456 lines
24 KiB
Plaintext
456 lines
24 KiB
Plaintext
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"In Paranoia We Trust" -- Dr. They
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P-M-S P-M-S
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P-M-S P-M-S
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P-M-S P-M-S
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P-M-S Paranoid Media Scrutinization P-M-S
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P-M-S P-M-S
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P-M-S P-M-S
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P-M-S P-M-S
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Paranoid Media Scrutinization Volume 1, Number 2 April 1992
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We live in a world that requires us to become numb. If we
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were not numb we could never read a newspaper, watch TV, listen
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to the radio or carry on with our daily lives. Cognitive
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dissonance sets in so that we hardly notice that the White House
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Spokesman for Physical Fitness is a drug freak who has hyper-
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extorted his body by using illegal steroids (Can't you just see
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the People Magazine cover a few years from now with a sagging
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Arnold Swartzenager and the headlines SUDDENLY announcing his
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past steroid use). The B.C.C.I. scandal arrives on our doorstep
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and the world marches on as if our own Justice Department and the
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Central Intelligence agency were not necessarily indited in this
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mess. As with Contragate the CIA cannot have it both ways.
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Either they knew about these illegal activities and did nothing,
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or they were so inept at gathering intelligence they really had
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no idea that this was occurring. Not much of a choice is it?
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Well, that my friend, this is why we provide a public service of
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Paranoid Media Scrutinization, to pick at this festering ooze
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that passes as a free press. We (Dr. They) have no choice, we
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must do it for we are commanded by God. Yes Dr. They is
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disjointed and hard to follow, this is an inevitable side-effect
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of his most recent surgery--a surgery that has made his
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revelations of truth more easily communicated to the teeming
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masses. Allow me to ramble onward...
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* * * *
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Have you ever noticed that anytime the newsmedia reports on
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ANYTHING that you are closely familiar with that they invariably
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get some major aspect of the story completely wrong? It can be
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something as inane as mixing up the date of your Webelos weenie-
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roast fundraiser, or misspelling your dogs name, or it can be as
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universal as re-writing the laws of physics or political careers.
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It took Dr. They a few years to put it together that EVERY story
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in the news contained some element of these errors, and it took a
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mind as brilliant as Dr. They's a few more years to recognize
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that the combined impact of these "little errors" exerts enough
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inertia (if properly harnaced...) to move one of Neptune's lesser
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moons outside of its current orbit!
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If nothing else, let these obvious episodes of the media
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getting even the most basic of facts all wrong serve as a scale
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with which to measure its general capacity to correctly relate
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the facts of stories, both large and small. Some of these errors
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are simply the result of typical nym-rods taking on a job beyond
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their reasoning powers (such as understanding global events)
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while other misrepresentations have a more intentional and
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sinister source of error.
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Two of the paranoid giants of our time Alexander Cockburn
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and Noam Chomsky have long spoken of our country's media as
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"manufacturing consent". Chomsky's book by this title (co-
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written with E.S. Herman 1988) thoroughly examines how the media
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giants of this country shape and maintain public opinion by
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constricting the "facts" made available to the public. One key
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element of this involves the selection/creation of "experts":
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"The relation between power and souring extends beyond
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official and corporate provision of day-to day news to
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shaping the supply of experts. The dominance of official
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sources is weakened by the existence of highly respectable
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unofficial sources that give dissident views with great
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authority. This problem is alleviated by "co-opting the
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experts"--i.e., putting them on the payroll as consultants,
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funding their research, and organizing think tanks that will
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hire them directly and help disseminate their messages." (pp
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23).
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Does that sound a little too (paranoidicly) good to be true?
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Perhaps you've forgotten that "fifteen of ninety-five outside
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directors of ten of the media giants are former governmental
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officials.."(Chomsky pp13).
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It would be a mistake to underestimate the power of (say..)
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Readers Digest or T.V. Guide those robust features of American
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society. These two mind-mops are responsible for maintaining a
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squeeze on the limits of our consciousness. Its a big job, but
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somebody's got to do it!
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* * * *
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Just glimpse at what passes by the eyes of the average American
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without generating a hint of recognition, or a speck of outrage:
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The Olympian 2/25/92 A3
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BUSH OK'D AID TO IRAQ, REPORT SAYS
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AP WASHINGTON-President Bush, overriding congressional
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objections and warnings from his own administration, signed
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an order allowing continued aid to Iraq less than eight
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months before it invaded Kuwait, according to documents
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presented Monday.
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The order is one of three cases revealed by the House
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Banking Committee chairman, Rep. Henry Gonzalez, D-Texas, in
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which Bush intervened to obtain continued U.S. government
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credit guarantees to Iraq despite its shaky credit rating.
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"The policy towards Iraq is by far the most tragic foreign
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policy episode of the Bush and Reagan administrations,"
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Gonzalez said.
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This eternally recurrent pattern of "revelations" months, years,
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and decades after decisions are made is enough to make Dr. They
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puke, gentle reader. Just centimeters from the above story on
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how King George armed Hitler Hussein is a tiny-weeny story on the
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current Algerian situation that says:
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"The fundamentalists..claimed that 30,000 people have been
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arrested and 150 killed during a six week military crackdown
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on their movement."
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Strange that this gets so little coverage...must be because these
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"people" don't believe in GEEEE-SUS (and don't have any oil
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fields beneath the prisons that hold them).
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* * * * * * *
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Have any of you paranoid wacko's out there ever wondered
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about why there aren't local branches of the C.I.A., N.S.A. or
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F.B.I. in your home towns, or why these massive employers
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(estimated employment of NSA/CIA/FBI nationwide is over 2.5
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million people) don't advertise in your local newspapers? First
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off, don't be too sure that there isn't a local F.B.I. office
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overtly located in your town. Dr. They lives in the small town
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of Olympia Washington (population 27,000), and we have our own
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Federal Bureau of Investigation office (714 Capitol Way) and our
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own Special Agent. Now isn't that SPECIAL! Dr. They is only
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left to wonder where the covert office of the local C.I.A. and
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N.S.A. goons are since (unlike the F.B.I.) they don't list their
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offices in the phonebook.
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As for advertising in the newspapers each of these covert
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agencies often supply newspapers with filler stories that little
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more than advertisements. For example, In The Olympian 2/24/92
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pp D2 "Lifestyle" section tucked between the TV section and the
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local movie listings under the subject heading of "CAREERS":
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"SPY AGENCY WANTS TO HIRE MATH EXPERTS"
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A.P. Fort Meade, Md. The unltrasecretive National
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Security Agency is lifting its veil a bit to recruit
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mathematics.
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In the last several years, the agency has invited math
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experts who are potential employees to its campus for secret
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meetings.
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But recently, recruiters went to a meeting of national
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math groups in Baltimore to look for candidates. And the
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agency created a mathematics speakers bureau and supports
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high school education programs.
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Mathematical minds are prized because they are so
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versatile, said Richard J. Shaker, the NSA's chief of math
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research.
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The agency won't say why it appears to be pressed for
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brainpower at a time when international tensions have eased.
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But Cipher Deavours, a cryptographer who publishes the
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journal Cryptologia, said the agency probably wants
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mathematicians to work on satellite imaging systems.
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Before the Soviet Union disintegrated, the NSA's mission
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included monitoring the Eastern bloc, whose telephone, radio
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and television transmissions had to be laboriously
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unscrambled and translated, said Deavours, who teaches at
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Kean College in New Jersey.
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In the post-Soviet world, he said, spy satellites may be
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better suited to gathering intelligence from smaller
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nations, he said.
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Young mathematicians may hesitate to work for the NSA
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because they fear it will isolate them from their peers and
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prevent their work from making a broad contribution, said
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David W. Kueker, associate chairman of the University of
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Maryland at College Park.
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"Generally speaking, academics are great believers in
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extreme openness and sharing ideas and results," he said.
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There are a number of duties and tasks that these recruited
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employees of the NSA or FBI can do once they are hired. For
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example the below NY Times article provides us all with a clearer
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picture of the kinder and gentler nation that President Bush and
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his staff (infection) has in store for us, courtesy of the FBI
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and NSA:
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"AS TECHNOLOGY MAKES WIRETAPS MORE DIFFICULT, FBI SEEKS HELP"
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Anthony Ramirez, New York Times 3/8/92 PP. 12
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"The Department of Justice says that advanced telephone
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equipment in wide use around the nation is making it
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difficult for law-enforcement agencies to wiretap the phone
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calls of suspected criminals.
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The Government proposed legislation on Friday requiring
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the nation's telephone companies to give law-enforcement
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agencies technical help with their eavesdropping. Privacy
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advocates criticized the proposal as unclear and open to
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abuse.
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In the past, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other
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agencies could simply attach alligator clips and a wiretap
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device to the line hanging from a telephone pole. Law-
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enforcement agents could clearly hear the conversations.
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That is still true of telephone lines carrying analog
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transmissions, the electronic signals used by the first
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telephones in which sounds correspond proportionally to
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voltage.
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But such telephone lines are being steadily replaced by
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high-speed, high capacity lines using digital signals. On a
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digital line, FBI agents would hear only computer code or
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perhaps nothing at all because some digital transmissions
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are over fiber-optic lines that convert the signals to
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pulses of light.
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In addition, court-authorized wire-taps are narrowly
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written. They restrict the surveillance to particular
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parties and particular topics of conversation over a limited
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time on a specific telephone or a group of telephones. That
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was relatively easy with analog signals. The FBI either
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intercepted the call or had the phone company re-route it to
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an FBI location, said William A. Bayse, the assistant
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director in the technical services division of the FBI.
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But tapping a high-capacity line could allow access to
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thousands of conversations. Finding the conversation of
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suspected criminals, for example, in a complex "bit stream"
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would be impossible without the aid of phone company
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technicians.
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There are at least 140 million telephone lines in the
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country and more than half are served in some way by digital
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equipment, according to the United States Telephone
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Association, a trade group. The major arteries and blood
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vessels of the telecommunications network are already
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digital. And the greatest part of the system, the
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capillaries of the network linking central telephone offices
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to residences and businesses, will be digital by the mid-
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1990's.
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The FBI said there were 1,083 court-authorized wiretaps--
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both new and continuing--by Federal, state and local law-
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enforcement authorities in 1990, the latest year for which
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data are available.
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Janlori Goldman, director of the privacy and technology
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project for the American Civil Liberties Union, said she had
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been studying the proposal for several months.
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"We are not saying that this is not a problem that
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shouldn't be fixed,: she said, "but we are concerned that
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the proposal may be overboard and runs the risk of more
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information than is legally authorized will flow to the
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FBI."
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In a news conference in Washington on Friday, the FBI said
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it was seeking only to "preserve the status quo" with its
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proposal so that it could maintain the surveillance power
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authorized by a 1968 Federal law, the Omnibus Crime Control
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and Safe Streets Act. The proposal, which is lacking in
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many details, is also designed to benefit state and local
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authorities.
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Under the proposed law, the Federal Communications
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Commission would issue regulations to telephone companies
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like the GTE Corporation and the regional Bell telephone
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companies requiring the "modification" of phone systems "if
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those systems impede the Government's ability to conduct
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lawful electronic surveillance."
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In particular, the proposal mentions "providers of
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electronic communication services and private branch
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exchange operators," potentially meaning all residences and
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all businesses with telephone equipment.
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Frocene Adams [yea, all us OLY old timers remember
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Frocene!], a security official with US West in Denver, is
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the chairman of Telecommunications Security Association,
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which served as the liaison between the industry and the FBI
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"We don't know the extent of the changes required under the
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proposal," she said, but emphasized that no telephone
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company would do the actual wiretapping or other
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surveillance.
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Computer software and some hardware might have to be
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changed, Ms Adams said, but this could apply to new
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equipment and mean relatively few changes for old
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equipment."
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Anyone out there who doubts that one of the primary purposes of
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the current phone system is to allow for governmental monitoring
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of citizens' private conversations should re-read the sentence
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that so matter-of-factly stated:
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"the Federal Communications Commission would issue
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regulations to telephone companies like the GTE Corporation
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and the regional Bell telephone companies requiring the
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"modification" of phone systems "if those systems impede the
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Government's ability to conduct lawful electronic
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surveillance."
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In other words. If the small PBX in Bumble-Fug Wyoming is broke
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and come up with the bucks for the latest warez, the Feds will
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force them to buy it just so that the FBI can listen in when ever
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it wants to! (Its all kinda like telling your neighbor how great
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HBO and Showtime is so he'll subscribe and you can pirate his
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cable).
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An un-named employee of USWEST told Dr. They that the clear
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purpose of this legislation would be for the FBI and other
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intelligence agencies to "get their foot in the digital-door so
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they could have a complete run of the system".
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There are a number of things that this New York Times
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article doesn't bother going into. Like, the fact that Attorney
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General Barr (you remember him, don't chad? He was the CIA's
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head lawyer for over a decade!) has made this one of his pet
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projects and that he himself has been talking to Congress to try
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and tack this onto some DEA related bill. That's right, we can
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all expect our Big Brothers (and Sisters) in Washington DC to
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start using their hysterical dribble about the DRUG WAR to
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further invade our privacy.
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Dr. They will use his Washington D.C. sources to keep
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readers up to date on the progress of this proposal as it sneaks
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around the back corridors of our capital.
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* * * * *
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Dr. They recently found himself sitting on the john looking
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through the day's mail. Not being thrilled with the prospect of
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confronting the phone bill he perused the pages of an alumni
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magazine he had just received. Tucked away in yet another boring
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issue of the University of Chicago Magazine were the seeds of
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more paranoid diversions. As per usual, the elements of the
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article in question that ignited Dr. They's paranoia had little
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to do with the thrust of the piece. Here are the two paragraphs
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that caught Dr. They's eyes, the overall story concerns the
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boring (not to mention BALD-HEADED) neutrino-tracking physicist
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Dr. Anthony Turkevich of the Fermi Institute:
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"Inside a plastic bag in the sealed box was a sample of
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pure uranium salt, stored away at the University since 1956.
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(Turkevich bought it with some leftover grant money,
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thinking it might come in handy in a future experiment.)
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Three decades later, Turkevich did find a use for the
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sample, with help from colleagues Thanasis Economou, a
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senior research associate at the Fermi Institute, and
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George Cowan, senior fellow emeritus at Los Alamos National
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Laboratory. The wanted to see if they could detect whether
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any of the uranium 238 had decayed into plutonium 238. That
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would be a milestone: the first evidence for plutonium 238
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occurring in nature. That's why the purity of Turkevich's
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sample was so vital. Because the uranium sample was stored
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prior to the introduction of man-made plutonium 238 into the
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atmosphere by nuclear-powered spacecraft, Turkevich knew
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that any plutonium he detected in the sample had been
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produced naturally, and wasn't simply the result of
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contamination". [University of Chicago Magazine/ February
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1992 page 35]
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Dr. They's mind being the steel-trap for paranoid delusions that
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it is, it was hard to shake off the sentence: "Because the
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uranium sample was stored prior to the introduction of man-made
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plutonium 238 into the atmosphere by nuclear-powered
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spacecraft".... Does that imply that those of us 20th century
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lifeforms whose time on this mortal coil over-lapps the era of
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nuclear-powered spacecraft have been seasoned with enough
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plutonium that were we uranium rather than HUMANium we'd all have
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decayed to plutonium? Nobody ever asked me if this was what I
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wanted! Get paranoid, and get there fast!
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* * * *
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Newspapers are able to present themselves as even-handed,
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open-minded and open to criticism by the existence of the
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"Editorial Page" and (that scheme of schemes...) the "Letters to
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the Editor" section. The existence of an editorial page
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strengthens the notion of an "objective" (that is: editorial-
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free) reporting base, which is of course the furthest thing from
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the truth.
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Editorials allow newspapers to simply drop their guard and
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state plainly the noxious message they have been preaching inside
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the types of stories they choose to print, and the angles they
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use to pursue stories. It is the page where Editors and
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columnists can come right out with it and tell us that its O.K.
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(even good for us!) to strap black men into metal chairs and fill
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their bodies with electricity, they don't have to beat around the
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(President) bush and quote some White House front man from the
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Brookings Institute, they can just say it in plain old English.
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The "letters to the editor" section largely serves the
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purpose of falsely demonstrating to a newspapers readership that
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they COULD (if they wanted to, or were capable of spelling their
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own name correctly...) write and object to anything they read in
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the paper. And indeed, a reading of a week's worth of letters in
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any American newspapers would find a variety or readers writing
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to complain about aspects of newspaper coverage. But what about
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all the letters we never see?
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This last year Dr. They attended a public meeting called by
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a local newspaper for readers to critique newscoverage. Almost
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everyone who bothered to show up complained that they had written
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letters to the editor that the newspaper had not bothered to
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publish. Andy-the-Editor (with his ever so casual well trimmed
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beard) smiled (like an evil robot) and said that there were only
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four reasons that the newspaper would not run a letter: (1)
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Unsigned letters, or those without returned addresses, (2)
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Letters containing obscenities (3) Obvious form-letters, signed
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but not written by local individuals, or (4) Letters with points
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of view already covered by previous letter writers.
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Dr. They has no problem with three out of four of these
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reasons because Dr. They is a SCIENTIST. As a SCIENTIST, Dr.
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They likes objective, definable variables, and he dislikes wishy-
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washy definitions that can be abused by the forces of evil. Yes,
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you guessed it, it is variable number four (4) that Dr. They
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objects to (and for that matter so did the rest of the angry mob
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at the above mentioned local meeting--though this may have also
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been due to a bad batch of Geritol). The common newspaper
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practice of "presenting both sides of every issue" is closely
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related to Dr. They's objection with practice number four.
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If a newspaper writes a story advocating the sexual
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molestation gophers, an increase in the powers of the police
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state, or the election of George Bush to the Presidency, they are
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happy to publish letters from individuals on both sides of this
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issue. But, they are most likely to do so on (what the consider)
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an "even-handed" basis. And just what does that mean dear
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readers? It means that they will publish (approximately) one
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pro-gopher-molestation letter for every anti-gopher-molestation
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letter they print, REGARDLESS OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF LETTERS
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RECEIVED ON ANY SIDE OF AN ISSUE.
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Because newspapers usually only print about a maximum of
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four letters on any given topic, you the reader would never know
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if 6,528 letters had been written condemning gopher molestation
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and only 2 were ever written in support of the topic from reading
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the four letters published in their paper. Again, the SCIENTIST
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in Dr. They cringes at this abomination of justice, and egregious
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offence to standards of statistical sampling and decency!
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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Do you have a favorite news item that you would like to see
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covered in future P-M-S issues? You can reach Dr. They at the
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Acid Bath BBS (206) 456-2725, where the allwise Sysop Techno Punk
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lets us rest our name. We (that is, THEY) appreciate any re-
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typed or scanned news story complete with a citation telling
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where the story is from. If you are too lazy to do that, then
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send us the reference and our research staff will hunt it down.
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If you send a news contribution and want a copy of the issue it
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appears in, then include you name/nym and a BBS where we can
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leave you a copy. If we pissed you off then call and flame us.
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-------Dr. They
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