TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=94TT1406> <title> Oct. 17, 1994: Chronicles-The Week:October 2-8 </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1994 Oct. 17, 1994 Sex in America </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> CHRONICLES, Page 17 The Week - October 2-8 </hdr> <body> NATION Out with a Thud Hoping for Democratic blood in the upcoming November elections, Republicans used a barrage of procedural tactics to kill what was left of the Clinton legislative agenda as Congress moved to adjourn. A stringent ban on gifts from lobbyists perished in the intense last-minute partisan warfare, as did an overhaul of the Superfund law that would have speeded cleanup of toxic-waste dumps. Miraculous survivors were: a California desert bill that creates the largest wilderness area outside Alaska and an education bill that redirects more federal aid to poorer communities. Clinton assaulted the Republicans for their "stop it, slow it, kill it or just talk it to death" obstructionism. The G.O.P. retorted that bad laws were better dead than alive. Espy Goes With a none too subtle push from the White House, Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy announced his resignation from his Cabinet post following the disclosure that his girlfriend had received a $1,200 scholarship from a foundation run by Tyson Foods, the Arkansas poultry firm with political ties to the Clintons. Though the woman eventually returned the money, the episode was the latest Tyson gift imbroglio involving Espy, whose conduct is being investigated by an independent counsel. Espy said he left to overcome "the challenge to my good name." The Supremes Reconvene Joined by new Justice Stephen Breyer, the U.S. Supreme Court began its 1994-95 term by facing a light--though politically potent--docket. Among the cases the high bench plans to decide in the months ahead: whether states can impose term limits on members of Congress, whether the federal child-pornography statute is constitutional, whether Congress has the power to ban guns from the vicinity of schools and what kinds of federal minority-preference programs are legal. Mandela in Washington In his first visit to the U.S. as President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela came calling at the White House and Capitol Hill to thank America for its help in overthrowing the South African apartheid system and to seek pledges of economic help. President Clinton responded by announcing a series of economic initiatives that could boost U.S. aid to South Africa to more than $700 million during the next three years. Starr Takes Cover The already complicated Whitewater investigation got even thornier when independent counsel Kenneth Starr, appointed by a judicial panel to probe the propriety of the Clintons' financial affairs, announced the hiring of an ethics counsel to watch over the integrity of his own legal work. Complaints about Starr's past Republican partisanship and the objectivity of the judges who picked him prompted him to hire Samuel Dash as a watchdog. Dash is the former chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee and an exemplar of Democratic probity. Abortion Violence In Florida, Paul Hill became the first person to be tried and found guilty under the new federal law protecting access to abortion clinics. Hill, who, witnesses say, shot and killed a doctor and his bodyguard outside a Pensacola clinic, could get a life sentence on this conviction; he also faces state capital-murder charges. Meanwhile, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a man picking up his wife from an abortion clinic was charged with attempted murder after allegedly scuffling with and firing a shot at an antiabortion demonstrator. The protester was unhurt. America, the Poorer The Census Bureau released a report showing that the number of Americans living under the poverty line last year--defined as an income of $14,763 for a family of four--climbed to more than 39 million, or 15% of the nation's population. Worse, median income continued to decline, while the inequality between high- and low-income families increased. Labor Secretary Robert Reich openly showed concern that the U.S. was in danger of becoming a "two-tiered society." There was a smidgen of good news at week's end: new figures showed an unemployment rate of 5.9%--the lowest in four years. The Simpson Case Once again, O.J. Simpson's defense attorneys spent much of the week challenging the admissibility of key evidence seized by police, this time from Simpson's Ford Bronco. And once again, Judge Lance Ito ruled in favor of the prosecution. The judge also continued his attack on the press, scheduling a November hearing to determine whether or not to pull the plug on television cameras in the courtroom. WORLD Iraq: Deja Vu All Over Again? Massed troops in southern Iraq fueled speculation that Saddam Hussein was preparing to reinvade Kuwait. The U.S. responded swiftly, ordering 4,000 Army troops from Georgia to Kuwait and dispatching the aircraft carrier George Washington to the Persian Gulf region. In London the British Defense Ministry announced that it was sending an extra frigate to patrol the waters off Kuwait. But the Baghdad government defended Iraq's right to move troops within its own borders, and there were no signs of panic in Kuwait. Doomsday Cult The charred bodies of 48 men, women and children--members of a secretive religious sect known as the Order of the Solar Temple--were discovered in two Swiss villages, a tragedy that included apparent suicides and what local authorities described as "collective murder" made to appear as mass suicide. In a fire-damaged farmhouse in Cheiry, a village north of Geneva, police discovered 23 dead men and women wearing ceremonial vestments. Fifty miles away, in Granges-sur-Salvan, investigators found 25 additional bodies in three burned-out chalets. Many had bullet wounds indicative of point-blank execution. Almost simultaneously, Canadian authorities reported the death of five more suspected cult members near Montreal. Police are searching for the cult's two leaders, Luc Jouret, a Belgian homeopath who emigrated to Switzerland via Canada, and Joseph di Mambro, a French Canadian. Haiti: Preparing for Aristide Seeking to hasten the departure of General Raoul Cedras and his henchmen, the Haitian Parliament approved an amnesty law that seems to allow returning President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to grant as broad a pardon as he wishes. Meanwhile, U.S. troops continued to search for weapons as pro-Aristide demonstrators grew increasingly boisterous. Earlier in the week one coup leader, Port-au-Prince police chief Michel Francois, slipped across the border into exile in the Dominican Republic. More Death in Bosnia Sixteen Bosnian Serb soldiers and four nurses were killed on a mountainside southwest of Sarajevo in what U.N. officials said was a commando raid by largely Muslim government forces. In an apparent revenge attack on Saturday, Serb snipers fired on Sarajevo trams, killing one man and seriously wounding 11 others, including five children. In an effort to prevent renewed fighting from endangering aid flights, U.N. troops forced some 500 Bosnian government soldiers out of a demilitarized zone near Sarajevo's airport. Mexico: An Inside Job? There are now 12 suspects in the killing of Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, a top official in the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. Among them: a Congressman and a former federal official. Mexico's deputy attorney general, Mario Ruiz Massieu, the brother of the slain politician, theorized that the killing was "a political affair with aid or financing from drug traffickers." New President for Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso, 63, former Finance Minister and sociologist, was elected President of Brazil. In his first press conference since the vote, Cardoso vowed to open the world's 10th largest economy to foreign investment and said his country would "assume a much more active role" in international affairs. Remembering Nicholas The killing of seven-year-old Nicholas Green two weeks ago has unleashed a wave of soul searching among Italians. The child, an American who had accompanied his parents on a vacation to Italy, was shot during a botched highway-robbery attempt in the southern region of Calabria. The Greens' subsequent decision to offer their son's liver, kidneys, heart and pancreas for organ transplants was met with an outpouring of compassion and admiration. Inquiries from families of potential organ donors to the Milan-based Italian Organ Donor Association increased fivefold. BUSINESS A New Health-Care Giant The health-care business continues to consolidate at a blinding rate. Last week Rick Scott, founder and CEO of Louisville, Kentucky-based Columbia/HCA, the largest U.S. hospital chain, announced plans to purchase HealthTrust, the second largest for-profit chain. The price: some $3.6 billion in stock. With 311 hospitals and 170,000 employees, the new medical-care behemoth will tower over its rivals, ringing up $15 billion worth of surgery, X-rays and Band-Aids yearly. THE ARTS & MEDIA Degas Out of Hiding A stunning cache of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works taken by victorious Soviet troops from German private collectors at the end of World War II has resurfaced at the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg. The paintings--more than 70 pieces by Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and other masters--were thought by Western experts to have been destroyed during the war; instead they were hidden by the Soviet government. Museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky said the works would be shown at the Hermitage in March 1995, but that any question of returning them to Germany would have to be debated in court. SPORTS Hockey Season Still on Hold Talks between N.H.L. players and owners were stalled over the issue of how revenue should be divided to help the league's financially strapped smaller-market teams. The league has proposed a payroll tax to generate revenues, but players claim that such a tax would have the same effect as a salary cap. So far, 30 games have been postponed. By Kathleen Adams, Robertson Barrett, Eugene Linden, Lina Lofaro, Steve Mitra, Michael Quinn, Alain L. Sanders and Sidney Urquhart HEALTH REPORT THE GOOD NEWS -- New research shows that transfusions from otherwise healthy people who are infected with HIV may slow the progress of AIDS in patients already suffering from the disease. Reason: antibodies that kill HIV are present in those infected with the virus but later become depleted if and when AIDS develops. -- The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first commercial implantable blood pump to keep patients alive while they await heart transplants. Called the HeartMate implantable pneumatic left-ventricular assist system, the ashtray-sized device boosts the heart's main pumping chamber while the natural heart continues to perform other functions. Only 2,000 donor hearts become available each year, while more than 15,000 people may need transplants. THE BAD NEWS -- Though clearly milder and less harmful than nicotine, alcohol or heroin, caffeine fits the criteria for addictive substances described by the American Psychiatric Association--according to a limited study of coffee cravers. Caffeine produces psychological and physical dependence, including withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, depression and fatigue. -- Despite evidence that over-the-counter remedies such as cough and cold medicines are often ineffective and sometimes produce adverse reactions when taken by preschool children, worried parents continue to resort to these cures. Interviews with the mothers of three-year-old children revealed that parents use such preparations 70% of the time when faced with illness. Sources--GOOD: Cambridge University; Food and Drug Administration. BAD: Journal of the American Medical Association KISS-AND-TELLEE OF THE WEEK Will the bodice-ripping details of Princess Diana's alleged affair with a caddish British officer imperil the family firm? INSIDE WASHINGTON Finally, a Peace Dividend (and from the Embattled CIA, No Less) The CIA and Defense Department are about to harness some of their most sensitive technologies against a new enemy: cancer. Highly classified imaging techniques used in spy aircraft and satellites will now be adapted to spot breast tumors, according to Clinton Administration officials, who will announce the plan this week. "Defense and CIA capabilities are estimated to be about 10 years ahead of medical imaging," says Dr. Susan Blumenthal, deputy Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services. But researchers believe technology that enables computers to recognize the shadowy outlines of enemy positions--say, tanks hidden behind trees--can also be used to pick up the earliest glimmers of lesions in dense breast tissue. WINNERS & LOSERS Winners OLIVER NORTH--James Baker is latest G.O.P. hopeful to kiss the colonel's ring. MICHAEL CRICHTON--His ER is an NBC hit; his Jurassic Park a home-video behemoth. WASHINGTON LOBBYISTS--Senate Republicans keep the Capitol safe for buttonholing. Losers GERBER PRODUCTS--10 million pacifiers recalled for annoying potential to choke. MAO ZEDONG--New book questions his sexual ethics and oral hygiene. SERGEI PROKOFIEV--His Peter and the Wolf panned in Eureka, CA, as unfair to animals. Q: ARE AMERICANS TOO LITIGIOUS? A: The U.S. District Court, Central District of California, recently dismissed a libel suit against Apple Computer brought by astronomer Carl Sagan. The judge, Lourdes G. Baird, wrote: "Plantiff's libel action is based on the allegation that Defendant changed the `code name' on its personal computer from `Carl Sagan' to `Butt-Head Astronomer' after Plaintiff had requested that Defendant cease use of Plaintiff's name...There can be no question that the use of the figurative term `Butt-Head' negates the impression that Defendant was seriously implying an assertion of fact. It strains reason to conclude that Defendant was attempting to criticize Plaintiff's reputation or competency as an astronomer. One does not seriously attack the expertise of a scientist using the undefined phrase `butt-head.' Thus, the figurative language militates against implying an assertion of fact..." ANNALS OF BLUBBERING Last week Tailhook victim Paula Coughlin testified that President Bush "started to cry" when she told him about her ordeal. Surprising? Bush, though no match for our current President, is a frequent weeper: "The delivery of Millie's first litter--five females and a male--brought a tear to the eyes of the First Lady and the President, Mrs. Bush said."--Los Angeles Times, March 1989 "Dixie Carter brought tears to President Bush's eyes Tuesday night when she sang the national anthem."--USA Today, June 1990 "What brings tears to the eyes of President Bush? He cries over `touching, poignant things,' according to his wife."--Washington Times, September 1990 "In the private quarters of Air Force One President Bush quietly wept. It wasn't the polls, which had him fading It was the Oak Ridge Boys. They're traveling with the President and got going on some gospel songs."--St. Petersburg Times, November 1992 BESUBORU LIKE IT OUGHTA BE The Yomiuri Giants and Chunichi Dragons battled for Japan's Central League championship, while the Seibu Lions clinched a fifth Pacific League pennant. Sunday: Jubilant Seibu players give their manager the traditional bumps after destroying the Kintetsu Buffaloes 8-2. Monday: Seibu (a chain of stores, not a city) celebrates with a one-day sale. Wednesday: Giants and Dragons still neck and neck. Thursday: A heart stopper. As their pitching collapses, the Giants lose to the Yakult Swallows 6-2. One astrologer, noting the position of Mars, sees the Giants victorious in Saturday's pennant-deciding showdown with the Dragons. Saturday: Giants win 6-3. NETWATCH--News, Culture, Controversy on the Internet What's in a Name? The uncertainties of copyright law as it pertains to the Internet have created opportunities for sneaky entrepreneurs. Many companies, it seems, haven't laid claim in cyberspace to their most important assets: their names. Thus a few savvy Net surfers have adopted already famous trademarks for their own use. For instance, the address "mcdonalds.com" is owned by a writer from Long Island; "coke.com" is registered to a fellow in California. Presumably they wouldn't be too upset if McDonald's and Coca-Cola were willing to pay for the privilege of using their own names on the Net. The companies may not have a choice, because it's far from clear whether the law would be on their side in a dispute. (Here, by the way, are a few other potentially useful addresses that hadn't been registered at press time: philipmorris.com, sunkist.com and armani.com.) Politicking Online "De-Foley-ate," a Perot-like grass-roots campaign, is seeding the Internet's popular usenet newsgroups with electronic press releases urging Spokane-area voters to make Tom Foley the first sitting Speaker of the House to be dumped in 134 years. The group claims to have raised at least $10,000 since it began online appeals two weeks ago. Will the beleaguered Foley campaign hit back on the Net? "We're not really up on it at this point," said an aide. E-mail Netwatch at timestaff1@aol.com DISPATCHES ONE MAN AGAINST THE PLAGUE By Jefferson Penberthy/in Surat Bipinchandra D. Darmar, professor of medicine at Surat's medical college, was a worried man when he sat down to breakfast one morning last month with his wife Indira, a pediatrician. The previous evening, two patients had died at the 800-bed New Civil Hospital where the couple work, and Parmar did not understand why. Two young men from the city slums had developed bilateral lung infections and died anguished deaths--fevered, coughing blood, rolling and clawing at oxygen masks as acute apnea robbed them of breath. Standard cardiorespiratory treatment had proved futile. As he was discussing the cases, Parmar's attention was caught by the Times of India: It reported an outbreak of bubonic plague in the neighboring western state of Maharashtra. Parmar went cold. "Oh, my God," he said to his wife. "This may be it." Hurrying to the New Civil Hospital, where he heads the department of medicine, Parmar, 44, gave his staff two urgent instructions: Read the literature on the age-old scourge, and start treating every lung patient for pneumonic plague, the secondary but most infectious form of the disease. By that afternoon a third sufferer was responding to antibiotics, strengthening Parmar's suspicions. With the hospital's superintendent, he began warning health officials that an exceedingly dangerous epidemic was about to break in Surat, home to 2 million and known as "the dirtiest city in India." Authorities in far-away New Delhi were cool to the alarm raised by the provincial physicians; thus no one was prepared for the nightmare that engulfed Surat that evening. Around 8:30 p.m., hundreds of people from the Ved Road and Katargam slums began descending on the hospital, carrying distressed victims into the dingy wards. "The atmosphere was terrible," says Parmar. "Relatives were pushing, wailing and grieving while patients rolled in agony, facing impending death." Nine died within hours of admission, yet many were saved. "Without Dr. Parmar's warning, many, many more people would have died here that night," says physician Jayesh Solanki. "At least we knew how to begin treatment." It was fortunate that Parmar's New Civil Hospital had been forewarned, because it took the brunt of the cases. Ashoktashram Hospital reported 10 dead; Mahavir and Surat General, three each. Next day no one could prevent the panic that swept Surat. Almost half a million residents fled, incited, Parmar alleges, by the cowardice of the scores of private doctors and paramedics who led the exodus. "When the people see their doctors run away, how can you expect them not to be frightened?" he asks. Parmar and his staff stayed on; seven doctors and four nurses would become infected. In the first horror, 110 patients also fled the hospital's death wards, creating the risk of an epidemiological explosion. Ultimately, 52 people died. Though Surat was recovering last week, Parmar--after 16 days of duty--was still at the hospital. "Two more deaths," he said wearily, scanning a daily report. "Sputum tests positive." </body> </article> </text>