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- <text id=89TT2044>
- <title>
- Aug. 07, 1989: Grapevine
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Aug. 07, 1989 Diane Sawyer:Is She Worth It?
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 18
- Grapevine
- </hdr><body>
- <p> WHAT'S ON TAP? West German officials say that tips about
- illegal sales of nuclear- and chemical-weapons equipment
- sometimes come from U.S. intelligence agencies. How does the
- U.S. know so much? "By tapping our telephones," says a senior
- Bonn official. "That is one of the Allied Occupation rights left
- over from the war." Bonn has avoided making a fuss about the
- bugging for fear of giving an issue to the German right wing.
- Says the Bonn official: "There would be a huge outcry if people
- realized what rights the Allies still have in this country."
- </p>
- <p> DEATH AND TAXES. Even a nuclear holocaust will not deter
- the tax collector, though it might slow him down a bit. A recent
- IRS regulation declares that in case of atomic attack,
- employees working in the disaster area should forget about
- delinquent accounts and concentrate on collecting current taxes.
- </p>
- <p> THE OTTER TRUTH. Pity the poor sea otter, a major victim of
- the Exxon Valdez oil spill that has been memorialized on
- countless T-shirts. Commercial fishermen are not that upset
- about their demise: the cute critters have been taking a
- good-size bite out of the seafood catch. Each otter, weighing
- as much as 100 lbs., can consume up to 25 lbs. of fish a day.
- </p>
- <p> DUBIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS. At a White House dinner, George Bush
- presented a few awards to members of his staff. The Scowcroft
- Prize was permanently named after this year's recipient,
- National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, an amiable
- 64-year-old. What distinction does it honor? Discreet napping
- during White House meetings.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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