TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93TT1853> <title> June 07, 1993: News Digest </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1993 Jun. 07, 1993 The Incredible Shrinking President </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> THE WEEK, Page 17 NEWS DIGEST MAY 23-29 </hdr> <body> NATION In a narrow but critical victory for President Clinton's economic plan, the House passed his deficit-reduction package of tax increases and spending cuts in a 219-213 vote. After frenzied eleventh-hour lobbying, the White House persuaded just enough Democrats to support the program, which is intended to reduce the deficit $500 billion over five years. The House was supposed to be the easy chamber for Clinton; the battle there suggests that the struggle for passage in the Senate may be all the more ferocious. Moving to shore up his shaky White House staff, Clinton hired former Reagan communications chief David Gergen and transferred George Stephanopoulos to a new post. Gergen, a Republican, is expected to become Clinton's new spokesman. The shift came at the end of a week in which the White House tried to recover from a string of political gaffes. After dismissing seven travel-office workers for alleged mismanagement and then inappropriately calling in the FBI, the White House reinstated five of them within days. The President also denied charges that his Administration has "gone Hollywood" and apologized for tying up traffic at the Los Angeles airport to get a haircut. "I'm glad nobody found out about the manicure," he joked. Ross Perot didn't help the President's week, declaring in a TV interview that Clinton is too inexperienced to run the government. If he came looking for work, Perot said, "you wouldn't consider giving him a job anywhere above middle management." Clinton signaled that he was ready to soften his position on officially allowing gays in the military. Homosexuals should be allowed to serve, he said, as long as they keep their sexual lives private, so that the government "does not appear to be endorsing a gay life-style." Steering a middle course on another controversial issue, Clinton renewed China's most-favored-nation trade status for another year. But he said further annual renewals would be contingent on the country's improving its human-rights record. Private papers of late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall were made public, offering a singular glimpse of behind-the-scenes maneuvering over court decisions on abortion and homosexual rights. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, speaking for a majority of the Justices, denounced the Library of Congress for making the material available, claiming it damages the court's "long tradition of confidentiality." But Librarian James Billington said he was simply carrying out Marshall's wishes. Despite opposition from conservatives, the Senate voted to confirm Roberta Achtenberg to head the fair-housing office in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She's the first open lesbian ever appointed to such a high federal post. Naval Airman Terry Helvey was sentenced to life in prison for beating a gay shipmate to death. Helvey, who pleaded guilty, denied in court that the victim's homosexuality was a motive, but documents released after the trial indicated Helvey's longstanding ill will against the gay sailor. A Louisiana man was acquitted of manslaughter in the shooting death of a Japanese exchange student who came to his front door by mistake. Rodney Peairs said he mistook Yoshihiro Hattori for a burglar when the youth ran toward him. The verdict provoked an outcry in Japan. Six black Secret Service agents filed a race-discrimination suit against Denny's, claiming that they waited 45 minutes for breakfast at an Annapolis, Maryland, restaurant while their white colleagues were served in 10 minutes. The company called it a "service issue," but agreed to randomly check restaurants to ensure that they treat blacks fairly. Former President Bush made his first speech for hire since leaving office. Calling his talk a "therapeutic confessional," he earned $80,000 from the National Restaurant Association. WORLD Yet another plan to end the war in Bosnia, agreed on by the U.S., Russia and several European allies, is in trouble. It would have created Muslim safe havens protected by U.N. forces and U.S. air power to enforce the peace. But critics at the U.N. argued that the plan failed to authorize military force to roll back territorial gains by the Bosnian Serbs. In hopes of defusing neo-Nazi violence, Germany's parliament voted overwhelmingly to tighten the country's liberal immigration laws, which had allowed about 1,000 foreigners to enter Germany each day. Despite the vote, suspicious fires broke out in several buildings housing refugees. One blaze killed five Turks, including two young girls, and injured 14. Florence's extraordinary Galleria degli Uffizi was rocked by a car bomb that also killed five people. The blast destroyed or damaged many works of art, including an important painting by the Venetian master Sebastiano del Piombo. "This was an attack in the style of the Mafia," said an Italian organized-crime investigator. Ireland's President, Mary Robinson, had a private tea with Queen Elizabeth. It's the first time an Irish chief of state has met with a British monarch since the founding of the Republic of Ireland in 1949. British Prime Minister John Major fired his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont, and shuffled other ministers in an effort to recapture public confidence. Lamont was blamed for driving down the value of the pound. After threatening to sabotage U.N.-sponsored Cambodian elections, the Khmer Rouge allowed the vote to proceed unimpeded--and even bused people to the polls. The guerrillas may have reasoned that the election was the best way to dispose of their enemies, the country's pro-Vietnamese ruling party. Pressure from their longtime sponsors, the Chinese, may also have had a pacifying effect. Guatemalans took to the streets to protest erstwhile reformist President Jorge Serrano Elias' seizure of power and dismissal of the country's supreme court. The court declared his actions illegal, and the U.S. cut off most aid. One of Mexico's two Roman Catholic Cardinals, Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, was killed in Guadalajara along with six others when assassins loyal to a local drug lord apparently mistook him for a rival trafficker. France expects to clear billions of dollars in a sell-off of 21 large state-owned companies, including Renault and Air France. BUSINESS Growth in GDP during the first quarter was a meager 0.9%, the weakest since 1991. Three rival electronics consortiums agreed to combine forces in a single mega consortium to produce a high-definition television system that will significantly improve the quality of TV picture and sound. The collaboration ends a drawn-out competition between different technical approaches and makes it possible that HDTV will be generally available as early as 1995. Seagram, the Canadian liquor and beverage company, acquired a 5.7% stake in Time Warner, the entertainment and media company, and sought approval to purchase up to 15%. Seagram said its investment was friendly. Microsoft introduced its feverishly anticipated and much delayed new Windows NT operating system, which can run expansive networks of personal computers as easily as the original Windows system operates individual PCs. SCIENCE The true edge of the solar system is a zone far beyond Pluto where charged particles from the sun meet the cold gas between the stars. NASA scientists believe they have finally found it, by means of the twin Voyager space probes; it is between 8.4 billion and 11.2 billion miles from the sun, or at least three times as far away from Earth as Neptune, currently the most distant planet. Princeton University physicist J. Richard Gott has used standard assumptions about the statistics of populations to calculate that there is a 95% chance that humanity will become extinct somewhere between 5,100 and 7.8 million years from now. -- By Sidney Urquhart, Richard Zoglin, Michael D. Lemonick, Christopher John Farley, Ginia Bellafante, Tom Curry, Michael Quinn Informed Sources Girls Stepping Up to the Altar Many priests started out as altar boys, so it may be significant that Pope John Paul II appears to be prepared to allow girls to serve at Roman Catholic Masses. The shift has nothing to do with complaints from American feminists. The Pope is simply considering a practice that is already established in some parishes. After details are worked out by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Vatican is expected to announce the policy later this year. The Elite Eastern Media Conspiracy In a move that could bring two of the country's most celebrated and well-regarded newspapers under one corporate roof, the parent company of the New York Times in January entered serious discussions to buy the Boston Globe. Takeover rumors have swirled around the Globe in years and months past; now a deal seems imminent, for a price of about $1 billion. Says a top staff writer: "If the Globe goes, I would certainly want it to go to a respectable news organization, which the Times of course is." Ghana But Not Forgotten John Doggett--the limitlessly self-regarding lawyer who testified during the Clarence Thomas hearings that Anita Hill "fantasized" about him--was recently arrested and held in a Ghana police station for a night. Doggett says the arrest was the result of a pay dispute with one of his employees; he's currently fighting the employee's claim against him in court, although he would like to settle the case without any further legal wrangling. According to a source, Doggett was in the country because, a year after his testimony, his firm received a $2.7 million U.S. government contract from the Agency for International Development to train businessmen there. Health Report THE GOOD NEWS Older men who have slow-growing prostate cancer can avoid the impotence and incontinence that often follow surgery by avoiding the surgery. Left untreated, the disease is fatal, but men over 70 or so will most likely die of something else first. Researchers may have found a biological explanation for bulimia. Those who suffer from the eating disorder--which involves compulsive bingeing, followed by forced vomiting--have low levels of the brain chemical serotonin; the dis covery may point the way toward treatment. A vaccine protects monkeys from becoming infected with an AIDS-like illness by vaginal transmission. This research may lead to a vaccine that can prevent heterosexual AIDS infection in humans. THE BAD NEWS Only about 33% of U.S. doctors practice general rather than specialized medicine, compared with the 50% that public-health experts consider ideal. Worse yet, the number is dropping: it could be just 28% by 2010. Women who have six or more children run a risk of heart disease 50% higher than the average for all women. A possible reason is that pregnancy could cause hormonal changes that are bad for the heart. The idea is controversial, but two researchers claim the 50% decline in average sperm counts over the past 50 years comes from men's increased exposure to the hormone estrogen. Sources of the estrogen, the theory goes, are milk from hormone-dosed cows and water supplies contamiby chemical spills. SOURCES: Journal of the American Medical Association; New England Journal of Medicine; Science; Lancet What Is "Affirmative Action"? Although Alex Trebek, the host of Jeopardy!, has attacked Inside Jeopardy!, a new book about the show, he acknowledges that the program does sometimes "wish to remove a clue that has a pro-male bias," which is one of the book's main charges. Here are some of the items that were allegedly switched for the sake of gender norming: PRO-MALE: PRO-FEMALE MICHAEL JORDAN: MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV STANLEY CUP: OKTOBERFEST CRIMEAN WAR: JOHN CHEEVER WEAPONS: CLOTHING AIRPORTS: ALICE B. TOKLAS The Crystal Ball "Before, our city was known as a town of ashes, the place where a war began. Now it is a town of the Olympics and of friendship; much has changed." -- Ahmed Karabegovic, secretary-general of the organizing committee for the Sarajevo Olympic Games, March 1985 Egos and Ids SEXUAL BRAGGART CONQUESTS WILT CHAMBERLAIN 20,000 "The Stilt" GEORGES SIMENON 10,000 prolific French novelist DON GIOVANNI 2,065 Spanish nobleman JEFFREY MASSON 700 to 1,300 litigious shrink Sources: 1--A View from Above by Wilt Chamberlain; 2--The Man Who Wasn't Maigret by Patrick Marnham (published May 1993); 3--Don Giovanni libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte U.S.-Japan Murder Deficit The case of the Japanese student shot in Louisiana, in which the defendant was acquitted last week, has created hysteria in Japan about American violence. The fear is not wholly unfounded. Kampuchea Tax Revolt "I learned how to campaign from the Republican Party in Orange County. They taught me...skills nobody knows in Cambodia." -- NANDA CHAMROEUN, A CAMBODIAN-BORN U.S. CITIZEN WHO RETURNED TO CAMBODIA TO RUN AS A CANDIDATE FOR THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WINNERS & LOSERS WINNERS BETTE MIDLER Radio City Music Hall one-day record for ticket sales. WHITE HOUSE TRAVEL AGENTS Most of them de-fired after bad press over their purge. EDEN JACOBOWITZ Charge of racial slur ("water buffaloes") dropped at Penn. LOSERS DENNY'S RESTAURANTS Employee snubs black Secret Service agents. JOSE CANSECO Ball bounces off Texas Rangers outfielder's head for homer. HARRY THOMASON Clinton image meister catalyst for hair and travel snafus. "Rocky" Clinton--Often Down, Never Out HE'S FINISHED "One thing seems painfully clear: Clinton's candidacy looks kaput."--WASHINGTON POST, Jan. 28, 1992, after Gennifer Flowers' allegations ...NO, HE'S NOT "New Hampshire tonight has made Bill Clinton the comeback kid."--Clinton, Feb. 18, 1992, after placing second in the New Hampshire primary HE'S FINISHED " politically devastating failure to find an acceptable candidate for AttorGeneral."--R.W. Apple, Jr. in the NEW YORK TIMES, Feb. 6, 1993 ...NO, HE'S NOT "Not since Franklin Roosevelt has a President so boldly provoked and challenged the nation's financial and economic elites."--political analyst Kevin Phillips, on Clinton's Feb. 18 economic address HE'S FINISHED "I'm not sure he's going to recover from the problems of his presidency."--Al Hunt, Washington bureau chief of the WALL STREET JOURNAL on Meet the Press, May 23, 1993 ...NO, HE'S NOT "It is far too early to write Bill Clinton off...he is famously resilient."--Columnist Anthony Lewis, NEW YORK TIMES, last Friday after the House passed Clinton's tax bill 219 to 213 The Shows We Won't Be Seeing 1 THE MESSENGER--Man who lives 15 min. in the future carries helpful messages in holographs implanted in his body. 2 ISLAND GUY--Pacific-island boy canoes to the U.S. and moves in with yuppies. 3 MUDDLING THROUGH--Recently paroled woman who has shot her husband returns to work at her family's madcap cafe. 4 HOT & BOTHERED--Improbable circumstances force a model to live with a lame-brain auto mechanic. 5 FIRST FAMILY--Zany Neanderthals. What if TV programming executives were even less discriminating than we think they are? We might have ended up seeing the listings above next season. The networks have just finished announcing their fall schedules, and all of these shows were prime-time candidates. Happily, none made it. Marla Maples Ennobled "There's nothing ennobling about obscurity. You believe that, right, Ivana?" -- GOSSIP COLUMNIST LIZ SMITH TO IVANA TRUMP AT A NEW YORK CITY SYMPOSIUM ON FAME From Mao and Chou To Bert and Ernie The issues involved in President Clinton's decision to renew China's most-favored-nation trading status are not simply political and moral: China has jumped from the 35th largest American trading partner in 1979 to seventh largest last year. Forty percent of the toys sold in the U.S. are made in China, such as Hasbro's Ernie doll. </body> </article> </text>