TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93TT0436> <title> Nov. 01, 1993: Chronicles </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1993 Nov. 01, 1993 Howard Stern & Rush Limbaugh </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> CHRONICLES, Page 17 The Week:October 17-23 </hdr> <body> NATION Standing Firm in Haiti With an economic embargo imposed by the U.N. firmly in place and U.S. warships blockading the island, Washington offered the military rulers of Haiti terms for lifting sanctions. Among the demands are the retirement of army commander Lieut. General Raoul Cedras, an end to human-rights abuses and the disarming of the "attaches," a ganglike auxiliary police force that has terrorized citizens. At week's end a U.S. Coast Guard cutter fired warning shots at a merchant ship that refused to change course. Standing Down in Somalia The Clinton Administration reversed course in Somalia, saying it now seeks a political solution to the problems there. Shifting to what he called a "stand-down position" and signaling that the U.S. would no longer try to apprehend Mohammed Farrah Aidid, President Clinton ordered the withdrawal of 750 U.S. Army Rangers from Mogadishu. Still Commander in Chief Back on Capitol Hill, President Clinton won a fight over war powers that involved the question of sending U.S. troops to Haiti and Bosnia. The Senate passed a resolution stating that the President should seek approval from Congress before committing troops but that he is not required to do so. The legislation was a weak version of a proposal made by minority leader Bob Dole, who wanted such approval to be required. Russian Summit Planned In a show of support, President Clinton will fly to Moscow in mid-January for a summit with Russian leader Boris Yeltsin. Greenhouse Hot Air Businesses and individuals should help prevent global warming, according to President Clinton, who last week unveiled his plan to reduce the nation's emissions of greenhouse gases. The Climate Change Action Plan is designed to reduce the gas levels to match 1990 measurements by the year 2000, but participation is largely voluntary, which disappointed environmentalists. In another move, Clinton ordered federal agencies to buy paper made from at least 20% recycled fiber by the end of 1994. Verdicts in Denny Trial On trial for beating white truck driver Reginald Denny during the Los Angeles riots last year, Damian Williams and Henry Watson, both black, were acquitted of attempted murder and a dozen other felony counts. The defendants were convicted on five misdemeanor charges, and Williams was convicted of felony mayhem. The victim said he approved of the verdicts, but many wondered whether the jury was lenient out of fear of causing another round of unrest. Violence to Free Speech? Attorney General Janet Reno put TV executives on notice that she is willing to use her power to make networks behave more responsibly in regard to the violence in their fare. She insisted the industry "acknowledge" its role by Jan. 1 or face government regulation, which she said was "constitutionally permissible." Drug-Policy Testimony White House drug-policy director Lee Brown presented the President's national drug strategy to the Senate Judiciary Committee, only to be met with impatience and testiness. Brown provided a cursory plan in which the Clinton Administration promised to focus on providing treatment for hard-core drug users and decreasing the occurrence of drug-related violence. "You are being hamstrung by an Administration that doesn't give a damn," said Senator Orrin Hatch. Threatening Japan U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor warned Japan that Washington would impose trade sanctions if Tokyo did not open up bidding for Japanese government construction projects to U.S. firms. Kantor set a deadline of Nov. 1. One Minute a Hero... The State Department announced last week that special envoy to Somalia Robert Oakley, who had been basking in praise after negotiating the release of an American prisoner, is under investigation for a possible conflict of interest. The case involves an airline on whose behalf Oakley may have lobbied the State Department after he left there in 1985; while at State, Oakley had worked on issues of concern to the airline. Twenty Years to Death A grim tug-of-war between Oklahoma and New York ended last week when a federal judge ordered Thomas Grasso returned to New York to serve a prison term of 20 years to life. Oklahoma had planned to execute Grasso for the 1990 murder of an elderly Tulsa woman, but the judge determined that Grasso, who wanted to be executed, was obligated first to serve his sentence for killing a New York man in 1991. Failing Ethics According to a study released last week by Who's Who Among American High School Students, most successful teenagers cut corners. Researchers polled 2,000 high-achieving 16- and 17-year-olds and found that 78% admitted to cheating and 67% to copying someone else's homework. WORLD NATO Seeks Closer Relations Defense ministers from the 16 members of nato agreed to a vague U.S. plan which would provide closer cooperation with the former Soviet republics and East bloc countries without offering these nations the immediate membership in the alliance they are seeking. Chernobyl to Keep Operating Ukraine's parliament voted 221 to 38 to reverse its earlier decision to close the Chernobyl nuclear power station by the end of 1993. Chernobyl was the site in 1986 of the world's worst civilian nuclear accident. The energy-strapped country, which spends more than 10% of its national budget on cleaning up Chernobyl, also lifted a moratorium on building more nuclear plants. Arab Prisoners to be Freed Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed on the release of four different categories of Palestinian prisoners--women, the sick, those younger than 18 and those older than 50--expected to total more than 700 people. Russian Troops to Georgia After Georgia promised to join the Commonwealth of Independent States, dominated by Russia, Moscow agreed to send troops to defend a vital railway in the western part of the republic, where fighting between rebels and government forces persists. Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze has accused the Russian military of helping the Abkhazian separatists. Ukraine May Keep Missiles In a sharp change of position, President Leonid Kravchuk said that Ukraine may retain the 46 modern SS-24 nuclear missiles it inherited from the former Soviet Union. Bosnian Prisoners Exchanged The three warring armies in Bosnia began a massive exchange of prisoners, most of them civilians, organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross. More than 1,000 Muslims and Croats were freed in the first group, and the Red Cross hopes in the near future to negotiate the release of more than 6,400 prisoners who are still being held in 60 detention centers across the country. Milosevic Dissolves Parliament Serb President Slobodan Milosevic, facing a confidence vote in parliament, dissolved the legislature and announced elections to be held Dec. 19. Iran and Iraq in Talks Deputy Foreign Ministers from Iran and Iraq met in Baghdad to discuss an exchange of prisoners from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, the first talks between the two countries since 1990. Bhutto and the Bomb Newly elected Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said Pakistan would continue pursuing its nuclear program, which American officials believe has already produced nuclear weapons. "We will not allow our national interest to be sacrificed," said Bhutto. Czar Nicholas' Revenge The Russian government announced that 75 years after they were shot by Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg, Czar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and three of their children will receive a proper burial. The bones were discovered in a pit outside the town in 1991. Meanwhile, one week after honor guards ended their 69-year watch outside the tomb of Vladimir Lenin, the fate of his embalmed corpse remains undetermined. BUSINESS Prudential Settles Charges At least $371 million will be shelled out by Prudential Securities to settle charges that it defrauded investors who were bilked in $8 billion worth of partnership deals. Prudential admitted no wrongdoing. Drug Company Layoffs Pressure to contain costs has led major drug companies Pfizer, American Cyanamid and Upjohn to announce layoffs of 7,000 employees, to take place over three years. Price limits enforced by managed health-care systems have cut into profits for the firms. The New Lloyd's Members of Lloyd's of London, the insurer that has lost $8 billion in the past three years, voted to profoundly revamp the way business is done at the 300-year-old institution. For the first time, Lloyd's will invite corporate investors, with limited liability, into the market alongside the traditional investors with unlimited liability known as Names. Sorry, Wrong Continent With attendance still below anticipated levels and 1993 losses predicted to exceed $300 million, Euro Disney announced it would shed 950 administrative and staff positions. The layoffs reduce the employee roster to 11,000, down from 19,000 during the theme park's first summer season last year. SCIENCE Life Discovered on Earth To date, space probes have flown by more than 60 planets, moons and other heavenly bodies without turning up any evidence of life. But a planetary inspection in 1990 was different: the Galileo spacecraft found the chemical signature of something more complex than rocks and minerals. After ruling out all plausible alternatives, astronomer Carl Sagan has concluded that the planet under investigation--Earth--contains living organisms. Sagan's point is that if life does exist elsewhere, we can be confident that modern technology will find it. --By Ginia Bellafante, Christine Gorman, Michael Quinn, Jeffery Rubin, Sophfronia Scott Gregory, David Seideman, Sidney Urquhart HEALTH REPORT THE GOOD NEWS --Dipping raw oysters in Louisiana hot sauce may be frowned upon in fancy French restaurants, but it could keep an aficionado out of the hospital. In laboratory tests, the spicy flavoring killed four kinds of bacteria that can contaminate shellfish and that cause ailments ranging from mild diarrhea to potentially fatal blood poisoning. --Two promising announcements were made at an obesity conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the first, researchers reported they may have found the chemical in the brain that triggers a person's craving for fat, as well as a way to block its action. Another group said it had developed a cream, not yet available to the public, that can melt fat from a woman's legs. After applying the salve for five weeks, 24 women reduced their thigh size by 1 1/2 in. THE BAD NEWS --After reviewing eight studies, the National Cancer Institute concluded that routine mammograms save lives only when performed on women over age 50 or on women who have a family history of breast cancer. --More people are developing fungal infections while undergoing treatment for other conditions in the hospital. One of the chief culprits is the greater use of catheters, or tubes that penetrate the body and inadvertently allow fungal spores easy access to a patient's insides. --A 15-year study found that 90% of foot-surgery patients are women and that most of their problems stem from wearing shoes that are, on average, two sizes too narrow. Researchers estimate that roomier shoes could cut $2 billion from the U.S. health-care bill. Sources--GOOD: American Society for Micrbiology; North American Association for the Study of Obesity. BAD: Journal of the N.C.I.; American Society for Micrbiology; American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Nightly Talk-Show Flops As of last week Chevy Chase (1) joined Joey Bishop--who has suffered the mortification of seeing his onetime sidekick Regis Philbin become a superstar--in the ranks of failed late-night talk-show hosts, the fate of some of whom is described below. Fortunately, Chase's show lasted all of six weeks, so it does not hold the record for short-livedness--that belongs to the Wilton North Report, which was pulled from the air after only a month. HOST/SHOW Alan Thicke Thicke of the Night AIRED 1983-84 LENGTH OF RUN 10 months POST-CANCELLATION CAREER Growing Pains; sitcom and a daytime talk show, in development HOST/SHOW Joan Rivers The Late Show AIRED 1986-87 LENGTH OF RUN 7 months POST-CANCELLATION CAREER Syndicated daytime talk show; syndicated gossip show; QVC home-shopping network announcer HOST/SHOW Dennis Miller The Dennis Miller Show AIRED 1992 LENGTH OF RUN 7 months POST-CANCELLATION CAREER Stand-up comedy; HBO special; TV commercials touting restaurant chain HOST/SHOW Pat Sajak The Pat Sajak Show AIRED 1989-90 LENGTH OF RUN 14 months POST-CANCELLATION CAREER Continues on Wheel of Fortune HOST/SHOW Ron Reagan The Ron Reagan Show AIRED 1991 LENGTH OF RUN 5 months POST-CANCELLATION CAREER Television work, with E! Entertainment Television and Fox HOST/SHOW Phil Cowan and Paul Robins The Wilton North Report AIRED 1987-88 LENGTH OF RUN 4 weeks POST-CANCELLATION CAREER Disk jockeys in Sacramento, California MONITOR HAUTE TRUCK STOP By GINIA BELLAFANTE Sometime a few years ago, movie stars and urbane, goat-cheese-and-endive types discovered bowling alleys, pool halls, tattoos, Harley Davidsons, diners and restaurants that looked like diners but served goat cheese and endive. All of a sudden the pastimes, artifacts and style of low-rent America, in all their glorious white-trashiness, had become chic. The fashion continues to flourish: THE HARLEY-DAVIDSON CAFE, NEW YORK CITY: Last week's opening of this restaurant attracted Alec Baldwin, designers Nicole Miller and Norma Kamali, and the intrinsically low-rent Donald Trump. LORENA BOBBITT: In this month's Vanity Fair, the Virginia woman who severed her husband's penis is celebrated in a sexy, arty portrait by star photographer Mary Ellen Mark. Mrs. Bobbitt has said of her native Venezuela, "I have a patriotism...We do have McDonald's. We do have Pizza Hut." SOUTHERN COMFORT ADS: Ads for the drink of choice of 4-by-4 owners are running in slick magazines like Elle and Spin and feature dreadlocked guys playing the saxophone. Next, Quaker State motor oil ads in GQ. DREW BARRYMORE GUESS? ADS: The pedigreed actress appears everywhere in ads that depict a world of cheap lust, chipped nail polish and guys who should be doing time for armed robbery. THE BEANS OF EGYPT, MAINE: This week production begins on the movie version of Carolyn Chute's novel about incest and squalor in trailer-park Maine. It stars avatar-of-hip Kelly Lynch. TRUE ROMANCE and KALIFORNIA: These glam noir films are all blood, greasy hair and bad grammar. Kalifornia features Brad Pitt, America's coolest male star, as a grubby killer. Patricia Arquette, the gum-cracking call girl in True Romance, is also an Armani model. INSIDE WASHINGTON WHO'S ANNOYED BY RENO? THE WHITE HOUSE Ever since her preemptive grab for blame after Waco, the White House has been leery of Attorney General Janet Reno. Last week MONITOR HAUTE TRUCK STOP By GINIA BELLAFANTE Sometime a few years ago, movie stars and urbane, goat-cheese-and-endive types discovered bowling alleys, pool halls, tattoos, Harley Davidsons, diners and restaurants that looked like diners but served goat cheese and endive. All of a sudden the pastimes, artifacts and style of low-rent America, in all their glorious white-trashiness, had become chic. The fashion continues to flourish: THE HARLEY-DAVIDSON CAFE, NEW YORK CITY: Last week's opening of this restaurant attracted Alec Baldwin, designers Nicole Miller and Norma Kamali, and the intrinsically low-rent Donald Trump. LORENA BOBBITT: In this month's Vanity Fair, the Virginia woman who severed her husband's penis is celebrated in a sexy, arty portrait by star photographer Mary Ellen Mark. Mrs. Bobbitt has said of her native Venezuela, "I have a patriotism...We do have McDonald's. We do have Pizza Hut." SOUTHERN COMFORT ADS: Ads for the drink of choice of 4-by-4 owners are running in slick magazines like Elle and Spin and feature dreadlocked guys playing the saxophone. Next, Quaker State motor oil ads in GQ. DREW BARRYMORE GUESS? ADS: The pedigreed actress appears everywhere in ads that depict a world of cheap lust, chipped nail polish and guys who should be doing time for armed robbery. THE BEANS OF EGYPT, MAINE: This week production begins on the movie version of Carolyn Chute's novel about incest and squalor in trailer-park Maine. It stars avatar-of-hip Kelly Lynch. TRUE ROMANCE and KALIFORNIA: These glam noir films are all blood, greasy hair and bad grammar. Kalifornia features Brad Pitt, America's coolest male star, as a grubby killer. Patricia Arquette, the gum-cracking call girl in True Romance, is also an Armani model. Reno canceled Vice President Gore's plan to merge the Drug Enforcement Agency and the FBI. Then, she miffed Administration staffers when she threatened to force networks to curb TV violence. She had discussed her remarks with the White House--except for that part. "She's very independent," says one official. "The thing you like about her is the thing you dislike about her." WINNERS & LOSERS WINNERS MARGARET THATCHER Her hot-selling memoir turns foes to pulp, gives friends raptures EDI FAAL Denny defendant's lawyer beats the videotape KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON Texas Senator's ethics indictment is dropped on technicality LOSERS BOB DOLE Failing to rein Clinton's war power, he seemed hypocritical and weak BOB YOUNG Oilers coach punishes player who missed game for son's birth CHEVY CHASE Failed, unfunny talk show is biggest pratfall of his career Letting Bygones Be Bygones One day last week attitudes toward General Mohammed Farrah Aidid suddenly changed. JUNE 14: "He's no hero. He's basically a thug."--JOE SNYDER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN JUNE 14: "He's basically a thug."--U.N. AMBASSADOR MADELEINE ALBRIGHT JULY 15: "A terrorist and a criminal..."--ADMIRAL JONATHAN HOWE, U.S.N. (RET.), U.N. REPRESENTATIVE, SOMALIA OCT. 11: "The thug Aidid stands in the way of peace."--U.N. LEAFLET DROPPED OVER MOGADISHU BY U.S. HELICOPTERS OCT. 19: "He's a clan leader with a substantial constituency in Somalia..."--DEE DEE MYERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY INFORMED SOURCES "Sweet Mickey" and the Haitian Drug Connection During preparations for Jean-Bertrand Aristide's return, customs officials in Miami were seizing 100-kilo loads of cocaine--instead of the typical 5-to-50-kilo shipments--off Haitian freighters. "We surmise the traffickers were trying to get it out in case Aristide did come back into power and try to put some curbs on this," says one customs agent. While a handful of Colombians in Haiti control the drugs, the U.S. is more interested in the role of Michel Francois, the self-anointed police chief of Port-au-Prince. "Sweet Mickey" controls the local docks. More Sound Bites, Please, Mr. President President Clinton is worrying his aides more than ever with his verbose and minutiae-encrusted public statements. Advisers fret that in trying to appear smart, especially on matters of foreign policy, Clinton looks mired in niggling particulars. During one long-winded presidential response at a press conference, George Stephanopoulos grabbed Mack McLarty's wrist to point at his watch. "The upside is that Clinton explains everything, but the downside is that he gets too detailed," says a senior official. Rosty Gets a Break--for Now When a U.S. Attorney announced that a second grand jury would be digging deeper into House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski's involvement in a stamps-for-cash scam, it seemed like bad news for Rosty. In fact, it appears his defense team couldn't be happier: sources in the U.S. Attorney's office had promised an October indictment, but now it's unclear when an indictment will come. Furthermore, former House postmaster Robert Rota has changed his story, and some of his testimony is in question. WHITE HOUSE HEIGHTISM "Secretary Reich could almost live in there." --PRESIDENT CLINTON REFERRING TO THE 4-FT. 10-IN. SECRETARY OF LABOR ROBERT REICH AS THEY EXAMINED A LEGO MODEL OF THE WHITE HOUSE </body> </article> </text>