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<title>drugrunr</title>
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<h1 id="title-index">Politics-Conspiracies-Project</h1>
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<div class="button">GitHub <img alt="github icon"
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</nav>
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<h2>drugrunr</h2>
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<p>
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CONTRAS USED COCAINE TO BUY ARMS
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BY VINCE BIELSKI and DENNIS BERNSTEIN</p>
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<p> WASHINGTON--Senator John Kerry (D-Mass) and his staff said recently
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they are "confident" that money from the sale of narcotics helped finance
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the contras and that the arms network set up by Lt. Col. Oliver <span class="PERSON">North</span> could
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be involved.</p>
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<p>
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<span class="PERSON">North</span> was fired from the staff of the National Security Council by
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President Reagan this week after the Administration discovered that <span class="PERSON">North</span>
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arranged for the transfer $30 million from the sale of arms to Iran to
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Swiss bank accounts controlled by the contras.</p>
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<p> "I'm confident that the contras have received drug money. They have
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received illegal shipments of weapons and that U.S. officials knew of it,"
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Kerry said, in calling for a special prosecutor to look into these other
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allegations.</p>
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<p> John Weiner, a Kerry aide, said while congressional investigators do
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not know if <span class="PERSON">North</span> was directly involved, they do have evidence linking the
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"<span class="PERSON">North</span> network" to the cocaine-arms operation. According to a report
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produced by Kerry's staff, <span class="PERSON">North</span> established a network, involving retired
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Army Gen. John Singlaub, U.S. mercenaries and <span class="NORP">Cuban</span>-Americans, to provide
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arms to the contras during the two-year congressional ban on U.S. support.
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After the downing of the C-123 cargo plane over Nicaragua, Administration
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officials also acknowledged that <span class="PERSON">North</span> set up the private arms operation to
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the contras.</p>
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<p> Weiner and several other sources charge that individuals involved in
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the network traffic in cocaine to help buy weapons for the contras.</p>
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<p> "We have received a variety of allegations about drug connections to
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the contras and to parts of the <span class="PERSON">North</span> network. As to whether Oliver <span class="PERSON">North</span>
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was directly involved in that I can't say. But parts of the <span class="PERSON">North</span> network
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allegedly were. And that needs to be looked at very seriously," he said.</p>
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<p> The Senate Foreign Relations committee is expected to investigate
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these charges when Congress reconvenes in January.</p>
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<p> The role that cocaine played in funding the network has been part of a
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two-year investigation carried out by the Christic Institute, a Washington-based law firm. Dan Sheehan, the attorney directing the investigation, said
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the proceeds from the sale of cocaine has been "one significant source of
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funding for the contras. He said he has subsantial evidence to prove that
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the contras and their <span class="NORP">Cuban</span>-American supporters are smuggling one ton of
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cocaine into the United States each week.</p>
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<p> The Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that one ton of cocaine
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has a street value of between $26 and $50 million. Sheehan said a portion
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the profits are used to purchase weapons.</p>
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<p> The cocaine ring, involving mostly major <span class="GPE">Columbian</span> cocaine trafficker,
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or "cocaine lords," and <span class="NORP">Cuban</span>-Americans from Miami had been operating for
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years before the <span class="PERSON">North</span> network began in 1984. John Mattes, an attorney for
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one of the <span class="NORP">Cuban</span>-Americans involved in the <span class="PERSON">North</span> network, said that the
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cocaine traffickers and the arms network "got together as a marriage of
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convenience."</p>
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<p> "The <span class="GPE">Columbian</span>s saw that the contra base in Costa Rica was an ideal
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transhipment point. Their planes would land there and refuel. They also
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benefit from the pilots, planes and intelligence information which the arms
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suppliers had and which they make extensive use of," Mattes said. In
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return, Mattes said the <span class="GPE">Columbian</span>s paid the contras $10000 to $25000 for
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each plane carry cocaine which landed in Costa Rica for refueling. The
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Christic Institute's allegations are all contained in a civil suit filed in
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May 1986 in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida.</p>
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<p> The suit is brought by two U.S. journalists, Martha Honey and Tony
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Avirgan, who charge that the cocaine/arms conspiracy was responsible for
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the May 1984 assassination attempt on contra leader Eden Pastora in La
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Penca, Nicaragua. The journalists are sueing for personal injuries they
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suffered resulting from a bomb explosion at a press conference which killed
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8 people and injured Pastora. "As amazing as it sounds," Sheehan said, "the
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conspiracy is continuing to bring about one ton or 1000 kilos of cocaine
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into the United States each week." Jesus Garcia, a former corrections
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officer in Dade County, Florida, said he was actively involved in the
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cocaine-arms operation.</p>
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<p> He is one of Sheehan and Kerry's main sources of information. In a
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telephone interview from prison, where Garcia is no serving a three-year
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term for possession of a firearm, he said "it is common knowledge here in
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Miami that that this whole contra operation in Costa Rica was paid for with
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cocaine. Everyone involved knows it. I actually saw the cocaine and the
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weapons together under one roof, weapons that I helped ship to Costa Rica."
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In May of 1983, according to the suit, two <span class="NORP">Cuban</span>-Americans, Rene Corbo and
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Felipe Vidal joined forces with John Hull, a U.S. citizen who owns 1750
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acres of land in northern Costa Rica, "to recruit, train, finance (and)
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arm" a <span class="NORP">Cuban</span>-American mercenary force to attack Nicaragua.</p>
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<p> To finance the mercenary force, the <span class="NORP">Cuban</span>-Americans, Hull and others
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made arrangements with two known <span class="GPE">Columbian</span> cocaine trafficers, Pablo
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Escobar and Jorge Ochoa, "to provide hundreds of pounds of cocaine on a
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regular basis," according to the suit. Garcia said that individuals
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involved in the arms supply operation told him that Ochoa was supplying
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cocaine to the contras.</p>
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<p> The cocaine was flown from <span class="GPE">Columbia</span> to Hull's ranch, Sheehan said,
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where the planes would refuel. Sheehan said he has obtained records of
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Corbo buying huge gasoline tanks in Costa Rica which are used for refueling
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the planes. The Christic Institute learned about the cocaine shipments from
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members of Costa Rican Rural Guard, workers on Hull's land who unloaded the
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illegal substance from the small planes, and the pilots who transported the
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cocaine.</p>
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<p> Corbo and Vidal belong to the Brigade 2506, an anti-Castro group in
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Miami whose members were recruited and hired by the CIA to fight in the Bay
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of Pigs invasion agaisnt Cuba. Kerry's staff report charges that "Hull...
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has been identified by a wide range of sources, including Eden Pastora,
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mercenaries, Costa Rican officials, and contra supporters as "deeply
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involved with military support for the contras...and has been identified by
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a wide-range of sources...as a CIA or NSC liaison to the contras."</p>
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<p> According to Steven Carr and Peter Glibbery, two mercenaries based on
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land operated by Hull who were captured by the Costa Rican Rural Guard in
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1985, Hull introduced himself to them as "the chief liaison for the FDN
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(National Democratic Force) and the CIA." Hull received $10000 a month
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from the NSC, according to the report. The NSC denies having made payments
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to Hull.</p>
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<p> Hull has denied that he is assisting the contras and that he is
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working for the U.S. government.</p>
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<p> Sheehan said that the cocaine is flown from the land operated by Hull
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to Memphis and then to Denver. The drug is also packed into container ships
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at the Costa Rican port of Limon and transported to Miami, New Orleans and
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San Francisco.</p>
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<p> Francisco Chanes, a <span class="NORP">Cuban</span>-American, is the major importer and
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distributor of the cocaine coming in from Costa Rica, according to the
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suit. Sheehan said he learned of Chanes' role from Drug Enforcement
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Administration agents who investigated Chanes, Corbo and Vidal.</p>
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<p> During a January 1986 interview with FBI agents, Garcia said he told
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the agents that Chanes and Corbo were also involved in the contra supply
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operation.</p>
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<p> Garcia said the agents responded by saying that Chanes and Corbo were
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already the subjects of a FBI narcotics trafficing investigation. Mattes,
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Garcia's attorney who was present at the interview, said he also heard the
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agents say that the FBI was investigating Chanes and Corbo.</p>
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<p> Sheehan said money from the sale of cocaine is deposited in one bank
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in Miami and two in Central America and then withdrawn to purchase weapons
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and explosives.</p>
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<p> Garcia said he was personally involved in a March 1985 shipment of 6
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tons of arms to Costa Rica from Miami. In July 1986, an official from the
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U.S. Attorney's office in Miami confirmed to the Miami Herald that "we now
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believe there were some weapons" illegally shipped to the contras by their
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U.S. supporters from the Fort Lauderdale International airport in 1985.</p>
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<p> Garcia said he saw both these weapons and three kilograms of cocaine
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stored at the home of Chanes in Miami in the company of Chanes and Carr.</p>
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<p> "They cocaine was kept in a dresser, about ten feet away from the
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weapons. Carr told me that the three keys (kilograms) was what was left
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from a larger shipment," Garcia said.[EP</p>
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<p> He said he had no direct evidence that the weapons in Chanes' home
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were purchased with the proceeds from the sale of cocaine. He said that
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Carr told him that the three kilograms were part of a larger shipment of
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cocaine brought to the United States from Costa Rica in container ships
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belonging Ocean Hunter, a seafood importing company owned by Chanes.</p>
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<p> Garcia said he helped load the weapons into a van which were then
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taken to the aiport in Miami. Glibbery said he witnessed the arrival of
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these weapons on airstrips located on land operated by Hull in Costa Rica,
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according to the Kerry report.</p>
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<p> The suit also names Theodore Shackley, former CIA associate deputy
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director for world wide covert operations, and retired Army Gen. John
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Singlaub as the main weapons suppliers.</p>
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<p> According to the suit, Shackley "knowingly accept(ed) the proceeds
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from illegal sales of narcotics in payment for illegal arms shipments."
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Singlaub has made "admissions to various reporters that he has sent guns
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and bullets to the contras," according to the report.</p>
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<p>********************
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Reasearch and Editorial Assistance: Connie Blitt</p>
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<p> Articles by Vince Bielski (San Fransisco-based) and Dennis Bernstein
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(new York) have appeared in Newsday, Philadelphia Inquirer, Plain Dealer,
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Denver Post, Dallas Times Herald, Dallas Morning News, <span class="GPE">Baltimore</span>
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<span class="LOC">Sun</span>, San
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Fransisco Examiner, Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury, Arizona Daily Star,
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Seattle Times, Minnieapolis Star and Tribune, and others.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
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<p>X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X</p>
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<p> Another file downloaded from: NIRVANAnet(tm)</p>
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<p> & the Temple of the Screaming Electron Jeff Hunter 510-935-5845
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Rat Head Ratsnatcher 510-524-3649
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Burn This Flag Zardoz 408-363-9766
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realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 415-567-7043
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Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 415-583-4102</p>
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<p> Specializing in conversations, obscure information, high explosives,
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arcane knowledge, political extremism, diversive sexuality,
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insane speculation, and wild rumours. ALL-TEXT BBS SYSTEMS.</p>
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<p> Full access for first-time callers. We don't want to know who you are,
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where you live, or what your phone number is. We are not Big Brother.</p>
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<p> "Raw Data for Raw Nerves"
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X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
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</p>
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