October 1995

10/1/95

1994 eunuchs got vote in India


10/3/95

Br converts to metric w/criminal sanctions. But quarter pounders, 3½ floppies & the pint & the mile left alone. Only the US, Liberia, Burma remain non-metric

SA’s highest court ends debtors’ prison. It had been fading as a practice last couple of yrs

A Russian scientist says that if you think Russia’s nuclear facilities have lax security, the chemical arms ones are worse

The Spaziano execution is on again. Incidentally, Spaziano became Crazy Joe after a truck ran over his hand. When prosecution trying to get their 16-yr old druggie biker wannabe in, they told judge that w/out him they’d have no case. He has recanted & Florida Sup Court has since ruled that testimony helped by hypnosis not admissible. The judge’s overturning the jury’s life imprisonment also no longer possible

Kenneth Dart, who renounced US citizenship to avoid paying taxes (is Prez of a foam cup comp) for Belize wants to return – as Belize consul

Ch. says agreement for a summit meeting Jiang Zemin / Clinton inc promise that any future trips by Taiwan prez to US private only & pol speeches or any public speech be banned. A day later, State Dept still not disavowing

New Romanian law (not yet signed by Prez Iliescu, who is out of country) would sentence journalists to 7 yrs for insulting a pub official – even if story true. 2 journalists on trial for publishing that Iliescu was in KGB. Similar prosecutions, & papers closed in Albania, Slovakia. And old-type defamation laws supported even by Vaclav Havel & used against a critic of Lech Walesa

A new state health system in Tenn. has given it 2nd highest rate of insurance after Hawaii. But a bunch of newly-created comps aggressively signing up people, some working commission-only. Going after the homeless, prisoners (illegally). Started up so quickly it is vastly fraudulent

The ridiculous anti-terrorism bill that followed OK City bombing, inc new wiretap powers, easier deportations, use of military, limiting death row appeals, which passed Senate 91-8, failing because far right

Kenya convicts opposition leader for attempted robbery (guns from a police station) to 4 yrs & 6 lashes. Amnesty Int says fabricated


10/4/95

UN budget problems (guess whose fault?) impairing Bosnian war crimes tribunal

Macedonian prez wounded by car bomb

Labour Conf. Blair wants to create a “youthful” country w/an information superhighway. Reverse privatization of RR. End of hereditary peers in Lords. Lower taxes on home heating fuel, but no other promises. And a min wage at no stated level

Clinton vetoes bill for Congress’s admin expenses, because Congress failed to pass other budget measures

Russian PM Chernomyrdin says will not run for president next yr. This leaves no successor to Yeltsin. And in Volgograd, CP won 22 of 24 seats in regional leg.


10/5/95

Libya, expelling Palestinians (well, into refugee camps mostly) urges other Arab countries to do same to expose weakness of peace plan

Fiji last yr offered to allow Hong Kongese to buy citizenship ($30,000 + $100,000 “investment”), finally uniting Fijians & Indians on one issue... no Chinese.

Macedonian prez car-bombed, replaced by speaker of house, an anti-Albanian. Cause of bomb still not known

Yet another coup in Comoros, yet another led by Fr mercenary Bob Denard, his 3rd there, plus Benin (attempted), elsewhere. Fr sent in the marines & Foreign Legion (it still exists!), freed the prez & re-arrested Denard, mostly to disprove that they were behind it.

Blacks in 20s now 1/3 in jail, probation. 35% arrests for drug possession, 55% convictions for same, 74% prison sentences

Alabama pays lawyers max $1,000 for murder trials w/out death penalty

Iran bans music & esp teaching it to children

Kenya refuses to hand over Rwandans to war crimes tribunal

Labour Conf votes for 1st time to retain Trident

Bosnian cease-fire signed, for Tuesday or whenever electricity restored in Sarajevo

Clinton exec order eases travel restrictions to Cuba for Cuban-Amers w/sick relatives, artists, academics, relief agencies, human rights groups, U. students & news organizs


10/6/95

Like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan will not fulfil Conventional Forces in Eur Treaty when comes into force Nov. 17

Ok ok ok. OJ Simpson acquitted. Blacks jubilant, whites amazed. 107.7m watched it live, I was asleep. The verdict took 3-4 hrs. Manson’s conviction took 9 days. The cops were racist & a case could be made for their having planted evidence. Ben Stein says whites will riot the way whites do: leave the cities, vote for Gingrich, punish blacks by closing dy-care & Medicaid
-The backlash still hasn’t taken on concrete form, exactly what rights will be destroyed. Still, CA’s domestic abuse law changed. Previously, 1st-time spouse abuses could erase their record through counseling (traffic school?). Now, those who plead guilty will also get min 36 mos probation

American oil comps (5) & others will develop Caspian Sea oilfields, sending oil through Russian pipeline only until build their own, not under Russian control, through Georgia & Turkey. US got the Caucasus countries to stop Azerbaijan’s proposal to inc Iran. Russia has been throwing oil weigh around heavy-handedly. Fallout: Chechnya, through which Russian pipeline goes; and possibly the attempted assassination of Georgian prez Sheverdnadze

R’s want to relax regs on nursing homes – no, not relax, eliminate. RR tried to do this, prompting backlash, a study which showed horrors, and detailed rules 1987. Since then, patients have been less subject to sedation, under 20% now physically restrained, from over 40% mid-1980s. Regulation would be turned over to states, which won’t. Will not be made to require, as fed regs now do, actual training, 24-hr nurses, etc. And states could compel adult children to pay for their parents. The theory is that since they won’t pay much in Medicaid, they can’t compel standards. It will also work the other way, since nursing homes have successfully forced more Medicaid in courts to pay for the standards.

Since Clinton elected, 43 state legislators (2/3 since 1994 elections, 2 US senators, 3 Reps, 137 officeholders, have switched D to R. None known the other way. D’s still 52% of state legislators. Most switches at nat level since Whigs broke up 1850s. Party switches since 1994 accounted for 4 state chambers going R (Penn, SC, Tenn, Maine). R’s now have 4 chambers in the 11 Confederate states for 1st time since Reconstruction

Israeli Knesset passes peace plan 61-59. Prez Weizman immediately violated it, refusing to pardon 2 Palestinian women (all women & 1,200 prisoners to be released)
-Arafat working on accord w/Hamas, allowing one newspaper to resume, trying to get them to stop attacking Israelis


10/7/95

A Colombian MP (& former left guerilla) plays tape from bug of DEA head in Colombia suggesting DEA trying to overthrow the gov.

Death penalty peaked 1935-6 (199 & 195)
-City that has seen most death sentences since restoration: Houston, followed by Philadelphia (103)


10/8/95

A Tory MP defects to Labour, evidently really appalled at gov viciousness: Alan Howarth had a safe seat (Stratford). This is 1st Tory to Labour conversion ever [Wait, that’s not true: Oswald Mosley]. Tory majority now 7 or 5 (1 MP not under the whip)

Disney news: Tony Blair would rather be called Bambi than Stalin. Disney Co will give health coverage to gay partners. And Disney, now in charge of ABC, fires Jim “I work for a rodent” Hightower from his talk show on 150 radio stations

Uganda new const extends ban on parties 5 yrs

Israeli military join prez, refusing to release 2 ♀ it holds. So 20 of the 21 pardoned ♀ refuse to go (the other was in solitary & didn’t know) or sign promise not to do other stuff in future

Yeltsin fires another atty gen. Did one last yr for refusing to violate Parl amnesty law. Now fires the one he forced to make himself ludicrous by attacking a Spitting Image show. He also may have been corrupt. But mostly he’s taking the blame for Mafias & violence

NJ now has 25,000 fugitives, v. 25,699 inmates in state prisons

Bosnian Serbs cluster bomb a refugee camp, killing 6. And have been flying again & bombing
-Commanders of Croat & Bosnian armies refuse even to meet. And this is supposed to be a federation. Bosnia says was only given 32 hrs warning of W Bosnian offensive. And refusing to allow Bosnian refugees back in areas they control

Honduras filed charges against 10 military officers, some retired 7 of them colonels, for murder & illegal detention. This is Battalion 31b, created by CIA early 1990s to support the Nicaraguan & Salvadoran wars. Baltimore Sun got US docs showing US knew of killings & lied to Congress. Now not helping the Honduran effort. The military are led by Battalion 31b’s former commander, who sent tanks into street after the indictments


10/9/95

July 11 as Serbs surrounding Srebrenica, Gen. Mladic summoned the Dutch UN commander & officers to watch a pig being killed, said that’s how he’d treat people like those protected by Dutch peacekeepers. There is some uproar in Neth. that its troops just watched the atrocities, pretending they saw nothing. July 17 a major certified that the Serbs carried out the evacuation correctly & another denied knowledge of genocide. Dutch troops really disliked the Muslims.

Medicare wants drs to prove cataract removal necessary before it pays

Since 1993, Br has granted refugee status to 4 of the 9,000 applicants


10/10/95

Sam Nunn to retire, the 8th D. Senator of 15 up for reelection ‘96. Much talk of vanishing center.

Still no Bosnia cease-fire, delayed by Russia’s failure to resume gas supplies. Serbs shelling safe areas, Bosnians, while raising more objections – something about a Serb checkpoint – seem to be gearing up for an offensive. NATO hits a Serb command & control bunker

Japanese Justice Minister resigns for not reporting a $2m loan from a Buddhist cult. Opposition had made a deal w/him not to ask questions in Parl about it

John Cairncross, the Fifth Man, dies.

Lord Alec Douglas-Home dies at 92.

May95 Paddy Ashdown abandoned “equidistance,” saying would not keep a minority Tory gov in power after next election


10/11/95

Curtis Le May. Manufactured bomber gap. Air Force banned from flying over USSR from1950, so SAC got RAF to do it. Military commanders from USSR then say didn’t know if they were reconnaissance or attacks. 1953 Pentagon & CIA were interested in preventive war. A cmte led by Doolittle proposed giving Russia a deadline. LeMay wanted to destroy USSR while it was inferior, tried 1950 to get AEC to give SAC the bombs in (if?) Washington nuked. By 1954 had such control. LeMay supported a plan to ring USSR, push them w/reconnaissance, then deliver a pol ultimatum. Seems to have tried to start a nuclear war. 1957 told an adviser that his personal policy was to knock Russian planes on the ground if he thought they were going to attack. During Cuban Missile Crisis, LeMay was USAF chief of staff. Protegé head of SAC sent a clear message to SAC planes to be ready. And SAC launched an ICBM from CA to Marshall Islands at height of crisis, on schedule from before. LeMay wanted Cuban missile sites nuked, if not USSR. McNamara says night after crisis over, LeMay said, “We lost! We ought to just go in there today & knock ‘em off!” At height, bombers were flown past their customary turn-around points. LeMay retired 1965, ran as Wallace’s VP 1968.

Some male Palestinians also refuse release.

Early this yr Gingrich threatened another R w/removal from a cmte for not going along w/his ideas, Mark Neumann from Appropriations

AMA backs Gingrich’s Medicare plan. Claim no relation to better deal on fees announced by Gingrich shortly after.

Bosnian cease-fire finally in place. Serbs have been ethnically cleansing Banja Luka, retaining its men...

Sup Court hears arguments on Colorado’s anti-gay measure, its 1st gay rights case in a decade. Scalia suggested there was also no protection for blue-eyed people, bigamists or those w/poorly combed hair. O’Connor & Ginsburg got state lawyer to admit hospitals could keep gays off dialysis or libraries keep them from borrowing books, w/no recourse

Sw’s 1st MEP elections, ruling Soc Dems 28%; ½ seats won by anti-EU parties


10/12/95

The Navy’s former equal-opportunity head facing court-martial for sexual harassment. One complainant agreed not to press charges if Navy told him to stop contacting her & he not be promoted – then he was. He liked giving presents, like gum & old men’s running shorts.

Fr PM Juppé told to get out of his cheap Paris gov-owned apt (& his son from his) or be prosecuted. Juppé lied about having no authority over this when he was deputy mayor. This while civ servs striking over wage freeze

Japan says 1910 annexation of Korea was legal because signed by a puppet PM (after Japan assassinated the queen, dissolved Korean army)

House Judiciary Cmte gets a D. to w/draw amend requiring reimbursing foreigners the $80 processing free for those now on waiting lists for visas who wouldn’t get them under new proposed law. Bait & switch.

And the 1st negative campaign ad: Forbes.

Turkey is charging an Amer. Reuters reporter for reporting attacks on Kurds (as well as hundreds of Turkish journalists)


10/13/95

Libya stops ouster of Palestinians

House Ethics Cmte investigating bulk sales of Gingrich’s book, the issue that Gingrich used to force Speaker Jim Wright to resign 1989

Sen. R’s release plans for a $245b. tax cut over 7 yrs, inc $500/child tax credit, cut in capital gains & corp tax

Bosnians pressing towards Prijedor in n.w., despite cease-fire. Serbs threatening to w/draw from peace talks. Serbs, meanwhile, are taking Bosnian refugees & selling them back to their families – if they can afford it.

UN talks on restricting spread of land mines fail. Ch. killed it, Russia would have. Ch. says land mines are legitimate. US wants expensive ones that self-destruct after a set period. Mines can cost as little as $2.

Dave Grossman’s On Killing suggests 85% of soldiers tried not to kill during wars. After Battle of Gettysburg, 90% of recovered muskets were loaded. Since loading took 20X as long as firing... VN firing rates increased from the 15-20% in WW2 to over 90%, thanks to desensitization training

At Tory conf, John Major wants more cops & an FBI


10/14/95

Ivor Crewe & Anthony King’s book on SDP says reason 26 Labour but only 1 Tory MP est SDP 1981 was that Tory wives dissuaded them, being heavily involved in the party. And lucrative jobs; the lone Tory –> SDP, Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler (how’s that for a Tory name?) lost his consultancies instantly

Judges order trial of Silvio Berlusconi

And Willy Claes, sec gen of NATO, being indicted for Belgian arms corruption (Socialists took $1.72m in kickbacks form It. aircraft maker 1988 when he was Econ Minister)

Iraq holds its 1st elections, actually a referendum on Hussein – not a secret ballot

Nation of Islam Monday to have a “Million Man March” in Washington, intended to annoy whites & legitimize Farrakhan, who can’t resist making racist comments about Jews & Koreans & such. Women are supposed to stay home & mind the baby, though at last minute they got Rosa Parks & Maya Angelou. Black men are supposed to atone, evidently for failing to take power from black women. Blacks are unwilling, mostly, to denounce Farrakhan, they “support the goals” of the march, whatever that means

Repub. Medicare of Medicaid leg. to weaken laws against kickbacks, fraud & abuse by doctors, allow them to refer patient to medical suppliers & such they have financial interest in, eliminate reg of med labs in doctors’ offices, eliminate requirement that only comps give discounts to pub hospitals, AIDS clinics, community health centers. If a drug comp snuck a drug past FDA, exempt from punitive damages. Doctors won’t have to exercise “reasonable diligence” as now to make accurate Medicare claims, just not deliberately do it. Newtie thinks shouldn’t criminalize behaviour of drs – like fraud


10/15/95

After Pearl Harbor, CP suspended all Japanese-American members

Tory Conf: Major wants to let MI5 & GCHQ fight domestic crime or “internat crime.” And wants 10,000 more closed-circuit cameras in shopping areas. And 5,000 more cops. Michael Portillo said would never join a common Eur army which would “stop our men from fighting for more than 40 hrs a week [and] send ½ of them home on paternity leave – there is no plan for a Eur army

AZ Gov Fife (“I like Fife”) Symington dec bankruptcy, w/$62,000 assets & $35m debts. He was a real estate developer & his wife an heiress. He bitches about welfare mothers & deadbeat dads

NJ Sup Court upheld “Megan’s Law” mandatory notification of presence of released sex offenders. They are supposed to be able to challenge determinations of their dangerousness, but state has failed to pay for lawyers & lawyers are on strike against doing it free, for some reason


10/16/95

After Rodney King. Christopher Commission on LAPD found 44 problem cops (1991). 27 have since had complaints, 9 promoted


10/17/95

Louisiana’s state legislators can award scholarships to Tulane. One rep gave them to Ted Kennedy’s 2nd wife & her 5 siblings, who all went for free. Mayor of New Orleans & children of Senators, Reps have all been sent

Speaking of pork, Gingrich’s district Cobb Cty gets $9,878 for resident from fed gov 1994 (NYC, home of Gingrich’s “culture of waste”, gets $5,461). For every dollar in fed taxes, Cobb gets $1.80, NYC gets 82¢

Colin Powell is related to the royals (who isn’t?). Burke’s Peerage says he is descended from governor of Jamaica 1807

Hussein wins 99.96%

Sp won’t turn over classified documents to judge investigating anti-Basque death squads

Pakistan secretly arrested 40 army officers last mo., inc a general, for Islamic fundamentalist links. Has also been arresting opposition leaders & constraining papers

A Frenchwoman reaches 120 yrs 38 days, the record. She gave up smoking 3 yrs ago

25 Danish high school students w/anti-nuclear “Chirac, non!” T-shirts were stopped by Fr police, forced to remove the shirts

Latvian parl elections a mess. Governing party 3rd, but top 3 parties got 15% each. #2 was the new “For Latvia” party, led by a Ger facist. Russians born there can’t vote but ethnic Latvians like Joachim Siegerist, who speaks no Latvian & became a citizen 3 yrs ago, plans to run for president. 1968 he est Ger Conservatives, dedicated to fighting Jews & keeping foreigners out. Later campaigned to free Rudolf Hess. Has been fined for slandering Willy Brandt & is currently appealing an 18-mo jail term in Ger for racist statements. In Latvia, he wants law & order, end to labor conflict, etc. His funding is unknown but is thought to be Ger far-right.
-Latvia applies to join EU. W/anti-Russian citizenship laws, 1/3 adult pop couldn’t vote

Kenya admits 800 deaths from disease in its prisons this yr

Dole reverses again, saying it was a mistake to return Log Cabin Repub donation. He blamed his aides, who he has been defending on this for 2 mos. Why now? His donations are about to be released, and he’s afraid of questioning on whether he agrees w/all their agendas. Now says you can take money from people you disagree with


10/18/95

An Estonian interior minister taped conversations, inc w/PM. Estonia police found them in a comp owned by ex-KGB agents & selling weapons illegally. He refused to resign. The PM fired him & dissolved the gov as a matter of... principle! Yes, principle!

Eur Court of Justice rules against affirmative action giving women absolute priority (in N Ger)

Speaking of, Kohl failed to get CDU to intro women’s quota w/in the party

Bosnia Serbs claim the 2 Fr pilots shot down Aug. 30 were POWs, but have since been kidnapped & they don’t know where they are. Must be criminals. Or the Bosnian gov... Fr not amused

Zambia wants to expel Kenneth Kaunda (Prez. 1964-91) as an illegal alien. Born in Zambia, his parents were Malawis. He renounced Malawians nationality 1970 but failed to seek Zambian. Twice this yr he has been arrested for addressing rallies w/out permission under laws he wrote
[update: gov gives this up]

US ambassador-designate to Ch. Jim Sasser says Ch. can ignore elections in Hong Kong – it is just a legal question

Ger losses yet another E Ger treason case, for ex-head of secret service. Markus Wolf, tossed out by Fed Criminal Court. Not that this sort of thing endlessly repeated, now going after 7 Politburo members for the same old stuff

Clinton offhandedly says he raised taxes “too much” is 1st budget, for which now-pissed-off Congresscritters then stuck out their necks

Russia wants to participate in peacekeeping in Bosnia, but not under NATO command – just like US Republicans


10/19/95

Clinton supports a bill against discrim against gays, knowing he’ll never have to sign one. In 41 states, there is no protection. Would not cover the military

Helms resumes blocking ambassadors, treaties & promotions

Yeltsin says will fire foreign min Kozyrev, his last liberal cabinet member, for being too accommodating to West. Yeltsin evidently is running for reelection after all. Backs away from his own “Our Home is Russia” party, which is failing in regional elections. Said he might ban CP candidates for Parl who want to overthrow the regime. Says Russia less corrupt than US or Eur

Navy court-martial exonerates the former equal opportunity officer for improper conduct, like sending women his old running shorts

Br’s policy of not charging women over 60 for prescriptions while charging men dec illegal by Eur Court. Will be equalized at 0 at 60, w/retrospective refunds for last 3 mos – an arbitrary limit by gov

House passes $270b Medicare cuts after limiting debate to 3 hrs ($1.5b/minute).

It. Justice Min loses a confidence vote, for threatening anti-corruption magistrates w/investigations

Despite “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Pentagon has no procedure for protecting victims of gay-bashing from being kicked out if they report


10/20/95

Sen. Larry Pressler presses AT&T to drop ads against his bill deregulating communications industry. And CNN, the #2 cable operator, refuses to carry it – proving the need for it.

Senate welfare bill threatens ed. aid to legal immigrants. Not quite a ban, but making them report the income of their sponsors, even though those are under no obligation to pay. Legal immigrants are 10% of Pell Grant recipients – 32.6% in CA, 26.5% NY.

Willy Claes resigns as Sec-Gen of NATO as Belgian parl removes his immunity from prosecution for bribery

Yeltsin now says he’ll leave his foreign minister there for a while, just with his legs cut out from under him


10/21/95

The U Chicago economist who theorizes about rational expectations must give ½ his Nobel Prize money to his ex-wife of 6 yrs who had a Nobel Prize clause in her divorce settlement. I think he should give the prize back. The deadline was about to run out, too.


10/22/95

House votes 332-83 to retain racist differential in sentencing between crack & powder cocaine.

Next month, Miss. stops paying mothers on welfare the $24/mo Gov Fordice is sure they get preggers to obtain. Has begun an experiment in 6 counties in subsidizing employers who have to pay only $1/hr for min-wage jobs which mothers of children over 3 will have to take

7,000 Hong Kongese of Indian origins are not considered Chinese by China, so will be stateless, since Br doesn’t care either


10/23/95

Clinton’s chief pol strategist Dick Morris works both parties & has severely ridiculed Clinton in priv & has advised candidates to attack him

Br, Fr & US to join the S Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, but Fr won’t stop testing nukes there & US won’t stop shipping nuclear weapons around there

NY again the most unionized state, surpassing – Hawaii?? 29% work force 1994, 3.8% SC, the lowest

Now Chirac’s cheap rent is being questioned. It was frozen 1990, and seems to be a corporate rather than pub subsidy


10/24/95

Wilson backs Dole. Doesn’t want to be VP

Latin Amer corruption scandals: Colombian prez Samper, of course, but Ecuador’s VP fled the country, Peru & Guatemala both trying to extradite former presidents, & ex-prez Salinas of Mexico hiding in US. But none of this has led to coups or coups by the civilian incumbents. Corruption is less fashionable than in 1950s when the governor of Sao Paulo state campaigned w/slogan “he steals, but he gets things done.” These days, drugs have bid up the price of corruption out of the means of the ave person

Fr backing Russia’s desire to have a part in Bosnian peacekeeping, say its one zone, while Chirac thinks we might be there 20 yrs. East and West Germany all over again.


10/25/95

Chile finally gets Gen. Contreras into jail, for assassination fo Orlando Letelier, after building him a special prison, giving pay hike to military & a cutoff date for human rights violations

At UN 50th anniversary, Mayor Giuliani had Arafat thrown out of a concert for world leaders. And didn’t invite Castro – who had complained about potholes.

Croatian Prez Tudjman says will take e. Slavonia by force if negotiations don’t get it back by end Nov. Says Serbs were not cleansed from Krajina, they just didn’t want to be in a demo. state. Blamed atrocities on criminals & drug addicts in army uniforms. Right. And given the chance to repudiate it, repeated that 6m Jews not killed in Holocaust.
-Croatia to allow Croats in Bosnia to vote in Croatian parl elections this weekend. They get 12 of 128 seats, ethnic Serbs 3 seats, down from 13. Hungs, Its, Gers, Ukrainians, Czechs 1 each, Muslims none despite having 2X Its or Hungs

Both houses to vote to move embassy to Jerusalem by 1999 (at $100m), but allow prez to delay it forever. Passes 93-5 & 374-37

Philippines Sup Court lets Imelda Marcos get seat in House of Reps

Silly idea of the week: a “civil rights boot camp” for Greenwich CT high school students who snuck a racist slur into the yearbook

Emil Jonassaint, who Haitian military used as puppet, dies. Not only did he think Haiti would be defended from US invasion by invisible voodoo warriors, believed Haiti to be the lost remnant of Atlantis. US wanted Haiti to steal the Philosopher’s Stone. OK, that part’s probably true.


10/26/95

Salvador is helping its refugees in US w/free aid in filing claims for pol asylum. It doesn’t have jobs & likes the $1b in remittances, but gee doesn’t getting help from the persecuting gov rather invalidate the claim?

6 days after Japan surrendered WW2, gov set up brothels for Americans, afraid of rape. So there were c.50,000 Japanese “comfort women.” Gov appealed to them to sacrifice themselves to defend Japanese purity. Soldiers paid 8¢ for a screw & a beer. Only when VD rates up did US dec the brothels off-limits Mar46. At least once, military asked for brothels. American commander in Nagasaki was asked by 7 prostitutes to exempt them from the entertainment tax, since they did not find their work entertaining. The Col. appealed to Finance Min. Japanese gov esp worried about black soldiers. Prostitution was legal in Japan until 1958.

Senate decides not to gut Fed nursing home regs. House still does

Yeltsin back in hospital w/heart problems

Clinton 1996 slogan: never mind!


10/27/95

Croatian military has been advised by a Military Professional Resources Inc which transformed it into an effective force. The comp sent over Gen Vuono, Army chief of staff 1987-92 & Gen Crosbie Saint, commander of US Army in Eur 1988-92. If they gave strategic advise, as opposed to lectures on leadership, they violated the arms embargo. I’d assume they were acting at the behest of the US gov

In Bosnia, Russia to serve in noncombat under the US commander rather than NATO (which Gen. Joulwan also runs there) and, thank God, will not be confined to 1 sector

Gov. Pete Wilson pays Soc Sec taxes on 3 housecleaners

US refuses to respond to Japanese concerns about reports that CIA spied on Jap. negotiators in econ talks earlier this yr

White House, pushing a Sen. plan to screw welfare, suppressed a HHS study that it would push 1.1m children into poverty (House plan 2.1m)

ITN reports violations of arms embargo of Bosnia by US air drops this summer (up till now?). Bosnians now have Stinger rocket launchers, new helmets & uniforms. UN turned blind eye

S Korea’s ex-Prez. Roh Tae Woo admits taking $650m in bribes, well slush fund, but he kept $222m when left office. Both Kims evidently took bribes


10/28/95

Under 3 Strikes in CA, a parolee gets 26 yrs to life for stealing 4 chocolate chip cookies


10/29/95

Srebrenica again. Dutch failed to pass on to UN a threat by Mladic to massacre the Muslims – which he illustrated by having a pig’s throat slit. The US satellite photo of hundreds of Muslims being held at gunpt, & a U-2 photo 2 weeks later showing new graves in the same fields, took weeks to be shown to Clinton. Serbs had been allowed to cut down UN force, allowing Dutch soldiers to rotate out but not in

Russian electoral commission bans Rutskoi’s (speaker of the disbanded Parl) party & Yavlinsky’s Yabloko Party, the leading progressive party, & #2 in opinion polls after the CP, for failing to provide letters from 6 people who decided not to run. There’s no obvious pol reason for this, and Yeltsin in the hospital has the ultimate in plausible deniability. 14 parties have been accepted, inc the Beer Lovers’ Party, so that’s all right

SA indicts 11 military people inc ex-Defense Min Magnus Malan for deaths in Natal 1987

Frank Jordan, running for re-election as mayor of SF, poses for photos naked w/2 DJ’s in his shower


10/30/95

Both of Milosevic’s parents committed suicide


10/31/95

Sup Court to deal w/crack/cocaine disparities in prosecutions (90% black, 3.5% white for crack, 25.9%, white v. 29.7% black for prewar 1994). All 24 crack offenders in LA under fed law 1991 were black. White House says it’s ok because whites were 93.4% of those sentenced for trafficking in LSD, 91.4% porno, 100% antitrust

Elizabeth Dole to step down as head of American Red Cross, but thinks she can take it up again as 1st Lady

Quebec votes 50.6% to 49.4% against secession. Q’s PM Parizeau resigns, after blaming the result on “money & the ethnic vote.” Stronger vote for secession than 1980, and this time got a 60% among Fr speakers. Turnout 93.5%

Leaders of Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia arrive in Dayton, Ohio for talks. Milosevic is not arrested for war crimes. Tudjman often says he could do business w/Bosnian Muslim prez. Izetbegovic if he’d sit down & have a drink. The day before, Congress helpfully passed a resolution that the peace talks shouldn’t expect any US troops to enforce a peace, passed House 3:1. And Gingrich refused to return calls from Sec State or nat sec adviser. US says US won’t allow Karadzic or Mladic to run for office in a new Bosnian gov

CIA admits it gave White House & Pentagon info it knew came from people controlled by Moscow during 1980s, crucial to decisions on billion in military spending. CIA decided to protect its compromised sources rather than tell the truth. And since Moscow had Aldrich Ames, could carefully tailor that info

Michigan pushing through plan for what it will do when Gingrich gives them control over welfare. Women would have to work w/in 6 weeks of giving birth or lose benefits. Fathers to lose drivers & pro licenses, etc

Queen Elizabeth in NZ to apologize to Maoris, the 1st such apology to indigenous anyones