House
Republicans interrogated Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis
Freeh about the campaign-finance scandal. Reno and Freeh refused to
criticize each other or to discuss the memo in which Freeh had advised Reno to
seek an independent counsel. Pundits expressed disappointment but no surprise
at the lack of bloodshed. The spins: 1) Reno wins again. 2) The hearing was a
distraction from newly released notes suggesting that White House officials
counted on the Federal Election Commission's inability to enforce
campaign-finance laws. 3) The phone-call issue was a distraction from the
soft-money-abuse and conflict-of-interest issues that truly demand an
independent counsel. 4) The independent-counsel question is a distraction from
the question of whether Justice and the FBI will continue to pursue Clinton and
Gore. 5) The whole investigation of Clinton's means of winning re-election is a
distraction from the real scandal: that he intends to do nothing with the job.
(12/10)
Update
on the Arlington National Cemetery scandal: 1) The widow of former U.S.
Ambassador to Switzerland Larry Lawrence, who evidently had lied about his
military record, asked President Clinton to dig up Lawrence and move him
elsewhere in order to lay the controversy to rest. 2) Republicans and
editorialists want further investigation to determine how Lawrence got in and
what the rules are. 3) A former aide to Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., who had
expressed outrage over Lawrence, says Burton got a similar burial waiver for a
former aide who had never served in the military. The old spin: Did Lawrence
get a break in the vetting process because he was a big political donor? The
new spin: Politicians are exploiting the scandal for partisan advantage rather
than facing up to bipartisan abuse of military privileges. (12/10)
It's
open season on the United States in the Middle East. 1) Moderate Arab
countries that boycotted a U.S.-sponsored conference last month are attending a
global Islamic conference hosted by Iran, whose supreme cleric opened the
meeting with a denunciation of the United States and its military presence in
the Persian Gulf. Optimists focused on the more pluralistic, pro-Western speech
by Iran's president. 2) Louis Farrakhan opened his world "friendship" tour by
visiting Iraq in defiance of the U.S. government's objections. 3) In response
to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's expressions of impatience with
Israel's alleged failure to fulfill the Oslo accords, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu declared that "no external pressures" will make Israel budge.
(12/10)
Oracle's stock plummeted 29 percent, breaking NASDAQ's official
single-company daily trading volume record. CEO Larry Ellison lost more than $2
billion on paper. The reason: a disappointing earnings report. Oracle blamed
Asia's woes and U.S. market saturation. Analysts debated whether this bodes ill
for the whole technology sector. Contrarians called it a buying opportunity.
The spins: 1) Tech stocks have climbed too far, too fast, and are due for a
fall. 2) Tech stocks climb and fall too fast because their investors are too
emotional. 3) Many analysts regard Oracle's wager on network computers (an
alternative to PCs) as a wasteful distraction. (12/10)
The
American Medical Association proposed to legalize doctor-patient discussion of
the possible benefits of medical marijuana . The AMA also urged the
government to facilitate grant applications for studies on medical marijuana,
including access to marijuana supplies. The story was overshadowed by the AMA's
messy divorce from Sunbeam and its foreswearing of all product endorsements.
(12/10)
President Clinton changed the mission of U.S. nuclear-weapons policy .
The old mission: waging nuclear war against a superpower. The new mission:
deterring nuclear, biological, or chemical warfare by lesser powers
(formalizing President Bush's implicit warning to Saddam Hussein during the
Gulf War). One consequence is that the United States needs fewer land-based
nukes since it is no longer planning all-out war with Russia. Meanwhile, Russia
is debating whether to cut its conventional forces and authorize first use of
its nukes as a substitute deterrent (as the United States will still do).
(12/8)
Miscellaneous: Businesses and many calling-card users are now being charged 28
cents for each pay-phone call to an 800 number . Consumer advocates call
it a betrayal of the "toll-free" promise. Others respond that deregulation is
properly making users bear the cost of these calls. Former federal drug czar
Lee Brown was elected mayor of Houston. The national media touted him as
the city's first nonwhite mayor but conceded that he will change almost
nothing. The latest uproar against President Clinton's racial-dialogue
project concerns a meeting in Dallas, moderated by Transportation Secretary
Rodney Slater, to which only blacks were invited. The White House said it was a
boo-boo and "won't be repeated." (12/8)
Disney
CEO Michael Eisner cashed in stock options for $565 million. He made
$374 million in gross profits, tripling the previous record--set by him--for a
stock-option gain. Critics resumed grumbling that CEOs are overpaid. The
Wall Street Journal cited arguments in Eisner's defense: 1) The options
represent years of work. 2) He gets a relatively low salary--$750,000--and
makes more money only if he increases Disney's value, as he has done. 3) Other
moguls, e.g., Bill Gates, make zillions more because they own bigger portions
of their companies. Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that nearly
200 partners in Goldman, Sachs will collect at least $4 million in bonuses this
month and that a thousand Wall Street executives are expected to get bonuses
exceeding $1 million. (12/5)
The
National Basketball Association banned all-star player Latrell Sprewell
for a year. The reason: He threatened during practice to kill his coach, choked
him, was pulled away, and came back 15 minutes later and attacked the coach
again. It is the stiffest penalty for insubordination in sports history.
Sprewell's team, Golden State, canceled the remainder of his four-year,
$32-million contract, and Converse terminated his shoe-endorsement deal. This
comes after Dennis Rodman kicked a courtside cameraman and Allen Iverson
pleaded no contest to carrying an illegal gun. Sports pundits applauded
heartily. The sunny spin: Finally, lawless superstar athletes are being reined
in. The half-cynical spin: The NBA banned Sprewell because otherwise, some
spineless team would have signed him. The fully cynical spin: He'll make
millions playing in Europe. (12/5)
Sen.
Strom Thurmond , R-S.C., celebrated his 95 th birthday by
announcing that he will relinquish the chairmanship of the Senate Armed
Services Committee a year from now. Media reports suggested that 1) he's as
spry as ever and 2) Republicans can hardly wait to replace him with a living
chairman. (12/5)
Former "corporate wife"
Lorna Wendt won a $20-million divorce judgment against her ex-husband, GE
Capital Services CEO Gary Wendt. The case attracted national attention because
she claimed that her contributions to his career--maintaining their home,
entertaining his associates, advising him on personnel--constituted a business
partnership entitling her to half his alleged $100-million-plus worth, instead
of the lesser percentage usually awarded to ex-wives of multimillionaires. The
superficial spin: The even split of many of his assets vindicates her argument
and bodes well for corporate wives. The sophisticated spin: His ability to hide
the rest in stock options ("the judge gave Mrs. Wendt only partial credit for
the doubling of GE's stock price," observed the Wall Street Journal )
bodes well for corporate husbands. (12/5)
