Letters

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CIA Funded Contras With Crack Sales I find your articles interesting. Several years ago I read the book entitled "Out of Control" by Leslie Cockburn. It's interesting that congress can't (won't) find the same information that these reporters did. Keep up the good work! John Holloway

Santa's Little Sweatshop Harper's magazine's latest issue has a piece by Charles Bowden on how free trade has affected Mexico. It's the most gut-wrenching piece I've read in a long time, and has heavy mentions of how maquilas have figured into the moral and economic decay of Mexico in general and the border city of Juarez in particular. It's a powerful read. I also surfed 'round your web site -- It looks terrific! Kathy Jones Editor, SIS

Ralph Nader: "This is Only the Beginning" Here's a quote of the day, excerpted from Ralph Nader's speech to an estimated 500 people on the steps of the California State Capitol in Sacramento in support of Prop 216 which, among other things, [would have outlawed] insurance companies from telling doctors and nurses what to do: "HMOs used to be considered the way to curb excessive, duplicated and wasteful health care under the old fee-for-service system. They were supposed to be non-profit. They were supposed to have on their board of directors consumers in the community. "Instead, they have been transformed into corporate profit juggernauts run by increasingly conglomerate corporations based in Tennessee and elsewhere who are buying up hundreds of hospitals, doctor practices, clinics and so micro-directing what doctors and nurses can do at the intimate level with the patient that it won't be long before these corporations will be legally charged with practicing medicine without a license." Dan Scanlan

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