Burma, Up Bear Creek???

[cd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

We may find some supporters there, for Free Burma, for the story
below, just substitute Burma for Tibet... its a great place to ski, 
and there is a lot of money out there that would be better directed
towards refugee care than killing time and writing noble self-serving
liberal conscience high-mighties. why not a telluride free burma
association
for the cause, somebody should call him and send mr goodtimes some hard
news on 
burma.* ds, paris

March 13, 1997 - TELLURIDE DAILY PLANET
Up Bear Creek
By Art Goodtimes

Have you forgotten Tianamen Square?

MONEYBAG DEMOCRACY ... That's the label tossed at us by China in the
recent trade wrangle and they may have zapped us there. The wire service
figure of Dem heir-elect Al Gore arguing that he'd done "nothing
improper"
(let alone illegal), while promising "never to do it again," was
embarrassing enough, without the wire service photo op of a
short-sleeved
Bill Clinton, one hand in pocket and the other hugging Arkadelphia
tornado
victim Judy Sligh amid a convenient backdrop of rubble and ruins. 

But the recently published lists of campaign contributors for both
parties is
truly a national scandal (Phillip Morris, $2.7 million; AT&T, $2.1
million; Association of Trial Lawyers, $2.1 million; Teamsters Union,
$1.9
million; etc.) ... Still, there's no equating the indisputable
corruption
and current influence of big money interests in our representative
political system with ongoing Tibetan genocide and the mainland's
totalitarian rule by an elite political cadre. No comparison! ... China
ought to be ostracized from the body politic for its fascist behavior
vis
a vis its own citizens, not to speak of the atrocities it has inflicted
on
neighboring Tibet. And most certainly it ought to be denied entry into
the
World Trade Organization ... Talk about rogue states. China is a
rampaging
elephant still, and its murdering Communist Party ways should make it
world pariah, not market opportunity. Clinton should abandon his high
level talks with the party leadership and slash all trade with China.
Now.

SPEAKING OF AL ... But I have to admit his March 2 speech to the
National
Association of Counties the day after the Washington Post broke its
damaging allegations of fundraising improprieties was by turns funny and
presidential. Even some GOP commissioners were impressed. And he didn't
even mention his campaign financing problems. Instead, he focused on
county issues. Citing the NACO conference theme, "The Evolution of
Devolution," Gore reiterated the need to empower local governments not
only with new responsibilities, but new power and funding to match ...
He
seems to have inherited all of Clinton's suave polish. One just wonders
if
there's any spine under all that jelly ... He's a far cry from his papa.
I
heard Sen. Albert Gore from Tennessee speak at a college once in
California. He was a marvelous orator. Grandfatherly. Incisive. By the
time he'd finished I was convinced everything he'd said was right on the
money ... With his son, the words seemed more or less politically
appealing, if vaguely generic. As if we were watching a Clinton clone in
the making. Slick but lacking in substance.