UNDERNEWS Sam Smith July 30, 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 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- THE COST OF LOBBYING 1998 congressional lobbying expenditures rose 13 percent to $1.42 billion reports the Center for Responsive Politics. For each member of Congress, there were more than 38 registered lobbyists and $2.7 million in lobbying expenditures during 1998. Other findings: -- The insurance industry ($77 million in lobbying spending) unseated pharmaceuticals ($74 million) to capture first place among lobbyists. -- The top overall spender on lobbying in 1998 was British American Tobacco, parent company of Brown & Williamson tobacco Corp., which spent $25 million. That was a six-fold increase from 1997. -- Lobbying continues to offer career opportunities to retiring and defeated members of Congress. 138 former members of Congress were registered lobbyists in 1998. CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS http://www.opensecrets.org LAND OF THE FREE PEACEFIRE: A study by the Censorware Project has found that BESS, a program sold to public schools and libraries, not only failed to block a large number of X-rated sites, it also blocked a large number of innocuous sites that were obviously not reviewed by a human before being blocked. Among the sites blocked by BESS are a psychiatrist's association, Mother Jones magazine, a baseball newsletter, sections of Time Magazine and political groups such as Feminists Against Censorship. Since the list of sites blocked by BESS is not disclosed to their customers, no one knows exactly how many sites blocked by BESS are obviously in error -- but the samples contained in the report were gleaned from "links list" and "bookmark files" kept by Censorware Project members, representing only a tiny fraction of the Web. CENSORWARE PROJECT REPORT : http://censorware.org/reports/bess/ PEACEFIRE http://www.peacefire.org SOUTH CHINA POST: Barbra Streisand and X-Files creator Chris Carter live on a quiet Malibu cul-de-sac called Zumirez Drive, where they have a sweeping view of the Pacific. It's also popular with alleged criminals ... In the past nine years, officials have tried to seize four properties on the street, the Los Angeles Times reported .... Under forfeiture laws, federal prosecutors may seize property if there is evidence it is linked to a criminal enterprise. On Zumirez Drive, that has included people accused of narcotics trafficking, marijuana cultivation and credit card fraud. CLINTON SCANDALS CARL LIMBACHER, NEWSMAX: In an unusual move that puts the ugliest charge against President Clinton back on the front burner, Clinton's personal lawyer David Kendall has attacked Juanita Broaddrick's detailed charge that the President raped her as a "partisan rant." The White House attack on Broaddrick came in a legal brief filed in federal court on July 12 in response to a lawsuit brought against Clinton by the Washington based public interest law firm Judicial Watch. .... Kendall's decision to attack Broaddrick's charge as could signal new White House fears that other women with similar charges may be ready to go public. Ms. Browning's lawsuit, filed under the RICO statute, alleges that President Clinton and top White House damage controller Bruce Lindsey engaged in a pattern of threatening women to keep them from going public about their sexual encounters with Clinton. Judicial Watch is seeking the testimony of nine women linked to Clinton to bolster Browning's case. NEWSMAX http://newwsmax.com SNOW FALLOUT: The 2000 campaign had hardly begun before the Washington Post was asking George Bush Jr. about his past cocaine use. Which is fair enough except that the Post and other major media never let its readers in on Clinton's similar predilections. In the Arkansas of the 1980s, cocaine ran right up there with chickens and corruption as a major contribution to the state economy. And according to a number of witnesses Clinton was not only a user but close to major drug figures. Even Roger Clinton is on a police tape saying that he had to get some for his brother, who had "a nose like a vacuum cleaner." More than a few Clinton investigators suspect his drug use was at least one reason why his medical records have never been released. The suppression of the drug story was necessary, however, to create the false Clinton mythology propagated by media such as the Post. WHAT'S A BRIBE?: A federal appeals court has reinstated the conviction of a Tyson Foods executive accused of providing illegal gifts to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy -- a violation the Meat Inspection Act. The law prohibits giving "money or other thing of value, with intent to influence" to a government official. The Meat Inspection Act, passed early this century, reflects the then clear understanding of the definition of a bribe. Successive generations of politicians and lawyers have twisted this understanding. For example, in a decision this spring affecting another case brought by special prosecutor Dan Smaltz, the Supreme Court ruled that a later law prohibiting the giving of gifts to a public official "for or because of an official act" didn't mean anything unless you knew what the official act was. The Washington Post even called Smaltz "reckless" for bringing the case. Yet as far back as 1528, bribery meant simply "to influence corruptly, by a consideration." Other definitions offered by the Oxford English Dictionary, describe bribery as "a reward given to pervert the judgment or corrupt the conduct" of someone (1535), and "to gain over by some influence."(1595). Quid pro quo is not mentioned. Smaltz, like prosecutors worth their salt, understands that bribery is typically carried out in such a manner that the quid pro quo is as well concealed as possible. INFOWARS: PACIFICA CONTRA COSTA TIMES: The nonprofit parent of public radio station KPFA announced it would reopen the iconoclastic station with local staff at the helm .... According to the release, Pacifica -- which oversees five public radio stations -- will back away and let the staff run the station for six months to a year and remove all security guards. It will watch ratings to look for signs of a more diversified audience. The statement did not squelch persistent rumors that the board has discussed selling the station .... The internal strife became public after the March 31 dismissal of popular station general manager Nicole Sawaya. That move brought on-air rebukes that led to the firing of two longtime programmers, broadcaster Larry Bensky and volunteer folk music host Robbie Osman. Sources said Bensky and Sawaya are specifically excluded from the deal. Osman's future is not clear. FROM A NEWS CONFERENCE BEFORE THE ANNOUNCEMENT: My name is Pete Bramson. I have been a member of the Pacifica National Board since March of last year. I take no pleasure in being here today but I cannot remain silent while Pacifica's National Board holds serious discussions in secret about selling KPFA .... Pacifica Board Chair Mary Frances Berry has repeatedly said during these past several weeks that she has no intention of selling KPFA. That's not true. During a telephone conference call yesterday, Pacifica Board Vice Chair David Acosta put forward the following proposal. I want to emphasize there was no vote .... Acosta proposed taking out a five million dollar loan against the value of the KPFA license. That could happen quickly. He proposed selling the KPFA frequency, which has an estimated value of 65 to 75 million dollars. That would take longer to accomplish. With a small portion of the proceeds of the sale of KPFA, Acosta proposed that Pacifica set up another Northern California station--perhaps in Palo Alto which Mary Berry said might be a friendlier city than Berkeley .... THE UNDERNEWS: The extraordinary clampdown at Pacifica -- with Clinton administration officials playing key roles -- has been eased but is by no means over. This appears to be a tactical move by the Pacifica board which has been facing growing outrage over its dictatorial methods and contempt for a free media. Among the shifts: a growing willingness of local public officials to speak kindly of the KPFA cause and a noticeable reduction in police presence at protests. Also: organized labor was getting more deeply involved and the conflict had the potential of causing a rift between unions and the White House. The Pacifica board appears to be buying time while it figures out new ways to defang America's last non-corporate national broadcast media -- NPRizing it, as one KPFA supporter put it. The board also seems still considering selling one of more of its stations for a large sum -- an act similar to a homeless shelter converting to condos or the Red Cross selling its blood to the highest bidder. Unnoticed in all this: the Pacific crisis was foreshadowed by another public radio forced sale -- that of the black run University of DC station in Washington, which was transferred to C-SPAN a few years ago for $50 million less than the amount being discussed for KPFA. As with Pacifica, the White House was not far in the background; its city control board authorized the fire sale. Unanswered question: to what extent does all this represent a conscious effort to eliminate pro-democratic media criticism in key urban areas? GOOD NEWS Proving that progress is still possible, the state of New Jersey has announced a $41 million improvement plan for its turnpike rest stops. ANTHRAX WORRIES ABC News reports that some Air National Guard units and other regular service units could lose up to 50% of their combat trained pilots because of requirements that personnel take an anthrax vaccine. The servicemen interviewed indicated they were concerned for their own welfare and the hazards posed by the side effects of drug that was experimental and not completely tested or proven. DETAILS GUARDIAN: Britain could soon face a "strain drain" as increasing numbers of workers choose to leave their jobs because of excessive stress in the office and the unbearable pressure applied by employers, research suggested yesterday .... Employers could lose more than 40% of their workforce in the next year as a direct result of the pressure on staff. Nearly one in three employees said their health was suffering because of work and more than one in four said their sex life had suffered. About a third of employees questioned by the business magazine Management Today said they used alcohol to relieve the pressure while more than one in 10 admitted turning to therapy and counseling. Of those people who said they were planning to look for new work in the next 12 months, about 37% said they wanted to leave because they felt that their work went unrecognized by their superiors; 35% wanted to quit because they felt unable to juggle their working regime with their home life; 22% said high stress levels made them want to get out while 18% pointed to the pressures of an impossibly heavy workload. FIELD NOTES CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE: The Electronic Privacy Information Center says that governmental efforts to protect the "critical infrastructure" pose serious threats to the privacy and civil liberties of American citizens. EPIC has a study on the issue available, "Critical Infrastructure Protection and the Endangerment of Civil Liberties." http://www.epic.org/security/infowar/epic-cip.html SWEATSHOPS: The campaign continues to target Gap, owner of both Banana Republic and Old Navy, for its sweatshop abuses in Saipan. Global Exchange is now looking at Gap sweatshops in other countries, such as Honduras, Indonesia and Russia. It has also set Wednesday, August 11 as a national day of flooding Gap's customer service department with phone calls and faxes: 1-800-333-7899. Letters can also be faxed to Gap directly from the Global Exchange web page: http://www.globalexchange.org 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/
