UNDERNEWS Sam Smith August 16, 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 PERFECTLY AWFUL, TERRIBLE, NO GOOD ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY CHUNG One of the unfortunate aspects of the Clinton scandals is the near total lack of endearing scoundrels of the sort that even the Mafia occasionally produces. The participants, like the Clinton themselves, tend to be narcissistic, greedy exemplars of postmodern vacuity, whose major goal in life is to want something they don't really deserve. An underrated exception is the Chinese bagman Johnny C. C. Chung, who recently developed his own web site complete with pictures of the week from his voluminous collection of images of various important people in the company of Johnny Chung. Last May, Chung testified before a House Committee, describing himself as a somewhat befuddled but well-meaning pawn of macro-politics. His testimony described how a fax broadcast service owner came to be sought after by the White House, the DNC, various Chinese generals and officials, not to mention being called to a karaoke bar in the middle of the night to advise a Chinese-American on the lam from the US. For all his troubles, Chung got little respect. The Democratic National Committee "took my money with a smile and made fun of me when I turned my back." DNC chair Don Fowler "scolded me for not meeting my fundraising obligations." The Clintons "used me as much as I used them." His Chinese contact upbraided him with profanities. Others involved in the operation pestered him for help on visas and getting Chinese students into American colleges. And then there was the presidential fundraiser: "I next saw General Ji's wife when she came back to the United States with her son. I set up their attendance at a Presidential fundraiser - the "Back to the Future" event - at a California movie studio on October 17, 1996. I took my driver and secretary as well as the General's wife and Alex to meet the President. There was a mix-up with the DNC and my driver and secretary were given a private audience with the President while me and the General's wife and son were not included. While my driver and secretary were very appreciative, I was very upset." Chung probably deserves a pardon for his troubles but in the meanwhile we've posted excerpts from his testimony along with some of the best from his photo collection CHUNG'S TESTIMONY http://www.prorev.com/chung.htm CRIME STAT UPDATE -- Number close to the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 44 -- Number of convictions during his administration: 33 -- Number of indictments/ misdemeanor charges: 61 -- Number of imprisonments: 14 -- Number of presidential impeachments: 1 -- Number of independent counsel investigations: 7 -- Number of congressional witnesses pleading the 5th Amendment: 72 -- Number of witnesses fleeing the country to avoid testifying: 17 -- Number of foreign witnesses who have declined interviews by investigative bodies: 19 The Clinton machine now holds the record for the administration with: -- The most number of convictions and guilty pleas -- The most number of cabinet members to come under criminal investigation -- The most number of witnesses to flee the country or refuse to testify -- The most number of key witnesses to die suddenly -- The greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions -- The greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad. MEDIA MONICA OF THE WEEK The administration's new agitprop agency already seems to be working, witness this story from Associated Press: "The Clinton administration, dismayed by the success of anti-American propaganda worldwide, is striking back with an information offensive of its own: a State Department unit that will control the flow of government news overseas, especially during crises. "The new International Public Information group, or IPI, will coordinate the dissemination of news from the State Department, Pentagon and other U.S. agencies .... U.S. officials say the group came about partly in response to the spread of unflattering or erroneous information about the United States via electronic mail, the Internet, cellular telephones and other communications advances .... "The rationale for IPI dates at least to the confusion and unfavorable media reports surrounding U.S. intervention in Haiti in 1994-1995, but the conflict over Kosovo is the best recent example of how the United States needs to fight a propaganda war in concert with military strikes, officials said .... Anti-American sentiment ran high during the 78-day air war, even among Yugoslavs who did not support the Yugoslav president. Many Europeans also were leery of the air strikes, seen as a U.S. enterprise, and reluctant to use heavy firepower against a modern European capital." PACIFICA CRISIS PACIFICA: Tuesday August 17, will be a national day of action to defend free speech, stop the sale of any Pacifica station and demand the resignation of the Pacifica management and board members who have misled the organization. Local events are list below. http://www.savepacifica.net or http://www.radio4all.org/freepacifica. -- HOUSTON, TEXAS (KPFT 90.1 FM) 5 PM Demonstration KPFT, 419 Lovett Street Contact Houston Peace News, (713) 524-2682 -- BERKELEY (KPFA 94.1 FM) 5 PM Rally at Federal Building in Oakland File civil rights complaints against Pacifica with the U.S. Civil Rights Commission 1301 Clay Street, Oakland Contact Media Alliance, (415) 546-6334 or Nick Alexander of the KPFA People of Color Coalition, (510) 601-9544 -- LOS ANGELES (KPFK 90.7 FM) 4 PM Demonstration in front of KPFK 3729 Cahuenga Blvd. West, North Hollywood Contact: Vince Ivory, Pacifica Accountability Committee, (818) 754-2482 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- WASHINGTON, DC (WPFW 89.3 FM) 6 PM Teach-in on Pacifica and WPFW: Democratization vs. Censorship One World Studio, 2390 Champlain Street Contact: Sam Husseini, Institute for Public Accuracy, (202) 347-0020, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- NEW YORK (WBAI 99.5 FM) 6:30 PM Speak-Out at Washington Square Park 5th Avenue and W. 4th Street Contact: Save Our Station, (212) 465-7562, [EMAIL PROTECTED] BATTLE OF THE EPIGONS DRUDGE REPORT: A peaceful protester was thrown out of a Bush campaign rally in a public park Friday by one of the Texas governor's security officers in a move that a city official later decried as an "unfortunate" infringement of the protester's legal rights, Newsday is reporting .... Bush's campaign spokeswoman, Karen Hughes, told the paper: "We rented the park. We paid for a permit. That allows us to control access and set up a designated protester area." SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: A day of action has been called by groups opposed to the WTO for September 15. There will be simultaneous press conferences around the world, call-in campaigns to members of Parliaments/Congress, protests, etc. http://www.seattlewto.net/ WHICH COMES FIRST? INCUMBENCY OR MONEY? Two of the best political reform groups, Public Campaign and the Center for Voting and Democracy, have quite different premises on the root of campaign evil. Public Campaign and similar groups concentrate heavily on money, while CVD suggests that it is the incumbency and the rules that ensure it that are at the heart of the problem. While the case against money has been well made, less well known is the argument that money is more a product than a cause of our system of elections. Caleb Kleppner of CVD, for example, writes: "It just isn't the case that money largely determines the outcome. The opposite is much more accurate: the (pre-determined) outcome determines the money. And this is probably even worse than buying votes: money is buying access to the person the donor knows will be or continue to be the elected official. "If you're using campaign funds to buy votes, why would you outspend your opponent 5 to 1? Why bother buying 80% of the vote when 60% is more than comfortable? "A serious flaw [is to] only look at contributions. That tells us where the money is coming from (who is buying the access) but it doesn't tell us how the money is spent. If the money is being spent on outreach to voters in the district, that would be evidence that money was buying votes, especially if there were a correlation between money spent and raised and votes received. Of course, there is a stronger correlation between the partisan nature of the district and votes received, and money has little impact on the votes, in general. But incumbents in safe seats don't need to spend money on their re-election, so they can spread the money around the state, buying favors and loyalty, which is, again, even worse than buying votes." CENTER FOR VOTING & DEMOCRACY http://fairvote.org TRENDS While more Americans favor the death penalty, fewer believe it deters others from committing crimes. Since 1965 the percentage favoring the death penalty has climbed from 38% to 71%. Meanwhile the percentage who think the penalty is a deterrent has fallen from 59% in 1976 to 47% in 1999. A survey finds that protecting wilderness areas is a much higher priority for Americans than using federal funds to build ball fields, playgrounds, picnic areas and other recreational facilities. FURTHERMORE. . . Just caught up with this from The Onion: "Federal officials unveiled the newly updated Bill of Rights 2.0 at last weekend's Govworld Expo '99. The enhanced versions is said to be free of the First Amendment bug which had plagues previous releases .... Bill of Rights 2.0 is must less complicated than its predecessor, reducing the risk of user error as well as such glitches as dissent and civil unrest." SWEATSHOPS Newark has become the first large city in the country to require companies producing its uniforms and other apparel to pay a living wage and disclose all factory sites so that conditions can be independently verified. Over the past year a number of smaller cities and counties in New Jersey have passed similar no-sweat legislation. SAMPLE ANTI-SWEATSHOP LEGISLATION http://www.uniteunion.org/sweatshops/cities.html. MORNING LINE The Gore pending disaster continues unabated with TPR's Morning Line listing 219 electoral votes for Bush and only 25 for Gore -- all of the latter actually in a statistical tie. The party leadership and liberal media is so far reacting like members of the Light Brigade -- half a speech, half a speech onward. . . . Things look up for the GOP in Washington state now that Jim McDermott says he won't run for Senate. GOP stands to pick up three seats now held by Democrats but four of its seats are tossups. Hence GOP could add three seats at best, lose one at worst. TPR'S MORNING LINE http://www.prorev.com/amline.htm WACO EVIDENCE ORDERED BY COURT DALLAS MORNING NEWS: A federal judge in Waco told the federal government Monday to hand over every piece of evidence relating to the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff. In a sweeping order, U.S. District Judge Walter Smith told federal authorities to surrender to the federal clerk in Waco everything "in any way relevant to the events occurring at Mount Carmel," the Davidian compound besieged by federal authorities from Feb. 28 to April l9, 1993. "It is important for two reasons that the materials be maintained and safeguarded. First and foremost, the parties to civil litigation pending in this court have a right to seek access," Judge Smith wrote. "Second, the events that took place between Feb. 28 and April 19, 1993, and thereafter, have resulted in sometimes intense interest from the national media and members of the public." WE ARE NOT MAKING THIS UP ASSOCIATED PRESS: A 66-year-old nun has been arrested for scrawling racist graffiti in a hospital where she worked as a chaplain. Police said Sister Dorothy Toman, a Franciscan nun, admitted that she was responsible for graffiti found in the emergency room lobby and in a washroom at Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center .... "She confessed right away," said Joliet Police Capt. James Grace. "She said she did it because she wanted to see how the hospital would react." FEEDBACK >From RK: Albert Gore's got a lot more guts than his son. He did vote for the Voting Rights Act of 1957 and 1960( I believe), though not, as you say, the one in 1964.(He should have.) He refused to sign the Southern Manifesto(and told Strom Thurmond, I believe, that it was a bunch of nonsense.) He was also one of the few senators to oppose private development of early space communication and his record on Vietnam is pretty good, about in the same category as Fulbright's, though not in the Morse-Gruening category. Albert Gore Sr.'s defeat by Bill Brock had more to do with the anti-Washington liberal elite message peddled by Bill Brock, a candy bar magnate from Chattanooga, and Gore's vote for gun control which Brock also used against him. LOTS MORE NEWS http://www.prorev.com/ indexa#16 -- Study finds guns save more American lives than kill -- Federal court says Education 2000 law doesn't include examining 12-year-old's genitals -- Anomalies in the Jewish community center case -- Did Hillary take over Oval Office when Bill was away? -- Massive fish kill in California -- Clinton criminal defense fund, like Whitewater itself, targets the retired -- Sworn testimony implicates Hillary -- Chung claims he was coached to take Fifth -- Hate crime laws don't work -- Jeb Bush pushes Coke in schools -- Gerber ditches GM crops -- Ocean water used for irrigation -- Florida school bans backpacks -- Pot-killing fungus being engineered 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.amazoncom/exec/obidos/ISBN=0393316270/progressiverevieA/
