November 1992

11/1/92

Perot says he’ll win all 50 states

Bush says being attacked on character by Clinton is like being called ugly by a frog. Also says Clinton knows as much about foreign policy as his dog Millie. This is an insult because Millie is his *domestic* policy czar

Arrests of boys under 12 for murder doubled 1985-91

Russian Security Min. arrests a scientist who wrote that Russia cont. test & produce chem. weapons, under old Soviet secrecy laws. They will appoint a lawyer, since his own has no security clearance

Bush running ads on black radio stations that Clinton would “be turning the clock back,” since in Ark., blacks are poorer, less ed. & more unemployed than elsewhere


11/2/92

Defense Intelligence Agency had details on Iraq’s technology-procurement network in Eur, inc Matrix Churchill, on trial now in Br. Nothing was done to stop it, or change US policy. This was Jun89

IRS tells Sup Court that requiring it to delivery tax deficiency notices to the correct addresses would “virtually paralyze the service’s enforcement efforts.”

Bush yesterday claimed Clinton’s friends grabbed his ROTC records

In latest Milosevic power-play, Yug. Parl dec no confidence in PM Panic. But lower house saves him, barely

One price of micro-states. Slovakia to push ahead w/a dam diverting the Danube. Hungary practically ready to go to war. And who trusts Slovakia w/a huge nuclear complex w/out containment, Soviet-style

CIA told Ag Dept Jan90 that Lovoro’s Rome hq knew it was diverting $ to Iraq


11/3/92

7:34 pm Perot declares Clinton the victor, as have all the networks for hrs. Effects on CA to be seen. Of course, Perot could still get back in the race.
-Clinton never has to job again
-Of 198 check bouncers in House running, 174 returned, 17 defeated, rest still not called

A stacked presidential commission recommended women cont. be barred from ground combat, flying combat, but can serve on warships

Lithuanian parl elections – 1st round – ex-CP 44.8%, Sajudis mvmt 19.8%. Landsbergis blames Russian security “brainwashing experts.”

Iran increases bounty on Salman Rushdie

Trade talks w/EC on farm subsidies collapse – trade war begins

Bulgaria’s last CP PM convicted of embezzling $8,400 from an orphan fund, sentenced to 10 yrs

Cambodian gov wants UN to stop disarmament plan, as it needs to defend itself against Khmer Rouge. And wants to expel them from Sup Nat Council

Justice Dept secretly agreed not to prosecute Matrix Churchill execs 1990-1 over their supplying arms machine goods to Iraq

Canada high court says military must not bar homosexuals

Congress forced DC to vote on death penalty – it was defeated


11/4/92

Israel to allow Arabs in Dipl Corps

Fed appeals court invalidated on tech grounds the abortion gag rule

A Harvard study shows uninsured patients 2.1X more likely to suffer negligent med. injuries than insured, & 5.2X in emergency rooms

Brazil not only kills street kids, but also “criminals,” the military police accounting for 5/day in Sao Paolo State. Last mo they killed 111 prisoners who had no arms or hostages

EC opens membership talks w/Finland, but told it to drop neutrality (against whom?)

Iowa defeated a state ERA 52-48

Safire declares the Clinton-Gore honeymoon over

Charter 77 (Czech) dissolves

The new House of Reps will have 110 new members, highest since 1948, but mostly by retirement. Senate 11-13 new members (a runoff to come in GA, special election ND). House 259 D’s, 9 down
-6 women in Senate, adding DiFi, Boxer, Carol Mosley Braun, Patty Murray. House will have 47 ♀, up from 28 (35 D’s). Draun is 1st black ♀ senator
-The yr of the woman is, unannounced, the yr of the minority. 39 House blacks, up from 25, inc the 1st since Reconstruction from NC, Fla, SC, VA, Ala. – 37 of them D’s. Hispanics up to 17 from 10, of whom 14 D’s. 1st Korean. 1st Amerind in Senate in 60 yrs, Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D-Colo). 1st Puerto Rican ♀
-mD reaffirmed abortion rights
-Turnout 55% – 10% of voters were first-time
-Oregon rejected the infamous measure defining homosexuality as “abnormal, perverse & wrong” & have gov discourage it, by 56-44, but Colo. passed a bill overriding local anti-discrim laws in place in Denver, Aspen, Boulder, 54-36. Governor to fight it in court. Portland, Maine kept its gay rights 57-43. Tampa repealed 1 58-42.
-Alfonse D’Amato, the scummiest slime in the Senate, barely returned, spending $7m. Other near-win incumbents: Bob Packwood, running against the spotted owl, and John Glenn, of Keating 5 Scandal fame, Arlen Specter, who was nasty to Anita Hill & was reminded of it constantly by a woman, and Ernest Hollings.
-CA sent the 1st all-female senate delegation (& first all-Jewish?)
-D’s were going for 60 seats in Senate, to be able to stop filibusters, but may wind up still at 57
-CA failed to allow euthanasia 54-46
-D’s up to 30 governors


11/5/92

1/6 of state legislators didn’t seek re-election, so of 6,255 seats up Tuesday (of 7,461 total), 2,000+ will be new, w/women increasing to 20%, blacks to 6$. NYT says (maybe wrong?) that 14 states passed term limits. R’s did well. Going in, D’s had: majority both houses: 29. 70 of 99 chambers.
Now: 25 & 64.
-R’s hold both houses in 9 states, up from 6, & 30 chambers

Term limits: CA returned 34 of 35 incumbents. In those 14 states, 6 of 114 incumbents lost, 19 nationally (7%)

Presbyterians bar sexually active gays as ministers

US kept secret that Iran arrested a US businessman as linked to Savak, foreign comps, etc. US knew this a week ago. Claim they couldn’t release the info w/out a Privacy Act waiver from the man himself.

AIPAC head forced to resign for being taped claiming he told Clinton who to name to Cabinet & other excessive (?) claims

Br Parl preliminarily passes Maastricht 319-316, Lib Dems supporting Major against 35 Tory rebels

Gov. Wilson can give up any presidential aspirations. He failed to get Bush more than 32% here. He failed to get D’s out of Assembly, after screwing them on redistricting, and he lost his screw-the-poor-on-welfare-plus-major-budget-power-grab initiative


11/6/92

Governor of East Timor on the Nov91 massacre: “In my opinion there should have been more people killed. ... Why not all one thousand?”

Br now to avoid the real Maastricht ratification until May, after a new Danish referendum

D’s raised $71m for the gen election, 40% over 1988. R’s $62m. Comps giving $100,000+ to both parties: Arco, RJR Nabisco, Archer Daniels-Midlands, Philip Morris, Tobacco Institute

Indian princes going into court to reclaim their titles & privileges, abolished 1972

Serbs have flown c.20 flights in violation of UN ban

From an impossible-to-summarize Voice article on S&L’s 10/20/92: of 5 biggest defaulting people ($200+m each), 4 connected either to Bush & Baker’s longtime friend Walter Mischer or Neil Bush’s mentor Bill Walters. This is so inter-connected & complex, it reads like the CIA or Mafia, both of which do connect. Trine Starn, $500m, $71m of which from Neil’s Silverado, and a previous bankrupt! got to visit White House for giving $30,000+ to Contras. Another of top 5 John Riddle, inc $15m owed to a Fla. S&L that Bush intervened to keep open 1984 – at cost of $680m. It’s largely a pyramid scheme. For ex., a shopping center worth $25m, bought at $35m & traded back & forth between Jersey-registered trusts, totaling $150m in mortgages defaulted on US S&Ls. All Bush’s friends were in on this, like in Iran-Contra.
-There are people like M. Renda (not a Bush friend), a deposit broker, who got $5b/yr into 130 S&Ls, all of which failed, on condition loans be made to his nominees, all local or non-local Mafia. He served 30 mos.
-An interlocking group of S&Ls, banks, made loans to a circle of borrowers worth much more than the collateral, using it in part to buy more S&Ls, which exchanged loans to make their loans look good.
-Mainland Savings, which lost US $500m or so, much lent to Detroit Mafia & others. Its chair Raymond Hill goes back to childhood w/James Baker, sec of Treasury then. Fed regulators hired a local law firm to investigate; its lawyers wanted to file fraud suit, but overruled by partners – Baker had been a partner before went to DC. The claim is no legal action taken because Mainland didn’t have enough assets to be worth pursuing – but that’s rather the point.
-Mischer, who runs Houston, helped Bush run for Congress, raised $3.2m for him 1980, testified as expert witness for Neil Bush. His banks provided the capital for the control of S&Ls whose failure cost us $1b+. Mainland bought out his defaulted oil & gas leases at 90% (costing us $814+m). Also mob-connected. His banks always sold their bad loans before failing, getting their money out
-Some of these S&Ls’ bad loans went to CIA proprietaries like Global Internat. Airway. Mischer’s investments actually seem to have been timed w/CIA activity since 1952.
-Bill Walters started w/Neil Bush’s miserable oil exploration business at 28, in c.1984, $150,000. Walters’ Chevy Creek National would cost FDIC $1,750,000. Walters a big borrower at Silverado, which Neil joined as a director, $130m which he didn’t repay (he says only 90m) & it bought bad props from him, $95m worth, while he bought $42m of its stock, $6.5m of its problem loans. $1/3b is still unaccounted for in Walters’ case, and he dec. bankruptcy but still lives quite well, through trusts for his wife.
-$500,000+ went to Neil personally. MDC Holdings got $250m Silverado missing when it went belly up. MDC built houses, inc Neil’s $500,000 one, for which it *said* Neil paid cash. MDC made mortgages w/no money down to buyers, effectively backed by US through Silverado, to tune of $208m – more than MDC claims even to be worth. The owner raised $1m for RR, and 1989 after Silverado failed, raised $850,000 for Bush. The 2nd largest recipient of Silverado loans was Wllison Thine Starnes Jr, who defrauded 7 S&Ls of $500m, after a 1976 bankruptcy where he claimed $2.4m debts & $6,600 assets. $31m he got from Silverado was to buy an unprofitable orange juice plant another Starnes comp just bought for $17m – $1.9m in commissions for arranging the sale going to a 3rd Starnes comp. The loan was made w/out appraisal. In addition to giving to Contras, gave to R candidates. His group employed Robert Clarke, Bush’s comptroller of the currency. Another Silverado borrower Kenneth Good lent Neil $100,000 to invest in commodities, which Neil lost & didn’t pay back, & $1m into Neil’s failed oil wells.
-Mainland also gave a $5m credit guarantee to Adnan Khashoggi, covering his payment of $5m 1985 to cover arms-for-hostages shipments. It also bought 21 acres of real estate for $68m he’d paid $5.7m for 1975 & then mortgaged for $30m w/out ever building (RTC would sell if off for $14m). Of his $38m profit, he invested $22m back in Mainland, $12m of it in bad loans & real estate, making Mainland look solvent. He also got a $5m line of credit that seems to have been intended to guarantee Iran’s payment. By the by, 1900 Khashoggi invested $100m in an oil comp est by Jerry D. Allen, co-chair of Republican Nat Cmte & backer of Neil Bush’s failed oil venture


11/7/92

Ger to pay compensation to Eur Jews, inc those not from Ger – anyone who spent 6 mos in concentration camps, ghettos 18 mos, in hiding 18 mos


11/8/92

Jap Lib Dems filing libel suit against Tokyo prosecutors for reading depositions in court on the party offering $25m bribe to rightist groups to stop them opposing Takeshita becoming PM 1987. They agreed when yakuza intervened. They’re threatening jobs of the judge & prosecutor.


11/9/92

Russia to keep using Chernobyl-style graphite-core reactors, 15 of them


11/10/92

Sup Court let stand Colorado’s ltd liability where the state at fault, to $150,000/person or $400,000/accident. They cropped a boulder on a bus, killing 9, wounding 19 – $11,000 each

Sup Court 7-2 refuses to hear the case on self-insuring comps, thus allowing them to reduce coverage, say for AIDS, to nil if they feel like it

Yeltsin decree allows ownership of weapons (mace, I think)

Gov fires the State Dept official (asst sec) for searches of passport files of Clinton, his mother, & Perot

Fed judge orders Navy to reinstate a sailor discharged for saying he was gay on tv. Navy 1st resisted, now doing it. The announcement made by Pentagon, spokesman Pete Williams, who NYT doesn’t say is gay, but everyone knows it


11/11/92

Br drops the Matric Churchill case after ex-Defense Min Alan Clark admitted gov knew about it, and defense going after the CIA connection. A Jan88 document shows Br official saying that sales to Iraq was dependent on US policy. The Ohio branch sold parts to make howitzers. Br supposed to implement an ind inquiry now. Clark said that at time he told comp to stress that stuff like machine tools to make fuses, were for peaceful purposes, & to bury gov in paperwork


11/12/92

C of E lets in women priests (12 of 28 provinces already do)

Quayle trying to relax wetland protections before he leaves office, w/out waiting for study by Nat Academy of Sciences

4 R. senators want an ind prosecutor on whether Iran-Contra ind prosecutor timed his Oct. 30 indictment of Weinberger & disclosed it to Clinton

Russia says USSR kept US POWs seized from Ger WW2, executed some, & some still alive

Bork to est a group to “monitor” Clinton judicial appointees


11/13/92

Ukraine holding up nuclear treaty – it wants a bribe

Br & US are only NATO countries that ban gay soldiers

At his hearings, Clarence Thomas mentioned having taken a const law class by Thos. Emerson, but failed to mention another class by him, in which abortion was an essential part


11/14/92

The asst sec State fired for looking at Clinton’s passport files says her search was approved by the under sec.

Clinton intro tough but meaningless ethics rules for the transition team. Will bar officials lobbying fed agencies for 6 mos, nor can they take part in decisions affecting their financial interests. But somehow, it’s ok for Vernon Jordan to stay on board of cigarette comp RJR – he won’t sit on board until Jan. (unclear if he still he still gets his $50,000/yr. And he’s only an advisor. Warren Christopher law firm works for Lockheed, IBM, United...


11/15/92

Bhutto ended death penalty in Pakistan. Resumed today

Under free trade agreement, Canada has to increase length of drug patents from its 7-10 yrs to 17-20. Drugs were 32% cheaper in Canada; should cost $400m more per yr now, $800m late 1990s


11/17/92

The failed Clinton administration has already taken gays-in-military off a timetable. Sam Nunn disagrees on it. Remember JFK, who didn’t get around to writing an anti-discrim Exec Order, & was sent pens.

Sup Court overturned lower court decision, allows hazardous waste from incinerators to be dumped in landfills

UN puts naval blockade on Yug.

Caths have 1st new catechism in centuries. Drunk driving & genetic engineering are bad. And homosexuality is not voluntary but is an ordeal & disorderly

GM knew in 1983 that fuel tanks on pickups shouldn’t be on side but didn’t change until 1988. 300 dead in fires (or is that total?), fatal fires 2½X Ford’s

2nd-round Lithuanian elections lead to total 79 of 141 seats for ex-CP, 35 for ind mvmt Sajudis – down from 97 1990. That’s what they get for not discriminating against Russians. The ex-CP supports free mkt but w/more protection – less IMF

Panamanian referendum on const changes, inc abolishing military, fail 2 to 1, really a referendum on Endara

John Glenn’s opponent’s slogan: “What on earth has J.G. done?”


11/18/92

Ch. threatens to disregard Hong Kong agreement if further steps to democracy, which would be adding to electorate for some legislators. Ch. also dislikes lowering of voting age to 18

SA: 1,147 killed in pol violence in Natal Jan-Oct92

Appeals Court says Nixon has a prop. interest in his presidential papers & should be compensated

There have been 18,482 executions since 1608. Record 199 1935


11/18/92

In Valdez lawsuits, tapes have come out between Exxon & Alyeska on how they should use equipment even if it wasn’t picking anything up, to make a good pub. impression

Navy ROTC to make all (current) Rotcies sign affidavit that they can be forced to pay back scholarship if gay

State Dept inspector-gen says White House didn’t order the search of passport files, but knew of it & didn’t stop it


11/19/92

Norway Parl votes to join EC. Needs referendum, which may well be rejected

Russia to cut nuclear sub production ½ & end in 3 yrs

Mandela backing off on gov, despite audits showing graft & abuse of power in the bantustans & revelations of dirty tricks. Last yr, military intelligence hired a convicted killer from the old assassination bureau, who drafted a plan to use prostitutes & drug dealers to lure ANCers into crime. There were 48 operatives. Gov wants to let military investigate itself. Gov also missed deadline for releasing prisoners & fencing off hostels


11/21/92

Someone in Justice Dept prosecution of LAPD officers in Rodney King beating is sending the cops info

2 yrs ago, fed gov figured fire safety standards for cars didn’t help, but has done nothing

White House counsel Boyden Grey says White House employees can destroy electronic mail, visitor logs, informal notes, phone logs, as previous admins did save. Congress is now looking for phone logs to determine responsibility for passport searches

Bush pork barrelling inc giving gov-owned technology to Coors Ceramics (?) & others. March: promise to veto tougher emission standards for cars. Apr: removed trade restrictions on high-tech goods. May: Quayle allows corps to decide whether genetically-engineered foods deserve further testing. June: Bush eliminates recoupment fees on foreign sales of weapons to recover costs on R & D ($75m/yr). August: Bush proposes to abolish yrly report on compliance w/radiation control


11/22/92

Fed mining inspectors say head of Office of Surface Mining Reclamation & Enforcement, which oversees the coal indust, interceded repeatedly to thwart enforcement of stripmining laws – ordering end of investigations, reduce fines, prevent inspections. And this known to Interior Sec Lujan

Fed Reserve part of Iraqgate cover-up, the prez of Fed in NY calling Lavoro to warn of the 1989 raid. The US atty allowed bank to reopen on the Monday after the Fri. raid, when files disappeared. Thornburgh, after trying to stop House investigation by citing “nat security,” appointed as US Atty for Atlanta a man who later represented Matrix Churchill. The man sentenced under pressure to plea said that Sen. Quayle promoted a shell recycling plant built to an Indiana Republican in Iraq. Thornburgh prohibited US investigators going to Italy & claims he doesn’t remember a meeting w/It. ambassador

The Fed grand jury investigating Rocky Flats nuke plants report said violations were continuing, & D of Energy should have been named an unindicted co-conspirator w/Rockwell, that D of E encouraged Rockwell to break the law. The gov suppressed the report & allowed Rockwell to plea-bargain & charged no indivs. Says DOE relied on Rockwell for all info given pub. on environmental matters & R. wrote documents that went to EPA under DOE signatures. R also wrote its recommendations for bonuses ($22.6m 1987-9), criteria for which didn’t inc environmental compliance. DOE kept EPA from inspecting on nat security grounds


11/24/92

Australia allows gays in military


11/25/92

Shevardnadze is baptized

Ceausescu’s son Nicu charged w/genocide & illegal possession of a gun, & got 5 yrs for latter, released on health grounds

UN votes 59-3 (US, Israel, Romania) against US embargo on Cuba, esp its extension last mo to foreign subsidiaries, ships


11/26/92

Sen. inquiry on October Surprise says there wasn’t one, but Casey’s involvement was “clandestine & potentially dangerous”. Incidentally, Casey’s passport has disappeared. Of course, the inquiry didn’t have subpoena powers & budget only $75,000

W Va. decides not to prosecute someone for stealing a tv because he is sick & it would cost too much medical care

Yeltsin has fired head of central tv, & his minister of info & deputy PM, former allegedly for bias in reporting on fighting in Caucasus. Fired by decree. Yeltsin seems to be trying to use the Council of Republican Leaders against his own combative Parl


11/27/92

US may send troops w/UN to Somalia, if we get to control ours

After Buckingham Palace burns down & gov paying for it, Queen offers to pay income tax & support some of her relatives

Most of Tory majority is result of the poll tax – 8 more seats because of 352,000 who avoided voting to dodge the tax


11/28/92

Ger outlaws a neo-Nazi group

Irish referendum 3 to 2 allows info on abortion (in other countries) & allowing travel abroad. But 2 to 1 rejected abortion to save the life of the mother (not the health)


11/29/92

Sen. Phil Gramm, on Banking Cmte, helped the owner of 3 Dallas S&Ls w/regulators, which will cost taxpayers $200m+, 1 yr after the man, also a builder, picked up ½ the tab for building Gramm’s vacation homes, flying workmen out from Texas. The builder advanced the whole sum, billing 3 mos after work done, which would have made one wonder even if, as Gramm insists, he didn’t know it cost that much. Gramm says he thought workers would pay their own way to MD. The Senate Ethics Cmte quietly exonerated him after interviewing only him & Stiles. He had written Stiles a check when FBI investigating, but kept it when Senate ruled in his favor. Sen. Cmte discouraged FBI & FDIC investigating further. Gramm & Stiles claim latter just assumed the $53,500 cost overrun. Stiles made risky loans to family & friends. Tried to keep his S&L open by getting fed money. Gramm (who by the way failed 3 school grades) claims he was consulted as an economist rather than as a senator

The US finally produces something Japan wants: excuses. In the same week Sen. Packwood explains that he may have sexually harassed all those women but he can’t remember because he was drunk, with all 10 women. Now ex-head of Jap. Lib Dems says he may have been at meeting in which bribing the far right was considered, that he had 7 whiskies & couldn’t remember


11/30/92

More cancer showed up in Paul “not Santa Claus” Tsongas