Proj.Censored Alert: Environment, Rather Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Censored Alert - May 18, 2002 Report Exposes Corporate Lobby In All States: Source: Natural Resources Defense Council Major corporations are operating behind-the-scenes in state capitals across the country through a purported "good government" group that pushes an industry-friendly agenda, according to a report to be released by Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council. In addition to financing gifts and junkets for elected officials, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) acts as a conduit for special-interest legislation from corporations to key state legislators on issues that range from rolling back environmental and consumer protections to privatizing government services such as prisons and schools. "It's time to shine the public spotlight on the American Legislative Exchange Council," Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen said. "ALEC's sole mission is to advance special-interest legislation across the nation on behalf of its corporate sponsors and funders. Polluters, developers and their big business allies will use their extensive resources to finance a corporate takeover of state government if we continue to turn a blind eye to this deceptive organization's work." The report - entitled "Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States: The Untold Story Behind the American Legislative Exchange Council" - is available on the Internet at http://www.alecwatch.org. Dan Rather Admits National Mood Caused Him to Shrink From Tough Questions on War in Afghanistan Matthew Engel reported in the Guardian May 17 that Dan Rather, the star news anchor for the US television network CBS, said last night that "patriotism run amok" was in danger of trampling the freedom of American journalists to ask tough questions. And he admitted that he had shrunk from taking on the Bush administration over the war on terrorism. In the weeks after September 11 Rather wore a Stars and Stripes pin in his lapel during his evening news show in an apparent display of total solidarity with the American cause. However, in an interview with BBC's Newsnight, he graphically described the pressures to conform that built up after the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. "It is an obscene comparison - you know I am not sure I like it - but you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tyres around people's necks if they dissented. And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tyre of lack of patriotism put around your neck," he said. "Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions." Rather did not exempt himself from the criticism, and said the problem was self-censorship. "It starts with a feeling of patriotism within oneself. It carries through with a certain knowledge that the country as a whole - and for all the right reasons - felt and continues to feel this surge of patriotism within themselves. And one finds oneself saying: 'I know the right question, but you know what? This is not exactly the right time to ask it." Peter Phillips Ph.D. Sociology Department/Project Censored Sonoma State University 1801 East Cotati Ave. Rohnert Park, CA 94928 707-664-2588 http://www.projectcensored.org/ ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytmed-05.19.02-06:53:11-16490