From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npoiv!npois!ucbvax!poli-sci Newsgroups: fa.poli-sci Title: Poli-Sci Digest V2 #158 Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8158 Posted: Thu Jul 29 18:03:21 1982 Received: Sat Jul 31 07:40:57 1982 >From JoSH@RUTGERS Thu Jul 29 17:42:49 1982 Poli-Sci Digest Fri 30 Jul 82 Volume 2 Number 158 Contents: Habib and Bechtel (2 msgs) Elections (3 msgs) Mit area announcement Read on, Scarecrows Gun Ban in Frisco Anarcho-Propertarian Science Fiction ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 27 July 1982 08:32-EDT (Tuesday) From: K. Shane HartmanSubject: [BECHTEL: WDOHERTY at BBNG] [And to think that we used to worry about division of church and state...] (1) Considering that some of the best (in some sense) negotiators in the past have been drawn from the ranks of business, I see no particular evil in a man's being employed. The academe rarely provides effective negotiators [my opinion]. (2) Habib's involvement with Bechtel was *not* related to the middle east as the NY Times article stated. No particular reason for suspecting conflict of interest on Habib's part. (3) Habib was recalled from retirement (he has suffered 3 or 4 heart attacks). He has been serving as a special envoy *without* pay for the last month (his combined salaries exceeded the allowed maximum). [Boston Globe] Shane Hartman ------------------------------ Date: 28 Jul 1982 0529-EDT Subject: BECHTEL From: WDOHERTY at BBNA Excerpt from WIN mag [August 15, 1982 p.15 article by Patrice Wagner]: "In a society based on production for profit, the nuclear and military build-up is extremely profitable. At least half of the defense budget will go to well-connected defense corporations, McDonnell Douglas, General Dynamics, Boeing and Rockwell, who benefit from nuclear proliferation. The manned bomber, the ABM, and the MX are dollars in their war chests, and they have a long-range stake in perpetuating the arms race. Half of this country's nuclear power plants, for instance, were built by the Bechtel corporation. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was general consul and Vice-President of Bechtel and George Schultz, Alexander Haig's replacement as Secretary of State, was president of Bechtel. More than one-third of Bechtel's projects are in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. So perhaps it isn't so surprising that the US government spent one thousand three hundred billion dollars of taxpayers money between 1946 and 1976 on defense while the standards of living and well-being of Third World people declined considerably." So far we have Cappie, Schultz and Habib's paws in the Bechtel jar of honey... Who's next? ********************************************************************* Also of interest in the same article: "More than half of all of the people killed by police in this country...are black and Hispanic.... "...According to Ruth Sivard in 'World Military and Social Expenditures', of the 125 or more military conflicts which have occurred since World War II, 95% have been in developing countries. In most cases foreign forces have been involved, with Western powers accounting for 79% of the interventions. The United States government has been responsible for a number of these 'undeclared wars,' which have the express purpose of halting people's movements towards independence. "Most of the nuclear threats the United States have made have been against the Third World. They offered the French the use of nuclear weapons at Dien Bien Phu; during the 1954 CIA-engineered coup in Guatemala, President Eisenhower deployed nuclear bombers in Nicaragua as a backup; in 1958, the US sent 14,000 troops with nuclear rockets to Lebanon. The US government considered using the Bomb against the peoples of Korea and Indochina many times and it has been US private and government interests which have been responsible for equipping South Africa with nuclear technology." [End of excerpts.] Will Doherty (WDOHERTY@BBNG) ------------------------------ Date: 27 July 1982 09:40-PDT (Tuesday) From: KING at KESTREL Subject: elections (see Poli Sci of 7/27, Feldman's article) It wouldn't be all that difficult to maintain an "N endorsements gets you a seat, >From the Boston Globe AP story of 7/28/82: SAN FRANCISCO GUN BAN BEGINS Residents have 90 days to turn in pistols to avoid a 90-day jail term San Francisco--A city handgun ban took effect today, giving citizens 90 days to turn in their guns or face a 90-day jail term. Residents may still own rifles and shotguns, and the ban allows pistols to be kept by shopkeepers, private detectives, policr officers and others who have a need for them [???]. Critics of the ban say it would only encourage San Franciscans to swap pistols for rifles. Sponsors have advocated the prudence of keeping handguns out of the reach of both criminals and law-abiding citizens. Three lawsuits challenging the ban are pending. Plaintiffs include the National Rifle Association, four city supervisors and a 77-year-old woman who says she's afraid to leave her home. Gun control has been controversial here since 1978, when Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were shot to death with a handgun by Dan White, a former policeman and ex-supervisor. White is serving a seven-year, eight-month manslaughter sentence. The city-county Board of Supervisors voted 6-5 on June 30 to enact the ban. Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver, one of the dissenters, said she'll put her handgun in storage outside the city and will buy a shotgun. "My home will not be defenseless. I want every criminal in town to know that," she said yesterday. "I will tell you that all of the bums and all of the teenage crooks and muggers who hang out in my neighborhood will not give up their guns." City Attorney Don Kates said "there are a lot of elderly residents in the city that are not going to turn in their handguns." The 77-year-old lawsuit plaintiff, for example, needs the gun to defend herself, he said. She is identified as Jane Doe and involved in the law suit filed by the four supervisors and about 30 citizens. Other plaintiffs represent a "broad spectrum" of San Francisco residents including a black minister, homosexuals, Hispanic activists and blue-collar workers, he said. National Rifle Association members contend state law pre-empts the city in firearm regulation, spokesman John Atkins said in Washington. "We find it very doubtful that very many San Franciscans are going to turn in their handguns," he said. District Attorney Arlo Smith has said he won't prosecute anyone until the state appeals court decides whether the ordinance is constitutional. Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who was given a gun when she succeeded Moscone in office, plans to hand her .38-caliber Smith and Wesson over to Police Chief Cornelius Murphy on Friday. Feinstein proposed the ban this spring after a similar measure took effect in Morton Gorve, Illinois. She was backed by Supervisor Richard Hongisto, a former sheriff. Hongisto said the ordinance will keep handguns out of the hands of law-abiding residents, which he called a good ideea. "Non-criminal people account for about three-quarters of the deaths with handguns," including homicides and suicides, he said. A Bellvue, Washington, group called the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms started an "I Hate San Francisco" campaign to keep tourists and conventions from the California city. The committee is providing financial backing to anti-gun control politicians in California, said executive director Mike Kenyon, who called the handgun ban an "unnecessary infringement on the civil rights" of city residents. Brought to you by Will Doherty (WDOHERTY@BBNG) ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jul 1982 1748-EDT From: JoSH Subject: new "hard" sf Is there some law that libertarian science-fiction writers have to have the middle name "Neil"? Believe it or not, that's what first caught my eye on the cover of "Alongside Night", by J. Neil Schulman. I bought it on the reccomendation of Jerry Pournelle (to "anyone interested in freedom") on the cover, and then realized what it was. What it is is a good first novel. Although I was unable to read it with an unbiased eye, I believe it stands quite well on its own as an adventure novel. Indeed, though one would expect any awkwardnesses to stem from forced references to his libertarian-inspired background scheme, they don't: about the worst writing I can find is where he describes the Weaver stance twice, making it somewhat distracting the second time around. Indeed, libertarian references can be marvelously subtle: at one point the protagonist is given a sample cigarette by the proprietor of a cannabis shop--on the cigarette is embossed a small gold dollar sign. And it is entirely believable that the proprietor would have done that with full knowlege of his antecedents, when you do catch the reference. So even taken straight at face value, this is better than average fare. Though not as spellbinding as Heinlein, it would be enjoyed by anyone who liked early Heinlein. But, like J.P., I would especially reccomend this one to "anyone interested in freedom". Its working out of the principles of an "anarcho-propertarian" organization which is still surrounded by a hostile State is more firmly grounded in reality than some libertarian writing, which seems to assume that the State has to vanish for any of this stuff to work. This is the best book I've read this year. --JoSH ------------------------------ End of POLI-SCI Digest - 30 - -------