June 1994

6/1/94

At Nixon’s funeral, a secret meeting of US officials w/Chinese ambassador, at which said that if Ch. made minor gestures, Admin would perm drop the link between trade & human rights. Ch. refused to release pol prisoners or talk w/Tibetans

CA appeals court allows a Christian landlord to discriminate against an unmarried straight couple, though state law forbids housing discrim based on marital status. The court said the state had no overriding interest in protecting the unmarried from discrim

To exempt themselves from gun control, Santa Rosa county in Fla. panhandle forms a militia of everybody

A president elected for the alleged Muslim-Croat federation in Bosnia. Pres a Croat, VP a Muslim

Ger troops (excluded from D-Day anniversary) to march down Champs-Elysees Bastille Day. Parisians are preparing the white flags now

State Farm reverses, will insure battered ♀

The clipper chip the gov wants in all computer encryption systems can in fact be made to encrypt so gov can’t break it.

The new It. fascist MP who wants to rip up treaty w/Yugoslavia, to demand Dalmatia back, now chair of Parl foreign affairs commission. It. has vetoed Slovenia off a list of candidates to join EU


6/3/94

Dan Rostenkowski indicted on 17 counts, inc padding Congressional payroll w/14+, inc a fireman who took pictures at a wedding, signed over his Fed paychecks & was paid (less) in cash, others who mowed his lawn, etc, & the son of a state senator who had Rostie’s 2 daughters on his payroll. He told a House employee not to mention work he’d done for Rostie to a grand jury. As chair of Ways & Means, was known as a fixer, handing out pork, brokering budget deals, NAFTA & tax changes, all of them terrible. Indictment means he must temp step down, being replaced by Sam Gibbons, who sees nothing wrong w/his son lobbying Ways & Means for corporate clients. Rostie has fired lawyer Robt Bennett who tried to get him to plea bargain & go to jail 6 mos. Bennett is Clinton’s lawyer on sexual harassment, which brings up interesting q’s. Rostie was supposed to get health care reform through. Lawyers for the 8 of the 14 ghost employees who will testify for Rostie are being paid for by his campaign funds

Christian fundies control 6+ state Republican parties inc Minn., where they’re trying to throw out the governor in favor of an anti-gay, creationist, anti-abortionist who says genetics makes man the head of households. Texas, VA, Ore., Iowa, Wash, SC

UN war crimes commission says there is genocide in Bosnia

Ukraine Parl refuses Kravchuk’s demand for cancellation of pres. elections

9 S Florida hotels block a local newscast from their tv’s for covering crime too well

Clinton trying to bolster his foreign policy stature by going to Eur, to be heckled by US vets during D-Day celebrations, be lectured by the pope on abortion, and endorse It’s new fascist-backed gov

Teamsters were planning to given a pension to a jailed Mafia hitman who Canarsie Recycling still claims is working for them though in jail since 1989

On similar lines, an ex-councilman of Philadelphia who served 5 yrs for voter fraud & extortion, six mos later elected Dem. Party chair in old ward

Pentagon ends its new radar coverage of Colombia & Peru for drug flights, afraid of liability suits if planes shot down. Peru has shot down 11, Colombia 3 mos ago allowed shoot-downs

Israel launches major air raid on a Hezbollah training camp, then claims rocket reprisals on fields in N Israel violated agreements, but theirs was legitimate. Now massing tanks on border in threat


6/4/94

In May 5th Br local elections, Tories 3rd party in urban Eng, 4th Scotland. In Eng, compared to 1990, Tories lost 5% of total vote, Lab lost 3.1%. LibDems up 11%. And Tories lost core middle-class areas


6/5/94

Ollie North wins (buys?) R nomination to Senate for VA, where one can buy into the convention for $45 (votes prorated on basis of votes in 1992 pres election)

In 1st quarter under NAFTA, US exports to Mexico increase 15.7%, Mexico to US 22.5%

Gov. George Allen of VA supports North, saying it’s ok for him to have lied to Congress because it lies to us

Iraq intro amputation for thieves & new death penalties


6/6/94

House voted 125-273 against Dellums amend to end draft registration – Clinton, of all people, wanted draft cont.

Rev. Leon Sullivan writing new Sullivan Principles for comps returning to SA. ANC no longer thrilled by the idea

Sup Court 9-0 says prison officials liable for failing to protect inmates from violence if fail to act on knowledge of danger

Sup Court 5-4 says narcotics convictions can’t be followed by taxes on illegal drugs – as double jeopardy. 27 states have drug taxes. Minority of Justices say there are legitimate reasons for the tax – which doesn’t quite answer it.

Fed judge strikes down subpoenas by a tobacco comp against Congressmen Waxman & Wyden for using internal comp documents on health risks of cigarettes

Sup Court has always ruled that right to counsel does not apply to misdemeanours when no prison sentence imposed. Now rules 6-3 that a judge can increase a sentence on a later crime based on that. Rehnquist says this isn’t a change in 1st penalty, but judges can always take into account criminal behaviour, even if no conviction


6/7/94

Kuwait sentences 6 to death for the alleged Apr93 plot to assassinate Bush, 7 others get jail

Br Criminal Justice & Public Order Bill makes “raves” criminal, allows police to make people (10+) leave & turn back travelers if they believe they are preparing one. Can also demand 20+ leave land of hist., architectural, archeological importance if they believe they could disrupt community (New Age travelers) or turn back travelers. Removes duty of local authorities (& grant to do so) to provide sites for gypsies – & turns unauthorized campers into criminals. Also obstructing hunters or bulldozers – & police can order people off land if think they will do so. Criminal to squat after 24 hrs of an interim possession order, obtainable ex-parte in absence of defendant. Allows violent entry by owners of prop. or their hired goons & allows indiscriminate searches in areas for 24 hrs. Trespass crime rather than civil

Bangladesh trying to arrest feminist author Taslima Nasreen


6/8/94

Court says Br violated Eur rules by privatizing w/out consulting workers

Clinton talking about drawing a map for Bosnia giving it 51%, Serbs 49%, which neither side likes, and if Serbs accept & Bosnia rejects, lifting sanctions on Yugoslavia

On Singapore, Clinton says caning is not the issue, but proportionality & whether the American brat was guilty

Florida deports 1st 113 illegal aliens from prison, 60 to Colombia

Clinton admin orders spokesmodels not to call killings in Rwanda “genocide,” but can say that “acts of genocide” may have occurred


6/9/94

Green Party in CA gives 46% to None of the Above for Governor, easily beating the nearest candidate (21%). The system works

Gulf War vets suing chemical comps for effects they say were from bio-weapons

Pakistan allows Malakand region, near Afghan., to impose Sharia, giving in to a separatist mvmt. The mvmt says driving on the left is unIslamic. Following a few crashes, they’ve suspended that. The blasphemy law in Pakistan has led to murders of accused Christians (and deaths in prison)

Westminster was the Tories’ flagship borough council. Its 1987 housing scheme was aimed at engineering the right sort of electors into marginal wards, by quota. Kept vacated council houses empty until sold to someone, aggressively mkted in marginals, subsidized both rents of the middle class & the expulsion of the homeless, through “dowries” to Lancashire councils, closing homeless hostels


6/10/94

Former Israeli chief rabbi calls on Jews to kill Arafat

Dole decides to endorse & give money to Ollie North

Alan Clark, former defense minister, admits screwing a friends’ wife & her 2 daughters. The cuckold flew back from SA, sold his story to the tabloids

5 by-elections Br yesterday. 4 Labour seats kept by Labour, & safe Tory Eastleigh goes to Lib Dems, Tories falling to 3rd

State says still considering whether there is genocide in Rwanda. Actually, they also just started looking into whether there was genocide in Cambodia. Gov says Genocide Convention does not carry an absolute obligation to act

Air Force retaliated against a sgt who testified to Congress about sexual harassment, interrogating her about discussions w/lawyers to prepare for the hearing & now under criminal investigation for taking a taxi from Heathrow to her base – an investigation run by the person she accuses in a lawsuit of ignoring her sexual harassment complaints

Israel delayed its obligation to release prisoners, trying to exile them to Gaza/Jericho & release only those willing to endorse the agreement to reject violence. 1st said wouldn’t release anyone w/blood on their hands – then modified that to Jewish blood

House votes to end arms embargo on Bosnia 244-178 (117 D’s, 127 R’s), authorizes but doesn’t require $200m in defense materiel & services

US increases Haiti sanctions inc ban on commercial flights & financial transactions

Fines & damages assessed against anti-abortion groups have proven impossible to collect

The Sen. crime bill inc protection of hunting from obstruction, placards, and inc prior restraint. It had better die in cmte


6/12/94

Tijuana police chief who openly doubted the official version of pres. candidate Colosio’s assassination & found files missing, gunned down April 29


6/13/94

1997 3% of members of US military qualified for food stamps, 1% got them – & increasing

Christian right has taken control of Texas GOP. Over ½ reps had never previously attended a party conv. The new Pat Robertsonian chair was RR’s head of Action Agency, which oversaw Peace Corps & Vista

1990 2,280,000 black males jailed some part of yr. 23,000 got a college degree. Whites 2,412,000:413,000 (99:1 v. 6:1)

Austria votes in referendum 2:1 to join EU

Swiss voters reject sending troops to UN (non-combat)


6/14/94

Br Eur Parl elections: Labour 44% & 62 seats, up from 45. Lib Dems 2 seats (1st ever). Tories 27% vote & 18 seats, down from 32. Scot Nats 2 seats. Major announces a Cabinet reshuffle. Major says it’s a sympathy vote for death of Smith.

Elsewhere in Eur Parl elections, swings to right in Ger, Sp, It, Fr
-Ger: Christ Dems 38.8%, SPD 32.2%. Ex-communists 3rd place E Ger but this means 0 seats. Got 40% e Berlin. Did much better locallly.
-Fr: Conserv coalition 25.5%, down from 39.6%. 1993 generals, but PS declined to 14.5%.
-Italy: Forza Italia cont. to grow; up to 30.6%, Northern League down to 6.6%, fascists steady at 13

Sup Court 5-4 says not a violation for jury in capital case to be told the defendant had already been sentenced in another trial. Rehnquist says we don’t know what inf this might have on a jury (like undermining its sense of responsibility), so that’s ok

Sup Court 9-0 allows retroactive closing of tax loophole


6/15/94

Clinton welfare plan out. Punishes people not in work programs, time limits, hospitals ordered to est paternity. Clinton condemns illegitimate births (like his siblings?). 1st 5 yrs would cost $9.3b on training, child care, subsidized jobs, which by 1999 would only make 8% on welfare work for benefits, and then costs would double. The 2-yr limit on welfare is a lifetime limit. The funding to come from cutting social programs, esp benefits to immigrants. If turn down any job – any job – off the program for 6 mos. Note that all this falls most heavily on women (AFDC) but so generously exempts those w/children under 1

Cath church says US sponsoring women’s rights & abortion at UN pop conf is “cultural imperialism.” That’s the Cath Church

Japanese Lib Dem PR official publishes book saying Hitler a role model for politicians


6/16/94

Navy systematically lenient to son of Navy Sec H. Lawrence Garrett III 1991-2, who was demoted, restricted to base 30 dys & fined $880, while his partner in crime got 2 yrs & $14,000 & discharged, for credit card fraud & marijuana

Clinton after 17 mos names a head of EEOC, a Hispanic

Abortions 1992 down to 1,529,000, lowest since 1979 in absolute terms, in pregnancies ending in abortion (down to 27.5%), & in women 15-44 (2.59%). Abortion rates dropped most Mich. & DC, where Medicaid no longer pays. Rates vary from 4.62% in women 15-44 NY, 0.43 Wyoming. Number of places providing abortions 2,380 1992, from 2,908 1982. 84% counties have none. 2/3 abortions now in abortion clinics, hospitals down to 7%.

Sending of UN force to Rwanda held up because US military wanted payment for providing armored personnel carriers, then raised cost estimates to $15m, this while our tab at UN is around $2b


6/17/94

New Haitian puppet president invokes voodoo dolls against a US invasion


6/18/94

Sup Court 7-2 said jurors must be told that alternative to death penalty is life w/out parole, as they haven’t in SC, Penn, VA, Texas. The 2 were Scalia & Thomas, talking of decision opening “another front in the guerilla war” against death penalty

Delinquency rate for used-car loans 3%, child support 49%


6/19/94

CA law now precludes registered sex offenders having custody of or unsupervised visits w/their children

1985 RAND report on US-Ch. relations, talks of how Ch. manipulated US officials, playing them off, Kissinger against Schlesinger, Brezhinski & Vance, Haig & Allen, tried to block Ray Cline being made asst sec state 1980. Nixon insisted that no pol visitors from US be allowed into Ch. before his trip. Also briefed them on troop mvmts by USSR on their border 1972+, promised 1973 not to vote w/USSR against them at UN, got them to help Egypt militarily 1974 to widen rift w/USSR. Promised not to support Taiwanese ind mvmt. Where 1970s Ch. trying to get US to be tougher against USSR, reversed 1980s

100,000 Southern Baptist teenagers in Fla. pledge chastity until marriage

Sw. legalizes gay marriages from 1995 w/rights of inheritance, tax benefits, but no adoption or children by artificial insemination

Gov. Wilson has a $2.7b accounting error in his budget. He also inc money from Feds for illegals & an unconst ending of welfare & health for legal immigrants who have sponsors.

Speaking of which, Clinton’s welfare proposal inc eliminating welfare for immigrants whose sponsors earn more than median income

Sup Court & other fed courts have never struck down any gun control law for 2nd Amend. Warren Burger (& the Court in 1939) say it was intended only to ensure *state’s* right to raise militias
-CA legislature 1994 failed to pass laws raising penalty for carrying a concealed gun to that for a knife, to allow stronger city & cty restrictions, to limit purchases to 1 handgun/mo.

US now says Haitian military need not be reduced, nor officials removed

D’Amato, pointman on Whitewater, himself made $37,000 in a single-day stock investment w/a friend. D’Amato: “I’m no Hillary Clinton.”


6/20/94

So what of the Croat-Muslim federation so silly I took weeks to write it up here? Croatian media cont. use Bosnian Croat titles, supply lines intact. No military cooperation, though there’s supposed to be a joint army. Croatia looking forward to dominating a confederation, or just waiting for sanctions to ease. In the 51-49 division US now wants, much of Bosnian land to be given the Serbs would border the bits of Croatia occupied by Serbs (Krajina), allowing both sides to resist pressure, presumably meaning the Greater Serbia we’re brokering would inc Krajina

Michel Rocard resigns as head of PS, replaced temp by Henri Emmanuelle, after a no-confidence vote

Minn. Repub. party taken over by Christian right, who do not endorse incumbent governor Arne Carlson, who is pro-choice & signed a gay rights bill. The state does have a primary, though

CA Assembly passes bill for a 900 number to find out if convicted child molesters are in neighborhood

Fr insisting on joining the otherwise all-Af. UN force to Rwanda, if it’s ever sent. No one wants to see Fr there


6/23/94

Sup Court 7-2 upholds CA’s now-defunct unitary tax law

Sup Court 7-2 allows English-only rules for bilingual workers in workplaces

Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp secretly developed a strain of genetically engineered tobacco w/twice the nicotine, grew it in Brazil & snuck it into cigs (and lied to Congress about it). Also use ammonia to increase nicotine delivery

Appeals court VA returns custody of a son to a lesbian after 10 mos


6/24/94

Netherlands’ Sup Court extends euthanasia to people w/mental but not phys illness

Justice says reported rape victims 51% under 18 [25% female pop], 16% under 12, of whom 1/5 raped by fathers

Yeltsin decree allows detention 30 days w/out charges, warrantless searches of cars, offices, bank records, wiretapping. Parl rejects this 279-10, but can’t reverse
-Yeltsin & Parl talking about postponing the 1996 parl & pres elections to 1998


6/25/94

Br vetoes the Belg PM as pres of Eur Commission, the choice of the other 11

Sup Court 5-4 says an uncertain request for a lawyer (“Maybe I should talk to a lawyer?”) should not stop questioning

Sup Court 5-4 says local govs can’t demand a prop-owner give up land for bike paths, wetlands, open spaces in exchange for a building permit

Breyer had $500,000 invested in Lloyds when ruled on cases about its liability for Superfund cleanups


6/26/94

Marilyn Quayle’s novel was Embracing the Serpent, Dan’s memoirs are Standing Firm

Because no one read the 1981 tax plan, there passed into law a notation Call Rita 555-1234.


6/27/94

Israeli investigation absolved Israeli gov in Hebron massacre – just a lone loon

Sup Court 6-3 rejects NY allowing a Hasidic sect its own school district for handicapped students (the rest are in priv schools, but they wanted to leave the expensive kids w/the public w/out losing control)


6/28/94

Russia allowed to send peacekeeping forces to Abkhazia to patrol border w/Georgia & allegedly allow 250,000 GA refugees to return

White House re-shuffle leaves the Cabinet alone, shifts Leon Panetta to chief of staff, replacing “too nice” Mack McLarty


6/29/94

CA Assembly Pub Safety Cmte votes for Mickey Conroy’s bill to require parents of youthful graffiti offenders to whack them w/a paddle & their names be made public

The health care roller-coaster continues, w/several new plans. Clinton’s people have gone both ways on whether he’ll compromise his one “read my lips,” universal coverage. There is a move to a measure that would make it mandatory only if univ not achieved by, oh, another term. Hillary’s said abortion coverage is negotiable. And the Senator from LA. said what health care really needs... is a tax break for the oil industry. There are now plans out from 3 House & Sen. cmtes