The View From the Outback© 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
A great deal of what we read in newspapers, magazines, and books, and what we see in the movies and on TV is written and produced in New York City or Los Angeles. Much of the "political wisdom" comes from the PR machines of the White House, the Congress, and from the Washington media corps.
In short, one might conclude that all knowledge, wisdom, and wit are confined to those who inhabit New York City, Washington DC, or Hollywood.
I am now in my 6th decade of life experience - which was gained in many cities in the U.S. and in about 30 foreign countries. That experience has included the U.S. Marines, law school, the ATF, the CIA, Fortune 500 executive, writer, public speaker, educator, editor, and publisher - for openers. For over 20 years, I have written articles off and on for various magazines and newspapers. I've had an enormous number of letters published in major national publications. The Outback is the rural area in Northeast Texas where I have lived for the past 11 years. Every couple of weeks I will attempt to post a new set of musings from the Outback.
In my article "A Computer Bunker" (Outback for May 5, 2002), I praised Cookie Pal for
handling cookies in a custom way. They have now released version 1.7C, which is more
compatible with Windows XP and is a free upgrade to those who already own a version 1.xx (
www.kburra.com).
A fire nearly destroyed a 70,000 square foot, $44 million mansion under construction in Dallas. I
want to meet the person who could afford that mansion who came by his or her money without
some form of cheating - other than by inheritance. (See the later topic:"CIA Burglar Has Higher
Morals Than Corporate Executives.")
The Disney people are all heart. They paid the miners who were trapped underground $150,000 each for TV and book rights to their story. Shameful. Who was their agent, the local barber? Actually, it was attorney Thomas Crawford, who said he got more than 120 offers for the miner's story. And this is the best he could do? I wouldn't hire him to fix a traffic ticket. Let's hope there is more to this than the initial stories, such as the miners get royalties on the book, and so on. Tabloids pay $150,000 for a nude picture of a big celebrity. What an insult to the courageous men who endured the event.
You don't hear much about how the Texas lottery (and others) siphon needed money from those who can least afford it. A fellow named Tony Florez was on TV a while back. He said that from 1992 to 2002, he spent about $17,000 on lottery tickets! "I could have bought a car with that amount of money," Tony said. You and tens of thousands of others, Tony. What a pernicious thing the lottery is.
Democrats are faulting Pres. Bush as being too close to corporate America and responsible for
the "policies" (mostly unnamed policies) that led to the spate of corporate cheating. Al Gore gave
a speech to young Democrats in Washington, in which he blamed Bush and the administration
for all the corporate greed. Shortly, we saw "Take the Money and Run" on NBC. And there was
Gary Winnick, former CEO of Global Crossing Ltd., playing golf with Bill Clinton and pledging
$100 million to the Clinton Presidential Library. Oooops! Terry McAuliffe, Clinton's best friend
and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, invested $100,000 in Global Crossing,
while its stock price was being run up with some questionable accounting practices that inflated
the company's worth, and cashed out at $18 million. Sen. Lieberman recently warned the
Democrats not to turn the current business scandals into "an economic class conflict." Good idea.
Not only is the public tired of the "class warfare" theme, but there are too many economic
skeletons in the Democratic closet to be running around dumping on the Republicans for being
too chummy with business.
I can remember when I would not consider visiting New York City without a gun. I violated that
rule once when I was no longer a Federal agent, and almost got killed by a high-speed taxi -
whose path I jumped out of at the last split second. Bummer. Since it is illegal for a visitor to
pack a pistol, I have not been there in a couple of decades. Shockingly, the murder rate in
Manhattan is down 70 percent! As of mid-March, 2002, there had been just eight murders in
Manhattan. It is being called Americas safest big city. Safe from individual crime, perhaps. But it
is still a prime target of terrorists, because they know they get their biggest bang for the buck in a
city with so many people in a confined space, with our financial institutions there, much of the
national media, many corporate headquarters, and so on. Safe is a relative term these days. Safe
from what?
A while back, fat people were going to sue Southwest Airlines for charging them for two seats. I
suggested that normal-sized people had rights, too. Now, a man is suing Delta Airlines for
seating him next to an obese man, claiming "embarrassment, severe discomfort, mental anguish,
and severe emotional distress." The plaintiff has a good point, but leave it to the lawyers to make
it sound like he was traumatized to the point where his life may never be the same. A simple
complaint that the obese guy invaded the space he paid for would have been enough.
How is a Single Terrorist Different From a Group of Terrorists?
There was a hearing the other day in which there was discussion of a bill introduced by Senators
Kyl and Schumer which would ease the burden of proof in obtaining warrants under the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Now, you have to nearly prove that a person is an agent of
a foreign power or is a member of an international terrorist organization. The attempt to obtain a
warrant for Zacarias Moussaoui was frustrated by this high burden of proof.
It is easier to get a warrant against a Mafia figure than against a potential terrorist. The bill would
make it easier to obtain wiretaps and warrants in cases where there is "probable cause" to suspect
that someone is individually engaging in or conspiring to engage in potential terrorist activity.
Another bill would lower the standard to "reasonable suspicion" that a person was planning
terrorist activity Semantics. One man's (and one judge's) "probable cause" is another's
"reasonable suspicion." Just do something to level the playing field.
One of the witnesses was Jerry Berman, of the Center for Democracy and Technology. He argued
that there still should be a requirement that a person be part of a group that is conspiring to do
terrorist acts. He said that individuals could be handled under the normal criminal statutes. You
can count on Mr. Berman for some far-out logic. I have seen his convoluted act before. The
Senators were almost universal in suggesting to him that his brain was completely disengaged in
trying to say that an individual terrorist should be treated differently from those in a group
conspiracy. We need a massive more-truthful renaming of organizations that have the title
Democracy in them or ones like People for the American Way. Kind of like the truth-in-lending
law. The "Truth in Purpose" law.
CIA Burglar Has Higher Morals Than Corporate Executives
I guess you would say that I am slightly amused by the current "outrage" over corporate scandals.
Back in 1983, a whistle-blower from Citibank in Europe got put on ice for revealing some dirty
corporate laundry. I wrote a letter to FORTUNE magazine under my pen-name of Philip Eliot, to
protect my real-name identity as a former CIA agent (and the Agency verified for FORTUNE
that I was in fact author Philip Eliot). Here is the text of that letter of Feb. 7, 1983:
" The Story about David Edward's attempts to blow the whistle on Citibank's practices has
special meaning for me. During my time with the CIA, I was involved in breaking and entering
and other 'dirty tricks' all over the world. Although all of my activities were illegal, I never
thought of it that way. I was serving my country and doing it well.
When I went into the business world 12 years ago, I got my eyes opened. I couldn't believe the
things that went on in the name of 'competitive business practices.' Lying, fraud, theft were more
accurate descriptions. It's a pretty sad commentary when an international second-story man
leaves the corporate world because his ethics are higher than those he deals with. And a pity that
Dave Edwards and I seem to be in a minority.
Philip Eliot, Dallas"
(The job I left was as a director of marketing in a division of a $9 billion company. And I heard
from the CIA legal department. They suggested that I could have used a better term than
"second-story" man. Okay, maybe next time.)
Federal Judge Rules on Identity of Detainees
One of my favorite expressions has become: "The media are such whores." A Federal judge ruled
that the Justice Dept. would have to reveal the names of people detained since the 9/11 attacks,
unless they are being held as material witnesses - and the government asks for an exception - or
the detainees themselves ask not to be identified. What we heard and saw lead the undiscerning
to think that this court order also applied to the detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Many media
outlets ran photos of the orange-clad detainees at Camp X-Ray in Cuba, and in many stories there
was no mention that the ruling only applied to those who had been detained within the United
States.
In fact, another court ruled that the U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over the detainees in
Guantanamo Bay, since it is not part of the United States. It is leased from Cuba, as I recall.
Civil rights groups are thumping their chests about the "victory for people's civil rights" in the
disclosure ruling. Actually, most of 1000 plus detainees have either been deported or released. It
is probable that most, if not all, of the remaining detainee's names are known to legal counsel.
Once again, I ask: "Whose side are the ACLU, People for the American Way, et al., on?" Very
little good can come from the disclosure of the names and considerable harm done to ongoing
investigations.
U.S. Postal Service Sponsors a Bike-Racing Team - The USPS is Not GM!
The U.S. Postal Service supports Lance Armstrong's cycling team to the tune of $25 million for
four years. That is a wasted 25 mil, in my opinion. Until I read an article about it in the WSJ, I
did not know that Armstrong and his team were sponsored by the USPS. Did you? And if I had
known, so what? How does that help build business at the post office? USPS officials talk about
the boost to employee morale from the sponsorship, and so on. Give us a break from all that
drivel. Give me a refund on my new 37-cent stamps.
We need a new Postmaster General - one who understands that the USPS is not Coca
Cola or GM. Big companies can write off public sponsorships as an expense. The USPS lost
about $1.67 billion in the past year. Additionally, the USPS handed out $164 million to managers
for bonuses in an "Economic Value Added" program. What added value? They lost $1.67 billion.
This is like paying millions a year to the CEO of Global Crossing Ltd. as he presided over its
decline into bankruptcy- and while he bought a $92 million mansion and sold $784 million in
stock (obtained via options).
Congressional "White Trash"
Congressman James A. Traficant, a Democrat from Ohio, was found guilty of 10 felony counts
of bribery, taking kickbacks, and so on. He was subsequently expelled from the House of
Representatives, on a vote of 429 to 1. Gary Condit, who is suspected of complicity in the
murder of intern Chandra Levy, cast the sole vote to let him stay in Congress. Birds of a
feather.
If all of the things alleged of him are true, Traficant is a despicable person. But, as I watched his
hearing, and watched the entire floor debate on his expulsion motion, I was struck by what an
uncouth and uneducated person he was. His English grammar is hardly the level one expects
from a member of Congress. A lot of "come" instead of "came" and so on. He constantly made
vulgar references, either directly or by allusion. The Chair admonished him against the use of
profanity and vulgarity.
Traficant said that he had been stopped by local officers and given a sobriety test. He had a tiny
fraction of alcohol in his blood and was let go. He asked the local officers if the FBI had put
them up to getting a DWI on him. He said that if so, he would "tear out the throat" of the FBI
agent and then he would tear out the throats of the local officers who had stopped him. There
were many other incredible outbursts in the hearings and on the House floor. He is, as we say in
the Outback, simply "white trash." Good riddance.
However, he says he may run for election from prison, as an Independent. That would give him a
chance to be the only man in history to be expelled twice from the House of Representatives.
The Invasion of Iraq - Not So Fast Big Fellow
The Bush administration continues to talk about an invasion of Iraq. Witnesses who appeared
before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee indicated that the cost of an invasion might be
from $80 to $100 billion. The cost of the a required continued U.S. military presence in Iraq
might cost $16 to $18 billion a year, and might last from 1 ½ to 20 years! Did we learn nothing
from Afghanistan? We made a big deal of how we would hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden.
We failed to do that, as far as is known.
Suppose we invade Iraq and fail to kill Sadam and all those nut-cases who surround him? Even if
Sadam is killed, what assurance do we have that the new government would be willing to give
up all of the weapons of mass destruction? What kind of government will be in place? Who
knows? Calm down, guys - and think this through carefully. Take a couple of years, if you like.
Nearly every major country in the world is against invading Iraq at this time.
If getting Sadam is so important, it would be worth spending maybe $5 billion to bribe someone
to kill him, or mount a serious clandestine effort to kill him. Our reward for the head of Osama
bin Laden has gone unclaimed. Maybe it was not high enough. As they say, "Everybody has their
price." Our government needs to find the "price point" where someone will take out Sadam.
Until that effort is exhausted, and until it is absolutely clear that Sadam will not let weapon's
inspectors back in without restrictions, it is simply asinine to keep up this bravado about invading
Iraq. Other than as a bluff. This is not a poker game. The stakes are so enormous that they are
difficult to comprehend. Sen. Joe Biden's committee tried to understand the magnitude of the
consequences. What they heard was sobering.
Over the years, Sen. Joe Biden has always impressed me as one of the few Democrats with much
sense (other than my Congressman, Ralph Hall - for whom I voted). He was one of the few Democrats who engaged me sensibly in an exchange of letters
about gun control for a series of articles I wrote for the Dallas newspapers years ago. His
handling of the Foreign Relations Committee hearings and his appearance on "Meet The Press"
on NBC (Aug. 4,2002) have furthered my respect for him. If a Democrat is to become President in
the near future, I would be more comfortable with Joe Biden than just about any Democrat I can
think of. Not that I would vote for him, you understand. I am still trying to live down my vote for Gov. Ann Richards. One mistake in a lifetime is enough.
England Paying the Price for Disarming the Public
I had a long talk the other night with a friend in England via ham radio. He used to own several
handguns and was an avid participant in target shooting. Then, in 1997 private ownership of
handguns was banned. You can get 10 years in the slammer for simply owning a handgun. In the
two years after the handgun ban, handgun crime rose about 40 percent. In a seven-month period
in 2001, armed robberies rose by 53 percent. Street crime is up about 70 percent in recent times,
according to spirited debated in The House of Commons - which is carried on C-SPAN. You are
about six times more likely to get mugged in London than New York City.
In a "double-whammy" against law-abiding citizens, the British government and courts also
punish those who injure or kill someone in an act of self-defense. The person who defends
himself is likely to be treated more harshly than the assailant. What a great idea. Who thought
that one up? The stories of British people being punished for defending themselves are beyond
comprehension.
My British friend said that he and his wife were going to be making a vacation trip to the United
States. I suggested he might come to my property in the Outback, where I have a pistol range,
popover targets, and so on. Also, I mentioned that for him the ammunition would be free. He
could shoot a customized 1911 "Army .45" - like the one he had to turn in to the government. He
could shoot a .357 revolver, like the one he turned in, and so forth. His comment: "You may have
a Brit knocking on your door in the near future."
By the way, there aren't many armed robberies of homes in the Outback. Do you suppose it has
anything to do with the fact that most of us have a .12 gauge shotgun hanging over the mantle
and a .357 or .45 pistol near at hand? Only a thought - not a scientific study.
Suggested Reading From Past Columns
(Right-click on an underlined link and select: "Open in New Window" to leave this window in place)
Terrorism:
"Centralizing Intelligence Data Perilous, Too." A letter-to-the-editor Must Read Sunday, June 30, 2002
The American Red Cross:
"American Red Cross Seeks to Clean Up Its Image," Sunday, June 30, 2002
Global warming and environmental debate:
"Rush to Glacier National Park Before All the Glaciers are Gone" September 8, 2001
Politics:
"This is Still a Great Country" Saturday, July 13, 2002
Legal Issues:
"Close All Law Schools for Ten Years", Wednesday, May 29, 2002
The Media:
"The Wall Street Journal - Not Just For Rich Investors", Sunday, May 5, 2002
Prescription drugs - advertised on TV - abuses in the pharmaceutical industry - supplements:
"Prescription Drug Plans," September 8, 2001
Health - General:
"Women's Secrets Revealed" Saturday, July 13, 2002
Computers and Technology:
"A Computer Bunker," Sunday, May 5, 2002
Interesting Books to Read:
" 'BIAS' by Bernard Goldberg" Sunday Dec. 16, 2001
A case history of horrendous abuse by Federal law enforcement:
"FBI Sniper At Ruby Ridge My Be Tried For Manslaughter," June 9, 2001.
Crime, guns, gun-control:
"Government Reverses 2nd Amendment Stance - Oh, Really?" Wed., May 15 2002
Late Night TV Cruel Humor, et al.:
(I quit watching late night in disgust during the Bush/Gore campaign. Since Sept. 11, most of the late-night comedians have been a little more responsible.)
"Late Night Shows Begin to Dump on Bush Again", Wednesday, May 29, 2002
Hollywood, TV, Entertainers, Celebrities:
"Some Further Thoughts About Labeling People, Wednesday, May 29, 2002
Telemarketing:
"Telemarketers, Caller-ID, et al.," August 4, 2001
Miscellaneous:
"Crawl This, Buster" (about TV screen crawls) Must Read Saturday, June 15, 2002
COPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
You are welcome to quote sections from this page - or the whole page, as long as the source URL is included. Of course, I would be flattered if anyone linked to this page. It is very hard to be the writer, editor, fact checker, copy editor, and publisher of anything. So, I welcome corrections of fact, notes of misspelled words, and so on.
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