August 1993

8/1/93

Which is not to say Israel will let Demjanjuk actually leave. Sup Court keeps him in jail just in case gov feels like charging him w/something else. This was at petition of a Kach Party loon & survivor who threw acid in jail of D’s lawyer

Br life peerages can’t be renounced. So Thatcher’s return would require a new law.


8/2/93

The 1988 plant closing notification law has so many loopholes as to have no effect

US has been threatening to go ahead w/bombing in Bosnia w/out NATO – leaks only, but has succeeded in maybe getting NATO to agree

Tajikistan’s sup court bans opposition parties


8/3/93

Ruth Bader Ginsburg confirmed 96-3 (Helms, Robert Smith, Don Nickles)

Latest nominee who failed to pay Soc Sec for baby sitter & domestics: the #2 person in Social Security

A Titan missile blows up, w/a $800m spy satellite – so much for all this yr’s intelligence budget swings

Ch. film 1st to win Cannes, “Farewell to My Concubine,” banned in Ch.

Khmer Rouge attacking again, trying to convince gov to inc them. Inc holding 21 UN peacekeepers hostage in Thailand while Thai soldiers watched

US threatening air strikes unless siege of Sarajevo stops in 1 week. Boutros-Ghali insists only he can call for military intervention, US says UN resolution already exists

US Appeals Court says Denjanjuk must be allowed back in while the 1981 stripping of his citizenship investigated. Also says Israel forbidden by internat law from trying him on other charges

Sen. votes 51-48 to restore abortions to health insurance for fed employees

Ukraine has decided to keep 46 SS-24 missiles, of up to 10 warheads each (not covered by START I)


8/5/93

It. Parl votes to scrap election by lists for 75% indiv constituencies by 1st past the post & 25% by lists but w/4% threshold

Study in New Eng J. Medicine says admin = 25% hospital costs, twice Canada’s. 1968 hospitals had 435,100 admin & 1,378,000 patients/day. 1990 1,221,600 admin, 853,000 patients. Bur. not less in states w/many in HMOs

State Dept’s Bosnia expert quits in protest of Clinton pressure on Bosnia to agree to partition

The Rodney King cops given 2½ yrs by a judge who blames King for being beaten & would clearly have rather released them

Moldova Parl fails to ratify membership in CIS

Singapore demands right of unedited reply in foreign mags circulating in Singapore

Clinton passes his budget, or will, having bribed & coerced dissident D’s (all R’s will vote against, all of them). Some of the taxes will be retroactive to Jan. 1, but rich people will be allowed to spread payments over 2 extra yrs


8/7/93

Israel environment minister meets PLO leaders

2 new Ger MPs accused of spying for E Ger, & a NATO official. Kohl’s intelligence service coordinator has grabbed KGB files, which are supposed to be held by another body. In all this time, no Christ Dems named by the gov.

Dole pays largest election law fine, $120,000, for 1988. He took improper corp contribs & exceeded spending limits in Iowa & NH. Also fined over the yrs: Mondale, Cranston, Glenn, Robertson. What’s the point of the law?

Budget passes House 218-216, Sen. 51-50 (Gore). All R’s voted against, so indiv D senators able to blackmail Clinton into a lower gas tax, already all that remains of the BTU tax, and a deficit-reduction trust fund & lots of little stuff. The bill is tremendously unpopular, R’s able to convince people that taxes were not mostly on the rich, which they are


8/9/93

New Bosnian Serb offer, to pull out from newest positions around Sarajevo – if UN moves in in numbers sufficient to prevent Bosnian army moving back. In practice, UN would cont. the blockade, at least of arms. And it would take all the UN troops. Obviously a delaying measure until threat of bombing recedes. Which it already has, since Clinton not pressuring NATO at today’s meeting, but waiting for this offer to work. No, Serbs never keep their word, but who is Clinton to point that out.

Russia has been defending Tajikistan borders against Islamic fundies sheltering in Afghanistan. Sort of a Monroe Doctrine

Clinton’s father may have been a bigamist, which would make him...


8/10/93

Clinton to double grazing fees in fed lands

New Yorker story Feb. 22 on Clinton & Ricky Ray Rector, whose execution he allowed last yr. In his 1st term as governor, he commuted 70 sentences, inc 38 life sentences, inc a 73-yr old terminally sick guy who killed someone. Learning his lesson, he only commuted 7 sentences 1982-93. In fact, he precipitately set an execution date just before leaving office, so premature it was stayed. Back as governor, he set dates whenever he could, inc v. early in appeal process, so he could say he had, though they had to be stayed. He set 70 dates for 26 people. Rector was sentenced by an all-white jury – inc a retired Methodist minister. That was the 2nd trial, the 1st had been life w/out parole. Given that the defense & prosecution drs differed on his capacity, the elected judge got to decide & state Sup Court gave him deference


8/11/93

Marine Corps to stop allowing married recruits [Update: world’s shortest-lived trial balloon]

Gov Pete Wilson takes out ads in NYT, USA Today to call for Const amend to deprive children born to immigrants of citizenship. And gov to end mandates to provide emergency medical services, etc etc. Yes, he really called for letting them die. This is presumably his push to stop his probable defeat.

Newly released documents show US spying WW2, inc of Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chile, Ch, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, Fr, Greece, Iran, It., Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Neth, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Port., Saudi, Sp, Switz, Syria, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yug. 1945. They knew how pissed de Gaulle was that US not supporting him in Indochina. And even more evidence that US knew Japan ready to surrender. And Soviet negotiating positions. And spied on Latin Am. while devising pacts allowing US intervention

Serbs not keeping their word in Bosnia! Not only failing to move off heights, but moving new troops & heavy weapons in, now safely past the NATO meeting, which decided on air strikes only to support relief efforts & give UN Sec Gen approval


8/12/93

Gers to cut unemp & welfare benefits, making the poor pay for unification

Clinton rescinds ban on rehiring 1981 air traffic controllers – too bad there’s a hiring freeze on. C. present it as a humanitarian gesture, not justice or labor rights, god forbid


8/14/93

Court of Appeals orders Clinton Admin to save email

Israel to cont. negotiate w/Palestinians who were not, but now are, PLO officials

Fr const council overturns some of new immigration law: foreigners w/out papers could be held only 7 days, students can bring wives, local govs can’t filter asylum claims, & majors can’t refuse marriages

NAFTA agreed to by US, Canada, Mex., w/weak “side agreements” on labor & environment. Canada refused to be subject to trade sanctions – & got away w/it. Canadian gov would have to pay fines on behalf of its comps & would be overseen only by Canadian courts. Anyone at all could file complaints that countries not enforcing own laws, which would be subj to negotiations between the govs, then go to a panel of experts, then it could impose a fine. Yeah, right.


8/15/93

Clinton to go ahead w/free vaccination of poor, only children

December’s Palestinian deportees give in & will return in bunches. Over 100 are ill & they can’t keep it up. Most will be put in jail


8/16/93

Clinton’s crime bill inc 46 new fed death penalties (from 1), restricts habeas corpus. The 1 is for drug kingpins. This adds causing a train wreck.

SA to give Walvis Bay to Namibia, and soon, too

Cath hierarchy criticized a priest who tried to take out ads advocating killing of abortion drs


8/18/93

Times says 4 RR officials say rigging of Star Wars test 1984 was intended as deception of USSR. This was the test after 3 failures, where they put a beacon on the target to make sure. It was 7 yrs before a test succeeded after that. The “deception” story is plausible, but can’t be disentangled from deception of Congress

This yr’s SATs 424 verbal, 478 math ave, up. Women 420-257, men 428-502

Russia threatened Lithuania if it didn’t drop demands for compensation for Soviet occupation – now suspends pullout


8/19/93

Iraqgate trial of BNL fall guy Richard Drogoul, manage of Atlanta branch, indictment rewritten to make it harder to force Bush, Baker, etc to testify. Voice has a Br classified memo denying Hussein’s son 2 9mm Browning pistols but approving long-range surveillance systems. Internat advisory board of BNL inc Kissinger, David Rockefeller, Pierre Trudeau, Raymond Barre. Justice not to prosecute anyone for alterations of Commerce Dept export licences. Justice has collaborated w/BNL-Rome, allowing it to sit in on Drogoul’s interrogation, the chief of Justice Fraud Unit leaving on day of raid of BNL to work for its law firm on its behalf. Feds never mentioned seized documents & allowed BNL to shred. Thornburgh refused to let dept investigate in Italy. GNL-Rome is suing US to get paid for defaulted loans to Iraq guaranteed by USDA-CCC (Bush admin already paid hundreds of millions to Gulf Internat Bank, partly owned by Iraq)

CIA to open only 1/10 of its JFK assassination file – postponement, under the new law, only allowed by a panel legally supposed to have been appointed Jan 25 but none have yet.

US adds Sudan to list of countries sponsoring internat terrorism

Clinton wants to fold DEA into FBI. But not ATF

A Russian presidential commission on corruption accuses Yeltsin’s enemy VP Rutskoi of having a Swiss bank account

US condemns ambush of Israeli troops in Lebanon, but not Israeli counter-bombing. Since when is it illegitimate to attack occupiers?

And US bombs Iraqis who fired at a jet


8/20/93

Brazilian miners kill 73 Yanomani Indians inc 34 children, 2 pregnant ♀, in gold territory. This is part of a nasty pattern, in which there have been no trials in last 10 yrs.

UN mediators come up w/*another* plan for Bosnia: 3 autonomous republics & Sarajevo demilitarized & under UN control. I believe presidency also rotates; so Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic might be pres. The Muslim bit would be landlocked & would inc bits linked only by roads

Another abortion dr is shot, this time non-fatally


8/21/93

The richest 40% of 3rd World pop gets twice as much aid per cap as poorest 40%. Countries that spend most on soldiers get most aid. ½ aid tied to purchase of goods & services, & eats up 15-20% of aid, while biasing towards grandiose capital projects


8/23/93

Left & right in Nicaragua are each holding hostages from gov. Contras demanding firing of Sandinistas in gov. Left grabbed the VP & others

Clinton nominated no judges before Ginsburg, though had 130 vacancies. Only starting now.

CIA’s 90,000 (released) JFK assassination inc Oswald’s 1959 urinalysis & a bunch of newspaper clippings all stamped top secret. Also its mob connections to kill Castro

Croatia to keep new Bosnian refugees in transit camps & then only if 3rd countries (Pakistan!) promise to take them
-Another State Dept employee, the Croatia specialist, resigns in protest, the 4th, talking of genocide

Judge in the Lavoro case refused to sentence to jail 5 bombers who pleaded guilty, refusing to believe gov contention that they defrauded Rome hq. Clinton admin investigation claims no conspiracy by Bush admin to arm Iraq is believable only “in never-never land”. He wants an ind prosecutor

Russia says it will w/draw troops from Lithuania whenever it feels like it

NASA has lost control of the $1b Mars Observer, now reaching Mars


8/24/93

CA executes its 2nd person


8/25/93

Last October a 1944 document surfaced w/strong circumstantial evidence that Bush strafed 2 survivors in a lifeboat, a war crime. Newsweek, US News, LAT at the least refused to say anything or ask Bush, though Newsweek tracked down survivors in Japan. Harper’s published 2 weeks ago & still not a word in NYT

NYT says Saudi Arabia is broke, having spent all its oil money on weapons, Gulf War, foreign aid & soc programs & billions in uncollected loans to members of royal family

Zimbabwe again threatening to expropriate white farmers. Mugabe threatened to do so without compensation. Law last yr says gov can set price. Problem w/redistrib is state retains ownership & does not give black farmers financing. 400,000 acres not resettled

US to put rather pathetic sanctions on Pakistan & Ch. for latter selling missile technology to former

Bosnia asks World Court to overrule division into 3 under the genocide convention, and lift arms embargo

Russia won’t object if Poland joins NATO


8/26/93

Blacks win control of Selma city council

Christian Science loses 1st wrongful-death suit, a diabetic boy.

Nigerian pres Babangida “resigns” in favor of someone he names minutes before

US putting 400 Rangers into Somalia, presumably to get “fugitive warlord” (!) Aidid. I thought we were there for food aid. Some are Delta Force. This in spite of admitting starvation is well over – for this yr. Will stop food delivery.
-In fact, our new mission is now nation-building – will leave when there’s a police force, everyone gives up heavy weapons, (Aidid gets killed), that kind of thing

A gen admits a 1984 Star Wars test involved heating a missile before testing a heat-seeking missile on it. He says the test was “enhanced,” not rigged. Weinberger this week claimed the test was intended to be realistic as possible. GAO says of 7 tests 1990-2, Pentagon only accurately described 3 to Congress – they failed

A Philadelphia firm to give drs computer access o whether patients ever sued for malpractice

At World Court, Yugoslavia calls Bosnian gov illegitimate, says Serbs exposed to same terror as in WW2 & Yugoslavia not supporting Serb forces there. Bosnia asked US for space photos to prove Yug. complicity, but got no reply


8/27/93

Clinton’s choice for Chair of Joint Chiefs is son of major in Waffen SS in Georgia

D. leadership in Congress divided on NAFTA, whip in House David Bonior to oppose

The Straight Dope says there never were any snuff films

Runciman’s royal commission on criminal justice doesn’t quite abolish right to silence, as some in gov want, but would force defense to outline its defence. Police custody offices should be videoed. Judges could order 3 minorities on a jury. Did not call for banning uncorroborated confessions.


8/29/93

Nigeria makes it illegal to dec the last election valid

E.P. Thompson dies

Israel & PLO in draft, to give self-rule w/in 6 mos to Gaza (now under apartheid anyway, since no one ever mentioned the ban on Gazans being lifted) & Jericho. Jewish settlements would stay, 130,000 residents under Israeli law & forces, so it will still be occupied. Nothing on Jerusalem.
-After all, Gaza the most militant Islamic, the poorest, Israel to “redeploy,” not withdraw troops. And no one has granted a right of return yet


8/30/93

Russia has defaulted on $1b in loans to US lenders in last 9 mos

ANC refuses to punish rights abusers in its ranks or pay compensation

Russia to pull troops out of Lithuania after all