THE LIGHTHOUSE "Enlightening Ideas for Public Policy..." VOL. 2, ISSUE 18 May 15, 2000 Welcome to The Lighthouse, the e-mail newsletter of The Independent Institute, the non-partisan, public policy research organization <http://www.independent.org>. We provide you with updates of the Institute's current research, publications, events and media programs. ------------------------------------------------------------- IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE: 1. Kosovo and Other War Lies 2. Is "Global Warming" Hot Air? An Interview with S. Fred Singer 3. Cinema Economica 4. Summer Seminars in Political Economy ------------------------------------------------------------- KOSOVO AND OTHER WAR LIES A suppressed U.S. Air Force report -- concluding that NATO bombs had inflicted far less damage on Serb military targets than publicly announced -- has become a major headache for NATO leaders and the Clinton administration, according to Newsweek ("The Kosovo Cover-Up," 5/15/00). The report -- based on ground inspections intended to verify earlier damage estimates -- verified so little of the earlier damage estimates that follow-up "analysis" was ordered, revising the findings of the ground inspection upward. But these revised numbers are not based upon reality, according to Newsweek's contacts in the U.S. intelligence community. Even British military leaders counseled NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark to discount the inflated revisions. Newsweek could only speculate on the reason for the exaggerated damage levels, but politics sounds like the probable culprit: Had honest numbers gotten out, the NATO campaign would have faced tremendous public criticism -- for running the risk that an ineffective bombing campaign would lead to a ground war -- or that the bombing of civilian targets would take precedence (which may have been the case, since it was the civilian bombing that prompted Milosovic to withdraw Serb troops from Kosovo). Anyone looking for historical parallels will quickly find them in Vietnam, but World War II has its share of official war lies as well. Perhaps the gravest one, according to naval historian Robert Stinnett, is the official falsehood that U.S. leaders had no prior knowledge of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In his recent book, DAY OF DECEIT: The Truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor, Stinnett charges that U.S. leaders -- at the highest level -- not only knew a Japanese attack was imminent, they had engaged in policies intended to provoke attack -- to draw a reluctant American public into war in both the Pacific and Europe. Researchers have speculated about this for years, but Stinnett has obtained documents from the Freedom of Information Act buttressing this claim. Robert Stinnett, as The Lighthouse reported two weeks ago, will be presenting his case at a talk at The Independent Institute on Wednesday, May 24th, at 6:30 p.m. C-SPAN will also videotape Mr. Stinnett's talk for later broadcast (to be announced in a future issue of The Lighthouse). For more information about Robert Stinnett's upcoming talk, "Pearl Harbor: Official Lies in an American War Tragedy?" see http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-1.html or phone (510) 632-1366. For Newsweek's story, "The Kosovo Cover-Up" (5/15/00), see http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-2.html. For more on World War II disinformation and official war lies, see Justus Doenecke's review of SELLING WAR: The British Propaganda Campaign against American "Neutrality" in World War II, by Nicholas John Cull (THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW, Fall 1996) at http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-3.html and Craig Cobane's review of FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush, by Christopher Andrew (THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW, Winter 1997), at http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-4.html. ------------------------------------------------------------- IS "GLOBAL WARMING" HOT AIR? An Interview with S. Fred Singer Atmospheric physicist S. Fred Singer, first director of the U.S. Weather Satellite Service and author of the Independent Institute book, HOT TALK, COLD SCIENCE: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate, was recently interviewed by Geoff Metcalf for WorldNetDaily. Far from being an "established fact," Singer says, global warming is a hypothesis hotly contested by atmospheric scientists. Until the science can get a grip on issues such as how clouds and oceans interact -- and why weather satellite data show no warming over the past 20 years -- global warming is speculative at best. For those familiar only with Al Gore's position, this interview should be an eye opener. See Geoff Metcalf's interview with S. Fred Singer at http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-5.html. For a transcript of S. Fred Singer's more in-depth talk delivered in February at The Independent Institute, see http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-6.html. For information on his book, HOT TALK, COLD SCIENCE: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate, see (The Independent Institute, 1999), see http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-7.html. ------------------------------------------------------------- CINEMA ECONOMICA Each time this year film-makers and jet-setters gather on the French Riviera for twelve days of cinema and celebration at the Cannes Film Festival. While the sobering topic of antitrust has probably never been uttered at the festival, talk of impending antitrust investigations of the Hollywood studios by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission may change this. Although Tinseltown's infamous "casting couch" may be what most people have in mind when they think of movie-industry misbehavior, the FTC is more likely to single out other institutions as potential violators of the Sherman Antitrust Act, such as various exclusivity contracts. But according to economists Thomas E. Borcherding and Darren Filson, this would be a mistake. In the highly uncertain business of film-making, where disaster can strike anywhere along the complex route from "pitch to popcorn," such contracts align the interests of film-industry workers, making economic sense for everyone in the long run. For more information into Hollywood business practices, see "Conflicts of Interest in the Hollywood Film Industry," Independent Institute Working Paper #22, by Thomas E. Borcherding and Darren Filson, at http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-8.html. For a provocative commentary on the cultural influence of the American film industry, see the transcript of popular movie critic Michael Medved's talk, "Hollywood's Three Big Lies about Media and Society" given at the Independent Policy Forum, 12/8/93, at http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-9.html. ------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMER SEMINARS IN POLITICAL ECONOMY: June 19-23 and June 26-30 In today's politically correct classrooms, most students seldom have the opportunity to learn the economic and ethical principles of free markets and free societies essential to understanding, appreciating and dealing with the world they will soon enter. To help high school and college-age students learn to reason about economics and politics, The Independent Institute is sponsoring two Summer Seminars in Political Economy. These dynamic seminars will help students learn what economics is, how it affects their lives, and how understanding its laws can help them achieve the things they care about. TOPICS INCLUDE -- Economics and Liberty -- Market Chaos or Hidden Order? -- Monopoly or Competition? -- Market Failure or Government Failure? -- Inflation, Recession and Government INSTRUCTOR -- Joseph Fuhrig, Professor of Economics and Finance, Golden Gate University TIME -- 8:30 AM - 12 NOON, June 19-23 or June 26-30 TUITION -- $125 WHERE The Independent Institute 100 Swan Way Oakland, CA 94621-1428 For more information, see http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-10.html or phone (510) 632-1366. ------------------------------------------------------------- For information on the benefits of tax-deductible Independent Associate membership at The Independent Institute, see http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-11.html. ------------------------------------------------------------- For information on books and other publications from The Independent Institute, see http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-12.html. ------------------------------------------------------------- For information on The Independent Institute's next Independent Policy Forum, see http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-18-13.html. ------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe (or unsubscribe) to The Lighthouse, please go to http://free-market.net/features/lists/#independent-list, choose "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe"), enter your e-mail address and select The Lighthouse. Or, either send an e-mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the words "unsubscribe" in the body of the message, or e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] and ask to be unsubscribed. Copyright � 2000 The Independent Institute 100 Swan Way Oakland, CA 94621-1428 (510) 632-1366 phone (510) 568-6040 fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.independent.org
