Gates at the Barbarians
USA
Today leads with the Starr grand jury appearance of Vernon Jordan. The
Washington Post leads with the first-time-ever
congressional testimony of Bill Gates. The Los Angeles
Times goes with the report that the U.N.-approved oil-for-food
exceptions to the trade sanctions on Iraq have primarily benefited Saddam
Hussein and his inner circle. The New York Times
leads with the strong showing of a Hindu nationalist party in the Indian
parliamentary elections. Neither the LAT nor NYT leads make
anybody else's front page. Jordan and Gates, on the other hand, get lots of
attention everywhere.
It's widely reported that Jordan testified for more than five hours, and
that he answered every question--mostly about the nature of the career planning
assistance he extended to Monica L. as a favor to the president. USAT
says Jordan's appearance marks a "pivotal stage" in the Lewinsky investigation.
The WP and NYT stress that Jordan's courthouse-steps affirmation
of his friendship with President Clinton was mighty reassuring to the White
House. Both the WP and NYT note the fancy Jordan security
arrangements--the Post calls them "almost royal treatment." He ate his
lunch ("hearty vegetable soup"--thanks WP ) surrounded by three federal
bodyguards, just a few tables over from the unguarded prosecutors who had been
grilling him.
The WP lead says that Gates was "assailed" at the hearings, for
suppressing competition, by some of the business rivals he appeared with, as
well as by some senators. Gates' response that government intervention, not his
company, is the big threat to technological innovation, is widely quoted. But
hearing chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch opined afterwards that Microsoft is a
monopoly. An idea, says the LAT , Gates "scoffs" at.
The Post points out that the Senate doesn't even allow laptop
computers in its chamber, but that nonetheless some of the questioning of Gates
by Hatch had a "laser-like precision." The LAT and NYT describe Gates as
the richest man in America. The WP says he's the richest man in the
world.
The Gates appearance certainly brings out criticism of his Slate
diary entries. The WP 's "Reliable Source" column says, "A scintillating
read, they are not," and Maureen Dowd says they make Gates' life "sound as
boring as ours."
According to the Wall Street Journal "Tax Report," as of last Friday, the
IRS had issued 12% more money in income-tax refunds than the year before. The
IRS says that's because more people are filing electronically.
There's considerable coverage today given to a seven word addition Vermont
Sen. Patrick Leahy inserted in a bill about federal Great Lake research money
that had the effect of making his state eligible for the funds for the first
time. The sentence declares Lake Champlain to be a Great Lake. The bill will,
says the NYT , probably be signed by President Clinton. George Will makes fun of the move in his column and a
NYT editorial points out that other lakes, such as Utah's
Great Salt Lake, are far better claimants. The editorial runs under the header,
"Maybe It's An Ocean."
It's a shame federal monies are used up this way when they could be better
used for things like the government's program to provide close captioning for
television shows. But then we learn in today's Post that the program
funds captioning for "Jerry Springer" and "Baywatch." ("Today's
Papers" didn't even realize those shows have soundtracks.)
