From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: PROFILE: The Washington Spectator
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: University of Missouri
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 06:58:08 GMT



PROFILE: The Washington Spectator

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The Washington Spectator
C/O The Public Concern Foundation
P.O. Box 20065
London Terrace Station
New York, NY 10114-0444
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SUBSCRIPTIONS: $10 per year for 22 reports.
Special rate for Senior Citizens & Students: $9
Subscription includes membership in The Public Concern Foundation,
tax-exempt non-profit organization. Make checks payable to same.


"I have been a _Spectator_ reader for many years and greatly
appreciate your critical analysis of the Washington scene."
        -- Maggie Kuhn, National Convenor, Gray Panthers

"You must know that I think the _Spectator_ is the best commentator
about the Washington scene since I.F. Stone's letters. You have an eye
for the significant and do a superb job of interpreting the meaning of
events after the fashion of Walter Pippmann."
        -- J. William Fullbright, Former Chairman, Senate Foreign
        Relations Committee, Washington, D.C.

"The best window on the world since I.F. Stone..."
        ---Whole Earth Catalog

"[..] How can _you_ find out what's really happening inside the
Bush/Sununu/Baker administration -- or to our environment, to the
revolutionary changes in what used to be `the Soviet bloc,' to the
U.S. economy, to the people of Central America, or to our civil rights
and liberties presently threatened by the courts and the
radical-right? [...] Twice each month _The Washington Spectator_ puts
together vital information on major issues of the day, stripped of the
distortions of the `spin controllers.' Then it puts it into the hands
of political leaders, journalists, churchpeople, activists --
independent-minded individuals everywhere who are fed up with media
superficiality and need access to the truth [..]

"The only cost is $10 -- that's it, $10 -- for a full year of reports
-- 22 in all. That's a tiny price to pay for what has become, in its
15 years on the beat, one of the most important, influential, and
useful documents published in America today." William Winpisinger,
former President of the International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers, says `_The Washington Spectator_ is that one little
newsletter that captures the national and world events of the day.'

"That's what I'm hoping _The Washington Spectator_ will be for your.
Because even though a dwindling number of ever-larger corporations own
most of our media, salient facts and believable explanations still
surface in not-so-well-known publications. _The Washington Spectator_
find them, pares them down to their essentials, and puts them into
your hands as quickly as possible."

"A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT ISSUES:

"On our Society:
`In 1983, 9,014 Americans were killed by handguns...compared with 35
in Japan, 8 in Great Britain, 27 in Switzerland, 6 in Canada, 7 in
Sweden and 10 in Australia.' --an item from FYI page of TWS

"On our Political System:
`[Political] campaigns have become so expensive that the average
Senator must raise nearly $10,000 a week during his or her entire
six-year term.' -- Philip M Stern quoted in an issue titled `For Sale:
The American Political System.'

"On the Economy:
`32 million Americans live in poverty...two to five million American
children have severe hunger problems,...at least 23 million Americans
can be considered illiterates...[while] half of all Federal tax
dollars to go the Pentagon.' -- from an issue titled `A Look at the
Economy'

"On our [sic] Foreign Policy:
`The Catholic Church has been a key target of recent attacks [by the
Army of El Salvador]. Why? What were the crimes of the priests and
Maryknoll nuns? They wanted democracy..." -- Senator Barbara Mikulski
(D-MD) in an issue titled `El Salvador: War on the Church.'

"P.S.: _The Washington Spectator_ is published by the Public Concern
Foundation, a completely non-profit and tax-exempt organization, and
that's why we can keep our subscription fee down to $10 -- a rare
bargain these days I'm sure you'll agree!

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Dear Reader:

When Kurt Vonnegut described _The Washington Spectator_ as `a sane,
well-informed, non-profit newsletter for open-minded people,' he was
right on the button. On the morning I receive it, I stick it in my
inside pocket, read it on the bus to work and often quote from it on
my radio program. I know one thing: it enriches the listeners as well
as myself.

Bill Moyers is right, too, when he refers to it as `a vital light from
that bleak city,' and adds, `People like me desperately need the facts
from Washington that never make it into the mainstream press.' It
evokes delightful memories of _I.F. Stone's Weekly_. Quoting from some
of the prestigious journals is a yes-and-no proposition. Quoting from
_The Washington Spectator_ is always yes

                Yours truly,

                Studs Terkel


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