If they are, I want the address of the vendor. I would love to have something that removes the y2k bugs.

Oldman - I really hate to be betting against your call. 35K$US/contract, what kind of contract are you talking about ? S+P puts I assume ? You have more experience with options trading I'm sure, I'd love to hear your strategies, which options your tend to migrate to, etc.

himself through all this and not have exhaled with Monica.

Absolutely no way. What for, the romance of it? Sorry, but I'm

hangin' on to the keyboard to keep from falling over in laughter.

By the way, my intention is NOT to insult Puetz and Mrs. Puetz.

Keep on keepin' on.

By JOHN O'MAHONY

An angry generation of twentysomethings would like to see Monica Lewinsky drop silently off the face of the Earth.

A poster girl for their post-Generation X she's not, they said - she's more like a blot on the landscape.

And they warned against making judgments about them based on the actions of the smashmouth 25-year-old intern who introduced herself to the president by flashing her thong panties in his face.

She's certainly not representative of women our age at all, said Therese McDonald, 25, an assistant editor at a major Manhattan publisher.

Her behavior was tacky. The president showed poor judgment in choosing to carry on with her, and she's weak, weak, weak, McDonald said.

Sally Rosenthal, 25, a research assistant for a Manhattan film production company, said she thought Monica naive. I don't generally have much sympathy for a woman who'll go chase after a married man, even if he is who he is.

Because of the wealth of salacious details in the Starr report, Lewinsky's peers feel they know as much about the former White House intern's hopes, dreams and sexual proclivities as they know about those of their best friends.

The trouble is that few of those in Lewinsky's age bracket would ever want her as their best friend.

From what I've read, she's an untrustworthy and dangerous person to be around, said Tana Osa Yande, 28, an assistant at a literary agency.

And it amazes me that she doesn't seem to be as distraught as I would be in the same situation. She owes Hillary Clinton and the nation an apology as much as Clinton, but she goes off and does a photo spread in Vanity Fair!

Lewinsky's therapist, Kathleen Estep, told prosecutors her patient suffered from depression and low self-esteem, but such exculpatory psychobabble doesn't wash with the former intern's peers.

New Yorker Kamal Latham, 24, a public-policy masters student at the Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass., said he believes Lewinsky knowingly set up the president.

Anyone who would hold on to a semen-stained dress without washing it, as she did, has an agenda and a motive that was questionable, Latham said.

Others saw Lewinsky as a typical piece of flotsam from California's feckless Melrose Place world, where everyone wants to sleep with someone famous.

Eden White, 28, said that in the music industry, where she works as a singer/songwriter, there are always those who mistakenly believe they can get ahead by making out with people in power.

But it's not the way to go, she said.

Anyone who is admirable and honorable runs the other way. If Monica Lewinsky wanted to advance herself, she should have done it with her intelligence, her demeanor or her personality and not by having sex with the president.

Most of those who spoke to The Post felt little compassion for Lewinsky, but some admitted being concerned about how she would reclaim her life.

She's infamous now, said Mary Beth Brown, 24, a literary agent's assistant.

What job is she ever going to get? What do you do after this now that everyone knows who she is?

But there are some consolations - all Lewinsky's peers agreed she'll never be short of male company.

Sure she'll get any number of dates because some men seek out celebrity and everyone's aware of the interesting kind of tricks she knows, said McDonald.

But I also think her chances of having a significant, real relationship are slim.

More than anything else, Lewinsky's peers said they'd been shocked, not just by her actions and those of the president but by the whole Sexgate affair, which some said had shaken their confidence in government.

It acts as discouragement and a deterrent for people interested in the political process when they see how irresponsible and insincere our leaders can be, said Latham.

They're all trying to tear each other down when they should resolve the situation and move on.

The country would be much better off if they did. http://www.nypost.com/news/4950.htm

By Alan Deans There is good news and bad news about the outlook for Wall Street. First, the bad news is that earnings for the third quarter are now forecast to slump marginally, the first time that profits would have failed to grow in seven years.

For those with a memory for these things, that dates back to before the start of the great stockmarket boom. Yet it is just the latest step in a worrying downward trend that goes back to the peak of the profits cycle in mid-1995.

The good news is that the Dow Jones Industrial Average seems to have priced much of this gloom into stocks. However, that does not mean shares will recover soon from their sub-8000 point level. That depends on how long the present earnings recession lasts.

On Friday, a combined options expiry day saw the Dow close a moderate 21.9 points higher at 7895.6 – up on the week but still down for the year.

Consensus forecaster First Call says expectations are for a 0.2 per cent slump in earnings this quarter, but it warns this could worsen to 3 per cent. The sectors to be worst hit are commodity-related, including paper, steel, oil and chemicals.

But stockbroking, the source of solid earnings growth in recent times, is also among those ready to be hammered. Estimates are for a decline of 32 per cent over a year ago.

Salomon Smith Barney has analysed the sectors in the hope of finding a star. John Manley concludes that the deterioration will be widespread, but he has come up with heath-care companies, including drug manufacturers, as a sector where growth should exceed 10 per cent.

Clearly, these are dangerous times for investors to be buying. Earnings growth for the fourth quarter is certain to be cut considerably from First Call's 10.8 per cent consensus figure, prompting more price weakness as the year draws to a close.

Like a sick patient holding out for a healthy prognosis, the only real hope for a sustained turnaround is for a cut in official interest rates.

Such a shot in the arm would spur investors to review sectors with growth potential and engage in some healthy bargain hunting. Mr Manley pinpoints technology stocks as one group that, while it is likely to have a decline in earnings during the present quarter, is at or near bottom.

The market rallied last week in the hope that such external influences would boost prices. But there are still dark clouds hanging around.

The darkest of the lot could break today with the release in Washington of the videotape of President Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony, plus numerous appendices. While the Lewinsky scandal has had little direct effect on stock prices, impeachment deliberations are becoming bitter.

Should it become a drawn-out process, it will do little to create a confident environment for investing.

There is also continuing global uncertainty. Despite his speech about spurring international growth and saving the US economy, people are sceptical about President Clinton and the G7's ability to deliver quickly in the war they declared on deflation.

Wall Street's daily ups and downs are still dictated by movements on the battered Tokyo stock market as much as any other factor. http://www.afr.com.au/content/980921/market/markets2.html

Extrapolate from there, sex included, and i think you'll get it.

of anything, so far. Haven't seen him around either, though.

Regards.......Dabchick

Do the right thing. Do what's right for the Republic. Impeach William Jefferson Clinton now. There is more than ample evidence. Then give AlGore a look over. After all, he is complicit in WJC's games. Restore some measure of faith in the Constitutional process! Get rid of this poll driven insanity! Right is right and wrong is wrong. A law broken is a law broken. It's a one or a zero, there is no in between.

When do you think the bottom will be in? I know; It's a dangerous question to answer......

By Cynthia L. KemperInternational Business Consultant

Russia's recent economic and political collapse was not a surprise to those who have tracked the former Soviet Union's democratic reform process since the demise of communism in 1991. Russian scholars have been predicting trouble for years.

Jonathan Adelman, a professor and Russian specialist at the University of Denver's Graduate School of International Studies, recently shed some light on the longstanding complex issues at the heart Russia's current struggles. He begins with a look at the history of democracy in the United States.

Most Americans automatically assume that our country has been democratic and capitalistic since 1781,'' begins Adelman. But, reality was quite different. The development of a democracy was not really that smooth in the U.S. For almost 50 years - until the advent of Jacksonian democracy in 1828 - there was no true two-party system in the United States. And it was not until the 1870s - after the Civil War - that industrial capitalism came to predominate. Women couldn't vote until 1920, and Southern blacks didn't vote until 1964.''

In other words, even in the United States, Canada and England, democracy and capitalism took a very long time to develop,'' he adds. Russia's past experience is even less encouraging for those who envisioned a smooth transition to democracy.

Understanding Russian history is critical here,'' Adelman continues. For the last 750 years Russia has known only harsh, imperial, authoritarian politics driven by staterun enterprises and planning. So, previous to 1991, the Russian people had only limited understanding or experience of capitalistic foundations and democratic ideals.''

After 240 years of harsh Mongol rule ( 1240-1480 ) , which resulted in total isolation from the West, Russia emerged into more than 400 years of autocratic, Tsarist, imperial domination ( 1480-1917 ) . Tsarism was replaced by an even harsher and repressive Communist Soviet rule ( 1917-1991 ) , until it collapsed, forcing the former Soviet Union to transform itself in the image of the capitalistic, democratic model of the United States.

As well, Russia's objective conditions were historically very different from ours,'' Adelman explains. Before modern times, it was situated in a vast, relatively inhospitable land mass far from warm-water ports, surrounded by enemies who invaded from all quadrants ( Mongols, Tatars, Poles, Swedes, French and Germans ) , and geographically isolated from Western centers of civilization. Thus, Russia became an empire that expanded outward to provide protection for its people, creating a strong state that smashed a weak society. Few of the prerequisites for capitalism and democracy were ever present.''

All of this makes it very difficult for Russia to adopt capitalism and democracy today - let alone nation building ( shedding 14 other independent nations ) . These differences also make it unrealistic to expect these processes to unfold successfully in only a decade,'' says Adelman. Russia has none of the centuries of Western experience that we do in these areas. And yet, in the 1990s, it was expected to carry out this triple revolution all simultaneously while absorbing the loss of its empire and superpower status in the world as well.''

So, Russia's attempt to implement democracy, capitalism and nationbuilding over the last decade has resulted in a very corrupt form of democracy in which former Communist apparatchiks' like Yeltsin have painted themselves as democrats while maintaining very authoritarian tendencies,'' says Adelman. Capitalism was achieved by a vast property grab of state assets by a small group ( perhaps 100,000 ) of largely former members of the Communist elite who seized state assets and privatized them in the early 1990s. They did not develop the economy as promised, but, bought luxury goods and sent their capital gains of nearly 100 billion dollars abroad for safe keeping.''

In Russia today, 40 percent of the population - primarily older and poorly educated people, peasants and blue-collar workers - still support the Communist party. They are angry at the new order - as they have not seen the results initially promised - and prefer the old ways, as communism is the only system they have ever known or trusted. http://www.denverpost.com/business/kemp0920.htm

Regards....Dabchick

However, because I think the 16-year chart of the Dabchick Gold Index offers an historical insight as to the true relative value of gold over that period, I thought I should make it available as soon as possible. For anyone who wants to produce their own chart before I have one ready via Kitco, here are the necessary data. All figures are monthly averages, rounded to the nearest whole number.

Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |

1982 | 100 | 098 | 088 | 094 | 089 | 086 | 093 | 101 | 122 | 119 | 118 | 126 |

1983 | 139 | 143 | 124 | 129 | 134 | 124 | 127 | 125 | 124 | 118 | 114 | 117 |

1984 | 111 | 116 | 118 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 107 | 109 | 110 | 112 | 114 | 109 |

1985 | 104 | 107 | 109 | 111 | 109 | 108 | 105 | 106 | 105 | 100 | 099 | 096 |

1986 | 102 | 096 | 096 | 094 | 093 | 093 | 093 | 099 | 109 | 110 | 104 | 101 |

1987 | 101 | 100 | 100 | 104 | 109 | 108 | 110 | 112 | 109 | 110 | 106 | 108 |

1988 | 106 | 099 | 098 | 099 | 099 | 100 | 101 | 101 | 097 | 093 | 093 | 092 |

1989 | 091 | 088 | 090 | 089 | 088 | 090 | 089 | 088 | 088 | 087 | 093 | 094 |

1990 | 093 | 095 | 091 | 087 | 084 | 080 | 080 | 085 | 083 | 078 | 078 | 078 |

1991 | 079 | 074 | 078 | 079 | 080 | 084 | 084 | 080 | 077 | 078 | 077 | 076 |

1992 | 074 | 076 | 076 | 074 | 073 | 072 | 072 | 069 | 070 | 072 | 074 | 074 |

1993 | 074 | 074 | 074 | 074 | 079 | 080 | 087 | 084 | 078 | 080 | 084 | 087 |

1994 | 088 | 086 | 086 | 084 | 084 | 084 | 082 | 081 | 082 | 081 | 081 | 081 |

1995 | 080 | 079 | 077 | 076 | 076 | 076 | 076 | 078 | 080 | 079 | 079 | 081 |

1996 | 084 | 086 | 084 | 084 | 084 | 083 | 082 | 082 | 082 | 082 | 081 | 080 |

1997 | 079 | 079 | 081 | 084 | 079 | 077 | 075 | 076 | 076 | 076 | 072 | 069 |

1998 | 070 | 071 | 072 | 075 | 073 | 073 | 073 | 072 |

I want to thank everyone for their encouraging comments about the value of an Index like this. We may be able to publicise the need for one in the Financial Press in due course. To Grant, Goldilocks, Gollum, Missing Link, Silverbaron, Strat, Chas and all you others ..........my sincere thanks. Also to SDRer, whose elegant reference to my bigger diving-bird cousin, the Grebe, made clear our readiness to dive into murky situations. ( Gollum .........did you hear me tapping on your submarine when I was diving one morning last week? I thought I had struck gold at first! ) . And for Oak...I hope I may perch on your sturdy branches while I peer down into the stream below, searching for golden nuggets.

A large part of the value of an awareness of the true value of gold lies in its ability to highlight the falsity of fiat currencies. For sparking off a very illuminating series of contributions on that topic, I want to thank Cowgirl for asking the question in the first place on 7th Sept. The ensuing discussion shone a lot of light where it is badly needed - thanks ( among others ) to GoldnBoy, BUGal, ERLE, Mozel , Private Investor, Allen ( USA ) and Nick/C [whose sense of humour is, like gold, much valued here]. And still more light was cast on 17th Sept when Lady_bug and Gwyz evoked further replies from Early Riser, MM, Panda, Preacher and Speed.

No mistake ......this discussion group contains a wealth of talent and experience, as this one topic alone has shown. Thanks Bart, for making it all possible. Now .......back to that computer reference book......