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- <text id=91TT1813>
- <title>
- Aug. 12, 1991: Miscellany
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
- Aug. 12, 1991 Busybodies & Crybabies
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- MISCELLANY, Page 57
- </hdr><body>
- <p> UNTESTING, TESTING. In 1986, as a result of a lawsuit filed
- mostly by black parents, California banned the use of I.Q.
- tests to measure learning disabilities in black students on the
- grounds that they tended to be racially discriminatory. The
- upshot would have seemed quirky even in South Africa: the tests
- were permitted for all kids except blacks. One mother of a
- mixed-race son was told that he could not be tested because he
- was registered as a black; she was advised to reregister him as
- Hispanic. Now a suit to restore the tests has been filed by
- another set of parents of black students, who argue that barring
- their children from the test is racially discriminatory.
- </p>
- <p> STAGE FRIGHT. The immigration law set to go into effect in
- October contains a minor provision causing major artistic
- anxiety: it limits to 25,000 a year the number of actors,
- musicians, models and athletes who can enter the U.S. to perform
- under temporary visas. Other oddities: applicants must be
- "internationally recognized" or "culturally unique" (whatever
- that means) and must have been with their group at least a year.
- The bill was pushed by organized labor to protect American jobs,
- but the tight limit (applied first come, first served) could
- instead assault American culture.
- </p>
- <p> FRUIT LOOPY. Kids, Uncle Sam wants you to eat more fruit
- with your cereal! But if you're poor, you can't get them in the
- same box. The $2.4 billion federal program that feeds 5 million
- needy children will not pay for cereal with more than six grams
- of sugar per serving. Kellogg protests that this excludes its
- Raisin Bran, because the sugar naturally contained in its
- raisins pushes it over the limit. So the kids eat mainly
- Cheerios and have to get their fruit separately.
- </p>
- <p> ZACHARY TAYLOR BEWARE. When Ronald and Nancy Reagan
- decided they wanted to be buried on the grounds of his
- presidential library near Ventura, Calif., environmentalists
- objected that it would cause pollution. No, not of the toxic
- waste variety; the fuming was not that personal. It was alleged
- that additional tourists would cause the pollution. Local
- officials disagreed and approved the Reagans' request. The
- sites-in-waiting will be ready by the time the library is
- dedicated in November.
- </p>
- <p> QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
- </p>
- <p> "They're never going to believe this one."--James
- ("Whitey") Bulger, a well-known reputed Boston mobster, upon
- winning part of a $14 million Massachusetts lottery jackpot.
- </p>
- <p> "The only person that probably would have caused more
- trouble is if my mother had won."--state treasurer Joseph
- Malone, upon hearing the results.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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