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UNDERNEWS
THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
Washington's most unofficial source
0ct 4, 2001
Editor: Sam Smith
1312 18th St. NW #502, Washington DC 20036
202-835-0770 Fax: 835-0779
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WORD
In time of war, the loudest patriots are the greatest profiteers. August
Babel, 1870
THE WAR
*** ATLANTIC MONTHLY: Former CIA operative Marc Gerecht says U.S. spies have
little hope of capturing Bin Laden or infiltrating Al Qaeda. What's lacking
is "non-official-cover" operatives with no connection to the U.S. govt. But
no program to insert NOCs into an Islamic fundamentalist organization abroad
had (as of late 1999) been implemented. Says one NOC: "NOCs haven't really
changed at all since the Cold War. We're still a group of fake businessmen
who live in big houses overseas. We don't go to mosques and pray." Another
Near East operative says: "The CIA probably doesn't have a single truly
qualified Arabic-speaking officer of Middle Eastern background who can play
a believable Muslim fundamentalist who would volunteer to spend years of his
life with shitty food and no women in the mountains of Afghanistan. For
Christ's sake, most case officers live in the suburbs of Virginia. We don't
do that kind of thing."
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/07/gerecht.htm
*** Kate Connolly, guardian, LONDON: A leading member of Germany's ruling
coalition warned that the survival of the government could be at risk
because of the crisis brought about by the terrorist attacks on the US.
Peter Struck, parliamentary leader of the Social Democratic party, delivered
an uncompromising ultimatum to the Greens, the junior partners in Gerhard
Schr�der's center-left alliance, that they must either back the possibility
of US military retaliation or leave the coalition. "The Greens would be
faced with two alternatives, either to support this decision, which I would
urge them to do, or not to support the decision. That would lead to the end
of the coalition," Mr Struck said on German radio. "Holding two minutes'
silences is not enough." His warning prompted fears that the attacks were
about to claim their first leading political victim. Political analysts
yesterday considered what would happen if the Greens left the coalition. The
most likely option would be the formation of a broad coalition that would
include the opposition Christian Democrats and for which a new election
would not be necessary. In the event of the Greens leaving the government,
the foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, is highly likely to desert the party
he once led, in favor of the SPD. He has already hinted that his loyalty
lies with the government and NATO . . . Within the Greens, which has its
roots in the pacifist movement, there has been intense debate about German
involvement in a military mission. Its leader, Fritz Kuhn, stressed that the
party was a united front, but was keen to emphasize its commitment to a
non-violent response. "We are very close together on knowing we must fight
terrorism with repressive and preventative strikes, and in a level-headed
way," he said. "But not by working on the principal of revenge and
retaliation, rather de-escalation."
*** THE ONION: Speaking via closed-circuit television from the Oval Office
Monday, President Bush made a direct plea to Osama bin Laden to form a
nation the U.S. can attack. "Whether you take over an existing nation like
Afghanistan or create a new breakaway republic called, say, Osamastan, the
important thing is that you establish an identifiable nation-state with an
army, a capital, and clearly defined borders," Bush said. "Maybe you could
also sign some quick treaties to definitively establish who your allies
are." The president then pledged $600 million to bin Laden for the
construction of a state-of-the-art defense headquarters that the U.S. can bomb.
*** Andrew Gumbel, Independent, LONDON: In Las Vegas, casino workers are
being sacked without so much as a thank you. At one resort, the news of
their dismissal was written on their time cards. In Anaheim, home of
Disneyland, union organizers have begun handing out emergency food packages
to hotel workers facing destitution because their poverty-wage jobs have
dried up without warning. Waiters, accountants, receptionists and cleaners
have been put on reduced hours or laid off altogether because the once
lucrative tourism market has all but collapsed and business travel has been
heavily curtailed. It is becoming clear that airlines may not be the sector
worst affected by the atrocities of 11 September. The Hotel and Restaurant
Employees Union reports that 40 to 60 per cent of its membership has been
laid off in the past three weeks.
*** TIM BUTCHER, TELEGRAPH, LONDON: The largest outbreak in history of a
highly contagious disease that causes patients to bleed to death from every
orifice was confirmed on Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan. At least 75
people have caught the disease so far and eight have died. An isolation ward
screened off by barbed wire has been set up in the Pakistani city of Quetta,
and an international appeal has been launched for help. Evidence suggests
the outbreak of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever emanates from within
Afghanistan, raising fears of an epidemic if millions of refugees flee
across the frontier into Pakistan. CCHF has similar effects to the ebola
virus. Both viruses damage arteries, veins and other blood vessels and lead
to the eventual collapse of major organs. As one doctor put it, a patient
suffering from haemorrhagic fever "literally melts in front of your eyes" .
. . The first known case of the disease was among Russian soldiers serving
in the Crimea in 1944 and then among villagers living near the Congolese
city of Kisangani in 1956. Not until 1969 were scientists able to isolate
the single virus common to both. Although there have been a number of cases
since, the outbreaks have never been as large as the current one.
http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/04/wref0
4.xml&sSheet=/news/2001/10/04/ixhome.html
*** Manuel Perez-Rivas CNN: Afghanistan's ruling Taliban government appears
to be benefiting from sharp spikes in the price of opium that have come
about after it banned cultivation of poppy, the plant that produces the
drug, United States officials said. Officials said the drug market in
Afghanistan appears to be flourishing, based on record drug seizures this
year in neighboring countries, as well as the seizure of materials used in
drug production that were intercepted on their way in to Afghanistan. The
trade seems to have continued unabated -- even though the ban was effective
in slashing cultivation -- because of the existence of large stockpiles of
opiates within Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the price of the drug has skyrocketed
in the region since the Taliban imposed its ban on poppy growers last year.
*** Rowan Scarborough, WASHINGTON TIMES: The Bush administration is putting
final touches on a bombing plan against Afghanistan's Taliban militia that
will spare civilian infrastructure such as electrical grids, bridges and
water supplies, U.S. officials say. "The 'center of gravity' is not bridges.
It's the Taliban," said one administration official, using the military's
term for an enemy target. In previous U.S.-led bombing campaigns, such as
those against Iraq and Serbia, the Pentagon worked off a broad, or
strategic, target list. Targets included bridges, roads, electrical
generators and, in some cases, central water supplies. Officials say the
impending campaign, relying on a growing arsenal of "smart" munitions, will
attempt to surgically separate the ruling Taliban militia from Afghan society.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20011004-31834294.htm
SPEAKING OF PATRIOTISM
John Nichols, nation: Moving to exploit a shifting political landscape in
the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon, President Bush's Congressional point man on free
trade issues has announced that he will attempt to ram a fast track bill
through the Congress as soon as next week . . . But there are already signs
that the Bush camp is going to have a serious fight on its hands. The
AFL-CIO and its members unions have geared up a major push to block action
on the bill . . . Fast Track remains unpopular not just with most Democrats
but with many members of his own party. Opposed by labor, environmental and
human rights group because it would eliminate the ability of Congress to
amend or moderate anti-worker, environmentally risky and undemocratic
components of trade deals reached by the Bush administration, Fast Track has
long been the top legislative priority of multinational corporations and
their lobbying associations. With Fast Track authority, Bush would be freed
to negotiate a borderless business zone from South America to Antarctica --
creating a circumstance Public Citizen Global Trade Watch director Lori
Wallach has described as "NAFTA on steroids."
http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/
RECOVERED HISTORY
John Adams and the Alien & Sedition Acts
IT IS INTERESTING, and perhaps significant, that as American democracy
collapses, the country's elite has become enamored with John Adams, a man
partially responsible for some of the worst laws ever approved by the U.S.
Congress, the Alien & Sedition Acts.
SAUL PADOVER, "THE WORLD OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS" - Adams expressed his
ideas in a number of essays and books, as well as in his letters. There are
three main elements in his philosophy. One is Adams' view of human nature.
Another is his conception of inequality. The third is his idea of
government. Adams did not agree with democrats like Jefferson that human
beings were naturally good and decent. On the contrary, he believed that
people were basically selfish and only good because of necessity. Adams also
denied the democratic idea of equality. He pointed out that among all
nations the people were "naturally divided into two sorts, the gentlemen and
the simple men." The gentlemen, being superior in abilities, education, and
other advantages, were therefore qualified to rule. These views underlay
Adams' philosophy of government. Since human beings were greedy and selfish,
it was necessary for society to keep them in check. The average person, he
felt, could not be entrusted with power. Adams believed in liberty and was
opposed to tyranny. Though he was sometimes accused of being a monarchist,
he actually preferred a republic. But instead of a Jefferson-type democracy,
Adams favored a republican government run by an aristocracy of talented men.
Folwell's "Laws of the U.S." - Under the threat of war with France, Congress
in 1798 passed four laws in an effort to strengthen the Federal government.
Known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts, the legislation sponsored
by the Federalists was also intended to quell any political opposition from
the Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson. The first of the laws was the
Naturalization Act, passed by Congress on June 18. This act required that
aliens be residents for 14 years instead of 5 years before they became
eligible for U.S. citizenship. Congress then passed the Alien Act on June
25, authorizing the President to deport aliens "dangerous to the peace and
safety of the United States" during peacetime. The third law, the Alien
Enemies Act, was enacted by Congress on July 6. This act allowed the wartime
arrest, imprisonment and deportation of any alien subject to an enemy power.
The last of the laws, the Sedition Act, passed on July 14 declared that any
treasonable activity, including the publication of "any false, scandalous
and malicious writing," was a high misdemeanor, punishable by fine and
imprisonment. By virtue of this legislation twenty-five men, most of them
editors of Republican newspapers, were arrested and their newspapers forced
to shut down. One of the men arrested was Benjamin Franklin's grandson,
Benjamin Franklin Bache, editor of the Philadelphia Democrat-Republican
Aurora. Charged with libeling President Adams, Bache's arrest erupted in a
public outcry against all of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Many Americans
questioned the constitutionality of these laws. Indeed, public opposition to
the Alien and Sedition Acts was so great that they were in part responsible
for the election of Thomas Jefferson, a Republican, to the presidency in
1800. Once in office, Jefferson pardoned all those convicted under the
Sedition Act, while Congress restored all fines paid with interest.
RECOVERED HISTORY
Japanese-Americans in WWII
AGRIBUSINESS EXAMINER: In these days immediately following September 11
numerous incidents of taunts, hate crimes and violence are being reported on
a daily basis throughout the U.S. aimed at Afghan Americans and Arab
Americans with some in the government and media even suggesting detaining
and interning immigrants considered suspect while some polls show that many
Americans support racial profiling . . . "We went through some similar
things in World War II when we were evacuated and incarcerated," Yuri
Kochiyama, who spent more than two years in an American internment camp
during World War II and who now works as an activist on behalf of political
prisoners, told the San Francisco Chronicle's Ryan Kim . . . As an
apolitical nine-year old living in tranquil West Los Angeles, California, I
was unaware on December 7, 1941 that I was about to be a witness to not only
the last world war, but also a stark and early lesson in how patriotism,
racism and national security can be skillfully exploited by powerful
economic and political corporate interests in the pursuit of greed. It was
only a few weeks after Pearl Harbor that World War II would become
omnipresent in our daily lives. There was the military patrolling our
streets protecting an important nearby airplane factory and a
middle-of-the-night scare of having to evacuate our homes because "enemy
aircraft" were reportedly spotted off the Southern California coast. What
made the biggest impression, however, on those of us living in that area of
Southern California in early 1942 was the almost overnight disappearance of
so many of our neighbors and fellow citizens of Japanese ancestry . . .
Lurid stories of spying, the purported discovery of basement arsenals of
weapons ready to support the upcoming "Japanese invasion" of the California,
and tales of attempted sabotage dominated back fence and dinner
conversations, not one of which ever proved to be true. Thus, began that
infamous chapter in California's and the nation's history when Franklin D.
Roosevelt in early 1942 issued Executive Order 9066, which saw 120,000 West
Coast Japanese American citizens forced from their homes, businesses, and
farms into concentration camps for the duration of World War II . . .
Despite all those historical land ownership restrictions put on the Japanese
in California, by 1940 over half of the state's Japanese American population
were rooted in the soil. Although there were 5135 Japanese farm operators in
1940, largely because of the 1913 Alien Land Act, only 1295 were land owners
. . . Of the 240,000 acres the Japanese American farmers operated, 80,000
were owned and 160,000 were leased, a combined total of less than
three-tenths of one percent of the state's farms. Yet, these farms yielded
seven times more dollars that the average California farm as the Japanese
planted 75% of their land, while the average state farmer only 25% of their
land . . . Japanese American farmers had been producing 90% of the state's
strawberry crop, 73% of the snap beans, 75% of the celery, 70% of the
lettuce, 60% of the cauliflower, 60% of the spinach, and 50% of the
tomatoes. They also grew cantaloupes, carrots, onions, nursery stock, peas,
cranberries, radishes and sugar beets. By the early fall of 1941, the
Western Growers and Shippers Protective Association (now the Western Growers
Association) in conjunction with the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce were
actively engaged in a concerted effort to pressure the U.S. Attorney and the
War Department to remove the Japanese from California farming and were
urging the state's Congressional delegation to pass a resolution to ban the
Japanese from the West Coast. All those efforts came to a successful climax
on December 7, . . . By August, 1942 they and thousands of other internees
who had been confined in some 13 other temporary centers would be
transferred to ten isolated California "relocation" camps . . . Meanwhile,
the highly productive and intensely cultivated land that had been quickly
confiscated from them, land of which they never would be fully reimbursed,
was placed under the jurisdiction of the Farm Security Administration. FSA
records indicate that 6,664 pieces of Neisi agricultural property, totaling
258,000 acres, were involved in the seizure process. Property losses alone
were later estimated at $400 million, with less than ten percent ever repaid
after the war.
http://www.ea1.com/CARP/agbiz/examiner1.html
ALTERNATIVES
[The author is a Spanish jurist, who was responsible for the arrest warrant
for Augusto Pinochet]
Baltasar Garzon, Financial Times: I live in a country that has been
fighting terrorism for 30 years and that daily clamors for the rule of law
as the best means to confront it. What is not possible is that Spain should
now put on a military helmet and pledge unlimited support for the
hypothetical bombardment of nothing; for the massacre of poverty; and for a
breach of the most fundamental logic, which proves that violence begets
violence. The spiral of terrorism is fed by the number of dead counted among
its victims. It has been said of terrorism, particularly the Islamic or
fundamentalist kind, that it is a widespread threat. But it is a phenomenon
that has been helped by the West's rejection of all that is different from
its own culture or "civilized religion." The West and its political,
military, social and economic hierarchies have been more preoccupied with
the abusive and shameful march of production, speculation and profit than
with an adequate redistribution of wealth. It has favored a policy of social
exclusion over integration and progressive immigration. And it has insisted
on maintaining - and insisted on payment of - external debt instead of using
those funds in the same countries it is now asking for help and
understanding. For all those conscious mistakes, the West is suffering the
terrible consequences of fanatical religious violence. Lasting peace and
freedom can be achieved only with legality, justice, respect for diversity,
defense of human rights and measured and fair responses. It is impossible to
build peace on foundations of misery . . . The response that I seek is not
military. It is one based on law, through the immediate approval of an
international convention on terrorism. Such a convention should, among other
things, include: rules governing co-operation between police and the
judiciary; rules that enable investigations to take place in tax havens; the
urgent ratification of the statute of the International Criminal Tribunal;
and the definition of terrorism as a crime against humanity. The time has
come to look at the principles of territorial sovereignty, human rights,
security, co-operation and universal criminal justice through the same lens.
That, and that alone, should be the aim of the coalition of countries
against terrorism.
DEPARTMENT OF SILLY TALK
ANDREW SULLIVAN, WALL STREET JOURNAL: The left's howls of anguish are
essentially phony - and they stem from a growing realization that this
crisis has largely destroyed the credibility of the far left. Forced to
choose between the West and the Taliban, the hard left simply cannot decide.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=95001266
HELP THE EDITOR
A NUMBER OF PEOPLE have claimed to have heard prominent persons on TV
including a U.S. Senator list the TWA 800 crash as among recent terrorist
incidents. We can find no confirmation of this. If you have any, please send
it to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
AMERICAN INDICATORS
- Percent of Americans who used the Internet as their primary source for
news during the recent attacks: 3%
- Percent of Americans who used the Internet for some of their news: 64%
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=355
THE NATION
JACK CHANG, CONTRA COSTA TIMES: The East Bay [CA] saw the nation's biggest
jump in housing costs this past year compared to other metropolitan regions.
The average income needed to pay rent or mortgage installments here rose by
more than 25 percent, according to a nationwide housing report. The Bay Area
remains the most expensive place in the nation to rent or buy housing,
according to "Out of Reach, America's Growing Wage-Rent Disparity" released
by the nonprofit advocacy group the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
The four most expensive counties in the nation identified by the report are
in the Bay Area. They are Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/stories_loc_break/hothousing_20011002.htm
Needed Hourly Wage
for Two Bedroom
Fair Market Rent Apartment
San Francisco, CA $33.60
San Jose, CA $30.62
Stamford-Norwalk, CT $26.62
Oakland, CA $23.90
Nassau-Suffolk, NY $23.65
Westchester County, NY $23.00
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA $22.60
Orange County, CA $21.10
Boston, MA-NH $20.21
Bergen-Passaic, NJ $20.19
http://www.nlihc.org/oor2001/index.htm
Bill McAllister & Steve Lipsher, Denver Post: Denver may be the "epicenter"
of immigration in Colorado, but the surprising story is the growing numbers
of immigrants turning up in such places as Douglas, Summit, Lake, Routt and
Costilla counties, researcher Steven A. Camarota said. Those five counties,
along with 218 others across the nation, were christened "The New Ellis
Islands" of America by Camarota's Center for Immigration Studies. All the
counties recorded a more than 50 percent increase in legal immigrants from
1991 to 1998 compared with their 1990 populations. 1998 is the last year for
which immigration numbers are available, the center said. Camarota readily
conceded that the 15,904 immigrants who came to Denver in that eight-year
period far exceed the total for the five other Colorado counties. But he
said the fact that largely rural and remote places such as Routt and
Costilla counties have seen their immigrant populations jump dramatically is
an important indication of how immigration is changing America.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E168406,00.html
JOE BAIRD, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Utah has once again reclaimed its mantle as
the youngest state in the nation. Turns out the Beehive State is home to the
country's youngest city, too. Census 2000 figures identified Provo as the
most youthful U.S. city with a population of 100,000 or higher. Not that
this really comes as any great shock. With Brigham Young University and
nearby Utah Valley State College in Orem, the Provo area is home to about
50,000 college students. Add to that a low 65-and-over population, and the
city's median age of 22.9 becomes understandable. "It's a college town,"
said Neil Ashdown, deputy director of the Governor's Office of Planning and
Budget. "If you look over the top 10 cities nationally [with the youngest
median age], probably half are college towns."
http://www.sltrib.com/10042001/utah/137516.htm
CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES: The state with the most New Ellis Islands is
Georgia, with 25; followed by Minnesota and Kentucky with 18 counties each;
Virginia with 13; Tennessee and North Carolina with 12 each; Indiana with
11; and Mississippi, Missouri, and Iowa with 10 counties each. Texas,
Alabama, Louisiana, Illinois, and Colorado each have at least five counties
that qualify as New Ellis Islands . . . In the nation's 100 largest
metropolitan areas, Nashville ranks first in the number of new immigrants
(1991-1998) relative to its foreign-born population in 1990. Atlanta is
second and Louisville is third. Rounding out the top 10 are Minneapolis-St.
Paul, Greensboro-Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Memphis, Portland,
Ore./Vancouver, Wash., Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2001/back1101release11.html
JUST POLITICS
THE ATTORNEY for one of six people accused of offering bribes for in a
Philadelphia election has offered the defense that this was simply
"Philadelphia politics as usual." Said lawyer Maria Carrasquillo, "You've
heard the expression, 'business as usual?' In this case, it's Philadelphia
politics as usual. You roll up your sleeves, you get down and dirty, and,
yeah, you get dirty." Perri said party officials have been using "street
cash" to influence votes for a century. "Last time I checked there is no
statute about a scheme to buy a ward leader's election. You might not like
it. Ward politics is not pleasant, but it is a fact of life in Philadelphia."
THEY'RE NOT AS LAID BACK IN CLEVELAND where a candidate for city council has
been arrested on charges he used a city computer for campaign-related
e-mail. Terry Reed says he will plead innocent to the fifth degree felony
charge. Reed had an all around bad day. He lost to incumbent Dona Brady in
the primary, 3,021 to 318.
ELIAN
A FEDERAL JUDGE has ruled that former Attorney General Janet Reno can be
sued by those who say they were injured during the raid to seize Elian
Gonzalez from his Miami relatives' home. 52 protesters and bystanders have
filed suit for at least $100 million charging that they were illegally
beaten, gassed and threatened. Says Judge K. Michael Moore, "A reasonable
officer in Reno's position would know that the law forbade her from
directing the execution of a warrant in a manner that called for unjustified
force against bystanders." Said Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, which is
representing the victims, "She knew their constitutional rights would be
violated and she didn't care."
LOOSE CHANGE
DALTON CONLEY, Le Monde Diplomatique: The one statistic that reflects the
continuing racial inequality in post-civil rights America is net worth -
wealth, equity, assets . . . Overall, the typical white family has a net
worth 10 times that of its non-white counterpart. This "equity inequity" has
grown in the decades since the trumpeted civil rights triumphs of the 1960s.
The wealth gap cannot be explained by income differences alone. When we
compare African-American and white families at the same income levels,
assets gaps remain wide. For instance, at the lower end of the economic
spectrum (incomes less than $15,000 a year), the median African-American
family has a net worth of zero, while the equivalent white family holds
$10,000 worth of equity. Among the heralded new African-American middle
class, the situation is not much better: the typical black family earning
$40,000 a year has a nest egg of less than that amount; its white
counterpart has assets of $80,000, more than double the amount.
http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/2001/09/08richconley
NATION
KIM MURPHY LOS ANGELES TIMES: The legacy of industrial poisoning in America
is a grim one: There are the copper mines of Butte that created a poisonous
pit more than a mile wide and 1,800 feet deep. There is Cleveland's Cuyahoga
River, once so polluted it caught fire. There is New York's Love Canal. But
for sheer human misery, there rarely has been anything such as Libby. At
least 200 people have died because they worked at the Zonolite Mountain
vermiculite mine, or had a husband who worked there, or jumped as children
from ropes into fluffy piles of vermiculite, or played on the high school
running track or the elementary school ice rink, both filled with mine
tailings. At the grocery store, you will probably run into one or two Libby
residents with oxygen boosters slung over their shoulders, connected to
plastic tubes running into their nose. The ones who can't get to the store
sit home next to their oxygen tanks. They struggle to get a breath of air in
lungs that can't expand anymore, they cough until they vomit, they peer from
behind oxygen masks through eyes filled with fear. They wait for their
children to show signs of the disease. Many already do. Asbestos -- the
invisible, deadly fiber that laces the vermiculite at Libby -- seems a
problem from the past. Many people assume it has been banned. Wrong on both
counts. And the fact that asbestos lurks in the lungs for up to 40 years
before sickening and killing means that mortality rates still are expanding,
decades after the world first realized asbestos could kill. Annual claims
for work-related asbestos exposure hit 50,000 last year -- more than double
the rate of the mid-1990s -- with medical and environmental cleanup claims
projected to reach $200 billion in the United States by 2030.
http://www.sltrib.com/2001/sep/09302001/business/business.htm
DRUG BUSTS
THE BRITISH HOME OFFICE says that Brits spend almost as much on illegal
drugs as they do on tobacco: $6.6 billion for the drugs, $8 billion for the
smokes. Biggest sales are for alcohol: $20 billion.
Eug�ne de Montgolfier, district attorney for Nice, France, says "We no
longer prosecute cannabis users because we are in tune with social
evolution. Now let parliament say its part".
LOOSE CHANGE
Stephen Taub, CFO: Perhaps more than any other group, [the] one-time tech
titans [of Silicon Valley] have been liberal users of pro forma results,
which are really hypothetical numbers. Or, simply the numbers the companies
want you to think about, whether or not they truly reflect the health of a
company�s ongoing operations. Of course, these numbers are generally much
different than the ones companies must submit to the Securities and Exchange
Commission, which must be calculated under Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles. The GAAP results are frequently buried in the press releases.
Don�t believe this? Well, the Associated Press did an in-depth analysis of
earnings reports by Northern California's 100 largest technology companies.
The wire service calculated that the companies have reported a combined
$70.9 billion in losses this year under GAAP standards. However, they
announced a $10 billion profit using their pro forma figures. In the same
period in 2000, the same companies reported a combined GAAP profit of $22.3
billion versus a combined pro forma profit of $27.5 billion. What accounts
for the difference? About $82.8 billion in bad investments, layoffs, and
other special charges that the tech companies have shown on their books this
year, up from $5.6 billion last year, says the AP. The wire service found
that JDS Uniphase alone accounted for $50.6 billion in losses. However, half
of the tech companies it analyzed lost money this year. At this point last
year, only 26 had suffered losses
CULTURE
BBC: Carbon isotope analysis of charcoal used in pictures of horses at
Chauvet, south-central France, show that they are 30,000 years old, a
discovery that should prompt a rethink about the development of art . . .
Because the paintings are just as artistic and complex as the later Lascaux
paintings, it may indicate that art developed much earlier than had been
realized . . . The prehistoric cave art found in France and Spain shows
ancient man to be a remarkable artist. When Pablo Picasso visited the
newly-discovered Lascaux caves, in the Dordogne, in 1940, he emerged from
them saying of modern art, "We have discovered nothing."
STEPHEN BATES, GUARDIAN, LONDON: George Bush senior memorably cast anathema
on them. "We need a nation closer to the Waltons than the Simpsons," he
announced as he was defeated by Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential
election . . . Under pressure from religious fundamentalists, the department
store JC Penney banned their T-shirts. The Catholic League for Religious and
Civil Rights objected to a joke about birth control. Now the tide has
turned. The Simpsons, Matt Groening's series about the dysfunctional family
of middle Americans, is being embraced by churches. Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa
and Maggie are becoming distinguished figures on theological courses, and in
texts for students training to be priests. A new book claims that far from
being subversive of the moral fiber of America, the Simpsons embody its
sturdiest values and impart a highly religious tone to viewers. This may be
just as well, as a 1999 survey found that 91% of children and 84% of adults
could identify members of the Simpson family. The series is watched by
nearly 15 million people when it is shown on Sunday nights in the US, and by
60 million in 70 countries worldwide each week, except in Costa Rica and the
Dominican Republic, where it is banned as an affront to family values. "The
Gospel According to the Simpsons," by the American religious writer Mark
Pinsky, claims that despite Homer's assertion that the family belongs to
"you know, the one with all the well-meaning rules that don't work in real
life - uh, Christianity", its stories are deeply moral. An analysis of plots
by California State University found 70% had some religious content and 10%
of episodes had religious themes. The book enlists support for that view
from Rowan Williams, archbishop of the Church in Wales, one of Anglicanism's
foremost theologians, who says the series is "one of the most subtle pieces
of propaganda around in the cause of sense, humility and virtue." . . .
Groening said in an interview: "Right wingers complain there's no God on TV
(but) not only do the Simpsons go to church, they actually speak to God from
time to time."
http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,562501,00.html
FIELD NOTES
CIA'S SECRET AIRLINE, AIR AMERICA on the History Channel, October 18, 8 pm.
How to be a sensitive journalist
http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/04/nmed1
04.xml&sSheet=/news/2001/10/04/ixhome.html
FEEDBACK
<> The War
JAMIE KENNY, MANCHESTER, UK: Nice analysis of Blair's speech, which has the
Guardian/Observer crowd "coming in their pants," as they say in Whitehall
circles. It used to be said that Labor never had enough experience of the
private sector, and the pavlovian response of the Labor delegates to whom
Blair spoke shows that the argument has some force. This stuff was
motivational mumbo jumbo right out of the MBA textbook on "dealing with
really stupid staff without really trying." The CEO gets up in front of the
disgruntled audience of cubicle slaves and tells them that this is a time of
great change, when all their dreams become possible, and, hey, this
organization's strength is its people and I want you to know how much we
value your ideals . . . three months later, everyone gets a p45 (that's a
pink slip to you lot). Keep up the good work
MONICA: I was very concerned when I heard the Bush cabal announce the
formation of the Homeland Defense whatever -- reminiscent of "Fatherland" to
me. Come on! Why is everyone so nervous to use the only word that applies
here FASCISM. Yes, sir - we'll just keep on waving the flags and rattling
the sabers. Like Ann Coulter said: "The 'little people' will believe
anything. They eat it up." Likewise Bob Dole: "Thank God for patriotism and
provincialism . . . " The public doesn't even know when it is being
ridiculed & manipulated.
ROBERT LIPSCOMB: Speaking from a viewpoint that's obviously far from yours,
at least on this issue (put me down as not far from what you termed Bush's
"manic bellicosity"): thanks for sticking with your principles. One thing I
value about Undernews is that, agree or disagree with your views, they are
sincerely held and honestly and intelligently expounded. There's so much
posing and "spin" on all sides of politics that I'm glad to see virtually
any position that someone is taking because they actually believe it. You
make your readers think. Keep up the good work.
PETE LANNON: Hear, hear. Powerful words, keen insight. Writing like this is
what keeps me coming back to TPR. Keep up the great work and, eloquently,
say what needs to be said.
<> Tale of Two Cities
GEORGE L, TAKOMA PARK, MD: I hate to go and get technical, but disaster
didn't "strike" WASHINGTON on the eleventh. Disaster struck New York, true,
but it struck Arlington County, VIRGINIA, which is where the Pentagon is
located. We're told (and evidence from the plane which crashed in
Pennsylvania indicates) that disaster was PLANNED for Washington, but it was
apparently averted. This may not alter the gist of your missive much, but I
have to note that too many politicos of local and national stripe have taken
pains to make Washington itself into one of the actual victims of the
attacks on the eleventh, which was not the case (thank God).
TODAY IN HISTORY
1226 St. Francis of Assisi dies. Asked what he would do if he knew he only
had one more day to live, St. Francis replied that he would hoe his garden.
1777 At Germantown, Pa., British General Sir William Howe repels George
Washington's last attempt to retake Philadelphia, forcing Washington to
spend the winter at Valley Forge. Part of the battleground will later be
used as a driveway by your editor's parents.
1822 Rutherford B. Hayes is born. He will later become the 19th president of
the United States for reasons of which we remain uncertain.
1910 20-year old King Manuel II of Portugal is overthrown. The coup takes
place at breakfast time and by lunch a republic will have been established.
1957 "Leave It To Beaver" first appears on TV.
1970 Janis Joplin dies of a heroin overdose.
1976 Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz's resigns after using the word "nigger"
in public . . . The Supreme Court lifts the ban on the death sentence in
murder cases ending a decade with out executions.
1986 Dan Rather is mugged in New York City by William Tager who shouts at
him, "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" As usual, Rather failed to come up
with the right answer.
1991 Leonard C. Odell who wrote 7,000 Burma Shave poems, dies at 83. Samples:
The weather was clear
The cars was whizzin',
The fault Was hers
The funeral his'n.
Burma Shave.
Her chariot
Raced at eighty per,
They hauled away
What had Ben Hur.
Burma Shave.
Big blue tube
Just like Louise
You get a lot
With every squeeze
Burma Shave.
DAILY BLEED http://www.eskimo.com/~recall/bleed/calmast.htm
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