BY HARRY RING
`People's' Republic of China? - Thirty-two workers at a Jinjiang shoe factory perished last month when fire swept through their dormitory. They couldn't escape because they were locked in, assertedly to prevent them from stealing shoes at night.

Parachutes might be better -ValuJet, the cheapo airline whose plane crashed in the Florida Everglades last year, bought out another company and will be flying as AirTran Airlines. A business analyst suggested investors are betting people won't realize it's ValueJet under another name. He said, "It's a leap of faith."

Like a temp job - Travel Wholesalers Int'l is setting up a corporate reservation center at the women's prison in Greenwood, South Carolina. The co-owner says the inmates will start at 50 cents an hour, "and you don't have to pay benefits." Actually, he's boasting a bit. His agency has to pay $3 an hour, and the prison takes a $2.50 cut.

Ain't easy to unscramble the egg - Pushing for privatizing of the land, Russian prez Boris Yeltsin vetoed a measure that ruled out the sale of land to private openers. The lower house of parliament promptly overturned his veto. Nationalization of the land to ensure its availability to all who worked it, was one of the acts of the October 1917 Russian Revolution.

Breathing up our good air -The conservationist Sierra Club will conduct a membership ballot next March on whether it should take a stand in favor of curbing immigration, assertedly to reduce population growth.

Duh! - "The rate of cancer among American children has been rising for decades. Although the reason remains unclear, many experts suspect the increase may be partly the result of growing exposure to new chemicals in the environment." - September 29 New York Times.

Read-it-and-retch dep't - June Lauer quit her Kentucky Fried Chicken job in Superior, Wisconsin, when she could longer abide the manager's foul tongue - including referring to female managers as "bitches."

A judge denied her unemployment benefits claim, declaring, "Use of vulgar and obscene language and terms can serve to promote group solidarity." His ruling has been appealed and a sexual harassment suit filed against the state's "equal rights" division.

$$$ bring out the best - Now being probed for Medicare fraud, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., the definitely for- profit hospital chain, has also gained a rep for turning away the uninsured. Like the homeless fellow who died on the lawn of Columbia's Las Vegas hospital after being discharged without treatment.

Thought for the week - "Do we have an obligation to provide health care for everybody? Is any fast-food restaurant obligated to feed everyone who shows up?" -Richard Scott, recently iced Columbia CEO.  
 
 
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