Springtime for Haider
The New York Times and Washington Post
lead with the release of 1998 statistics on health insurance coverage in
America: 44.3 million Americans are uninsured, up 1 million from 1997. The
Los Angeles Times reefers this story,
leading with tobacco companies suing for access to the raw data from
anti-smoking studies, so that they can better refute them. USA Today leads with BellSouth's offer of
$100 billion in the Sprint Corp. takeover battle. The NYT and Wall Street Journal say that Sprint's chief executive
favors a friendly merger with MCI Worldcom (which offered $93 billion); either
would make the takeover the largest ever. The Wall Street Journal
front reports that Russian troops have entered Chechnya for the first time
since a 1996 truce, and that skirmishes with Chechen troops ensued. (An
untimely NYT front reports that troop insertion is
imminent.) The LAT fronts the results of Austria's
parliamentary elections, where the far-right Freedom Party made major gains,
possibly supplanting the conservative People's Party as the second largest
party in Austria. The LAT, WP, and the
WSJ report that this could topple the current
ruling coalition, but the NYT (which reefers the
story) downplays the results, and the menace posed by the party and its leader,
Joerg Haider.
The Census Bureau's 1998 figures suggest that access to
health insurance has not kept pace with economic prosperity. More than
one-third of all Hispanic Americans lack coverage, outpacing all other racial
and ethnic groups. The number of uninsured women climbed by over 1 million,
while the number of uninsured men actually dropped by around 100,000. The
number of uninsured children has changed little, despite a major 1997 program
targeting America's 11 million uninsured youngsters. The papers blame the lack
of coverage on welfare reforms that have trimmed Medicaid rolls. They disagree
as to how well private employers have taken up the slack. The WP says a "bright spot" of the report finds that more people now
receive insurance from their employers, but doesn't mention the possibility
that this is simply because Medicaid cuts removed a more affordable
alternative. The NYT suggests that
employer-provided insurance has exacerbated the problem: many businesses have
cut benefits or raised premiums, and many new jobs come from small businesses,
which are less likely to provide insurance.
The coalition between Austria's Social Democrats and
the People's Party was formed in 1986 specifically to keep Haider's
anti-immigrant, anti-NATO party from power. The People's Party leader had
threatened to withdraw his party from the coalition if they lost too much
ground in yesterday's polls, which is exactly what the WSJ , the WP, and LAT say happened. The NYT claims that a
close finish and low turnout make the elections a nonevent, and that the
People's Party leader is backing down from his earlier statements. The
LAT and the WP allude
to Haider's controversial 1991 praise of the Third Reich's "sound employment
policies," while the NYT notes his resemblance to
Kevin Costner, right down to his "amiable grin."
Philip Morris has subpoenaed data from an influential
study linking secondhand smoke and lung cancer. Researchers say that
surrendering the data would violate the confidentiality participants were
promised and threaten future research. Though defendants traditionally win such
cases, the LAT predicts a victory for Philip Morris
because the presiding judge has ruled in favor of the tobacco industry
before.
Russian officials deny that the Chechen skirmishes are
the beginning of a full invasion; they only seek to establish a security zone
to control traffic in and out of the republic, and to protect Dagestan from
invasion. The NYT focuses on one Chechen village, a
former refuge for a Chechen rebel commander, which has recently suffered severe
attacks even though there is currently no indication of rebel presence in the
village. The death of Sony co-founder Akio Morita gets front page mentions at
the LAT, WP and USAT (a
story ran in the NYT yesterday). All agree that
Morita and Sony revolutionized the consumer electronics industry, helping Japan
emerge as a postwar economic giant.
According to the WP
Pentagon officials were "ecstatic" after a ground-based missile interceptor
tested well this weekend. Defense officials warn that this success was only a
first step, and much more work is required to provide comprehensive protection.
Skeptics warn that such protection is virtually impossible, and that further
efforts will dampen relations with Russia and China. If current plans
(beginning with 100 interceptors in Alaska) are implemented, the U.S. must
either amend or break its 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.
It's crazy, but it just might
work: It's a testament to our cynical times that a politician can make news
by declining to sling mud. The WP reports that
Steve Forbes' upcoming TV ad blitz will deploy a radical new tactic, addressing
George W. Bush's stances on education and tax cuts while ignoring, or actually
praising, his character.
