1999

How George Dubya Won The Lottery Game For GTech It's Rollover Time for the Lottery Fixers roll over again

by Greg Palast
November 28, 1999

For The Observer/Guardian UK
Governor George W Bush was a fighter pilot during the war in Vietnam – not in the US Air Force, where one could be seriously hurt or injured – but in the Texas air force, known as the Air Guard. Membership excused these weekend warriors from the draft. Young George W tested at 25 out of 100, one point above ‘too dumb to fly’ status, yet leapt ahead of hundreds of applicants to get in.
Baby Bush’s good fortune 30 years ago is connected in a strange and edifying manner to the victory by GTech Corporation and its Camelot partners in beating Richard Branson for the new contract to operate the National Lottery, starting in 2002.

Gates' Clear Road to the Future

by Greg Palast
November 14, 1999

For The Observer/Guardian UK
It was computer Kristallnacht, the sound of Windows shattered by marauding government bureaucrats.
All good, responsible news outlets announced that Judge Penfield Jackson’s judgment of Microsoft meant that Bill Gates’ corporate corpus would be torn limb from limb.

Gates on the Ropes Microsoft will be Forced Back to the Negotiating Table after US Judge Rules that Software Giant 'Harmed Consumers'

by Greg Palast
November 7, 1999

By Ed Vulliamy in Seattle, Emily Bell and Jamie Doward for The Observer/Guardian UK
It’s official. Microsoft is a monopoly. But those hoping to see the break-up of Bill Gates’s empire are likely to be disappointed. The 207-page judgment delivered by US district court judge Thomas Penfield Jackson on Friday found in favor of the US Justice Department’s anti-trust team, lead by Joel Klein.

Inside Corporate America The Few Cyberati Dial Handouts from the Many

by Greg Palast
October 10, 1999

For The Observer/Guardian UK
It’s 2022 and my grandchildren ask, ‘Grandpa, when did the communications counter-revolution begin?’ As we huddle round the cyberfire, they guess it all went wrong in October 1999. That was when MCI WorldCom paid $115 billion for Sprint Corporation which, once it had merged with AT&T in 2002, gave the telephony behemoth 80 per cent of America’s long-distance market.

Free Market In Human Misery

by Greg Palast
For The Observer/Guardian UK
September 26, 1999April 3, 2026

Wackenhut’s private prisons in the US have been described as hell on Earth. So why would we want them?

Seattle's Bullyboy wins out again

by Greg Palast
August 15, 1999

For The Observer/Guardian UK
Britain had to go to war to force China to buy opium. But the USA hasn’t had to fire a single bullet to make the world surrender to our Disk Operating System.

Consumers set for Payout in Microsoft Case

by Greg Palast
August 15, 1999

For The Observer/Guardian UK
All British users of Windows software – and that’s almost everyone with a PC – could be in for a payment from Microsoft as a result of the US government’s case against it for monopolising the market for operating systems.

Nanwalek Rocks Natives at Ground Zero of the Exxon Valdez oil spill

by Greg Palast
August 1, 1999

At the far side of Alaska’s Kenai Fjord glacier, a heavily armed rock-and-roll band held lock-down control of the politics and treasury of Nanwalek, a Chugach village, until four years ago.

Jack Straw's Plan to Keep it Zipped

by Greg Palast
July 20, 1999

For The Observer/Guardian UK
I am convinced the only person in Britain with a true understanding of the consequences of Freedom of Information is Jack Straw. The home secretary’s critics claim his resistance to FoI is rooted in some pathological distrust of open democracy. That’s quite unfair. His concerns are rational indeed. This government has some very specific information – records of meetings,phone calls, deals – it would hope to keep very un-free.

Praise Uncle Sam and Pass the 18p an Hour

by Greg Palast
June 20, 1999

For The Observer/Guardian UK
At Wal-Mart’s 1992 general meeting, founder Sam Walton asked shareholders to sing God Bless America. The 15,000 Wal-Martians responded to Sam’s call – even though Walton had been dead for two months.