BY HARRY RING
Murder machine - It would be difficult to explain away as an aberration those videotapes of Brazilian cops beating, torturing and killing slum dwellers. In the first months of this year, Human Rights Watch listed 30 cases of police killings, numerous beatings and hundreds of "disappearances."

Young subversive? - The Prez had a two-way computer video system chat with students at a Los Angeles elementary school. Not totally two-way. Classroom participation was limited to the principal and an official of the AFL-CIO, which installed the setup as part of a national program. Leslie Andrews, 11, had hoped to ask Clinton a question: "I wanted to ask him why there are so many jails and not enough schools."

It figures - Responding to federal moves to end Medicaid for thousands of immigrants, New York nursing homes are denying admission even to those immigrants who will retain their coverage.

$afety first - The Colorado River provides drinking water to Southern Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Southern California. On a Utah bank of the river sits 10 million tons of uranium waste leaking toxics into the water. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to "cap" the 130-acre dump with clay and rocks. The owner, Denver Atlas Corp. said the cap won't entirely stop nuclear waste from seeping into the river and agreed it would be safer to move it. But that would cost $150 million and it can be covered for $16 million.

P.S. - Not to worry anyone, but that nuclear dump sits on a flood plain over an earthquake fault zone.

Stench bomb - Javier Echevarria, a Spanish Catholic Bishop, heads Opus Dei, an influential right-wing group within the church. In Sicily, he told members that according to "scientific research," 90 percent of the disabled are children of people "who had not entered into marriage in a pure state." Opus Dei said a) he thought it was a closed meeting; b) he doesn't speak Italian well; c) he was only speaking of children of HIV-infected parents.

Damn, you did it again! - At the West Virginia headwaters of the Potomac River, poultry producers are turning out 100 million birds a year, and 300 million pounds of dung. An unmeasured amount gets into the river, fouling the water. A Los Angeles Times story on this was headlined: "Potomac River is paying price for nation's chicken appetite."

Sleepy? - A National Sleep Foundation survey found that large numbers of U.S. workers don't get enough sleep. Almost half the work force, some 55 million people, experienced sleeplessness during the previous three months. Two-thirds of these said the resulting fatigue made it difficult to do their job.

Philosophical issue - In Los Angeles, as many as 100,000 families are living in garages. In the past four months, fires killed eight people. Muses city housing director Gary Souier: "Is it better for kids to live in a garage that is a fire hazard than to be homeless? These are the imponderable questions." Apparently he hasn't pondered the crazy idea of providing safe, affordable public housing.  
 
 
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