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Fraggin'

By Bill Shunas

Maybe it was touring Africa that put Secretary of State Madeline Albright in the Casablanca mode. Just like Claude Rains was shocked, just shocked that some capitalist was doing business with a repressive government.

Albright toured Africa last year, and she had some comments on the civil war in the Sudan. There the government forces have been involved in suppressing the people of the southern part of the country. Most of the two million dead were from the South. Officially, Washington condemns the Sudanese government, and Ms. Albright expressed her shock in finding that a corporation of one of our allies - Canada - had invested $400 million in an oil pipeline venture with the Sudanese.
Some countries have the mistaken view that foreign investment in nations under dictatorial rule will somehow help ordinary people, said the Secretary of State. That was last year. Helping ordinary people was one of the reasons Albright and the Clintonians gave in support of trading with China in the recent debates. It's not like American companies never invested in dictatorships like Saudi Arabia or Guatemala or Burma, or in countries run by Saddam Hussein, the Shah of Iran or Manuel Noriega. I know it's confusing to figure out if trading will help poor people. I guess sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. I guess trade helps when your company is profiting from the trade, and it doesn't help when someone else is profiting.

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Here at home we have another election coming up - Gush against Bore. I doubt if any of you who read The Veteran will vote for Dubya "There are no poor people in Texas" Bush. You'll probably fall into one of three categories: vote for Gore as the lesser of two evils, vote for a third party, or not vote at all.

Both of them have been bought by big money, but Bush is more obvious about it than Gore. Maybe that's the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans are proud of who they represent, while Democrats try to keep it quiet. Wealthy people, corporations and Wall Street outfits are contributing heavily to both sides. For instance, everyone knows that Bush has a kindly feeling toward Big Oil companies. Guess what? So does Al.

To be more specific, Al Gore is tied to Occidental Petroleum. That has to do with family history. Al Gore, Senior (a senator from Tennessee) was friends with Armand Hammer, chairman of Occidental. Deals were made involving a farm in Tennessee that had a zinc ore deposit. The farm was bought by Occidental, and sold to Gores Senior and Junior and to a third party. Through all these deals, the Gore family has been receiving $20,000 a year from Occidental for the zinc. And after his senatorial days Gore, Senior went to work for Occidental at $500,000 a year. When he died, presidential candidate Al Gore, Junior became executor to his father's estate, which includes a large amount of Occidental stock and continues to receive the twenty thou each year.

Occidental Petroleum's oil reserves became dangerously low a few years back, and the company was in danger of folding. Then the government decided to sell off the Elk Hills oil fields near Bakersfield, California, which were intended to be the Navy's reserve. President Harding tried to sell the fields, and that resulted in the Teapot Dome scandal. Nixon tried, and so did Reagan, but there was too much public pressure against it. It didn't happen until the Clinton-Gore administration.

A lot of companies wanted this oil, but Occidental Petroleum walked off with 78% of it. Then, after the contract was awarded to Occidental, the price Occidental had to pay magically dropped from $4.50 a barrel to $1.50.
Normally the Department of Energy would oversee this type of deal, but this time it was arranged for ICF Kaiser, a private consulting firm, to be the watchdog. And that completes the circle started by the Gore zinc farm, because the chairman of ICF Kaiser is Tony Coelho, Gore's campaign guru. And you thought that the only problem with Gore was that he's dull. He's just as skilled as Bush.

In case you missed it, a new Army policy took effect in March. Officers and enlisted personnel are no longer supposed to be dating, let alone getting married. This is the result of action the Army took in March 1999. I guess it was an attempt to prohibit the improper use of rank to compromise authority or impartial treatment or for personal gain. It includes things such as making loans or business deals. The Army in its wisdom decided to include dating. Any relationship between officer and enlisted in March 1999 was to be concluded by March 2000, either by a breakup or by marriage.

Right. I wonder if the Army forgot about hormones. Is this don't ask, don't tell? Maybe they're right. Maybe fraternization is too difficult. I never dated an officer, so I don't know. Do you have to salute?