A
Serbian mob attacked U.S. troops in Bosnia, wounding two soldiers. This
was the worst clash between Bosnian Serb civilians and NATO troops since the
1995 peace agreement. Analysts agreed that NATO is increasingly provoking the
Serbs by helping Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic wrest power from her
predecessor, Radovan Karadzic, who remains the Serbs' de facto leader. Critics
worry that NATO's new activism against Karadzic will endanger its troops and
trap them in a Bosnian quagmire. However, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. John
Shalikashvili rejected the idea of involving U.S. troops in the arrests of
Bosnian war criminals. (8/29)
Joe
Kennedy withdrew his candidacy for governor of Massachusetts. He explained
that if he had stayed in the race, the election would have focused on his
annulment and his brother's alleged fling with the family baby sitter. Media
coverage of Kennedy's withdrawal focused on his annulment and his brother's
alleged fling with the family baby sitter. (8/29)
Eugenic
sterilization is the hot topic in Europe. Swedes are outraged by reports that
Sweden forcibly sterilized 62,000 "inferior" citizens between the 1930s
and the 1970s. Targets were evidently chosen by race as well as by mental
capacity. Meanwhile, a Swiss professor disclosed that Swiss doctors forcibly
sterilized retarded patients until 20 years ago. The Swiss law was used by
Hitler to justify Nazi policies. Similar sterilizations reportedly are still
forced on women in Austria. The Los Angeles Times and Washington
Post played up the Swedish eugenics program as the sick side of Sweden's
self-styled perfection. (8/29)
Former
agriculture secretary Mike Espy was indicted for soliciting favors from
companies under his purview and then covering them up. Espy's lawyer argued
that the favors he accepted (e.g., sports tickets and a crystal bowl) were
trivial, adding up to just $35,000. Critics pointed out that Espy is the third
Clinton Cabinet secretary to require an independent counsel (along with Ron
Brown and Henry Cisneros) and could soon be joined by a fourth (Hazel O'Leary).
(8/29)
Straws
in the wind: A baby boom in Moscow may be signaling the renewal of Russian
optimism , according to the New York Times . California's Supreme
Court ruled that victims of age discrimination in the workplace have the
same rights as victims of race and sex discrimination. California's
conservative attorney general also endorsed a proposed study to settle the
debate over the benefits of medical marijuana. SAT math scores are up, reaching
a 26-year peak, but verbal scores remain low. SAT administrators noted that
grades assigned by teachers are being inflated relative to SAT scores. A
Million Woman March , patterned on the Million Man March, is being
planned for Oct. 25 in Philadelphia. So far, it seems poorly organized.
Kentucky physicians are counseling locals to stop eating squirrel brains, lest
they contract mad cow disease. (8/29)
Vice
President Gore made scores of fund-raising calls from the White House,
according to newly released documents. Various papers put the number between 70
and 93. This updates the previous White House estimate (48), which updated
Gore's previous characterization ("a few occasions"). The White House says
there's no logical inconsistency between Gore's description and the new
numbers, but the press agrees that Gore has shown a pattern of fudging. Two
interesting notes: 1) Gore was asked to solicit money from FedEx Chairman
Frederick Smith, and was briefed with a memo noting that the administration
"has been very responsive to his company." (For more on Smith and money
mongering, see the campaign-finance-scandal update, below.) Gore evidently
didn't make this call. 2) Ex-White House Counsel Jack Quinn, a Gore ally, also
made fund-raising calls from the White House. Quinn isn't covered by Gore's
excuse that the president and veep are exempt from the Hatch Act. Instead,
Quinn claims his calls weren't fund-raising calls because he was thanking
contributors, not soliciting them. (8/27)
Abner
Louima plans to hire Johnnie Cochran to represent him in a
half-billion-dollar lawsuit against New York City for police brutality ,
according to the New York Post . Four cops have been charged with
assaulting the Haitian immigrant and buggering him with a toilet plunger,
causing severe injuries. Other racial flash points: The Army is considering
whether to court-martial accused sexual harasser/abuser Sgt. Maj. Gene
McKinney. His lawyer has threatened to focus the trial on the Army's alleged
selective prosecution of black officers for sexual harassment. And the
California state medical board has suspended the license of a black doctor who
had been touted for years as one of affirmative action's success stories.
(8/27)
Scientists have found a genetic flaw in 6 percent of Ashkenazi Jews that
doubles the risk of colon cancer . The official optimistic spin:
Understanding the mechanics of the flaw will lead to new methods of preventing
colon cancer. The official pessimistic spin: Insurance companies might use
genetic tests to discriminate against Jews who carry the flaw. The unofficial
spin: Why are Ashkenazi Jews predisposed to so many diseases? (Examples: breast
cancer, Tay-Sachs, cystic fibrosis.) Scientists' best theory: too much
inbreeding during the Middle Ages. (8/27)
North Korea's ambassador to Egypt defected to the United States.
American officials exulted that he is their biggest North Korean catch ever and
could provide the United States with loads of valuable intelligence about North
Korean arms proliferation. North Korea responded by canceling this week's talks
with the United States, which were supposed to curtail North Korean arms
proliferation. (8/27)
Update
on the campaign-finance scandal: 1) The Democratic money scandal is converging
with the Teamsters scandal. The Justice Department reportedly is investigating
whether the Democratic National Committee funded Ron Carey's campaign in
exchange for Teamster funding of the Clinton campaign . Republicans are
demanding a special prosecutor and promising congressional investigations. 2)
The House investigating committee subpoenaed records to determine whether the
Clinton administration pressured Johnny Chung into giving $25,000 to
then-Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary's pet charity, Africare, in order to secure
a business meeting with her. 3) The Washington Post reported that FedEx
Chairman Frederick Smith sought favorable trade policies in a private meeting
with President Clinton while FedEx was contributing more than half-a-million
dollars to Democrats. 4) Court records indicate that a jewelry-fraud
ring used illegal third-party campaign donations to get President Clinton
to pose in photos with its principals. It then used the photos in promotional
literature to con 15,000 investors. (8/25)
A
federal election monitor decertified Ron Carey's election as president
of the Teamsters, citing evidence of fraud and diversion of union funds to
Carey's campaign. Carey wasn't directly implicated; but his complicity wasn't
ruled out, either. The official delayed the announcement until the UPS strike
was settled, so as not to influence its outcome. The Wall Street Journal
points out that this decision influenced the strike's outcome. The election
will have to be rerun, but Carey may have the advantage because he triumphed in
the strike. Carey's chief rival, James Hoffa the younger, demanded that he step
down. Editorialists lamented that Carey's campaign against union corruption now
bears the taint of union corruption. (See David Plotz's assessment of Carey,
"A More
Perfect Unionist.") (8/25)
The
government will pay hospitals not to train doctors . This nationalizes a
$400-million New York state subsidy scheme that aims to reduce the surplus of
doctors. Critics argue that the subsidy is idiotic. Defenders argue that it's
less idiotic than the current Medicare policy of subsidizing physician
training, which has exacerbated the surplus. Opponents of the New York scheme
had pointed out the unfairness of paying New York hospitals to undertake
cutbacks that hospitals elsewhere were undertaking at no charge. Instead of
equalizing things by scrapping the New York payment scheme, Congress decided to
equalize things by nationalizing it. Now economists are pointing out the
unfairness of subsidizing the reduction in the number of doctors while refusing
to do the same for other professions, such as economists. (See Jodie T. Allen's
"Yes, We
Have No Physicians.") (8/25)
Burger
King swore off Hudson Foods' beef forever. This comes after: 1) fecal
bacteria in beef distributed by Hudson's Nebraska plant sickened 17 people in
Colorado; 2) the Department of Agriculture obliged Hudson to shut down the
plant and undertake the biggest recall in meat history; and 3) investigators
cited the plant for questionable record-keeping and safety practices. The
divorce cost Hudson its biggest client and inaugurated Burger King's campaign
to persuade customers to continue eating its meat. Editorialists conducted the
usual food-scare protocol: calming the public and explaining that risk can
never be eliminated, while decrying ad hoc government responses and demanding
stricter laws. (8/25)
Pundits are giving up on
the Middle East peace process . Anthony Lewis says the Oslo peace deal
"has been undermined, perhaps fatally." Henry Kissinger says it was doomed by
vagueness and naiveté from the outset. The latest escalation: Palestinian
officials accused Israel of preparing commando attacks on Palestinian
territory--including an assassination attempt on Yasser Arafat, according to a
Palestinian mayor--and urged the United States to stop Israel's blockade of
Bethlehem and its destruction of Palestinian houses. Meanwhile, Arafat
continued to defy Israel's demands that he round up Islamic militants. And the
United States and France, among other nations, urged Israel and Lebanon to halt
the spread of violence along their border. (See Slate's "Gist" on the Palestinian
Authority.) (8/25)
