-Caveat Lector- RadTimes # 47 - September, 2000 aka "Shit That Matters" An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities. "We're living in rad times!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RadTimes is now on the web and in audio! See LUVeR Alternative News <www.luver.org> for details. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Breaking news from Prague: <http://prague.indymedia.org/> <http://praha.indymedia.org/> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: --------------- --Protesters riot in Prague as finance summit opens --Who are the Prague protesters? --Scientist 'killed Amazon indians to test race theory' --Soviet-Era Bioweapons Threat Lingers --Poverty 10X Higher World Bank Says --Death List Linked stories: *Mexican town exempt from taxes *High schools now test for nicotine *Pot growers boldly expanding operations *Pirating, Like the Doo-Dah Man *U.S. pays $380,000 to Ruby Ridge victim *Canada's biker war tests free assembly *DARE's dying gasp ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Begin stories: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protesters riot in Prague as finance summit opens <http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/imf/story/0%2C7369%2C373606%2C00.html> Tuesday September 26, 2000 Anti-capitalism protesters today marched on the IMF and World Bank summit in Prague, throwing firebombs at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons. Activists conducted a stand-off on a bridge on the route to the communist-era Congress Center in which the summit was today inaugurated, chanting "Stop the economic terror now" in protest against the two global lending institutions they call a menace to humanity. Official police figures placed their number at around 5,000; journalist sources say it might be double that, or more. Several policemen were set alight by Molotov cocktails and colleagues hosed them down with a water cannon. Dozens of people are reported to have been hurt. Earlier this morning, two people suffered head injuries during street fights and demonstrators threw rocks at a McDonald's outlet, cracking the glass door. The protesters have vowed to halt the meetings, arguing that the Washington-based institutions ignore the needs of the poor, decimating quality of life for millions. Some activists paraded outside the meeting, waving banners saying, "Making love not trade". Student Hans Jurgen from Bergen, Norway, turned out wearing a green hat festooned with dollar signs - a walking, talking caricature of globalisation's fat cats. "I have children for lunch and I kill people in many countries of the world," Jurgen said. South African finance minister and conference chair Trevor Manuel said it was a pity the protests had "descended into violence" and queried activists' motives. "I know what they're against but have no sense of what they're for," he said. World Bank president James Wolfensohn asked conference attendees to recognise the "legitimacy" of the protesters' concerns. "Outside these walls young people are demonstrating against globalisation. I believe deeply that many of them are asking legitimate questions, and I embrace the commitment of a new generation to fight poverty. I share their passion and their question, but I believe we can move forward only if we deal with each other constructively and with mutual respect," he said. Mr Wolfensohn furthered conceded the IMF and World Bank had a "lot to learn" about improving their efforts to combat poverty. The annual meeting proceeded as planned inside the building, with speeches from Czech president Vaclav Havel and Mr Manuel. The new managing director of the IMF, Horst Koehler, talked of the problems of globalisation: "I am aware of the critical debate about globalisation, and many questions raised have to be of concern to all of us. But I also want to be clear: if the IMF did not exist already, this would be the time to invent it. More than ever, globalisation requires cooperation, and it requires institutions which organise that co-operation." Both Koehler and Mr Wolfensohn called for greater action to lift the living standards of the world's poor, focusing on better education and health care. Mr Koehler called on rich countries to lower their trade barriers on exports of farm goods and other products from poor countries, saying this could mean $100bn (£66bn) annually in extra sales by poor nations. Mr Wolfensohn said that the processes tying the world more closely together economically cannot be stopped. "We cannot turn globalization back. Our challenge is to make globalization an instrument of opportunity and inclusion - not of fear and insecurity," he said. The 15,000 delegates were transported at 5am this morning by bus to the conference centre. Czech police had conducted stringent border controls in recent days to ensure the conference took place without impediment, stopping almost 300 people with arrest records from previous anti-capitalism rallies. The authorities also deployed 11,000 police to strengthen security in Prague. Alice Dvorska, spokeswoman for one of the main activist umbrella groups at Prague, the Initiative Against Economic Globalization, condemned police interference: "We condemn this attempt of the Czech government to prevent people from exercising their democratic rights to freedom of speech, movement and gathering". ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Who are the Prague protesters? Tuesday, 19 September, 2000 As in Seattle, sit-down protests are planned By BBC News Online's Kate Milner Thousands of protesters are arriving in Prague to demonstrate against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meeting starting in the Czech capital on Tuesday. Police have launched a massive security operation, with 5,000 soldiers standing by and 11,000 police to be deployed - more than a quarter of the Czech Republic's entire police force. Most protest groups declare themselves strictly against violence, but following clashes between police and demonstrators at global financial meetings in Seattle and Washington, neither side is taking any chances. The groups gathering in Prague represent a disparate array of causes, but are unified under the general banner of opposing globalisation. International protesters Groups that are reportedly planning to attend the main day of demonstration on 26 September include Brazil's landless movement (Movemento Sem Terra), two representatives from the Colombian Black Communities Process, and representatives of the Federation of Landless Women Peasants from Bangladesh. Protesters linked to the umbrella group Initiative Against Economic Globalisation (Inpeg) have arrived in Prague after a four-day camp on a village farm, about 30 minutes drive from the capital. Activists were trained in demonstration management, making human chains, first aid, tree climbing, street theatre and communicating with the media. "The vision is of a peaceful camp for us to brainstorm, create props, celebrate, connect, and prepare mentally and emotionally for the upcoming actions," said the organisers' website. Inpeg describes itself as "a loose coalition of various Czech environmental, human rights and autonomist/anarchist groups, organisations and individuals who are ready to stand up critically against the summit of the world financial oligarchy." Delays at the border Spokeswoman Alice Dvorska said the group expected between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters to take to the streets, depending on how many were allowed into the country. At border crossings police have been checking cars for weapons, ammunition and explosives, and there have been long delays reported at airports and on the railways. Ms Dvorska said Inpeg, the main organisers of the protests, knew of several people who had been turned back at the border and was trying to help people liaise with the authorities. "But that is just the people we know about," she said. "Others are not contacting us so we don't know the exact numbers." Among those temporarily refused entry were four professional chefs who were on their way to Prague to cook for the protesters. 'Day of action' The group, which was set up in Prague last summer, has planned 10 days of non-violent demonstrations in the city, starting on 20 September. There is also a counter-summit opening on 22 September, addressing issues such as debt, trade union movements and globalisation. The call to action on Inpeg's campaign website says the demonstrations are aimed at exposing how the IMF, World Bank, and World Trade Organisation "work to maximise private profits and limit the power of people to protect the environment, determine their economic destiny, and safeguard their human rights". "We will be demanding an immediate suspension of these practices leading to environmental destruction, growing social inequality and poverty and the curtailing of people's rights." The main day for demonstrations is 26 September, known to protest groups as S26 or the "Global Day of Action". Organisers say there will be a carnival atmosphere on the day, with samba music and other street performances. One group mobilising on the internet is the S26 Collective, which was set up a few months ago. It is supported by action groups across Europe, including Milan-based Ya Basta! and the French anti-capitalist group Reseau sans Titre (Network without Title), which is touring France by caravan before and after the summit. Non-violence The S26 Collective says it condemns all forms of violence but one London-based organiser said the demonstrators were prepared for violence from the police. "Our aim is to stop delegates getting to meetings through peaceful mass disobedience," said Michael Bakunin. "We expect about 20,000 to 30,000 people on the streets of Prague so it's the overwhelming aspect of it that we intend to use." He said the media often distorted the truth to build a dramatic picture of protesters, when all protesters wanted was to show their views peacefully. "We're going there because we're concerned about the issues," he said. "A lot of people are very angry about the issues. "We're going there non-violently and we'll be as non-violent as possible - it depends on the reaction of the police and the Czech state." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scientist 'killed Amazon indians to test race theory' <http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0%2C3604%2C372067%2C00.html> Geneticist accused of letting thousands die in rainforest Paul Brown, Environment correspondent Saturday September 23, 2000 Thousands of South American indians were infected with measles, killing hundreds, in order to for US scientists to study the effects on primitive societies of natural selection, according to a book out next month. The astonishing story of genetic research on humans, which took 10 years to uncover, is likely to shake the world of anthropology to its core, according to Professor Terry Turner of Cornell University, who has read the proofs. "In its scale, ramifications, and sheer criminality and corruption it is unparalleled in the history of anthropology," Prof Turner says in a warning letter to Louise Lamphere, the president of the American Anthropology Association (AAA). The book accuses James Neel, the geneticist who headed a long-term project to study the Yanomami people of Venezuela in the mid-60s, of using a virulent measles vaccine to spark off an epidemic which killed hundreds and probably thousands. Once the epidemic was under way, according to the book, the research team "refused to provide any medical assistance to the sick and dying Yanomami, on explicit order from Neel. He insisted to his colleagues that they were only there to observe and record the epidemic, and that they must stick strictly to their roles as scientists, not provide medical help". The book, Darkness in El Dorado by the investigative journalist Patrick Tierney, is due to be published on October 1. Prof Turner, whose letter was co-signed by fellow anthropologist Leslie Sponsel of the University of Hawaii, was trying to warn the AAA of the impending scandal so the profession could defend itself. Although Neel died last February, many of his associates, some of them authors of classic anthropology texts, are still alive. The accusations will be the main focus of the AAA's AGM in November, when the surviving scientists have been invited to defend their work. None have commented publicly, but they are asking colleagues to come to their defence. One of the most controversial aspects of the research which allegedly culminated in the epidemic is that it was funded by the US atomic energy commission, which was anxious to discover what might happen to communities when large numbers were wiped out by nuclear war. While there is no "smoking gun" in the form of texts or recorded speeches by Neel explaining his conduct, Prof. Turner believes the only explanation is that he was trying to test controversial eugenic theories like the Nazi scientist Josef Mengele. He quotes another anthropologist who read the manuscript as saying: "Mr. Tierney's analysis is a case study of the dangers in science of the uncontrolled ego, of lack of respect for life, and of greed and self-indulgence. It is a further extraordinary revelation of malicious and perverted work conducted under the aegis of the atomic energy commission." Prof Turner says Neel and his group used a virulent vaccine called Edmonson B on the Yanomani, which was known to produce symptoms virtually indistinguishable from cases of measles. "Medical experts, when informed that Neel and his group used the vaccine in question on the Yanomami, typically refuse to believe it at first, then say that it is incredible that they could have done it, and are at a loss to explain why they would have chosen such an inappropriate and dangerous vaccine," he writes. "There is no record that Neel sought any medical advice before applying the vaccine. He never informed the appropriate organs of the Venezuelan government that his group was planning to carry out a vaccination campaign, as he was legally required to do. Fatalities "Neither he nor any other member of the expedition has ever explained why that vaccine was used, despite the evidence that it actually caused or, at a minimum, greatly exacerbated the fatal epidemic." Prof Turner says that Neel held the view that "natural" human society, as seen before the advent of large-scale agriculture, consists of small, genetically isolated groups in which dominant genes - specifically a gene he believed existed for "leadership" or "innate ability" - have a selective advantage. In such an environment, male carriers of this gene would gain access to a disproportionate number of females, reproducing their genes more frequently than less "innately able" males. The result would supposedly be a continual upgrading of the human genetic stock. He says Neel believed that in modern societies "superior leadership genes would be swamped by mass genetic mediocrity". "The political implication of this fascistic eugenics is clearly that society should be reorganised into small breeding isolates in which genetically superior males could emerge into dominance, eliminating or subordinating the male losers in the competition for leadership and women, and amassing harems of brood females." Prof Turner adds. In the memo he says: "One of Tierney's more startling revelations is that the whole Yanomami project was an outgrowth and continuation of the atomic energy commission's secret programme of experiments on human subjects. "Neel, the originator of the project, was part of the medical and genetic research team attached to the atomic energy commission since the days of the Manhattan Project." James Neel was well-known for his research into the effects of radiation on human subjects and personally headed the team that investigated the effects of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs on survivors and their children. According to Prof Turner, the same group also secretly carried out experiments on human subjects in the US. These included injecting people with radioactive plutonium without their knowledge or permission. Nightmarish "This nightmarish story - a real anthropological heart of darkness beyond the imagining of even a Joseph Conrad (though not, perhaps, a Josef Mengele) - will be seen (rightly in our view) by the public, as well as most anthropologists, as putting the whole discipline on trial," he says. "This book should... cause the field to understand how the corrupt and depraved protagonists could have spread their poison for so long while they were accorded great respect throughout the western world... This should never be allowed to happen again." Yesterday Professor Turner told the Guardian it was unfortunate that the confidential memo had been leaked, but it had accomplished its original purpose in getting a full response from the AAA. A public forum would be held at its AGM in November to discuss the book its revelations and courses of action. In a statement yesterday the association said "The AAA is extremely concerned about these allegations. If proven true they would constitute a serious violation of Yanomami human rights and our code of ethics. Until there is a full and impartial review and discussion of the issues raised in the book, it would be unfair to express a judgment about the specific allegations against individuals that are contained in it. "The association is anticipating conducting an open forum during our annual meeting to provide an opportunity for our members to review and discuss the issues and allegations raised in the book." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soviet-Era Bioweapons Threat Lingers International Herald Tribune (Neuilly-sur-Seine, France), September 13, 2000 By Michael Dobbs A decade ago, Alik Galiyev had a promising career as one of the Soviet Union's leading biological weapon scientists. Along with his colleagues, he helped design and construct the world's largest anthrax plant, capable of churning out enough biological agents to destroy all urban life on the planet. Today, despite a $100 million U.S. program to defuse the Soviet biological weapons threat and engage former germ scientists in peaceful pursuits, Mr. Galiyev is angry and disillusioned. He feels that his onetime American enemies have devoted a lot of time and energy to dismantling his extraordinary workplace but have done little to convert the plant to peaceful use or provide long-term employment for hundreds of highly skilled scientists. ''The Americans just want to destroy; they don't want to create anything, '' complained Mr. Galiyev, in comments echoed by other senior scientists at the sprawling bioweapons plant on the outskirts of this crumbling Soviet-era town on the plains of northern Kazakhstan. While U.S. officials insisted that such remarks were unfair, the comments reflect widespread skepticism here and in Russia about the benefits of cooperation with the United States on eliminating weapons of mass destruction. Senior Russian officials complained that much of the American money earmarked for retraining weapons scientists had been frittered away on administrative expenses. They have retaliated in tit-for-tat games with Washington over access to top secret weapons facilities. The bitterness felt by Mr. Galiyev and his fellow bioweapons makers could pose a significant new proliferation threat, independent experts say. If the scientists conclude that America has nothing further to offer them, they could be tempted to sell their knowledge to countries like Iran, which, according to the Pentagon, has been attempting to recruit Russian scientists to assist with its own clandestine biological weapons program. The backlash at Stepnogorsk comes when the Clinton administration's cooperative threat reduction program - one of the centerpieces of America's post-Cold War diplomacy - is also under attack at home. Congress has forbidden the Pentagon to spend any money on Soviet military conversion and has sharply cut funding for the Department of Energy's nuclear cities initiative, which was designed to find alternative employment for Russian weapon designers, in part because of lack of access to top secret facilities. U.S. officials point out that they have spent $4 million on ''redirection projects'' in Stepnogorsk, including the creation of an environmental monitoring center that employs several dozen scientists, in addition to $5 million on dismantling the anthrax plant. At the same time, they concede that converting Soviet weapon facilities to civilian use has proved much more difficult than expected. A $5.8 million plan to use part of the Stepnogorsk plant for civilian pharmaceutical production ended in failure in 1997, touching off bitter recrimination between the American and Kazakh partners. Andrew Weber, the Pentagon official in charge of the Stepnogorsk project, insists that the United States will not abandon the 200 or so scientists with critical proliferation knowledge who remained at the plant after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. ''We have to deal with their frustration and continue to work with them,'' he said. ''We want these former bioweaponeers working with us, and not with those who would exploit their knowledge for evil.'' With towering fermenters capable of churning out enough anthrax in one day to wipe out an entire city, Stepnogorsk is the most visible evidence of a vast biological weapons program that was a key part of the Soviet Union's strategic arsenal. Although the United States suspected the Kremlin was developing bioweapons in defiance of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, the scale of the effort became apparent only after 1991, with the breakup of the Soviet Union into 15 independent countries, including Kazakhstan. Much less is known about the Soviet biological weapons program than about the nuclear weapons program. While the Kazakh government has been cooperating with the United States on the dismantling of sites like Stepnogorsk, Russian officials continue to conceal the full extent of their Cold War bioweapons program. This huge facility - hundreds of times the size of any comparable bioweapons plant anywhere in the world - remained undetected by U.S. satellites for almost two decades. One consequence of this lack of knowledge has been a delay in responding to the Soviet-era bioweapons threat. The $100 million earmarked for bioweapons counterproliferation programs - some of which has been spent on cleaning up a former testing ground at Vozrozhdeniya Island in the Aral Sea - is minuscule compared with the $2.4 billion spent since 1991 on locking up loose nukes and providing work for Soviet nuclear scientists. Isolated from the changes that have been sweeping big cities, such as Moscow and the former Kazakh capital of Almaty, the crumbling, half-abandoned town of Stepnogorsk provides an eerie flashback to life in the Soviet Union. Heating pipes are patched together with pieces of fabric, concrete bunkers are covered with weeds, sidewalks and basketball courts are reverting to steppeland. The bioweapons plant, which cost an estimated $1 billion to build, looks like an abandoned junkyard, full of rusting equipment. The mood of the scientists who used to work here matches the wretched circumstances of the city in which many of them spent their careers. It is a complicated and potentially explosive mixture of shame, wounded pride, dependence on outside assistance and blind anger at the forces that have reduced them to this state. In July, the Pentagon organized a conference in Stepnogorsk to showcase its anti-proliferation program's successes and to encourage American private investment in Kazakhstan. But none of the dozen or so U.S. businessmen invited to attend the conference showed up. There is little private-sector interest in investing in such a remote and undeveloped place. To the embarrassment of U.S. officials, the meeting quickly turned into a forum for the airing of bottled-up grievances by the Kazakh and Russian participants. ''We need real assistance, not just lessons in marketing,'' exploded Yuri Rufov, head of an enterprise called Biomedpreparat that was hoping to produce medicines here under a Pentagon-sponsored joint venture. ''We gave up everything we had before, and we haven't got anything in return.'' The Soviet Union began building this macabre death factory in 1982, at the height of the Cold War, a time when many Soviet citizens were convinced that superpower conflict was inevitable. Mobilization plans called for the storage of up to 500 tons of anthrax - a powder-like substance that turns to froth inside victims' lungs, depriving them of oxygen - and its storage in nuclear- proof underground bunkers. In the event of mobilization, the anthrax would have been loaded into bomblets and shipped out of here on reinforced railroad cars to be placed on SS-18 missiles aimed at the United States. Stepnogorsk was part of a vast toxic archipelago that included research centers and testing sites, such as Vozrozhdeniya Island. ''It was madness of course, but it reflected the madness of the times,'' said Vladimir Repin, a bioweapons scientist at the Vector research institute in Siberia. ''Remember we had nuclear weapons that could destroy the world 100, 200 times over. We were convinced that the Americans were doing the same things we were.'' Mr. Weber, a former U.S. diplomat in Kazakhstan, has a vivid memory of his first visit to the Stepnogorsk complex in 1995. By that time, Washington had a good idea of what had been going on here, thanks to the testimony of a former plant director, Ken Alibek, who defected to the United States in 1992. Even so, the sight of the four-story-high fermenters and airtight testing chamber, where gruesome experiments were performed on dogs and monkeys, was ''chilling to the bone,'' Mr. Weber said. ''It was then that I understood, for the first time, at an emotional level what Ronald Reagan had meant by the words 'evil empire.''' ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Poverty 10X Higher World Bank Says September 19, 2000 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Poverty in countries of the former Soviet Union has increased tenfold since the collapse of communism, the World Bank reported Tuesday. In its first study of poverty and inequality in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the international lending institution said it was disappointed its $35 billion in loans to the region have not paved a smoother transition to a free market economy. ``It's clear that in a system where the government is weak, the overall effectiveness of our loans is not, and can't be, as effective as in areas with stronger, efficient governments,'' World Bank Vice President Johannes Linn said in releasing the 500-page study at a press conference. ``It's disappointing, and with the benefit of hindsight, we would have done some things differently,'' Linn added. Meeting for the first time in the capital of a former communist country, the World Bank, along with its sister lending organization the International Monetary Fund, hope to showcase the Czech Republic as a former Iron Curtain success story. But while the Czech Republic is a front runner to join its rich Western neighbors in the European Union, its eastern neighbors are still reeling from the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the former Soviet states alone, cumulative economic output plunged nearly 50 percent over the last 10 years, while output in other Eastern Europe countries shriveled by 15 percent, according to the World Bank. All that contributes to a population stuck in unprecedented poverty, with roughly 21 percent living on less than $2 a day level in 1998, compared to only 2 percent in 1988. Tajikistan topped the list, with just under 70 percent of its people living in poverty. At the other end were the Czech Republic and Slovenia, where less than 5 percent of the populations are poor. Russia was in the middle of the pack, with roughly 20 percent living in poverty. ``Many in the region weren't poor 10 years ago,'' said World Bank economist Ana Revenga, who co-authored the report. ``They had jobs, livelihoods, expectations for pensions, and then had the rug literally pulled out from under them overnight.'' While maintaining the World Bank's loans to the region were still worthwhile, Linn said they would have been more effective had the Bank required more local political participation in the reform efforts and focused more on fostering social safety nets for the poor. That would have entailed closer work with other non-governmental organizations, Linn added. In the meantime, the World Bank has fine tuned its lending criteria to refuse loans to countries with high levels of corruption. ``In the end, the government needs to want to make changes, and when that is not the case, then we stop lending,'' Linn said. ``It's a learning process.'' ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Death List <http://www.americanpartisan.com/cols/henry.htm> 'I'll Get Two Of Them Before They Get One Of Me' By Lawrence Henry 9-24-00 The other day, Rush Limbaugh took a phone call from a calm, reasonable-sounding man who said that there were some Americans who simply weren't going to stand for being steamrollered by liberalism any more, that they were prepared - indeed, expected - to have to fight an armed revolution to take their country back. Rush gets calls like that periodically. As he always does, he asked the caller where the battles of this revolution would be fought, and how. This particular caller did not (as such callers usually do not) provide any clear answers, perhaps because he hadn't thought the subject through completely. But the man was right about one thing: There definitely are a number of people in the United States who are armed, ready, and waiting - simply for some tipping point - to start shooting. They just don't call up talk shows and say so. How many of them are there? Somewhere between 50,000 and a million. Enough to cause a whole lot of trouble. Yes, some of them nurture romantic dreams of fighting guerrilla battles in the mountains. Plenty of others - enough - know that won't work. They know that revolutions are not won by pitched battles. They know that no insurrectionary force could stand up to the firepower of the United States military. No, instead, they have death lists. They plan assassinations. They know that some few - perhaps a few thousand - key people direct the legal, regulatory, and cultural movements they despise. And they have adopted a simple credo, one by one: "I'll get two of them before they get one of me." This revolutionary cadre, entirely unorganized, simmering like an unfocused viral epidemic, occupies the core of a number of discontented populations. In the broadest sense, they constitute the armed wing of what political activist Grover Norquist called "the leave-us-alone coalition." Make no mistake, the powers that be know this. And they're afraid. That fear lies behind the moves in the liberal establishment to outlaw home schooling, state by state; to oppose school vouchers, battleground by battleground (have to preserve that indoctrination); to create military-style law enforcement units in agencies like the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and in Special Weapons and Tactical Squads (SWAT teams) of local police departments; to demoralize and weaken the military (which has a natural and historic affinity for patriotism and "leave us alone" sentiments); to hype up executive security forces; to confiscate guns; to hamstring free enterprise through lawsuits - these and hundreds of other establishment efforts to consolidate dictatorial power. These potential revolutionaries are resigned to being hated, demonized as nut cases, religious fanatics, gap-toothed idiots, yokels, and benighted, laughable fools. They know that a few deaths can make a big difference (look how badly the Republican party has missed Lee Atwater). They're resigned to forcing a national police action. They're willing, like classic Leninists, to provoke a crackdown simply to rouse revolutionary chaos. As revolutionaries, these assassins-to-be also know that they probably cannot win their fight. High-profile killings will certainly be treated as terrorism by the government and the media, working in lockstep. Some assassinations will be covered up outright; the public will never know. The revolutionaries may be counting on sympathy from the military - even the desertion of some military units to the cause. More likely, a demoralized and emasculated military will not get involved in the fight at all. But the revolutionaries don't care. At some key tipping point, they reason their lives are forfeit anyway: their country is gone, its principles and traditions raped, its institutions occupied by enemy forces. Change will be impossible by any legal means. Democracy will be dead. That tipping point is very near. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linked stories: ******************** =====> Mexican town exempt from taxes <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8617-2000Sep24.html> In a country where an estimated one-third of the economy is off the books, the town of San Francisco Magu has been spared paying any taxes since the colonial era. Residents handle services through voluntary means -- and they like it that way. (9/25/00) ******************** =====> High schools now test for nicotine <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/A9098-2000Sep24.html> Some high schools don't just require students to submit to tests for drugs, but now also for tobacco use. (9/25/00) ******************** =====> Pot growers boldly expanding operations <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/2000/09/24/NEWS7426.dtl> Even as drug warriors claim greater successes against marijuana, the crops are getting bigger and better, and the growers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. (9/25/00) ******************** Pirating, Like the Doo-Dah Man <http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,39021,00.html?tw=wn20000925> The Grateful Dead were pioneers when it came to letting their fans tape concerts and trade the recordings. Surviving members have yet to chime in on the Napster controversy. But one thing remains clear: Don't sell digital bootlegs. ******************** =====> U.S. pays $380,000 to Ruby Ridge victim <http://www.cnn.com/2000/LAW/09/22/ruby.ridge.settlement.ap/index.html> Kevin Harris, who was shot by an FBI sniper during the 1992 Ruby Ridge siege, was awarded $380,000 for his pains. The assault on the isolated Idaho homestead left Vicki and Samuel Weaver dead. The surviving Weavers have already been awarded $3.1 million for their losses. (9/26/00) ******************** =====> Canada's biker war tests free assembly <http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/09/26/p1s3.htm> As part of its efforts against rival biker gangs that dominate the drug trade, the Canadian government is seriously considering suspending civil liberties, with freedom of assembly at the top of the hit list. (9/26/00) ******************** =====> DARE's dying gasp <http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1432/a05.html?397> by James Bovard The controversial Drug Abuse Resistance Education program is increasingly being tossed out of school systems as the evidence of its failure to deter drug use becomes overwhelming. (9/26/00) ******************** ====================================================== "Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control." -Jim Dodge ====================================================== "Communications without intelligence is noise; intelligence without communications is irrelevant." -Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ====================================================== "It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society." -J. Krishnamurti ______________________________________________________________ To subscribe/unsubscribe or for a sample copy or a list of back issues, send appropriate email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. ______________________________________________________________ <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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