UNDERNEWS Sam Smith September 9, 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 THE REVIEW UNCLASSIFIEDS: http://www.prorev.com/jobs.htm 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 REVIEW LIST Things that John Danforth, Clarence Thomas, and Ralston Purina have in common -- DANFORTH hired THOMAS out of law school as an assistant attorney general in Missouri. -- DANFORTH brought THOMAS to Washington as a legislative assistant when elected to the Senate. -- DANFORTH helped THOMAS get appointed to the Reagan transition team, the Department of Education, and the EEOC. -- DANFORTH helped THOMAS get appointed to the US Court of Appeals, calling him my "personal friend." -- DANFORTH played a crucial role in getting THOMAS appointed to the Supreme Court. -- DANFORTH, during the time in question, owned RALSTON PURINA stock worth more than $7.5 million. -- Two brothers of DANFORTH were on the board of directors of RALSTON PURINA -- One brother of DANFORTH was a member of the board of trustees of Washington University, which had large holdings in RALSTON PURINA. -- Alpo and RALSTON PURINA were sued on charges of false advertising. -- US District Judge Stanley Sporkin fond both companies in the wrong, but found that RALSTON PURINA alone had acted willfully in having "perpetrated a cruel hoax" on dog owners in its claims that it dog food could cure a serious ailment. He assessed a $10 million fine against RALSTON PURINA. -- A few weeks after being confirmed, THOMAS heard the RALSTON PURINA appeal. He wrote an opinion for the court overturning the $10 million fine against RALSTON PURINA. -- This was good news for his friend DANFORTH and his $7.5 million in RALSTON PURINA stock, but appears to be a clear violation of 28 USC 455 which requires a federal judge to disqualify himself in proceedings in which the judge's impartiality "might" reasonably be questioned. [This information appeared in the August 24, 1991, edition of Legal Times in an article by Monroe Freedman, professor of legal ethics at Hofstra University Law School. Freedman wrote that "Thomas showed no regard for his ethical obligations as a judge and no respect for the statutory mandate that he recuse himself. On both counts, Thomas is unfit to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States." The media, more interested in stray hairs on Coke cans, ignored the story.] LAND OF THE FREE DAVEY D, FRIDAY NITE VIBE NEWSLETTER: Bad news for Ja Rule as Hartford Conn. police are pointing fingers at his fans stating that they are way to rowdy. The other night, during his concert more then 400 people stormed the stage when Ja took the stage. In order to 'calm things down', the police felt it was necessary to pepper spray the crowd. It isn't clear as to how many arrests were made, but many are saying the police totally over-reacted. It seems like this is a growing trend .... I've gotten a number of letters from all over the country reporting similar behavior .... There have been reports coming from New York City, a couple of additional scenarios out in Los Angeles and one in New Orleans. The common thread seems to be the police coming out and running some sort of practice drills during or after Hip Hop concerts. This may have to become a new campaign for the ACLU.. DAVEY D'S HIP HOP CORNER http://www.daveyd.com GERALDINE SEALEY ABC NEWS: In a survey released today by the American Tort Reform Association, a quarter of secondary and elementary school principals surveyed said they had been involved in a lawsuit or out-of-court settlement in the last two years. Seventy-two percent said they spend more than an hour a week in meetings or documenting events in efforts to avoid litigation .... Sixty-five percent of principals surveyed said they have noticed a difference in the kinds of school-related programs offered because of the threat of lawsuits and high insurance costs. Some principals report phasing out driver�s education, swimming, gymnastics and �shop� classes. And some have even changed how they and their staff interact with students. About one-third said they have terminated physical contact such as hugging in their schools for fear of lawsuits. IT'S A LITTLE LATE FOR THAT, ISN'T IT? "As I enter my last two years as mayor, I must look to the future." -- LA Mayor Richard Riordan. JUST POLITICS It looks like an old split-the-vote scheme invented in Massachusetts is spreading southward. A 33-year-old bricklayer named Mike Foster has qualified to run for governor. He will be running against Gov. Murphy J. 'Mike' Foster Jr. WILLIAM PFAFF, BALTIMORE SUN: As the United States approaches to the 2000 presidential race, in which more money will be spent than ever, the fact must be faced that American has become a plutocracy, rather than a democracy. Money rules government. Moreover, the transformation is probably irreversible. The new system's invulnerability to reform is structural, the result of a series of political decisions and court rulings on the regulation and financing of political campaigns that has placed the cost of election beyond the means of all but a handful of private individuals. COLUMNIST CINDY ADAMS: There's a report in Hollywood that Cybil Shepherd's now considering a run for the president .... This lady, who's only really been successful in a TV sitcom, thinks she's on the same level as a movie star like Warren Beatty? BILL BRADLEY got nearly three-quarters of the straw votes cast at the annual convention of the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades. BETTER NEWS FOR GORE: Bush is only 6 points ahead of him in Michigan and the California race is a statistical tie .... Senate prospects: Two new seats for the GOP plus two incumbent GOP seats too close to call. MORNING LINE: http://www.prorev.com/ amline.htm MORE OIL COMPANIES are settling with the Justice Department for having cheated the government out of oil royalties. According to the Project on Government Oversight, the amount of the settlements approaches $200 million. Oil royalties support education, the land and water conservation fund, state government budgets, and Indian nations. Despite the big settlements, the feds continue to lag behind states like Alaska, California, and Texas that have collected close to $5 billion in royalty and tax-evasion settlements. POGO estimates that the oil companies have cheated the government out of about $2 billion. POGO http://www.pogo.org OUR CHANGING TIMES A freedom of information request to the Office of Independent Counsel for the forensic report on Vincent Foster by Dr. Henry Lee was approved on July 20. Indefatigable independent investigator Hugh Sprunt estimated the charge for the applicable pages and sent in an identical request along with a check for $27.60. On August 11, he received a letter saying the material was exempt from disclosure and that he couldn't have it. THE WAY MEMOIRS OUGHT TO BE The diaries of Alan Clark, the acerbic and arrogant former British cabinet secretary who just passed away, belong among the great political works of our times, along with "Earl of Louisiana" and "Yes, Minister". Some excerpts: * * * * * * * * * * Now all I have left, at the very most, is a year. I am trying to steel myself to the great transition. What are my objectives? Limited, I suppose, by comparison. Full and proper attention to my papers and to the Heritage. A dilettante man of letters? A (old Etonian) Guru? A more attentive husband? Freedom to travel at will, and EARLY NIGHTS. The deferral of old age, I suppose. But this is in itself rather wet and feeble, and invites Nemesis .... Will I get a peerage? Claimants always say they want it for their wife, but I would so like to present it to Jane while she is still young and pretty. Sometimes I have been foul to her. Why? Hormones, I suppose. But they'll do their best to stop me. I have lots of enemies at middle rank, perhaps even in the Cabinet Office - although not, I hope, Robin whom personally I like (although it is easy to make the mistake of thinking that those one likes reciprocate the feeling). I doubt if I have a single friend in the whole Foreign Office, not a male one anyway. * * * * * * * * * * None of these people can face the idea of me in the Lords because instead of treating it as a Garden of Remembrance I might actually say something. Unpredictable. * * * * * * * * * * We had a banquette at the Mirabelle. I kept looking sideways at Rose [his diary secretary] and thinking how remarkably pretty is her mouth; so cupidic, like those coquettish maidens hidden away in the upper corners of a Tintoretto ceiling" * * * * * * * * * * [Prince Charles] has a strong handshake, like all polo players, but is pretty useless I judge. Trite, tinky sentiments. During his speech I dropped off into a mildly erotic dream * * * * * * * * * * Everyone in public life ought to be arrested at least once. It's an education * * * * * * * * * * I am weak and I can't help that, but I suppose in the end you must peter out * * * * * * * * * * Before Clark petered out, he had a number of notorious affairs including one with a woman and, independently, her two daughters. At the time of his death he was representing Kensington and Chelsea in Parliament. One possible successor, former defense secretary Michael Portillo, stepped bravely into the boredom left by Clark's passing by announcing that he had a homosexual affair a generation ago. DRUG BUSTS The drug war has little to do with public health; rather it is primarily a mechanism for controlling the country's alienated underclass. It is a war by an affluent technocracy against those who didn't make it into the club. New statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services back this up: -- 44% of drug users work for small businesses with less than 25 employees -- 19% of food workers, waiters, waitresses and bartenders use illegal drugs. -- 14% of construction workers use illegal drugs -- 10% of transportation and moving industry workers use illegal drugs. WACO "What's interesting about 'Waco,' is if you're looking for people who are unbalanced zealots, you don't find them among the Branch Davidians, you find them among the FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Those are the people who deserve to be fears, I think." -- Movie critic Roger Ebert in a review when "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" was first released. HILLARY WATCH NEW YORK POST: A top aide to John Cardinal O'Connor said yesterday the archbishop of New York never backed clemency for FALN terrorists - despite White House claims that he did. OLD NEWS WASHINGTON TIMES: The military has dramatically increased training and weaponry for civilian law enforcers over the past 20 years, raising fears among some criminal justice experts that neighborhood police have become too militarized. TPR'S 1996 STORY ON THE TOPIC http://www.prorev.com/mil.htm FIELD NOTES HOW THE MILITARY AND CIVILIAN WORLDS DIFFER: A survey by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies, portions of which can be found on our web site at http://www.prorev.com/indexa.htm GOOD STUDENT NEWS SITE: http://www.thefreestudent.com 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/
