Albion Monitor

Issue 70

December, 1999

Listen to Hill Press Conference
First public statements from Julia "Butterfly" (Requires RealAudio player)

Alexander Cockburn: Butterfly's Landing
Deal to save Luna only reaffirms the hostage-taking tactics of corporate raiders

FEW HAD CAUSE TO CELEBRATE IN 1999
Never has "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" served as a more apt commentary to an era, as the stock market reaches new highs as poverty, war, and disease afflict the majority of the world

The Ten Worst Corporations of 1999

At the Turn of a Century, Better Options Remain

"Forgotten Wars" Have Dragged on for Decades

The Real Y2K Problem -- Two Million Prisoners in 2000

Washington
Merry Go Round

Buchanan's Hopes Scuttled by WTO Protesters

Once the tear gas started flying, he became just another flabby politician

Bush Shows Disagreeable Side With Smirking
May be first president who enter office with a negative approval rating

McCain, the Anti-Veep
GOPers may fantasize of a Bush-McCain ticket, but it won't happen

Apology and Braggadocio
Clinton's foolish use of apology as foreign policy

Home Alone
Who will be left standing with the President at the end of the Clinton era?

DR. LAURA, DARLING OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT

Over the past several years Dr. Laura Schlessinger has taken talk radio to new heights with her extraordinarily popular and controversial advice program. She has adapted the call-in format to her own special brand of shtick -- a no excuses, "tough love" approach which frequently turns into a confrontational bloodletting of her callers. But that doesn't stop nearly 50,000 callers from jamming the phone lines every day trying to air out their problems. She calls these exchanges her "nagging, preaching and teaching" approach. Critics claim she's arrogant, rude, mean-spirited and the "queen of mean."
Arrogant and mean-spirited talk-radio host? Censorship maven? Internet pin-up? Her kid's mom? Diminutive doyen of diatribes? Poster girl for the Religious Right?
Dr. Laura Schlessinger is all that...and more

The real secrets of Area 51

For years, the military officers who run Area 51 took advantage of its spooky "UFO" status to get rid of toxic waste in the most expedient -- and most illegal -- way possible: burn it in open pits

"Protected" Forests Go Unprotected
19 million acres cleared every year in Third World

Judi Bari Bomb Case Heard in Court

Tony Serra, other all-star lawyers join Bari/Cheney defense team

Cell Phones Caused Memory Loss, Research Finds
Long-term memory loss in rats exposed to cell phone microwaves

Echelon Satelitte Surveillance Raises Fears of Big Brother
Attempt to eavesdrop on all electronic communications worldwide

Concealed antenna at U.S. listening post in Britian

AIDS Fight Stymied by Conservative Religion
Catholic, Islamic groups still fighting distribution of condoms

Indonesian Generals, Investigators Face Off in Probe of Timor Atrocities
Threats from high-ranking generals named in investigation

Russia Proposes to be World's Nuclear Dump
Believes that it would bring $10 billion to impoverished nation

S American Plant Labelled the "Perfect Food"
Hardy, nutritious plant could wipe out world hunger

Violence Unchecked in Kosovo, Report Finds
UN, NATO aided spiral of violence by not reacting promptly

Rainforest Logging in Africa May Doom Half of Bird, Primate Species
Biologist calls 30% of African primates 'living dead'

New HIV Case Every Minute in Nigeria
Rate has tripled in decade

Groups Demand Ken Saro-Wiwa Retrial
Trial of executed leader violated Nigerian constitution

Oklahoma Textbook Committee Slams Evolution

Science books will have to contain disclaimer that evolution is "unproven belief"

Petrodollars Behind Chechen War
Chevron and other oil giants helping to find $2.5 billion pipeline

IN THIS ISSUE: The Martin Luther King assassination conspiracy trial; FBI undergoes biggest makeover in almost four decades; end game in the Timber Wars; how the media often tells half of the story

Unexpected Crop Failure of GM Soybeans
Suspected cause is genetic change to make soybean resistant to Monstanto's Roundup herbicide

Koreans Shocked That Popular Food Has GM Soybean
Sales plummet up to 80 percent

Toxic Waste Part of Many Garden Fertilizers
Some companies use hazardous waste from steel mills and smelters

Haitian Children Sent to U.S. as Indentured Servants
Practice may be widespread because police don't understand trade

Poll Shows Strong Florida Anti-Immigrant Mood
Findings believed to reflect national sentiment against legal immigration

Presidio for Sale

WTO PROTESTS WERE HISTORIC EVENT
It took opponents of globalization only three tumultuous days of civil protest in Seattle to make the otherwise innocuous sounding World Trade Organization (WTO) a less-than-savory household name. Now they are eager to stack more victories on top of their political triumph

WTO Postpones Evaluation of Seattle Fiasco

Anti-WTO Alliance Ponders Next Step

How the WTO Summit Failed

WTO Problems Underscores Need for U.S. Labor Party

Media Obsession With End-of-Year Lists
Don't they have anything better to do?

Jesse Jackson Right to Play Role in Student Conflict
Although ridiculed in mainstream media

Legal Rights of Cuban Boy Survivor Ignored
Right-wing Cuban-Americans opinions take precedent over international law

Kicking the Russian Bear
Yeltsin's remark about Russian nuke arsenal is mild compared to U.S. snubs and insults

Columnists

MOLLY IVINS

War on Drugs vs. the Constitution
Impoverishing the Middle Class
Showing Presents of Mind
Dragging Jesus Into Politics
The Sensitive Business of Chemical Sensitivity
Floundering Front Runners
Wise as a Treeful of Owls
The Colorful Past of Gilbert Serna
Shallow Media Coverage of WTO Protests
Comrade Trump's Idea of Tax Justice
Dehumanizing the Poor

NORMAN SOLOMON
Media Hype for Another "American Century"
The P.U.-litzer Prizes for 1999
Media in Grief After WTO Summit

ALEXANDER COCKBURN
Nazi Connections of U.S. Banks
China Becomes Next Order of Business
Why do Liberals Like Bradley?
The Friends of John McCain

L E T T E R S

Albion Monitor
(http://www.monitor.net/monitor)
Issue 70
Editor: Jeff Elliott (editor@monitor.net)
Publisher: Darryl Trujillo (pub@monitor.net)

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