The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.24           June 17, 1996 
 
 
The Great Society  
Ballot box democracy - According to Richard Winger, a ballot access specialist, it's 15 times harder today than it was in 1924 for a party other than the Republicans and Democrats to get a presidential candidate on the ballot. And 30 times harder to get on the ballot for Congress.

The American Way - Charging economic abuse and sexual harassment, Hungarian workers have organized a union at kitchens operated by a subsidiary of Brown and Root, the U.S. construction firm. The kitchens feed GIs sent there to back up the U.S. troops in Bosnia. One woman charged her U.S. boss subjected her to daily "body searches." Another said that without warning, their wages had been slashed by two thirds.

Learning experience - One Hungarian worker declared that their U.S. employers "regard us as dirty, stupid and backward." She added, "I had all sorts of ideas about Americans and America. But what we got was totally different."

Isn't that wonderful? - The Times Square in New York, formerly a welfare hotel, now provides shelter for the homeless and people with AIDS. And every month it offers a Sunday brunch. An appeal for volunteer servers in the paper, New York City Cares, was captioned, "One square meal a month."

Gang busters - "CARSON, Calif. - A vice squad raided a dollar-a-game pinochle party at a mobile home park and cited eight elderly people for gambling." - News item

Nothing but guns, clubs and boots - Philadelphia cops, whose brutality, frame-ups and corruption have been top news are being relieved of the flashlights, nearly four pounds, that they like to clobber people with. The new ones weigh but 7 oz. Police commissioner Richard Neal triumphantly declared: "These allegations of officers beating somebody with a flashlight are going to go right out the window."

Sprayed his palm - One justification for the use of pepper spray by police agencies is that the FBI made a major study of the stuff before using it. The study, and training of FBI agents and other cops in its use, was done by Special agent Thomas Ward. It's now disclosed that he received $57,000 from a pepper spray manufacturer, laundered through a company owned by his wife.

P.S. - Agent Ward pleaded guilty to a federal charge of accepting an illegal gift. His sentence? Two months in jail.

Pedagogy, Inc. - "Teens represent an incredible buying power and school is a huge part of their life. It's a great place to reach them." -Peter Zollo, prez, Teenage Research Unlimited, on the mounting huckster focus on school advertising.

`Let's do lunch' - New York health inspectors found massive violations at public school cafeterias, including mice droppings, roach infested peanut butter, undercooked beef, and food stored near toxic chemicals. In one cafeteria, food was prepared in a sewage-contaminated area. At an elementary school, 60 children became seriously ill after drinking pineapple juice.  
 
 
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