UNDERNEWS
Sam Smith
August 4, 1999
The Progressive Review
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WE ARE NOT MAKING THIS UP
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Hillary Rodham Clinton does not blame her husband's
marital infidelity on the tumult of his childhood, her spokeswoman said
Tuesday, despite the apparent link she drew in a much-discussed magazine
article. "She did not say the president's childhood in any way caused his
behavior, nor does she believe that," spokeswoman Marsha Berry said. In the
debut issue of Talk magazine, which went on sale Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton said
the president was "scarred by abuse" as a child .... Expanding on her
husband's background, Mrs. Clinton said he was scarred at age 4 by a
struggle between his mother and grandmother. A psychologist once told me
that for a boy being in the middle of a conflict between two women is the
worst possible situation," she said. "There is always a desire to please
each one."
Vice President Gore says that next year's presidential election is "no time
to take a far-right-U-turn."
Uncovered by the National Review in Bill Bradley's sports memoir, "Life on
the Run": "After so many nights on the road in so many different hotels
encountering so many different situations, everything takes on an ephemeral
quality; everything ends with the payment at the cashier's desk the next
morning. What normally would be out of the question for me becomes
acceptable in the self-contained world of Mt. Marriott or Holiday Valley.
Normal shyness would prevent me from entering a stranger's hotel room, but
on the road there seems to be nothing to lose. Everyone in the hotel sleeps
under the same roof for one night and moves on. Loneliness can be overcome
only by reaching out for contact: a conversation in the bar, a sharing of
dinner, a question in an elevator, a direct invitation, a telephone call to
a room, or a helping hand with doors, windows, TVs, locks, or ice machines.
The percentages are that if a man spends enough nights in hotels he will
meet a woman with whom for that night he will share a bed, giving each a
brief escape from boredom and loneliness. Make no mistake: Life in hotels is
no continuous orgy. There are months of nights in one's room, alone. And it
is rare that an encounter develops beyond the verbal level. It is very
unusual when everything feels right and the loneliness of the road oppresses
two strangers equally at the same time."
>From "Exposing Myself" by Geraldo Rivera, 1991: "We named names and provided
documented evidence of the misdeeds. The businessmen blindsided us with a
lawsuit. Even then, I thought we had these guys nailed, but flaws began to
appear in our case after a well-funded and stubborn counterattack by several
of those named. One problem: We had used a hidden camera to obtain damning
audio and video evidence against the businessmen. That is a fine tactic in
most jurisdictions, but illegal in Illinois. We finally settled the
lawsuits, but the hassle set the frustrating tone for the entire year."
After protest from some politically powerful Jewish groups, the name of a
well-regarded Arab-American was withdrawn as a nominee to a national
commission of terrorism by House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt. He has
now found a suitable Arab-American to serve on the commission: a Christian
who works for the Justice Department and is married to a Jewish lawyer.
THE MEDIACRATS
MSNBC: Is the Washington Post censoring criticism of the influential Sidwell
Friends School? Editors at the paper had accepted an op-ed piece written by
the former editors of Horizon, the student newspaper of the tony private
school that Chelsea Clinton attended. "Censorship at Sidwell Friends," by
Tory Newmyer and Anand Giridharadas, described how their attempts to voice
opposition to the Quaker school were repeatedly kept out of the school
newspaper. The editors had distributed a survey to students, for example,
asking them to evaluate the school's classes and teachers. Four hundred
completed surveys were confiscated by school officials and shredded. Another
article, which questioned an experimental math class, was censored at the
last minute, and Horizon ran a blank front page in protest. As a private
school, Sidwell Friends is not bound by the First Amendment "They didn't
want to upset Sidwell," says one Washington insider with close ties to the
Post, who says the paper has shied away from several hard-hitting pieces on
the school. "One third of the people at the Post have children at that
school, or plan to. They're not afraid to go after the president of the
United States, but they're not going to mess with someone who decides if
their child gets into the area's most prestigious school."
JUST POLITICS
COUNTERPUNCH: Well now, how many CounterPunchers think that the House of
Reps, with a Democratic majority, would have voted down a Clinton-backed
effort to put through funds for a vast new FBI-controlled computer-network,
surveillance system? And do you think such a House of Reps would have cut
funds to the School of the Americas, where the US Army trains its surrogates
in the arts of counter-insurgency and torture? When the Democrats did
control the congress efforts to cut back funding for SOA were consistently
rebuffed. But, as with those votes refusing to give Clinton authority for
the war on Serbia, the present House of Reps, with its Republican majority,
has just explicitly prohibited expenditures for this computer surveillance
system, canceling them from the $36 billion budget for the department of
Justice, Commerce and State. The victorious alliance was of Republicans and
the left edge of the House Democrats.
CLINTON SCANDALS
INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY: President Clinton's appointee to a critical seat
on the board of the Export-Import Bank has close ties to a crooked
fund-raiser linked to China. China is Ex-Im Bank's second-largest customer.
During the Clinton years, the bank has given more than $5.5 billion in loans
to China to help it buy U.S. technology and equipment for power plants and
other projects. The loans were OK'd despite proof that China sold
nuclear-related equipment to Pakistan and other countries that worry U.S.
security experts. The White House hopes the Senate will quickly confirm D.
Vanessa Weaver to fill one of three vacant seats on Ex-Im's five-member
board .... Weaver and Huang exchanged at least 26 phone calls over a
17-month period in 1994 and 1995, records show .... Huang explained that
Weaver and he are just ''good friends.'' Asked about her again in another
Judicial Watch deposition in April, Huang took the Fifth.
CANDOR, NETWORK STYLE
TODAY ANCHOR ANN CURRY: The premier edition of Talk magazine out this week
features a long awaited interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton in which the
First Lady talks candidly about her marriage and about her own plans for the
future.
CBS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT JOHN ROBERTS: Sources close the First Lady say
they were blindsided by her candor and that it may hurt her in her New York
Senate bid.
NBC NEWS' ANDREA MITCHELL: Tonight Mrs. Clinton faces her own gamble, a
candid interview that will either end questions about her marriage or invite
even more scrutiny.
TINA BROWN ON ABC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA [Disney owns ABC as well as having
an investment in Talk Magazine]: The piece is a very, very intimate and warm
portrait of Mrs. Clinton .... What you feel is this is a couple who share
the passion for the world, for doing good for politics, for making life
better for other people. This is their great bond, and it really has brought
them together with almost a sort of spiritual intensity.
More of from this interview, if you can take it, is on our web site
http://www.prorev.com/indexa.htm#GMA
JUST POLITICS
TPR's Morning Line finds the GOP with a net lead of two Senate seats but
with four races too close to call -- all with GOP incumbents -- the
Republicans could end up losing some ground.
MORNING LINE http://www.prorev.com/amline.htm
JOSH FEIT, THE STRANGER, SEATTLE: Membership in the Green Party of Seattle
is suddenly increasing. City council candidates Dawn Mason, Judy Nicastro,
Charlie Chong, and Heidi Wills all seem to have had timely political
awakenings, formally joining the resume-correct environmental party within
the last month and a half. .... Green party spokesman Robin Denburg says
Mason and Nicastro, while previously not official members, have established
solid track records with the Greens. Denburg was also comfortable with
Chong's interest. He is, however, a bit wary about Wills. "We don't have a
relationship with Heidi. She's coming out of the blue. We don't have a clear
sense of how Green she is." Wills is a longtime Democrat, who joined the
Greens last week .... Joining the Greens does increase your chances of
getting their endorsement, though a nice thing to boast about to Seattle
voters. Explaining her Green epiphany, Wills says, "When you call to ask
about getting their endorsement, they say they require membership. I'm happy
to join. I worked with the Green party at UW to create a recycling program."
.... Candidates who were already members of the party include Curt
Firestone, one of its longtime leaders, and Peter Steinbrueck. "We want
people to join because they support our values, not because they want our
endorsement," says Denburg.
LAND OF THE FREE
The Northern California ACLU says it's happy with a state supreme court
ruling that racial slurs can be banned in the workplace without violating
First Amendment rights. Others say the ruling could be used in the future to
restrain speech or the news media.
PROBABLY JUST TRYING TO IMITATE AMERICA
TELEGRAPH, LONDON: SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC dropped his plans to use a special
session of the Serbian parliament to make major changes to the country's
election procedures in the face of mounting protests against his regime ....
Under the draft legislation the voting system would have been changed from
proportional representation to a first-past-the post poll in local
elections, which would have been called soon. The aim, said Mr. Draskovic,
was to wipe out opposition gains in elections three years ago.
THE WORLD
GUARDIAN, ENGLAND: The Spanish high court judge who has masterminded the
country's attempt to have General Augusto Pinochet tried on charges of
torture and terrorism yesterday demanded an end to negotiations which could
halt the former dictator's extradition from Britain .... He said the
proposal could be interpreted as "interference in a matter which comes
exclusively under penal jurisdiction.
DETAILS
GUARDIAN, ENGLAND: Army chiefs must consider transsexual recruits, and
sex-change soldiers will remain in the ranks under new guidelines ....
However, senior officers have said the emphasis being placed on the policy
does not pave the way for a softening of the services' stance on homosexuals
.... An [Ministry of Defense] spokesman said any transsexual service
personnel would be treated according to UK law .... "There is a clear
difference between homosexuality and transsexuality," he said.
"Transsexuality is a gender issue, not one of sexuality."
LETTERS: A reader takes on Timothy Leary
http://www.prorev.com/letters.htm#letters
FIELD NOTES
SEARCH ENGINES: Fast Search is a new engine that claims an index of 200
million web pages. I've tried it and like it and will add to our search
engine list on the links page. My favorite, however, remains Husky Search,
which among other things, lists all its results without having to keep
clicking "Next."
FAST SEARCH http://www.alltheweb.com/
HUSKY SEARCH http://huskysearch.cs.washington.edu/
BARTLETT'S QUOTATIONS http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/bartlett/
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