Issue 51 Table of Contents

Issue 51
Table of Contents

	Logger Deliberately Endangered Slain Activist, Earth First! Says	by Nicholas Wilson A Pacific Lumber Company logger allegedly threatened forest activists and deliberately felled a giant redwood in their direction when one of them was crushed to death, according to an Earth First! statement and videotape
	Double Standard of Disclosure	by Monte Paulsen Newt Gingrich wasted no time in posting independent counsel Kenneth Starr's report on President Clinton to the Internet last Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, the Speaker has not been as forthcoming with the work of Congress as he has with these titillating tales of sex in the Oval Office
	The Ethics of Henry Hyde	by Jeff Elliott As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Hyde (R - Illinois) will preside over key hearings that will decide whether Congress will take the first steps toward impeachment. But the chairman has a record tarnished with dirty politics, possible coverups, and questionable ethical behavior far worse than anything of which Clinton is accused
	Different Standards For Me And Thee	by Jeff Elliott As the House of Representatives prepared to weigh evidence against Bill Clinton gathered by a special prosecutor, members of the House are quietly trying to change the laws to make themselves immune to such an investigation. A little-noticed clause in a huge appropriations bill would establish a "Misconduct Review Board" where members of Congress -- and supposedly, average citizens -- could make claims of abuse by federal prosecutors
	House Ethics: Rogue's Gallery	some examples of corruption, graft, influence peddling and abuse of power in the U.S. House of Representatives
	Pepper Spray Trial Begins	by Nicholas Wilson Trial began August 10 in a federal civil rights suit filed last October by nine activists who were swabbed or sprayed at close range. Dubbed the Headwaters Forest Defense, et al. vs. Humboldt County, et al., the suit charges officers used excessive force. The activists seek an injunction against using chemical weapons on peaceful protesters plus damages for pain and suffering
	Pepper Spray Trial Ends In Hung Jury	by Nicholas Wilson The two-week ended with the jury evenly split on whether Humboldt County deputies acted appropriately as they swabbed and sprayed pepper spray in the demonstrator's eyes
	Torture By Any Other Name	Analysis and Commentary by Nicholas Wilson If pepper concentrate swabbed in the eyes of passive demonstrators is okay, then is it also acceptable to connect wires to their genitals and "ring them up" with an old-fashioned telephone magneto? The police witnesses refused to admit pepper spray caused pain, insisting on calling it temporary discomfort. But all the witnesses who experienced pepper spray said it was extremely painful; more than one said it was the worst pain they had ever felt. The stated purpose was coercion, to get them to unlock, and I believe it was also intended to punish. That clearly fits the definition of torture
	Half Of U.S. Foreign Aid Is Military	by Jim Lobe Half of the foreign aid granted by the United States last year was designed to further military and national-security interests, according to a new report. As a result, much of the U.S. foreign-aid program may be working against the stated objectives of the administration of President Bill Clinton, including promoting sustainable development, protecting human health and bolstering democratic government
	Wall Street Seeks Someone To Blame	Analysis by Farhan Haq U.S. investors who want to blame someone for Wall Street's sudden collapse have no shortage of suspects -- from President Bill Clinton to special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in between
	Famine, Anger Spur "Second Wave" Of Indonesia Revolution	by Andreas Harsono Dramatic protests and riots again sweep Indonesia, reminding officials and soldiers that a revolution has not been abandoned
	A "Lost Generation" Of Indonesian Children	by Kafil Yamin As the free fall of Indonesia's economy continues, more and more Indonesian children are dropping out of school due to shrinking family coffers. Likewise, youngsters are turning to work, including sex work, to survive and help their families. The number of streetchildren appears to have risen, and children are making do with less nutritious food these days. Children are among the biggest casualties of the country's economic meltdown
	Indonesian Children Now Dig Through Trash	by Andreas Harsono It was a beautiful morning in mid-June when Oh Ie Ik began to notice three small children walking around his neighborhood, opening trash bins and searching through the garbage inside. After two months, that sight has now become familiar to the neighborhood. More than two dozen children roam the area every morning, in the afternoon and even at night in an desperate effort to find garbage to be recycled or to be sold
	Thailand's Jobless Find Future Dim	by Prangtip Daorueng The government has been encouraging hordes of unemployed migrant workers in the cities to go back to the villages and work in agriculture, the economy's old backbone. It adds it is time for Thais to become more self-reliant and live in villages where cash is less important than in the cities. But this simply does not work, Samreng says, because his inability to find a job in the city means his family cannot make ends meet in the village
	India's Booming Toxic Waste Trade	by Ravi Agarwal Backyard smelters and plastic recycling units dot India's countryside, taking lead battery scrap and plastic waste imported from developed countries such as Australia and the United States
	Japan Exporting Toxic Trash Abroad	by Suvendrini Kakuchi Japan exported 91,137 tons of scrap plastic and 21,430 tons of aluminum waste last year to Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. In addition, large shipments of old tires and millions of used cars are exported from Japan each year to developing countries
	Jabiluka Mine Pushing Ahead Despite Election Year Controversy	by Andrew Darby The Jabiluka uranium mine emerged as the top environmental issue in Australia's October 3 national election, when the opposition Labor Party pledged to scrap mining plans if elected. But the mining company, Energy Resources of Australia, said that it plans to push on with mine construction during the coming tropical wet season
	Blaming The Internet For Bad Days	by Allan R. Andrews Using the Internet can make one more depressed and lonely, say researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. How journalists interpret this research provides a lesson in judgment -- or lack of same
	Media Exaggerates Youth Crime, Experts Say	by Lazar Bloch Presidential, congressional proposals called absurd by report that accuses the media of misrepresenting reality by characterizing rare schoolyard shootings as part of a recent trend of "all-too-familiar" crimes, and giving them disproportionate column space and air-time
	Error 404: Information Missing From Your Daily News	Why health stories are poorly reported; salmonella in eggs; lack of balanced coverage about Olestra FDA hearings; forgotten Gulf War Syndrome; overlooked good news; trees and the Greenhouse Effect; Food Lion grocery chain teaches journalism
	Native Canadians Seek Compensation For Abuse In Schools	by Mark Bourrie Thousands of Native Canadians are seeking financial compensation from Canada for abuse suffered in the residential (boarding) school system that operated in Canada for more than 300 years. Changes in government policy and recent court decisions have made compensation to residential school victims inevitable, experts on the issue say
	Fruit-eating Birds Vital To Rainforest	by Wallace Ravven New study reveals that African hornbills wander widely through the rainforest, dispersing seeds and playing a major, unsuspected role in forest regeneration
	Brazil Natives Confront Illegal Gold Miners	by Beauty Lupiya and Jens Kristensen Armed with bows, arrows and spears, nearly 100 Indians from the Brazilian tribe of Kayapo recently captured and held hostage a gold prospector for invading and destroying their forests. This action formed part of a protest staged by furious Indians demanding that an estimated 7,000 illegal prospectors, who have settled over half their land for more than 20 years and stripped of their once flourishing forests, should leave
	New Welfare and Abortion Rules Place Women in Catch-22	by Paul Blaum Recent welfare reform legislation and new restrictions on abortion may have worked at cross purposes to boost the number of families headed by single mothers, according to a new study
	Silicon Valley Toxics Heaviest In Poor, Latino Areas	Analyzing census data and EPA records, sociologist Andrew Szasz found that toxic emissions in the Silicon Valley region are concentrated in neighborhoods that tend to be poorer and more Latino, and the wealthiest communities are almost all far from the toxic corridor and upwind of it
	Monsanto Biotech Ads Blitz Europe	by Zadie Neufville United States- based multinational company Monsanto began a major media blitz in Europe aimed at winning the hearts of Europeans and overcoming the European public's opposition to genetic engineering of foods. But UN African delegates scoffed at Monsanto's interest in the environment. "Its major focus is not to protect the environment, but to develop crops that can resist higher doses of its best-selling chemical weed killer "Roundup"
	Enviros Stop Monsanto Deal With Respected "Peasant's Bank"	by Donella H. Meadows A huge corporation, one-time maker of some of the most pernicious chemicals ever to hit the environment, now an aggressive pusher of gene-spliced commodities, attempted partnership with a bank for the poorest of the poor -- why?
	Letters	Julia "Butterfly" Hill, Tina Brown, Patricia Smith, Chiquita news sources
	Clinton And His Enemies	by Randolph T. Holhut Remember that Clinton didn't use government agents for break-ins and other covert operation against his political foes, like Nixon. Clinton didn't sell arms to a terrorist nation and use the proceeds to fund a secret army to overthrow another nation's government, like Reagan. Clinton will never be in the same league as Nixon or Reagan for criminal behavior
	The U.S. Case Against Sudan Crumbles	by Steve Chapman When you start firing volleys of cruise missiles at a target inside a sovereign nation, you had better have an awfully good excuse. But in the time since the Khartoum factory was blown to bits, the Clinton administration has done a thoroughly incompetent job of defending its action. Much of the rest of the world doesn't believe the U.S. government, and the American people are probably starting to have their doubts as well
	Clinton's Very Own Muslim Bogeyman	by Eric Margolis Thanks to a drumfire of leaks from CIA and the Pentagon, Osama Bin Laden, an almost unknown religious eccentric from Saudi Arabia, became an overnight international celebrity. He joined the long list of Muslim malefactors that have disturbed the Pax Americana: Nasser, Arafat, Khadaffi, Khomeini, Saddam Hussein. With his long beard, wild eyes, and bloodcurdling threats, the sinister Bin Laden was the perfect image of the modern Islamic terrorist
	Mark McGwire, Meet Bill Clinton	by Norman Solomon The distance between media coverage of inside-the-Beltway politics and inside-the-ballpark heroics may be a lot shorter than we usually assume. A common denominator is reverence for the aura of wealth
	Yes, We Need Labor Day	by Norman Solomon Labor Day may be a fitting tribute to America's workers. But what about the other 364 days of the year? Despite all the talk about the importance and dignity of working people, they get little power or glory in the everyday world of news media
	Orwellian Logic 101	by Norman Solomon During the week after U.S. missiles hit sites in Sudan and Afghanistan, some Americans seemed uncomfortable. A vocal minority even voiced opposition. But approval was routine among those who had learned a few easy Orwellian lessons. When terrorists attack, they're terrorizing. When we attack, we're retaliating. When they respond to our retaliation with further attacks, they're terrorizing again. When we respond with further attacks, we're retaliating again
	Solution To Global Warming: Send Air Conditioners	by Donella Meadows When President Clinton announced that he was sending $100 million so Texans suffering from the heat could buy air conditioners, one of my Dartmouth colleagues turned the news into a classroom quiz. What's wrong with this policy?
	The Inside Story: How We Spread Fred	by Joyce Marcel Fred Tuttle, a 79-year-old farmer said he was seeking a seat in Congress because he's tired of being poor; politicians are well-paid, he says, and he wants a ride on the gravy train. Spending less than $300 in Vermont election, Tuttle defeats a GOP opponent who dropped $300,000
	Crime And America: A Fable	by Ted Rall As the years passed, it became evident that society no longer considered confinement to be sufficient punishment for crimes, and that prisoners were to be tortured rather than reformed. Sensing the new zeitgeist, guards began turning a blind eye to even the most sordid violence
	And Now, The Bad News About The Economy	by Alexander Cockburn The boom came at the expense of the working people and also of America's leading competitors. Between 1987 and 1997, real hourly wages here for production workers fell by more than 5 percent, and the U.S. dollar was devalued by some 40-60 percent against the Japanese yen and the German mark. Our goods thus became world beaters on the international markets
	Clinton's Legacy	by Alexander Cockburn His greatest political legacy will probably be reckoned as his ability to induce liberals to run point for him as he sank the bayonet ever deeper into their backs. We have only to recall the environmentalists who were recruited to act as cheerleaders for the North American Free Trade Agreement or the women's groups whose leaders kept their mouths shut when the welfare bill was going through or Jesse Jackson's endorsement of Clinton in Chicago at the 1996 convention. The liberals sold out for Bill and never got anything in return, except to see the last remnants of the New Deal scattered to the wind
	Clinton's Greatest Giveaway	by Alexander Cockburn A year and a half ago, many refused to believe it, but it was clear enough that the Clinton administration was planning on the biggest giveaway of public assets in the last quarter century. Aware, back then, of the magnitude of the impending gift to oil companies, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt nervously pledged the most exacting scrutiny, the most anguished period of reflection. Now, it's a done deal
	The Clinton Index	At least $10,000 has been spent to register Internet domain names related to the White House scandals
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