Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.insight From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE;STUFF AND NONSENSE Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 13:30:17 EST Message-ID: \SE FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE;STUFF AND NONSENSE \BY INSIGHT *****The Dumps. It looked like the perfect location. Rocky Gordon, a former mill worker in Cottage Grove, Ore., had received a city permit to begin construction of a spa complex on the banks of the Willamette River. The design called for sinking a concrete structure into the ground, to be covered with earth and landscaped. This "earthen shelter" design is among the most energy-efficient in the world. Imagine Gordon's surprise when he visited the spa site and found that state highway workers had dumped paving materials on his property by mistake. The state commissioned geologist and environmental consultant Steve Newcomb to test the area for petroleum contamination of the soil, and the tests have come back positive, reports the Eugene Register-Guard. The workers dumped asphalt and diesel oil on the spa site, apparently believing it to be state highway right-of-way, the newspaper reported. The crew also parked an asphalt spreader and an asphalt truck there, both of which leaked diesel. Newcomb told the newspaper that the workers spread leftover asphalt on the property after completing a maintenance job and discharged diesel oil that was used to clean a pot of bitumen, a sealant used on pavement cracks. Following the contamination report, the state Highway Division replaced dirt from the site with "clean" topsoil. Gordon said he hoped to begin building his spa in late October if tests showed the land was free of contamination. He says, "What really peeves me more than anything else is that if I would have done this, if I'd have gone out and dumped toxic matter on private property, I'd have gone to jail." *****Pass the Buck. Quiz time: Is Congress part of the government? This is the interesting question raised by repeated calls from Capitol Hill for an independent investigation into "government" wrongdoing in the convoluted financial dealings between the United States and Iraq before Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. Those calls have now borne fruit, sort of, in the mid-October appointment by Attorney General William Barr of a special counsel to investigate the burgeoning "Iraqgate" scandal. Barr's move followed his receipt of a letter from Democratic Sen. David Boren of Oklahoma, which said "a truly independent investigation is required to determine whether federal crimes were committed in the government's handling" of the prosecution of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro's Atlanta branch manager. The branch was the conduit for billions in prewar loans to Saddam. And the essence of the scandal, insofar as it can be summarized, is that the Bush administration: a) guaranteed the "agricultural" loans to Iraq knowing the proceeds were being diverted to Saddam's military buildup; and b) meddled in the prosecution of BNL miscreants to cover up its knowledge of a). Barr's appointment of former U.S. District Judge Frederick Lacey drew mixed reviews. Boren pronounced himself "pleased," though not as pleased as he would have been with a Lawrence Walsh-style independent counsel appointed by a panel of judges. Since Lacey was appointed by Barr himself - under pre-Watergate statutes rather than the post-Watergate independent counsel law - the judge is, technically , slightly less independent than the Iran-Contra prosecutor. Still, Boren and his congressional colleagues have good reason for pleasure. As with independent counsel investigations, Lacey's probe of potential "government" wrongdoing will be confined to the White House. This means connoisseurs of scandal will have to riffle through back numbers of the Congressional Record, Roll Call or, most recently, the Wall Street Journal to try to piece together Congress's part in the drama. This consisted of suggestions, in letters from a number of powerful lawmakers to administration officials, that the loan spigot to Iraq had best be kept open for the benefit of constituents growing rice, assembling trucks and otherwise enjoying profitable commerce with Iraq. Quiz answer: Congress is happy to be a full participant in foreign policy-making when it succeeds and content to cede responsibility to the executive in all other cases. *****Indian Rub. Were the Founding Fathers multiculturalists ahead of their time? According to New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, "The evidence is strong that the Founding Fathers were greatly influenced by the framework of the Iroquois Nation." Cuomo was speaking at the Oct. 5 opening ceremony for an Iroquois life exhibit at the New York State Museum in Albany. His comments got mixed reviews from academics: The theory is popular with anthropologists, but some historians are after Cuomo's scalp. Brown University history Professor Gordon Wood, an expert on 18th century America, says the notion that the Iroquois influenced the Founders is without basis but trendy. "The Iroquois had a confederation, but there was no connection between what they were doing and the United States government. It is just wrongheaded and part of the present political correctness." Wood says the theory dates to the mid-eighties and he first heard it in 1989, after delivering a speech at the Library of Congress. He says a member of the audience asked him: " 'How come you historians never acknowledge the contribution of the Iroquois to the Constitution?' I thought it was one of those kooks" who attend lectures. In fact, the questioner was University of California at Berkeley anthropology Professor Laura Nader, sister of consumer activist Ralph. She professes delight at Cuomo's endorsement of a theory she says is now included in most anthropology textbooks: "Maybe Cuomo knows something that Wood doesn't. These leaders of early America had a direct sharing of cultures" with the Indians. "Cuomo has a good chance of being vindicated. It makes me think higher" of him. *****DO YOU KNOW OF: * A shocking waste of taxpayer money? * A wacky college course or professor? * An instance of revealing media arrogance? * A public utterance better never uttered? * A ridiculous case of hype? * A lawyer or lawsuit run amok? Let us hear about it. The first contributors of published items will receive a handsome memento depicting the Insight Public Defender. Write to: Insight, For the People, By the People, 3600 New York Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002. Or better still, fax us: (202) 529-2484. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM