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JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 5.17

08/16/99 - 08/31/99

CONTENTS


* VOICES: First-Person Essays Linking the Private to the Public


* HERESIES: Thinking the Unthinkable About the Future

    If Dagestan Islam Spreads It Could Bring Down Russia
    By Franz Schurmann
    Date: 08-19-99
    An Islamic revolution is going on in the Middle East. Iran (1979) was a quantum leap. So is the Taliban victory this year in Afghanistan. The establishment of an Islamic Republic in Dagestan marks another stage. The West is affected by its need for oil, cultural clash and now through the threat Dagestan poses to Russia's unity. Franz Schurmann, co-founder of PNS and professor emeritus of history and sociology at UC Berkeley, has been writing on oil and Islam for many years.


* VECTORS: A Regular Column on the Ideas and Directions Behind Today's News

    The Estate Tax Should Be Enforced And Raised--Not Killed
    By Roy Ulrich
    Date: 08-17-99
    The tax bill now making its way to President Clinton calls for eliminating the estate tax on the wealthy. In force for 83 years, this tax has never worked as intended but there are good reasons to argue that its loopholes should be closed, and the tax itself significantly raised. PNS commentator Roy Ulrich is a public interest lawyer and consumer advocate who sits on the Board of Directors of the California Tax Reform Association.

    Can Your Alma Mater Take Away Your Degree?
    By N. D. Batra
    Date: 08-23-99
    As the new academic year begins, a troubling question hovers in the air, stirred by the action of a major university. Can a university take away a degree earned -- and paid for -- for misconduct that has nothing to do with academic performance? PNS commentator N.D. Batra, a columnist for The Statesman (Calcutta, New Delhi,) is a Professor of Communications at Norwich University in Vermont.

    Running For Dear Life
    By Eve Pell
    Date: 08-25-99
    Running as a sport has become so tainted that charges of drug use seem to surround the winner of any race. Young runners might find it tonic to look to Ray Piva, a world champion, who got his start at 55. Eve Pell is the former the number one ranked woman road runner age 60-64 in the United States, and writes a regular column on veteran athletes for Pacific News Service.


* THE AMERICAS: The Growing Enmeshment of the U.S. and Latin Worlds

    Mexico's Accidental President Fails The Test In Both Party And Nation
    By Jesus Martinez
    Date: 08-24-99
    In Mexico, the president traditionally offers a "state of the union" address on September 1. This year, writes PNS commentator Jesus Martinez, the country's president will have little to offer his constituents or his party. Martinez is an immigrant researcher and activist who was formerly a member of the Political Science Department at Santa Clara University.


* CALIFORNIA COLLAGE: California as Trendsetter for the Country and the World

    Chinese Theater's No More
    By Edward Liu
    Date: 08-20-99
    Generations of Chinese-Americans grew up in Chinese-language movie theaters which served as surrogate parents. Now the last of these theaters in San Francisco's Chinatown has shut down. PNS commentator Edward Liu, a lawyer and writer, offer his eulogy.


* CIVIL CONFLICTS: Interpretive Reports on Ethnic, Religious, and Inter-National Conflicts Worldwide

    Kansas Ruling On Teaching OF Evolution An Illusory Victory For Religious Right
    By Kerry Tremain
    Date: 08-16-99
    Schools in Kansas are now free to teach biology without referring to evolution. The state board of education ruling has been hailed as a victory by the religious right, but a closer look at the people -- and traditions -- of the state suggest the victory is illusory at best. Kerry Tremain, who graduated from William Jewell, a Baptist college near Kansas City, is a contributing editor to Pacific News Service, and an editor for Blueprint: Ideas for a New Century.

    Wen-Ho Lee--Chinese Americans Seethe Against "Racism"
    By Shao Dan
    Date: 08-27-99
    Many Chinese Americans are vociferous in denouncing what they claim is racism in the case of Wen-ho Lee, the Chinese American physicist fired in March from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico for security violations and accused of being a "Chinese spy." Nowhere is the anger deeper than in the Bay Area, where Asian American scientists and engineers account for 70 percent of Silicon Valley's professionals. Shao Dan is on the staff of the Sing Tao Daily, a Hong Kong-based Chinese-language newspaper which publishes a West Coast edition in South San Francisco. She wrote this piece for PNS's New California Media project whose web site is <www.ncmonline.com>.

    North Korean Missile Crisis -- Pretext For Regional Arms Race
    By Terry Lee
    Date: 09-26-99
    When arms races erupt there is usually a trigger -- like North Korea's test-firing of the Dae Po Dong-I missile one year ago. Today, fears that Pyongyang would resume testing at the end of August have ebbed, but the reason may be that the missile crisis has already achieved its purpose for all parties involved. Commentator Terry Lee monitors the Korean language media for PNS's New California Media project, a collaboration of ethnic news media that hosts the first inter-ethnic portal on the Internet at www.ncmonline.com.

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