WITH THANKS TO * HATCHET MOLLY * __________________________________________ **** ******** ******** ****** ******** ******** ** ** ** ** ******** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ******** ** ** ** ******** HEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEY HEYHEYhey, hey, hey, it's ATI!HEY HEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEYHEY Issue #33...January-something, 1989 ************** ** YIPPIE! **- - - - - - - - - - . ************** / / / / / Activist Times, Inc. ATI is a journalistic, causistic, / /cyberpolitical / /organization, / 4 more info? /trying to / send SASE /help y'all, and us / stamps??? change the world / to: radically, in less / ATI than two minute / c/o Kelly increments. / BRO Box 94 - - - - - - - - - Groton, Ct. 06340 Hello, and welcome to ATI33. In this issue, we focus on the media and its recent antics. As always, we have a wealth of inspiring, thought-provoking info..all in one little action-packed file. Read on! *********** * editorial * thoughts from fah-q *********** PLANE BOMBS, NERVE GAS PLANTS, JET FIGHTS..Just a few things in the news in the past few months. i have been following them very closely. i don't know if anyone else has come out and said it, but i am pretty sure they are all connected. first we announce that we are planning to attack a chemical weapons plant in libya and a plane carrying american students,american military, and american tourists is threatened and (by the way the threat was not told to the public of the united states,but was announced on the foreign short wave broadcasts a few days before the event) then blown up. then 2 of our fighters down two libyan MIGs. were we just on a daily flight routine or were we there to see what trouble we could stir up so that we could take action and not be the bad guy? seems to me that they could've attacked right away. If they were armed (and i'm not saying they weren't),why did they just follow and not try to lock on in the airspace off the libyan coast? now a commercial jet crashes again in england. could this be all related? we don't want them to make chemcal weapons (i see the point in that), but we and 24 other countries make them. they attack without warning, while we tell them days,weeks sometimes months in advance,so they can move civilians. our press seems to me to be making us look like the fools. in their eyes we can do no right. if we down one of their fighters, they run us through the ringer. one of their commercial jets comes into restricted airspace and them is warned and signaled 12 times with out a reply or turning out of the space,so it is shot down for security reasons (i think they could have waited a few more seconds...but for all intent we were in the right) we go wild...but let one of their missles hit one of our military ships in international waters and sink it. they say "oh-we-are-sorry-but-we-made- a-mistake-it-won't-happen-again", the press thinks that is acceptable. my stand is this.....(and this is my personal opinion) stop dealing with these assholes. they take 1 or 2 americans and say they will release them if we set 20 of their guys free? bullshit...we tell them we will kill their 20 if they don't let ours go. they want to bomb one of our planes? good. go ahead. we bomb one of their major cities. and the PLO? do they really think the world is gonna let a bunch of madmen have a country,who have stated they would kill anyone they had to in order to get it? maybe if they weren't such assholes and sat and talked to the world and not blow up planes and act like monkeys for the world to see they might get somewhere. fah-q ****************** ! ! ! personal notes ! ! from your buddy! ! Ground Zero ! ------------------ Greetings. Those of you who know me are surely aware that the above opinions do not reflect my own. I take a different view on terrorism and the other topics discussed. I am not in favor of terrorism, nor do I support or advocate any terrorist groups in any way. However, I take the time to understand the causes of terrorism. This is important, because in order to deal with terrorism effectively, we must understand that it does not exist in a vacuum. Groups resort to terrorism because they are powerless. It's easy for us, as Americans to sit back and turn on the tube and say 'What a bunch of crazy ragheads' when we hear of trouble in the Middle East. Our own ethnocentrism, combined with a blind sense of nationalism prevents us from gaining an under- standing of the many complex issues that come into play in the Middle East. A man like Qaddafi may be a bit outspoken, and may even appear to be crazy. Since he's easy to poke fun at, he has become an easy scapegoat for the problems that exist today with terrorists. If you believe that Libya is deserving of being bombed, then I would like to point out that there was no real evidence linking Qaddafi with any terrorist activities. After the US bombed Libya in '86, our gov't later admitted that it had no evidence that Qaddafi was responsible for the things he was accused of, namely the bombing of a West German discoteque frequented by American servicemen. But, this admission was ignored by most in the militaristic fervor that followed the bombing. Also, I would like you to consider your own definition of "terrorism". It's obvious that there are many groups that exist whose activities include terrorism, but we fail to take notice when our own government commits acts which could be also be defined as "terrorism". The bombing of Libya in '86 included destruction of civilian targets, such as a hospital for the handicapped. Also, our government's support of the contras in Nicaragua - a band of mercenaries who regularly attack civilians in a brutal manner - certainly constitutes terrorism in my opinion. And the CIA even provided them with instruction manuals encouraging VERY questionable prac- tices. Please remember these facts, and keep an open mind. And..now for something completely different that I feel compelled to bring to your attention. A fellow activist friend of mine subscribes to quite a few political magazines, leaving him on the mailing lists of many organizations soliciting money. One such organization called the Government Accountability Project sent him some very interesting information which he thought I should share with you folks. The following is an exerpt from their literature: The chicken you buy was most probably plucked and cleaned in an automated processing plant. So-called "protective" government agencies are permitting gross and shocking laxity in the treatment, handling and inspec- tion of chickens in these plants. Because of this, more people could die during the next two decades from the filth, excrement and toxins in chickens than died in Vietnam. Machines that mechanically pick the feathers, remove the entrails and wash the chickens with high pressure water have increased profits but have also increased the amount of invisible fecal contamination. Because of this 40% of the chickens on the market are contaminated with salmonella strains 100 times more dangerous and resistant than before. Inspectors are being forced to speed up so that they now have less than two seconds to look at each chicken. Under what is called "the new streamlined inspection system", they are not allowed to look at the back, bottom, sides or insides (where DO they look at?? -GZ), where the contamination usually exists. The final washing of chickens is done in a vat of seldom-changed water which is rarely kept at the right temperature and is so laden with dirt and waste matter that it is virtually "fecal soup!" Salmonella is bacteria. It can be killed by thoroughly cooking the chicken. However, a real danger is passing the Salmonella on to other foods through use of the same knife, cutting board or your own hands. That's why we suggest the following tips: 1-Keep poultry and meat isolated. For example, rewrap chicken and place it in your refrigerator, making sure that the chicken does not touch other food. 2-Wash chicken thoroughly and remove all skin. 3-Wash all utensils that the chicken has been cut with, or has been sitting in. Do not use a wooden cutting board (because it is pourous). 4-Wash your hands well after prepar- ing the poultry, espacially before you go on to cook the rest of the meal. 5-Rinse sink and utensils with a bleach and water mixture. 6-Cook chicken thoroughly. Do not eat rare meat or poultry. I hope you find the above info useful. I did not provide it to groce you out. I included it in this ATI in hopes that it might prevent a few cases of food poisoning. And I would also like to mention that the above information was discussed on the March 29, 1988 version of the CBS show "60 Minutes", and has led to 5 hearings in Congress last spring. Let's hope that better conditions are eminent. And now for the rest of ATI.... mediaWATCHmediaWATCHmediaWATCHmediaWATC aWATCHmediaWATCHmediaWATCHmediaWATCHmed diaWATCHmed Media Watch! iaWATCHmedia aWATCHmediaWATCHmediaWATCHmediaWATCHmed Speaking of the CBS network,here's a transcript of a news segment showm a few months ago that you might enjoy: Transcript of CBS News segment on the Hackers Conference filmed 7 Oct 88, aired 8 Oct 88. Anchorman ("High Technology" logo and drawing of chip): An unusual conference is under way near San Francisco. The people attending it are experts on a technology that intimidates most of us, but has changed the way we live. John Blackstone reports. Narrator (trees and outdoor scenes at conference): A small revolutionary army is meeting in the hills above California's Silicon Valley this weekend, plotting their next attacks on the valley below, the heart of the nation's computer industry. They call themselves computer hackers. Jonathan Post: "The people who are gathered here changed the world once; if we can agree on where to go next, we're gonna change it again." Narr (conference scenes, blinking lights): What hackers have learned to do with computers has changed the world, for both good and bad. They're the people who dreamed of and built the personal computer industry. Because for a computer, the only difference between a hundred and a million is a few zeros. Donn Parker, (SRI International, in office): "And so, in fact, criminals today I think have a new problem to deal with: and that is how much should I take. They can take any amount they want." Narr (phone central office): Telephone companies are the most victimized because those who break into phone company computers can link up for free to computers around the world. Richard Fitzmaurice (Pacific Bell, in office): "You'll hear the term computer hacker, computer cracker; we call them computer criminals." Narr (blinking lights): But much more frightening are the hackers who crack American military computers. Earlier this year in a lab that does some classified research, astronomer Clifford Stoll discovered someone had broken into his computer. He says it was like finding a mouse running across the floor. Stoll (in office): "You watch and you see, he's going in that hole over there, and you say, ooh, he's going in that hole; that connects to a network that goes to a military computer, in Okinawa." Narr (Stoll playing with a yo-yo in a machine room): The breakins to American military computers went on for several months. Eventually Stoll traced them to a hacker in West Germany. Donn (in office): "A hacker today is an extremely potentially dangerous person. He can do almost anything he wants to do in your computer." Narr (at conference, video games, stabbing and fighting on screen): But at the hackers' camp in the hills, there's recognition that in any revolutionary army there will be a few rogues and criminals. But that's no reason, they say, to slow down the revolution. John Blackstone, CBS News, in the hills above Silicon Valley.'' ...And now, a review of the ABC show "Beach Party Vietnam",oops..I mean "China Beach": The show begins with a doctor talking philosophically into his tape recorder about sex. Then, we cut to a scene of some of the show's women lying down in partially open robes, in quarters surrounded by amenities such as rugs, makeup and hairdressing equipment. 'Doc' then plays golf in preppy-style golf clothes, while a female major in her middle years is plauged with the earth-shattering problem of onsetting menopause. While one of our women prances around their quarters in 80's-style cutoff shorts and tank top, another complains of a lost investment opportunity: tourism in the Vietnamese coastal area (Ah, capitalism's finest!) The women, including the major lounge by the poolside with a blender of mixed drinks, discussing their common woe, while a cigar-toting Col. parachutes into the scene. He looks at the women confidentally and blares out a self-absorbed line about owning the world while the women swoon. In the next scene, the women all stand admiring him lifting weights, and the Col. later has individual meetings with all three of them. He knows no shame, using the same line on each of them: "You have a sense of mystery about you. I think we have potential". The base sponsors a luau, in which the women adorn themselves in Hawaian style dress. A wounded soldier with delusions of being Chuck Berry and a Black female nurse perform a few numbers onstage at the luau, then we cut to a scene of the Col. and our reluctantly aging major in bed, mixed with images of a base dweller surfing on the nearby beach. Makes you just want to go out and enlist to go fight wars as pleasant as this, does it not? That's the idea. In "Club Med:Saigon", oops, I mean, "China Beach", the glorification of militarism takes a very hedonistic twist! And now a word on Drew Barrymore. She was in films like "E.T." and "Firestarter". And now she's in the focal point of the media due to her drug and alcohol problem. I read the article in People magazine which described her problem in her own words, and frankly, I was appalled that even a magazine like People could allow such conceit and misdirected thoughts in their pages. In the article, she refers to several people, including her own mother, as "asshole", and is very self-involved in her story. People magazine, in this issue just glorifies the ramblings of a 13 year-old brat, spoiled by fame, and non-repentant of her wrongdoings. Consider these advertisements for TV shows: "She was young, attractive....and MARRIED. (Saxaphones blaring in back- ground.) During a separation from her husband, she had a brief affair. When she finally went back to her husband, she discovered that her lover filmed dozens of home movies of their lovemaking. And this time, THE WHOLE TOWN WAS WATCHING. (Music speeds up). Tonight on 'A Current Affair', we talk to the young lady trying to get the pieces of her life back together. It's an X-rated tale of seduction and betrayal, on 'A Current Affair'." (woman's voice) "..And I asked him, HOW can you preach against these things when you do them yourself? And he told me, 'I am preaching to myself as well as the others'". (announcer) "A small-town preacher in Texas preaches piety on the pulpit, while PREYING on several of the women of his congregation" (another woman's voice, with deep Southern accent) "My body just froze when he touched me..." (advertisement for NBC show "Inside Edition") Why the hype? Seems like the sensationalistic, souped-up yellow journalism genre has made its way to TV programs. These type of programs just demonstrate the fact that TV has completed its journey......into the gutter. ******************************* * more notes from ground zero * ******************************* Ok, folks, first off, you might have noticed that the ATI mailbox is gone. Yes, it is. The reason makes an interesting story in itself, which will most likely be unfolded in a future ATI. But, take note that there will be a new ATI mailbox up very soon. Watch for it in a few weeks. Also, a correction. The first version of ATI32 stated that the Wasp was busted in connection with the breakins of the Livermore Labs UNIX system. This is incorrect. He was busted for crashing Bell systems. How was he caught? He would crash a system and then proudly sign off with the words, "You've just been stung by The Wasp". It's my opinion that with the networking that exists between telco security, law enforcement, and informants, it wasn't hard at all to locate and monitor Mr. Wasp. Nice going, guy! More news: Thomas Covenant, an East coast hacker,was busted last week, on January 14th. We can't release the details yet, but we'll have more info on this in future issues. And, some HAPPY news! Doc Telecom and Raider are getting out of jail on January 23rd! There are some major drawbacks to the situation, like the fact that for 3 years they will be on probation, and for that amount of time they can't leave California. Also, they will NOT be geting back their computers EVER. But, I am happy to report that they will no longer be incarcerated! That's all for ATI33. Look for ATI34 soon, in about a week or so. Take care, and this is Ground Zero, saying, "Be Creative!"