[let page fully load before making selection]

just who is on the net?  here are some useful demographics
browser watch: Netscape 60% and IE: 40% (Netscape users are
split between 3.0 and 4.0, and so are Explorer users)

A D S L!

THE WEB AT 1.5 MILLION BITS A SECOND? 

Compaq, Intel, and Microsoft
are teaming up with major local phone service providers GTE and
fourof the Bell companies (all except Bell-Atlantic) to develop
technology that would improve Internet access to a speed of 1.5
million bits a second.  The new ultrafast modems would use
ordinary phone lines but would remained connected to the Net at
all times without the need to dial a service provider and without
interfering with normal voice conversations over the same line. 
The project will be based on DSL ("digital subscriber line")
technology.   (New York Times 20 Jan 98) 

will ADSL catch on?

Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 14:55:29 -0500 
From: Charles Heffner <heffner@NKU.EDU> 
Subject: ADSL To: hwg-business@hwg.org 
Sender: owner-hwg-business@hwg.org

per minute charges are ridiculous, epsecially in light of
ADSL technology     . 

Cable modems - egads, the security holes are bigger than those in 
Microsoft's OSs, and do you really want *your* access to be 
controlled by the cable tv industry, an icon of monopolisitc 
inefficiency and laziness? My $.02 solution - push your local 
telcos hard for the implementation of ADSL, a nifty little 
technology that addresses many of the bandwidth, security and 
cost issues that have been part of the bandwidth debate. 

Charles Heffner heffner@nku.edu



Cloning: get used to it!

National Public Radio has reported that Chicago researcher
Richard Seed has proposed starting a clinic that would clone
babies for would-be parents...

CHICAGO SCIENTIST PREPARES TO CLONE BABIES "You can't stop
science," says physicist, whose plan for a fertility clinic is
likely to draw government action....

The stock value of PPL Therapeutics, the company that funds the
clone research, has climbed fast.   Gregory Stock, fellow at
UCLA's Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life,
is already planning a conference to discuss the vast implications
of human germline engineering - the first of its kind.

Stock assumes that human cloning will soon become an everyday
part of our lives. "Look what's happened to computers in 40
years, and to space and flight. Those have happened so much
faster than ordinary, slow, evolutionary changes. Now the same
processes that are affecting those changes are becoming applied
to biology. The rate of biological change is just going to
increase to match those other kinds of rates. When you look
forward 200 years, we're going to be unrecognizable.

"We are becoming the objects of design processes," he says. "Life
itself is becoming the object of the processes that have been
operating in other realms and have caused such rapid progress."

By contrast, Jack Williamson, an 88-year-old seminal
science-fiction writer, who first coined the phrase "genetic
engineering" in his 1951 novel,  Dragon's Island , seems more
detached. When he was 7, Williamson's family moved to New Mexico
in a covered wagon. In  Dragon's Island, people travel in space
ships that are grown from seeds. Williamson says he's not at all
interested in making a clone of himself, but feels good about
the things he envisioned coming true. "The future is unlimited,
for good or bad."

--from Wired Services

When, in the days that people were not everlasting, there was a
built in bias in the mechanisms of reproduction toward human
improvement.  now a person challenged in a variety of respects
never gets the gene deck reshuffled, and keeps growing new
bodybags.  This sounds like an evolutionary dead end!  But ban
human cloning? The problem with crafting federal legislation to
regulate research into human cloning is that nobody can put their
finger on what, exactly, a human being is. Would it stop it
anway?  Doesn't it create the same atmosphere that illegal
abortions created-- the rich go underground?

The FDA has just decided it has the authority to regulate and
license cloning.

Genetic clones may be new, but memetic clones have been with us
for a long time.  Clones are no fun.  They never have been. 
	
And then (from a discussion on the Novelty List) there is the
nature vs nurture element of cloning...

Date:    Fri, 16 Jan 1998 09:43:25 -0700 
From:    Valerie Gremillion <valor@SANTAFE.EDU> 
Subject: cloning

>>My question is: how much does the
surrogate mother influence the development of a child? Even
though it may not be her egg or her genetic material, it is HER
blood and HER hormones that run through the umbilical cord and
into the child's developing body/brain. anybody have info. or
opinions?

Excellent point - and very true. Hormonal state, attentional
state, stress and the immune system behavior of the mother will
all affect the fetus, as will more obvious things like the
mother's nutrition, alcohol intake, etc... the womb is the
environment and has an important effect on
development...everything else you said is true too - it simply
ISN'T clear how similar a cloned being would be to the clone
because we are unable to separate out nature/nurture effects.



if you can immortalize the body bag, why clone?

telomerase is an enzyme discovered through cancer research which
replaces the part of the chromosome that is lost to cell
division.  This has allowed new generation of cells to be
produced in the lab, each of which is virtually identical to the
generation before.  The process has extended far beyond the
normal generative span of healthy (non-tumorous)cells, implying
that the generation of youthfull cells could be continued
indefinitely in the presence of telomerase.  Conjecture is that
telomerase will become a useful component in anti-aging drugs
within maybe 10 yrs.

"We found that biological aging can be put on hold," said Jerry
W. Shay of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center,
who with colleagues there and at Geron Corp., a California
biotechnology company, released their results Tuesday, 1/14/98.
on it's web. Geron describes itself as
"applying its leadership position in the biology of cell
aging and cell immortality to discover novel therapeutics for
age-related disease."

the site has a good research page on telomerase technology

is this the end of evolution?  the discussion rages on Novelty:

>I hate to break it to you, but evolution has been over for some time
>already.
>Consider: Evolution is the gradual advance of things into "levels of
>higher complexity and character," according to Websters. Darwinian
>evolution, specifically, dictates that the strongest, most fit examples
>of the species live long enough to reproduce, and then pass their
>genetic characteristics on through reproduction.
>
>Now I put forward three propositions, none likely to be popular, but
>which have validity nevertheless.
>
>1) Medical science, technology and the laws of civilization have largely
>eliminated "health," resistance to disease and physical strength as
>criteria for survival.
>
>2) Reproduction is no longer keyed toward or limited to Darwin's
>"fittest." Rather, our culture encourages the least fit to reproduce.
>
>3) Based on propositions 1) and 2), the human race is in a state of
>devolution.

You are right that biological evolution in the human species has
been halted by factors such as the ones you mention.  But while
evolution of the human genome may have slowed or ceased,
epigenetic change, change not under the control of genes but
under the control of cultural memes has accelerated.

Best,

Terence McKenna




change the law!

"Commonsense Drug Policy," by Ethan A. Nadelmann appears in
Foreign Affairs, Vol. 77 No.1. January-February, 1998.



the world's newspapers

travel the world through it's newspaper websites



Keep up to date on what NOT to buy  
check the The Boycott Board frequently



Mutual Fund Screen



GM & WRI

WASHINGTON, January 13 -/E-Wire/-- The World Resources Institute
(WRI) and General Motors Corporation (GM) today announced a
collaboration to identify measures to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions while protecting the economy. 



World Bank and the rainforests

>/* ------- "ENVIRONMENT: World Bank to Let Axe" ---------- */
>
>       Copyright 1997 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
>          Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
>
>                      *** 07-Jan-98 ***
>
>Title: ENVIRONMENT: World Bank to Let Axe Fall on Rainforests?
>
>By Abid Aslam
>
>WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (IPS) - The World Bank, the world's leading
>investor in forest projects in developing countries, says it aims
>to clean up the global timber industry but is fuelling fears that
>it wants to start financing logging operations in tropical
>rainforests.
>
>Bank President James Wolfensohn meets leading international
>loggers and hand-picked environmental groups Friday, to chart the
>lending agency's future course as a champion of 'sustainable' or
>'low-impact' logging.
>
>Trouble is, say critics, the Bank has barred from the talks
>analysts who question whether 'sustainable' logging is possible
>and also has ignored alternative approaches while overlooking the
>harmful consequences of its policies and investments on the
>world's for"ests.
>
>At stake are the last of Earth's 'old growth' or 'primary'
>forests, home to centuries-old trees largely untouched by humans.
>These dense tracts have been referred to as the planet's 'lungs'
>and are considered home to as-yet undiscovered species, including
>plants with medicinal potential.
>
>Only about 20 percent of these forests remain intact, mostly in
>South America's Amazon Basin, Canada's Pacific Northwest, and the
>boreal forests of Siberia. Nearly half of all remaining old growth
>forests are at serious risk of destruction, according to
>environmentalists. The endangered forests include those in the
>West African nation of Gabon and on the Southeast Asian island of
>Borneo.
>
>''The Bank is pushing the notion of sustainable logging by
>transnational corporations, but it has yet to produce the evidence
>that such a thing can even exist in primary tropical
>rainforests,'' said Randall Hayes, president of the Rainforest
>Action Network (RAN).
>
>That view likely will not be heard at Friday's meeting, as RAN
>and other groups who challenge the notion of 'sustainable' logging
>have been excluded. Also barred are environmentalists and
>indigenous people from the countries and forest communities at
>greatest risk from intensified logging.
>
>The only developing-country participants expected on Friday are
>loggers, including Mohammed 'Bob' Hasan, a close associate of
>Indonesian President Suharto and head of the Indonesian Wood Panel
>Association, APKINDO, a logging company plagued with widespread
>allegations of environmental and human rights abuses.
>
>A Bank spokeswoman pointed out that other participants include
>David McDowell, head of the Switzerland-based World Conservation
>Union (IUCN), which has affiliates in a number of developing
>countries. She nevertheless conceded, ''it would have been better
>to have an actual grassroots group.''
>
>The Bank also is embarking upon a year-long review of its
>forest policy, adopted in 1991 under heavy pressure from
>environmentalists. Officials insist Friday's meeting will not
>affect the policy review but analysts note the meeting's agenda is
>dominated by discussions of what the Bank should do to improve
>forest management.
>
>''The Bank has a tendency to muddy the waters like this,'' said
>Korinna Horta, an environmental economist at the Environmental
>Defence Fund (EDF). ''The indications are that the Bank wants to
>make changes in its operations - in other words, effectively
>change the forest policy. But you can't review a policy without
>looking at whether and how it has been implemented. We are afraid
>there has been little implementation, yet we see signs the Bank is
>ready to move away from it.''
>
>The 1991 policy bans direct funding for logging projects in
>tropical primary rainforests, limits Bank forestry lending to
>governments which are committed to conservation, and emphasises
>environmental protection and indigenous peoples' concerns.
>
>Senior Bank officials in particular have stirred suspicions
>that the ban on tropical logging will be overturned, by suggesting
>that ''waivers'' be granted, permitting them to back projects they
>otherwise could not.
>
>''Instead of revising its forest policy to make new loans, the
>Bank should revise its loan portfolio,'' said Randy Hayes,
>president of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), one of the
>groups barred from Friday's meeting.
>
>Hayes held that the Bank should use its lending power to
>''promote paper production from agricultural waste rather than
>wood. That's a bold, visionary path that I just don't see the
>World Bank taking.'' Yet it is exactly the type of option the
>Bank, as an avowed development agency, should pursue, he added.
>
>''There has been not enough funding for alternative projects by
>the Bank,'' Horta told IPS. In addition, ''most causes of forest
>loss are outside the forests themselves, and the Bank's major
>investments are helping to drive deforestation.''
>
>Horta highlighted the Bank's insistence that borrowing
>countries increase their exports - largely of primary commodities
>including timber - to generate economic growth, and rein in state
>spending. Budget cuts often result in lay-offs of government
>forestry officials, she explained.
>
>One well-placed senior analyst, who asked not to be identified,
>said Bank officials also have failed to tackle basic cost issues
>in the logging industry, because these have been opposed by the
>loggers.
>
>Timber companies generally must pay governments for permission
>to operate in national forests but the payments are based on the
>amount of timber the companies say was harvested, the analyst
>explained. The companies usually seek out one type of tree - say,
>hardwood Mahogany - but chop down dozens of other trees to get to
>each Mahogany. Yet they pay only for the Mahogany.
>
>Were the companies required to pay for the actual number of
>trees felled or the area of forest land logged, they would be far
>more careful in their work, the analyst argued, adding that Bank
>officials should use Friday's meeting to urge such basic reforms.
>
>However, officials are playing down the expected outcome of the
>talks on Friday. ''The best they're hoping for is that everyone
>will agree to continue to collaborate for forest eco-system
>conservation, and to meet again,'' the Bank spokeswoman said.
>(END/IPS/aa/97)
>
>
>Origin: ROMAWAS/ENVIRONMENT/
>                              ----
>
>       [c] 1997, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)
>                     All rights reserved
>
>  May not be reproduced, reprinted or posted to any system or
>  service outside  of  the  APC  networks,  without  specific
>  permission from IPS.  This limitation includes distribution
>  via  Usenet News,  bulletin board  systems, mailing  lists,
>  print media  and broadcast.   For information about  cross-
>  posting,  send   a   message  to   <online@ips.org>.    For
>  information  about  print or  broadcast reproduction please
>  contact the IPS coordinator at <online@ips.org>.
>


want to see the whales?  

after surfing this page, you almost don't need to be on the coast.



Silicon Valley update

Silicon Alley is a moderately funny cartoon strip on self turning
webpages 

I.D. Magazine reports that John Battelle, formerly of HotWired,
has a new magazine called Network, described as the Holllywood
Reporter of Silicon Valley.  has anyone seen it?



An Online Party for the UN by Amnesty International

As part of the United Nations celebration of the 50th anniversary
of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
celebrities from Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi to Canadian
pop singer Alanis Morissette are announcing their allegiance to
principles of global civil liberty. Thanks to Amnesty
International, your average netizen will be able to join the
festivities, too. Combining online activism with a dose of pop
culture, Amnesty's Human Rights Caravan site hopes to convince 
a new audience to join the fight for human rights.

"Our right to pick up a telephone today is in the Declaration
of Human Rights," says Amnesty's project coordinator Beate
Kubitz. "Freedom of speech, freedom to move, freedom of
information - it's all there in the Declaration. People don't
realize that those rights are there to protect, and if we don't
cherish them we're going to lose them."

The Human Rights Caravan site launched on 13 December 
1997 and will follow the UN's yearlong string of events until the
official anniversary on 10 December 1998. During the year, an
oversized "book" containing the declaration will be carried
around the world to be signed by dignitaries, celebrities,
politicians and others, reaffirming the world's dedication to
civil liberties. The Web site will document the events going on
around the world - both in the form of a calendar and in photo
essays of important occasions and notable signings, by people
like Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton. Digital art by 30 artists
on the site creatively (though blurrily) depicts each of the 30
articles of the declaration.

Perhaps more important, the site will allow visitors to sign
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(so far, over 3,300 visitors have signed the online
version of the "book") and participate in related Amnesty
actions. Concerned citizens can read the stories of people like
Fred M'membe, a Zambian tjournalist being stifled by his
government, or Mirjana Galo, a Croatian human rights activist
threatened because of her work, and then write letters or send
email to the appropriate authorities demanding their freedom.

Although this is Amnesty International's first big online
campaign, it has been implementing online letter writing for a year.
According to Web coordinator Roberto Quezada, featured actions
have proven successful with an average of 400 letters and emails
a week. But while the Amnesty USA group has found that the
simplicity and directness of email makes activism easier and
therefore draws fresh audiences, they've also discovered that the
letter-writers are often overwhelmingly American, which can be
diplomatically problematic. Additionally, email is often ignored
or discarded, making it necessary to back up those emails
with physical letters documenting the names of people who sent
their objections digitally.

from Wired News - January 13th, 1998



What is an intoxicant?

A Malaysian Buddhist monk, Venerable Mahinda, explained to me that
in the Pali canon the precept is substance-specific, translated
literally as "do not take alcohol." However, many modern
interpreters prefer to use the broader concept of "intoxicant,"
in which case it becomes necessary to define the term. The most
useful definition I am aware of, again from Ven Mahinda, is "any
substance which weakens your control over your mental processes."

Another translation of the Pali canon, by Peter Masefield,
says, "intoxicants which cause heedlessness," indicating
heedlessness as the defining element of intoxication.

This is a controversial point. Many monks who observe the
precepts in a rigorous manner might argue that taking even a tiny
sip of alcohol is technically against the rules and therefore
inappropriate. Others might argue that up to a certain point the
alcohol does not weaken your mental control, so up to that point
it is not an "intoxicant" and thus does not violate the spirit of
the precept. . . . Over to you. As the Buddha said, you must find
the truth for yourself from your own experience.

--from the Drugs and Foods section of the Dharma the Cat site.



Sarawak Forests and People in peril
                               
>JANUARY 1998
>
>
>ONE IBAN KILLED AS POLICE OPEN FIRE ON UNARMED
>INDIGENOUS PEOPLE PROTESTING THE TAKEOVER OF THEIR LANDS
>BY OIL PALM PLANTATIONS.
>
>
>Tension is running high in many parts of Sarawak where
>the state government has earmarked more than 1.5 million
>hectares of land for conversion to oil palm plantations.
>In many cases, the areas selected for development are
>currently Native Customary Lands (NCL) and the natives
>are aware that losing their lands means losing
>livelihoods, culture and life itself. On December 19th,
>a violent conflict broke out between the police field
>force and the unarmed villagers of Rumah Bangga
>longhouse, Sungai Sebukut, Lutong, Bakong, Baram, Miri,
>Sarawak.
>
>>From reports on the ground it appears that about 300
>Iban had put up a blockade to protect their Native
>Customary Land after two companies, Segarakam Sdn Bhd,
>and Prana Sdn Bhd., which are contractors to Empresa (M)
>Sdn Bhd. trespassed on and cleared their customary land,
>which resulted in extensive damage to their land and
>crops.
>
>Without notice or consultation with the Iban, the land
>and Survey Department  had issued a provisional lease to
>Empresa (M) Sdn Bhd, an oil palm plantation company. The
>land area covered by the lease includes the Native
>Customary Land of the Iban.  The conditions stated in
>the lease  were, inter alia, that "the holder of this
>provisional lease SHALL NOT be entitled to a lease of an
>area equal to the area (of the provisional lease) but
>only to such an area as the Survey shows to be
>available" (i.e. a survey must be done first by the¢
>leasee over the leased area to determine whether other
>people have rights over the same area of land, and if
>so, such an area will be excluded from the lease).
>
>The Iban first and only came to know of the issue of the
>provisional lease to Empresa (M) Sdn Bhd. by the Land
>and Survey Department when Segarakam Sdn Bhd and Prana
>Sdn Bhd trespassed and started clearing their customary
>land.
>
>As soon as they came to know about the activities of the
>companies on their land and the damage done to their
>crops, the Iban lodged a police report at Beluru Police
>Station, in Bakong, Baram, Sarawak. They  wrote letters
>to the Land and Survey Department and other government
>departments requesting that the lease be withdrawn or
>revoked or that a survey be done so that their land
>could be excluded from the lease.
>
>However, no action was taken by the police or other
>government authorities, but the companies coæntinued to
>trespass and clear their land leading to more of their
>land and crops being destroyed.
>
>Having had recourse to the police and other government
>departments and having  failed to get any response at
>all and worried that the companies would continue to
>destroy more of their land and crops, the Iban put up a
>blockade/barricade.  This was destroyed.  Left with no
>other alternative, they were forced to impound three
>bulldozers belonging to the companies which they lodged
>safely at their longhouse.
>
>The companies, instead of going to the court apparently
>went to the police and Police Field Force (PFF).  And
>on the 19th of December 1997, acting without any court
>order, warrant or summons, the police and PFF took it
>upon themselves to retrieve the bulldozers from the
>Ibans at their longhouse on behalf of the companies.
>
>On their arrival at the Iban longhouse they immediately
>proceeded to arrest and detain the Iban, withou"t any
>regard or respect for the rights of the Iban over their
>Customary land or their privacy in their own longhouse.
>
>The Iban refused to be arrested because they were the
>victims of the companies and were the ones who suffered
>damage and destruction to their land and crops. They
>also claimed that they were only lawfully exercising
>their rights to private defence of their properties. The
>police and PFF should have acted to restrain the
>companies instead of harassing the Iban, or at the very
>least, they should have stayed neutral as this was a
>civil dispute on rights over land which the parties
>could have brought to the court for determination, they
>claimed.
>
>As the Iban refused to be arrested for the above
>reasons, the police and the PFF chased them and several
>of the Iban were beaten-up with batons or punched and
>kicked. Without any warning or warning shots , three of
>the Ibans were shot, one in the head.  Several Ibans
>were arrested. Five d§ays later, on Dec. 24th, Enyang Ak
>GendAng died in hospital, where a postmortem revealed a
>bullet lodged inside his head. He was married with three
>children, aged between seven and seventeen years.
>
>A 13-year old, Rolly ak Silvester, and another of the
>Ibans arrested, were released from police custody on 23
>December. The remaining detainees were released on 29
>December with no charges having been laid against them,
>but they all are due to appear at Marudi police station
>and Magistrate's Court on 22 January 1998. Indit ak Uma,
>who was shot in the stomach, chest and wrist, was
>released on 29 December and was immediately admitted to
>hospital for treatment to his stomach wound, which had
>become infected while he was in detention. Up to 22
>other Iban from neighbouring communities are also
>reported to have been detained briefly before 23
>December 1997. They were also released without charge
>but ordered to appear at the Magistrate's Court in
>Marudi on 22 January 1998.
>
>
>ACTION:
>
>Please send faxes/telegrams/letters expressing concern at the 
>death of Enyang Ak GendAng
>after being shot by police officers while unarmed in
>front of his longhouse;
>
>- calling for an immediate and impartial investigation
>into the shooting, arrest and ill-treatment of the Iban;
>
>- calling for the findings to be made public, and for
>those responsible to be brought to justice;
>
>- urging the Magistrates to do justice to the Iban by
>treating them as victims of unlawful activities rather
>than violators of the law;
>
>- urging the authorities to guarantee that Native
>Customary Rights to land and forest will not continue to
>be violated;
>concerning the present case, the Sarawak government is
>urged to revoke the provisional lease issued to Empresa
>(M) Sdn. Bhd. as it affects the native customary land on
>which the Iban have prior and subsisting native
>customary rights;
>
>- urging the police and the police field force as law
>enforcement agencies to be neutral and fair in their law
>enforcement duties and particularly to respect and
>enforce the law on native customary rights to land, the
>constitutional rights to property, and the rights of
>private defence of property.
>
>APPEALS TO:
>
>YAB Dr. Mahathir Mohammed, Prime Minister and
>Minister of Home Affairs, Jalan Dato Onn, Kuala
>Lumpur, Malaysia
> Fax: 60 3 291 14268 / 230 6540 / 255 6264 / 230
>0786
>
>YAB Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Deputy Prime Minister
>and Minister of Finance, Jalan Dato &laqno;Onn, Kuala
>Lumpur, Malaysia
>Fax: 60 3 238 3691 / 255 6264
>
>YB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, Chief
>Minister of Sarawak, Tingkat 14, Wisma Bapa
>Malaysia, Petra Jaya,
> 93502 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
> Fax: 60 82 441 975 / 440 500 / 492 288
>
>YBhg. Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor, Inspector General
>of Police,
> Police Headquarters, Bukit Aman, 50560 Kuala
>Lumpur, Malaysia,   Fax: 60 3 291 0707
>
>The Rt Hon. Tan Sri Dato` Seri Hj. Mohd. Eusoff Chin
>The Chief Justice of the Federal Court, Bangunan
>Sultan Abdul Samad, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
>Fax: 60 3 293 7339
>
>The Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and
>Sarawak
> Judicial Department, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia,
>Fax: 60 82 417 322
>
>
>Please send a copy of your letter to:
>
>- Borneo Resources Institute, Fax: 60 85 438580,
> email 
>- Forest Peoples Programme, Fax: 44 1608 652893,
> email 
>
>For further information please contact:
>
>Forest Peoples Programme
>1c Fosseway Business Centre
>Stratford Road, Moreton-in-Marsh
>GL56 9NQ, England
>email 
>tel: +44 (0)1608 652893 Fax: +44 (0)1608 652878
>
>The Forest Peoples Programme is an affiliate of 
the World Rainforest Movement.



All The President's Women, or, news from the Oral Office...

"This poor intern gets swept off her feet by the president's
disarming disarmament policies; gets taken advantage of in a
White House closet; is pampered and bamboozled by Bill's sweet
talk; finds herself on the defense in the Defense Department; and
is now unemployed and chased by a wild pack of reporters. And
Clinton whines that he's being picked on." 
--John McCaslin, The Washington Times

"Any prosecutor worth his salt wouldn't touch this with a 10-foot
pole. What kind of hard evidence does he have? He's got illegally
recorded tapes of two woman talking to each other, both of whom
are less than reliable. Is there a tape of the president or
Jordan talking about suborning of perjury? There isn't. If the
president and Vernon Jordan told this woman to lie under oath,
that's a serious charge. But what is the evidence of that? What
Starr has is garbage." 
---Abner Mikva, a former White House
counsel to Clinton, now a law professor at the University of
Chicago.  (from Salon)

I subscribe to the European model of life. I believe it is in our
best interest to be realistic about sexuality. This American
insistence that we must always have a good "family man" in
leadership positions is not realistic. A man of power is going to
be a man of very high sexual energy. I want that kind of a man. I
want a Clinton more than I want a Nixon. I don't want a cold
fish! I want someone in the White House who would love to    
have sex with 10 different people in three days.
That doesn't bother me in the least!
---Camille Paglia (from Salon)

Independent Prosecutor Starr & the tobacco connection:

After his appointment, Starr, a million-dollar-a-year private
lawyer, didn't want to follow his predecessors' example and take
a leave from his law firm while he worked as independent counsel.
Starr decided it was perfectly proper to go on representing
clients, even if quite a number of them had huge financial
interests in seeing the President defeated in the upcoming
election. For example, Starr continued to represent Philip Morris
and Brown & Williamson, tobacco companies fightiÔng the
president's effort to block tobacco sales to and ads aimed at
kids.
---James Carville (from Salon)

the latest attack on Clinton has him unconsciously speaking the
truth of his sex addiction in reverse.  not since McCartney was
thought dead because of a song played backward have i heard such
nonsense. he doesn't have to say anything, forwards or backwards,
because everyone knows he is a philanderer, and they don't care.

And Jay Leno observed: "Only President Clinton could divert
attention from a sex scandal with another sex scandal."

Leno added, "The New York Post is reporting that Monica Lewinsky
said she did not consider her affair with Bill Clinton adultery
because it only involved oral sex. If Clinton can get that law 
passed, every man in America is going to vote for him." 
(NY POST 1-25-98)

Mike Drudge is the newest media star having broke the Monica
Levinsky story.  Drudge is first to know the latest dirt, true or
not.   



not-so-green Gore

Unless he becomes President due to a resignation, is Gore who
Greens pin their 2000 election hopes on?  what is Gore's NET and
why does it hurt ancient U.S. forests?  see the January 1998 
Village Voice story on the ungreening of Gore.



html watch:

IDEO website wins the award for most dynamic w/o use of dynamic
html 

want to find out if a virtual or personalized domain name is
available or taken?  



ransom note:

>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>FROM: THE TREES
>
>StoP tHE LogGINg oR wE WiLl coNtInUE To KIll oNe CeleBrITY EacH WeEK.
>TheRe ARe nO SkIinG "aCciDenTS".