NEWS & CURRENT EVENTS:
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Index of the News

In the last election, November, 1998, there was an initiative in California that would have dramatically reduced the rates paid by utility customers in California, and which would have disallowed those utilities that invested in failed nuclear power plants, from passing off that loss onto the ratepayers. To defeat that initiative -- known as Proposition 9 -- the utility industry spent $40 million, based on a campaign that was full of inaccuracies and half-truths, spouted out of the mouths of the best celebrities money could buy. Something that was proven AFTER the election, when the state's Energy Commission issued its report on Prop. 9, indicating that contrary to the utilities' claims, Prop. 9 would have, in fact saved Californians substantial amounts of money. Unfortunately, the utilities prevailed, and Californians got the shaft... which can now be verified by a report from the government agency responsible for licensing power plants in California.

Last year, California completed construction on its 33rd prison. However, at the current rate of incarceration, the Corrections Dept. estimates that 15 NEW prisons will be necessary. Yet included in this trend towards mass arrests is the reality that people are being incarcerated for trivial reasons, like failing urine tests, etc. And now that prison labor is in vogue, the state has a profit-motive to arrest increasing numbers of citizens.

In the last election, four new states legalized medical marijuana. That brings the total number of states with laws that defy the Federal Government's total prohibition against marijuana, up to six. There are cities in northern California, where attempts were made to "deputize" marijuana clubs, so that the people who ran these clubs -- to dispense marijuana -- were actual employees of the government! There is a conflict brewing, not just between users of marijuana and the Federal Government, but between state governments and the Federal Government! This article examines the recent advances against Prohibition.

The Niger Delta is on fire! The Chevron oil company has been implicated in deaths that took place in Africa, after protesters occupied a Chevron facility. Shell Oil was implicated earlier in the execution of a prominent protestor, who opposed the expropriation of the native peoples' lands for the exploitation of these multinational corporations; and now Chevron Oil has been exposed engaging in lethal operations. Of course, Americans only know Chevron through its multi-million dollar ad campaign, wherein Chevron takes credit for conservation in areas it was responsible for polluting. Chevron, in some of these ads, even took credit for not flooding the Grand Canyon! But now the real, menacing face of Chevron is visible for the whole world to see...

Now Jefferson-ophiles, who believe in St. Jefferson despite all facts, are faced with DNA evidence that Jefferson was a hypocrit by denouncing miscegenation, while engaging in it. Of course, there is only one "race," and that is the human race, but the Founding Fathers were not democratic supporters of the civil rights of the human race. The Constitution of 1787 actually evaluated black people as 3/5ths of a person! This new scientific evidence bolsters the claims of all those black Jeffersons, that they actually ARE related to the Third President of the United States. The only people who were really surprised was a bunch of old white men at Harvard...

Last Thursday, October 29th, the Sheriff of Los Angeles County died unexpectedly. This sent the political establishment of LA County into complete turmoil, because the system for passing on the sheriff's office that has existed since the 1920s amounts to sheriff's handpicking their successors, and then resigning in order for their personal choice for successor to enter the upcoming election as an incumbent. The ugly reality of the police state showed its real face, when voters were actually encouraged by politicians and police to vote for the incumbent, EVEN THOUGH HE IS DEAD! For those who are not convinced that the United States is a police state, the macabre election campaign of the dead sheriff, that is now viewing his funeral as a political opportunity, speaks for itself...

When the San Jose Mercury News broke the story that the CIA was somehow behind drug dealing to fund the Contra army set up by the CIA, the media literally drummed the reporter into unemployment. But now the CIA's own inspector general has issued a report that clearly reveals that senior officials of that agency knew perfectly well that the Contras they were supplying, were involved in drug trafficking inside the United States. This article examines the reports of the inspector general, which expose the fact that the intelligence community engages in activities without legal authority...

In a surprising about-face, Amnesty International finally issued a report containing charges that the United States Government has violated the human rights of its own citizens. Of course, the native Americans, black Americans and Mexican-Americans have complained for centuries that they were the victims of human rights abuses at the hands of the Federal republic. Even though the Amnesty International report is late, it is still valuable as proof that the U.S. Government does not serve the national interest of the American people...

The youth vote has always been impossible for the experts to predict. One year it's big, the next election cycle its tiny... But always, the "experts" read into the data all of their own ideas about the way an electorate "should function." The truth, the fact that the youth see through the false pretenses of politicians, is too strong an indictment of the republic, for its sycophantic supporters in the mass media to accept. Yet the figures speak for themselves.

America is the land of the semantic twist. When U.S. police torture Americans, it's "assault," not torture. Yet the imperious politicians of the republic preach to foreign countries about the abuse of their citizens at the hands of their own police. Now the tide is turning, especially as Amnesty International puts the spotlight on U.S. human rights abuses. It is not unpatriotic to challenge the inhumane practices of the Federal Government, it is our obligation as patriotic Americans to do so. The age of the republic is coming to a close...

Using questionable tactics, U.S. Attorneys are finding new ways to put Americans in prison and jail. Now, any illegal drug use can be escalated into a federal case, especially if a gun is in the possession of any of the suspects. The fact that the Drug Prohibition is a political controversy, and not a health controversy, underlines the reality that the Federal Government will not admit its role in making America less safe. If the drugs were legal, then it would not be necessary to carry a gun; the violence that surrounds illegal drugs is the result of the Government's policies.

The fraud at the Pentagon has gotten to the point that the Federal Government can no longer deny it! Embezzlement is rampant, with losses so tremendous no one is sure how much of the national wealth has been lost. The next time someone says that the Defense Budget should be increased, demand to know where all the money that has already been allocated to defense, has been spent. If you're bucket has holes in it, it doesn't matter how much water you put in it, it will never be enough...

Due to the Federal Government's desperate War on Drugs, it is tightening reporting requirements on banks. Now your friendly banker is cautiously spying on you, on behalf of your government. Anyone who has access to the information about where any individual's money goes, or comes from, can surmise that individual's beliefs and convictions. That was the reason for the income tax: to create a legal pre-text for the government to require individuals to disclose the sources of their income.

In Los Angeles, a nine-year veteran of the LAPD has been accused of stealing six pounds of cocaine from the police evidence room, and re-selling it back to dealers on the street. As Internal Affairs looked deeper into the scandal, they discovered a whole group of officers involved...

This article examines two media reports, one a news item, the other an editorial, regarding the business of mass media in the United States. Americans are told, and they believe, that the United States is a "free market system." But the truth is that the free market only applies to the ordinary wage-earner; the tycoons of industry live in a completely different world. In the world of the tycoon, the government bends over backwards to give them service. Just when you thought it might be safe to trust the media...

A Tale of Two Criminals. One steals a car phone and will be incarcerated for life, at a cost to the taxpayers of $1 million; the other speculated with public funds, and lost nearly $2 billion, yet never saw the inside of a jail cell. The political system at its best...can we risk its continuance?

This article combines two separate news items under the collective topic of the police state. The first item concerns the fact that when President Clinton signed an order to declassify the Federal Government's oldest secrets, the FBI received a secret exemption. It is ironic that the exemption from an order to release secrets, is itself kept secret! The second item addresses the rise in wiretap authorizations, under the Administration of a Democrat...

In this article by an Orange County Register Editor, Alan W. Bock, the world is reminded that marijuana has so many industrial uses, that it is criminal to make it impossible to use. There is the old legend that Washington had his slaves grow marijuana on his plantation, but what he was growing was hemp. The best rope in the world is still made out of hemp. Which is to say nothing about hemp's use in making canvas, linen, thread, paper, paint, varnish, lubricants, food, and fuel. FOLLOWING THE ARTICLE IS A WEB-LINK TO THE MOTHER OF ALL HEMP-WEBSITES.

In a remarkable act of courage, the LA Times published an expose of a cover-up by the Governor and Attorney General, to conceal crimes by guards at Corcoran State Prison, the most violent prison in the United States. Guards egged the prisoners into fighting, and then shot at them. In one instance, the guards concealed their name tags, and wore masks to conceal their faces, and proceeded to beat black inmates upon arrival, as a form of pure terrorism. This is what is going on in your name, at your expense...

In South-Central Los Angeles, the Director of the CIA defended his agency against rumors that the CIA and the U.S. Government had been involved in drug dealing to finance the Contras; but he didn't reveal the fact that the CIA had obtained a waiver, so that it would not have to disclose CIA dealings with drug traffickers, to Congress. As South Africa deals with its past in the form of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the gruesome extent of the Apartheid government is coming to light, exposing crimes against humanity!

Did you know that if you live within 100 miles of a U.S. border, that you lose some of your legal rights? Americans are stopped and searched EVERY DAY, by federal officials, under the pre-text of enforcing immigration laws. The Border Patrol denies all racist allegations made against it, but the Patrol began life in the 20s as a posse of cowboys...

Once again, America must remember her violent origins in revolution, as the issue of the future of a Puerto Rican nationalist is addressed, who has sat in a Federal prison for decades. The centennary of the conquest of Puerto Rico also brings with it the realization that the colony has brought with it the legacy of colonialism...

When Time-Warner sought to exploit its Time Magazine name brand by launching a cable TV news show on CNN, its corporate siamese twin, it did so with a story that exposed the fact that the Pentagon used deadly poison gases that were banned by the Geneva Conventions, against American nationals who had defected! The generals at the Pentagon were given an impossible mission, and the orders to hunt Americans came from the Oval Office itself!

IMPORTANT: On July 2nd, CNN "retracted" the report that the U.S. used
sarin gas in Vietnam; the producers who were fired, however, stand by the
report, and indicated that because the operations were "black ops"
there was no evidence in order to give the government
"plausible deniability."

James Byrd Jr. was murdered in a brutal hate crime in Jasper, Texas, and this white author examines the issue of racism in America. He views racism as something so innate to the White Experience, that while white people learn how to appear open-minded, by not saying politically incorrect statements, the reality is that just underneath the skin, white people are unprepared to accept the fact that the experience of most black people is still tainted by racial prejudice. The dilemma is that one can defend against the bigot, whose prejudice is openly declared; but how does one defend against racism when the perpetrator is in denial that he is a racist?

The prison system of the United States has been documented exploiting prisoners in medical tests, which were discontinued because it raised alarms among "ethicists." It was once thought that if one did a crime, and was convicted, and then did the time, that this was a full form of repayment to society; these tests prove that the Federal republic always viewed the people as a kind of resource, that was expendable when the republic deemed it necessary...

For the first time in its history, the IRS has admitted that it has illegally deprived Americans of their constitutional rights. In an outright PR campaign to save its waning public image, the one agency the most commonly compared to the Nazi Gestapo issued 20,000 "apologies" to Americans who were victimized by the heavy-hand of the Internal Revenue "Service." Don't cash in your chips yet, however, because even though the bureaucrats at the IRS have lost round one, once the commotion dies down, you can be certain they will "punish" those who dare challenge their authority...

Did the pirates inspire the vision of the Founding Fathers, when they defied the law and overthrew the government? Before there were gangsters, or the Founding Fathers, there were the pirates. Did you know that the pirates had disability "insurance" long before the rest of the world? Is there honor among thieves? Maxwell Kennedy aids in the revision of history, putting a friendly face on the men who sailed under the banner of the Jolly Roger...

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