UNDERNEWS Oct 31, 2000 THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW Washington's most unofficial source Editor: Sam Smith 1312 18th St. NW #502, Washington DC 20036 202-835-0770 Fax: 835-0779 E-MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WEB SITE: http://prorev.com READERS FORUM: http://prorev.com/bb.htm ----------------------------------------------------- WORD Unnumbered spirits round thee fly, The light militia of the lower sky -- Alexander Pope MORNING LINE To give you an idea of how mercurial this election is, we began the morning by posting the latest tracking poll results that showed Bush moving significantly ahead. We accompanied them with a headline noting this shift. Then we turned to recording the state by state polls and were amazed to find that Gore was now in the lead (although only by 16 votes) based on the latest available surveys. Admittedly, the electoral count lags the tracking polls and in this election that could make all the difference, but it is a warning not to count one's chickens (or lack thereof) for a while yet . . . Also tightening up: the race between Lazio and Clinton in New York and this just in from Scott Rasmussen re California: "Nader at 6... Gore up by 3... most undecideds are Dems choosing between Gore and Nader... I still see this as a Gore state... However, if it is clear to everyone that Bush has it wrapped up, Nader vote could go up and Gore could lose... not likely, but possible... Rasmussen's results also show Bush having pretty well locked up the electoral college and says that Gore needs to win 70% or more of toss-up electoral votes. Zogby, who is doing daily tracking polls in key states, is coming back with results more favorable to Gore. ANTI-NADER DIRTY TRICK CALLED ILLEGAL An anti-Nader scheme in which Nader supporters in tightly-fought states are being urged to trade away their ballot to someone in a state with a large Gore majority has been called illegal by the California Secretary of State. The vote scam was absurd on its face since there was no way a Nader supporter could assure that the Gore backer would actually vote for Nader. Further, as the Review reported, Democrats were circulating e-mails in which Gore backers were being urged to promise numerous Nader supporters their same vote -- as presumably no one would ever find it out. The dirty trick -- reminiscent of those used by Richard Nixon -- was derailed when one of several web sites promoting it received a letter from the California Secretary of State. As one site described it, "We have just received word from the California Secretary of State that offering to 'broker the exchange of votes' is a violation of California state law. Therefore we have turned our software off in order to be in compliance." At least two web sites shut down and a third removed the links that made it operable. The San Francisco Chronicle reported, "Secretary of State Bill Jones said earlier yesterday that any "inducement" to vote a certain way is considered illegal under California law . . . Representatives of the secretary of state's offices in Missouri and Texas, two states where there has been a lot of swapping activity, also said the trading is illegal under their laws." The dirty trick seems to have sprung from an article in Slate suggesting the scheme. The article was by Washington Democratic operative Jamin Raskin, who apparently wanted to get his resume in to Gore early. Ironically, Raskin is a professor of constitutional law. http://www.sfgate.com/ NEWS FROM THE COLONIES Another in a series of bizarre twists in the D.C. Democracy 7 Trial occurred as the jury proclaimed what later turned out to be a non-unanimous guilty verdict for disrupting Congress. Initially, after nearly 5 hours of deliberation, the jury foreperson had stated that a guilty verdict had been reached for all six defendants. When Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby polled each juror individually at the request of defense counsel Kenneth Page, however, one juror stated that he had found the defendants "guilty with reservation." When the judge questioned the juror as to whether he had concluded that the government's case had been proven "beyond a reasonable doubt," the juror replied "not really." After extended discussions at the bench, Judge Blackburne-Rigsby delayed a decision as to whether a mistrial should be declared, or the jury sent back for further deliberations. The trial began after two days of jury selection and a decision by the US Attorney's office that the charge against a defendant who is a Statehood Green party candidate for public office had been dismissed. The prosecutors gave no reason for dismissing the charge. The defendants were arrested on July 26 in the House visitor's gallery after they spoke out on the DC appropriations bill, which contains numerous riders contrary to local popular will. The riders include prohibitions on a medical marijuana initiative and a domestic partnership law, restrictions on the city's locally funded needle exchange program, and a prohibition on using city funds to sue Congress for voting rights. LOOSE CHANGE BRUCE MOHL, BOSTON GLOBE: Prices have risen steadily and in some cases dramatically over the last few years, to the point where one local theater chain is charging $6.29 for a giant tub of popcorn. But, amazingly, even bigger price increases may be coming. Perry Lowe, professor of marketing at Bentley College and the former owner of a small theater chain, said the financial turmoil plaguing the overbuilt movie-theater industry is likely to translate into much higher concession-stand prices. Struggling theater owners are all trying to reduce expenses, but have relatively few ways to increase their profits, Lowe said. They can hike ticket prices, which many already have done, but they have to share that revenue with movie studios. The real profits are behind the concession stand, where popcorn that costs just 30 cents to make can retail for close to $4. Lowe said he fears higher ticket and concession-stand prices will come back to haunt the theater owners in the form of declining attendance, which may necessitate even more price increases . . . The General Cinema chain, for example, recently filed for bankruptcy protection and is under pressure to boost revenue. In its most recent financial filing, the chain said total theater revenue was down 2.7 percent for the previous nine months. The decrease was caused by a 9.8 percent drop in attendance that was only partially offset by higher ticket prices (two price increases within seven months) and concession revenue. BOSTON GLOBE http://globe.com JUST POLITICS MTV asked young Americans who Al Gore reminds them most of. For 11-12% each, the answers were my high school guidance counselor, my dad, and the capitain of my school's debate team. Top response (54%): A travelling salesman. GREG PIERCE, WASHINGTON TIMES: A growing percentage Al Gore keeps attacking George W. Bush for supposedly favoring "the wealthiest 1 percent" in his tax-cut plan, but a Time-CNN poll says almost one in five voters think Mr. Gore is talking about them. Nineteen percent of voters associated themselves with that top 1 percent, according to the survey released Friday. http://www.washtimes.com/national/inpolitics.htm MORE THINGS YOU WEREN'T MEANT TO KNOW UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION BILL SAMMON, WASHINGTON TIMES: President Clinton yesterday complained that his demand for an apology from Republicans who impeached him was not meant to be published until after the election, when he calculated that it could do no harm to Al Gore's presidential campaign. But the president's discussion of impeachment in an interview with Esquire magazine was distributed over the weekend, infuriating both the Clinton and Gore camps because it reminded voters of Clinton scandals in the final days of the vice president's struggling campaign . . . The magazine's editor-in-chief, David Granger, strongly disputed the president's assertion. "Esquire violated no agreement with the White House," Mr. Granger said last night. "As for the timing of its release, there was no embargo requested by the White House." http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-2000103122228.htm PARGUE RADIO PRAGUE: More than 320 complaints have been received by Czech police officials regarding alleged police brutality during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank sessions in late September. Both the actions of the police during the protests, and reports about unusual cruelty towards protestors arrested, are being questioned. A total of 129 foreign nationals were detained during protests against the IMF and World Bank in September and they have filed the majority of the 320 complaints received by Czech police officials. AFRICA AND AIDS LESTER BROWN, WORLD WATCH: This year began with 24 million Africans infected with the [HIV] virus. In the absence of a medical miracle, nearly all will die before 2010. Each day, 6,000 Africans die from AIDS. Each day, an additional 11,000 are infected. The epidemic has proceeded much faster in some countries than in others. In Botswana, 36 percent of the adult population is HIV-positive. In Zimbabwe and Swaziland, the infection rate is 25 percent. Lesotho is at 24 percent. In Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia, the figure is 20 percent. In none of these countries has the spread of the virus been checked. Life expectancy, a sentinel indicator of economic progress, is falling precipitously. In Zimbabwe, without AIDS, life expectancy in 2010 would be 70 years, but with AIDS, it is expected to fall below 35 years. Botswana's life expectancy is projected to fall from 66 years to 33 years by 2010. For South Africa, it will fall from 68 years to 48 years. And for Zambia, from 60 to 30 years . . . The HIV toll, plus normal deaths among adults, means that close to half of the adults in Botswana today will be dead by 2010. Other countries with high infection rates, such as South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, will likely lose nearly a third of their adults by 2010. Adults are not the only ones dying from AIDS. In Africa, infants of mothers who are HIV-positive have a 30 to 60 percent chance of being born with the virus. Their life expectancy is typically less than 2 years. Many more infants acquire the virus through breast feeding. Few of them will reach school age. Thus far, attention has focused on the effect of rising mortality on future population trends, but the virus also reduces fertility . . . Much work remains to be done in analyzing the effects of the HIV epidemic on fertility, but we do know that with other social traumas, such as famine, the effect of fertility decline on population size can equal the effect of rising mortality. For example, in the 1959-61 famine in China, some 30 million Chinese starved to death, but the actual reduction in China's population as a result of the famine was closer to 60 million. The reasons are well understood. In a famished population, the level of sexual activity declines, many women stop ovulating, and even the women who do conceive often abort spontaneously . . . One thing is known: The wholesale death of young adults in Africa is creating millions of orphans. WORLD WATCH INSTITUTE http://www.worldwatch.org/alerts/indexia.html DRUG BUSTS Alexandra Marks, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: In the bathroom of a suburban elementary school outside Peterborough, Ontario, a 13-year-old boy offers to sell a quick high to some 10- and 12-year olds. His drug of choice: Ritalin, the prescription drug widely used to treat hyperactivity in children. In a small town outside Athens, Ga., 282 Ritalin pills suddenly disappear from a medical cart kept in a locked closet of the middle school. Outside Chicago, two teens report being regularly harassed and pressured by classmates to hand over their daily dose of the drug. They've now changed schools. As use of the controversial stimulant skyrockets in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - it has increased by as much as 700 percent since 1990 - so has its abuse. In public schools and private universities across North America, Ritalin is increasingly the drug of choice for thousands of young people, from 10-year-old grade-schoolers dabbling with a first illicit high to graduate students in need of an all-night push to finish a term paper . . . The extent of the abuse varies widely. One national study found that only 3 percent of high schoolers reported illicit Ritalin use in the last year. Another found the number was as high as 7 percent. At the same time, a DEA study of Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Indiana found that about 30 to 50 percent of teens in drug-treatment centers said they had used methylphenidate to get high, although not as their primary drug of abuse. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/10/31/fpcon-natl.shtml RECOVERED HISTORY The Bushes and the Binladens [George W. Bush is reported to have asked Queen Elizabeth during one of her visits to his daddy's White House: who's the black sheep in your family? Liz told him that it was none of his business. He wouldn't have had to ask the same question of an old family acquaintance, the late Sheik and construction magnate Salem M. Bin laden, since he undoubtedly knew that one of Binladen's 50-odd brothers was Osmara Binladen, American's favorite terrorist these days. Here are some interesting details of the Bush-Binladen relationship] JERRY URBAN, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, JUNE 4, 1992: The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network -- known as FinCEN -- and the FBI are reviewing accusations that entrepreneur James R. Bath guided money to Houston from Saudi investors who wanted to influence US policy under the Reagan and Bush administrations, sources close to the investigations say . . . The federal review stems in part from court documents obtained through litigation by Bill White, a former real estate business associate of Bath . . . White became entangled in a series of lawsuits and countersuits with Bath, who for some six years has prevailed in the courts. . . . In sworn depositions, Bath said he represented four prominent Saudis as a trustee and that he would use his name on their investments. In return, he said, he would receive a 5 percent interest in their deals. Tax documents and personal financial records show that Bath personally had a 5 percent interest in Arbusto '79 Ltd., and Arbusto '80 Ltd., limited partnerships controlled by George W. Bush, President Bush's eldest son. Arbusto means 'bush' in Spanish. Bath invested $ 50,000 in the limited partnerships, according to the documents. There is no available evidence to show whether the money came from Saudi interests. George W. Bush's company, Bush Exploration Co., general partner in the limited partnerships, went through several mergers, eventually evolving into Harken Energy Corp., a suburban Dallas-based company . . . Bush said that to his knowledge, Bath's investment was from personal funds, and no Saudi money was invested in Arbusto. Bath, 55, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, declined to comment for the record. Spokesmen for FinCEN and the FBI also declined to comment. According to a 1976 trust agreement, drawn shortly after Bush was appointed director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Saudi Sheik Salem M. Binladen appointed Bath as his business representative in Houston. Binladen, along with his brothers, owns Binladen Brothers Construction, one of the largest construction companies in the Middle East. According to White, Bath told him that he had assisted the CIA in a liaison role with Saudi Arabia since 1976. Bath has previously denied having worked for the CIA . . . Bath received a 5 percent interest in the companies that own and operate Houston Gulf Airport after purchasing it on behalf of Binladen in 1977. PBS FRONTLINE: [From a French source] The Saudi authorities' decision to issue an arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden on 16 May 1993 does not threaten to affect the relationship between the bin Ladens and the royal family. Osama, one of Mohammed's youngest son, has been known for years for his fundamentalist activities . . . King Fahd's two closest friends were: Prince Mohammed Ben Abdullah (son of Abdul Aziz' youngest brother), who died in the early '80s and whose brother, Khaled Ben Abdullah (an associate of Suleiman Olayan), still has free access to the king; and Salem bin Laden, who died in 1988 . . . Like his father in 1968, Salem died in a 1988 air crash...in Texas. He was flying a BAC 1-11 which had been bought in July 1977 by Prince Mohammed Ben Fahd. The plane's flight plans had long been at the center of a number of investigations. According to one of the plane's American pilots, it had been used in October 1980 during secret Paris meetings between US and Iranian emissaries. Nothing was ever proven, but Salem bin Laden's accidental death revived some speculation that he might have been "eliminated" as an embarrassing witness. In fact, an inquiry was held to determine the exact circumstances of the accident. The conclusions were never divulged . . . There was also a political aspect to Salem bin Laden's financial activities . . . Salem bin Laden played a role in the US operations in the Middle East and Central America during the '80s. On his death in 1968, Sheik Mohammed left behind not only an industrial and financial estate but also a progeny made up of no less than 54 sons and daughters, the fruit of a number of marriages . . . Upon Sheik Salem's death, the leadership of the group passed to his eldest son, Bakr, along with thirteen other brothers who make up the board of the bin Laden group. The most important of these are Hassan,Yeslam and Yehia. Most of these brothers have different mothers and different nationalities as well. Each has his own set of affinities, thus contributing to the group's international scope. Bakr and Yehia are seen as representatives of the "Syrian group"; Yeslam, of the "Lebanese group". There is also a "Jordanian group." Abdul Aziz, one of the youngest brothers, represents the "Egyptian group" and is also manager of the bin Laden group's Egyptian branch, which employs over 40,000 people. Osama bin Laden is, incidentally, the only brother with a Saudi mother. http://cgi.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/family.html NADER ON CLINTON NEWSMAX: Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, whose rising poll numbers have Gore campaign officials begging him to drop out of the race, called President Clinton a liar on Sunday, saying he disgraced his office over his affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Nader voiced his strong criticism of Clinton during an interview on ABC's "This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts": DONALDSON: You say that if you'd been in the Senate, you would have voted to convict Bill Clinton in his impeachment trial. Correct? NADER: Correct. And I would have voted against (Robert) Bork and I fought vigorously against (Antonin) Scalia and (Clarence) Thomas, which is more than I can say for Vice President Gore. DONALDSON: You think Clinton is what -- a liar? A perjurer? I mean what.... NADER: I think he disgraced the office. He then lied about it. A judge confirmed that. He dragged it out and he took a year of journalism from both of you. DONALDSON: Well, a lot of your supporters, according to our poll, were Clinton supporters. NADER: Well, they're going to have to choose, aren't they? NEWSMAX: http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2000/10/29/113251 DRIVING WHILE BLACK, WHITE, OR ALIVE UPI: The Louisville Courier-Journal says a private survey shows that twice as many blacks as whites were stopped and checked for arrest warrants in more than 1,600 recent traffic stops . . . One statistic shows a disproportionately large number of blacks stopped in Louisville's South and North End neighborhoods, two predominately white areas. Abusive police handling of minor traffic offenses now also involves those not usually covered by civil rights laws. To read about this disturbing trend in the capital and elsewhere, start with the first link to DC Watch (3rd headline down), in which a black professional describes his experience with DC cops and then read some further testimony in the second link. http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2000/00-10-25.htm http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2000/00-10-29.htm DC WATCH LETTERS About john THE CITY UPI: According to USA Today, a survey shows that 63 percent of those canvassed say that traffic has definitely gotten worse in the past five years. ---------------------------------------------------- REVIEW E-MAIL: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] REVIEW INDEX: http://www.prorev.com/ UNDERNEWS: http://www.prorev.com/indexa.htm UNDERNEWS SUBSCRIBE: Reply with "subscribe" as subject UNDERNEWS UNSUBSCRIBE: Reply with 'unsubscribe' as subject REVIEW FORUM & LETTERS TO EDITOR: http://prorev.com/bb.htm For a free trial subscription to Undernews and the hard-copy Progressive Review send your postal address with zip code. 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