Today's Topics:
United Space Federation
Keating, also dirty yellow pictures
rock lyric stickers
Hunting wounds
Prank phone call contest
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Date: Fri, 15 Dec 89 10:20:30 est
From: Eric Haines <eye!erich@wrath.cs.cornell.edu>
Message-Id: <8912151520.AA09353@spruce>
Subject: United Space Federation
Here's your chance to help budding kooks with delusions of grandeur blossom
into a full fledged crazies. Simply send a stamped, self-addressed envelope
to:
United Space Federation
PO Box 4722
Ithaca, NY 14852
and ask them to send you information. You'll get stuff about the society,
written in a style showing signs of incipient schizophrenia. No full blown
rants here, rather, writing with glimpses of something not quite right with the
author. Sublime kook stuff.
He (Rick Dobson - is that last name symbolic or what?) and his friends have a
television show on cable access here, which I am sad to say has not yet
received notice of the world media or the aliens. I've caught the last minute
of the show about four times, and judging from the credits I've missed a lot.
Caught a glimpse of a woman at a podium in a white, 25th century style tunic
with sash, then the USF logo came on, looking like something a sixth grader
who liked to draw space ships would make for art class.
Just to give you a taste of what you'll get, here's something from the USF
pledge:
I (blank) understand that should I break this pledge, I will be banned
from the USF for life. My name and picture will be released to all USF
members as a traitor to humankind and earth. My name and picture will be
released to the world media as a traitor to the USF.
and a few inspiring words from the intro letter:
May our human ancestors of the future earth look back and say, "Those
people of the world put aside all their differences for this one pure quest
of unity for the knowledge of the cosmos. I am sure their world will be
full of wonders we can only dream can happen!"
We're still puzzling out who the "human ancestors of the future" are and in
what time period they live. Anyway, I highly recommend blowing two stamps on
this group. They'll be thrilled (and possibly confused) to get mail from
outside the Ithaca area. Who knows? Maybe your note will inspire them to
start building the international launch site now.
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Message-Id: <IZWGLBW00jWKQ92mRq@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 89 12:11:41 -0500 (EST)
From: Chris Koenigsberg <ckk+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Keating, also dirty yellow pictures
1.) I saw a note in the newspaper that conservative Charles Keating, the
operator of a failed Savings and Loan whose bailout after some huge
campaign contributions to several U.S. Senators (including ultra-liberal
Alan Cranston and John Glenn the astronaut) is causing ethical squirming
in the Senate, was the founder of an anti-pornography "campaign for
decency" in Cincinnatti that is still operating.
*************************
2.) I think the U.S. anti-pornography forces should learn from the
Chinese - after all, we start young...
---------- Forwarded message begins here ----------
Subject: China News Digest, Dec-14
DECEMBER 14, 1989
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Anti-Pornography Campaign Affected Primary School Kids
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Source: BEIJING (UPI) December 13, 1989
Students in an elementary school class, fired up but confused by the
government's massive anti-pornography media blitz, turned in their nude
baby pictures to their teacher, a letter in a state-run newspaper said
Wednesday.
The letter in the China Youth News from a "concerned citizen" cautioned
that there is such a thing as too much propaganda and warned that
bringing the anti-smut campaign to the elementary school level had
brought unexpected results and created confusion among youngsters.
In one case, the letter said, primary school pupils asked their teacher
the definition of a "nude picture" and were told "anything naked from
the waist up." They responded by dutifully bringing in their own baby
pictures for confiscation. "The teacher did not know whether to laugh or
cry," said the letter.
In other cases, primary and middle school students, told they were being
organized to "clean up pornography," thought they were being taken
outside to sweep the streets.
Others reportedly handed in children's periodicals and picture books in
an effort to comply, while one child carefully weeded out all books with
yellow covers to hand in. The word "yellow" in Chinese is a euphemism
for obscene or erotic material.
"Children are like a piece of white paper," the letter said. "It's very
difficult for them to hide dirty things in their ignorant minds ... it's
not proper to 'clean up pornography' among primary school pupils."
The anti-pornography blitz is part of China's recent nationwide
campaign against a variety of social ills. Pornography has been
officially branded as one of "six evils" to be wiped out nationwide. The
other five vices are gambling, drug trafficking, swindling, selling
women and children, and con games employing superstition.
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Message-Id: <EZWGAd600jWKA92lg1@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 89 12:00:25 -0500 (EST)
From: Chris Koenigsberg <ckk+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: rock lyric stickers
There's a new amendment-to-an-unrelated-bill in the Pa. State House to
require warning labels on all records sold in Pa., if any song on an
album advocates one of a number of things like taking drugs, involuntary
deviate sexual intercourse, murder, or slandering any ethnic group. The
laundry list of what must be labelled is great. I'd like to put out a
record with lyrics that qualified for each offensive category!
Interestingly enough, it's been tacked on to a massive anti-drug package
and they're saying that it might actually cause the anti-drug package to
be delayed and even fall apart, because of partisan politics and the
need for more committees to argue over it, thereby delaying the whole
thing and pissing off the legislators who had compromised to put
together the anti-drug package. Wouldn't that be delicious?
So here's hoping for more massive turmoil in the Harrisburg state
capitol building. Could I maybe get them to add a few more categories to
the list of offensive lyrics which must be labelled? At least, they
could discuss it in the committee for a few more months while the
anti-drug bills gather dust.....
The anti-lyrics bill provides criminal penalties for any retailer who
sells any recorded product containing offensive lyrics without a warning
label........even if it slipped by the record company without a label,
the store would have to add their own...... meaning every little store
would have to study the words to every song on every product they have,
just in case.
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Date: Fri, 15 Dec 89 12:37:12 est
From: Eric Haines <eye!erich@wrath.cs.cornell.edu>
Message-Id: <8912151737.AA09521@spruce>
Subject: Hunting wounds
