<The following news program script (except for any inserted material indicated) was prepared by Straight Facts Information Services [SFIS] and its subsidiary Straight Facts Radio [SFR], and broadcast live on the Wednesday edition of the KOOP evening news program, KOOP- FM, 91.7 MHz, Austin, Tx on the date indicated below. This material comprised a major portion of the total content of the program.> <KOOP broadcasts at 3,000 watts during mainly daytime hours on a frequency niche shared with KVRX (nighttime), student radio of the University of Texas at Austin. The listening audience is within the Austin metropolitan area, with a population of approximately 1 million.> <Unless otherwise indicated, all material is (c) 2000 by SFIS. Reproduction for nonprofit, noncommercial purposes is authorized if fully attributed to SFIS. Selected material from past programs is published in Straight Facts (political newsletter). For a sample copy, send name and mailing address to: Straight Facts, PO Box 150116, Austin, Tx 78715-0116; or E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > < READ LIVE: Disclaimer > The viewpoints expressed on the KOOP evening news program do not necessarily reflect the views of Texas Educational Broadcasting Co- op, Incorporated, KOOP Community Radio, its Board of Directors, management, staff, or volunteers. Unless otherwise attributed, viewpoints expressed solely represent the editorial viewpoint of the program producers and other participants in the program. The KOOP evening news program is a presentation of the News and Public Affairs Collective of KOOP Radio, in cooperation with the Grassroots Media Network. <CD: Start OPENING SIG MUSIC under voice > Major portions of the following news program have been produced by Straight Facts Information Services as a service to KOOP Radio. <Bring up OPENING SIG MUSIC > <News Intro (live)> <Fade out music > Good evening, and welcome to this special edition of the KOOP evening news program, produced by Straight Facts Radio, for August 2nd, 2000. I'm Mark Wright. Also reading the news tonight is Loi Medvin, from "Radical Mothers' Voice". <<FAMILY VALUES>> <<KANSAS CREATIONISM ISSUE>> Today's top story ... a major slap today against the "Family Values" campaign and the move to replace teaching of the theory of evolution with religious "creationism". In Kansas, voters elected three candidates for the Kansas Board of Education who promised to back science standards with a greater emphasis on evolution - a move which, in the words of the Associated Press, sent "a strong signal in the debate over how to teach about the origin of life". \AP-NY-08-02-00\ The current political frenzy is the upshot of a vote a year ago by the Kansas Board of Education, which scrapped evolution as an explanation for the origin of species from the state's science curriculum. \PAM BELLUCK NYT July 29, 2000\ Evolution is the almost universally accepted concept to explain the origin of life and the development of living things. As such, it's a cornerstone in scientific understanding of virtually all life sciences. The Kansas decision meant that evolution would not be included in the state assessment tests that evaluate student performance - a move expected to discourage teachers from devoting time to the subject. The board also removed from the curriculum the big bang theory of the origin of the universe. \PAM BELLUCK NYT July 29, 2000\ Marxists warn that the Kansas events show the power of religious reaction and obscurantism to throw human enlightenment into reverse. In this case, last year's embrace of creationism represented a major reactionary victory by the Family Values shock troops of the far right. For capitalism, however, it's a big contradiction, because capitalist profits are increased by technological development, and technological development requires solid, real-world scientific knowledge. Nevertheless, as the Kansas situation shows, the forces of reaction are waiting in the wings, and have the capability to re-impose measures from the Dark Ages when the needs of capitalism require them. For now, however, there seems to have been something of a victory for the Enlightenment. Two Board of Education incumbents and another candidate who support the state's current standards that downplay the importance of evolution were defeated in Republican primaries yesterday. The lone incumbent survivor, Steve Abrams, helped write the standards - but it appears he's isolated and outnumbered by board members who back modern scientific education rather than religious ideology. Today's election results pave the way for a potential reversal of the religious-based standards. \AP-NY-08-02-00\ <<GUN CONTROL>> Next ... an update on the reactionary push toward so-called "gun control" - removing the right of the American public to possess firearms. The top pretext for cracking down on access to firearms is supposedly to reduce crime, by making it harder for criminal elements to get hold of guns. But, as today's 'Washington Post' reports, the most important piece of federal legislation to restrict access to handguns - the Brady Act, passed in 1994 - has just been proven worthless in impacting so- called "gun violence". (quote) "The 1994 Brady law that regulates handgun purchases has had no effect on firearm homicide and suicide rates in states that previously had looser controls" says the 'Post' article. \Guy Gugliotta Washington Post August 2, 2000\ Background checks and a five-day waiting period were key features of the Brady legislation. The 'Post' report cites a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association which analyzes national homicide and suicide data from 1985 to 1997. \Guy Gugliotta Washington Post August 2, 2000\ States were divided into two groups: 32 that in 1994 installed the Brady law's handgun purchase controls, and 19 (including Washington, D.C.) that already had Brady-style restrictions. (quote) "Our analyses provide no evidence that implementation of the Brady Act was associated with a reduction in homicide rates" says the study. And the researchers add that "We find no differences in homicide or firearm homicide rates to adult victims in the 32 . . . states directly subject to the Brady Act provisions compared with the remaining control states." It's an arrow to the heart of a key gun control pretext, according to the report. (quote) "The study casts doubt on a pillar of the gun control movement and provides a volatile addition to the politically charged debate ..." says the 'Washington Post'. \Guy Gugliotta Washington Post August 2, 2000\ As Straight Facts reports have noted, the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution -- in which the right to bear arms is embodied -- has become more and more an embarrassment and inconvenience to the ruling circles of modern-day imperialist America ... and whipping up the hysteria the loudest against public gun ownership, ironically, are liberal Democrats and many self-styled "progressives". Equally ironically, it's rightwingers -- such as the rightist-dominated National Rifle Association -- who've led the effort to keep the 2nd Amendment intact and to maintain public access to guns. James Jay Baker, the National Rifle Association's executive director for legislative action, said the study (quote) "affirms what most Americans already know is common sense. Schemes like the Brady waiting period have nothing to do with reducing criminal behavior." \Guy Gugliotta Washington Post August 2, 2000\ On the left, revolutionary Marxists, particularly those in the Spartacist League and International Communist League, are virtually alone in upholding the right to bear arms as an essential right of the working class. <<RUSSIA CRISIS>> Next ... more on the continuing crisis in capitalist Russia, now nearly 10 years after a counterrevolution overthrew the Soviet Union and its socialized system. As Straight Facts Radio reported Monday night, on KOOP's program "Breaking the Silence", the result of capitalist counterrevolution in Russia, and the rest of the former Soviet Union, has been economic disaster and mass misery. As we reported, the standard of living has plummeted; healthcare, and the standard of health have plunged; diseases have spread; average life expectancy has plummeted. Poverty has exploded, with wages a pittance. Russia's own State Statistics Committee reported that the average wage for Russian working people is now $82 a month - and, even at that level, millions in the Russian workforce haven't been paid in many months. \Associated Press/NYT July 31, 2000\ While mass conditions deteriorate, Russia's new capitalist economy has been getting shakier. The country's food production has plummeted, and analysts are estimating that Russia's inflation rate could skyrocket to as high as 35 percent. At the same time, a "cowboy capitalism" culture has emerged, with crime syndicates controlling much of the nation's economic activity, and corruption commonplace. The free-for-all, rip-off environment is illustrated in the current absurd battles over patent rights. The controversy was detailed in a 'Washington Post' report this past Sunday, which starts out with a multiple-choice question: \Daniel Williams Washington Post July 30, 2000\ When was the glass bottle invented? A) Sometime around 1500 BC by Egyptian artisans ... B) In 12 AD by Chinese Emperor Wu Hezhou ... or... C) Just a few months ago, in Moscow, by a company named Intellect. Well, as you might already have surmised, the Russian company, Intellect, managed to get ownership of the patent rights to the glass bottle in Russia - even though, by its own admission, it's never made a bottle! And it's certainly never "invented" a bottle of any kind. According to the 'Washington Post', "Late last year, Intellect won a patent from Russia's official patent office for 'glass containers.' Not just a specialized bottle in a fancy shape -- all bottles." \Daniel Williams Washington Post July 30, 2000\ And this past spring, says the 'Post', "the company sent letters to Russian breweries informing them that use of a bottle requires royalties to the tune of 0.5 percent of gross revenue from beer sales." \Daniel Williams Washington Post July 30, 2000\ The government's issuance of a patent to Intellect, and the company's extortion-like demand for money, have ignited what the 'Post' describes as "furious criticism from business people who are trying to work in this country's fledgling capitalism." (quote) "Ten years after communism's fall, laissez faire is far too tame a phrase to describe Russia's business climate" says the 'Post'. The article goes on to give some of the flavor of unbridled "free market" capitalism in the wonderful, new, supposedly "democratic" Russia. (quote) >> In business here, the unimaginable is routine. Masked men carrying weapons designed to destroy tanks can barge into your office demanding back taxes -- and they might not even be from the tax office. << \Daniel Williams Washington Post July 30, 2000\ According to the 'Post', small businesses are prey to numerous "fire inspectors" who shake the proprietors down for cash. (quote) "In Russia, even receptionists wear flak jackets" the article reports. Sounds like the kill-or-be-killed world of capitalist competition, all right. The problem, complains the 'Post', is that thing's weren't patented in the previous, socialized economic system. In a socialized system, human beings have the right to anything - and that's a big problem when you get to capitalism, where everything must be "owned" by somebody. So "Russian business law is weak" moans the reporter. Rospatent, Russian capitalism's government patent agency, is "hard at work" trying to divvy out patent rights, but "Russia still lacks modern patent laws" laments the 'Post'. \Daniel Williams Washington Post July 30, 2000\ Valery Makarov, the vice president of Intellect, says his company is just doing good. In an interview, Makarov insisted that money isn't the issue Instead, he claimed, Intellect has a "mission" to bring Russia into the modern world on patents. \Daniel Williams Washington Post July 30, 2000\ According to the 'Post', "His logic is as follows: Under Soviet rule, everything belonged to the state, including intellectual property. When the Soviet Union collapsed, companies were privatized. But what about ideas? Things? These are just floating around, unprotected." \Daniel Williams Washington Post July 30, 2000\ (quote) "We're trying to create a market of industrial property and to make the market attractive to investors" says Makarov. So Intellect has valiantly dedicated itself to the arduous task of taking out patents on well-known objects and then seeking royalties for their use. The company has patented such items as nails and railroad tracks, reports the 'Post'. \Daniel Williams Washington Post July 30, 2000\ It didn't mention whether a patent on the wheel might be next. Last year, Intellect received its patent for glass containers by filing an elaborate description of an object with "complex characteristics" says the 'Post', illustrated by line drawings of "oblique conic sections." What it boiled down to was ... bottles. \Daniel Williams Washington Post July 30, 2000\ With its patent on bottles in hand, the company then put the bite on the rest of Russian industry. "We looked around and saw a number of items that came under our patent" said Makarov. \Daniel Williams Washington Post July 30, 2000\ "We wrote 11 breweries and offered to cooperate with them." The company is salivating over the prospect of raking in royalty revenue on the bottles it has patented, but never invented. >From breweries alone, that would amount to about $8 million a year. Makarov particularly relished the idea of putting the tap on big companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi. But Russian brewers "view all this as hogwash" says the 'Washington Post'. (quote) "It's as if they had patented the word `mother' and then charged for it" said the director of one big Moscow brewery. \Daniel Williams Washington Post July 30, 2000\ <Pause> And that concludes the Straight Facts edition of the news, produced by Straight Facts Radio. The next Straight Facts edition of "KOOP Evening News" is scheduled for broadcast on August 16th. Stay tuned for the remaining half of tonight's news program, in just a moment, produced by Texas Association for Public Transportation. <MUSIC break> <PSA 17> <TAPT production of news> <FADE IN CD: CLOSING SIG MUSIC> <LIVE CLOSE> And that brings us to the end of tonight's edition of the "KOOP Evening News" program. Be sure to tune in again tomorrow evening at 5:30 for another edition of the "KOOP Evening News". The next edition of the "KOOP Evening News" produced by Straight Facts Radio will be broadcast on August 16th. And stay tuned for "Left-In-Sight", coming next, right here on KOOP Austin, 91.7 MHz. <FADE OUT: Closing sig MUSIC> _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
