June 1990

6/1/90

Project Censored list:
1) corporate mergers in info,
2) toxic wastes exported to Africa
3) war of RENAMO against Mozambique, w/money from Pat Robertson etc
4) State Dept interference w/drug investigations of foreign leaders
5) involvement in Guatemala
6) NRC & EPA plans to re-label 1/3 of what is now “low-level” radioactive waste as “below regulatory concern”
7) I-C relation to drugs
8) That CBS’s men in Afghanistan worked for mujahideen & tried to arrange arms deal & fed disinformation to other reporters
9) disposal of toxic wastes in gasoline
10) disease in chicken farms

The official opposition in Romania, w/41 seats of 506, compared to 354 for the Nat Salvation Front, are the ethnic Hungarians. This could be interesting.


6/2/90

Border controls in Berlin to end July 1

In Summit, agreement on chem. weapons will cut stocks 80%. And trade agreement conditional on liberalized emigration, but not (really) on Lithuania

EPA abandoned effort to revoke N Carolina’s authority to regulate hazardous waste, allowing states to adopt laws stricter than federal

For an AIDS conf, the INS will invoke an old law barring entry of gays as sexual deviants, supplying drs. to certify it. This passed Sup Court 1987


6/3/90

Given Ch’s getting MFN status, Gorby, in US, suggests he should intro martial law in Baltics to get it for USSR

Br: David Owen’s SDP to wind up, its MPs to be ind


6/4/90

Gorby threatens to cut off Jewish emigration if Israel keeps sending them to Occupied. Shamir refuses to change policy
-Israel claims the figure is too low to matter, but if new E Jerusalem settlements are counted, could be 10% of Soviet Jews. Israel says US increase of Soviet-immigrant quota = erosion of US support for Israel.

Sup Court 8-1 allows student Bible-study groups to use school facilities

Sup court rules 8-1 Miranda doesn’t apply if interview is by undercover cop in jail. Says Miranda forbids coercion, not deception

USSR not to have a referendum on the high-prices-without-a-mkt policy

1st time in 4 decades, House of Lords threw out the bill allowing trials for Nazi war criminals

Fed district judge says L.A. Cty Supervisors deliberately gerrymandered districts to exclude Hispanics.


6/5/90

USSR unilaterally withdraws 1,500 nukes from Eur (short-range) by end 1990


6/6/90

Commerce Dept stopped a comp building a fiber-optic cable communications system across USSR

It. environmental referendum to ban hunting & restrict pesticides passed 92%+ but failed through low turnout

Mexico: there is evidence that >$10m in gov money funneled to PRI in governor’s race Baja. A couple of days ago, OAS challenged Mexican elections

Czech. arrests Miles Jakes & other CP leaders, 2 days before elections

CA elections: all bond measures, $5b, passed. Republican reapportionment initiative failed. Elimination of rights above those in US Const (both in CA Const & CA Sup Court). doubling of gas tax


6/7/90

October Surprise. Sep88 one Heinrich Rupp under trial for bank fraud. Richard Brennecke of CIA testified for him, saying Rupp was in trouble because of his knowledge of October Surprise. Rupp flew Bush to Paris 10/20/80 (as pilot). Brennecke identified Wm Casey & Donald Gregg as having been there. 8 mos. later, on the day Gregg began confirmation hearings, Brennecke indicted for perjury. Gov offered a plea if he admitted he lied. Last month, he was acquitted. Interestingly, the gov couldn’t prove the whereabouts of Bush or campaign manager Casey that weekend. Gregg showed photos he said showed he was in Delaware, but a meteorologist proved otherwise. Bush admin refuses comment

SA lifts 4-yr state of emergency, exc Natal

In Israel there are 3,700 Soviet Jews on Occupied, inc E Jerusalem

San Francisco to allow cops semiautomatic weapons (at own expense).

Washington Times said Chamorro asked Mossad to reorganize Nicaraguan intelligence services


6/8/90

Russian Parl 544-271 votes that its laws override Soviet’s. Gorby claims this is no problem

Hungary says it plans to pull out of Warsaw Pact by next yr, will no longer participate in exercises.

A Florida fed judge deemed a record album’s lyrics obscene under “community standards.” The album has sold 1.7m.

E Ger Parl praised Ch. demo mvmt, apologized for 1989’s support of crackdown

Judge in Noriega case says he has no sovereign immunity as head of state because US never recognized him!

Shamir forming a new gov in which he will be the liberal. Sharon will be housing minister, meaning settlements. And no one supports peace


6/9/90

Chief Justice of Nevada Sup Court decided by coin toss, as prescribed in Const

A gay FBI agent suing for being fired

Bush pledges a united Ger won’t threaten USSR but has no formula to ensure it

E Ger defense minister says E Ger to leave Warsaw Pact as soon as unification


6/10/90

The recorders of the album deemed obscene (Fri.) arrested, as was a record store owner. They were arrested for performing

Chamorro gave Contras 7,772-sq mi tract in s.e., help them est colonies which are to be self-governing & -policed


6/11/90

Fujimori elected president Peru

Canada has been having a const crisis, with various provinces (Newfoundland, Manitoba, N Brunswick) pissed at the special status of Quebec

Poindexter sentenced to 6 mos, no fine

Czech: Civic Forum won 46% vote & majority of seats, but not the 60% needed to amend const or, I guess, other major leg. CP got 13%, 2nd place

Sup Court strikes down Congress’ anti-flag burning statute 5-4

Sup Court allows fed gov to order Nat Guard troops abroad over governors’ objection

US is reviewing its relations w/PLO for Arafat’s weak disavowal of a failed speedboat attack on civies. Much pressure from right wingers on Bush. No one is asking Shamir to disavow those in his new cabinet who advocate expulsion of all Arabs.


6/12/90

US insists Arafat expel Abu Abbas from exec, which he says only Palestine Nat Council can do

Ohio allowed by Fed Appeals court to fine the US DoE for violating pollution laws, state & feds rejecting “sovereign immunity” claim

It seems the CIA gave SA the info to arrest Mandela 1962

Sup Court refuses to hear a challenge to Minnesota’s law making murder of a pregnant woman prosecutable twice, inc for fetus

Russian Parl gives its laws sovereignty 907-13


6/13/90

Evidently the reason Bush blocked fiber-optic phone exports to E Eur is it would be harder for US to eavesdrop on their civilian lines

New USSR press law--no censorship. But gov still controls distrib of paper, and it evidently has used this as a weapon. Risks of disclosing classified info rests w/sources, not newspapers. Can sue gov agencies for info

Israeli troops fired tear gas into a UN clinic; 66 infants treated

Shamir has put new demands on negotiations: will not talk to any Palestinians who oppose idea of ltd autonomy (i.e., cont. Israeli rule) in Occupied. No role in talks of elections for Arabs in E Jerusalem. Baker’s plan, says an aide to Shamir, is “no longer relevant.”
-Baker’s activist response: “When you’re serious about peace, call us.”
-Coalition agreement stipulates no negotiation dir or indir w/PLO, or E Jerusalemean
-Baker said that in Feb. he asked Shamir if he was ready to consider, name by name, any Palestinian in Occupied, and got a no answer.
-Israel claims there are no new conditions

Violent dispersal of demonstrators in Romania, who Iliescu claims want to set up a fascist gov. Yeah, right. Using miners w/whips & clubs.

Penguin, at Br FO request, stopped paperback version of Satanic Verses to avoid jeopardizing release of hostages

Wm Bennett said the drug plague is Satan’s fault, solvable by religion in schools & “death of modernism” As Rob Morse says, there wasn’t a drug problem in the Dark Ages

Bush granted Thornburgh waivers from ethics laws to head discussions on Clean Air Act. He has $150,000 in holdings in oil comps & suchlike

Chirac’s Neo-Gaullists ejected the mayor of Grenoble & former Environ. Min for urging support of PS candidates rather than Nat Front

Japan, worried about low birth rate, the finance minister blamed it on women getting higher ed. This is all depressingly familiar.


6/14/90

Moscow eases sanctions on Lithuania v. slightly

Islamic fundies win Algerian local elections. Inc in Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Annaba. Won 32 of 48 provinces, 853 of 1535 muni councils. FLN has 14 provinces, 487 councils. Islam has all of Algiers councils

Sup Court 6-3 says sobriety checkpts are only a “slight” inconvenience & hence OK. 4th Amendment?

It seems after Panama invasion, CIA had 2½ days alone w/Noriega’s records. After that, documents that should have been there weren’t. Inventory listed 50 file cabinets, but found equivalent of 10 after.

David Lange has revealed that Fr threatened N Zealand w/ending purchases of lamb & butter to get the Greenpeace bombers back. They have since been promoted.

Shamir also suggested peace w/Arab nations must come before Palestinian problem can be resolved

Soviet Parl rejects gov proposal for steep increase (tripling) in bread prices


6/15/90

Bush vetoes easing of the Hatch Act to allow civ servs serve in parties, attend conventions

Japan getting ready to send back its Ch. students

Romania bans one paper, threatens another

Pentagon wants Congress to allow it to set up legitimate businesses as intelligence cover

Some of the Romanian “miners” were Securitate

Nicaraguan army to be cut back 1/3 (1/2?) & made voluntary


6/17/90

Cheney has refused to release videotapes shot from Apache helicopters during Panama invasion; when they did damage to residential buildings

Bennett’s spokesman doesn’t think there should be drug treatment on demand

NSA expected to shift to econ spying


6/18/90

Panama: it seems 9 of the 23 Amers. killed were killed by other Amers. DOD admits to 2. Also 60% of casualties. And compromised by 12-15 security leaks. And also the invasion planned for weeks. All this from Newsweek.

Sup Court 8-1 allows police to videotape a drunken driver answering questions on height, weight etc w/out Miranda.

Israel put Sharon & Eitan (the other reprimanded for 1982 massacres) on the Ministerial Defense Cmte

FBI expands policy on use of deadly force from self-defense to warning shots at fleeing suspects


6/19/90

Gorby agrees to let a Russian CP be formed


6/21/90

Veto of Hatch Act change upheld in Sen. by 2 votes

Sup Court 5-4 says patronage by party not allowed for bureaucrats. From Chicago, where else.

Priv labs relied on by EPA for contamination data, etc have falsified data for yrs
-Much of Superfund clean-up turned over by EPA to the polluting comps 1983, starting pattern of farming tasks to the polluters, ½ the Superfund site studies (& EPA wants to increase)

LAT article Monday about US military leaving waste dumps throughout the world & the money we’ll have to spend. In Philippines, though, there are no laws, so they’re not in violation


6/22/90

USSR offers a unified Ger in NATO--after 5 yrs. US rejects.

Sup Court rules 8-1 a corp in bankruptcy can be forced to keep funding its pension plans

Bulgarian socialists (ex-CP) win majority of Parl

Fitzwater blames D’s for S&L crisis for raising deposit insurance to $100,000

Fed regulators say Neil Bush (son) engaged in dishonesty as director of a failed S&L

An Israeli Arab poet arrested for poems

NEA’s funding is likely to be so restricted that there won’t be much need for the NEA. Already people are turning down $ rather than sign a porn loyalty oath

The new Russian CP now headed by a hard-line right critic of Gorbachev. For some reason the new party is dominated by right

Uzbekistan dec ind in the sense of making its laws supreme, inc in foreign. Georgia next?

Bush’s deficit-reduction idea: cut Medicare & other health benefits
-And denounced plan to cut NASA. “The American people want us in space.” Without a suit. In space, you have to read his lips? He wants a 25% increase this yr

Bush suspends talks w/PLO after last month’s raid on a beach, which no one has proved was aimed at civilians. That should make it easier for Shamir and harder for moderate Palestinians

Bush won’t say anything about CIA’s shopping Nelson Mandela (now in US) to SA police 1962


6/22/90

Sup Court unanimously rules that people may be sued for statements of opinions--critics, columnists, letters to editor, cartoonists. This can hold true as well for quotations of people (not in CA, because of our courts)

US INS blacklist consists of 350,000, inc Ives Montand, Ian Smith, Graham Greene, Doris Lessing. 2/3 listed since 1980.

Gorbachev agrees that prez & CP head should not be same person, but he won’t give up one

W Ger prosecutors investigating Honecker for harboring fugitive terrorists (Red Army Faction)

LA Council member proposing to bar cooperation between LAPD & INS. Police Chief Gates says he wouldn’t obey such a law

CA has banned sexist manholes in favor of maintenance holes

Flag burning amend fails to get 2/3 in House (254-177)

USSR removing nukes from Baltics & s Republics


6/24/90

Eur Court of Justice orders Br courts to strike down acts of Parl violating Eur laws. Thus, judicial review for 1st time

Moldavian & Ukrainian republics dec their sovereignty


6/25/90

Sup Court 5-4 allows states to ban removal of life support. The Missouri standard for “clear & convincing” evidence of desire for death so high as to eliminate all but psychics. One has to prove they would turn down specific interventions in specific situations.

Sup Court 6-3 allows parental notification of 1 parent, but struck down for both--5-4 (the difference being O’Connor & because of judicial bypass in 1st case. This is the 1st “undue burden” O’Connor’s ever met that she doesn’t like. This is considered the crossing of a Roe-Wade Rubicon.

63 of Lech Walesa’s advisers broke w/him over his criticism of the (Solidarity) gov in preparation for a run at presidency

Noriega military being rebuilt--same officers


6/26/90

Shamir: “Everybody in a democratic country has the right to settle where he wishes.” Palestinians? Israel won’t settle Soviet Jews there, but will give the same heavy subsidies as other settlers.

Fang Lizhi allowed out of China. He had to sign a statement that his views were unconstitutional


6/27/90

Sup Court rules 5-4 child abuse suspects do not have right to confront their accusers, but videotape will do. O’Connor says a state’s interest in psych. well-being of victims outweighs right to face accusers. Scalia disagrees.
-Did strike down, 5-4 with O’Connor crossing over, hearsay evidence by drs.

Bush will allow logging as usual, despite threat to spotted owl

Sup Court 5-4 allows affirmative action in tv licenses

Bush bans new oil drilling off CA coasts for rest of decade


6/28/90

Chirac & Giscard d’Estaing agree to unite for single presidential candidate 1995, joint candidates in 1993 gen elections. This will avoid local deals w/the Nat Front, which is doing well in the polls


6/29/90

Bush vetoes parental-leave bill

E Ger investigating Honecker for the murder of those killed trying to escape

Ch. just made it illegal to burn their flag

Mark Shields: Bush thought the deficit was like pimples, we’d outgrow them.

Lithuanian Parl froze ind decree, for 100 days from start of negotiations

Mexico to allow US drug agents to carry guns there & have dipl immunity