UNDERNEWS Sam Smith July 13, 1999 The Progressive Review 1739 Conn. Ave. NW Washington DC 20009 202-232-5544 Fax: 202-234-6222 E-MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED] INDEX: http://prorev.com RECENT UNDERNEWS: http://prorev.com/indexa.htm TODAY'S HEADLINE NEWS: http://prorev.com/altnews.htm ALTERNATIVE NEWS SOURCES: http://prorev.com/hot.htm THE REVIEW FORUM: http://prorev.com/letters.com DONATIONS AND ORDER FORM: http://prorev.com/order3.htm UNSUBSCRIBE: Reply with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. For a free subscription to our e-mail updates send your postal address with zip code. Copyright 1999, The Progressive Review. Matter not independently copyrighted may be reprinted provided TPR is paid your normal reprint fees, if any, and is given proper credit. Because of its quantity, TPR's mail is not always answered, but it is always read. The editor is cheered or remorseful as appropriate and posts some of the more interesting messages at http://prorev.com/letters.htm ---------------------------------------------------------- WORD The law will punish a man or woman who steals the good from off the hillside, but let's the greater robber lose, who steals the hillside from the goose -- Anonymous, 18th century JOURNOPROP OF THE DAY If it's in quotes, folks, don't believe it Protesters Unhappy With Trade Policies, Agribusiness 'Concentration' -- Washington Post in an article about protests by northern plains states farmers. TONIGHT'S NEWSHOUR IS UNDERWRITTEN BY A BUNCH OF CROOKS. . . WASHINGTON POST: Three former high-ranking officials at the agricultural giant Archer Daniel Midland Inc, including the son of former chairman Dwayne O. Andreas, were sentence to prison terms yesterday for their roles in a global price-fixing conspiracy .... In 1996, ADM agreed to pay $100 million, then the largest-anti trust fine in US history, after pleading guilty to fixing the prices of lysine and citric acid. . . . NEWS OF THE COLONIES MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, HOUSTON CHRONICLE: As I see it, much of what we have witnessed recently is rooted in the way U.S. leaders interpreted the end of the Cold War. They saw the breakup of the Soviet Union - a product of complex internal processes -as their victory. No longer having to deal with a serious partner in world affairs, the United States decided it could act at will. It had little use for the United Nations. Having lined up other Western countries under the pretext of fighting ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, it has now tested a new doctrine that openly contradicts the principles of international law. A precedent has been set - of intervening in violation of any international norms, anywhere .... The prospect is stark: Instead of the principles of international law, it is armed intervention by the United States (or, "at best," by a group of countries) in any internal conflict .... The leading nations of the West, however powerful they are, are unable to replace the United Nations. I am convinced that any such attempts will not work. It is a good sign that the architects of the Kosovo "blitzkrieg" were compelled - by the logic of events and by the force of world opinion - to turn to the United Nations. All one can say is better late than never. DETAILS DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS: A Denver woman who says she lost her memory on the Mind Eraser roller coaster two years ago is taking Six Flags Elitch Gardens to court. Deborah Lee Benagh said the shoulder harness failed to hold her securely in place and she repeatedly struck her head during a ride on the Mind Eraser on July 12, 1997. As a result, she said she suffered long- and short-term memory problems and had to quit her job as a sales associate at Merrill Lynch where she had worked for 15 years. LAND FOR THE FREE A federal judge has declared Pound VA's 18-year-old ban on dancing illegal, despite town council member Danny Stanley insistence that, "I don't think you can mix drinking, country music and dancing without having a problem." US News & World Report says that resumes from college students wanting to join the CIA have increased 15%. LOOSE CHANGE Number of American corporations on Fortune's Global 500 list: 185 HOW TO TELL AL GORE IS IN TROUBLE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Donald Trump says he would "probably run and probably win" the 2000 presidential race if the Reform Party drafted him. BUT THEN, SO IS BRADLEY While Bill Bradley is beloved by the Washington media and the upscale liberal crowd, he does even worse than Gore against Bush in the polls and, according to a recent Zogby survey, just barely leads Bush among Democrats: 45 to 39 points. These figures suggest how badly out of touch the big buck Democrats -- the northeast contributors who keep a campaign like this going -- are with the rest of their party. Incidentally, key Bush constituencies include men, the west, Republicans, independents, those who feel the country is moving in the wrong direction, whites, Catholics, Protestants, and people earning less than $25,000. Hispanics are nearly tied in choosing between Gore and Bush and even 25% of blacks say they would vote for Dubya. THINGS THAT DON'T WORK One of the pet projects of cynical politicians, from Clinton on down, is to put school students in uniforms. The idea has caught on in a number of places but so as opposition. In Polk County LA, parents are organizing to fight one of the most restrictive uniform policies in the country, approved by the local school board in May by a 4-3 vote. The only exemption from the uniforms is for religious reasons -- unlike, say, Florida where parents can opt out of the program far more easily. A study by the Educational Testing Service fails to support the uniform gimmick: "The notions that school uniforms and zero tolerance for gangs would reduce school disorder and consequently improve student academic performance were not supported." Here's how one Louisiana parent views the situation: "When schools mandate clothing, not only are they interfering in personal decisions, they are creating a tremendous financial burden upon those who must pay for this extra clothing. Schools are dictating not only pants, shirts, and belts, but additionally are regulating jackets, blazers, and sweaters. The exact uniform requirements vary from school to school. Some uniform policies are quite ridiculous. For example, at some Bossier schools, students must wear a special coat inside the school building. They may wear a non-uniform coat to school, but must leave this in their locker, and not wear it into the school building. At one school, only belts which have a red stripe may be worn. At one school only socks which are of specific colors may be worn. At some schools, accessories, such as hair bows and hair ribbons, may only be of specific colors. Earlier plans also included special shoes for some schools, however this has been retracted for next year. Estimates for the costs associated with supplying all Bossier Parish Students with a minimally adequate wardrobe which meets school requirements range from $2.5 million to $3 million dollars .... The costs to outfit several children will be hundreds of dollars. These costs will be in addition to the normal costs of everyday clothing. Families which cannot afford more than one or two uniforms for their child will have to wash laundry now on a daily basis. Unfortunately, not all families own their own washer and dryer. The choice these families will be faced with is either visiting a laundromat daily or sending their child to school in clothing that is not clean. "Bill Clinton endorsed this radical new policy in his State of the Union address three years ago. School Boards across the country are jumping on the bandwagon and implementing uniforms as a dress code. Many schools in our nation are beginning to feel more like military academies than traditional public schools. Problems in public schools are being blamed on the children and tough discipline is being touted as the answer to school problems rather than addressing concerns such as overcrowding, inadequate funding and staffing, low teacher pay, and other legitimate problems." LOUISIANA UNIFORM PROTEST http://http.www.pamu.com Y2K According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 35 nuclear reactors are not yet "Y2K ready," although all were supposed to be ready by July 1. Moreover, 'Y2K ready' does not mean "Y2K compliant." In fact, for the nuclear industry, "Y2K ready" can mean simply turning back the clock to 1972 and hoping everything works properly. Says Mary Olson of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service ice, "The NRC is trying to put the best spin possible on this problem, but the fact is some utilities just aren't going to be ready in time. Experts agree that no nuclear power will be needed in the U .S. on January 1, 2000 - there will be plenty of electrical generation available. For that reason, we join with our colleagues across the globe in calling for a nuclear moratorium on January 1-a shutdown of all nuclear facilities across the world. Who knows, we may find we can live without them permanently?" NIRS http://www.nirs.org DOMESTIC TARGETS The stealth bomber of the administration's covert attack on the independence of public broadcasting -- including Pacifica Radio -- is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, whose chief executive is Robert Coonrod. Here is a telling excerpt from Coonrod's CPB biography: "Prior to joining CPB, Mr. Coonrod was deputy director of the Voice of America (VOA), the global radio and television network. He oversaw VOA, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (both Radio and TV Marti), and Worldnet Television and Film Service as well as technical operations, programming and budget. During his tenure, the Voice of America broadcast more than 170 hours of programming daily in 44 languages, and it maintained offices in 15 countries. Mr. Coonrod joined the United States Information Agency in 1967, serving as a Foreign Service officer in Italy and Yugoslavia. He has also held senior positions in USIA's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. As Director of American Studies for USIA, Mr. Coonrod worked with educational institutions abroad to integrate courses of study about the United States into secondary school and university curricula. His office also developed regional and country-specific teaching materials to support those courses in Europe, South Asia, West Africa and South America. Mr. Coonrod also managed USIA's Office of Academic Programs which conducts educational exchange and student counseling programs in more than 100 countries. He was responsible for developing annual budgets and supervising the staff of specialists and contract agencies in the U.S. and abroad which planned and executed the exchanges." Now, here are excerpts from the official National Public Radio biography for that organization's chief executive officer, Kevin Klose: "Before joining NPR, he served as director of the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau in Washington, DC. He managed the U.S. government's global (non-military) radio and television services with studios and stations worldwide .... From 1994-1997 Klose worked as President for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc. in Washington, DC. During his tenure, Klose helped devise and implement a global strategy to consolidate all U.S. funded international broadcasting (Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Worldnet Television) to save money, refocus the mission, and modernize operations in the post-Cold War era .... Under Klose's leadership, RFE/RL forged new broadcast partnerships with newly-independent radio stations in Central Europe and Russia. He helped conceive of and found the Intermedia Survey Institute of Washington, a non-profit research firm specializing in media and opinion survey in Eurasia .... Klose served a short stint as Director of Radio Liberty in Munich, Germany after leaving the Washington Post as editor and reporter for 25 years." In other words, the keys to so-called independent broadcasting are in the hands of two men who long served the federal government as high-level agents of agitprop. THE MEDIACRATS Number of blacks in starring roles in next fall's 26 new network TV shows: 0 HILLARY WATCH -- Countries, US states and cities receiving at least one mention in "It Takes A Village:" Arkansas, France, Chicago, Hawaii, Maryland, Germany, Japan, Kansas, Bangladesh, Montana, Indonesia, Ohio, New Orleans, North Carolina, South Carolina, Sweden, Australia, Austria, Des Moines, Idaho, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Nepal, New Haven, New Jersey, New Zealand, Pakistan, Chile, Kentucky , South Africa, Sri Lanka. -- State not receiving a mention: New York [Jonah Goldberg, National Review] THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW 1739 Connecticut Ave NW Washington DC 20009 202-232-5544 202-234-6222 Fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] Editor: Sam Smith INDEX : http://prorev.com RECENT UNDERNEWS : http://prorev.com/indexa.htm TODAY'S HEADLINES: http://prorev.com/altnews.htm THE REVIEW FORUM: http://prorev.com/letters.htm For a free trial subscription to both our bi-monthly hard copy edition and our regular e-mail updates send e-mail and terrestrial address to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To order "Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual" (WW Norton) direct from Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0393316270/progressiverevieA/
