TIME: Almanac 1995

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ TIME: Almanac 1995 / TIME Almanac 1995.iso / time / 010394 / 0103991.000 < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1995-02-21 | 26.9 KB | 687 lines

<text id=93TT2538> <title> Jan. 03, 1994: Chronicles:The Week </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1993 Jan. 03, 1994 Men of The Year:The Peacemakers </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> CHRONICLES, Page 17 THE WEEK:DECEMBER 19-25 </hdr> <body> NATION Clinton and the S&L Further questions surrounding the suicide last summer of deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster arose when it was disclosed that files containing information about the First Family's personal finances had been removed from his office before investigators had a chance to see them. The files contained documents related to the Clintons' investment in Whitewater Development Corp., a real estate company connected to a failed Arkansas savings and loan that is under investigation by the Justice Department. Senate Republican leader Bob Dole said the Senate Banking Committee should examine the S&L in question and its link to the Clintons. At week's end, the President instructed his personal attorney to hand the files over to the Justice Department. Clinton and the Troopers Two Arkansas state troopers revived rumors about Clinton's pre-presidential private life by claiming they helped the then Governor carry on extramarital affairs when they served on his security detail in Little Rock. A third trooper swore in an affidavit that neither he nor his colleagues were offered federal jobs by Clinton in return for their silence, despite the claims of the two troopers. In an interview, the third trooper did say he and Clinton had discussed a job for one of the two troopers. White House aides, Hillary Rodham Clinton and the President all dismissed the allegations. Inman's Zoe Baird Problem Still another problem for the Clinton Administration last week was the public admission that Defense Secretary-nominee Bobby Ray Inman failed to pay Social Security taxes for his housekeeper. He made the $6,000 payment covering seven years of delinquency after being offered the Cabinet post. And As for Rosty's Scandal House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski was beset with new questions about alleged improper financial dealings. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the Democrat's payroll included ghost employees who either did not work for him or had not done so in years. The wife of a Chicago alderman, for instance, reportedly received a salary for five years after quitting her job in 1987. Rostenkowski is already under investigation by a federal grand jury for allegedly trading free stamps for cash at the House Post Office and allegedly using campaign funds and his office account for cars and to rent space in a building owned by his family. New Rules for Military Gays The guidelines that officially put into place the Pentagon's "Don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy pertaining to gays in the military were announced. The rules will allow gay or lesbian soldiers to serve in the armed forces but only if they are not engaging in homosexual sex. Under the policy, a soldier seen at a gay bar, for example, would not be subject to investigation, but a soldier seen holding hands with a person of the same sex might be. Gay-rights activists argued that the regulations are so vague that officers will be able to enforce them in whatever way they see fit. The constitutionality of the policy is also in question, and outgoing Defense Secretary Les Aspin has said, "We fully expect lawsuits on this." Pentagon Christmas Bonus Stepping in to defuse a high-level budget dispute, President Clinton decided to grant the Pentagon an extra $10 billion over the next five years. The funds will cover pay raises and quiet those in Congress who felt the President had cut the military budget too deeply. Shali in Somalia Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Shalikashvili went to Somalia last week to firm up plans for the March 31 withdrawal of U.S. troops. Germany and Italy confirmed that they will also pull out their peacekeepers when the Americans do. Ickes Joins White House Team Clinton named Harold Ickes, a New York labor lawyer and son of F.D.R.'s Secretary of the Interior, as his deputy chief of staff. Ickes will use his expertise as a tough political dealmaker to coordinate efforts to pass the President's health-care reform plan. New Crime-Fighting Measures In two separate White House ceremonies President Clinton took steps to combat crime. First, the President awarded $50 million in grants to communities for the hiring of police officers. These were the first grants in a $150 million program and will help cities hire 100,000 new officers. Clinton also signed the National Child Protection Act, which creates a data base of all indictments and convictions for child abuse, sex offenses, violent crimes and felony drug charges. The information will be available for background checking to those hiring child-care workers. Human Radiation Experiments The Department of Energy said last week that 750 poor women who went to Vanderbilt University for free prenatal care in the 1940s were fed radioactive pills as part of a government experiment to study the absorption of iron among pregnant women. The tests are blamed for the cancer deaths of at least three children born to these women. It is not yet known whether the subjects were told what was in the pills. Archdiocese May Go Bankrupt Unless it is helped by faithful parishioners, the Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, may have to file for bankruptcy. The archdiocese is burdened by heavy legal fees resulting from dozens of sexual-molestation accusations brought against its priests. Victims are demanding settlements that total nearly $50 million. Jackson Speaks In a carefully staged four-minute live television address from his Neverland Valley Ranch in California, Michael Jackson came out of seclusion to declare that he is "totally innocent" of the "disgusting" child-molestation allegations that have been leveled against him and that he has been manipulated by the "terrible mass media." Fighting back tears, he revealed that police, armed with a search warrant, last week photographed his genitals and buttocks in what he called "the most humiliating ordeal of my life." WORLD I.R.A. Negotiates Negotiations Gerry Adams, leader of the Irish Republican Army's political wing, called for "direct and unconditional dialogue" on Northern Ireland, but Prime Ministers John Major of Britain and Albert Reynolds of Ireland said their offer to include the I.R.A. in bargaining sessions only if it renounces violence is nonnegotiable. Adams also called for the release of "political prisoners"--hundreds of captured I.R.A. gunmen and bombers held in British prisons--but British officials have ruled out any amnesty for them. I.R.A. guerrillas, meanwhile, disrupted London's commuter railway system with bomb threats and set off explosives in London, Belfast and Londonderry, injuring six people. Yeltsin Reforms Reformism Russian President Boris Yeltsin, responding to the unexpectedly strong showing by Vladimir Zhirinovsky's ultra-nationalists in parliamentary elections, acknowledged that two years of proto-capitalism had created hardships and said his government would do more to help the poor and unemployed. However, Yeltsin also announced that First Deputy Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, chief architect of the free-market reforms, would remain in office and that "the course he is following will continue." Yeltsin replaced the Security Ministry, successor to the KGB, by a streamlined counterintelligence agency, denouncing it as "the last bulwark of Soviet totalitarianism." Ukraine Defuses a Few Nukes The world's third largest nuclear power, Ukraine, announced it had removed the warheads from 17 of its SS-24 ballistic missiles inherited from the Soviet Union and aimed at North America. Despite the goodwill gesture, Ukraine officials are still negotiating with Russia and the U.S. over the final disposition of the country's 1,600-warhead arsenal. Milosevic Retains Power Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, a chief architect of the Serbs' war of expansion in Bosnia, retained control of the government as his Socialist Party increased its representation from 101 to 123 seats in the 250-seat legislature. Whether the Socialists form a minority or a coalition government, President Milosevic will remain in control. South Africa Onward, Upward In its last significant act as a white-dominated body, South Africa's Parliament approved a constitution granting equal rights--including the right to vote--to all citizens for the first time. The document will come into force as soon as it is signed by President F.W. de Klerk. A pair of last-minute efforts to include racialist provisions in the constitution--one by right-wing white groups to create a separate "white homeland" and another by black parties to preserve the special powers of blacks in autonomous areas created by apartheid--failed. Castro Daughter Flees to U.S. Using a wig and a fake Spanish passport, Fidel Castro's illegitimate daughter slipped out of Cuba aboard a tourist flight to Spain. She then flew to Atlanta, where she was granted political asylum. Alina Fernandez Revuelta, 37, who has denounced her father as a "tyrant," said she hopes her 16-year-old daughter will be allowed to join her in the U.S. BUSINESS Fickle Paramount In a dramatic turnaround, prompted by a stinging defeat in the Delaware courts two weeks before, Paramount's board recommended its shareholders accept the hostile buyout offer of Barry Diller's qvc Network. The board decision, which stockholders will now consider, is a hard blow for Paramount chairman Martin Davis, who had sought to negotiate a friendly but $500 million-less-generous takeover by Viacom. In its final bid, qvc added a mere $100 million in cash to the $10 billion-plus offer it had already made. Viacom may still increase its own offer. Happy New Year The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicted a sluggish rate of growth in 1994 for the G-7 leading industrialized countries. The exception? North America, where the group foresees a 3.1% increase in gross domestic product for the U.S. and a 3.7% rise for Canada. Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew at a 2.9% annual rate during the third quarter. Colder Pizza Responding to a nearly $79 million jury award to a woman struck and injured by a Domino's Pizza driver, the company announced it would abandon its very successful marketing ploy and no longer promise to deliver its pizzas within 30 minutes. No Handguns at Wal-Mart Starting in February, Wal-Mart will stop selling handguns at its stores, though will still offer them through catalogs and continue selling shotguns and rifles in stores. "The mood of the country is changing," said a spokesman. SCIENCE Fossil Find Paleontologists have believed for a long time that the first amphibians to crawl on land became extinct 190 million years ago. But scientists in Australia announced that they have uncovered the jawbone of a labyrinthodont, forerunner of the land dinosaurs, that was alive and well as recently as 110 million years ago. Apparently the unique climate and relative isolation of the continent helped to protect the ancient order from its predators. THE ARTS & MEDIA CBS Shutout NBC snatched up the last available National Football League television package, retaining its rights to broadcast American Football Conference games for four more seasons and shutting out CBS from an N.F.L. deal for the first time since the mid-1950s. CBS, which had previously lost its National Football Conference contract to upstart Fox, will now field a severely shriveled sports lineup featuring NCAA basketball and the 1994 Winter Olympics. Cultural Anti-Imperialism In the wake of the failure of GATT negotiations to resolve differences between the U.S. and Europe over entertainment exports, Spain imposed additional restrictions on American movies, and France approved a law requiring radio stations to play French music at least 40% of the time, starting in 1996. By Melissa August, C.J. Farley, Christine Gorman, Sophfronia Scott Gregory, Michael Quinn, Jeffery Rubin, Alain Sanders and David Seideman DISPATCHES HAPPINESS THE PATTI DAVIS WAY By Ginia Bellafante, In New York City For most people in therapy, the years of big bills and 50-minute "hours" lead merely to healthier, more balanced emotional lives. But for the famous and semi-famous--for the Roseanne Arnolds, the Suzanne Somerses and the daughters of recent two-term Republican Presidents--the rewards of painful self-reflection are more quantifiable: invitations to appear on Sally Jessy, book contracts, speaking engagements, invitations to appear on Oprah and so on. For celebrities, personal growth comes with a sense of obligation to suffer all the little inner children to come unto them, particularly if there is a fee involved. Accordingly, Patti Davis, middle-aged rebel daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, has come to Manhattan's Doral Inn hotel to conduct a one-night-only seminar called Recovering from Dysfunctional Families. The class, which costs $39 to attend, is offered by the Learning Annex, a New York City adult-education center that provides urbanites with such courses as Start Your Own Cheese Business or Mini Goat Farm and Design Your Own Jewelry: Bead Stringing. Among the 70 seminar participants seated in the hotel's ballroom--a drab hall in which one suspects no ball has ever been held--are a few hippie-ish girls, a handful of senior citizens and a long-nailed Whoopi Goldberg look-alike who spots Davis and whispers incredulously to her neighbor, "That's Nixon's daughter?" Looking rather haute lounge act in black ribbed velour leggings, suede boots and a bolero jacket, Davis is of course nothing at all like either of the demure, well-behaved Nixon girls. Her days as a drug-using dater of '70s rock personalities are detailed in her autobiography, The Way I See It, a book that also devotes a good deal of print to depicting Nancy as a violent harridan. Tonight, though, Davis is selling forgiveness, so anyone hoping for three hours of Mommy bashing will be disappointed. There are some jabs, yes ("The Reagans parented America in the '80s. I was on one therapist's couch, and the country was on the other"), but Davis is here to help her audience let go of their anger. "You want someone to be more loving, you be more loving," she says. "You want someone to be more forgiving, you be more forgiving." To illustrate this point in a way everyone can relate to, Davis refers to her experience as the daughter of a President who secretly supplied arms to the contras and remarks that for her, "Nicaragua, that was a lesson in forgiveness." When Davis completes her talk, admirers approach. "I can't tell you how much you've helped me," says a bespectacled college-age girl. A woman asks her to look over a self-help book she is writing, but Davis declines. "My name is Gunter," announces a stout man with a German accent. "I owe my own recovery to John Bradshaw." He asks Davis to sign a copy of The Way I See It. During her lecture Davis found time to mention a book of hers that will soon be published. "I have a novel coming out," she told the class. "It's called Bondage. It's very erotic." Someday, someone may hold a successful seminar titled Recovering from Reading an Erotic Novel by Patti Davis. HEALTH REPORT THE GOOD NEWS -- Fewer youngsters worldwide are dying of childhood diseases now than at any other time in history. About 80% of children today are vaccinated against such deadly illnesses as measles and polio, compared with 20% in the early 1980s. According to the U.N., measles killed 1.1 million children in 1993, down from 2.5 million a year just a decade ago. Polio crippled 140,000 children last year, down from 500,000 in 1980. -- A simple medical device that looks like a plunger may be more effective than the traditional hand-pressing technique used in cpr to save heart-attack victims. The small suction pump compresses and expands the patient's chest more vigorously, reduces the risk of broken ribs and allows more blood to flow through the body. THE BAD NEWS -- Drinking three cups of coffee a day during pregnancy more than doubled the risk of miscarriage in a study of 331 Canadian women. Although another recent study suggested that consuming moderate amounts of coffee had no effect, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advises expectant mothers to cut down on the caffeine they consume. -- Blood pressure is measured by a ratio of two numbers. For years, doctors thought the bottom number, which measures blood pressure between beats, was more important in determining a person's risk of a heart attack or stroke. But new research shows that even a slightly elevated top number, which measures pressure when the heart is contracting, can be just as deadly. SOURCES: GOOD: State of the World's Children for 1994; New England Journal of Medicine. BAD: Journal of the American Medical Association; New England Journal of Medicine THE PRICE OF FAME 1993 Mikhail Gorbachev, who funnels the cash to his foundation, has begun to learn about that great capitalist commodity, the personal appearance. But as this list of remarkable fees reportedly paid in 1993 suggests, he'll need to talk about more than geopolitics to hit it big. -- Mikhail Gorbachev to address the National Republican Senatorial Committee--$70,000 -- George Bush to address Amway distributors--$100,000 -- David ("Son of Sam") Berkowitz for an exclusive interview on Inside Edition--$200,000 -- Joey and Mary Jo Buttafuoco for an exclusive interview on A Current Affair--$500,000 INSIDE WASHINGTON Heads to Roll at State and the NSC Major changes in Clinton's foreign policy team are imminent. Strobe Talbott, the State Department's Ambassador at Large to Russia and the former Soviet republics, will soon become Secretary of State Warren Christopher's No. 2 man. The Administration is concerned that its European policy is unfocused; Talbott (a former Time columnist) is being brought in to address this problem. He is said to be already interviewing candidates for top State and National Security Council posts; some high-level bureaucrats are sure to be ousted. WINNERS & LOSERS WINNERS STEVEN SPIELBERG In the summer, a billion-dollar popular hit: Jurassic Park. In the winter, an Oscar-contending critical coup: Schindler's List MOHAMMED FARRAH AIDID From fugitive to victor over the U.S., the Somali clan leader returns from hiding more powerful than ever AL GORE Slow and steady tortoise to Clinton's hare, he becomes the most consequential V.P. in modern history EVANDER HOLYFIELD Regains heavyweight crown from the man who had vanquished him in first such restoration since Ali LYLE LOVETT Marries Julia Roberts BENAZIR BHUTTO The Pakistani PM regains power in spectacular comeback ROBERT JAMES WALLER Bridges of Madison County lives on the best-seller list all year, only to be displaced at No. 1 by his new novel TCI CEO JOHN MALONE With TCI-Bell Atlantic merger, the prophet of the information highway pockets shares worth $1.1 billion TONY KUSHNER His Pulitzer- and Tony-winning Angels in America is the first American play in years that really matters THE REPUBLICAN PARTY Texas, New Jersey, Virginia, N.Y.C. and L.A. LOSERS ROSS PEROT Still whiny, cranky and short, he becomes ever more irrelevant as his polls fall, his TV infomercial ratings fade and he flops in the NAFTA debate MICHAEL JACKSON The world's biggest celebrity is accused of sex with boys, and the odds against career revival are very long THE ATF Few had even heard of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms until the Waco assault PHILLY MITCH WILLIAMS Pitches in three losing World Series games, giving up deciding homer in last BABY JESSICA Torn from the only family she knew ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER His too cute, too expensive Last Action Hero flames out J.F.K. CONSPIRACY BUFFS With the publication of Case Closed, suddenly everyone agrees: Oswald did act alone CHEVY CHASE How desperate was his show? He resorted to pre-SNL shtick KIM CAMPBELL In a year, the Progressive Conservative emerges on the world stage as Canada's first woman prime Minister, then sees her party lose 152 of its 154 seats--including hers BOB PACKWOOD Dear Diary: Why didn't I simply resign? INFORMED SOURCES Trading with the Former Enemy Almost two decades after the war ended, President Clinton will finally and fully lift the U.S. trade embargo with Vietnam in the next few weeks, say those familiar with his plans. Meanwhile, Ross Perot hopes to fight to keep the embargo in place, and recently held a strategy summit to plan his campaign. In attendance were the leaders of two major groups of MIA/POW relatives, as well as Republican Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire. No Gas Used Against U.S. Troops After exhaustive research, congressional investigators have concluded there is no solid evidence that Iraq used nerve gas or mustard gas against U.S.-led troops during the Gulf War. Clinton recently signed a bill to provide aid for the thousands of veterans who have complained of mysterious illnesses since the end of the Gulf War, some of whom have linked their ailments to exposure to poison gas. Although low levels of chemicals that inhibit nerve functioning were found near battle sites, congressional analysts now say these trace amounts could well derive from pesticides, not lethal gas. Settling Down First Donald Trump, now Roger Clinton--are high-profile, freewheeling bachelors becoming an endangered species? The oft-delayed marriage of the President's brother to his girlfriend, Molly Martin, was to occur this Monday in Dallas. A First Nephew is due by the spring--which made Roger's request for a White House wedding out of the question. I, Uh, Cannot, Well, Tell A Lie "We...we did, if, the, the, I, I, the stories are just as they have been said. They're outrageous, and they're not so." -- President Clinton responding to a reporter's direct question about allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by Arkansas state troopers SEER SUCKERS Certain predictions made at the beginning of 1993 that turned out to be less than accurate PREDICTOR Eleanor Clift on The McLaughlin Group PREDICTION "Fidel Castro will fall in '93, finally, and his daughter will be a prominent player in the new government." WHAT HAPPENED Fidel remains in power. His daughter has just defected to the U.S. PREDICTOR Wall Street Journal PREDICTION "Nearly all analysts expect Congress to approve economic stimulus measures designed by Clinton." WHAT HAPPENED Congress's evisceration of Clinton's stimulus package was his biggest defeat. PREDICTOR William Safire, New York Times PREDICTION "Replacements for retiring Justices Blackmun, White and Stevens will be Richard Posner, Brooksley Born and Floyd Abrams." WHAT HAPPENED Only Justice Byron White retired. He was replaced by Ruth Ginsburg. PREDICTOR Pittsburgh Pirates manager Jim Leyland and the Boston Globe PREDICTION "Jim Leyland has been saying the Mets are the team that could run away [with the National League East championship]. He's right." WHAT HAPPENED The Mets finished the season with 100 losses for the first time since 1967. PREDICTOR Jack Germond on McLaughlin PREDICTION "No tax bill in 1993." WHAT HAPPENED Clinton budget with $241 billion tax increase becomes law. PREDICTOR Psychic "Mystic Meg" in the supermarket tabloid Globe PREDICTION Fear of disease will prompt Madonna to remarry Sean Penn and become "the new Julie Andrews of the film world." WHAT HAPPENED Sean Penn and Robin Wright had their second child. Madonna starred in Body of Evidence, an S&M bomb. WHAT ZOE BAIRD PROBLEM? Retired Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, President Clinton's nominee to replace Secretary of Defense Les Aspin, revealed last week that after he knew of his nomination, he paid $6,000 in delinquent Social Security taxes that he owed on account of his housekeeper. More than two dozen officials have been allowed to serve in the Administration after quietly paying back Social Security taxes for household help. Here is a surprising partial list. -- Ron Brown, Secretary of Commerce -- Eleanor Dean Acheson, Assistant Attorney General -- Mary Jo Bane, Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services -- Federico Pena, Transportation Secretary -- Donald K. Stern, U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts -- Lawrence H. Thompson, principal deputy commissioner, Social Security Administration -- Shirley S. Chater, Social Security commissioner </body> </article> </text>