UNDERNEWS
July 31, 2001
THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
Editor: Sam Smith
Washington's most unofficial source
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ESTIVATION MODE: During this languorous month, e-mail reports may be
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WORD
Everyone wants to breathe and nobody can and many say, "We will breathe
later," and most of them don't die because they are already dead. - Graffiti,
Paris, May 1968
CHILE'S HIGH COURT APPROVES KISSINGER QUESTIONS
REUTERS: Chile's highest court gave the green light to a judge wanting to
question former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about the 1973 killing in
Chile of a U.S. journalist. Charles Horman, made famous in the 1982 film
"Missing," was seized by troops in his home days after Chile's September
1973 military coup that brought dictator Augusto Pinochet to power. His
bullet-ridden body turned up at the morgue weeks later. Horman's family
believes that Kissinger and U.S. Embassy officials in Chile knew of his
detention but did nothing to obtain his release. Chile's Supreme Court said
it would send a list of written questions to Kissinger about the case
through diplomatic channels to U.S. legal authorities . . . State Department
reports declassified last year show that U.S. intelligence officials may
have tacitly helped in Horman's abduction.
ASHCROFT HAS REPORTER JAILED
FOR KEEPING NOTES PRIVATE
Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY: Vanessa Leggett's case raises concerns that John
Ashcroft may take protections away from journalists. The jailing of a Texas
reporter who refused to give her research to U.S. prosecutors has raised
concerns that Attorney General John Ashcroft is reversing a policy that
gives journalists wide latitude in protecting confidential sources and
unpublished information . . . The decision to jail Leggett, done at
prosecutors' behest by an unidentified judge in a closed court hearing in
Houston, has drawn criticism from press freedom . . . The Justice
Department last had a reporter jailed in 1991, when four South Carolina
journalists were locked up for eight hours when they refused to testify at
the corruption trial of a state senator. Since 1973, the U.S. attorney
general has been required to approve every federal subpoena issued to a
reporter as well as every request by federal prosecutors to arrest a reporter.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/july01/2001-07-30-reporter.htm
"We are particularly disturbed because the federal court and the Justice
Department have kept every aspect of this case secret," said Lucy Dalglish,
executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "Had
this journalist not sought help from journalism organizations prior to being
sentenced for contempt, she would have been secretly jailed as well." . . .
Leggett, who lectures at a local college, is a writer. She was working on a
book on the death of a Houston woman, Doris Angleton, who was found shot to
death in April 1997. Angleton's millionaire bookie husband Robert Angleton
and his brother, Roger, were charged in the case. Roger committed suicide in
the Harris County, Texas jail in February 1998. A state court jury acquitted
Robert, and a federal investigation of Roger soon followed. Leggett had
interviews from dozens of people surrounding the case, and it has been
reported that she interviewed Roger before his death.
REPORTER'S COMMITTEE BRIEF
http://www.rcfp.org/news/documents/leggett.html
THE IDEA MILL
KEN KEUFFEL, WALL STREET JOURNAL on The seventh National Black Theatre
Festival: As many as 50,000 patrons will take in plays, musicals, readings
and seminars all over town. Actors who are just starting out will get to
test their mettle on stage, often rubbing elbows with celebrities in the
process. New plays will emerge, and old ones will gain valuable national
exposure . . . The effects will be felt not just in Winston-Salem, though.
The festival, which runs through Saturday, provides a much-needed infusion
of energy for the nation's struggling black-theater scene. The number of
black-theater companies in the country, professional and amateur, has
decreased dramatically over the past 10 years.
Victor Leo Walker, a former theater professor, runs the African Grove
Institute for the Arts, a service organization for black theaters. He said
that there were about 200 companies in the 1970s and '80s; now, there are
fewer than 50. Moreover, companies that made their mark by developing the
best acting and playwright talent - including Crossroads Theatre Company in
New Jersey and the Inner City Cultural Center in Los Angeles - have gone
under. Many others are operating in the red. Given that situation, the
festival, which is the only one of its kind in the country, offers hope that
black theater will continue to survive, no matter how dire the financial
situations of many companies become. The event, which is held every other
summer, has become a dependable place for actors, directors, playwrights and
producers to network and recharge their batteries.
http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/MGB9FWPPRPC.html
THE LIST
Think tanks most frequently cited in media
BROOKINGS INSTITUTION (Conservative, pseudo centrist): 3,586 mentions
CATO INSTITUTE, (Libertarian): 1,773 mentions
HERITAGE FOUNDATION (Conservative): 1,770
AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE (Conservative): 1,756
ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE (Liberal): 996
CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY (Liberal): 677
JUSTICE POLICY INSTITUTE (Liberal): 419
FAIR http://www.fair.org
DRUG BUSTS
REUTERS: Canada became the first country in the world on Monday to allow
terminally ill patients to grow and smoke their own marijuana, overriding
protests from doctors who said the decision could put them in an
awkward situation . . . Anyone with a terminal illness expected to live less
than a year will be allowed access to marijuana on the production of a doctor's
certificate.
THE CITY
NEAL R. PEIRCE, WASHINGTON POST: A multi-billion dollar wave of new stadium
and arena building -- biggest in the history of the planet -- is throwing up
dirt or about to start construction in U.S. cities. Estimated final costs
for this latest spasm of new or expanded football, baseball, basketball and
hockey venues -- almost every deal involving massive public subsidies -- run
from Detroit's $320 million (just in public investment) to $500 million in
Cincinnati, $1.2 billion in Houston to $1 billion in Philadelphia . . .
According to confidential National Football League documents brought to
light in a lawsuit over the Oakland Raiders this spring, big jumps in team
profits appear immediately after they move into new, taxpayer-subsidized
stadiums. Luxury boxes (typically selling for $50,000 and up), club seats,
naming rights and concessions add millions in gains. A top example: the
Cleveland Browns, who scored $36.5 million in profit their very first year
in a stadium largely financed by the public. Our cities are getting
hornswoggled into deep subsidies by owners threatening to jump town if their
demands aren't met. In a scattering of referendums -- Charlotte, Milwaukee,
San Francisco and in the Phoenix suburbs -- fed-up publics have finally
voted "no." But as yet, no team has failed to snare, ultimately, a
subsidized stadium it wants.
http://washingtonpost.com
LAND OF THE FREE
SMARTER TIMES: If two former presidents of the United States came out in
favor of a blatantly unconstitutional plan to restrict the press, would it
be big news? Not, apparently, in the judgment of the New York Times, which
reports in its national section on the recommendations of a commission on
election reform that was headed by Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. "A summary
of the report made available tonight to news organizations recommends
legislation, if necessary, to bar them from projecting winners in the
presidential contest until the polls have closed in the 48 contiguous
states." It's hard to imagine how such a "bar" on news organizations could
be imposed through "legislation" without contravening the First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
press." Moreover, while the Carter-Ford proposal seems to be an attempt to
solve an equal protection problem -- under the current system, some
late-voting people on the West Coast might not go to the polls until after
the press projects a winner -- it in fact would have the effect of worsening
that problem. Under the current system, the election projections are not an
act of government. By enshrining into law this "contiguous states" rule,
however, Congress would be essentially imposing a system under which
residents of Alaska and Hawaii have different protections than everyone else.
http://smartertimes.com
THE MEDIACRACY
JACK SHAFER, SLATE: Of all the journalistic beats in Washington, none offers
a better return on investment than a flattering piece about the FBI. Sweeten
the FBI beat with a few sugary words, and then stand by to reap the rewards
when the inevitable political scandals break--or when Osama Bin Laden tosses
his next bomb or when the narco-traffickers get caught laundering their cash
or when Russia's spies fumble. Crime knows no holiday: You can never have
too many FBI sources. And the best place to curry favor, of course, is at
the top, which is where the Washington Post's Peter Slevin and Dan Eggen go
with their Page One hagiography, "FBI Nominee Lauded for Tenacity; Mueller
Has Wide Support," about President Bush's choice for director of the FBI,
Robert S. Mueller III, the current acting deputy attorney general. Mueller
couldn't ask for better treatment from official biographers than he gets
from Slevin and Eggen. (Mueller didn't talk to the reporters, but they got
excellent access to the nominee's friends and colleagues.) . . . By far,
Mueller's noisiest critic has been New York Times columnist William Safire,
who dinged him (June 11) as "an intelligent apparatchik who showed a marked
lack of interest in pursuing the Iraqgate investigation. He helped staff the
Public Integrity Division with time-servers who would not rock the boat."
http://go.msn.com/newsletter3817/43975.asp
HEALTH PROBLEMS OF POOR ON INCREASE
Diana K. Sugg, BALTIMORE SUN: The lines at the community health clinics
scattered around Baltimore are getting longer. The people in them are
sicker. And if the patients couldn't get care at these free or low-cost
places, many say they'd be on drugs, homeless or dead. The findings from a
recent survey of people who use eight local health clinics and soup kitchens
reveal disturbing trends about the poor, often sickly city residents who go
to them for help.
Eighty percent of those surveyed have at least one chronic medical
condition, such as AIDS, hypertension or hepatitis. Almost half have a
mental health problem. And 60 percent have no health insurance, according to
the study from the Open Society Institute, which will be released today at a
news conference.
The institute, a New York-based foundation with a Baltimore office, gives
grants to study urban issues including drug treatment, criminal justice,
health and work force development . . . According to the new study, more
than half the doctors surveyed said they were less confident about getting
their patients necessary health care now than they were five years ago.
Nearly 70 percent reported an increase in the number of uninsured patients
seeking health care, and substantial difficulties getting specialized care
and procedures for them.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.clinics30jul30.story Baltimore Sun
THE NATION
JOHN CRUDELE, NY POST: On Friday the U.S. Labor Department will announce the
job figures for July. Experts believe that the government will disclose that
more jobs were lost to the recession in July and that the unemployment rate
either stayed put at 4.5 percent or inched up by one-tenth of a percentage
point. At that rate, there is no way the federal government's numbers will
ever catch up to where they should be. John Vail, an economist with Fuji
Futures Inc. in Chicago, tells me that this year there has been a 42 percent
increase in the number of people collecting unemployment insurance from the
states. "That's solid data, from the states," says Vail, who, like some of
us, thinks the federal numbers are vastly understating the unemployment
problem . . . I've said in this column before - and others, including The
New York Times, are now repeating it - that the unemployment rate in this
country would be closer to 10 percent if people who have given up looking
for a job were counted.
http://nypost.com
JUST POLITICS
GREEN PARTY OFFICIALS say they have fulfilled all requirements for national
party status and will file papers with the Federal Elections Commission to
complete the job.
FOOD
ABRIBUSINESS EXAMINER: Greg Frazier, former chief-of-staff to USDA Secretary
Dan Glickman has joined the well-connected Washington, D.C. law firm of
Akin, Gump, Strauss Hauer & Feld, which represents Archer Daniels Midland.
Frazier, a non-lawyer who joins his old boss at the law firm, will "advise"
on international trade matters. Glickman, whose joining the major Washington
lobbying and law firm earlier this year after the Clinton Administration
left office, to "advise" the firm's clients on food and food safety, health,
biotechnology and international trade issues, has its curious aspects.
Glickman signed on as a partner in the public law and policy practice group
and while he says he'll "probably play a role . . . one way or another" in
new farm legislation, reported the Washington Post's Judy Sarasohn, he will
not actually be buttonholing his former colleagues, says partner Joel
Jankowsky. "We . . . didn't bring him on to occupy the halls of Congress. We
have other people to do that," said Jankowsky, who heads the public law and
policy practice group . . .
FLOTSAM & JETSAM
One of the saddest parts of your editor's imminent departure from Cleveland
Park is that I won't be living next to Lou and Di Stovall anymore, which has
gotten to be a 28 year habit for me. Lou and Di are both artists but they
also serve as the magnetic north of the neighborhood. Follow a compass and
that's where you'll end up. Our friendship has endured even though Lou no
longer asks my advice on art. That ended after I wandered into his studio
while he was working on a print of a seascape and he recklessly asked me
what I thought of it. I pointed to an empty piece of sky and suggested that
a plane towing a banner would look nice there.
I did get into one of his prints, though. Outside his house one day, he
explained that he was working on some prints for the Equal Opportunities
Commission and needed some quotes to use on them. "Got any quotes, Sam?" he
asked. "Look Lou," I said, "writers write things and then they get quoted;
they don't just write quotes." But for him, I thought of one anyway and he
used it: "God is an equal opportunity employer."
Lou and Di provided the neighborhood young with counsel, refuge, their own
box of art supplies in the studio, laughs, food, and a badminton court. Back
when the street wasn't as busy as it now, Lou painted home plate in the
middle of it for whiffle ball, the required afternoon activity for anyone
between the ages of 6 and 16. Since there weren't enough kids to staff two
full teams, every game involved innumerable "ghost men," imaginary creatures
whose precise accomplishments and locations at any given moment were a
matter of endless, loud debate after every play. Among other services, Lou
and Di provided advice on anger management. One year, though, four of
Sidwell Friend's starting nine were graduates of the Newark Street field of
screams.
Some years later, Lou and Di's own son went to Sidwell and, faced with
having both Chelsea Clinton and Al Gore Jr as schoolmates, rebelled in one
of the few ways available to a 7th grader under such circumstances: he
became a Republican. This revolt, mercifully brief, included playing golf
and arranging to have me sent a membership in the GOP Gold Club complete
with a welcoming letter from Haley Barber, as well posting a Dole-Kemp sign
in his bedroom that looked directly down into our living room.
Lou and I conspired on a number of matters, including one of the city's
first neighborhood crime watches. Lou designed the signs and hosted
meetings, while I served as crime statistician. Some of the watch's efforts
didn't work out all that well. At one meeting, the late Bishop John Walker
complained that a wanted poster drawn by a neighbor seemed racist to him. I
told John that he just didn't understand the difference between racism and
bad art. John, bishop of the Washington National Cathedral, had a sense of
humor good enough that Lou once loudly told him one of my recently
transmitted jokes, from one crowded Giant food checkout line across to
another, and John had the grace to laugh. The joke was that Moses had come
down from the Mount and told the people, "I've got some good news and some
bad news. The good news is I've talked him down from 100 to ten. The bad
news is that adultery is still one of them."
On another occasion, someone called the police around ten pm to complain
about someone shining flashlights into their house. It was the neighborhood
watch on patrol, albeit a bit counterproductively. Then, on a pleasant
Saturday afternoon, the alarm went off at the house on the other side of
ours. The police responded, with Lou and I there to assist. Noting that the
kitchen window was unlocked, the officer pulled his revolver and announced,
with what struck me as excessive import and hubris, "Stand back, I'm going
in." He opened the window and crawled through, waving his revolver. A few
minutes later, he reappeared, announcing with even great import, "Stand
back, this could be dangerous." In his right hand he still held his
revolver, but in his left was a saucepan out of which all the water had
boiled, leaving only one perilously overheated egg.
On another occasion, I returned to find Lou in his front yard. "Doesn't that
car look like the one they're looking for in that rape case?" he asked,
pointing to a decrepit vehicle up the street. We went to take a look, nodded
thoughtfully at the decrepit contents, and then returned to call the police.
Afterwards, we stayed on the sidewalk talking for about twenty minutes,
until Lou said, "Let's go take another look." After our inspection, we
returned to Lou's fence and our conversations. Some while later, Lou said,
"Where are those cops? I think I'll call again." When he returned outside,
he reported that the officer on duty had told him, "We have the car under
surveillance, sir, but it doesn't help much if citizens keep looking in the
window. Which one are you, the big white guy or the little short bald black
guy?"
"I resent that," said Lou. Replied the officer, "We're paid to be observant."
It's going to be rough not having Lou close at hand to help in
such matters. But then, maybe now he'll be able to get more art done.
TODAY IN HISTORY
1928 Horace Silver is born.
1969 A Moscow police chief reports that thousands of telephone booths have
been made inoperable by thieves who have stolen phone parts in order to
convert their acoustic guitars to electric.
DAILY BLEED http://www.eskimo.com/~recall/bleed/calmast.htm
HISTORY NET http://www.thehistorynet.com/today/today.htm
WRITER'S ALMANAC http://writersalmanac.org/
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