counting the political and legal victoriesrnof the past year. Lambasting the localrnGannett paper (LGP) for its biased coveragernof those opposed to federal controlrnof Rockford’s schools, Dr. Fleming remarked,rn”If you can believe the paper,rnyou would think this crowd is a lynchrnmob.” Recalling the slogan of thernprevious rally—”Vote, Organize, andrnProtest” —Dr. Fleming urged Rockfordiansrnto continue their battle at the ballotrnbox, in the courts, and on the streets.rnThe response of the LGP was predictable.rnAfter refusing to provide advancerncoverage of the rally (even thoughrnadvance coverage of much smallerrnevents is routine), the LGP printed arnshort story on page three, which quotedrnDr. Fleming as saying simply, “Yournwould think this crowd is a lynch mob.”rnBut the LGP’s coup de grace was sdll torncome. A month after the rally, the paperrnran a two-part, front-page series on thernLeague of the South (of which Dr. Flemingrnis a founding board member), underrnthe ridiculous headline, “New GonfederatesrnSpark Outrage in Rockford.” Repleternwith lies and distortions (as well asrnexcerpts from a Ku Klux Klan website!),rnthe articles and the accompanving editorialrnwere clearly meant to stifle oppositionrnto the desegregation case. But thernLGP quickly discovered that its strategyrnhad backfired, as the citizens of Rockfordrnrallied to the Inshtute’s side, both on talkrnradio and in letters to the editor. Perhapsrnin part because of the contempt that therncitizens of Rockford have for the LGP,rnthe Chicago Tribune is now consideringrna Rockford bureau and a Rockford edition,rnwelcome news for a town that’srnbeen “chained” to one newspaper for toornlong.rnBut amid the signs of hope, the caserngoes on, and Rockford may be approachingrnthe breaking point. For the 1997-98rnschool year, blacks and Hispanics madernup 40 percent of the public school population.rnThe school district’s initial estimaternfor 1998-99 was a 44 percent minorityrnpopulation, but the final numberrnis over 46 percent, and the current projectionrnfor 1999-2000 is a 50/50 split.rnHistoricallv, when the minority studentrnpopulation in a district under a desegregationrnorder hits 50 percent, middle-classrnflight (both white and minority) becomesrnunstoppable. But that doesn’trnnecessarily mean that “For Sale” signsrnwill be popping up like mushrooms herernin Rockford. With the third-highestrnpropert}’ tax rates in the nation and somernof the lowest property values, manyrnhomeowners may find it cheaper andrneasier to default on their mortgages andrnwalk awav.rn-ScottP.RichertrnB O B SANTAMARIA was not a namernfamiliar to most Americans. But whenrnhe died in Melbourne, Australia, onrnFebruary 25, 1998, he was mournedrnwithin his country and bevond as one ofrnthe greatest Australians of the centuryrnand as one of the wodd’s leading cham-rn^^^PABLE ^^^^rnAristotle, Politics. Autarky as the goal ofrnpolitical community.rnPat Choate, Agents of Influence (Knopf).rnA classic work on how foreign economicrnand political interests have underminedrnAmerican sovereignty.rnAlfred E. Eckes, Jr., Opening America’srnMarket: U.S. Foreign Trade Policy Sincern1776 (University of North Carolina).rnPlaces NAFTA, GATT, and other recentrnfree trade measures in historical perspective.rnThe Big One. The latest movie by inveterate leftist Michael Moore mayrnhave to be taken with a grain of salt, but conservative critics of big businessrnand free trade won’t want to miss it.rnpious of freedom.rnBorn in 1915, the son of Italian immigrants,rnBartholomew Augustine Santamariarngrew up during the Depressionrnand the rise of totalitarian ideologies andrnempires. At the state funeral accordedrnhim in St. Patrick’s Gathedral in Melbourne,rnArchbishop George Pell focusedrnon the influence of the Spanish GivilrnWar in the young Santamaria’s life.rnWith admiration, he cited Santamaria’srnwords at the end of an historic 1937 debaternon the war at Melbourne University:rn”When the bullets of the atheists struckrnthe statue of Ghrist outside the cathedralrnin Madrid, for some that was just leadrnstriking brass, but for me those bulletsrnwere piercing the heart of Ghrist myrnKing.”rnThis young man soon became thernprotege of Melbourne’s famed Irish archbishop.rnDr. Daniel Mannix. In Santamaria,rnMannix found the kind of layrnleader who could mobilize people in thernstruggle against totalitarianism, not onlyrnwith a clear mind, but through deeprnfaith. This combination of faith and intellectrnlater influenced the spiritual journeyrnof friends such as Malcolm Muggendge.rnIn an era when being Italian was notrnthe way to “get on” in Australian WASPdom.rnBob Santamaria was always proudrnof his ethnic roots. It is said that he wasrntold that if he changed his surname hernwould surely end up prime minister. Butrnhe scorned the enticements of the establishmentrnand ultimately came to exerciserndeeper influence on the nation thanrnmost prime ministers. ylthough he neverrnwas a member of a political party, hisrnabilities in political, social, and economicrnanalysis were matched by his skills as arnstrategist and organizer.rnHe was the mind behind the networkrnof anti-communist cells or “industrialrngroups” set up within the powerful Australianrntrade unions during and after thernwar, when the Comintern had targetedrnAustralia. But the left resorted to sectarianismrnin an attempt to destroy Santamariarnand his friends. The result was thern1955 split in the Australian Labor Party,rnan event that drove many Catholics outrnand led to the formation of an anti-communistrnDemocratic Labor Party, whichrnheld the balance of power and kept thernconservative Liberal Party in office forrnnearly 20 years. A positive outcome wasrnthe granting of government aid to independentrn(mainly Catholic) schools, arnfeasible policy in a nation where the sep-rn8/CHRONICLESrnrnrn