July 1993

7/1/93

Hyde Amend against fed funding for abortion stands. Clinton’s budget inc funds but he didn’t push it. Hyde amend passed 305-124, 98 D’s voting for, 17 R’s against

Clinton not to resume nuke testing

UN refugee relief agency to cut food given to Bosnia in half – no one’s giving any money & Croats talking about charging tolls

4 Oregon counties, 2 towns pass anti-gay rules by ballot

“President” Aliyev of Azerbaijan (well, the real one fled but he didn’t resign) appoints the renegade military guy PM & head of military, security min & interior min. US hasn’t recognized Aliyev yet, but Russia has stopped separatist Russian activities

Judge orders an Environmental Impact Statement on NAFTA. Clinton admin to appeal


7/2/93

Clinton compromise on forests: allow only 1/3 logging in nat forests, but not set aside formal wilderness areas. Only dead trees & trimming where N spotted owl, $1.2b over 5 yrs for region’s readjustment. Eliminate tax subsidy for log export

Mandela in US does not call for end to sanctions, as elections not definitively scheduled
-Winnie Mandela has warrant issued for her for failing to pay fine for her kidnapping conviction

Salvador finally removes defense minister & military chiefs as was supposed to 6 mos ago. The new defense minister responsible for a 1982 massacre


7/3/93

American soldier convicted of negligent homicide in shooting a Somali in back reduced one grade, fined $450, restricted to base for 3 mos

White House issues report on treatment of White House travel agency, critical of Clinton people for improperly dismissing them & trying to pressure FBI & allowing Clinton friend to make decisions where he had a financial stake, but still just talk about appearance of impropriety, mistakes & 4 aides just reprimanded. It is true that travel office kept lousy records & money disappeared. Dole calls for special prosecutor

Security guards: of 80,000 hired in NY 1991, 2,400 were convicted criminals. CA gives permits to 3,000 former criminals/yr. 33 states require no training for unarmed guards, 18 none for armed, 11 have no regs at all. All allow them to work while background checks done, which can take 6 mos – w/out access to FBI & most state records


7/6/93

Nigerian dictator Babangida tells leaders of his 2 parties to accept new elections (w/both leaders banned) or he will disband the parties & every elected authority down to the local level


7/7/93

Protestants now 12% Latin America (51m 1991, 6.7m 1960). In Brazil, more in Church Sunday than Caths. NYT, in Weberian mode, insists it’s for the capitalist qualities. In Brasilia 1991, Pope only got 100,000, while a tv evangelist got 400,000 in outdoor meetings

An alleged agreement in Haiti will allegedly allow Aristide to return Oct. 30. He has to appoint a new PM. Military men to change jobs, not be forced out

EC & UN trying to get Bosnians to accept division giving Muslims 15% area (44% pop – at least 2 yrs ago), Serbs 70%. Vance-Owen gave Bosnians 31%.

Trial starts in Kuwait of those who allegedly tried to kill Bush. Their lawyers could not see them before trial

Florida releases secret documents of the John Cmte, a McCarthyite leg panel 1956-65 that spied on people’s sex lives, denounced homosexuals, tore apart the U of Florida, NAACP members. Investigators asked witnesses about specifics of gay sex & whether they enjoyed it. Disbanded after publishing a pamphlet 1964 inc pictures of gay acts.

A Sup Court ruling this session said 5-4 a man could be prosecuted for trying to kill his wife after already held in contempt of court order not to assault her

New scandal in India, a stockbroker claiming to have paid the PM $371,000 in small bills. PM’s alibis have failed to confirm his story


7/9/93

MTV begins in Russia

Russian Parl votes 166-0 to take over Sevastopol from Ukraine.

UN negotiators are evidently privately threatening Bosnia w/complete w/drawal, inc refugee work, unless Bosnian gov agrees to division


7/10/93

Yeltsin disavows the Sevastopol vote

Latest banking scandal is in Ark, in which the Stephens family illegally owns banks (securities firms can’t). Instead of fining them, Fed suggested it become a state-chartered bank & avoid those pesky fed laws. And Fed overruled local Fed to let them buy another bank. Stephens family’s bank lent Clinton campaign $2m. In fact, the bank even started the travel agency Clinton tried to have take over White House travel. Stephens’ law firm is Hillary’s Rose, a partner of which filed documents giving incomplete info to gov about holdings, and is now associate White House Counsel Wm Kennedy III. Webster Hubbell, #4 at Justice, represented it. In fact, the comp has connections to everyone in the Little Rock Mafia at White House


7/12/93

Bosnian no-fly zone, passed Oct92, “enforced” from April 12, but nothing shot down yet. 116 confirmed sightings of violators. Can only fire if it attacks civilians or UN


7/13/93

The Bush 1988 campaign pays $10,000 fine & reimbursement for over-charging news organizs $134,000 in travel charges, failing to count secret service & such on campaign planes

Clinton threatens to destroy N Korea if it develops & uses nukes. Yup, that’s the way to keep them in the Non-Proliferation Treaty

A classified State Dept report says if Bosnia partitioned as proposed, 1.5-2m will need resettlement. 3.8n already displaced

The Sup Courts of Mich. & Iowa, in a single case, are removing an adopted baby, 2½, from home because the sperm father has show up for the 1st time since, well, sex. He abandoned 2 previous children but the courts say he’s ok w/out strong evidence of unfitness of deliberate abandonment (since he never asked if she was his, I guess it’s not deliberate). A Mass. court recently gave a kid back to parents finding no evidence of previous unfitness, though they’d previously held his face down in boiling water. In adoption case, courts not allowed to consider the best interests of the kid

Of 290,000 licenced gun dealers in US, only 60,000 have ever been inspected by ATF


7/14/93

State of MD suing Hardee’s fast food for age discrim in dismissing all 14 & 15-yr olds, worried about a fed crackdown

¼ of US unmarried women 18-44 become mothers, up from 15% 1982. Esp increasing among professionals, college-ed.

UN mediator Thorvald Stoltenberg goes public w/threat to w/draw UN forces from Bosnia, but denies blackmailing them.

Bush subpoenaed in Lavora bank trial

Russia, Belarus, Ukraine creating a Slav econ & customs union, to which ex-Soviet republics can apply – on Slav terms

Clinton no longer to interpret ABM treaty as permitting devt of Star Wars

Lady Thatcher votes against gov for a referendum on Maastricht. Something about being the custodian of the people’s power. This was in the House of Lords

Br gov demonstrates openness. It seems gov employed Reuters correspondents as spies. The contract was cancelled 1898.

At some pt 9 counties voted to secede from Kansas. Why?


7/15/93

Libya hires Abraham Sofaer to fight civil cases on Pam Am Lockerbie bombing. Sofaer in State Dept wrote the legal rationalization for 1986 trade embargo & bombing [Update: Sofaer pulls out]

US trying to get Mexico to accept a boatload of Chinese – then deport them summarily. If they get here, we have to consider pol asylum claims. Mexico doesn’t bother. So we pay them $350,000/yr to deport immigrants going through it trying to reach US. In April, 300 Chinese coming to SF caught in Mex. & US paid for Mexico to repatriate. Did same for Honduras in April, though INS lawyers said some were pol refugees, others had valid claims. Still, all were returned exc the one the Hondurans shot.

House cuts emergency refugee relief from $49m to $19m, recommending difference be used to help Israel settle Soviet Jews


7/16/93

A scientist may really have found the genetic marker for homosexuality, on the X chromosome (so from mother’s side)

Clinton is “still behind” another nominee. She should watch out for the knife. Dr Joycelyn Elders, Afk health director (still paid for it while “consulting” fed gov at $550/day) & her husband didn’t pay Soc Sec on household help for his mother. More to the pt., she supports abortion & sex ed., so the right’s targeted her. Clinton delays her hearing.

Russian Parl passes measure requiring foreign relig groups to get state accreditation or be affiliated w/a Russian group before doing work

In the last Br cabinet re-shuffle, responsibility for women’s issues given to Employment Sec David Hunt. His deputy is Ann Widdecombe, anti-abortionist & against women priests
-1992 election 43% women voted Tory, 34% Lab, men 39-38

Nigeria to have another election, until the people vote the right way

Senate bill would give FBI access to credit reports w/out a warrant


7/18/93

Inkhata again quits democracy talks

Japanese Lib Dems lose majority for 1st time, new conserv anti-corruption parties winning 1/5 of seats. Socialists, the long-term opposition, lost ½ seats


7/19/93

Saipan is American, still. $279m of clothing made there by immigrant Ch, Filipinos who stay in barracks & are paid $2.15/hr, the legal min wage there since 1984 (Guam & other territories use US min wage)

A Br judge gave a baby-sitter rapist probation because the 8-yr old victim was “not entirely an angel herself” & in a “sex gang.” Another ordered a 15-yr old rapist to pay her $750 for a good holiday to get over it (overturned on appeal & he got 2 yrs)
-Of 85 on High Court, 5 women, no non-whites. None of course in Law Lords. 1 woman of 29 in Appeals Court. Of Circuit courts, 493, 27 ♀, 3 non-white

Colo. Sup Court overturns, pretty much, the anti-gay law


7/20/93

Clinton’s gays-in-military policy, finally, an 80% cave. Gays not allowed to have sex, ever. Prohibits them saying they’re gay, or have to prove they don’t intend to have sex. Can be expelled for kissing or hand-holding (which I recall was encouraged in Saudi Arabia). Commanders can also initiate investigations if someone outs them w/“credible information”
-Sam Nunn wants to write it into law

Ch. makes 10,000 ultrasound scanners/yr & imports 2,000. 100,000 by 1990. Thus, the sex disparity


7/21/93

Irish Sup Court prevents clinics telling women where can get abortions abroad, despite referendum to contrary a yr ago, not yet written into law

Wm Sessions fired as head of FBI

Of 16 blacks now in Congress, 13 in districts designed to have majority of black voters

Les Aspin on gay policy said it was up to local commander whether word of 1 soldier enough to undertake inquiry. Also says gays would be more comfortable elsewhere

Hatch Act partly repealed. Civ servs allowed to give pol contribs, go to meetings, put up yard signs but not wear buttons on job or carry signs at rally

Fr Interior Min Charles Pasqua: “Fr no longer wants to be a country of immigration.” Under new law, mayor’s office can deny marriage request if suspect a marriage of convenience. Immigrants to wait 2 yrs before bring family. Foreigners caught w/out papers can be expelled by police w/out a magistrate. Police can turn down asylum requests – police! – if feel applicant could be safe in another part of home country. # of immigrants has been stable at 3.6m for a decade, but more are from N Af, 2/3


7/22/93

Christopher says we’ve done everything we can & will on Bosnia. He & Clinton blame Eur for not letting him lift arms embargo on Bosnia


7/23/93

Ex-Contras & Sandinistas fighting the gov, pissed at not getting promised land. And robbing banks.

Ginsburg hearings: 1st justice in decades to give honest opinion on abortion. But would not say anything about death penalty – there are now no justices who believe death penalty is cruel & unusual.

Just for a sense of scale: 3,777 shells hit Sarajevo in a 16-hr period

A Brazilian hit squad, in police uniform, shot at group of 45 sleeping street kids in Rio, killing 8. Normally, it occurs smaller scale

CIA to spend $55m to try to buy back 300+ Stinger anti-aircraft missiles it gave Afghan guerillas. We’re being outbidden by the anti-Amer. group now in charge (Pakistani CIA gave our stuff to the most rad guerillas)

Br passes Maastricht, finally. But 1st, Europhobic Tories joined Labour in voting for the Social Chapter, from which only Br opting out. Day 1, lost 324-316, and that’s after some serious bribery to Ulster Unionists. So Major called for another vote, this time a vote of confidence, and won by 40, 339-301, then 339-299. All polls show an election now would be a walkover for Labour. Major may not survive the Oct. party conf

Surgeon-Gen candidate Joycelyn Elders admits having not told the pub after Ark distributed defective condoms

Alaska governor Walter Hickel, once a secessionist who filed suits saying nat parks & wilderness areas on which he wants to drill for gas & oil, is violation of statehood pact


7/24/93

A survey of former members of the former Br SDP shows that most did not join the Lib Dems but reverted to inactivity. Most blame David Owen.

The last Br Boer War vet dies at 111

Some clown who’s been married 27 times is marrying a ♀ who’s been married 22X


7/25/93

Confiscated prop in drug cases $3b so far. Gov now owns 33,000 homes, cars, plans, yachts, cash deposits

John Major pulled the equivalent of a Reagan-Bush open-mike incident, giving his candid ops of some of his Cabinet colleagues to a reporter off-camera. Why didn’t he fire them? He didn’t want 3 more of those bastards out there. So much for Mr. Nice Guy. The 3 are so far unnamed (to me) but they are anti-Eur

Russian Cent. Bank, w/out consulting Finance Ministry, dec all pre-1993 money invalid on 2 days’ notice w/limit of $34 changeable by Aug. 7, rest must be frozen in bank accounts at interest well below inflation, foreigners just basically lose their money. This is what 3rd World countries do. Will also destroy value of other CIS currencies. Some will leave ruble, inc probably GA. Russia wants other ruble-zone countries to allow Russia more control


7/26/93

Utah bans people w/AIDS from marrying (since 1987)

Pakistan’s Gen. Beg admits having tested nuke in lab 1987

Yeltsin softens ruble withdrawal plan

Israel bombing the shit out of Lebanon, inc the UN zone


7/27/93

NC is only state where governor has no veto


7/28/93

1992 foreign investment in Russia was cancelled out by money flowing to W. after projects cancelled – just like Africa!

Israeli bombing of Lebanon in response to killing of 7 soldiers in s. Lebanon, is explicitly intended, says Rabin, to make s Lebanon uninhabitable & flood Beirut w/refugees to pressure the gov. At least 120,000 refugees

Clinton wants new powers against immigrants claiming pol asylum, intended to keep courts out, denying them ability to review merit of a case or whether INS officials following regs, and keep it w/in INS, which would have new wire-tapping powers, 600 new Border Patrol

Clinton talking about this time really protecting UN peacekeepers in Bosnia (by bombing, of course). Despite May decision to use air power, to date no one has put in spotters, communications & targeting equipment needed.

A judge in Texas puts a happy face on a death warrant.

Giving in to R’s, Clinton gives in, again, on the Nat Service plan, cutting it back to a smaller fraction. Now max $4,720/yr for 2 yrs


7/29/93

Oregon revokes cty anti-gay laws & forbids them in future

Tories lose another safer-than-safe seat, Christchurch, dropping from a 23,000 Tory majority to a 16,000 Lib Dem one. Labour was not a factor (1,500). Tory majority in Parl 17 & dropping. Tick tick tick.

Ralph Nader attacks ACLU (national) for taking tobacco money

Japan’s opposition groups coalesce around a new PM, who will be 1st non-LDP. His grandfather was PM Konoe 1938+

John Demjanjuk, who US stripped of citizenship 1986 & sent to Israel, which sentenced him to death as “Ivan the Terrible” of Treblinka, now set free. He was probably a guard, a different one. In proceedings in US 1981, Justice Dept systematically covered up evidence of his innocence. But US will not allow him back

US admits having been mistaken in reasons for 2 attacks in Iraq. Mistook surveillance radar for tracking radar – we fired missiles at antiaircraft batteries. And Sunday a similar attack caused by use of radar in a ground skirmish w/Shiites


7/30/93

Israel says all mvmt in s Lebanon will be considered hostile