The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.41           November 18, 1996 
 
 
The Great Society  

BY HARRY RING

You don't hate capitalism? -A post mortem indicated that Vijay Saini, 19, an undocumented immigrant, had already frozen to death when his body hurtled from a passenger jet approaching London's Heathrow Airport. He had stowed away in the wheel bay and fell out when the undercarriage doors opened.

Thanks Bill - Against a backdrop of desert cactus, the ad says: "Law Enforcement Opportunities in the Great Outdoors. Join the Border Patrol.... One of the fastest growing law enforcement teams in the country."

Immutable soul? - We've pondered the declaration by Pope John Paul II that "the theory of evolution is more than a hypothesis," but it doesn't apply to the soul. True, there is no scientific evidence that the soul has been affected by the evolutionary process.

So, at the risk of sounding like a skeptic, could we inquire: Doesn't this perhaps suggest the soul does not exist?

Capitalism keeps the family together - In Spain, a study found that as a result of rising unemployment, 52 percent of people age 25 to 30 are still living with their parents, almost twice as many as a decade ago.

Free enterprise at its finest - Dallas (AP) - "For $25 you can sit in the back of an open-top limousine making its way through Dealey Plaza, hear the crack of rifle fire as you glide past the Texas School Book Depository and feel the car speed up as it roars toward Parkland Memorial Hospital. It's one of Dallas' newest tourist attractions built around the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and some say it's sick and exploitative."

Good as most reasons they give - "I believe Jeff Gillespie was negligent. I believe he engaged in...malpractice.... I believe that Eric Shaw's death was what the law would call a wrongful death." -Johnson County, Iowa, Attorney Patrick White, said while explaining why he will not prosecute police officer Gillespie, who shot and killed Shaw.

Who says downsizing hurts - Over the past three years, Britain's 350 biggest companies paid out more than $100 million in early dismissal compensation to departing executives.

Bring toothbrush and $$$ - U.S. hospitals love cash-heavy patients from third world countries. The international business coordinator at Florida's Tampa General chortles: "This past week, I got a wire for $75,000 for a deposit toward a kidney transplant. The patient isn't even here yet and I have money in the bank." Adds the international marketing director at Houston's Methodist Hospital: "They come to us with money in a suitcase."  
 
 
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