September 1993

9/2/93

Clinton’s health plan will exclude illegal aliens. If there is a uniform plan, they may lose current patchwork of coverage through clinics, insurance plans, Medicaid, state & local, prenatal services, etc.

Yeltsin suspends VP Rutskoi, accusing him of corruption

NATO unlikely to expand to Poland, Hungary any time soon

Bosnia talks break down

Cent. Af Republic’s dictator loses election w/12%, frees all criminals inc Bokassa


9/3/93

Russian Parl overturns Yeltsin’s suspension of Rutskoi

Clinton health plan to cut back coverage of dental, mental. And Clinton claims price controls not necessary because drug comps have promised to do better.

The manager of Atlanta branch of Lavoro pleads guilty on rather minor charges: wire fraud, false statements to bank regulators. The judge (not the one so hostile to Clinton’s covering up of Iraq-gate) claims Washington’s tilt to Iraq irrelevant, ditto evidence that It. gov tried to get Bush Admin to limit inquiry

Sihanouk doesn’t want to be king after all

Lithuanian cabinet no longer smokes


9/5/93

Ukraine to sell its ½ of Black Sea Fleet to Russia. And its nukes (but it wants the uranium). Russia had cut back on gas because of back debts, & signed agreement w/Poland to transport natural gas to Eur through it rather than Ukraine

Clinton State Dept people looked up personnel files of Bush people & the info wound up in WaPo. Inc Jennifer Fitzgerald, Bush’s mistress or whatever, whose file was empty, and Elizabeth Tamposi, who similarly raided Clinton’s passport file – she was described as not ready for her job


9/6/93

Lib Dems run ¼ cty councils Eng/Wales

Ex-Iron Curtain countries had wanted to shut nuke plants but have changed their minds – Lithuania, Armenia, even Ukraine, which restarted 2 reactors at Chernobyl. And some are building. West has not bothered to help.

Yeltsin puts guard on VP Rutskoi’s office to keep him out. And cut off his phones


9/7/93

Clinton admin did same old shit in May & denied visa to Sinn Fein pres Gerry Adams

Patrick Cockburn in The Ind says there was little evidence of an Iraqi plot to assassinate Bush, that participants mostly whiskey smugglers.

SA agrees on power-sharing leading up to elections. Interim council to oversee police, budget, civ serv. Will require 75% to override deKlerk’s gov. Every organiz has 1 vote. Inkatha & neo-fascists boycotting

Likud threatens to ignore any gov deals w/PLO if it returns to power

VA circuit court removes a lesbian’s boy from her custody based solely on that. The grandmother brought the suit. [Update: reversed many mos. later]


9/8/93

Clinton meets pres. of Bosnia & rejects appeal to set deadline for use of force if siege of Sarajevo not lifted – said it should be part of negotiating process. In other words, surrender Dorothy. Also said Congress would have to give permission 1st even for peacekeeping forces. And would have to be under NATO, not UN control


9/9/93

Les Aspin says Star Wars never really rigged tests. Of course, to admit a deception program would be to admit he was lied to.

UN troops, American & Pakistani, open fire on crowd of Somalis, killing 100 or so, inc ♀ & children

PLO disavows terrorism & force, says it will discipline those who disagree (good deal for Israel) & Israel recognizes PLO as rep of Palestinians


9/10/93

25 exec branch employees got gov & transition pay simultaneously

The Clinton health care plan is leaked. Optimistic about potential savings, iffy on financing. Cost containment is delegated to HMOs & insurance comps rather than gov.
-Illegals not covered though employers will pay premium for them.
-No cost control on drugs exc threat to exclude new ones from Medicare coverage
-Indeed, little consideration of inflation through new technology.
-To be paid for by “premiums,” not “taxes”
-Through huge regional health alliances
-States could regulate self-insuring comps
-Not a word on abortion coverage
-Clinton wants to issue emergency regs to implement, w/little or no pub comment
-Employers would pay for part-time workers. On prorated basis based on 30 hrs, which is good
-Experts say will wind up w/5 insurance comps, & pressure to cut costs will cause hospitals to merge, shut wards or completely.
-Dental, eye, mental limited until 2000
-New Medicare benefit for prescription drugs
-Employers can offer more than the gov standard but it will be taxable
-A nat id
-Ave cost $1,800 per or $4,200 per family, businesses paying 80% to max of 7.9% of payroll, meaning a Speenhamland system where gov subsidizes businesses that pay sub-standard wages
-Today, 37m uninsured, 30m on Medicaid


9/11/93

At next Tory Conf, gagging constituencies which object to extending VAT to home heating fuel

Israel has banned 4,000 books in Occupied, inc Sophocles, Egyptian Nobel laureate Nagrib Mahfouz, Ezer Weizmann’s The Battle for Peace


9/13/93

NYT says Clinton assuring Israel that just because signs a peace agreement, US not going to start reducing military support & may increase it
-Rabin even shook Arafat’s hand
-After all the State Dept fuss to satisfy everyone’s dietary rules, only 1 ordered the kosher meal


9/14/93

Clinton admin supports in court Bush position that military ban on gays const

Czech allows dual citizenship w/any country exc Slovakia

Ger CDU candidate for president, Steffer Heitmann, speaks against immigration & says for women caring for children & self-realization not compatible

Clinton again exonerates Bush, this time for the placing of the prisoner who said he sold marijuana to Quayle into the hole


9/15/93

Today is probably the 2,000th birthday of Jesus

Shevardnadze threatened to resign, got parl to dissolve itself for 3 mos & gave him decree powers.

Sen. blocks increase in grazing fees on pub land 59-40

China, desperate for the Olympics, magnanimously releases a dissident, 14½ yrs into his 15-yr sentence – but he hasn’t actually been seen in the day since

Florida, whose Eur tourists are being killed right & left, trying to reassure them. The governor went to site of most recent murder, wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Congresscritters give up on act to stop states restricting abortion rights. Instead hope for a bill to make blocking abortion clinics or killing drs fed. crime


9/16/93

ANC has gotten a “training fund” for non-white contestants in beauty pageants

Yeltsin rehires Gaidar as economy czar

3 E Ger CP leaders given 4½ to 7½ yrs for ordering border guards to shoot to kill


9/17/93

Clinton renews embargo on VN, just allowing taking part in internat aid projects

Clinton says judicial choices might be anti-abortion. No litmus test here!


9/18/93

Seymour Hersh, New Yorker, 9/6/93: When Bush went to Kuwait Apr93, when Iraq allegedly tried to have him assassinated, Neil & other son Marvin Bush & James Baker stayed on. Baker was there for Enron Corp, a natural-gas pipeline comp, seeking billions in contracts to replace bombed-out power plants. Ditto retired Army Lt Gen Thomas Kelly, director of operations JCS during war. Sununu also took advantage of a free airplane ride, as always (paid for by Kuwait gov), working for Westinghouse, which wants to win a billion $ contract for early warning defense system. Neil Bush there for oil equipment firms & for Enron. Marvin Bush wanted contacts for an electronic security fence. As James Baker once said, the war was about jobs, jobs, jobs. Including his.
-Bush & family got expensive presents, like Cartier watches
-Gen Schwarzkopf has refused to take such jobs.
-Of course, Arabs do business in this personal way, but also, they’d love to have US comps have a major stake in their economy, in case Iraq acts up again. Thus, Kuwait thinking about privatizing electricity to let Americans buy in.
-Marvin Bush works for a consulting firm run by retired Adm Daniel Murphy, VP Bush’s old chief of staff


9/20/93

The environmental “side agreement” to NAFTA much more ambitious than the labor one. Environmentalists have proved easier to buy off. And R votes needed, so no new internat enforcement bur. could be created. The labor one will start w/15 staff – no limits on environmental. The labor commission can research lax gov enforcement only after getting permission from 2 of 3 govs, while environmental can investigate unless vetoed by 2 govs. All types of environmental problems subject to fines & sanctions but labor only worker safety, child labor, min wages. The labor can only use pub info from govs while enviro can use info from its staff, nonprofits, outside specialists – Mexican gov claims 2% unemployment, so real trustworthy.

A neo-fascist (Br Nat Party) wins council seat in Tower Hamlets

Boutros-Ghali says peacekeeping in Bosnia could be under NATO, if it pays for it

Ex-communist parties (inc a rural CP) win Polish leg elections, between the 2 holding 2/3 of seats, though w/only 36% of votes. Solidarity’s party didn’t do well at all & surprisingly neither did Cath.

Azerbaijan to join the Commiewealth after all


9/21/93

In light of Yeltsin’s coup today, interesting is an Economist story Aug 14 saying that replacement of KGB chief not a real change & notes that no KGB officers prosecuted, under 60 dismissed after the 1991 coup. Indeed, the ousted KGB chief had refused to support his taking emergency powers.
-Yeltsin tries to dissolve Parl, Parl orders him deposed & VP Rutskoi to be Acting Pres. const Court upheld deposing of Yeltsin, presumably under new amend that Pres. automatically loses power if tries to dissolve Parl. Yeltsin also fires secs of defense, security, interior, takes those powers himself. Also the Central Bank. He says there will be new elections in Dec. for a new form of parl, the upper house being leaders of regions. Mentions early pres. elections, but not when. Says anyone who resists will be arrested. Just this weekend, Y. failed to get regions to agree on that upper house.
-Clinton supports whatever Y. feels like doing

E Bay Express says La Penca bombing 1984 was actually done by Nicaragua, the bomber from a Marxist Argentinian guerilla group which did work in & for Sandinistas, inc assassination of Somoza


9/22/93

Yeltsin says he won’t use force, and has not deployed too many troops.

Yugoslavia issues 10 billion dinar bills, worth $6

Walesa asks winning ex-CP to nominate 3 for PM, which he’ll choose


9/23/93

Sihanouk says he doesn’t need a salary as King of Cambodia, as he gets enough money from Ch. & Japan & N Korea

Fr gov approves a draft law to jail illegal immigrants who refuse to identify themselves for up to 3 mos

China went all out to overcome its pariah-hood by winning 2000 Olympics, but Sydney got it. Hee hee. Beijing even turned off its furnaces in winter to lessen air pollution for the IOC. Ch. threatens to take over Hong Kong early is disorder

Israel Parl votes the peace plan 61-50

And SA Parl votes for the transitional exec council

Clinton’s health care inc forcing malpractice claims to 1st go to dispute-resolution tribunals before court. Filers would have to find a medical specialist 1st to attest the procedure deviated from est standards. Lawyers fees ltd to 1/3, less if states want. Loser could insist damages paid over time, & offset by insurance, workers’ comp etc

Yeltsin cuts off Parl’s gov telephones, took control of their newspapers, radio, tv, and revokes their dipl travel passes. And seizes their assets inc the Parl building, the White House Yeltsin defended 2 yrs ago. Says he’ll face new pres. elections Jun94, 6 mos after Parl. Parl strips Yeltsinite supporters of seats in order to reach quorum. Most regions & republics oppose Y., so if they block his plan for elections, he’ll dissolve them too.
-Sen. approves foreign aid bill, inc $2.5b for Russia, and weakens last yr’s condition of withdrawing from Baltics
-Y. wants Parl guards disarmed

Croatia cancels mandate of UN peacekeepers in Krajina

Imelda Marcos sentenced to 18-24 yrs in her 1st trial


9/24/93

A $20m Indian Health Service hospital fails to open on time because no one remembered to put in phones

Mandela wants sanctions on SA lifted. Senate does.

Fed appeals court lifts requirement of an Environmental Impact Reform for NAFTA.

Antioch’s new sexual consent policy inc workshops mandatory in orientation, verbal consent for every touch, kiss, etc etc. And no sex under inf of alcohol. And this is the compromise plan


9/26/93

Russian regions propose simultaneous elections for Parl & pres., w/them holding power in the interim (Council of Federation). Y. has cut off Parl’s electricity & phones & water & ringed it w/troops
-IMF backs Y. but wants more reform faster


9/27/93

Y. rejects simultaneous elections

Similarly, Ukraine president Kravchuk takes over PM positions as well. Parl demands early elections for both

And Georgia loses Sukhumi to Abkhazian rebels. Shevardnadze said he wouldn’t leave the city. He did. He blames Russia for not helping him, trying to force him into Commmiewealth

Clinton at UN says we should pay less (or owe less?), that we’ll start vetoing peacekeeping for econ reasons. Coupled w/long list of conditions for sending forces to Bosnia (NATO control, etc, timetable, US right to just walk away, support from Congress).

Tony Benn is voted off Labour Exec


9/28/93

House joins Senate in passing the gays-in-military policy into law, inc words that gays are “an unacceptable risk to military morale.” (Sam Nunn’s work)

Yeltsin putting razor wire around Parl building. They claim the people inside are drinking & psych. unstable – ditto Rutskoi. Of the 7 elected governors of local regions, 88 total, Y. just removed 1 for opposing him, in Bryansk. He was elected Apr93. Bryansk & 2/3 regional Soviets dec Y’s actions unconst

Sen. 59-40, House 255-178 voted to ban fed money for abortions exc rape & incest


9/29/93

Head of Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy says Russia has twice as much enriched uranium as we thought – and we thought we were buying most of it. Good luck now even finding it. And that they had more warheads, 45,000 1986, 13,000 more than we thought. Now 32,000

A new gov secrecy plan to involve automatic declassification after 40 yrs

AMA votes to oppose Clinton health plan’s reg of insurance premiums & cuts in Madicare/-aid

Bosnian Parl rejects peace plan

At Labour Party conf, Smith pushes through one-member-one-vote (OMOV) for candidate selection


9/30/93

US allows Russia to defer $1.1b in debt payments

Canada Sup Court votes 5-4 that dr-assisted suicide a crime

1,300 UN troops will be sent to Haiti to maintain order, inc 590 Americans. But they have no mandate to stop police & soldiers committing atrocities. Indeed, being lightly armed, they’ll be relying on Haitian police & military to keep order

Commerce Sec Ron Brown took, or was offered, $700,000 to help lift embargo on vN. Clinton says Brown said he didn’t do anything wrong, so that’s ok. And Reno won’t investigate