Tells the Facts and Names the Names

JUNE 16-30, 2000 Alexander and Jeffrey St. Clair VOL. 7, NO.12

• IN THIS ISSUE -Gore's Platform WHICH PARTY .he last rousing party political plat­ rule over "a smaller, more efficient, less form in America was probably the bureaucratic government" that <::schews Is PLEDGING ••• TPopulists' in 1892, written mostly "big government solutions" and empha­ by Ignatius Donnelly, and concluding its sizes " the private sector as the main en­ • More Cops, More Prison preamble thus: "The fruits of the toil of gine of economic growth". No talk here millions are boldly stolen to build up co­ of the New Deal. In its place, the platform Time, More Death lossal fortunes for a few, unprecede!lted calls for government to act not as a de­ Penalties in the history of mankind; and the posses ­ fender of the downtrodden and disenfr an­ sors of those, in tum, despise the Repub­ chised, but as a mechanic for the "engines • More Breaks for lic and endanger liberty. From the same of a new global economy " by greasing prolific womb of government injustice we "the lifelines of American commerce" so Big Oil Companies breed the two great classes ~ tramps and that "private businesses can prosp er" , millionaires." Globalization is accorded a passion­ (And If You Don't Like The national platform 's draft­ ate embrace . Although the sensitive topic It They'll Spray Gas ing team has served up to the Democratic of China is delicately side stepped , the In Your Face!) Party has only the merit of truth in pack­ docum ent proudly touts Gor e' s role in aging. In nearly every respect it is an una ­ brokering "more than 200 trade agree­ shamed assault on what once were the core ments, including NAFTA and GATT", and THEPENTAGON ON constituenci es of the party: working peo­ vows to secure "fast track authority " so that OOERNEfPATROL ple, blacks, organized labor, peace activ­ he can freelance new deals with nations such ists , greens , the poor . Gone .now are the as Chile and Brazil. The only scraps tossed days . when the leadership of the Demo­ organized labor were some tepid phras es • Meet ACERT: cratic Party was briefly encumbered by a promising environmental and worker-rights It's Based in Fort progressive platform th_at its national can­ side-agreements in future pacts. Belvoir, Ready didates would have to delay a week after Domestically, the goal of Gor e's eco­ to Zap Peace Sites the convention before discarding . nomic policy is a fanatic quest to "elimi­ This shouldn 't surprise us . Despite nate the federal debt ". The economic Gore's cyber-call a few months ago for "an planks res emble an austerity program FUNGUS IN COLOMBIA intera ctive platform" that would be con ­ cooked up by the IMF for Bulgaria. It is structed on the Internet by party members shorn of any commitment to reinvest the • from across , the_first draft was swelling budget surplus into programs for scripted by Elaine Kamarck, a former the greater public good. The normally pru­ Takes a Dive wonk at the Public Policy Institute , the dent Jeff Faux of the Economic Poli cy whitepaper division of the Democratic Institute has described Gore 's plan as "an MEAT IN AMERICA Lead ership Council. economic plan to the right of Herbert Hoo­ . The Democratic National Committee's ver". The platform exults over the disman­ platfonn committee , which gathered in St. tling of the federal welfare program and • Why We Can't Get Louis on July 7 and 8, was headed by Jim vows to keep up the war on the poor by Good Sausage Hunt , governor of North Carolina , and cracking down on " food stamp fraud". Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the Lt. Gov­ Still, there are two recipients the Gore • Veggies Blitz ernor of Maryland. Both Townsend and platfonn is eager to ply with federal dole Hunt covet a spot as Gore's running mate . lars: the military and law enforcement. The Batgirl The 41-page document opens by platfonn endor ses Gore 's notion of "for­ preaching the chief tenet of Gore 's politi­ ward engagement ," an interventionist for- cal philosophy: namel y that he wants to (Platform continued on page 6) 2/COUNTERPUNCH JUNE 16-30, 2000 their shameful assent to a provision in the Colombian aid bill requiring the hapless Colombians to cooperate in the destruc­ tion of their country's ecosystem . BIOWAR MEETS THE NYT therefore quite possibly spread to species related to the cocaine-producing plants, PENTAGON'S INFO WAR Weeks after CounterPunch 's June ex­ with profou1id and disastrous e!Tects on the Jim Redden reports that the US gov­ pose of war criminal and drug czar Barry ecology of the region, not to mention the ernment is laying the groundwork to knock McCaffrey's plan to wage biological war­ human population. inconvenient voices off line during the next fare on Colombia by releasing Fusarium oxysporum is highly poison­ international military confrontation. mycoherbicides in coca-growing areas, the ous to anyone eating infected plants. A You can ' t blame the folks over at New York Times' Tim Golden has belat­ . mysterious outbreak in Peru in the early Antiwar.com for feeling paranoid these edly caught up with the story. True to 1990s, shortly after inhabitants of the af­ days . The libertarian-oriented, anti-mili­ fo1111,Golden made every effort to obscure fected area saw helicopters spraying coca tary website hosted its second annual con­ the more horrifying aspects of fields, rapidly spread to food crops, caus­ ference on March 24 and 25. Held at the McCaffrey's scheme . ing sickness among people and farm ani­ Villa Hotel in San Mateo, , the theme of As we reported , the US government mals that consumed them. the conference was " Beyond Left & Right: plans to introduce a strain of the fungus Well aware of the risks in their biowar The New Face of the Antiwar Movement" . fusarium oxysporum q1lled EN4 into Co­ plan , not least that of being charged with Among the speakers was Alexander lombia in the hope that this strain will at­ violating the biological weapons conven­ Cockburn who gave an account of the event tack and wipe out the local coca crop. The tion , the US has recruited a UN agency , to CounterPunchers shortly thereafter. Colombian aid bill that finally prevailed the UN Drug Control Program, into act­ A short time later , Antiwar.com in Congress, with the infamous support of ing as a front for the enterprise. Funding founder Eric Garris was startled to learn most Democrats, includes a provision re­ for the program being pushed on the Co­ that his site had been added to a list of quiring the Colombians to take EN4 along lombians will be channeled through this "militia-related" websites maintained by with the helicopters and money. UN office , thus giving an "international" Mark Pitcavage, research director for the Colombian scientists are aghast, point­ fig leaf to the project-although no other federally-funded State/Local Anti-Terror­ ing out that EN4 will almost certainly ex­ country has yet to give support or fund­ i s r'n Training (SLATT) program . tend its toxic reach beyond the targeted ing, despite a plea from Madeleine CounterPunch reported on Pitcavage's coca plant , since there is no evidence that Albright last year. curious operation in its May l -15 issue . it is "host specific "; that is, restricted in In his New York Times article Golden Then in late May , the software for count­ its assaults to the intended victim. It may is quick to assert that "several plant pa­ ing the number of visitors to Antiwar.com thologists who h_ave studied the fungus crashed two days in a row. The reason? Editors extensively said there was little scientific An unusually high number of hits from a ALEXAND ER COCKBURN basis for the assertions about its danger ." single visitor. JEFFREY ST. CLAIR Golden could not have looked very far. When columnist Cowriter One plant pathologist who would indeed tracked down the curious party, he discov­ A NDREW COCKBURN assert that there is little scientific evidence ered it was a Pentagon-funded unit of for danger is David C. Sands , a professor cyber-soldiers known as the Anny Com­ Proofing from Montana State University, who origi­ puter Emergency Respons e Team. The CHRIST Y WARD nally identified EN4 after an outbreak at a counter crashed after recording 2,000 hits research station in Hawai ' i in the early from A CERT on the first day alone . Every Design .1980s. Ever since then he has been seek­ · file on the website was visited at least DEBORAH THOMAS ing to · market EN4 an anti-drug once . CounterPunch contacted ACERT mycoherbicide . headquarters and reached public affairs Counselor Last year Sands came close to selling assistant Shirley K. Startzman who con­ a program using another strain, of fusarium firmed the military had prowled Antiwar.com . She said A CERT uses com­ Published twice monthly except to the Florida drug control authorities , August , 22 issues a year: until the state Environmental Protection mercially available web search tools to $40 individuals , Program pointed out that the "continuously research for websites on the $ I 00 institutions/supporters mycoherbicide could easily spread to Internet that may have information relat­ $30 student/low-income Florida 's agricultural cash crops . ing to potential cyber threats ." Startzman Counter Punch. Ac cording to researcher . Jeremy claimed that this work is "d efensive in All rights reserved. Bigwood , a ranking authority on the nature", intended to "protect Am1y com­ Counter Punch fusarium issue, Sands has threatened Co­ puter systems from hackers or denial of 3220 N. St., NW, PMB 346 lombian academics protesting the intro­ service attacks" . Washington, DC, 20007-2829 duction of the bio-weapon into their coun­ As Startzman put it, "The Antiwar 1-800-840-3683 (phone) try. He says Sands has also been working website was one of many on the publicly l-800-967-3620 (fax) Capitol Hill with McCaffrey 's enthusias­ accessible Internet the tool identified as www.counterpunch.org tic support, bolstering the legislators into having information potentially related to JUNE 16-30. 2000 . 3/CouNTERPUNCH Hershaft believes that while it's going too far to -liberate mink from fur farms in the US, it's okay to bomb Serbia into sub­ mission in order to save pets and farm animals in Kosovo.

cyber defense. The high numbers of hits sounds a lot like a government version of Silverstone , the zaftig actress who turned reflect this automated search tool ." Later what Antiwar.com was doing at the time: to veganism in order to squeeze into her she added that "the commercially avail­ "The Web page was dramatic and rife with "Batgirl" costume. She gave the keynote able tool we used in this particular case is propaganda and claims against American, address, where she advised tha_t it was called Themescape. .lls website is NATO, and Croatian imperialism and important for all vegans "to look as good www.cartia.com." Garris and Raimondo atrocities in the Balkan region, and in­ as possible, because it will help the ani­ aren't buying this explanation. cluded questionable allegations of illegal mals". Then Silverstone warned "It's impor­ Despite Startzman 's insistence that arms transfers between NATO govern­ tant not to be too outrageous." ACERT is "defensive in nature", it is part ments and Bosnian Muslims and Croats." This admonition prompted several of a much larger military system. Cyber­ To counter this sinister abuse of the members of the radical Animal Liberation warfare is a relatively new idea . It first First Amendment the authors said the U.S. Front to boo the actress as a sell out. By surfaced as a public issue in 1988 when military should create a "specialized and all accounts, the young actress didn't han­ the Morris Worm computer virus disabled integrated counter information terrorism dle this critical review of her performance approximately IO per cent of all comput­ group", which they called DIRT (Digital with much aplomb . Tears welling in her ers connected to the Internet. Fearful of Integrated Response-Team). As the authors eyes, she summoned hotel security to es­ the vulnerability of the government's vast excitedly put it, "These highly trained infor­ cort her to her room, where she immedi­ computer networks to .such attacks, the mation warriors would be the national secu­ ately booked a flight back to LA. turned to the Software Engineer­ rity equivalent of Carnegie-Mellon Univer­ organizers worked hard to keep the heck­ ing Institute, a federally-funded research sity's Computer Emergency Response Team, ling of Silverstone out of the press . center based at Carnegie Mellon Univer­ but with an offensive capability". _That same day Alex Hershaft, leader sity in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvani a. After studying this scenario, the Pen­ of FARM, the Bethesda-based farm ani­ By the end of the year, SE! was offi­ tagon duly create_d ACERT the following mal protection group, issued a similar de­ cially designated as the Computer Emer­ year. An article on the ribbon-cutt_ing cer­ nunciation of radical tactics, denouncing gency Response Tea m Coordination emony titled '.'Protecting Electronic Bor­ monkey- wrenching and sabotage of medi­ Center (CERT/CC), providing research ders" appeared in the March-April 1997 cal research labs, fur far111sand the like. and assistance to the government and any­ issue of the Journal of INSCOM. "Infor­ Silverstone and Hershaft's comments one else wanting to ·prevent viruses and niation dominance took a giant leap into followed news of the extradition from .· other attacks fron:iqippling their comput­ . the future March 17, when the United Belgium of Justin Samuel, a 22-year-old ers. The Pentagon soon decided to con­ States Army Intelligence and Security ani111alliberator from Seattle , to face fed­ centrate its emerging cyber-warfare opera­ .Command ceremoniously opened the eral charges in Iowa for releasing 12,000 tions under the United States Anny Intel­ Army Computer Emergency Response mink from fur farms in the midwest. ligence and Security Command Team Coordination Center at Fort Belvoir, Samuel, who merely opened gates at the (INSCOM) , which was created in 1977 to Va. Its mission is to re-write the books on farms, is charged with four counts of"ani­ coordinate all of the mihtary 's intelli­ how the Anny handles the newest threat in mal enterprise terrorism" and "disruption gence-gathering operations. INSCOM the field manuals - computer hackers." The of interstate commerce ". If convicted, he moved to Fort Belvoir, Virginia , in the INSCOM Journal reported that "A hacker faces the prospe ct of spending 82 years in summer of 1989. demonstration was conducted as part of the federal prison . Then the Pentagon began to plan its ribbon-cutting ceremony. An ACERT/CC But Hershaft believes that while it's own Internet attacks. The idea was first computer security expe11conducted the dem­ going too far to liberate 111inkfrom fur fleshed out in a I 996 paper published by _onstration, saying that you have to 'think like farms in the US, it's okay to bo111bSerbia the National Defense University Press a hacker and try to break into a system"'. · into submission in order to save pets and called " Information Terrorism: Can You That 's what Garris and Raimondo farm animals in Kosovo. In an April 22 Trust Your Toaster ?" It was written by think A CERT is preparing to do -- to hack posting on the Animal Rights mailing list, Matthew G. Devost of the Information into Antiwar.com and disable it, along with Hershaft excoriated activists who were Systems and Technology Group , and Brian other sites that excite the displeasure of preparing to join anti-war demonstrations K. Houghton and Neal A. Pollard , of the the National Security apparat. in DC. "Although the bombing will hurt Science Applications International Corpo­ some innocent Serbs (and some animals), ration's Strategic Assessment Center. the only way to stop the monstrosities per­ The authors created a scenario, a war VEGGIES Boo BATGIRL petrated aga inst 1.8 million ethnic Alba­ story set in the Internet, pitting "informa­ From July I through 5, several thou­ nians (and uncounted animals) is to cut off tion terrorists" against heroic cyber-war­ sand animal defenders from across the the monster's head." Is this a call for veg­ riors in the service of Uncle Sam. By an nation mustered at the McLean Virginia etarian interventionism? amazing coincidence, the bad guys in the Hilton for the "Animal Rights 2000" con­ For CounterPunch's position on the fictional story maintain a website which ference . The star attraction was. Alicia meat question, see page 4. CP 4/COUNTERPUNCH JUNE 16-30, 2000 A.CounterPunch Journey Through the Alimentary Canal Why You Can't Buy Good Sausage BYALEXANDER COCKBURN food outlet in the state of Washington, the it. .. These rats were nuisances , and the USDA has been imposing a whole new packers would put poisoned bread out for batch of regulations, such as higher tem­ them , they would die, and then rats, bread ut here on the north coast of Cali peratures for food processing. "Frankly, and meat would go into the hoppers to­ fornia serious carnivores have Alex", Bob said, "if the standards imposed gether." meat lockers. How else could one O on small and medium meat processors had The public was unmoved about the accommodate hog and a quarter steer a stayed the way they were written at the packers but very concerned over rats in bought at the Humboldt county fair last end of last year, I'd be out of business to­ the sausage. Teddy Roosevelt successfully August) two 25-lb turkeys that failed to day and so would about 90 per cent _ofthe turned the shock over these new inhumane make the grade as Best of Show at the meat processors ofmy size." food factories into a small "consumer pro­ same fair last year and sold to me by 4H­ The feds are red:taping small meat. tection" issue . The meat inspeclors became ers Cassandra and Alaina Hoisington for businesses into a nightmare labyrinth of readily domesticated by the meat factory $100, pheasant, four lambs raised by my "voluntary compliance" schedules and owners but could take out their frustrations neighbor Greg Smith, sausage casings, record keeping, most of which are unnec­ when dealing wilh small one-or-a-kind fatback, and a whole goat that went too essary and in some cases entirely wrong­ artisans. The same lapdog inspector who far and finished off three fruit trees and headed. Even though there are strong ar­ could be marched across the killing noors half a vegetable garden. guments for maple chopping blocks, Bob of Armour or Swift without raising a bleat I was hauling this same goat out of the and his fellow butchers are forced to use became a mighty lion of public health freezer room at my local meat storage and either rubber or plastic surfaces that sweat when dealing with a real butcher or sau­ processing place for July 4 spit-roasting unhealthily and are hell on knives . sage maker. by Greg and Margie Smith at their July 4 bash when I started chatting - with Bob, the proprietor of a small wholesale meat The same lapdog inspector who could be establishment, about the sausage-maker in marched across the killing floors of Armour San Leandro who'd just killed three gov­ ernment food inspectors, two of them, a or Swift without raising a bleat became a man and a woman, federal employees from the USDA, and one other man from mighty lion of public health when dealing California's Department of Food and Agriculture. with a real butcher or sausage maker. On June 21 Stuart Alexander, proprie­ No surprises here . A lot of the history The big packers and processing plants _ tor of the Santos Linguisa Factory, mur­ of food regulation in this country has get to participate directly in the writing of dered these unfortunate regulators while turned out to be a way to finish off small­ the laws that set the standard practices that failing to dispatch a fourth fellow, whom size quality producers by demanding they the inspectors march out to enforce on all he'd vainly pursued down the road wav­ invest in whatever big ticket items the the little producers not part of the Meat ing his Beretta. He's now awaiting trial. I USDA happens to be in love with at the Syndicate. remarked to Bob that Mr Alexander time , said love objects usually turning out Remember, over 70 per cent of the seemed to have had a rough passage with to be whatever the big food processors a~e hamburgers , wieners, beef or pork ribs . the food inspectors. At the time of the kill­ using. It's the reason why it's hard to get chickens, and lamb racks that went on ings he was operating his factory without decent sausages or hams. those July 4 grills went through a handful a license and outside it was a defiant sign There have been health problems of packing companies across the country. put up by Alexander complaining that he down the years, there 's no denying. The Four out or every five beef cattle arc had been unreasonably hassled by the meat inspection act of 1906 gave inspec­ slaughtered by IBP, ConAgra , Cargill and health police . tors from !he Department of Agriculture Farmland Beef. Six firms, led by Tyson Bob didn't bother overmuch with du­ the power to inspect meat-packing. The act and Gold Kist, Perdue, ConAgra and tirul noises about the tragedy of it all. He was passed after public outcry following Cargill, process half the nation 's chickens. did say that given the fact that Alexander the publication of 's "The Three out of every five hogs arc slaugh­ had been · on the receiving end of govern­ Jungle". Sinclair was hoping to expose the tered by Murphy Family Farms , Carroll's ment harassment for quite a time, he could horrible degradation of workers in the Foods , Continental Grain and Smithland understand what his fellow butcher had slaughterhouses ' "There would be meat Foods. been going through. Over the past three stored in great piles in rooms; and the These big packers are cozy with presi­ years, partly in response to some deaths water from the leaky roofs would drip over dents and governors and chairmen of con­ among patrons of a Jack in the Box fast it, and thousands of rats would race upon gressional committees. The day that they JUNE 16-30, 2000 5/COUNTERPUNCH decide the safer sausage is a nuked sau­ sage, only sausages labeled "Real" (the These 'cleanliness standards' are aestheti­ official symbol for irradiated food) will be cally based. There'll always be mouse shit legal. Until then, the name of the game for the regulators is to find out what ma­ in stored grain. The government inspec­ chines and temperatures are standard for Big Meat and rush out to close the little tors know that, and they're not about to folk down if they have not already bank­ rupted themselves by having to buy the close down every grain silo in America. new equipment. You can blame a lot of the food hyste­ tolerable. Stay below that percentage, The plan to .require the irradiation of ria on Louis Pasteur, a malevolent fraud maybe by .000 I per cent and the flour gets all sausages is just one of many Mad Ideas who persuaded the world that bacteria are a top rating for organic purity . Drift above waiting in the wings. Health departments the enemy of Man . He espoused this posi­ the benchmark by .000 I per cent and you are working themselves up to require all tion when a handful of better scientists have grim news bulletins about vermin food handlers to dip their hands in a little were argl!ing that bacteria are our indis­ feces in the family loaf. vat of poisonous liquid glove compound. pensable companions on this earth and if Back in the Middle Ages peasants There are plans for national legislation to they weren't lodged in our colons and else­ lived among or above their stock and ex­ require foreign berries to be dipped in a where our digestive processes would fail changed bacteria with them on a regular bleach bath. Other health "experts" rec­ and we would die, soil would not be fer­ basis, thus building up their immunities. ommend that we all wash our lettuce in a tile and so forth. Pasteur labored to dis­ When I grew up in Ireland my mother was bleach bath and that restaurants be re­ credit these opponents by dishonest means firmly of the opinion that excessive fuss­ quired to do so . and, largely, he prevailed. The pasteuriza­ ing about "ger111s"was stupid and in the My friends and neighbors, Karen and tion madness was upon us. The more you long term dangerous to one's overall Joe Paff, are coffee roasters (Goldrush, pasteurize and try to wipe out bacteria, the health . CounterPuncher Pierre Sprey, who official coffee of CounterPunch, order lower your resistance gets. There have been first acquainted me with the noxious role form available on request) and run a cou­ experiments where they raise mice in entirely of Pasteur, makes a point of eating raw ple of espresso walk/drive-throughs in sterile, bacteria-free conditions. When they steak and raw eggs every week bought at Eureka . They are regularly made crazy by release them they die in a few days. the local supermarket and has been in the health regulators who can suddenly flourishing health in consequence. But if require that they dump all their milk be­ etecting truly dangerous pathogens is the USDA and Pasteur nuts have their way, cause it's 2 degrees too warm, even though Dan expensive and lengthy business . Americans will be like those laboratory the places are so busy the milk is deliv­ So government regulators pick on the easi­ mice and all that will be left of this great ered daily. est bacteria to spot. These are E coli, which nation are cockroaches feeding on those Ever wonder what happened to those are almost entirely benign, barring the one USDA-approved wieners . CP beautiful old hand-pull espresso ma­ rare strain that has been involved in some chines? Since they don't have NSF or UI dangerous outbreaks. Every few months stickers most health departments won't SUBSCRIPTION INFO you find an article blaring that E coh are Enter/RenewSubscription here: allow them . Even if their own rules state rife. Of course they are. E coli are every­ "NSF or equivalent" they'll refuse to per­ One year individual, $40 where, in the dirt, in the water, in food, in ($35 email only I $45 email/print) mit such an option, preferring to order the your gut , and indeed they had better be in One year institution/supporters $ I 00 espresso maker to go and buy an expen­ your gut otherwise you'd be dead. One year student/low income, $30 sive new machine. Health departments had lfwe died from E coli, every English­ T-shirts, $17 sidled into the new espresso bar business man who ever ate a high pheasant would Please send back issue(s) by claiming that an ambient Oy could dart have passed on shortly thereafter. But the ($5/issue) across the top of a steam pitcher and ex­ government regulators look for E coli and ecute a 0ying dump or kamikaze dive. This when they find them in sufficient number Name------allowed them to collect fees and up the they infer that dangerous pathogens might cost of the little stand by $20,000 or so. also be present. It's guesswork and mostly Addres.,_c______Wherever you are, coinpare the es­ wrong. The detergents, anti-bacterial soaps presso vendor with the hot dog vendor on and chemicals used to save us from these City/State/Zip ------your street corner. So confident in the · germs are more dangerous than anything , USDA-inspected-and-approved sausage - as are the chemicals the USDA inspectors the dead little object appropriately called Payment must accompany order. or force butchers to swab off their walls with . just dial 1-800-840-3683 and renew "wiener" -are local health departments that These "cleanliness standards" are aes­ by credit card. Add $17.50 for foreign pretty much any hot dog stand at all is read­ thetically based. For example, there'll al­ subscriptions. If you want Counter- · ily approved. For good reason . Hot dogs ways be mouse shit in stored grain. The Punch emailed to you please supply have been found in perfect condition buried government inspectors know that, and your email address. Make checks in landfills. This is not considered a sign of they ' re not about to close down every payable to: CounterPunch. worry or consternation about hot dog stand­ grain silo in America. So they set an arbi­ Business Office PO Box 228. Petrolia. CA 95558 ards but ·a triumph of modern chemistry. trary standard of how much mouse shit is 6/COUNTERPUNCH JUNE 16-30, 2000 eign policy strategy so robust that it might It used to be the Republicans who this platform than any since Jimmy Cart­ make blush. L~st year's waged war on the National Education As­ er's in 1980. But most of it is given over remote-control war against Serbia is of­ sociation. Now the Democrats have taken to banal homilies recycled from Gore's fered up as a template for Gore's own up the cudgel and are relentlessly flailing Earth In the Balance. With gas prices soar­ brand of cruise missile diplomacy . away at public school teachers. Under the ing, we would expect Gore could at least The platform also contains several Democrats' plan , teachers are to be "rig­ come up with some populist rhetoric . Yet hyperventilating paragraphs on the threat orously" tested and forced to meet "tough" the best the platfom1 can muster is an en­ of "evil" and "rogue" states, namely the certification standards. Those that fail are ergy plan crafted by former Gore staffer old standbys Iran, Iraq and North Korea. to be summarily terminated, apparently Katie McGinty which gives huge tax These "irrational" nations, the platform with lit!le recourse to appeal. The platform breaks to natural gas producers in the Gulf argues, compel the US to pump more than calls for "an end to endless delays in the of Mexico. The scheme won't reduce $60 billion into a version of the Star Wars removing of those teachers that need to prices, but it will beef up the bottom line scheme currently the object of universal be removed" . A similar sanction is envi­ of the power companies mustered together public derision after the last disastrous test. sioned for public schools that don't meet in the Alliance for Power Privatization , As the nation's top serial killer, George which is a chief client of McGinty's new Bush is vulnerable on the death penalty. law firm. The 2000 Democratic platform ensures Gore's energy plan is The Gore platfonn proclaims that "we that this will never be exploited an issue glutted with tax breaks can expand the economy and protect the in the campaign . While the platform calls for energy companies environment" at the same time. What this for DNA testing of death row prisoners , it goal really means, the platform reveals, is is unwavering in its support for the fed­ represented by Katie finding a way of "protecting the environ­ eral death penalty and boasts that Clinton McGinty's law firm. ment without trapping business in a tan­ and Gore have "expanded the death pen­ gle ofred tape" -- red tape in this instance alty for 60 crimes". meaning the Endangered Species Act and That's not all. The platform brags federal requirements. They would simply be other laws that inconvenience the rape and about the passage of a federal "three­ shut down. The platform also endorses "pri- · pillage crowd. strikes-you 're out law" and Gore's role in vale religious expression in the classroom" . So the stage is set for Gore's corona­ securing legislation that "places limits on Tipper gets a few planks, too. Mental tion in Los Angeles in August, in a city appeals", i.e., eliminates habeas corpus. It illness, teen pregnancies and single-parent whose Republican mayor, Richard touts a plan to dole out $14 billion in grants families are singled out as threats to the na­ Riordan, is seeking legal avenues towards to states so that they can expand their pris­ tion's social fabric, to be driven back by the criminalization of all rights of assem­ ons, overflowing with inmates from the mandated therapy, infusions of Prozac and bly and free speech. Riordan is plainly torn · insane war on drugs. But the money would more "personal responsibility". The enter­ between the desire to have the Democratic come with strings attached. After they sign tainment industry comes in for a tongue­ convention engulfed in an anarchic me­ the receipt for the check , the states must lashing and the platform touts such meas­ lee, and the fear that this melee might re­ agree that inmates in the prisons will serve ures as .the "Y-Chip" and ratings for tel­ flect badly on himself and his police, who at least 85 per cent of their term. In other evision shows as examples of the Gores' will be massed with billy clubs, pepper words, the platform proposes to blackmail vigilance in the culture wars. spray and tear gas to ensure placid recep­ states into ending parole. The environment gets more space in tion of the platform and its sponsor. CP

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