4/24/96, dicedyuppy wrote: >could you post that list of telecomm bribes...? As a partial answer, here is the section of my article "Cyberspace Inc and the Robber Baron Age" which discusses PFF. -rkm ________________________________________________________________ PFF turns out to be a typical industry-front organization. Characterized by Mr. Stahlman as "Newt's 'think tank'", PFF is funded by a panoply of corporate sponsors. The February 6, 1995 issue of The Nation carries an article by David Corn, entitled "CyberNewt". Here's an excerpt; There is nothing particularly futuristic about the funding sources behind the P.F.F. and its conference. Telecommunications firms subsidize the group: AT&T, BellSouth, Turner Broadcasting System, Cox Cable Communications. Other donors to the P.F.F.'s $1.9 million bank account include conservative foundations, Wired magazine, high-tech firms, military contractors, and drug companies (another foundation passion is attacking the Food and Drug Administration). When Senator Phil Gramm spoke at the [PFF] conference luncheon, the tables closest to the podium were reserved for corporate benefactors: Eli Lilly, Seagram's, Phillip Morris, S.B.C. Communications (formerly Southwestern Bell) ... Brock N. Meeks published an article in Inter@ctive Week, dated April 28, 1995, entitled "Freedom Foundation Faces Scrutiny". These brief excerpts from the article outline Mr. Meeks' understanding of how PFF funds are used, and how it seeks to hide its link to Mr. Gingrich: ...Among I@W's findings: * PFF spent $483,000 to underwrite a college course taught by Gingrich. ... * PFF spent $148,000 to underwrite The Progress Report, Gingrich's weekly cable talk show carried on his own National Empowerment Television. ... The PFF links to Gingrich and his own political action committee, called GOPAC, have drawn the interest of the Ethics Committee and the IRS, which is "reevaluating" PFF's nonprofit status, according to an IRS source. The PFF link to Gingrich's rising political currency has proved lucrative. From March 1993 to March 1994 the group raised $611,000. During the remainder of 1994, when it became clear that the Republicans stood a good chance to capture both the House and the Senate for the first time in 40 years, an additional $1.07 million poured into PFF coffers, according to its financial records. ... The latest PFF tax returns do not make any link to GOPAC or Gingrich. Any such linking would violate IRS tax exemption rules. However, Eisenach is on record acknowledging that he did the basic groundwork of setting up PFF while running GOPAC. The money trail apparently goes from media/telecommunications conglomerates, to PFF, and finally to Mr. Gingrich's projects, which seem to be heavily focused on propaganda ventures. Small wonder that PFF's manifesto, and Mr. Gingrich's legislative agenda, promote excessive deregulation of the telecommunications industry, and pave the way for monopolistic control. Evidently the Lords of Cyberspace Inc are to include the likes of AT&T, BellSouth, Turner Broadcasting System, and Cox Cable Communications. Mr. Gingrich's famous pledges to "empower the individual" and "provide laptops for ghetto dwellers" should be seen for what they are: a shallow populist veneer covering a corporate-pandering agenda. * * * ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Richard K. Moore - •••@••.••• - Wexford, Ireland Cyber-Rights: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/ ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/library/ Cyberlib: www | ftp --> ftp://ftp.iol.ie/users/rkmoore/cyberlib/ Materials may be reposted in their _entirety_ for non-commercial use. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~