International Monetary Fund is set to undergo some of the most sweeping reforms in its history and the benefactors will be the worlds largest financial institutions. Meanwhile the Australian government slavishly pushes ahead with structural adjustments, fuelling the hungry fires of the globalisation juggernaut as our hard won freedoms are traded for the IMFs economic disasters. The myths of globalisation have been fully exposed and debunked in the wake of the Asian financial collapse, the ongoing disintegration of the Russian economy, and the recent shocks in Latin America. "Instead of economic prosperity and social stability that it promised for all nations, globalisation has brought economic turmoil, political and social tension, and widespread devastation to the worlds peoples and resources."1 In the wash up from this debacle, the winners are the purveyors of globalisation: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a group of about six international banks. The world economic crisis being experienced at present is a masterstroke for the funny money people at the IMF and a financial coup détat for the international banks. Basking in the glory of "saving" the Asian economies, the IMF is currently waging a campaign based on fear of further economic calamity, to institute a series of sweeping changes to its charter. The IMF wants an amendment to its Articles of Agreement that would make promoting unfettered capital movements one of the purposes of the IMF and to extend Fund jurisdiction over such movements. This amendment would effectively give the IMF the authority to regulate national investment policies, with an eye towards eliminating any restrictions on capital flows. It is a back door attempt to achieve the aims of the OECD inspired Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), which was stopped by citizen opposition.2 As part of its ongoing campaign to achieve these amendments, the Managing Director of the IMF Michel Camdessus, is openly advocating increased trade liberalisation, prodding countries to open up their economies, more than ever before, to foreign capital. Camdessus told the National Press Club in Washington on April 2, 1998, the IMF will encourage member countries "to liberalise capital flows in a prudent and properly sequenced way that will maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of freer capital movements. To this end, work is under way on an amendment to the IMFs charter that would make the liberalization of capital movements one of the purposes of the Fund, and extend its jurisdiction to capital movements," Camdessus said. The premature liberalisation of capital markets pushed by the IMF is one of the main causes of the Asian crisis. It was financial market "reform" that allowed Thai, South Korean and Indonesian banks to tap into short-term international loans in the early 1990s. Hundreds of billions of dollars in loans flooded in as the factories of the Asian tiger economies increased their exports to phenomenal levels, fuelling a decade of rapid growth. Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia were left smothered in bad debts, preventing companies from getting working capital to keep producing. When the Thai baht was devalued by 40%, the countrys unrepayable foreign debts, low level of foreign reserves, heavy deficits and open financial exchanges spearheaded its decline into economic abyss. South Korea and Indonesia suffered a similar fate. A cartel of international banks including BankAmerica, Citibank, Chase Manhattan, J.P. Morgan, Bankers Trust, Bank of New York, the First National Bank of Chicago and Morgan Guaranty with upward of US$20 billion in loan exposures in South Korea3,4, were bailed out to the tune of US$35 billion. The IMF acted as a free insurance broker as the foreign loans of international banks went bad. The standard operating procedure of the IMF is to bail out Wall Street and other lenders5, doling out harsh punishment to borrower countries, socialising the risk and privatising the profits. The IMFs Asian bailout conditions were dependent upon stringent compliance to the Fund's economic regime of Structural Adjustment Programmes. In return for the bailout, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea agreed to further open their economies to foreign investors and allow unprecedented Foreign Direct Investment in factories, agriculture, service operations (eg: tourism and banks), as well as portfolio investment in stocks, bonds and
[CTRL] Persistence of Class
-Caveat Lector- WSWS : News Analysis : Europe : Britain Blair denounces public sector workers to an audience of Venture Capitalists A man haunted by the persistence of class By Julie Hyland 12 July 1999 Back to screen version Prime Minister Blair took the opportunity of a speech July 6 to the Venture Capitalists Association conference in London to vent his spleen against public sector workers. Unveiling a £50m fund to back budding entrepreneurs, Blair said his Labour government wanted to be the "champion of entrepreneurs", and to bring about a "revolution" in peoples attitudes towards what he called the "front-line troops of Britain's new economy". "We need society as a whole to applaud you", he continued. In a departure from his prepared speech, Blair told the audience of speculators that British culture is "fundamentally anti-meritocratic." "Too often in Britain, if people saw someone with money, they were jealous of them, whereas in the US they wanted to emulate them". The years of "snobbery" against people making money was particularly entrenched in the public services, he went on. "Try getting change in the public sector and the public services. I bear the scars on my back after two years in government and heaven knows what it will be like after a bit longer. People in the public sector were more rooted to the concept that 'if it has always been done this way it must always be done this way' than any group of people I have come across." He would continue to try and "tear down the barriers to upward mobility" and help to change such "unhealthy" public attitudes, he pledged. Faced with an immediate barrage of criticismparticularly from public sector employeesBlair's spokesman attributed the Prime Minister's deviation to "stress". There is undoubtedly an element of truth in this. His outburst came amidst growing problems for the government in a number of areas. Blair was the most belligerent supporter of NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia. But the last weeks have exposed that, far from safeguarding Kosovar Albanians, NATO's actions inflamed ethnic conflicts within the region. Its aftermath has created a new wave of refugees and atrocities against Serbs and gypsies. In Northern Ireland, Blair's attempts to seal the so-called "peace process" through a combination of horse-trading, contradictory assurances and "deadline" ultimatums has yet to come to fruition. In Britain, mass abstentions in recent local government and European elections dealt a further blow to the Prime Minister who had sought to utilise them to establish his credentials as a popular leader. But Blair's attack on the public sector was specifically directed. As well as slashing spending, the government is attempting to push through their Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Under this scheme, the entire public sector is being put up for grabs to the highest bidder. Private contractors will build, own and operate a range of servicesincluding schools, hospitals, roads, etc. Blair, in his speech, offered the Venture Capitalists Association government money as an inducement for them to participate in this "risk-taking", but highly profitable, venture. He also promised them further opportunities in the telecommunications market and called on pension fund managers to stop being too cautious in investing in risk-taking ventures. An element of Blair's frustration is rooted in the mounting opposition to his government's attack on the public sector. Far from being resistant to change, public services have changed beyond recognition over the last two decades under both Tory and Labour administrations. Whilst Blair praised the "get rich quick" spirit, some five million public employees have faced an effective wage freeze that has left them amongst the poorest paid workers in Britain. More than 60 per cent of full-time workers now earn less than the average wage of £20,770 per annum. The average has been skewed upwards due to large increases for a small group of high earnersexecutive pay increased by 7 per cent and boardroom bonuses by 23 percent last yearand the exclusion from the survey of 6 million part-timers, who mostly earn less than £100 a week. The growing levels of inequality have greatly exacerbated social problems and placed further strains on public services. Labour's response is to blame public sector workers for "failing their consumers" and to starve them of cash. The resulting crisis is then used to legitimise privatisation. Millions of public sector employeeswho looked to Labour for salvation after two decades of Tory attacksregard the government's actions as a betrayal. At the British Medical Association (BMA) conference last week, doctors openly denounced Blair's policies and complained that their hopes that health care would be safe in Labour's hands had been "massively disappointed". Beleaguered on all sides, Blair
[CTRL] Human Development Report
-Caveat Lector- From http://www.undp.org/hdro/ HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1999 Globalization with a human face Global markets, global technology, global ideas and global solidarity can enrich the lives of people everywhere. The challenge is to ensure that the benefits are shared equitably and that this increasing interdependence works for peoplenot just for profits. This years Report argues that globalization is not new, but that the present era of globalization, driven by competitive global markets, is outpacing the governance of markets and the repercussions on people. Characterized by shrinking space, shrinking time and disappearing borders, globalization has swung open the door to opportunities. Breakthroughs in communications technologies and biotechnology, if directed for the needs of people, can bring advances for all of humankind. But markets can go too far and squeeze the non-market activities so vital for human development. Fiscal squeezes are constraining the provision of social services. A time squeeze is reducing the supply and quality of caring labour. And an incentive squeeze is harming the environment. Globalization is also increasing human insecurity as the spread of global crime, disease and financial volatility outpaces actions to tackle them. The Report recommends an agenda for action: reforms of global governance to ensure greater equity, new regional approaches to collective action and negotiation and national and local policies to capture opportunities in the global marketplace and translate them more equitably into human advance. In addition to the ranking of 174 countries on the human development index (HDI), this years Report presents a new table on trends in human development from 1975 to 1997 for 79 countries. This new table reveals that, overall, countries have made substantial progress in human development, but that the speed and extent of progress have been uneven. This Report also includes special contributions. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen describes the success of the human development index in bringing a human face to the assessment of development processes. Professor Paul Streeten gives a 10-year perspective on the Human Development Reports. And media magnate Ted Turner appeals for partnerships with the United Nations to face the new global challenges of our times. Human Development Report 1999 was prepared by a team of eminent economists and distinguished development professionals under the guidance of Richard Jolly, Special Adviser to the Administrator of UNDP, and Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Director of the Human Development Report Office. The panel of consultants included Adebayo Adedeji, Philip Alston, Galal Amin, Lourdes Arizpe, Isabella Bakker, Yusuf Bangura, David Bigman, Bob Deacon, Meghnad Desai, Nancy Folbre, Stephany Griffith-Jones, Gerry Helleiner, K. S. Jomo, Azizur Rahman Khan, Martin Khor Kok Peng, Jong-Wha Lee, Michael Lipton, Nguyuru Lipumba, Raisul Awal Mahmood, Ranjini Mazumdar, Süle Özler, Theodore Panayotou, Alejandro Ramirez, Mohan Rao, Changyong Rhee, Ewa Ruminska-Zimny, Arjun Sengupta, Victor Tokman, Albert Tuijnman and John Whalley. The 1999 Human Development Report will be launched on the 12th of July in London, UK. Ordering Information From http://www.undp.org/hdro/indicators.html This site lists all kinds of statistics -- listings for Industrial Countries: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS Statistics from the 1998 Human Development Report Human development index (All countries) Gender-related development index (All countries) Gender empowerment measure (All countries) Human poverty profile and index Women's access to education Women's participation in economic and political life Health profile Education profile Profile of people in work Unemployment Access to information and communications Social stress and social change Aid flows (disbursed) Aid flows (received) Military expenditure and resource use imbalances Financial inflows and outflows Growing urbanistaion Population trends Energy use Profile of environmental degradation Managing the environment National income accounts Trends in economic performance From IrishTimes Monday, July 12, 1999 Poverty here second worst in developed world - --- By Paul Cullen, Development Correspondent Ireland has the highest levels of poverty in the industrialised world outside the USA, according to a report from the United Nations published today. For the second year in a row, the Human Development Report ranks Ireland 16th out of 17 Western countries, with 15.3 per cent of the population living in "human poverty". For the first time in many years, Ireland has fallen in the main ranking of social progress used in the report prepared by the UN Development Programme. Ireland now ranks 20th of the 174
[CTRL] The Good Old Days ...
-Caveat Lector- ... these are ... From TheFreeRepublic ""Both Syria and Vietnam are scrambling to modernize their armed forces in order to be able to repel massive air raids similar to those carried out by NATO in Yugoslavia, according to an official at Rosvooruzhenie."" Countries Race for Russian Weapons Foreign Affairs News Keywords: NATO Source: The St. Petersburg Times ( Russia ) Must Read Published: July 9, 1999 Author: Simon Saradzhyan Posted on 07/10/1999 05:52:19 PDT by Jzoback Countries Race for Russian Weapons By Simon Saradzhyan STAFF WRITER MOSCOW - Motivated by NATO's bombing campaign in Yugoslavia to upgrade their national defense systems, developing nations are making a beeline for the Russian arms market. Judging from preliminary figures and visits this week by several top-ranking foreign officials from Vietnam, Syria and Iraq, this year should prove to be a promising one for Russian arms trade. The first of the delegations to arrive was from Vietnam, last week. Defense Minister Pham van Tra, who was in town for a three-day visit, met his Russian counterpart Igor Sergeyev and top officials from the country's two largest arms mediators - Rosvooruzhenie, Russia's chief arms exporter, and Promexport. He was followed by Syrian President Hafez Assad, who came Monday to try to revive military cooperation with Russia. Assad, like the Vietnamese delegation, declined to comment on the details of Syria's proposed purchase, but news agencies reported he is seeking to buy as much as $2 billion in weaponry, including Russia's new MIG-29 SMT jet fighter. Both Syria and Vietnam are scrambling to modernize their armed forces in order to be able to repel massive air raids similar to those carried out by NATO in Yugoslavia, according to an official at Rosvooruzhenie. Russian-made fighters and air defense systems are most in demand, and their price tags - lower than western equivalents - are attractive to developing nations. "There has been a lot of talk about how Yugoslavia could have defended itself if it had enough S-300 [air defense] systems," the official said in a recent phone interview. In addition to the MiG-29 fighters, Syria is also considering S-300 air defense systems. Damascus is also planning to buy spare parts for its aging fleet of Soviet-made fighters and armored vehicles. Soviet and Russian-made weaponry comprise 90 percent of Syria's arsenal. Assad was given a warm welcome in Moscow. Russian President Boris Yeltsin called him an "old friend" as top arms dealers stood by to take orders. The one potential snag in the deal is the question of Syria's $12 billion dollar debt to Russia, which dates back to Damascus' failure to pay for weapons purchased during the Soviet era. However, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov indicated this week that Mos cow is ready to put its demands for the Soviet-era debt on hold. Indeed, Russia appears eager to take advantage of the current post-Yugoslavia momentum to increase its position as a global arms trader. Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin said as much this week, when he announced that Russia plans to boost its weapons exports in order to expand its global influence as well as to secure funds for its cash-strapped military. But while officials at Rosvooruzhenie may be counting their rubles, U.S. officials are warning Russia that any weapons exports to Syria could hinder U.S. aid to the Kremlin. The United States already slapped sanctions on three Russian arms manufacturers last April for selling arms to Syria - which is included in the U.S. State Department's annual list of nations that sponsor international terrorism. These sanctions have only angered Russia, which appears to be more than ready to cooperate with Syria. "We view these sanctions as an infringement on freedom of trade," said one Rosvooruzhenie official, adding that the agency will "cooperate" with Damascus unless the United Nations decides to impose sanctions. If the U.S. has objections to Syria, it is likely to frown even more on other potential arms deals - namely with Libya and Iraq, both of which are banned from purchasing weapons by a United Nations mandate. Vasily Pankov, director of the Sokol aircraft plant in Nizhny Novgorod, told Interfax this week that Russia is planning to sell Libya several MiG-31 fighter planes. Russia may also modernize the 90 MiG-25s that Libya currently owns, Pankov added. Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was also in town this week seeking to break the UN-mandated ban on its weapons purchases. "It makes no sense to fulfill our obligations when the UN Security Council is not fulfilling its [obligations]. In particular, it doesn't protect Iraq's sovereignty," the Iraqi official told reporters. Russia's overall arms sales will grow this year to total some $3 billion, compared to $2.7 billion sold in 1998, according to Konstantin Makienko, deputy
[CTRL] Gunzin the U.S.
-Caveat Lector- From TheEconomist http://www.economist.co.uk/editorial/freeforall/19990703/index_sf 8740.html Only part is given as the whole article is long and has some nifty multi-colour charts that add to the understanding of the assertions contained therein. AER 3rd July 1999Picture SPECIALArms and the man W A S H I N G T O N ,D C PicturePicture: picture Americas love affair with the gun is the eternal stuff of fiction. It has not always been the stuff of fact PicturePicture: More about Gun control Picture: Resources Search archive RICHARD HENRY LEE, one of the signers of Americas Declaration of Independence, wrote that to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them. This association between guns and liberty seems hard-wired into the American consciousness. It has produced a country with more guns than people. It has made national heroes of the armed frontiersman, the cowboy and Teddy Roosevelt, the president who carried a big stick and a hunting rifle. Above all it has engendered such a powerful cult of the gun that whether you glorify it, fear it or accept it as a necessary evil, hardly anyone questions its basis in fact. Have guns really been an essential part of American life for 400 years? ---Break - *Michael Bellesiless research is in the following works: The Origins of Gun Culture in the United States, 1760 to 1865, The Journal of American History. September 1966; Gun Laws in Early America, Law and History Review. Fall 1998; Lethal Imagination, New York University Press, 1999; and a book to be published by Knopf in 2000. AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] No. Ireland: 07-10-99
-Caveat Lector- From TheNation July 26, 1999 Ulster Must Not Say No See below for background and related information. Northern Ireland's peace process faces its gravest crisis since George Mitchell negotiated the Good Friday accord--graver even than after last summer's bombing in Omagh by a small band of breakaway republicans. This time, it's not marginals but the mainstream of Protestant unionist leadership who have thrown the process into jeopardy, and with it the resolution of Europe's longest-running civil rights struggle and civil war. The Good Friday accords called for Northern Ireland self-government with Catholic-Protestant power-sharing. Disarmament by the IRA and Protestant loyalist paramilitaries was to move forward on an independent track. But unionist leader David Trimble, fending off militant unionist challenges to his leadership and abetted by dodgy language from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, began insisting that the IRA disarm before its Sinn Fein allies could take their elected seats. By the June 30 deadline for forming the new governing body, Trimble had painted himself into a corner. The real culprit is a unionist political vocabulary built since the turn of the century on the slogan "Ulster Says No." To the unionist siege mentality--of people who command a political majority and make up 93 percent of the police but whose power is eroding with Catholic population growth--every compromise by Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein is, in Trimble's words, a "con job." Yet by the end of June Sinn Fein had made an extraordinary commitment to "persuading those with arms to decommission them in accordance with the Agreement." And the IRA itself has sustained its cease-fire in the face of escalating attacks by loyalist paramilitaries, who have staged at least forty-five pipe-bombings against Catholics since January, as well as the bombing murders of civil rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson and Elizabeth O'Neill, a Protestant married to a Catholic. When the deadline passed, Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern went public with a dramatic proposal to begin disarmament shortly after the new government's inauguration on July 15. They hope that a silent majority of Protestants eager for settlement will lure unionist leaders from their rejectionist corner. The Clinton Administration is dangling carrots and raising sticks to preserve its one unalloyed foreign policy triumph, with the President himself lobbying Adams and Trimble. The best hope lies not with political brinkmanship at Stormont Castle but with shifts in both Catholic and Protestant public consciousness aided by meticulously balanced historical reckonings. In the run-up to June's negotiations, a British tribunal reopened an investigation into Bloody Sunday, the 1972 killing of fourteen Catholics by soldiers. A former Royal Ulster Constabulary informant was charged with the 1989 murder of civil rights lawyer Pat Finucane. Loyalist and republican paramilitary prisoners walked free. The IRA released information about those "disappeared" during the seventies. It's as if each historic grievance is an obstacle to be overcome so that negotiations can occur on the terrain of the present. If the new deal succeeds, the power-sharing executive it creates will not alone bring justice to Northern Ireland. As Bernadette Devlin McAliskey warns, it will not bring the united Ireland sought by republicans but an "agreed Ireland" with battles of equity and inclusion still to be fought. Nor will "decommissioning" guarantee peace; the decommissioning debate is about who's a terrorist and political legitimacy. The real guarantor is a distribution of power that all sides find equitable. That can happen only if David Trimble and the unionist community take a leap of faith and consign "Ulster Says No" to history. - --- Background and Related Information Irish News Round-Up RM_Distribution is an electronic news service carrying current Irish Republican news updates and local Northern Irish information and analysis. The site offers subscriptions to a reliable daily news update from Ireland, including activist bulletins, as well as a history of the IRA and a discussion forum. http://irlnet.com/rmlist Newshound Collected articles on Northern Ireland from major US, UK and Irish newspapers and wire services are posted daily on this site, which covers the troubles in Northern Ireland. Also featured are book reviews, Irish history topics and links to the full text of the Good Friday Agreement. http://www.nuzhound.com The Irish Times This site has a link to the Irish Times on the Web, information on breaking news (including up-to-the-minute updates on conflicts arising over the Orange Order marches), a history of the peace process, a description of the Northern Irish electoral process and
[CTRL] Arab Dispossession
-Caveat Lector-
From www.ahram.org/weekly/1998/1948/index.htm
Beyond the introduction {given below} is a list of linked
articles.
1948-1998
Picture: 50 Years
David Ben-Gurion, one of the father founders of Israel, described
Zionist aims in 1948 thus: "A Christian state should be
established [in Lebanon], with its southern border on the Litani
river. We will make an alliance with it. When we smash the Arab
Legion's strength and bomb Amman, we will eliminate Transjordan
too, and then Syria will fall. If Egypt still dares to fight on,
we shall bomb Port Said, Alexandria and Cairo... And in this
fashion, we will end the war and settle our forefathers' account
with Egypt, Assyria, and Aram" *.
50 years after the Arab defeat in the1948 war, which resulted in
the establishment of Israel, many of Ben-Gurion's stated aims can
still be discerned in the language of Israeli and Zionist
leaders. Some modifications have become apparent, in large part
as a result of Arab resistance, but the biblical language in
which Ben-Gurion chose to state his meaning starkly expresses the
deeply-rooted nature of these violent fantasies of conquest and
destruction.
Resistance, in this instance through a better comprehension of
the history of the struggle, as well as the writing of our own
version of it, becomes more necessary than ever. Israel cannot be
allowed to write the history of the past fifty years
unchallenged. It is in this conviction that Al-Ahram Weekly
presents the first in a regular series of articles designed to
document the history and nature of Arab-Israeli struggle, as well
as that of Palestinian dispossession and exile.
AER
~~~
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said
it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your
own reason and your common sense." --Buddha
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
DECLARATION DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
[CTRL] Boox
-Caveat Lector- From http://www.booklineandthinker.com/page12.html Tragedy and Hope by Carroll Quigley Hardbound $39.95 1348 pages As a highly respected professor at Georgetown, Quigley (Surprise! Bill Clinton was one of his students) in this important book (over 20 years in the writing) admits the existence of a powerful conspiracy to rule the world, and the establishment of a New World Order. "This is one of the most important works written by an academic in the last fifty years. Quigley (1910-1977) had access to the critical information of the alliance of Insiders, both in Great Britain and the United States. His revelations provided a tremendous breakthrough that people like Gary Allen and myself were able to utilize in our work as far back as 1971 during the publishing of None Dare Call It Conspiracy. Quigley's book has to be a must on any reading list." Larry Abraham AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substancenot soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Behind the Headlines
-Caveat Lector- PicturePicturePicturePicturePicturePicturePictureP icture July 9, 1999 THE ELITES VERSUS THE INTERNET The elites hate the Internet, and with good reason. In the Information Age, the priesthood of "experts" is debunked and defunct. It used to be that all legitimate news and commentary was filtered through the lens of this self-elected priesthood. No more. Today, thanks to the computer revolution, Everyman is an expert or can quickly become one. The decentralization of knowledge has done more to create "a level playing field" than all the egalitarian schemes in history. But not everyone is happy about it. GOODBYE, MR. KNOW-IT-ALL This revolutionary fact threatens the livelihoods and social status of journalists, academics, policy wonks, and resident know-it-alls the world over, and they are fighting back in the only way they can: with smears and sneers. If disdain were a deadly weapon, Matt Drudge would have long ago died a thousand deaths. SMEARING STRATFOR Dethroned by universal skepticism and rising technology, the former aristocrats of the Age of Gutenberg, who wax nostalgic over carbon paper, are determined to discredit these impudent usurpers with any kind of innuendo they can dig up. Writing in the Washington Post [July 5, 1999], William M. Arkin dredges up the same old charges that have been hurled at freelancers like Drudge: the Internet is nothing but a rumor-mill, and its resident experts and chief practitioners are charlatans all. Exhibit 'A' is a "widely-distributed fake essay," which was supposed to have been written by retired General John Shalikashvili, in which the former head of the Joint Chiefs criticized the Kosovo war. Arkin reveals that the fake letter was pieced together from an analysis by the Strategic Forecasting and Intellgience, known as STRATFOR, a private foreign policy thinktank that operates chiefly over the Internet. He then proceeds to link them to the fake letter, in spite of STRATFOR chairman George Friedman's disclaimer that "we don't need the publicity." "Well, sniffs Arkin, "at least STRATFOR doesn't need bad publicity" and the smears follow fast and furious. THE SINS OF STRATFOR Arkin's fury is rooted not only in technophobia, and a patrician disdain of anything that comes off the Internet: he has a clear ideological agenda. Citing "a number of Pentagon reporters," he complains that the conservative STRATFOR has growing influence among the military. Seeking to mesmerize his audience with the pure evil of the STRATFOR "would-be pundits," Arkin quotes one anonymous journalist who calls their online analysis "the distilled essence of conventional wisdom from a conservative military point of view, all processed in the STRATFOR strategic Cuisinart: KLA bad, Clinton stupid, [General Wesley] Clark too comfortable with diplomats and reporters, Albright trigger-happy." Clinton stupid? KLA bad? How could anyone even entertain such farfetched ideas? DISGRUNTLED AND DISGRACED This anonymous reporter, says Arkin, views STRATFOR as a purveyor of "the simple, and simplistic explanations often popular with disgruntled Washington observers." In the world of the Washington insiders, to be "disgruntled" is akin to being called a crank. And of course there can be no simple explanations, everything is necessarily complex: far too complex for anyone but journalists liberal journalists to figure out. IN GOVERNMENT WE TRUST? Arkin cites Friedman's view that "governments 'ours and theirs' are not trustworthy" with evident distaste. In an era when the lines that used to separate government and journalism are blurred, with the latter frequently taking its marching order from the former or, in Strobe Talbot's case, the latter becoming the former such a view is seen as curiously archaic, like the Latin Mass or the Constitution. ADDING INSULT TO INJURY If this were not enough to completely discount STRATFOR and all its works, we are told that Friedman, adding insult to injury, "abhors Beltway gossip" the Washington Post's stock-in-trade and is skeptical of "expert information." Friedman, in short, is the exact opposite of what the late Murray N. Rothbard called the "court intellectual," who "spins the apologia for the new dispensation in return for wealth, power, and prestige at the hands of the state and it's allied Establishment." In understanding where Arkin and his ilk are coming from, the full citation from Rothbard's classic essay, "Harry Elmer Barnes as Revisionist of the Cold War," in Harry Elmer Barnes, Learned Crusader (Ralph Myles, 1968), is worth quoting: ROTHBARD ON THE COURT INTELLECTUALS "There have been, after all, but two mutually exclusive roles that the intellectual can play and has played through history: either independent truth-seeker, or kept favorite of the Court. Certainly, the historical norm of the old and dead civilization
[CTRL] (Fwd) Compassionate Conservatism?
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date sent: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 08:35:09 -0700 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Compassionate Conservatism"? Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Friday, July 9, 1999 "COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM"? LOUIS DUBOSE, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.texasobserver.org Editor of the Texas Observer, Dubose said: "'Compassionate conservatism' is in fact the same old wine, badly soured, in a shiny New Texas bottle. We are dead last in per capita government spending, 49th in spending on the environment -- while first in pollution." EVA DeLUNA, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.cppp.org Budget and policy analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities, DeLuna said: "Texas has the fifth highest poverty rate -- 3.3 million people, 1.4 million are children. On a per capita basis, Texas spends a negligible amount on natural resources, welfare, libraries, the arts or adult education. Things have changed recently, however -- spending on prisons has increased dramatically in the last decade." ROBERT BRYCE, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.auschron.com In today's Austin Chronicle, reporter Bryce breaks new ground about Gov. George W. Bush's involvement in an influence-buying scandal regarding the world's largest funeral company. Bryce said today: "Bush got $35,000 in contributions from Service Corporation International. It appears Bush then helped them thwart an investigation by the Texas Funeral Service Commission. The former director of the commission, Eliza May, was pressured by Bush's chief of staff and campaign manager Joe Allbaugh. She has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit." BARBARA RENAUD GONZALEZ, [EMAIL PROTECTED] A columnist for the San Antonio Express-News and author of the forthcoming "Mestiza," a personal and political look at the future of Latinos, Gonzalez said: "Bush has used the magic of Spanish to seduce Latinos, but his policies have hurt us. Bush has attended the most exclusive schools in the country, but he doesn't want to pay for ours. Instead, he signed a $2 billion tax cut on property taxes. He betrays democracy by supporting school vouchers which erode diversity and skim the best students. Bush is an avid supporter of the death penalty but he has opposed the right of indigent defendants to adequate legal counsel." CRAIG McDONALD, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.tpj.org Director of the campaign finance reform group Texans for Public Justice, McDonald said: "Bush is clearly the all-time champion of raising money in Texas politics: $16 million in the '94 race, $25 million in the '98 campaign. Much of his money has come from a handful of corporations that have controlled Texas politics for many years: oil and gas, utilities, corporate law firms, the petrochemical industry. Almost half of Bush's '98 war chest came from donations of $10,000 and up. Bush has been responsive to his campaign backers. He got lots of money from the tort 'reform' groups during his first race. As soon as he got into office, he declared tort reform an emergency -- which greased the legislative process, allowing the enactment of a draconian slate of laws that make it difficult for consumers to hold corporations accountable." For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
[CTRL] (Fwd) Pinochet, Democratization
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- The Progressive Response 9 July 1999 Vol. 3, No. 24 Editor: Martha Honey Compiled by: Tim McGivern and Erik Leaver - - The Progressive Response (PR) is a weekly service of Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF), a joint project of the Interhemispheric Resource Center and the Institute for Policy Studies. We encourage written responses to the opinions expressed in PR. - - Table of Contents I. Updates and out-Takes *** THE PINOCHET CASE: AN END TO IMPUNITY? *** by Sarah Anderson *** U.S. DEMOCRATIZATION ASSISTANCE *** by Elizabeth Cohn II. Comments *** THE VANITY AND LAZINESS OF REPORTERS *** *** GRATITUDE *** *** WAS IT WORTH IT? *** - - I. Updates and Out-Takes *** THE PINOCHET CASE: AN END TO IMPUNITY? *** by Sarah Anderson On October 16, 1998, the world was stunned to learn of the arrest in London of Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator who had become an international symbol of ironclad impunity. After numerous failed legal battles, Pinochet remained in British custody as of June 1999, facing possible extradition to Spain, where a judge has indicted him for "crimes against humanity." Even if the Spanish authorities fail to put Pinochet on trial, their efforts must be appreciated as a historic struggle, not only against Pinochet, but in the broader fight for international human rights. Here are a few of the most important implications of the case: 1. Globalization of Human Rights This is the first case in which a national government is charging a former head of state with crimes against humanity. A 1985 Spanish law enables foreigners to be tried in Spain for "crimes against humanity" even though the crimes were committed outside the country. Under this type of "universal jurisdiction" perpetrators of crimes against humanity, including genocide, terrorism, and torture, are considered "enemies of all." One stipulation in the Spanish law is that the case must not have been prosecuted in any other country. The Pinochet case meets this condition because the former dictator granted himself immunity from prosecution in Chile. 2. Broader Definition of Genocide The Spanish judges in charge of the case against Pinochet are attempting to broaden the definition of "genocide" by arguing that Pinochet is guilty of this crime for slaughtering more than 3,000 people--not because of their race or ethnicity but because of their politics. All of the victims were labeled "subversives." 3. Bad Dreams for Dictators The case has unleashed numerous attempts to hold other dictators accountable for their crimes. For example, in France, the courts are considering "Pinocheting" former Haitian ruler Jean Claude Duvalier. Laurent Kabila from the Congo sent an advance team to Brussels to get it in writing that he would not be "Pinocheted" upon his arrival in that country. Only time will tell if Pinochet's fate will make future leaders think twice before committing these types of atrocities. 4. Revealing the Need for U.S. Truth and Reconciliation The U.S. government has failed to take a strong position on the Pinochet case. Although Spanish authorities requested in 1997 that the U.S. government submit materials from its files related to Pinochet, it wasn't until June 30 (just last week) that the U.S. government released the first installment of newly declassified documents related to human rights abuses in Chile from 1973-1978. The release was in response to a February 1, 1999 "tasker" from the National Security Council requesting review and declassification of relevant documents from the CIA, National Archives, and the Departments of Defense, State, and Justice. The release consists of over 5,800 documents, including approximately 5,000 from the Department of State, 490 from the CIA, 200 from the National Archives, 100 from the FBI, and 60 from the Department of Defense. Although the Clinton Administration is to be applauded for taking action, there are strong reasons for concern about CIA compliance. As noted, only 500 documents in this installment were from the CIA. Based on what is already known about relations between the CIA and the Pinochet regime, there are sure to be thousands more in the Agency's files. Unfortunately, the NSC tasker contains language that gives the Agency a loophole by requesting the review of only those documents that are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. This allows the CIA to exempt many of its "operational files" from even being searched. At the request of the Justice Department (DOJ), the government withheld key documents related to the 1976 murders by Pinochet's agents of Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) colleagues Orlando Letelier and Ronni Karpen
[CTRL] Columbia, The Gem of?
-Caveat Lector- Published Friday, July 9, 1999, in the Miami Herald In Colombia, everyday `awful things' stranger than fiction By JUAN O. TAMAYO Herald Staff Writer BOGOTA, Colombia -- One wonders what Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, creator of the magical world of Macondo, would have made of this recent story in the newspaper El Tiempo: Iran's ambassador in Bogota had pledged $2 million to build a slaughterhouse in a remote Colombian town ruled by leftist guerrillas. The beef will be butchered according to Koranic law, and exported to Tehran. Or this one: In a country with a murder rate eight times higher than the United States, the army's 4th Mechanized Group in the northwestern department of Antioquia raffled off a 9mm pistol to raise funds for social activities. Or this: Government officials recently issued two-way radios to two jailed guerrilla chiefs so they could negotiate the recent release of some 80 hostages, including 51 kidnapped by rebels from a church in the midst of Mass. As odd as those stories may appear, none were deemed unusual enough here to appear on the front pages. After half a century of some of the worst political and criminal bloodshed in Latin America, Colombians appear to have grown almost inured to stunning levels of violence, warfare and drug scandals. Thursday, for example, the Colombian army reported intense fighting with guerrillas in a town just 32 miles south of Bogota, but few in the capital showed any sign of knowing or caring. ``Many Colombians consider that this country has always lived in crisis, and that violence is a constant in our history as a nation with which we must coexist,'' wrote El Tiempo columnist Carlos Caballero Argaez. A car bomb with 440 pounds of explosives found and disarmed in Bogota last month got a one-day run on front pages. The radio-controlled bomb appeared to have been aimed at the Bogota chief of police. ``We are so immersed in violence that we are accustomed to it,'' lawyer and kidnap mediator Tomas Moore said. ``Terrible things are commonplace. Awful things are the norm. And every day things get worse.'' Outrageous mayhem In his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, Garcia Marquez reflected some of Colombia's outrageous mayhem -- the war between Liberal and Conservative party bands in the 1930s and '40s is known as La Violencia, The Violence. ``We have had to ask but little of imagination, for our crucial problem has been a lack of conventional means to render our lives believable,'' he said in his Nobel prize acceptance speech in 1984. But even Garcia Marquez might cock a disbelieving eyebrow at some of the strange things that have occurred in Colombia in more recent times. Some unusual types of assaults and kidnappings have become so common that Colombians have given them nicknames that belie their seriousness. Gunmen who kidnap their victims, usually as they emerge from luxury shops, and drive them around to several ATM machines to drain their accounts are said to be taking their prey on ``the millionaire's walk.'' Roadblocks set up by guerrillas and common criminals along rural roads in hopes of kidnapping a passing driver worthy of a good ransom have become known as pescas milagrosas, roughly translated as fishing for miracles. A jesting survey in the news weekly Semana to establish whether readers fit the profile for kidnapping targets asked: ``Do you go to Mass on Sundays?'' and ``Are you Colombian?'' Government licenses Kidnap negotiators are legally required to obtain government licenses and forbidden from accepting any payment, controls designed to stop shady mediators from acting in cahoots with the abductors to drive up the ransoms. And a U.S. State Department warning to Americans traveling to Colombia noted that local thieves have been walking up to foreigners and blowing little packets of a drug into their faces. The drug, scopolamine, briefly disorients the victims and allows the crooks to escape with their wallets or purses, according to the Nov. 20 Consular Information Sheet. Colombia's narcotics industry has provided its share of peculiar stories. One leader of the National Liberation Army, a guerrilla group heavy on Marxist ideology, was revealed to have been betrayed to police by a lover who suffered an emotional crisis after a dayslong cocaine binge. The rebel, Francisco Galan, one of the radio-toting prisoners who negotiated the hostage releases with his brethren in the mountains, was convicted of subversion, murder and possession of narcotics. The U.S. government last month put Cali's America soccer team on a no-visa list because of its alleged ownership by front men for the Cali Cartel's leaders, brothers Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela. On soccer team board And Colombian drug prosecutors today sit on the board of a Bogota soccer team, Millonarios, after seizing
[CTRL] Compound Cleansers
-Caveat Lector- From SF Chronicle NATO Bombing Left Serbian City in Toxic Nightmare Refinery, fertilizer plant and petrochemical complex destroyed Mark Fineman, Los Angeles Times Tuesday, July 6, 1999 ©1999 San Francisco Chronicle URL: http://www.commondreams.org/kosovo/kosovo.htm They call it ``The Night of the Witches,'' those horrible hours that began at precisely 1 a.m. April 18, when NATO bombs and missiles rained in force on Pancevo. Within seconds, the attack demolished a refinery, a fertilizer plant and an American-built petrochemical complex that released a toxic cloud so dense and potentially lethal that its effects can be felt here even today -- and will be, perhaps, for decades to come. A thick, grayish-white fog containing concentrations of carcinogenic vinyl chloride monomer that were 10,600 times above human- safety limits had settled over the city at dawn and finally cleared only at nightfall on a day of horror the townsfolk have named for the Serbian equivalent of Halloween. Nearly three months after NATO's devastating air strike here -- and almost a month after it dropped the last bomb of its air war on Yugoslavia -- here's a glimpse of the enduring environmental nightmare in and around the targets the alliance left behind: -- Physicians in this city just 10 miles northeast of Belgrade have privately recommended that all women in town that night avoid pregnancy for at least the next two years. Women who were less than nine weeks' pregnant in mid-April were advised to obtain abortions; doctors say most have complied. -- The canal leading from Pancevo's South Zone Industrial Complex is still awash with vinyl chloride, even after much of the 100 tons of cancer-causing chemical that were released from the Petro Hemija factory that night already have mixed into the waters, the riverbed and most likely the food chain of the mighty Danube River. -- The ground in and around Pancevo is saturated with ammonia, mercury, naphtha, acids, dioxins and other toxins that leaked and burned out of the factories that night, raising yet-unanswered questions about their long-term impact on a city now struggling with day-to-day survival. ``Only in the next two years or 20 can I tell you what the full consequences of that night will be,'' Pancevo's pro-democracy Mayor Srdjan Mikovic said yesterday. ``I'm afraid you will find a lot of our people in the oncology ward fighting cancer, or perhaps in the hematology department or centers for respiratory diseases, or perhaps in the morgue. But for today, it's enough to worry just how to get through the summer and the cold winter that lies ahead.'' Although perhaps the most dramatic, Pancevo is hardly alone among the many environmental disasters that are legacies of NATO's war on Yugoslavia -- 78 days of aerial assaults on power plants, factories, fuel refineries and storage tanks. The alliance said these attacks were intended to ``degrade'' Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's nation and war machine. The phones still are ringing wildly in Dr. Slobodan Tosovic's office at Belgrade's Public Institute of Health, where the chief ecotoxicologist fields questions and complaints from throughout the nation. Municipal officials in the opposition-ruled town of Kragujevac in the south, for example, are begging for permission to flush out a lagoon poisoned by PCBs, which were released from a power plant that NATO bombed. ``It's enough to make me believe the Americans and NATO were making a biochemical experiment with us,'' said Tosovic. But he downplays the short-term toxic impact of the war. ``The fact is, we were quite lucky,'' Tosovic said. ``We have the capacity to clean up the channel in Pancevo, and already we've cleaned up the worst-hit areas of the Danube and other rivers. There are no lasting air-pollution problems. And last week, we lifted the fishing ban on the Danube.'' Initial tests of crops and farm animals, he said, have shown only marginal levels of toxicity, although he cautioned that ongoing DNA testing of embryos and seeds to determine the longer-term genetic impact of dioxins and other pollutants on the food chain will not be completed until the fall. The Serbian Health Ministry, which include Tosovic's department, also has issued an urgent advisory to physicians, urging them to stop recommending abortions and birth control -- an issue with broad political and sociological implications in a nation where 10 years of war-induced poverty among delicately balanced ethnic groups already have sent Serbian birthrates plunging. ©1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page A8 From Chicago Tribune SERBS ALLEGE NATO RAIDS CAUSED TOXIC CATASTROPHE BOMBED REFINERIES, PLANTS SPEWED STEW OF POISONS, THEY SAY By Uli Schmetzer Tribune Foreign Correspondent July 08, 1999 PANCEVO, Yugoslavia Dragomir Djuric says he has been fishing the Tamis River for 48
[CTRL] Great Society '99 Tour
-Caveat Lector- From www.mises.org The Magical Government Tour By LLEWELLYN H. ROCKWELL, JR. [posted July 9, 1999] The press puppy-dogged Bill Clinton as he traveled the country exploiting the troubles of others to pad his legacy. Oozing the compassion that he kept under wraps as he bombed civilians in Serbia, Clinton announced that he plans to use the power of the federal government to fix up dilapidated housing and schools and inspire a renewal of economic growth. This is political agitprop. Indeed, news clips from his tour to troubled spots around the country looked like a Soviet propaganda film. America pretends to be wealthy, but look at the squalor and suffering kept under wraps! The rich are getting richer, while the poor suffer in silence! The press ate it up. "There was a bit of magic in Mr. Clinton's trip," wrote Jeanne Cummings of the Wall Street Journal in a story purporting to report the news. But the only magic is that anyone takes this nonsense seriously. Think about Clinton's claim: he and his friends are sure there is money to be made in these places. Corporate America, for reasons of prejudice or simple stupidity, doesn't understand this. To prove his point, he will offer tax incentives and investment guarantees for any business that invests in impoverished areas. But wait a minute. If there are profits to be made, why are government investment guarantees and regulatory favors needed? In fact, free enterprise has proven itself quite capable of sniffing out profit opportunities, while bureaucrats are worse than useless at this. And think about this: Clinton has spent his lifetime in government, and knows nothing about business except how to regulate it, tax it, and hit up its owners for campaign contributions. Here's Clinton on business economics: "If you have people who want to go to work and people with money to spend and they're both in the same place, it's a good place to invest." Spoken like a true central planner. Notice, however, that he is not committing his own savings; he wants to enlist the public to back the investments of other people. And if such favors are necessary to bring investment to a place, doesn't that suggest that the profits to be had there are marginally more risky than elsewhere? Yes it does. And who is going to bear this risk? Taxpayers of America, that's where you come in. Your pocketbooks are being tapped again to fix up places that politicians, not free markets, think are important. In truth, government never brought prosperity anywhere; only unhampered (and unaided) free enterprise does that. Public policy only works to redistribute wealth. For evidence, see the previous incarnations of Clinton's "New Market Initiative." In the 1960s, it was the War on Poverty and Urban Renewal. In the 1970s, it was UDAG grants and public housing. In the 1980s, it was Enterprise Zones, just as it was Empowerment Zones in the 1990s. It's always the same racket: taxpayers are looted in the name of economic uplift, resulting in wealth redistribution and poverty perpetuation. Most fundamentally, the underlying assumption behind Clinton's tour is all wrong. There is a reason why the areas Clinton visited are poor, and it is not because they are being irrationally "overlooked" by business. In Kentucky, the labor unions destroyed many mining towns. In urban areas, welfare and crime conspired to sap these places of economic energy. On Indian reservations, look no farther than the socialist governments that control these places, thanks to vast and everlasting federal subsidies and regulations. Places like East St. Louis, Watts, rural Mississippi, and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation should be on the National Tour of Government Failure. These places aren't "neglected." Their problems are largely due to the lavish attention politicians like Clinton have paid to them over the years. If there are signs of hope, it is due to a handful of brave entrepreneurs, not the bureaucrats from HUD and the Agriculture Department that Clinton had in tow. On the ideological front, and true to his political style, Clinton wants to have it both ways. He wants to claim that he is a friend to free enterprise while calling on the surgical "tools" of government to fine-tune the local economy. In this way, he can avoid the charge that he is repeating the errors of his predecessors. But while he may not talk about the glories of public housing and UDAG grants, his proposals are just welfare in the guise of bank credit instead of outright spending. It is no less unsustainable than the Great Society. Congress should tell him to let America's poor communities alone so that they will have a chance to recover from the last ten thousand times politicians tried to help them. Notice that Washington, D.C., wasn't on his Magical Government Tour. And yet there are few places in the country with more squalor,
[CTRL] (Fwd) ZNet Commentary July 9 Marc Weisbrot
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- -- Fed's Pre-emptive Strike Is Aimed at Workers By Marc Weisbrot The Fed launched a "pre-emptive strike" this week against an unseen enemy -- inflation -- by raising interest rates one-quarter percentage point. With inflation at its lowest level in 30 years (2.1%), why would the Fed want to start down a path that could cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs, slow the growth of wages, and raise the cost of borrowing to millions of home owners and consumers?The Fed's rationale is that labor markets have gotten "too tight." For most Americans, the idea of labor markets being "too tight" makes about as much sense as the air getting "too clean" or people being "too happy." They have a hard time understanding the hidden dangers of increasing job opportunities and paychecks. But the Fed has a theory in which this all makes sense. The Fed's theory says that if unemployment gets "too low," employees will begin to demand higher wages and salaries. That could cause employers to raise prices, leading to more wage demands. The Fed's great fear is that an "inflationary wage-price spiral" will spin out of control. There has never been much evidence to support this theory. Some have argued that the Fed is still fighting the last war -- the inflation of the 1970s. But even that inflation was the result of rising oil prices, not tight labor markets. Previous bouts with inflation in the United States have generally resulted from wars or other external events. The holes in the Fed's theory have been getting bigger and more numerous each year, to the point where there is hardly anything left of it. Until four years ago the Fed (along with most prominent economists) thought that 6 or 6.25 percent was as low as unemployment could fall without accelerating inflation. That part of the theory has gone straight to the trash heap, as unemployment has fallen to 4.2 percent while inflation has actually declined. The structure of our economy has also changed since the Fed fought its last battles against inflation twenty years ago. There is a good deal more competition, especially from the international economy. While the majority of employees have not benefited from this increased competition -- their real wages have been declining for more than two decades -- it does make it more difficult for companies to raise prices. The Fed has recognized some of these changes but doesn't seem to know how to reconcile them with its dogma. According to the minutes of its February meeting, a number of Fed policy makers "suggested that the inflation process was not well understood and that inflation forecasts were subject to a wide range of uncertainty." The New York Times aptly noted that this was "like a conference of top cardiac surgeons deciding that it did not really know how the heart works." Last year the Fed lowered interest rates by three-quarters of a point, in response to instability in the international financial system. And Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has also been afraid that raising interest rates might tank a stock market that he knows is highly overvalued -- he does not want to get blamed for a crash. But he seemed to be preparing the public for this possibility in his last speech: he noted that the bursting of a financial bubble "need not be catastrophic," and that the stock market crash of 1987 "left little lasting imprint on the American economy." The Fed argues that we can't wait until we can actually see inflation rising before taking action to slow down the economy and wage growth. A host of soothing metaphors in the business press, such as "tapping on the brakes," or bring the economy in for "a soft landing" have substituted for evidence and logic in shoring up the Fed's argument. But the real threat to our economy is not from rising wages but rising interest rates. The conventional wisdom has it backwards: by the time the Fed has done its damage, it will be too late (as in 1990) to avoid a painful recession. We need a pre-emptive strike, all right -- not against inflation, but against the Fed. Mark Weisbrot is Research Director at the Preamble Center and a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute, in Washington, D.C. AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than
[CTRL] Fanciful Finance
-Caveat Lector- From www.cbpp.org PicturePicture Revised July 2, 1999 Much of the Projected Non-Social Security Surplus Is a Mirage Large Majority of Surplus Rests on Assumptions of Deep Cuts in Discretionary Programs that Are Unlikely to Occur by Sam Elkin and Robert Greenstein Congressional Budget Office figures released today indicate that the substantial majority of the surplus projected outside Social Security is essentially artificial because it depends on unrealistic assumptions that large, unspecified cuts will be made in discretionary programs over the next 10 years. When the more realistic assumption is made that total non-emergency expenditures for the discretionary part of the budget will neither be cut nor increased, and will simply stay even with inflation, nearly three-fourths of the projected non-Social Security surplus disappears. (An even larger share of the projected surplus vanishes if emergency spending is taken into account. Some discretionary expenditures designated as emergency spending this year do not really represent responses to short-term emergencies; they constitute expenditures that policymakers are likely to continue.) The new CBO projections released today show that under current law, the federal government will begin running surpluses in the non-Social Security budget in fiscal year 2000 and will run cumulative non-Social Security surpluses of $996 billion over the next 10 years. But these projections like those OMB issued Monday assume that total expenditures for discretionary programs, including defense expenditures, will remain within the austere and politically unrealistic "caps" the 1997 budget law set on such programs.(1) To remain within the FY 2000 caps will entail cutting discretionary programs billions of dollars below the FY 1999 level. No one expects this to occur. Leaders of both parties have acknowledged that a number of appropriations bills cannot pass unless funding for these programs is restored. The caps for FY 2001 and 2002 are even more unrealistic than the FY 2000 cap; the caps for those years are significantly lower than the FY 2000 cap when inflation is taken into account. Moreover, the CBO and OMB projections assume that for years after 2002, total expenditures for discretionary programs will remain at the level of the severe cap for FY 2002, adjusted only for inflation in years after FY 2002. This means the surplus projections assume levels of discretionary program expenditures for fiscal years 2001 through 2009 that are lower, when inflation is taken into account, than the highly unrealistic FY 2000 cap that almost certainly will not be met. Moreover, both parties have proposed significant increases in defense spending in coming years. Defense spending constitutes about half of overall discretionary expenditures. In addition, legislation enacted last year requires increases in highway spending in coming years. CBO must issue budget projections based on current law. The discretionary spending caps are current law. CBO has acted appropriately developing its projections. But policymakers who act as though the $1 trillion in non-Social Security surpluses projected over the next 10 years all represents new funds that can go for tax cuts or program expansions appear to misunderstand the meaning of the projections. Because they rest on the assumption that discretionary expenditures will be held to the levels of the discretionary caps, the new CBO projections assume that over the next 10 years, discretionary spending will be reduced $584 billion below current (i.e., FY 1999) levels of non-emergency discretionary spending, adjusted for inflation. (A CBO table prepared this week shows the $584 billion figure.) Since defense spending is widely expected to rise, all of these $584 billion in cuts would have to come from non-defense programs, primarily domestic programs. Achieving cuts of this magnitude in domestic discretionary programs would be unprecedented and would dwarf the cuts Congress was able to pass in these programs when the nation was mired in large deficits. Cutting federal expenditures results in lower levels of debt. The $584 billion in discretionary program reductions assumed in the CBO baseline are projected to generate approximately $150 billion in additional savings through lower interest payments on the debt. Consequently, the reductions in discretionary programs that the CBO projections assume result in total savings of approximately $735 billion over the next 10 years. These $735 billion in assumed savings account for all of the non-Social Security surplus through 2001 and approximately 74 percent or nearly three-fourths of the non-Social Security surplus projected over the next 10 years. Since most or all of these cuts are very unlikely to materialize, the majority of the surplus projected in the non-Social
[CTRL] Purchasing Power
-Caveat Lector- From www.publicampaign.org - THE COIN-OPERATED CONGRESS Ellen S. Miller and Micah L. Sifry (Posted June 30, 1999) Two weeks ago, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called on the Supreme Court to rule that the $1000 individual contribution limit to candidates is unconstitutionally low. Arguing that the limit had not been adjusted for inflation, McConnell came out with the campaign finance non sequitur of the year. "Clearly, there has been an enormous erosion of purchasing power over the last 25 years," McConnell said. Really? We think the purchasing power of campaign contributions is as solid as ever. Here are some recent examples you might have missed between saturation coverage of President Clintons impeachment and the war in Kosovo. On March 10, the House Banking Committee adopted an amendment that will force banks to disclose their automated teller machine fees or risk not being able to charge for those transactions. Banks make almost $2 billion a year from ATM fees, which average $1.27 even though it costs banks only about 25 cents per transaction. So it must have been with a sigh of relief that the banking community saw the proposal from Rep. Marge Roukema (R-NJ) and Rep. John LaFalce (D-NY) sail through the committee by a 48-1 vote. After all, it replaced a far tougher proposal by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to abolish ATM surcharges entirely, which states like Connecticut and Iowa have done with no harm to consumers. Of course, commercial banks give heavily to most members of the House Banking Committee. In 1997-98, individuals and PACs connected to the commercial banking industry were the #1 contributors to both Roukema and LaFalce. In April, Reps. Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Ed Bryant (R-TN) introduced a bill to extend patent protection for Claritin, the allergy drug, manufactured by Schering-Plough, and six other drugs. The company sold about $1.9 billion worth of Claritin in 1998. The bill would extend the company's exclusive patent from 2002 to 2005, preventing any generic manufacturers from entering the market. Generic drugs generally costs consumers anywhere between 30 and 60 percent less than the marquee brands. In the 1998 cycle, individual and PAC contributions from Schering-Plough were Bryants single largest source of campaign contributions and McDermotts second largest. The biggest victims of the Y2K millennium bug are likely to be small businesses stuck with outmoded software. Instead of taking steps to aid them, the main bill moving through Congress, S-96, limits their rights to collect damages and grants relief to software manufacturers and vendors-including those who may have done nothing to address the problem. Existing liability laws offer plenty of protections for businesses that might be sued, The New York Times editorialized in opposition. The larger worry is that the prospect of immunity could dissuade equipment and software makers from making the effort to correct the millennium-bug problem. The leading sponsors of S-96, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chris Dodd (D-CT) and John McCain (R-AZ) are, respectively the #3, #11 and #12 top Senate recipients of computer industry contributions from 1993-98. Every year, approximately 650,000 Americans get hurt on the job-not from accidents and related hazards-but from the simple physical demands of their work. Experts in ergonomics say that most of these injuries can be prevented, saving businesses $15-20 billion a year in workers compensation costs and perhaps another $45-60 billion in indirect health care costs. In early February, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it was moving toward establishing ergonomics standards for jobs in general industry, covering some 25 million workers in baking, sewing, meat-packing and package handling or on assembly lines. At the behest of the National Coalition on Ergonomics, a business group, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) is pushing legislation that would require completion of a study on ergonomics by the National Academy of Sciences before any regulations could take effect. But the NAS has already studied the matter, finding that workplace risk factors do promote health problems and ergonomics programs can reduce these risks. NCE members gave a whopping $8.2 million in PAC money to congressional candidates in 1997-98, eighty-five percent to Republicans, including at least $25,000 to Blunt. Since the passage of the Telecommunications Act in 1996, cable consumers have seen their bills rise about 21 percent, almost four times the inflation rate. This has occurred with the approval of the Federal Communications Commission, under the dubious theory that cable companies need the extra revenues to deal with new competition. According to Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union, the average
[CTRL] (Fwd) Poverty of Ideas?
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- Date sent: Wed, 07 Jul 1999 10:44:09 -0700 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Poverty of Ideas? Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * [EMAIL PROTECTED] __ Wednesday, July 7, 1999 POVERTY OF IDEAS? As President Clinton tours poor areas of the United States, analysts are available to comment on past and future policy choices: MIMI ABRAMOVITZ, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Professor at the School of Social Work at Hunter College and author of "Regulating the Lives of Women," Abramovitz said: "It's positive, and long overdue, that Clinton is addressing these issues, but to be saying that you want to deal with poverty while you're calling welfare 'reform' a success is rather disingenuous. While the welfare rolls have dropped sharply, studies indicate that many have simply joined the ranks of the working poor. They now have jobs that are paying below poverty wages, without benefits or affordable child care; moreover, states have been 'forgetting' to tell them that they are still eligible for Medicaid and food stamps." JAMES K. GALBRAITH, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://utip.gov.utexas.edu Author of "Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay" and professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Galbraith said: "It is good that Clinton is going out and calling attention to these issues, but some of the suggestions are flawed. If you build a base of incomes and social and physical infrastructure, then business activity develops, but if you throw business activity in a region where that does not exist, then you have a sweatshop phenomenon. What is needed is housing assistance, public services, money to improve schools and the environment, and income support such as through the earned income tax credit and a higher minimum wage." GEORGE FRIDAY, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Friday is a member of the Grassroots Policy Project and a low-income activist. She said: "If it wasn't for NAFTA, hundreds of thousands of jobs would not have left the U.S., creating more poverty. If there were minimal protections for migrant workers, then we wouldn't have the depth of poverty that we have. If North Carolina, where I live, wasn't a 'right to work' state, people could do collective bargaining and have the guarantee of organized workplaces. As it is, they can be fired at will. What you have now are people who are afraid of losing jobs, so they don't push for better conditions and safety at their workplaces." ROBERT J. S. ROSS, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Professor of Sociology at Clark University and author of the forthcoming "Hearts Starve: The New Sweatshops in Global Context," Ross said: "What the president's tour highlights is that there are really important pockets of poverty in the country. Full employment is the single most important thing in lifting people out of poverty, and the president seems to understand that. But a rising tide lifts boats unequally. While poverty is falling, income inequality remains at post-war highs... Using tax incentives just moves investment around. Spot subsidies have not proved to be terribly efficient inside of nations." For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a
[CTRL] Go Long ... Go Lon ... Golan
-Caveat Lector- From http://www.security-policy.org/papers/1999/99-D76.html Publications of the Center for Security Policy No. 99-D 76 - --- DECISION BRIEF 6 July 1999 The Next U.S. Peacekeeping 'Boot' To Drop: The Golan Heights? (Washington, D.C.): The full costs of President Clinton's latest diversion of the U.S. military into a distant and highly problematic peacekeeping operation have not yet been properly estimated, let alone paid for. It is a safe bet, however, that the tab for the Kosovo mission will turn out to be very high, costing the Pentagon billions of dollars that are desperately needed to restore its troops' present combat readiness and provide for that needed in the future. Given this backdrop, it is little wonder that the Clinton Administration hopes that it can quietly get the United States committed to another, similarly open-ended peacekeeping mission -- a mission that is, if anything, even more fraught with danger and potentially costly risks than that underway in the Balkans today. Mission Impossible? For at least five years, the Clinton team has sought to lubricate negotiations between Israel and Syria, and increase the prospects that they would produce a "peace" agreement, by offering to assign U.S. troops the task of guarding (or "monitoring") the strategic plateau between the two countries known as the Golan Heights. The theory is that Israel would feel more comfortable relinquishing physical control of high ground that has long been recognized as critical to its security if American forces were in place there. This theory appears about to be put to the test. Ehud Barak, who was finally installed today as Israel's Prime Minister, has made it clear that he intends to make the completion of a treaty with Syria a top priority. In point of fact, the governing coalition he has painstakingly cobbled together appears to have only one common denominator: A determination to make "peace" with Israel's Arab neighbors on whatever terms are necessary. In the case of Syria, that means paying the price long demanded by the Syrian despot, Hafez Assad -- the surrender of the Golan Heights captured by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War. In his inimitable fashion, Assad -- long recognized as one of the most cunning and ruthless dictators in the Middle East (which is saying something) -- has responded by combining laudatory public comments about Barak with an arms-shopping spree in Moscow.(1) There he hopes to purchase new fighter jets, tanks and other military hardware that might prove useful should he wish to launch future attacks on Israel once the Golan Heights are restored to Syrian control. What is at Stake Those who favor Israeli territorial concessions to Syria often argue that an American deployment on the Golan would mitigate against such a danger in several ways: First, they suggest that U.S. peacekeepers would ensure that Israel continues to receive the sort of early warning and other critical intelligence about Syrian military activities the Jewish State has collected from installations on the Heights over the past thirty-two years. Second, they have implied that American forces would serve, at a minimum, as a "trip-wire" with which Syria would have to reckon were it to decide once again to mount an attack against Israel from this vantage point. And third, some have even argued that the U.S. deployment could be sufficiently large and powerful to defend the plateau -- and, therefore, the Galilean valley below it -- against a determined Syrian attack. Unfortunately for the advocates of an American mission on the Golan, none of these propositions stands up to close scrutiny. In fact, in 1994, a blue-ribbon group sponsored by the Center for Security Policy carefully considered each argument for deploying U.S. troops on the Golan and found them to be seriously defective.(2) This group, whose eleven members included five distinguished four-star general officers (notably, former Chiefs of Naval Operations Admirals Carl Trost and Elmo Zumwalt and former Marine Corps Commandant Al Gray),(3) determined that: If Israel withdraws on or from the Golan, it will be required to adopt measures to compensate to the extent possible for the military risks inherent in relinquishing the territory. It will have to consider: Investment in more surveillance assets, higher sustained readiness for air and other forces, a larger standing army, and means and methods to increase the speed of military mobilization. All such measures entail large costs -- political and societal as well as financial. A U.S. force deployment to the Golan will not significantly reduce those costs. One of the dangers of such a deployment is that it may create a false sense of security in Israel and discourage the investments necessary to address such risks. This
[CTRL] KLA Konnexion
-Caveat Lector- From FreeRepublic **CIA/NATO + KLA*** Foreign Affairs Opinion (Published) Keywords: HEROIN DEALING Source: Janes, Wall Street Journal et al Published: July 6 Author: Michael C. Ruppert Posted on 07/06/1999 23:14:10 PDT by Bluegoose ***KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY AND ALBANIAN SPONSORS HAVE WELL DOCUMENTED ROOTS IN THE HEROIN TRADE*** = The Drug Trade is Entrenched in NATO Politics. An exceptional record of respected media sources from the U.S. and Europe have documented that the Kosovo Liberation Army and their Albanian sponsors are heroin financed organized crime groups, struggling to dominate the flow of middle eastern heroin into Europe and even the Eastern United States. The Christian Science Monitor reported on Oct 20, 1994: "Disrupted by the Yugoslav conflict, drug trafficking across the Balkans is making a comeback as Albanian mafia barons carve out a new smuggling route to Western Europe, bypassing the peninsula's war zones, according to United Nations and other narcotics experts." To document the increase in traffic through the Albanian Kosovar region, The Monitor continued, "For example, just 14 pounds of hard drugs were seized by Hungarian police in 1990, but by August this year (1994), the figure has risen to 1,304 pounds." In describing the then evolving trade, which was coming to be dominated by Kosovar Albanians, The Monitor added, "But European police chiefs fear the conduit will strengthen Kosovar Albanian drug syndicates--some of the most powerful on the continent--whose tentacles have stretched as far as the East coast of the United States . ." "From their base in Velki Trnovac in southern Serbia, dubbed the 'Medellin of the Balkans,' Albanian mafia chiefs oversee their European drug operation and are suspected of master-minding the new Balkan route." COLOMBIA IN THE BALKANS The highly respected Jane's Intelligence Review from Great Britain, went much deeper in predicting the coming crisis in a Feb. 1, 1995 article entitled, The Balkan Medellin." The three paragraphs from that article are so compelling we reprint them here in their entirety. "The Albanian-dominated region of western Macedonia accounts for a disproportionate share of Macedonia's (FYROM), shrinking GDP. This situation has strengthened Albanophobic sentiment among the ethnic Macedonian majority, especially as a great deal of revenue is thought to derive from Albanian narco-terrorism as well as associated gun-running and cross-border smuggling to and from Albania, Bulgaria and the Kosovo province of Serbia. "Although its extent and forms remain in dispute, this rising Albanian economic power is helping to turn the Balkans into a hub of criminality. "Previously transported to Western Europe through former Yugoslavia heroin from Turkey, the transcaucus and points further east is now being increasingly routed to Italy via the Black Sea, Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia. This is a development that has strengthened the Albania mafia which is now thought to control 70% of the illegal heroin market in Germany and Switzerland. Closely allied to the powerful Sicilian mafia, the Albanian associates have also greatly benefited from the presence of large numbers of mainly Kosovar Albanians in a number of western European countries,Switzerland alone now has over 100,000 Albanian residents. As well as provided a perfect cover for Albanian criminals, this diaspora is also a useful source of income for racketeers... If left unchecked this growing Albanian narco-terrorism could lead to a Colombian syndrome in the Southern Balkans or the emergence of a situation in which the Albanian mafia becomes powerful enough to control one or more states in the region. In practical terms, this will involve either Albania or Macedonia or both. Politically this is now being done by channeling growing foreign exchange (forex) profits from narco-terrorism into local governments and political parties." "In Albania, the ruling Democratic Party (DP) led by President Sali Berisha is now widely suspected of tacitly tolerating and even directly profiting from drug trafficking for wider politico-economic reasons namely financing of secessionist political parties and other groupings in Kosovo and Macedonia." These four-year-old evaluations along with an abundance of other evidence of Albanian-Kosovar mafia expansion paint a whole new picture of what is really happening in Kosovo. Clearly Serbia is legitimately defending itself from an organized crime syndicate taking control of one of its provinces. How powerful is the Albanian mafia? Well, as far back as 1985, it was powerful enough to frighten New York U.S. Attorney Rudy Giulliani who, according to a Wall Street Journal story dated September 9, was receiving special personal protection after prosecuting a heroin case in New York City
[CTRL] Freeee-do-o-o-m!!!
-Caveat Lector- From http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/colm/wayne07041999.htm Degradation of independence by Wayne Woodlief Sunday, July 4, 1999 On this Independence Day, we aren't really as free as we think we are, or want to be. In America, at the cusp of a new century, money rules - from our politics to the place we live. What does freedom, the freedom that our forefathers wrenched from the British by asserting independence 223 years ago, mean to me? At first, I thought, freedom means freedom to choose, freedom to find the kind of job you like, to buy the kind of medicine that will make you well; freedom to dream of owning a fine house in a good neighborhood; to send your kids to the schools where they have a chance to learn and thrive; freedom to choose whom you want to represent you in government. But hold on. Almost all those freedoms are limited by how much is in your wallet, and by the enormous income chasm of the '90s, with some making millions overnight in the stock market while others work two jobs to make ends meet. Just ask those folks who are being gentrified out of South Boston and the South End, priced out of neighborhoods their parents and grandparents once could afford. And a quarter of a million dollars might get you a decent place in suddenly hot Jamaica Plain. Pick the best schools? Hard to do, even if your city gets a neighborhood-oriented school assignment plan. Real freedom is the freedom to get into a charter school, but there aren't nearly enough of those. Or the freedom to choose a private school, but those are beyond the means of many parents. And thus it will continue to be, as long as the special interests and public-school lobbyists block school voucher systems. Freedom to buy the miracle medicines on the market now? Only if you're among the lucky few whose health maintenance organizations don't severely cap your prescription benefits, and thus give you some truly grim choices: Miss your mortgage payment or stint on your meds; get your husband's prescription now and yours next week; maybe skip both. Freedom isn't free. As for picking our political leaders, who can doubt anymore that big money, especially in presidential races and in the overweening influence of the special interests in the legislative branch, has handcuffed our freedom to choose? Texas Gov. George W. Bush - untested on national issues, a man with less than five years experience in any public office, a governor whose grasp of some state issues is not all that great according to some Texas journalists - is now the odds-on favorite to be our next president. One big reason why is the huge expense of campaigning now - especially with so many big state primaries that require major TV ads, such as New York's and California's, all crammed together next year - and Bush's ability to pay. He raised a record $36 million in the first six months of 1999. That's 1-1/2 times what all 10 of Bush's opponents raised, and $6 million more than the combined take of Vice President Al Gore and his Democratic opponent, Bill Bradley. Pundits are predicting that some of Bush's rivals, candidates with ideas and passion, may be priced out of the race before the first ballots are cast. That's democracy? That's freedom? We won't know until July 15 where all that cash for George W.'s campaign is coming from. That's the deadline for the candidates to file their formal fund-raising reports. But it's a safe bet that a lot of those contributions came from the oil, banking and insurance industries, from HMOs, from corporate chieftains and their lieutenants all over America; all anxious to gain access to the hottest political property on the scene, to hasten the Bush Restoration in the (White) House that Clinton soiled. Still, there's one candidate Bush's money won't scare off, one who has decided that, win or lose, he'll make reforming our rotten system of campaign finance a major theme of his campaign. That's U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Never mind that he has raised $4.1 million, dwarfed by Bush but ahead of everybody else in the Republican race, largely because he has clout as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. McCain is hellbent on changing the system. He and Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wisc.) are trying again this year to pass a bill to curb unregulated so-called ``soft money'' distributed through the two national parties. The bill also tightens disclosure rules and restricts the duplicitous, so-called ``issue ads'' that corporate and union money have paid to help favored candidates in the past. And - even as Bush hints he'll probably refuse federal matching money so that he can spend without limit - McCain, Feingold and Bradley are connecting the dots to show how special-interest money often kills popular legislation. In a series of Senate speeches, Feingold has been ``calling the
[CTRL] Sovereignty
-Caveat Lector- From http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_williams/19990707_xcwwi_stat e_sove.shtml State sovereignty - --- © 1999 Creators Syndicate, Inc. Reading an article in this April's Chronicles magazine, "Cajuns Uncaged," made my day. Last October, by nearly a 60 percent majority, Louisianians approved Amendment 1 to their state constitution. Amendment 1 declares: "The people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free and sovereign state; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled." Louisiana's amendment would be entirely unnecessary if the White House, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court didn't have disdain for the U.S. Constitution. What the citizens of Louisiana seek is already part of the protections found in our Constitution. The Ninth Amendment reads, "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." The 10th Amendment reads, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Both the Ninth and 10th Amendments are held in the deepest contempt and disrespect by the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court. Why? Because these amendments were written to protect against consolidation of power by the federal government. Dismissal of the Ninth and 10th Amendments allows Congress to control our schools, mandate speed limits, and require employment and college admissions quotas, as well as other forms of Washington tyranny. Today, little states can do nothing without Washington's permission. That was not the Framers' vision. What would Williams do if he were Louisiana governor with such a mandate from the people? I would write Congress, stating that Louisiana citizens are reclaiming their rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Respecting the Constitution and disobeying Congress would surely invite retaliation. Congress might threaten to cut off Medicaid reimbursements and highway-construction funds if Louisiana didn't follow their dictates. Faced with congressional threats, I would go to the state legislature to establish a law enabling the state treasurer to establish a federal tax escrow account. All Louisiana citizens and businesses with federal tax obligations would be required by law to make those payments to Louisiana's federal tax escrow account. From that account, Louisiana citizens' federal obligations (income, profit and excise taxes) would periodically be sent to Washington. Then I'd send Congress another letter, informing them that if they retaliate against Louisiana citizens for obeying the Constitution by cutting off, say, $10 billion worth of Medicaid reimbursements or highway construction funds, we're simply going to reduce by $10 billion our periodic payments of tax obligations to Washington. You say, "Hey, Williams, things could get pretty nasty after that!" You're right and Congress might use armed force. "Governor" Williams would ask Louisianians just how far they are willing to go and what they're willing to sacrifice to protect those precious rights the Framers sought to guarantee by our Constitution. You say, "Williams, have you lost your marbles, challenging a powerful federal government?" I haven't lost my marbles any more than James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and others lost theirs. After all, in 1776 -- when our Founders handed King George III the Declaration of Independence -- Great Britain was the mightiest power on the face of the earth. They knew that if they lost they'd be hung as traitors. Of course, all of this would be irrelevant if Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court followed their oaths of office to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." - --- WorldNetDaily contributor Walter E. Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + +
[CTRL] Fraternal Order of Medians?
-Caveat Lector- WSWS : News Analysis : Europe : The Balkan War Was CNN involved in a NATO effort to assassinate the Serbian information minister? By Chris Marsden 8 July 1999 Back to screen version On Friday, July 2 the Independent newspaper in Britain ran an article by its Belgrade war correspondent Robert Fisk entitled Taken in by the NATO line. The article presents a devastating picture of the role of the press corps in the war against Yugoslavia. Fisk shows how, with rare execptions, reporters abandoned any standpoint of objectivity and adopted uncritically the official rationale for the war. For the most part infected themselves with the anti-Serb hysteria of US, British and NATO officials, they sought to justify the bombing campaign by reporting NATO propaganda as fact and accepting without question the statements of NATO spokesman Jamie Shea, President Clinton and Prime Minister Blair. He cites the example of a CNN reporter in Belgrade who astouned one of his English colleagues after NATO had bombed a narrow road bridge in the Yugoslav village of Varvarin, killing dozens of civilians, many of whom fell to their death in the River Morava. That'll teach them not to stand on bridges,' he roared. Fisk notes, This was not the kind of language he used on air, of course, where CNN's report on the bridge killings was accompanied by the remark that there had been civilian casualties according to the Serb authorities'all this when CNN's own crew had been there and filmed the decapitated corpse of the local priest. The Independent correspondent goes on to suggest that the collaboration of major media outlets with the NATO military campaign went beyond dishonest and unethical journalistic practices. At the end of the article he suggests that CNN and the network's Larry King Live show may have been complicit in an attempt to assassinate Serbian Information Minister Aleksander Vucic. Fisk writes: Two days before NATO bombed the Serb Television headquarters in Belgrade, CNN received a tip from its Atlanta headquarters that the building was to be destroyed. They were told to remove their facilities from the premises at once, which they did. A day later, Serbian Information Minister Aleksander Vucic received a faxed invitation from the Larry King Live show in the US to appear on CNN. They wanted him on air at 2:30 in the morning of 23 April and asked him to arrive at Serb Television half an hour early for make-up. Vucic was latewhich was just as well for him since NATO missiles slammed into the building at six minutes past two. The first one exploded in the make-up room where the young Serb assistant was burned to death. CNN calls this all a coincidence, saying that the Larry King show, put out by the entertainment division, did not know of the news department's instruction to its men to leave the Belgrade building. The World Socialist Web Site has sought to obtain a response from the Larry King Live program in Washington and CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia to the description of events provided by Fisk. The publicist for Larry King Live and the press spokesperson for CNN News have failed to return repeated calls. Meanwhile, Fisk has come under attack from sections of the British media. On July 4 Henry Porter of the Observer, one of the newspapers most fervent in its support of NATO's war, published a reply to Fisk's piece, all but accusing the Independent reporter of being a stooge of Yugoslav President Milosevic. Porter asserts that Fisk was undeniably aided by the Serb authorities and filed reports on the war refracted through the lens of Serbian interest. Porter grants there was almost universal concern among editors and reporters about the level of accuracy of NATO briefings and admits there is good reason to conclude that the alliance was bent on an almost racist crusade against the Serbs. This, however, does not prevent him from indulging in a bit of anti-Serb racism of his own, noting that Fisk was given the sobriquet Fiscovic by some of his colleagues. Porter is outraged that Fisk appears to believe NATO is motivated by congenital imperialist tendencies, but even more intolerable is Fisk's decision to bring a dispute within the media to the attention of the public. The attack on Fisk indicates that his exposure of the deplorable performance of the press corp has hit a raw nerve, and, in particular, his revelations concerning CNN's role in the bombing of the Serb TV center have provoked considerable concern in high places. - WSWS : News Analysis : Europe : The Balkan War No reply from CNN By Barry Grey 8 July 1999 Back to screen version Strange things happened when this reporter telephoned the Larry King Live program in Washington and CNN headquarters in Atlanta in an effort to get their side of
[CTRL] (Fwd) Release: egg warning
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- === NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100 Washington DC 20037 World Wide Web: http://www.lp.org/ === For release: July 8, 1999 === For additional information: George Getz, Press Secretary Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] === Are Americans too dumb to fry an egg? New egg warning label suggests we are WASHINGTON, DC -- A new federal plan to require a cigarette-style health warning on egg cartons -- that's right: egg cartons! -- proves that government bureaucrats think Americans are too dumb to boil an egg. And that's no yolk. "The eggheads in Washington, DC have gone too far," charged Bill Winter, Director of Communications for the Libertarian Party. "This new regulation -- which assumes that Americans can't cook breakfast without instructions from the FDA -- shows what happens when bureaucrats' judgment has been fried, scrambled, and poached by too much power." This month, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it wants to require all egg cartons to carry a new warning label, which will lecture consumers about the danger of improperly cooked eggs. The label would read: "For your protection: Keep eggs refrigerated; cook eggs until yolks are firm; and cook foods containing eggs thoroughly." The President's Council on Food Safety is also getting into the act: It has announced it will come up with its own "strategic plan" to control egg safety by November 1. But Libertarians say the regulation has laid an egg. "Think about the real message behind this warning label," said Winter. "Bureaucrats are, in essence, saying to the American people: 'You eat 67 billion eggs a year, but we can't trust you to put them in your refrigerator, or to cook them properly. So, with our new federally mandated warning label, we're going to nag you every time you pick up an egg carton. Why? Because you're too dumb to be trusted.' " Ironically, the new warning comes at a time when food-borne illnesses caused by salmonella are falling: They declined by 44% from 1996 to 1998, thanks in large part to voluntary quality-control standards implemented by the egg industry. And experts agree that eggs have never been particularly dangerous: While the average American eats 245 eggs annually, the odds of running into a spoiled egg is only one in 20,000. So, a typical consumer might encounter a dangerous egg once every 42 years. But if bureaucrats can demand a warning label for a problem that might occur every 42 years, so can Libertarians, said Winter. "We're concerned that bureaucrats may have missed some egg-related problems, so we've got some warning labels of our own to propose," he said. For example: * WARNING: Remove egg from shell before eating. * WARNING: Just say no to over easy. * WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. And probably the most useful one, from the perspective of the Washington, DC crowd, said Winter: * WARNING: Don't throw these eggs at the bureaucrats and politicians who think Americans are too dumb to fry an egg. -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBN4OdB9CSe1KnQG7RAQHMIgP/RTgh9gyV3dx1DnDPFGADkvvtSDtawmmY 9lT0jDNRAdMpZqr4/akuW5REb7f4yvpcbAOe9JDttQhocby9WanV5ph8sTPoBR+W QZDbTirRoNZ+xldIq2kTL2mlZpexVfQBV1mDCXOS0NZ2d+p0qgr2rZ2lQeQx9knE pczAF/y+zGY= =iXIa -END PGP SIGNATURE- The Libertarian Party http://www.lp.org/ 2600 Virginia Ave. NW, Suite 100 voice: 202-333-0008 Washington DC 20037 fax: 202-333-0072 For subscription changes, please mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the subject line -- or use the WWW form. AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights
[CTRL] France GMO Foods
-Caveat Lector-
From Environment News Service
EU Pressures France for Refusal to Market Biotech Crops
BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 7, 1999 (ENS) - The European Commission
is pushing ahead with legal action against France for failing to
authorise genetically modified organisms (GMOs) which have been
given the political green light at EU level - despite the
European Union's current de facto ban on new GMO permits.
The Commission announced Tuesday that it planned to send Paris a
reasoned opinion (final warning) over its refusal to give written
consent for the placing on the market of two varieties of
genetically modified oilseed rape, also known as canola. The
first warning went out last October after France had imposed a
two-year moratorium on the crops, which it fears might
cross-breed with wild varieties to create "super weeds."
Since then, late last month, a majority of European Union (EU)
states, meeting in the EU Council of Ministers in Luxembourg,
signed up to one of two unofficial agreements to postpone any
further EU authorisations of genetically modified organisms until
the current directive has been revised with clearer and stricter
procedures.
But Commission spokesman Peter Jørgensen, who announced the
latest infringement cases, said there was no contradiction in
pursuing the case against France. Acknowledging that there had
been a "clear message from Luxembourg" that there would be no new
authorisations in the near future, Jørgensen said that this did
not allow countries to go against approvals that had already been
agreed. "Once the Community decision has been taken, member
states must act," he said.
Although consent for marketing the two genetically modified
organisms was agreed at EU level in 1997, they cannot be
officially authorised in the EU before getting written
authorisation from France, the country which requested EU
approval for the products in the first place.
The Commission also announced today that it would send a second
reasoned opinion to France over its failure to respond to a
number of other requests for GMO authorisation. Under the current
law, a member state has 90 days after receiving a request to
either write back explaining to the company why authorisation
would not be granted, or to write to the Commission recommending
the genetically modified organism for EU approval.
In a related development, the Commission announced that it would
apply to the European Court of Justice against Luxembourg over
its failure to transpose a technical adaptation to the GMO
deliberate release directive. Although Luxembourg has sent its
draft legislation to Brussels, it has not included a firm
timetable for its adoption, according to the Commission.
The deadline for transposition was the end of July last year. As
the European Court of Justice has already found against
Luxembourg on this matter (Case C-339/97 of July 16, 1998), the
Commission is now pursuing action that could ultimately lead to a
fine.
Picture: logo
{Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily, Europe's
choice for environmental news. Environmental Data Services Ltd,
London. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]}
© Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All Rights Reserved.
AER
~~~
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said
it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your
own reason and your common sense." --Buddha
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
DECLARATION DISCLAIMER
==
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substancenot
[CTRL] (Fwd) (ENS) NEWS JULY 7, 1999
-Caveat Lector- --- Forwarded Message Follows --- ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS) MAN DROWNS IN ORCA POOL AT SEAWORLD ORLANDO 60% OF AMERICA'S LIQUID TOXIC WASTE INJECTED UNDERGROUND MUSK DEER ENDANGERED BY DEMAND FOR PERFUME, MEDICINE EU PRESSURES FRANCE FOR REFUSAL TO MARKET BIOTECH CROPS AMERICANS' ENERGY APPETITE SKYROCKETS AMERISCAN: JULY 7, 1999 For Full Text and Graphics Visit: http://ens.lycos.com * * * Send News Tips and Story Leads to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * * MAN DROWNS IN ORCA POOL AT SEAWORLD ORLANDO ORLANDO, Florida, July 7, 1999 (ENS) - A 27 year old man was found dead early Tuesday morning draped over the back of an orca, or killer whale, at Sea World in Orlando, Florida. The accident marks the second time ever that a human has been killed by a captive orca, and the second time that this orca, Tillicum, has killed. Biologists from groups opposed to captive whale displays say the accident points to a major problem with parks like Sea World - they teach humans to think of five ton animals as harmless. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999 For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul99/1999L-07-07-01.html ** * 60% OF AMERICA'S LIQUID TOXIC WASTE INJECTED UNDERGROUND By Donald Sutherland WASHINGTON, DC, July 7, 1999 (ENS) - Maybe it is not a secret, but nobody seems to acknowledge that 60 percent of America's liquid hazardous waste is injected underground. This is a problem for utilities that must provide the public with safe drinking water. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999 For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul99/1999L-07-07-03.html ** * MUSK DEER ENDANGERED BY DEMAND FOR PERFUME, MEDICINE FRANKFURT, Germany, July 7, 1999 (ENS) - The high demand for natural musk as an ingredient in medicines and perfumes is endangering wild populations of musk deer, according to a report released Tuesday by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring programme of WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature and IUCN-The World Conservation Union. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999 For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul99/1999L-07-07-02.html ** * EU PRESSURES FRANCE FOR REFUSAL TO MARKET BIOTECH CROPS BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 7, 1999 (ENS) - The European Commission is pushing ahead with legal action against France for failing to authorise genetically modified organisms (GMOs) which have been given the political green light at EU level - despite the European Union's current de facto ban on new GMO permits. Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily Website: http://www.ends.co.uk/envdaily } For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul99/1999L-07-07-04.html ** * AMERICANS' ENERGY APPETITE SKYROCKETS WASHINGTON, DC, July 7, 1999 (ENS) - The use of energy in the United States has jumped dramatically in the last half-century. Energy consumption increased by 194 percent from 1949 to 1998, although the U.S. population grew only 82 percent, according to the "Annual Energy Review" released today by the Energy Information Agency, a division of the federal Department of Energy. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999 For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul99/1999L-07-07-06.html ** * ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JULY 7, 1999 Clinton Orders Agencies to Halt Import of Unsafe Foods Agricultural Pollution Harming North Atlantic Sea Life Nuclear Commission Eases Petitioning Process Ten Cities Show Improved Air Quality Wildlife Corridor Spans Redwoods California Coast California Groups Urge Cleaner Los Angeles Bus Service New York Recycles Nearly Half its Waste Death Sensor Tracks Wolf Attacks Action Mining Fined $625,000 for Casselman River Pollution Organic Winery Goes Solar Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1999 For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jul99/1999L-07-07-09.html ** * To Find Out How To Transmit Your News On E-Wire Call 1-888-764-NEWS E-Wire Is Broadcast To Millions Of Readers Worldwide. ** * Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 1991-1998. All Rights Reserved. Send comments and newsworthy information to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
[CTRL] ABCs of Foreign Policy
-Caveat Lector- From Boston Globe Picture: Boston Globe Online: Print it! THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING - --- America's double-edged sword By Globe Staff, 07/05/99 Picturehe air campaign against the Serbs has been touted as a harbinger of things to come - waging war for human rights rather than to defend traditional national interests. Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic said: ''This is probably the first war that has not been waged in the name of national interests but rather in the name of principles and values. Kosovo has no oil fields to be coveted [NATO] is fighting out of the concern for the fate of others.'' Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair said: ''This is a just war, based not on any territorial ambitions but on values.'' The two men spoke for Americans who believe that concern for national interest is unworthy. Many who decried the Gulf War, which involved both strategic interests and humanitarian concerns, hailed the Kosovo war for its moral purity. In the opposite corner is Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state, who wrote in Newsweek: ''No issue is more in need of rethinking than the concept of humanitarian intervention put forward as the administration's contribution to a new approach to foreign policy. The air war in Kosovo is justified as establishing the principle that the international community - or at least NATO - will henceforth punish the transgressions of governments against their own people Moral principles are expressed in absolutes. But foreign policy must forever be concerned with reconciling ends and means. At every stage of the Kosovo tragedy, other mixes of diplomacy and force were available.'' The result, he writes, produced ''more refugees and casualties than any conceivable alternative'' and ''deserves to be questioned on both political and moral grounds.'' In truth, all wars are justified on moral and humanitarian grounds to gain public support, and when it comes to national interests, much depends on how those interests are defined. In his most recent book, ''Years of Renewal,'' Kissinger writes: ''The United States, to be true to itself, has a duty to stand for human rights and democracy.'' But if we treat the behavior of countries that do not live up to American standards ''as resolvable only by the overthrow of the offending government - or by its public surrender to American pressures - we will turn every problem into a life or death struggle, actually inhibiting progress on human rights.'' These words were written before the Kosovo crisis, but it is now clear that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's missteps at Rambouillet made a bad situation infinitely worse. Harvard's Joseph Nye, writing in Foreign Affairs, put the issue into perspective by arguing that ''Americans have rarely accepted pure Realpolitik as a guiding principle, and human rights and the alleviation of human disasters have long been important aspects of our foreign policy. But foreign policy involves trying to accomplish varied objectives in a complex and recalcitrant world. This entails trade-offs. A human rights policy is not itself a foreign policy; it is an important part of a foreign policy We should generally avoid the use of force except in cases where our humanitarian interests are reinforced by the existence of other strong national interests.'' Former defense secretary William Perry and his deputy, Ashton Carter, divided national interests and security risks into three categories. The A list includes threats to national survival. On the B list are threats to American interests but not survival. Iraq and North Korea are included in this category. Civil wars in Kosovo or in Africa and Asia are C list problems - they do not present a threat to the economic or physical well-being of the American people but are nonetheless humanitarian tragedies. Nye notes that the C list has come to dominate foreign policy in the Clinton administration. He has a point. If the same determination shown in Kosovo were applied to getting weapons inspectors back into Iraq, the world would be a safer place than it is today. Nye suggests that one of the reasons that C problems get themselves on the A list is that there are no real threats to America's survival, as there were in the Cold War. In addition, human rights in the information age get media attention that can sway public opinion. This is undoubtedly true and has been for more than a century. In 1876, for example, the reporting of Januarius Aloysius MacGahan, an American writing for the London Daily News, is credited for stirring passions in the West and in Russia against Ottoman atrocities in the Balkans. By describing massacres and mass rapes, MacGahan influenced policy. Russia used his reports as an excuse to go to war against the
[CTRL] What is War?
-Caveat Lector- From www.harrybrowne2000.net/ What is war? by Harry Browne The politicians' stirring phrases are meant to keep our eyes averted from the reality of war -- to make us imagine heroic young men marching in parades, winning glorious battles, and bringing peace and democracy to the world. But war is something quite different from that. It is your children or your grandchildren dying before they're even fully adults, or being maimed or mentally scarred for life. It is your brothers and sisters being taught to kill other people -- and to hate people who are just like themselves and who don't want to kill anyone either. It is your children seeing their buddies' limbs blown off their bodies. It is hundreds of thousands of human beings dying years before their time. It is millions of people separated forever from the ones they loved. It is the destruction of homes for which people worked for decades. It is the end of careers that meant as much to others as your career means to you. It is the imposition of heavy taxes on you and on other Americans and on people in other countries -- taxes that remain long after the war is over. It is the suppression of free speech and the jailing of people who criticize the government. It is the imposition of slavery by forcing young men to serve in the military. It is goading the public to hate foreign people and races -- whether Arabs or Japanese or Cubans. It is numbing our sensibilities to cruelties inflicted on foreigners. It is cheering at the news of foreign pilots killed in their planes, of young men blown to bits while trapped inside tanks, of sailors drowned at sea. Other tragedies inevitably trail in the wake of war. Politicians lie even more than usual. Secrecy and cover-ups become the rule rather than the exception. The press become even less reliable. War is genocide, torture, cruelty, propaganda, dishonesty, and slavery. War is the worst obscenity government can inflict upon its subjects. It makes every other political crime -- corruption, bribery, favoritism, vote-buying, graft, dishonesty -- seem petty. Government's Role If government has a role to play in foreign affairs, it isn't to win wars, to assure that the right people run foreign countries, to protect innocent foreigners from guilty aggressors, or to make the world safe for democracy -- or even a safer place at all. If government has a role, it can be only to keep us out of wars -- to make sure no one will ever attack us, to make certain you can live your life in peace, to assure you the freedom to ignore who is right and who is wrong in foreign conflicts. The only reason for military power is to discourage attackers, and -- if they come anyway -- to repel them at our borders. Such things as stationing troops in far-off lands, meddling in foreign disputes, and sending our children to foreign countries as "peacekeepers" only encourage war. To make America safer and to assure that we stay at peace, we don't need to put more weapons in the hands of government employees, or to reform military purchasing methods, or to make more treaties with other governments, or to increase the military budget. In fact, we need just the opposite of these things. We need to make it as hard as possible for politicians to involve us in war. And we need to create a defense system that relies as little as possible on the normal workings of government. # # # [From Why Government Doesn't Work, pages 144-145. Copies available for purchase online at http://www.liamworks.com/wgdw/] If there isn't a Momentum 2000 menu of the left side of this page, click here to go to Harry Browne's home page. AER ~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement
[CTRL] Bankrupt Republicans
-Caveat Lector- From Dissent http://www.igc.org/dissent/current/current.html Picture - --- DISSENT / SUMMER 1999/ VOLUME 46, NUMBER 3 - --- Bankruptcy and Zeal The Republican Dialectic Sean Wilentz Now that the dust has started to settle, it's time to assess why the congressional Republicans, in the face of overwhelmingly hostile public opinion, pursue the impeachment of President Clinton to the bitter end. Overwrought idealism was partly responsible, as was the intimidation of more moderate members by the hard-line party leadership, as were the whims of fortune. But one of the dirty secrets of impeachment may be that the Republicans had nothing better to do. By setting their sights on removing an already besmirched Bill Clinton, Republicans unwittingly exposed their party's intellectual bankruptcy, especially at the national level. And by pursuing impeachment as zealously as they did, they compounded that bankruptcy by alienating millions of voters. The turnabout is astonishing. For nearly two decades, Republicans and their allied think tanks and policy packaging firms had seemingly swept aside most traces of oppositional thinking. Dependable liberal battle cries-for state-stimulated full employment, advancing racial integration, and more-grew fainter by the year. The very idea of activist government, outside the realm of foreign affairs, became fatal to the touch. Republican panaceas, from the supply-side Laffer curve to the "just-say-no" anti-drug policy, did not exactly work their magic, but neither did their failure seem to discredit the Republicans' working assumptions, fiercely libertarian with respect to economic policy and fiercely moralistic with respect to social policy. "We've largely won the battle of ideas," Kate O'Beirne, formerly of the Heritage Foundation, recently boasted. "We are in the implementation stage right now." Indeed, some commentators claim that that Republican thinking infected the Democrats as well, especially inside the Clinton White House-though this reasoning makes it difficult to understand why so many Republicans, and virtually all hard-line conservatives, hate Clinton so deeply. Yet today, poll after poll shows that the public is fed up with the right-wing moralizers, has no particular interest in tax cuts, and fears that the Republicans will undermine popular universal entitlements. The Republicans' intellectual crisis cannot be blamed on complacency. Indeed, faith in what Irving Kristol once referred to as the inverted Gramscianism of the modern GOP-that is, control the prevailing view of reality and you control politics-has only deepened during the Clinton years. According to a recent report by the left-liberal National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), the nation's twenty leading conservative policy institutions have more than doubled their combined budgets since 1992, spending $158 million in 1996 alone-$20 million more than the Republican Party raised and spent during that election year in soft-money contributions. The five best-known institutions on the NCRP's list (the Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institution, Center for Strategic and International Studies, American Enterprise Institute, and Free Congress Research and Education Foundation) accounted for about half of the total in 1996; the rest was lavished on smaller, tightly focused groups, each dedicated to advancing core elements of the conservative agenda. By attracting increased contributions from the corporate sector, and by tightening their connections with political operatives (in Washington and the states) as well as with grassroots activists, this conglomeration of organizations has turned policy advocacy on the right into something like a permanent, well-coordinated, national political campaign. Yet in the immediate aftermath of the impeachment struggle, it looked as if the GOP's research-and-promotion efforts had succumbed to the law of diminishing returns. The prospects were especially grim for the party's social-conservative wing. Since 1978, when the activist Paul Weyrich and his allies invented the Moral Majority, Republicans had built an invaluable new base among politicized conservative evangelicals. Even when public displeasure at the GOP televangelists mounted late in the Reagan years, and even after the Moral Majority disbanded, a more secular version of moral majoritarianism gained vast exposure and considerable momentum, thanks to publicists like William Bennett and operations like the Free Congress Foundation. In this version, America's chief problems were moral, not economic or political; they stemmed from the cultural relativism and permissiveness imposed by a relatively small but powerful 1960s left; and they could be
