The
Newt Gingrich putsch watch has resumed. Reporters' appetites have been
whetted by 1) ever-louder grumbling among House Republicans that the GOP
leadership botched the fight with Clinton on disaster relief and the budget; 2)
an anonymous "Dear Colleague" letter urging a no-confidence vote on Gingrich;
3) a demand by 50 House conservatives (on Gingrich's birthday) that the
Republican caucus halt the leadership's drift to the center; and 4) House
Majority Leader Dick Armey's failure to defend Gingrich. The most serious
breach so far is Armey's declaration that he isn't bound by the budget
agreement since he wasn't one of the "big shots" who negotiated it. The GOP
made a show of unity on Wednesday. (6/18)
Two Hasidic rabbis
have been charged with laundering millions of dollars in Colombian drug money
through a Brooklyn synagogue and a yeshiva. Neighbors think the rabbis didn't
know the money was drug-related, since drugs are reviled in the community, but
prosecutors think they did. Angered by the media's interest in the rabbi angle,
local Hasidim offered semantic rebuttals ("everybody in this community is a
rabbi"), Talmudic hairsplitting (the principal culprit wasn't a real rabbi
because he didn't head a synagogue), and angst (who will tell the bad news to
the aged chief rabbi?). (6/18)
Book
'em: The man suspected of driving the getaway car in last year's Saudi air
base bombing has been deported to the United States from Canada. He has
agreed to help U.S. investigators in exchange for reduced charges. The
Pakistani man accused of mowing down two CIA officers at CIA
headquarters in 1993 has been turned in by anonymous Afghans, after the United
States offered a $2 million bounty for him. Ira Einhorn, the peace
activist who was convicted in absentia of murdering his girlfriend 16 years
ago, after hoodwinking his friends and jumping bail, has been captured in
France and will be extradited to the United States. (6/18)
Cambodia is in turmoil. 1) Genocidal dictator-turned-guerrilla-leader Pol
Pot reportedly has surrendered after being hunted down by his own former
Khmer Rouge troops. 2) The country's two prime ministers, who will run against
each other in elections next year, are vying for the allegiance of Khmer Rouge
bosses and are building well-armed rival armies of "bodyguards." 3) The
bodyguards got into a deadly turf skirmish this week, which bodes ill for the
elections. The New York Times applauds Pol Pot's demise but regrets that
crooks, schemers, and butchers evidently will continue to run the country.
(6/18)
The
Irish Republican Army murdered two policemen in Northern Ireland.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair responded by calling off settlement talks
with Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing. Analysts lamented that the atmosphere
of new hope created by Blair's election has been ruined. The Los Angeles
Times dismissed Sinn Fein boss Gerry Adams as "a puppet of the IRA's hard
men." However, the Chicago Tribune implored the British to "keep the
negotiating talks rolling at all costs." (6/18)
President Clinton appointed an advisory board and gave a speech to promote
racial reconciliation . The coverage praised the theme but doubted the
practical results, noting Clinton's toning-down of earlier speech drafts and
his failure to propose solutions other than affirmative action and more money
for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "Few See How Clinton Effort
Will Bring Results," scoffed the New York Times . Pundits theorized that
Clinton is triangulating back to the left after tacking to the right on welfare
reform and the budget deal. Liberals doubted the sermonizer but loved the
sermon. Newt Gingrich and other conservatives, while accusing Clinton of
defending "quotas," complained they were underrepresented on the advisory
board. (6/16)
The
Oklahoma City bombing trial is over (the jury sentenced Timothy McVeigh to
death), and the conspiracy-theory frenzy is underway. Defense attorney
Stephen Jones urged the jury not to condemn McVeigh to death, saying: "We don't
want a Lee Harvey Oswald here. We don't want an Oliver Stone movie." Then Jones
titillated 60 Minutes with hints that German and Middle Eastern
terrorists were involved. Jurors and law-enforcement officials confirmed they
suspect other conspirators are at large. The Internet is percolating with
theories that an "electromagnetic pulse weapon" destroyed the building, that
the government did it and wants McVeigh to take the fall, etc. An Oklahoma
legislator has mustered enough signatures for a grand-jury probe to root out
the uncaught conspirators, and the state's governor has called on McVeigh and
Jones to cough up their "secrets" or shut up. Meanwhile, appellate lawyer Alan
Dershowitz predicted McVeigh will fire his attorneys and base his appeal on
their incompetence. Cynics surmised that Dershowitz is already chasing the
paddy wagon. (6/16)
News
from abroad: Croatian President Franjo Tudjman has evidently coasted to
re-election. Analysts expressed regret at voting "irregularities" and at
Tudjman's autocratic nationalism, but consoled themselves with reports that he
is dying of cancer. A senior official of the Church of England instructed
Prince Charles to quit the throne or dump his mistress, since "we are
not going to have a confessed adulterer as supreme head of the Church of
England." Israel's Supreme Court affirmed that Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu will not be prosecuted in the corruption scandal that has dogged him
for months. China has its own
Primary Colors
--a novel curiously
reminiscent of the recent scandal that ruined a top Communist Party official.
Authorities have responded by banning the novel and arresting its putative
distributors. (6/16)
Sports
updates: The Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 4-2 to win their fifth
National Basketball Association title in seven years. Pundits reaffirmed Bulls
star Michael Jordan's divinity and Jazz star Karl Malone's mediocrity. Malone's
detractors argued that his choking performance proved the NBA had been foolish
to give him its Most Valuable Player award. His defenders argued that the award
was what had caused him to choke in the first place. Sportswriters are already
forecasting the Bulls' imperial decay with morbid delight. South African golfer
Ernie Els won the U.S. Open but got less attention for winning it than
Tiger Woods got for losing it badly. (6/16)
The New
York City rent-decontrol apocalypse has been averted. Rent control will
remain for another six years. Advocates of rent deregulation, led by Republican
Gov. George Pataki, relented in exchange for a compromise plan that will
gradually raise rents by regulating the existing regulations. Among the
mind-numbing details reported by the New York Times : "Second-generation
tenants could remain in regulated apartments provided they were willing to pay
the vacancy bonus." Pataki and his allies swallowed the plan hours after
calling it "laughable" and "absurd." The Washington Post called it the
culmination of "a six-month game of political chicken." (For Slate's take on
the issue, see Jacob Weisberg's "Such a
Deal" and the "Dialogue" it sparked.) (6/16)
National- and American-league baseball teams played regular-season games
against each other for the first time in the sport's 120-year history.
Supporters of interleague play believe it will ignite local rivalries (e.g.,
Mets vs. Yankees, Cubs vs. White Sox) and showcase the sport's stars in more
cities, thereby boosting attendance and merchandise sales, which, in turn, will
enable owners to satisfy players' skyrocketing salary demands. Traditionalists
complain it will dilute ancient rivalries, screw up the year-to-year continuity
of statistics, obliterate the quaint differences between the two leagues
(principally, the designated-hitter rule), and spoil the climactic, virgin
mystique of the World Series, which, until now, was the leagues' only
intercourse. Results so far are uneven: The Mets-Yankees series opener sold
three times as many seats as the Padres-Angels series. "Already, [interleague
play] has restored one of baseball's grandest traditions: the passion for
arguing about the game," observed the Chicago Tribune . Things could be
worse: The Los Angeles Times reports that, thanks to the popularization
of baseball in Poland, bats have "emerged as a weapon of choice for hooligans,
thugs, [and] extortionists." (6/13)
Another
New Jersey high-school girl faces possible charges for secretly
delivering and abandoning a baby. This is the third such case in New Jersey in
recent months. First, two students were charged with killing their infant in a
motel room and dumping it in the trash. Then, a few days ago, another girl gave
birth in the bathroom at her high-school prom and dumped the baby in the trash,
where it would later be found dead. (She then checked her makeup in the mirror,
went back to the dance floor, and asked the disc jockey to play a heavy-metal
song--"Unforgiven"--for her boyfriend.) Moral indignation over the incident was
almost overshadowed by disbelief that nobody had noticed her condition. The
Wall Street Journal declared it the latest sign of an American moral
apocalypse littered with condoms, fear of school prayer, hysteria over Gen.
Joseph Ralston, and "Robert Mapplethorpe's bullwhips." Now comes the third
case, in which a girl gave birth in her parents' garage and left the baby
there. Again, family members say they had no idea she was pregnant.
(6/13)
The
National Basketball Association fined Chicago Bulls forward Dennis
Rodman $50,000 for insulting Mormons. This doubles the NBA's previous
record fine, also earned by Rodman, for kicking a photographer earlier this
year. Rodman's first offending remark, June 7, in Salt Lake City: "It's
difficult to get in sync because of all the [expletive] Mormons out here." His
follow-up remark, June 10: "Mormon people don't like me either, right? That's a
given, right? So what the hell." His apology, June 12: "If I knew it was like a
religious-type deal, I would have never said it." Bulls coach Phil Jackson
explained: "To Dennis, a Mormon may just be a nickname for people from Utah. He
may not even know it's a religious cult or sect or whatever it is."
(6/13)
The
Dow Jones industrial average roared past 7,500 and closed above 7,700.
It has now risen about 50 percent in the past year and a half. Analysts cited
the usual factors: strong profits, low inflation, expectations of a sound
budget agreement. The media have become so blasé about Dow milestones that they
hardly noticed this one. The Washington Post , while warning that a
recession is inevitable, acknowledged that such warnings have lost almost all
credibility: Economists "worry that the news is too good to last--and then it
does." Related headlines: "Economists See Rosy Long-Term U.S. Future" ( Los
Angeles Times , June 10); "The Golden Age" (Jim Glassman, the Post ,
June 10). (6/13)
Miscellany: Rupert
Murdoch bought control of Pat Robertson's cable channel--"a merger of the
sacred and profane," cracked the New York Times . Alex Kelly , the
rich kid who spent eight years resort-hopping in Europe to evade rape charges
in the United States, was finally convicted. Members of Alabama's state pardon
board threw out the conviction of former Gov. Guy Hunt--who had appointed
them--on charges of diverting $200,000 from a tax-free inaugural fund to
personal use. The House overwhelmingly passed--again--a constitutional
amendment to ban the desecration of the American flag . Massachusetts
Rep.-turned-gubernatorial candidate Joe Kennedy raised eyebrows by speaking in
favor of the amendment. Conservative Jews praying at Jerusalem's Western Wall
were doused with saliva, trash, and feces--by Orthodox Jews. The Orthodox
called the Conservatives "Nazis," "whores," and "goyim," evidently because
their men and women were praying together. (6/13)
