February 1993

2/1/93

Warren Christopher acting like the Israeli crisis is over. Israel will allow 100 deportees back in, reduce sentences to end of 1993, so there’s no need for sanctions in UN. Against the failed Clinton Admin willing to compromise on principle. In return for those moves, US promised to veto sanctions.

Angola claims to have shot down SA transport plane helping UNITA

After Honecker released on grounds of health, flew to Chile and is now much better

Bush’s offices in Houston are in hq of a failed S&L

Stephanopoulos has already said Clinton will hold fewer press confs than Bush.

Canada admits a Saudi woman as refugee because of sex discrim (she wanted to travel alone, not wear veil). I think no one else recognizes sex discrim. Last yr Fr rejected a woman from Mali fleeing clitoridectomy


2/2/93

Polish Senate also votes 35-34 to almost end abortion (only mother’s life or health, rape, deformed), – signed by 3 doctors

In the 6 mos, Pentagon is supposed to study idea of separate gay barracks – or showers, evidently the big concern. It’s amusing to see the military suddenly so concerned about privacy
-NYT mentions Eisenhower testifying against black desegregation Apr48, which I can’t find in that article in the microfilm. I have found a mention of Taft Aid to school bills w/a S. amend against w/holding fed aid from segregationist schools. Oh, found it: Ike: “When you try to pass laws to force someone to like someone else, you’re going to get in trouble.” R’s adopted a plan 1948 favoring desegregation. So did D’s, thus the Dixiecrat walkout. Reading the April issues & the NYT index, one is struck by how small a part of the debate on univ military training this was. Sounds like Truman was worried about possible resistance by blacks to draft. (1948 order evidently against discrim, not segregation. And no deadline, so as much a compromise as Clinton).

Some Cambodian refugees being tempted into Khmer Rouge areas by large land grants. UN, which is supposed to be settling them on land, had failed to do so, giving most $50/adult, $25/child & 1 yr’s food

Vance & Owen, appeasers extraordinaire, want to get Sec Council to impose their plan on Bosnia, abolish the legitimate gov, divide Sarajevo. They claim plan would leave only 43% of Bosnia under Serb control. Nothing to reverse ethnic cleansing, which has affected 1m Bosnian Muslims, of 2m. US hasn’t endorsed or repudiated the plan

EPA wants law changed that prohibits trace elements of carcinogens in food

Clinton wants flexibility for states for Medicaid, as in more home treatment

FY 1992 136 Haitians admitted as refugees. 1983-92 124 given asylum (45,246 for all nations). EC never put sanctions on. And US not stopping priv aid agencies ($62m went to Haiti from US that way 1992)

A couple of weeks ago, there was a huge oil spill off the Shetland Island, which will never have a fishing industry again. 2 internat agreements limit liability absent gross negligence, so the Shetlanders will only get $83m. Salmon fishing alone was worth $120m/yr. Typically, each ship is registered as its own comp, so the only recoverable assets are the smashed tankers.

Israel will also allow aid to reach the deportees, but only by helicopter & not over the “security zone.” That means over Lebanon, like Israel has something to say

Clinton revokes Bush orders against fed priv contractors being closed shops, & requiring notice that no one obliged to join unions. They snuck these out late at night, after saying there’d be no more that day, & not mentioned in daily press thingy


2/3/93

David Owen says US should force Bosnia to accede to his plan to have UN dissolve the gov of a member state
-US issues visa to declared war criminal Radovan Karadzic of Bosnian Serbs, for UN

Queen seeks damages from the Sun for copyright infringement for publishing a Xmas address 2 dys early

Belarus un-bans CP

Fr, Belgium, US demand Zaire’s Mobutu transfer power to transitional gov


2/4/93

Speaking of the 2nd Rodney King trial, it seems the Bombay police were prominent in anti-Muslim rioting Dec92, inc telling rioters which businesses owned by Muslims. On police band, hq told constables to let shops burn. This evidence hasn’t come out in India


2/5/93

Robert Rubin, Clinton’s head of Nat Econ Council, former co-chair of Goldman, Sachs, writes to clients suggesting they keep in touch, wink wink. Ethics rules allow him to maintain contracts w/former clients. Rubin’s job doesn’t require Sen. confirmation, or we’d also hear more about his friend & Goldman partner jailed for insider trader, at time Rubin oversaw the arbitrage unit. Freeman served 4 mos & $1m after accumulating $25m.

Family leave passes. 12 weeks unpaid (but health insurance paid) for the ½ of the workers who are in comps over 50 employed over 1 yr (and comps can deny it to top-paid 10%)

18 of 35 of the underfunded pensions plans increased benefits $2.2b 1991. It’s not real money anyway, just taxpayers’. Combined w/neglect, underfunding in the 35 doubled to $10.7b

Haiti rejects UN observers of human rights

Lloyd Bentsen’s son borrowed $5.6m in unsecured loans form a Texas S&L, buying an apt complex. Invested nothing of his own, late in interest payments & finally stopped paying anything 1985. Somehow he now owns the building free & clear. The owner of the S&L ($520m in taxpayer money) merged w/a firm owned by Chief of White House Staff Thomas McLarty (best friend of Clinton since kindergarten), now being sued by RTC

FBI had decided to meet charges of a double standard by delaying action against agents accused of abuses the director hasn’t been punished for. He overrides the decision

Clinton’s latest choice for Atty Gen, who flunked out of Playboy bunny school, withdrew because she too employed an illegal alien babysitter, though back when that was legal, and she did pay taxes on them

Time Warner hasn’t shown Clockwork Orange in Br in 21 yrs. Evidently there were copycats


2/7/93

US finally objects to Israel locking up 3 Arab US citizens w/out charges, access by US consul or lawyers, & extorting confessions


2/8/93

In EC, women marry at mean age 25. Br, 30% births illegitimate

Clinton’s people have been blaming Kimba Wood for not telling them about the illegal babysitter, though of course she did nothing illegal. Also, they claim she never was picked, though somehow every newspaper in the country got that impression
-And it turns out Ron Brown, who was never asked about it, had an illegal alien housekeeper whose Soc Sec he failed to pay. Women are pissed


2/9/93

With all his pensions, Bush is getting paid more than Clinton. I’d pay him to be ex-president.

Frontline on J Edgar Hoover says he used his files to force JFK to offer VP to LBJ. Says he ate free at restaurants, had 3 limousines & other bits of petty corruption that wouldn’t have been tolerated from agents. His “friend” was promoted suspiciously quickly. Agents worked on his house. The FBI lab used to discover the origin of shit on his doorstep (a racoon). Says he bet through the mob & didn’t have to pay when he lost, and this is why he always denied the existence of organized crime and thwarted enforcement. Also, there were extant pictures of him performing oral sex, inc one held by Meyer Lansky. And one account of him cross-dressing, & picked up in morals sweep

Russia claims all USSR’s assets (& liabilities) abroad

Holland to allow drs. to euthanize

Lawrence Walsh, Iran-Contra special prosecutor, says Bush gave pardons to avoid having to testify, having gotten 1 week before a memo from director of US Info Service who claimed (incorrectly) that Bush & RR would be called

US to stop (at some pt) banning visitors w/HIV, syphilis, leprosy

Clinton to screen all 1,100 jobs subject to Senate confirmation for illegal nannies

Virginia, where all you need to buy a gun is a driver’s license, for which you don’t have to prove residency, thinking about limiting people to 1 gun/mo. They’re esp embarrassed by a Batman comic in which gang members from Gotham exchange drugs for guns

1983-92 3m asylum applications W Eur – 67,400 1983, 700,000 1992. Ave rate of recognition 1991 5%, many unresolved

Homosexuality legalized Ukraine 1992, but not Russia, which sentenced 10 people to prison 1st ½ 1992


2/10/93

In Eur front WW2, US executed 4X blacks as whites, though were 10% of troops, after courts martial. Of 70 executed, 55 black. 25 of the blacks, 4 whites executed for rape alone. Blacks were 40% of total charged w/sex crimes, convicted 2/3, whites 40%. in the 36,102 courts-martial, blacks 22%

Clinton claims to plan to cut 25% of White House staff (if you don’t count Trade Rep Office, OMB – between them 1/3 of workers. And 1/5 of them “cut” will be returned to the agencies they were on temp assignment from. Most of the cuts will be in the Drug Office, where he claims Bush dumped pol appointees


2/11/93

Clinton gave up rather quickly on attempt to freeze Soc Sec COLAs

Norman Tebbit calls on Tories to sabotage Maastricht by voting w/Labour for the Social Chapter the gov wants to opt out of

Iraq says it will keep 2 Brits in jail for entering illegally unless its assets un-frozen. My. Out & out ransom demands

Israel to kick out “Messianic Jews” who believe in Jesus. No one’s done anything about the Lubavitcher Hasidim who believe the Messiah is alive & living in Brooklyn

Clinton has announced its plan to have no plan on Bosnia. Will sign on to the Vance-Owen Plan it’s been criticizing, not to lift embargo on Bosnia, or pressure the Serbs, or use force to open concentration camps or to get relief in.
-Israel to take 100 Muslim Bosnian refugees


2/12/93

Clinton tries again: Janet Reno, Miami prosecutor, for Atty Gen. She has no children, so no nanny problem. Pro-choice. Claims to oppose death penalty, but brags of the # of times she’s asked for it.

Sihanouk has a nifty idea for peace in Cambodia – he should be king again. “It is better for me to place myself above everybody else.”

Queen tax agreement reached. She’ll pay income tax, capital gains, some inheritance (not on the 6 palaces, for example). No tax on civil list payments. And her wealth to remain a secret


2/13/93

Clinton plans to immunize all children. Drug industry has been explaining how bad it would be if gov bought up all vaccines. Clinton says drug industry spends $1b/yr more on ads & lobbying than on devt, while profits up 4X ave Fortune 500. Polio vaccines cost $10 in US, $1.80 Br, 77¢ Belgium. 1982 ave cost of all vaccines for child $23.29, 1992 $243.90. Bought by Fed contract, up from $6.69 to $128.79.

SA & ANC say there will be power-sharing after elections 5 yrs, Inkhata out in cold

On their way out, Secs of Labor, Interior, Ag, Justice of Bush admin gave bonuses to pol & career aides. Interior Lujan gave $20,000 each to 5 employees, $170,000 to 12, 5m before Clinton swore in


2/14/93

ANC denies any deal

On a typical Sunday 4m Br in pews, 1.1m Anglican, 1.3m Cath, 1.2 ind Prod

Br theater censorship didn’t allow sympathetic or serious villains of homosexuality, so banned were 6 Characters in Search of an Author, The Children’s Hour, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Desire Under the Elms, A View from the Bridge. Altered 1959, but lord chamberlain said he’d allow word “pansy” but not “bugger”

Today is 4th anniversary of fatwa on Rushdie, which Iran reaffirms


2/15/93

Environmental president? Babbitt at Interior favored completion of Palo Verde, large nuke plant 50 mi from Phoenix, & has lobbied for largest importer of hazardous wastes in AZ. Hazel O’Leary (Energy)_ applauded Senate pressuring Nev. to allow a perm. nuclear waste dump. Espy at Ag dressed as a hunter for NRA ad (contrib = $9,900), sponsored amends to gut wetlands protection, ancient forests protection, wilderness () Alaska, expansion of EPA. Peña (Transport) waffled on fuel-efficiency standards. Donna Shalala (HHS) supported move to test-mkt Bovine Growth Hormone milk in Wisc. supermkts w/out telling public; she’s mentioned as her one qualification the pub hospital at U. Wisc, where she was chancellor, neglects to mention she tried to privatize it. Les Aspin supposed to appoint ex-Congresscritter Richard Ray to position overseeing environmental oversight. Ray voted against making Pentagon comply w/fed environmental laws, sponsored bill to stop military bases being cleaned up before being sold

Br gov claims passing of Social Chapter would not kill Maastricht, as they previously said


2/16/93

Clinton went on tv to sell American people on “sacrifice” (exc they don’t use that word anymore). Using charts, he channeled Ross Perot & suggesting anyone disagreeing is a “special interest” & unpatriotic. Said 70% of new taxes will be paid by those making over $100,000/yr (inc spousal joint filers – 4.4% of pop)

Ukraine says Russia isn’t doing basic maintenance on missiles in Ukraine, though U. is paying for it


2/17/93

The # of adults in prison for drug offenses tripled 1986-91

Hillary Clinton has her maiden name back. She lost it after Billy Bob lost governor’s race 1980 to someone married to Mrs. Frank White

12 hrs before Bush left office, at 11:30 pm, the Archivist of the US, Don Wilson, signed agreement giving Bush exclusive control of all presidential info, inc 4,000-5,000 NSC, etc computer tapes, which Bush took with him, plus 147 hard drives & 300 PCs. This in spite of court rulings protecting the data from destruction. 3 weeks later, Wilson announced resignation, to run the Bush presidential library. One of the judges already complained that the Nat Archives knew of plans to destroy data & did nothing

US threatens Mexico on free-trade negotiations, forces gov to pull out of an investment fund to buy small & medium Amer. comps to move to Mexico

Clinton econ plan. Will hit everyone over $20,000. A few weeks ago, budget chief said each $ in tax matched by $2 in spending cuts. Now it’s supposed to be a balance. The tax on Soc Sec benefits to go up, but avoids antagonizing AARP by not increasing # of recipients taxed, ¼ of them. Inc that, this is the largest tax increase ever. $212m to be saved by limiting subsidies of farmers of wool & mohair – implemented for WW1 uniforms.. Clinton’s pollsters say he’s ok on breaking promise of middle-class tax cuts, since no one believed him. Says no cuts for Medicare for beneficiaries, just to drs, labs & esp teaching hospitals. Rich recipients, who he said in campaign would pay, won’t (at least until his health-care proposals, aka, the other shoe, which may well make nonsense of all this. Drs & hospitals can recoup Medicare losses by screwing priv patients
-1st standing ovation was when Clinton said we should stop looking for blame.


2/18/93

Br gov refuses to publish legal advice used in its u-turn on the Social Chapter. LibDems said their legal advice says otherwise


2/19/93

ANC & SA gov really did agree to delay democracy until 1999 (“power-sharing”). 1st elections Apr94 for a const & interim Parl. Any party w/5% of seats would get cabinet positions under Prez Mandela. Some issues would require 2/3 of Cabinet

Russian Sup Soviet votes nonbinding 162-4 to urge UN to put sanctions on Croatia or lift them on Serbia

Senate 76-23 votes to stop Clinton allowing immigrants w/HIV (will die in House) (update: no it didn’t). 34 D’s voted w/the R’s, only 1 R, Hatfield, against


2/20/93

DeKlerk brings a couple of coloureds & an Indian, but no blacks, into Cabinet in vital positions like Tourism and Sport

This month US soldiers shot a 13-yr old Somali boy who they claim to have thought had a grenade. He was shot in the back of the neck. The marine has not been placed on restricted duty or been identified. No overall count has been given, but indiv reports account for 25+. 2 children were shot for stealing something from a truck

One candidate is allegedly a draft dodger who bribed a psychiatrist to get him out. One accused of being a woman-chaser. One offered bribes. One hired a detective to run a smear campaign. Yes, the Israeli elections for Chief Rabbis continue. (Update: the seducer & the briber win)

22 states require sex criminals to register, 13 in last 5 yrs. Washington’s sexual predator law allows officials to keep people in jail after sentences served. Louisiana’s new law requires those on parole to notify their neighbors in 3-block area in town, 1 mi in country, and judges can make them wear special clothing, put signs on houses, bumper stickers

Lesbians discharged from military twice the rate of gay men (6X in Marines). Alisa Solomon says the problem w/lesbians & gays is they make a mockery of the assurance that all that male bonding has nothing erotic. The interesting turnaround is that where gays are supposed to be sissies who can’t fight, they’re now seen as predatory, manly men who will turn others into women, or at least sexually harass them the way women are treated in military


2/21/93

It. bribery scandals expand, taking down the Justice, Finance & Health minister & sending Bettino Craxi into retirement


2/22/93

1980s Japan justified its trade surplus by a plan to “recycle” it into global economy. 1987 overseas investment was $136.5b down to $30b 1992 while trade surplus doubled 1990-2 to $132.6b, $45b w/US. 1987-92 $65b sent abroad in the official program – it has now expired. Buy-outs also down, $15b 1989, $2.4b 1992


2/23/93

Moonies trying to get accreditation for their new purchase, the University of Bridgeport. 2 Russians say they were offered scholarships if they took seminars that inc sleep deprivation & coercion. Amazingly, it is accredited, but only for 2 yrs


2/24/93

AMA estimates that of the $666b/yr US spends on health care, $22b is from tobacco, $85b alcohol

Military saved $1.55 on Les Aspin’s typhoid vaccine & put him in the hospital for heart trouble

Clinton to change land policy, no longer allowing timbering of nat forest below mkt & gold0mining free, raise grazing charge, irrigation

Sup Court says defendants who take the stand can also be charged for obstruction of justice. Kennedy: “a defendant who commits a crime and then perjures himself in an unlawful attempt to avoid responsibility is more threatening to society and less deserving of leniency than a defendant who does not so defy the trial process.” Isn’t that China’s policy?

US decides to drop food & medicine in remote bits of Bosnia (also for Croats & Serbs, so no one feels left out). Thing is, we’re gonna do it from 10,000 feet instead of the more normal 1,000. Basically, any one can get them since this won’t be accurate, and they’ll crush a few people

Trent Lott pulled a budget McCarthy, holding up a list of $200b pain-free budget cuts, which he refuses to release

US resumes aid to Peru

India arrests 45,000 so far to prevent a BJP militant Hindu demonstration

Jeb Bush to run for governor of Florida


2/25/93

Tajikistan’s ex-con president Safarou, since Dec. coup: “We will cleanse Tajikistan & Russia of democratic scum.” Uzbekistan & Russia openly supporting him militarily. He was jailed for a fight, kept in 23 yrs for leading strikes in prison. But at least he’s not an Islamic fundamentalist.

Mulroney steps down after 9 yrs as Canada’s PM

Sup Court 6-3 votes gov couldn’t seize a house a drug dealer’s girlfriend bought w/cash he gave her as a gift. Justice Dept’s argument was that proceeds of an illegal drug deal automatically belong to the gov, along w/anything bought with it, w/out any legal proceedings

Br is seeing lynch mobs form to get at the killers of a 2-yr old – two 10-yr olds. Who will be charged as adults. John Major: “society needs to condemn a little more and understand a little less.” Impossible, John.


2/27/93

Iran Feb91 implemented, secretly, a code against employment & school enrollment for Bahais, expulsion from U’s