Acxiom denies invading airline passengers' privacy [Wesley Clark]

BEHIND THE HEADLINES Latest contender for president
comes from long line of rabbis by Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (JTA) — Raised a Southern Baptist who later converted to Roman Catholicism, Gen. Wesley Clark knew just what
to say when he strode into a Brooklyn yeshiva in 1999, ostensibly to discuss his leadership of NATO´s victory in Yugoslavia. "I feel a
tremendous amount in common with you," the uniformed four-star general told the stunned roomful of students. "I am the oldest son, of
the oldest son, of the oldest son — at least five generations, and they were all rabbis." The incident could be a signal of how Clark, who
became the 10th contender in the Democratic run for the presidency on Wednesday, relates to the Jews and the issues dear to them.

Apparently Clark, 58, revels in his Jewish roots. He told The Jewish Week in New York, which first reported the yeshiva comment in
1999, that his ancestors were not just Jews, but members of the priestly caste of Kohens. Clark´s Jewish father, Benjamin Kanne, died
when he was 4, but he has kept in touch with his father´s family since his
20s, when he rediscovered his Jewish roots. He is close to a first cousin, Barry Kanne, who heads a pager company in Georgia.

Clark shares more than sentimental memories with Jews. He couples liberal domestic views that appeal to much of the Jewish electorate with
a soldier´s sympathy for Israel´s struggle against terror. Appearing in June on "Meet the Press" on CBS, Clarke said he agreed with
President Bush´s assessment that Israel should show more restraint, a reference to the policy of targeting terrorist leaders for
assassination. "But the problem is," Clark continued, "when you have hard intelligence that you´re about to be struck, it´s the
responsibility of a government to take action against that intelligence and prevent the loss of lives. It´s what any society would expect
of its leadership. So there´s a limit to how much restraint can be shown."

Speaking to the New Democrat Network this year, Clark said
that dismantling Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat´s Ramallah headquarters was "a legitimate military objective from their
perspective. "For the Israelis, this is a struggle really for the existence of Israel," Clark said in remarks quoted on a support group´s Web site.

Clark is also tough on neighboring Arab states, expecting more from them in nudging the Palestinians toward peace. He has
said he would like to see Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in a "contact group" similar to the alliance that Serb-friendly Russia joined to
force the Serbs to back down in Kosovo. He blames Saudi Arabia for allowing extremist strains of Islam to spread.

The former NATO leader also opposes any active international role in policing the West Bank until the political situation is settled, a view that Israelis —
nervous at relinquishing control to foreign troops on their borders — would appreciate. Domestically, Clark favors many of the liberal
views popular with many Jews. He is pro-choice, and is strongly in favor of separating church from state. "In order to have freedom of
religion, you´ve got to protect the state from the church," he is quoted saying on his supporters´ Web site.

One of the leaders of the Draft Clark campaign said Clark´s strength on foreign policy would neutralize an advantage President Bush now has with Jews, and
would bring the debate back to domestic issues, where the Bush administration is weaker with Jews. "It makes him credible and allows
him to focus on domestic policy," Brent Blackaby said in a telephone interview from Clark´s campaign headquarters in Little Rock, Ark

Two of Clark´s top advisers are Jews who had prominent roles in the Clinton and Gore campaigns. Eli Segal was a top adviser to
President Clinton in his first term; Ron Klain helped run Vice President Al Gore´s
2000 campaign.

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID

Out-sourcing Big Brother

© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

You tell me if I'm just being paranoid.

An Arkansas company with ties to Mochtar Riady, the billionaire Indonesian and Chinese intelligence agent, has amassed 135 million consumer telephone numbers -- including about 20 million unlisted numbers -- to help identify and profile people who call toll-free lines to shop or make an inquiry.

The company is called Acxiom Corp. of Conway, Ark. It is partnered with a company called Alltel, previously called Systematics.

Alltel, as I mentioned, was the former name of Systematics and the partner to Acxiom. Alltel was the incarnation of the company that provided the software for the White House's "Big Brother" data base system, and Systematics was the incarnation of the company when it was behind the administration's plan to develop the secret computer "Clipper" chip to bug every phone, fax and email transmission in America.

Well, darn, if the Rose Law Firm connection doesn't still exist with the company under a new name. The general counsel for Acxiom is Catherine L. Hughes, 48, a former public defender and assistant state attorney general who worked at Rose from 1983 through 1988.

Hughes describes herself as something of a civil libertarian, but her company is a walking, talking, 3,000-man, privacy-invading monster if ever I have seen one.

When someone makes a toll-free call to a client of Acxiom, a telemarketing agent can learn who the caller is and where he or she lives, even before answering the call. The agent can also find out the kind of home the caller lives in, the type of cars the owners drive, whether they exercise or own a cat.

This is the kind of thing Acxiom brags about. What the company is more reticent to share with the public is its means of gathering such data.

Acxiom executives will not say exactly how they had gathered the 20 million unlisted numbers in their database, which, they claim, represents about half of all unlisted numbers in the United States. They are quick to point out there is nothing illegal in gathering such information.

Currently, Axciom is on an acquisition frenzy -- buying up every database company you can imagine, in the United States and abroad.

Acxiom officials point out with pride that telephone numbers, even those individuals pay to keep unlisted, are fast becoming consumer tags, akin to Social Security numbers. Isn't that exciting news, consumer?

If privacy concerns aren't enough to worry you with regard to Acxiom, think about this.

Systematics is a name wrapped up in so many Clinton scandals it would make your head spin. The company, for instance, obtained clearance to accompany Ron Brown on foreign trade trips.

In 1996, according to records from the Federal Election Commission, William Cravens, an old Clinton pal, contributed to both Republican and Democrat campaigns. In late May 1996, Cravens wrote a check to a Republican candidate for Congress using Alltel, the renamed Systematics, as his employer. Three days later, Cravens, the former CEO of Systematics, wrote a second check for a Democratic senatorial candidate, this time listing his employer as "Entergy Corp."

Have you ever seen a company with so many aliases?

The connections to Entergy Corp. again lead back to Indonesia and Mochtar Riady. In 1994, Ron Brown took a delegation of U.S. businesses to China. Among the businesses allowed to fly with the Commerce secretary was Entergy, a U.S. utility company that did business in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy later signed a $2 billion dollar deal with the Chinese government and the North China Power Group to build a 1,200-megawatt power plant in Datong, China.

The Entergy deal was also worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Entergy's partner, Riady. In fact, the North China Power Group renamed the entire project the "Lippo Entergy Datong Power Plant," giving top billing to the largest investor and financier from Indonesia.

But wait. This story gets even more bizarre. In January of last year, I told you how an Arkansas medical examiner had once again concluded "suicide" in a case where common sense might determine otherwise.

On Nov. 17, 1998, Charles Wilbourne Miller, 63, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in a shallow pit about 300 yards from his ranch house near Little Rock.

Police found a .410 shotgun near Miller's body and a Ruger .357-caliber revolver submerged in water. Investigators concluded the Ruger was the weapon used by Miller to kill himself. Yet, two rounds in the handgun's cylinder had been spent.

Only in Arkansas, I noted, does a suicide victim use two shots -- not to mention two weapons -- to kill himself.

Worse yet, Miller was no ordinary citizen of Arkansas. He had long served as executive vice president and member of the board of directors for a company called -- are you ready? -- Alltel. Only recently have Arkansas officials investigating Miller's death decided -- whoops! -- maybe it wasn't a suicide after all, just as I had deduced from 2,000 miles away reading news accounts. It's now being investigated as a homicide.

Now stay with me. I know this is complicated. But it's important. Don't let your eyes glaze over. This is necessary background to understanding the nature of the "private" company that has all this information on you.

Alltel, as I mentioned, was the former name of Systematics and the predecessor to Acxiom. Alltel was the incarnation of the company that provided the software for the White House's "Big Brother" data base system, and Systematics was the incarnation of the company when it was behind the administration's plan to develop the secret computer "Clipper" chip to bug every phone, fax and email transmission in America.

There has been at least one other high-profile "suicide" among the inner circle involved with the "Clipper" chip project -- Foster, who, we now know attended critical NSA planning meetings on the Clipper chip project, along with then-Associate Attorney General Hubbell, Attorney General Janet Reno and then-White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum.

It was Stephens' effort to get Systematics the job of handling the data processing for the Washington, D.C., First American Bank that led to the BCCI takeover of the institution. Hillary Clinton and Foster represented Systematics in that endeavor. Later Foster became an overseer of NSA's relationship with Systematics. And later still, he got dead. No matter what Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr says, his death has never been explained adequately as a suicide.

Foster's deep connections to the Whitewater scandal, the Travelgate scandal, the Filegate scandal and this spying scandal have never been examined by any of the official probes into his death.

How big and how sensitive was the Clipper chip project? According to a 1996 report to Vice President Al Gore by former CIA Director John Deutch, Reno proposed an all-out federal takeover of the computer industry. The Justice Department proposed legislation that would ban the import and domestic manufacture, sale or distribution of encryption that did not have key recovery.

Prime targets for monitoring would be foreign governments, banks, corporations, and individuals opposing the Clinton administration. The keys were to be held by "key recovery agents" licensed by the Commerce Department. Key recovery is a government back-door system designed to secretly monitor computers.

Now, I know what some of you are going to say: "Conspiracy theorist." Well, la di da. I haven't woven any conspiracy theories, folks. All I've given you here are the facts -- facts that have been conveniently ignored by every other news agency in the world.

What does it mean? I'm not certain. But I hope you find it as interesting -- and frightening -- as I do.

Some overriding questions leap to my mind: Did Acxiom or Alltell or Systematics or whatever you want to call it gain access to this overwhelming amount of data on the public through its cozy, some might say "incestuous" relationship with the Clinton administration? Was this a way of outsourcing the government's Big Brother plans? Was this a way for Clinton pals to receive personal benefit from their public contracts?

Unfortunately, I don't think Janet Reno's Justice Department will be examining that question any time soon.

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