UNDERNEWS Sam Smith August 19, 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- SHOP TALK Undernews had more hits on Tuesday than it usually gets in a week. Apparently the item on why progressives should stop pushing gun control attracted some interest. Some readers liked it, some didn't. Some don't like us. Read the letters at http://www.prorev.com/letters.htm WE ARE NOT MAKING THIS UP One of the your editor's sidelines is serving on the board of an alternative agriculture center in Maine. The other morning, the farm manager arose to find a beautiful white draft horse grazing in one of his pastures. As the day unfolded so did the provenance of the mysterious beast. It turns out that there had been a domestic disturbance the previous evening during which the male disputant walked out with one white draft horse, three sheep and a rabbit. In the middle of the night a police officer found this miserable menagerie jammed in a horse trailer left by the side of the road. The officer traced the trailer back to the woman in the dispute who was having enough troubles without worrying about animals and so called a friend who worked at the farm asking for assistance. Thus it happened that at 4:30 am a horse trailer arrived under police escort at the farm and deposited one white draft horse, three sheep and a bunny rabbit. The woman later agreed to give all the animals to the farm on one condition, that it take the trailer as well. Understanding the rural principle that things on hooves come and go but those on wheels you can have forever, the farm manager readily agreed. CLINTON SCANDALS The Democratic members of the House impeachment committee were up to more than politics according to Jerry Seper and Audrey Hudson in the Washington Times. They write that the Dems, "as part of a strategy to discourage witnesses with damaging information on campaign finance abuses, sought to intimidate a key witness with limited knowledge of English and U.S. customs during a 1997 deposition, congressional records show." The news follows the claim by Clinton scandal figure Johnny Chung that lawyers for the Democrats sent him advice on how to use the Fifth Amendment. In a deposition, Manlin Foung, sister of Clinton crony Charlie Trie, reports that a Democratic lawyer warned her "that if she cooperated in the campaign finance probe, she would be brought to Washington to face television cameras in 'a large room with . . . over 44 congressmen sitting there.' .... Mrs. Foung eventually testified before the committee." INFOWARS NEW YORK TIMES: [A draft of an eyes only report leaked to the New York Times reveals] the United States and its allies charged with peacekeeping in Kosovo are establishing a system to control the news media in the province that would: 1. write a code of conduct for journalists 2. monitor their compliance 3. establish enforcement mechanisms to punish those who violate its rules" "The department proposes a Media Regulatory Commission, in part based on the American Federal Regulatory Commission, which governs the airwaves (does the author mean the Federal Communications Commission?)... "As in Bosnia, the commission would have the right to censor material, to fine stations or to order certain journalists off the air..." "The idea (according to an unnamed senior American official) is to bring people up to Western standards..." LAND OF THE FREE A Gulfport MS school principal, apparently believing the Star of David to be a gang symbol, ordered an 11th grader to tuck a necklace with the star under his shirt. The ACLU has taken the case to court. CLASS ACTION UPDATE Two of TPR's favorite causes have hit the news. A 300-pound man is suing after being told he was too big for an airline seat and therefore had to buy two. TPR is still looking for some really big lawyers to take the case for more airline legroom to court .... And this from the Guardian: "Pubs and restaurants are to be asked why they charge as much for soft drinks as they do for some beers in the latest inquiry into "rip-off" prices. The government has ordered a nationwide survey of present practice, to be published in October, and threatens new rules for bars that do not make it easy for consumers to compare prices." WE FEEL THE SAME WAY, CHARLIE The Media Research Center caught Charlie Gibson in the midst of a 10-second snooze on Good Morning America. Mitigating factor: Gibson is currently working both the World News Tonight and GMA, which means about a 16-hour day PHOTO http://prorev.com/indexa.htm#19 QUESTION FROM A READER Are there any organizations working to establish single-payer health care at the state level? We will be glad to list any local organizations focused on the issue. To make it easier for us, send the link like this: OUR CITY: OUR COMMITTEE ON HEALTH CARE http://www.etc.com ANTHRAX Ken McCarthy at Brasscheck found the Hartford Courant writing, "A Pentagon deal allowing the manufacturer of the controversial anthrax vaccine to more than double the price of the shots and receive an $18.7 million interest-free advance payment is drawing fire from military watchdogs, soldiers, and members of Congress." Says McCarthy: "The vaccine marketer BioPort's owners include... William J. Crowe, Jr., a retired admiral and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Another retired admiral, Eugene Carroll, had this to say: 'I just cannot understand the panic. Without an actual threat of attack and without validating the ability to produce the product, why are they spending this money on anthrax vaccine.' BRASSCHECK http://www.brasscheck.com/shorts/pseudothreat.html SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE FINANCIAL TIMES (LONDON): The National Intelligence Council, a body charged with advising George Tenet, director of the CIA, on potential threats to US national security, earlier this month held a special mock-World Trade Organization conference in Washington to try to prepare for the real thing. WALL STREET JOURNAL: Protesters are getting more attention than policy prior to the World Trade Organization's November meeting in Seattle, U.S. Officials and corporations gripe. Washington Sen. Murray writes Clinton expressing "deep concern" that anti-free trade groups will disrupt the WTO talks. MURRAY, BY THE WAY, suggested that the president "meet with responsible leaders of groups including labor, environmental and consumer organizations that have legitimate concerns regarding the WTO ... to point out and emphasize that .. you do not want disruptive and damaging actions distracting the media and public from your important goals." THE LIMITS OF HUMANITARIANISM Unlike Bosnia, they're not stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in the Congo; that's because the west's definition of humanitarian crisis stops at the Mediterranean's edge. The UN ambassador for the Congo, Andre Mwamba Kapanga, told a news conference recently that large resources and nearly 30,000 troops were poured into Kosovo over a short period. "But in the case of the Congo, we have more than one million civilians, mostly women and children, who have no shelter, have no food and are suffering .... Why is it that more than $5 billion have been spent in Bosnia and pennies in Sierra Leone, in Liberia, in Angola, in the DRC, in Burundi, in Sudan?" JUST POLITICS HRC and Giuliani still neck and neck in New York. Warren Beatty pulls only 9% in race against Gore and Bradley says ABC News. In a plan approved by Governor Jeb Bush, Florida officials have agreed to change the shape of several congressional districts in a way that some say would weaken black electoral power. Targeted are the seats of Alcee Hastings and Carrie Meek as well as that of a latina Republican, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. UNSOLVED MYSTERIES Although that military e-mail address of Buford Furrow was allegedly that of the community center shooter's father, some strange doings have taken place since it was discovered. Once word got out, not only did the name disappear from the Internet but the whole military sub-domain, DDN-CONUS. ECO NOTES SUDBURY STAR (CANADA): The United States Air Force says none of its jets has been flying in the skies over Espanola (Ontario) and spraying a mysterious substance being blamed for illnesses by some residents of the paper mill town. If there are problems being caused by low-flying aircraft, "It's not the air force" causing them, said Lt. Col. Stevie Shapiro of the USAF press office in Washington, D.C. .... Some Espanola residents say they have "photographic evidence" which suggests KC-135 military aircraft has emitted or sprayed substances at low altitude .... The Espanola residents have environmental test results showing the emissions contained carbon and military chaff, a fine material used by military pilots to block enemy radar .... Tests also found unusually large numbers and varieties of fungi and molds. OLD NEWS >From the New York Times April 3, 1982 MIAMI (UPI) -- The third-ranking official of the Justice Department says he is convinced that there is "no political repression" in Haiti. Associate Attorney General Rudolph W. Giuliani, testifying Thursday at a hearing of a class-action lawsuit seeking the release of 2,100 refugees in Government detention camps, said that repression in Haiti "simply does not exist now" and that refugees had nothing to fear from the Government of Jean-Claude Duvalier. 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/
