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Activist Times Inc. Issue 038
Hey look, man! It's....
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Issue #38... May 28, 1989
Special Enviromental Issue!
Activist Times, Inc.. a voice for the
people in an age of silence..
Write to us: Activist Times, Inc.
P.O. Box 2501
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
Call us: 512-262-9519, box #1300
Yes, we have a new (100% legal) voice
mailbox, on which you can leave your
messages of praise, ragging, or
proposals of marraige and other offers....Heh. ;-)
Ok folks. Welcome. First up we have a
letter from Prime Anarchist, the
originator of this publication:
Dear ATI,
How's it going?
It's been awhile since I've seen a copy of the old ATI, and I'm
impressed. The new ATI is just as good as the old ATI. Keep up the good
work, people. I'll be looking forward to each new article with batied breath
and ready eyeballs.
I've been real busy wih a bunch of projects that have pretty much kept me
unable to send along tidbits, but things should be just slack enough that I
can start participating again.
I've been reading a lot at some of the local bars here, and my poetry's
seeming to get good response. I'm writing a lot of killer music with a copule
friends of mine, so expect good things there too.
And mostly, I've had a chance to do a lot (pronounced beaucoup) of
travelling. Which means I get to see things on a much more global plane.
"Plane", ha ha- I like that. I didn't realize how well that last paragraph
worked. Neato.
At any rate, I'll close with a couple thoughts.
Keep in mind- as electronic as something gets, it's still electric.
Bumper sticker: "HAVE YOU HUGGED BEHIND A CAR LATELY?" Sponsored by ATI,
American Tailgaters Institute.
Once you get in touch with your own violent nature, then (and only then)
can you be a peaceful person.
Try not to read Rimbaud unless you are sitting on stone steps. It could
be devastating.
No, that wasn't me in the Village Voice picture. (Too many people have
been asking.)
I think they should give payphones some kind of memory.
Oh well, that's about all for this minute. More promised later.
Sincerely,
The Prime Anarchist (412, 516, 976, 213, 001)
Next.. a few words on nuclear energy:
FoE Energy Campaign press release
EMBARGO: 11.00 a.m. Wednesday 19 April, 1989
"Nuclear power adds to threat of global warming"
Nuclear power produces up to 4 times more carbon dioxide (CO2) than
equivalent electricity production by renewable energy options and
nearly 20 times more CO2 than reducing demand through energy
efficiency measures, claims Friends of the Earth (FoE) today.
In an addendum to evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on
Energy (1) FoE demonstrates that, while nuclear power produces much
less CO2 than fossil-fuel fired power stations, it is by no means
"CO2-free". Energy used in mining and preparing uranium fuel for use
in nuclear reactors produces CO2 and thereby adds to the threat of
global warming. Other energy policy options produce far less CO2.
In particular:
Producing 1000 MW of electricity emits the following amounts of CO2,
taking into account related mining and fuel producing processes:
Coal-fired power station - 5,912,000 tonnes per year
Nuclear power station - 230,000 tonnes per year
Hydro power scheme - 78,000 tonnes per year
Wind power scheme - 54,000 tonnes per year
Tidal power scheme - 52,000 tonnes per year
Reducing demand for electricity by 1000 MW through energy efficiency
measures, using the same energy analysis technique, emits the
following amounts of CO2:
Loft insulation - 24,000 tonnes per year
Cavity wall insulation - 23,000 tonnes per year
Low energy lighting - 12,000 tonnes per year
As the addendum says;
"Hence, in terms of devising solutions to counter the greenhouse
effect caused by carbon dioxide, both renewable energy sources and
energy efficiency measures offer the greatest benefits."
In addition, attempts to expand nuclear power capacity to replace
fossil-fuel fired plant to make any significant impact on the
greenhouse effect would run into problems of declining uranium ore
grade as world resources are depleted. The lower the ore grade, the
more energy required to extract and process it and the more CO2
released. At ore grades of between 1 and 100 parts per million the
amount of CO2 released rises to levels equivalent to coal-fired power
stations.
The addendum states;
"..nuclear power cannot be regarded as a sustainable solution to the
problems caused by carbon dioxide emissions."
FoE Energy Campaigner, Simon Roberts said;
"Even if we could ignore all of the other problems of nuclear power,
this work shows that nuclear power is way down the agenda of possible
solutions to the greenhouse effect. Friends of the Earth's evidence
shows that an energy policy to combat the greenhouse effect must be
based on energy efficiency and the development of renewables because
these options release far less carbon dioxide and they tap a
sustainable energy potential."
(!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) (!)
psychobabble dept..
Those of you who are students of human
nature such as I might enjoy
these little tidbits. Fritz Perls wrote this following item called the
Gestalt Prayer, which is part of the Gestalt school of psychology. It was
meant to be an ideal model for human relationships:
I do my thing, and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
And you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you, and I am I;
If by chance we find each other, it's beautiful.
If not, it can't be helped.
And, in an issue of Rough Times, this
response to The Gestalt Prayer
was printed:
The Getsmart Prayer
I do my thing, and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
And you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you and I am I;
And if by chance we find
Our brothers and sisters enslaved
And the world under fascist rule
Because we are doing our thing-
It can't be helped?
Neato. That one was my favorite. And here's a more humorous version:
The Geatlat Prayer
I do my laundry, and you do yours.
I am not in this world to listen to your ceaseless yammering,
And you are not in this world for any discernable reason at all.
You are you, and I am I, and I got the better deal.
And if by chance we find each other, it will be unspeakably tedious.
Fuck off.
Hahaha. Now, here's my own version:
THE GROUND ZERO PRAYER
I watch my MTV, you watch your WWF wrestling.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
Because I'd rather go to the mall.
You are you and I am I: products of a
military-industrial, capitalistic,
comsuption-oriented, commercialized society;
And if by chance we find
The world worn out by nukes, war, exploitation, racism, sexism, pollution,
disease and poverty
Because we refuse to think and take positive action-
It can't be helped?
What can I say? I was INSPIRED... >8-)
-*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*-
And now, here is the address of a political newsletter that you might want to
check out:
The Seditionist
c/o Incendiary Publications
P.O. Box 210095
San Francisco, CA 94121-0095
It's an anarchist publication, and reports a lot of interesting items that
you might not hear about otherwise. For example, back in early March, they
wrote a piece on David Duke, a state senator in Louisiana who was an ex-grand
dragon for the KKK and the founder of an organization called the National
Association for the Advancement of White People. This was months before
talk-show host Phil Donahue decided that the issue of a blatant racist holding
a public office was important enough to be addressed on his show.
Check out The Seditionist.. They do report items that do not get reported in
the mainstream media.
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
And now, some items of interest from Nightcrawler (516):
From the 4/7/89 Boston Globe:
"Some Bostonians are having the time of their lives eavesdropping on
Nynex Mobile Communications cellular phones. With the help of their
trusty Radio Shack
Portavision 55s, designed to pick up the audio portion of UHF television
signals, these naughty people claim to have heard Secretary of Finance and
Administration Edward Lashman discussing a press conference with his wife and
Boston Mayor Ray Flynn checking in with his office. "It makes for a great day,
says one listener who calls in sick at his job to spend the day with his ear
pressed against the radio. "At 7 a.m. you hear the construction people
complaining that their suppliers delivered the wrong stuff. At 9, it's the
lawyers telling their clients how to lie in court. After noon the risque stuff
starts..."
GZ'S note: It seems that Radio Shack, after learning the "extra" functions
of the Portavision 55, has removed it from their line. However, you might
be able to find a store that might still have one lying around.
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Two former employees of Cincinnati Bell, who were fired by the company for
'good cause' according to Cincinnati Bell Chairman Dwight Hibbard are
claiming they installed more than 1200 illegal wiretaps over a 12 year period
from 1972 - 1984 at the request of their supervisors at the telco and the
local police.
Among the alleged targets of the snooping were past and present members
of Congress, federal judges, scores of the city's most prominent politicians,
business executives, lawyers and media personalities.
Leonard Gates and Robert Draise say they even wiretapped the hotel room
where President Gerald Ford stayed during two visits to Cincinnati; and
this part of their story, at least, has been verified by the now retired
security chief at the hotel.
As more details come out each day, people in Cincinnati are getting a rare
look at a Police Department that apparently spied on itself, and at a grand
jury probe that has prompted one former FBI official to suggest that the
Justice Department seems more interested in discrediting the accusers than
in seeking the truth.
Cincinnati Bell executives says Gates and Draise are just trying to 'get
even' with the company for firing them. But disclosures thus far seem to
indicate there is at least some truth in what the two men are saying about
the company they used to work for.
According to Gates and Draise, they were just employees following the orders
given to them by their superiors at Cincinnati Bell. But Dwight Hibbard,
Chairman of the Board of Cincinnati Bell has called them both liars, and
said their only motive is to make trouble for the company.
Cincinnati Bell responded to allegations that the company had specifically
participated in illegal wiretapping by filing a libel suit against Gates
and Draise. The two men responded by filing a countersuit against the telco.
In addition to their suit, four of the people who were allegedly spied on
have filed a class action suit against the telco.
In the latest development, Cincinnati Bell has gone public with (according
to them) just recently discovered sordid details about an extramarital
affair by Gates. A federal grand jury in Cincinnati is now trying to
straighten out the tangled web of charges and countercharges, but so far
no indictments have been returned.
Almost daily, Gates and Draise tell further details about their exploits,
including taps they claim they placed on phones at the Cincinnati Stock
Exchange and the General Electric aircraft engine plant in suburban
Evendale.
According to Draise, he began doing these 'special assignments' in 1972,
when he was approached by a Cincinnati police officer from that city's
clandestine intelligence unit. The police officer wanted him to tap the
lines of black militants and suspected drug dealers, Draise said.
The police officer assured him the wiretapping would be legal, and that
top executives at the phone company had approved. Draise agreed, and
suggested recruiting Gates, a co-worker to help out. Soon, the two were
setting several wiretaps each week at the request of the Intelligence
Unit of the Cincinnati Police Department.
But by around 1975, the direction and scope of the operation changed, say
the men. The wiretap requests no longer came from the police; instead
they came from James West and Peter Gabor, supervisors in the Security
Department at Cincinnati Bell, who claimed *they were getting the orders
from their superiors*.
And the targets of the spying were no longer criminal elements; instead,
Draise and Gates say they were asked to tap the lines of politicians,
business executives and even the phone of the Chief of Police himself,
and the personal phone lines of some telephone company employees as well.
Draise said he "began to have doubts about the whole thing in 1979" when
he was told to tap the private phone of a newspaper columnist in town.
"I told them I wasn't going to do it anymore," he said in an interview
last week.
Gates kept on doing these things until 1984, and he says he got cold feet
late that year when 'the word came down through the grapevine' that he
was to tap the phone lines connected to the computers at General Electric's
Evendale plant. He backed out then, and said to leave him out of it in the
future, and he claims there were hints of retaliation directed at him at
that time; threats to 'tell what we know about you...'.
When Dwight Hibbard was contacted at his office at Cincinnati Bell and asked
to comment on the allegations of his former employees, he responded that
they were both liars. "The phone company would not do things like that,"
said Hibbard, "and those two are both getting sued because they say we do."
Hibbard has refused to answer more specific questions asked by the local
press and government investigators.
In fact, Draise was fired in 1979, shortly after he claims he told his
superiors he would no longer place wiretaps on lines. Shortly after he quit
handling the 'special assignments' given to him he was arrested, and charged
with a misdemeanor in connection with one wiretap -- which Draise says he
set for a friend who wanted to spy on his ex-girlfriend. Cincinnati Bell
claims they had nothing to do with his arrest and conviction on that charge;
but they 'were forced to fire him' after he pleaded guilty.
Gates was fired in 1986 for insubordination. He claims Cincinnati Bell was
retaliating against him for taking the side of two employees who were suing
the company for sexual harassment; but his firing was upheld in court.
The story first started breaking when Gates and Draise went to see a reporter
area. The paper printed the allegations by the men, and angry responses
started coming in almost immediately.
At first, police denied the existence of the Intelligence Unit, let alone
that such an organization would use operatives at Cincinnati Bell to
spy on people. Later, when called before the federal grand jury, and warned
against lying, five retired police officers, including the former chief,
took the Fifth Amendment. Finally last month, the five issued a statement
through their attorney, admitting to 12 illegal wiretaps from 1972 - 1974,
and implicated unnamed operatives at Cincinnati Bell as their contacts to
set the taps.
With the ice broken, and the formalities out of the way, others began coming
forward with similar stories. Howard Lucas, the former Director of Security
for Stouffer's Hotel in Cincinnati recalled a 1975 incident in which he
stopped Gates, West and several undercover police officers from going into
the hotel's phone room about a month before the visit by President Ford.
The phone room was kept locked, and employees working there were buzzed
in by someone already inside, recalled Lucas. In addition to the switchboards,
the room contained the wire distribution frames from which phone pairs ran
throughout the hotel. Lucas refused to let the police officers go inside
without a search warrant; and they never did return with one.
But Lucas said two days later he was tipped off by one of the operators
to look in one of the closets there. Lucas said he found a voice activated
tape recorder and 'a couple of coils they used to make the tap'. He said
he told the Police Department and Cincinnati Bell about his findings, but
".....I could not get anyone to claim it, so I just yanked it all out and
threw it in the dumpster...."
Executives at General Electric were prompted to meet with Draise and Gates
recently to learn the extent of the wiretapping that had been done at the
plant. According to Draise, GE attorney David Kindleberger expressed
astonishment when told the extent of the spying; and he linked it to the
apparent loss of proprietary information to Pratt & Whitney, a competing
manufacturer of aircraft engines.
Now all of a sudden, Kindleberger is clamming up. I wonder who got to him?
He admits meeting with Draize, but says he never discussed Pratt & Whitney
or any competitive situation with Draise. But an attorney who sat in on
the meeting supports Draise's version.
After an initial flurry of press releases denying all allegations of illegal
wiretapping, Cincinnati Bell has become very quiet, and is now unwilling
to discuss the matter at all except to tell anyone who asks that "Draise
and Gates are a couple of liars who want to get even with us..." And now,
the telco suddenly has discovered information about Gates' personal life.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The NYT (April 11, 1989) reports that Dorcas R. Hardy, Commisssioner of the
Social Security Administration, told a Congressional committee that the agency
had verified millions of SSN's for private credit companies.
The risks of using SSNs and private credit companies have been discussed
before. TRW, the nations largest credit reporting company recently proposed
paying the SS Administration $1000000 to have 140 million numbers verified.
Risks seem even greater when one company has credit information on 140
individuals--approximately 2/3 of every man, woman, and child in the country.
Phil Gambino, an agency spokesman, reported last month that the agency had
verified SSNs only at the request of beneficiaries or employers and had never
verified more than 25 numbers at a time. He said such disclosures were
required under the Freedom of Information Act.
At the hearing yesterday, Dorcas R Hardy, Commissioner of the SSA, at first
denied any other verifications. Later she admitted that in the early 80s,
3,000,000 SSNs were verified for Citi Corp and that last year 151,000 numbers
were verified for TRW. Ms Hardy said that the 151,000 numbers were just part
of a "test run."
Senator David Pryor, D-Ark, chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, said
that previous commissioners, the Congressional Research Service of the Library
of Congress, and Donald A. Gonya, chief counsel for Social Security have all
decided that such verification is illegal.
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notes from your buddy, Ground Zero
Here's a book that I highly recommend: "Women Activists" by Anne Witte
Garland, The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1988. It's an
excellent book that describes the experiences of women who became involved in
community, envionmental, or other political issues.
One of the stories in the book was very familiar. It was the story of Cathy
Hinds, a Maine woman who, after moving to Gray, Maine in 1975 with her family
discovered that they all were having very serious health problems. She
had a miscarraige, and then during her next pregnancy, she gave birth pre-
maturely to a son who died two days later on Christmas Day. These and other
problems other residents were having were linked to water contaminated by
a nearby toxic dump site. Cathy organized to fight against town officials
who insisted at first that the water was drinkable, and that there were no
health risks. Cathy and her neighbor Cheryl founded an environmental group,
and began to get results. In 1982
the site causing the problems in Gray (the McKin site) was placed on the
EPA's Superfund list of sites to receive Federal money to be cleaned up.
Cathy is still active today. In fact, I remember that she spoke at that
march/rally on April 23rd I told you all about. She was only given about 60
seconds to speak. I wish I could have heard more from her. I really admire
her commitment and her accomplishments.
Anyway, if you can get a copy of "Women Activists", read it by all means.
It has several more inspiring stories of women fighting to make a difference.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
********************
* bbs spotlight..... *
********************
Well, no better time to say a few things about my BBS, The Red Phone. It's
located in Bloomfield, NJ and is accessible through PC Pursuit and Starlink.
I run it on a Commodore 64 and have back issues of ATI and other text files
online. The BBS has several message bases and focuses on discussion of social
and political issues, and more. If you like the spirit of ATI or just like to
participate in discussions, do call. We even have a telecom-oriented section
for those of you who are phone phreaks.
Call us! The Red Phone: 201-748-4005 300/1200 Baud 24 Hrs, 7 days/week.
=============================================================================
Oh, and before I forget: I have heard that there is a BBS up dedicated to
The Grateful Dead. We here at ATI would like to check it out and feature
it in our BBS spotlight. Does anyone have the number to this BBS? We would
be appreciative if anyone could give us the number..
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, folks. That's about it for ATI38. Remember, we're always looking for
letters and contributions.
Take care, question authority, and be creative!
-----<-@ <-- a flower. remember to carry it in a clenched fist.
