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The Konformist
05-27-99
Index
Little Johnny's Bicycle
Reagan & Guatemala Death Files
Robert Parry ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
RABIN COVERUP RENEWED WITH VIGOR
Barry Chamish ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
WHAT'S DEMOCRACY GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Norman Solomon ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
INDONESIA: DITA SARI DEMANDS RELEASE
Campaign for Labor Rights ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
From: Stick153
Little Johnny's Bicycle
_ -----_
// {|||} 0]_____
|| {|||} \-----]
\\ {|||} _\____ I'd rather push my Harley
\\ {|||} / ---- than ride a rice burner!
\\-------- /
/ |
| DogByte |
\| ----------- \
| ||
|| ||
== ==
One day Little Johnny went to his father, and asked him if he
could buy him a $200 bicycle for his birthday. Little Johnny's
father said, "Johnny, we have a $80,000 mortgage on the house,
and you want me to buy you a bicycle??? Wait until Christmas!"
Christmas came around, and Little Johnny asked again. The father
said, "Well, the mortgage is still extremely high, sorry kiddo.
Ask me again some other time."
Well, about 2 days later, the boy was seen walking out of the
house with all his belongings in a suitcase. The father felt
sorry for him, and asked him why he was leaving.
Little Johnny said, "Yesterday I was walking past your room, and I
heard you say that you were 'pulling out,' and mommy said that
'you should wait because she was coming, too....'
"And I'll be DAMNED if I'm gonna stuck with your $80,000 mortgage!"
.__________________________.
/\__/\ | |
/ O O\_| ---TrashLaughs--- |
/ \University of Hard Knocks|
/ \ \ MightyCool.Com |
/ _ \ \_______________________!
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/ \| | | |/ | _||
/ / \ ------- |_____| ||
/ | | | __)
| | | |_____ __) IT'S FREE!!!
| |_|_|_| | \___)
/\ | !!
/ /\ | /
/ / | | | To be added to the list, go to:
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!__/ c_c_c_C/ \C_c_c_c/
Trashlaughs is Wired... are you?
-> http://www.wiredglobal.com <-
Wired Global Communications (602) 674-9900
**********
Reagan & Guatemala Death Files
Date: Wednesday, May 26, 1999 03:01:36 PM
From: Ifmagazine
Even as Republicans lavish honors on former President Ronald Reagan, the new
findings of a Guatemalan truth commission raise troubling questions about his
role in a genocide against the Mayan Indians.
Already, congressional Republicans have attached Reagan's name to
Washington's National Airport and to a new trade building. They now are
pushing a bill to have his face carved into Mount Rushmore.
But the new historical records reveal that Reagan hid evidence of the
Guatemalan army's massacre of tens of thousands of Mayan Indians while Reagan
maneuvered to send military aid to the killers. As the CIA reported about the
massacres -- including the annihilation of more than 600 Mayan villages --
Reagan insisted that the Guatemalan government was getting a "bum rap." His
administration denounced human rights groups as communist dupes.
The Guatemala stories at Consortiumnews.com also examine new documents
revealing how U.S. advisers in the 1960s honed the repressive skills of the
Guatemalan security forces. The stories are at <http://www.consortiumnews.com>
The Web site is free, but we urge those who wish to support our investigative
journalism to contribute to our Investigative Fund or to subscribe to our
bi-monthly iF Magazine for only $25 a year by sending a check to The Media
Consortium, Suite 102-231, 2200 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22201, or by
Visa/Mastercard by calling 1-800-738-1812 or 703-920-1802.
**********
Police Drop Complaint
Date: Wednesday, May 26, 1999 11:45:40 AM
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RABIN COVERUP RENEWED WITH VIGOR by Barry Chamish
First I received a phone call or two asking if I had read Maariv. I
hadn't. Recall that last week the state attorney general cleared television
director Eitan Oren of any guilt for staging several phoney reports of
Avishai Raviv's Shabak straw group, Eyal. I noted that I has previously
spoken with Eyal members Erin Oranj and Arieh Agelbo and they provided me
with enough eye-witness testimony to have Oren clamped in irons, in a
functioning democracy, that is. Well, Maariv reported that the state
attorney general would be issuing indictments against three EYAL members,
including Oranj and Agelbo, for staging the infamous Eyal swearing-in
ceremony, and by inference, fooling Channel One's Oren into believing it was
real.
When Dr. Michael Bronstein heard the news, he reacted calmly, observing
that, "Israel's new government is drifting into totalitarianism over Rabin."
Then I opened my mailbox. There was a letter from Tel Aviv Police within.
I opened it with enthusiasm foolishly believing there would be a progress
report on the complaint filed by me and twenty other Israelis on March 10,
demanding a reinvestigation of vital aspects of the Rabin assassination.
But no...this was a notice that the case was closed, not because of lack
of evidence or public interest. Instead opposite the check mark in the
little box was the explanation, ayn ashem: There is no guilty party.
Nice finessing. The police were contacted and agreed to let me open the
file and examine it. I will when I return from a little trip next week.
Now, I'm really mad, so here's a little hint about the murder: Peres,
France.
***
The Hebrew and Russian editions of Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin are available
from Gefen Books:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 02 5380247
**********
Date: Thursday, May 27, 1999 01:42:55 PM
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
WHAT'S DEMOCRACY GOT TO DO WITH IT?
By Norman Solomon / Creators Syndicate
A few days ago, the president of the United States openly violated
the War
Powers Act -- and the national media yawned.
The war powers law, enacted in 1973, requires congressional approval
if
the U.S. military is to engage in hostilities for more than 60 days. As
that deadline passed on May 25, some members of the House spoke up. "Today,
the president is in violation of the law," California Republican Tom
Campbell pointed out. "That is clear." And Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich
added: "The war continues unauthorized, without the consent of the governed."
But sophisticated journalists in the nation's capital just shrugged.
To
them -- and to the Clinton administration -- the law is irrelevant and
immaterial, a dead letter undeserving of serious attention. In this dark
time of push-button warfare, when more and more eyes are getting adjusted
to shadowy maneuvers, it's possible to discern a pattern of contempt for
basic democratic principles.
Forget all that high-sounding stuff in the civics textbooks. Unable
to get
Congress to vote for the ongoing air war, the president insists on
continuing to bomb Yugoslav cities and towns, destroying bridges and
hospitals, electrical generators and water systems. Boasting of the
Pentagon's might, he pursues a Pax Technocratica with remote-control
assurance.
Attorney Walter J. Rockler, a former prosecutor at the Nuremberg War
Crimes Trials more than half a century ago, is among the Americans outraged
at what is now being done in their names. On May 23, his essay in the
Chicago Tribune denounced "our murderously destructive bombing campaign in
Yugoslavia."
"The notion that humanitarian violations can be redressed with random
destruction and killing by advanced technological means is inherently
suspect," he wrote. "This is mere pretext for our arrogant assertion of
dominance and power in defiance of international law. We make the
non-negotiable demands and rules, and implement them by military force."
With enormous help from mass media, the White House has been able to
marginalize the public on matters of war and peace. Reporters and pundits
routinely portray top U.S. officials as beleaguered experts whose jobs are
difficult enough without intrusive pressures from commoners. More than
ever, the American people are serving as spectators while elites make
crucial foreign-policy decisions.
When military action is on the agenda in Washington, public opinion
can be
troublesome, even obstructionist. That's one of the hazards of democracy --
or at least it should be. But the Clinton team has learned to mitigate the
danger that the public will intrude on the process of deciding whether the
United States should go to war. It's a trend that has been accelerating in
recent years.
In February 1998, key U.S. officials traveled to Ohio State
University for
a "town hall meeting" about a prospective American missile attack on Iraq.
Airing live on CNN, the session went badly from the vantage point of
Madeleine Albright, William Cohen and Samuel Berger, whose responses to
tough questions seemed inadequate to many viewers. The trio left Columbus
with egg on their faces.
Evidently, the debacle made a big impression. Since then, leery of any
high-profile forum that could get out of control, the White House has not
even gone through the motions of consulting the public before launching a
military attack -- on Sudan and Afghanistan last August, on Iraq last
December, and on Yugoslavia this spring. With warfare on the horizon,
President Clinton's attitude toward the American public seems to be: When I
want your opinion, I'll ask for it.
This approach has met with little challenge from news media. In fact,
many
journalists in Washington seem to share the view that the public is
inclined to be too meddlesome -- and should not be allowed to tie the hands
of foreign-policy specialists who may wisely wish to pursue the goals of
U.S. diplomacy by military means.
While the decision to go to war is momentous, the public has found
itself
in the role of passive onlooker. Rather than submit to a process of
national debate, the White House prefers to present Americans with a fait
accompli. One of the effects of the missile attack launched against
Yugoslavia on March 24 was to truncate the public debate before it had even
begun.
When U.S. military action is involved, Clinton's policy-makers seem to
regard the public as a sort of unruly -- and perhaps rather dumb -- animal
that must be tamed and herded for its own good. What we've seen is the
implementation of a formula for bypassing genuine public discourse: Go to
war first. The public can raise questions later, while the war escalates
and the propaganda machinery spins into high gear.
And they call it democracy.
________________________________________________
Norman Solomon's most recent book, "The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media,"
was published this spring.
**********
Labor Alerts: a free service of Campaign for Labor Rights
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web site: www.summersault.com/~agj/clr
Phone: (541) 344-5410 Fax: (541) 431-0523
Membership/newsletter: Send $35.00 to Campaign for Labor Rights, 1247 "E"
Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. Sample newsletter available on request.
INDONESIA: DITA SARI DEMANDS RELEASE
posted May 26, 1999
In this alert:
Nike sits on its hands
Dita Sari demands release
1999 sweatshop activist organizing packet
<><><><><>
NIKE SITS ON ITS HANDS
Nike has refused repeated requests to call for the release of Indonesian
labor rights advocate Dita Sari. Even though Amnesty International -
acclaimed for its even-handed and meticulous research - has named Dita Sari
a Prisoner of Conscience, Nike executives claim that the company does not
have sufficient information on which to base a determination about her case.
Nike's inaction is consistent with its other practices with regard to
freedom of association. The company has never lifted on finger on behalf of
the many workers fired by Nike contractors when those workers stood up for
their rights in the face of egregious abuses.
Dita Sari is arguably the highest-profile worker advocate still imprisoned
in Indonesia, a country where Nike produces many of its shoes and much of
its clothing. For Nike to remain silent in her case sends a signal to the
repressive government of Indonesia that the company intends to continue
profiting from police and military suppression of worker activism in its
contractors' factories.
Nike is a member of the Apparel Industry Partnership. With encouragement
from Nike, the administrators of more than 50 U.S. colleges and universities
have joined the AIP. Student activists, justifiably skeptical about their
schools' membership in the AIP, have good reason to question whether the AIP
merely provides cover for the sweatshop practices of companies like Nike and
Phillips-Van Heusen (which closed its only unionized facility, a factory in
Guatemala, this past December).
If Nike wishes to demonstrate a sincere interest in cleaning up its labor
practices, some initial steps might include:
* Publicly calling for the unconditional release of Dita Sari,
* Permitting worker advocates access to Nike contractors' shoe and
clothing factories in Indonesia,
* Seeing to it that workers fired for organizing are swiftly reinstated, and
* Informing its contractors in no uncertain terms that Nike will no longer
tolerate (and profit from) discrimination against and harassment of workers
who speak out for justice.
<><><><><>
DITA SARI DEMANDS RELEASE
Jailed labor activist Dita Sari demands her release
Jakarta Post, 25 May 1999
[Note: Campaign for Labor Rights has standardized some spellings in this
article.]
TANGERANG (JP): Dita Sari, jailed for subversion at Tangerang Women's
Penitentiary, called for international organizations on Monday to press the
Indonesian government for her unconditional release.
Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union secretary-general Sunarty, who visited the
activist, said Dita Sari sent letters to the International Labor
Organization, Canadian Labor Union (CLC) and the Philippine Labor Union
(BATA) to ask for their help in pressing the government for her release.
"She also urges the government to stop worker dismissals and to respect the
freedom of association among workers," Sunarty quoted Dita Sari as saying at
the prison.
Dita Sari, 26, who recently rejected an offer of clemency from President
B.J. Habibie, said she refused it because she did not commit any violations.
The Surabaya District Court sentenced Dita Sari to six years in prison in
April 1997, a month before Suharto's resignation from the presidency,
because she was found guilty of defaming Suharto and his government when
leading a workers demonstration in the city.
She was moved from the Surabaya penitentiary to the Malang jail in East Java
last year before being transferred to the Tangerang prison this year.
Chief of the union's women and child labor section Dian Dalimunte said her
organization would continue holding demonstrations in Jakarta to urge
Habibie's government to grant Dita Sari's unconditional release.
<><><><><>
1999 SWEATSHOP ACTIVIST ORGANIZING PACKET
Campaign for Labor Rights has prepared a multi-theme, multi-campaign packet
for local activists who are organizing around sweatshop issues. Updated and
additional materials will be mailed automatically during the year to
everyone who orders the initial installment. The initial packet includes
brochure masters (INS and immigration issues, living wage, What can I buy?),
leaflet masters, masters for consumer cards, masters for sign-on letters,
background information on campaigns (farmworkers, Disney, Nike, Phillips-Van
Heusen, The Gap) and a resource list. Order by email <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or phone
(541) 344-5410. Include your postal address: Packet is in hard copy. Whole
packets only; it is not practical to break down packets and send selected
pieces. Packet includes a donation form and a return envelope. Suggested
donation: $10.00.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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