Update
on the Princess Diana investigation : 1) A blood test indicates the
driver had consumed anti-depressants as well as too much alcohol. 2) Police
confirmed the car was going at a speed of about 100 mph. 3) The Fayed family's
lawyer claims photographs show the driver was dazzled by a camera flash before
the accident. The photos were apparently taken from a vehicle ahead of Diana's.
4) A French newspaper reported that Diana's last words after the crash were,
"Leave me alone, leave me alone." A doctor said photographers had been snapping
pictures "a few centimeters from her face." Bottom line: Investigators are
leaning toward blaming the driver's speed and intoxication, but the
paparazzi could still be prosecuted for their behavior after the crash.
(9/10)
Late
last week, Princess Diana was eulogized and buried. Fifty million
Americans got up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the funeral on
television. The big story was her brother's slap at the royal family: Diana was
"someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who ... needed no royal
title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic." For days, the
royals were scorned as stuffy brutes for failing to display grief in public.
When they relented and displayed their grief, they were likened to President
Clinton (for feeling others' pain) and scorned for pandering to public opinion.
Several American pundits belatedly conceded that they had covered the story
obsessively based on their false intimacy with Diana and their whitewashed view
of her character. They resumed covering the story obsessively based on the
public's false intimacy with Diana and its whitewashed view of her character.
(9/8)
The
Rev. Al Sharpton forced Democratic front-runner Ruth Messinger into a
runoff in the New York City mayoral primary. Messinger got only 39 percent in
the three-way race, while Sharpton got 32 percent. Messinger aides attributed
Sharpton's success to outrage over the Louima/plunger police-brutality case.
Messinger's embarrassing failure to win the primary outright means she has to
campaign against Sharpton without alienating the blacks she'll need in a
general election against Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Analysts concluded
that she's toast. (Also see Slate's Aug. 9 "Assessment" of
Messinger.) (9/10)
Chinese leaders authorized the constitutional endorsement of economic
privatization, and are considering political reforms that could gradually
extend elections from the local to the national level. Currently, privatization
is merely tolerated. Officials complained that instead of focusing on changes
in the system, Chinese politicos and citizens are gossiping about who's in and
who's out in the Chinese elite. American newspapers responded by gossiping
about who's in and who's out in the Chinese elite. (9/10)
Two
developments in the Paula Jones case: 1) Her attorneys withdrew. They
wanted her to accept $700,000 and a vague statement from President
Clinton--which means they'd get paid--but she's holding out for an explicit
apology. 2) Clinton's insurers (State Farm and Chubb) are ending their coverage
of his legal bills and liabilities. This ends the plausibility of a monetary
settlement, because henceforth Clinton will have to pay out of his own pocket,
something his lawyer says he won't do. Pundits look forward to embarrassing
depositions. (9/10)
Sunbeam
chairman "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap sued the American Medical Association to
make the AMA endorse Sunbeam's health-care products exclusively for five years.
The AMA had proposed the endorsement scheme in exchange for millions of dollars
in royalties, but then backed out after being denounced for prostituting
itself. Dunlap accused the AMA of "arrogance" for breaking the contract and
demanded $20 million in damages. Critics debated which of the two parties looks
worse. (For more on Dunlap, see Slate's recent "Assessment.")
(9/10)
The
Virginia Military Institute suspended a female cadet for hitting a male
upperclassman. The cadet was among the first women admitted to the school under
last year's Supreme Court decision. She struck the blow in response to ritual
verbal abuse by several upperclassmen. Civil-rights advocates called for
scrutiny of the one-year suspension, but agree that it's OK as long as the
abuse that provoked her was gender-neutral. (9/10)
Mother Teresa also died. Reviews of her career were highly favorable.
Pundits paused to pay their respects before returning to the topic of Princess
Diana. The proximity of the two women's deaths inspired a flurry of silly
comparisons, which in turn inspired a backlash of equally silly commentaries
pointing out their differences. Former Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko
died, too. Since Mobutu ended up being only the third-most important person to
die during the week, coverage of his demise was largely buried.
(9/8)
Tennis
prodigy Venus Williams lost in the finals of the U.S. Open. Because
she's 17 and black (her father calls her a "ghetto Cinderella"), and because
she's been hyped for years (she got a multimillion-dollar Reebok contract at
14), she overshadowed the new men's champion--Australian heartthrob Patrick
Rafter--and women's champion Martina Hingis, who is a year younger than
Williams and creamed her in the finals. Commentators were set to anoint
Williams the next Tiger Woods, but her father screwed it up by calling her
semifinal opponent a "white turkey" and portraying the opponent's collision
with Williams during a changeover as "a racial thing." Pressed about these
remarks, Williams parried, ducked, and fled her press conference. Critics
contrast her arrogance with Tiger Woods' good manners. Defenders see a double
standard: Critics don't blame white players (Steffi Graf and Mary Pierce) for
their fathers' misbehavior, so why should Williams be blamed for her father's?
(9/8)
Vice President Gore is on
the hot seat in the campaign-finance investigation . The Washington
Post reported that some of the money Gore raised in phone calls from the
White House went to the Clinton-Gore campaign ("hard" money) instead of the
Democratic National Committee ("soft" money). This removes Attorney General
Reno's rationale for not appointing an independent counsel. The betting now is
that a counsel will be named, and will hound Gore for years. Scandal questions
upstaged Gore's feel-good visit to New Hampshire, giving pundits hope that he
may get a real fight in the 2000 primaries. Gore sympathizers are shifting from
defending his innocence to blaming Clinton for corrupting him. (9/8)
Photographs of:
Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed (R), and Henri Paul (L), from the Ritz/Reuters;
Paula Jones by Jeff Mitchell/Reuters; Earl Spencer from Reuters pool; Mother
Teresa by Joy Shaw/Reuters; Venus Williams and Martina Hingis by Blake
Sell/Reuters.
