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- <text id=89TT3048>
- <title>
- Nov. 20, 1989: Grapevine
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Nov. 20, 1989 Freedom!
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 68
- Grapevine
- </hdr><body>
- <p> JESSE ON THE LINE. Smarting from his exclusion from the
- campaigns of Douglas Wilder and David Dinkins, Jesse Jackson
- spent the day after their landmark elections frantically
- phoning reporters to boast about his own recent endeavors. But
- Jackson's main purpose was to dismiss the notion that his
- nonparticipation in the Wilder and Dinkins victories threatens
- his stature as the nation's top black politician. Even remarking
- on his conspicuous absence, says Jackson, is "silly."
- </p>
- <p> AD HOMINEM. If Al Haig, Tip O'Neill and similar notables
- can be lured into advertising, why not Albert Einstein? Turns
- out he's dead. But, hey, his great grandson Ted, 28, a real
- estate broker, is available. So there is Ted in an Oldsmobile
- TV ad, chirping, "You can see (that the Olds is) perfect for
- today's nuclear family."
- </p>
- <p> THE NAYS OF TEXAS. It was no surprise that voters in Texas
- last week overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to triple the
- salary of state legislators, from $7,200 to $23,000. But state
- officials did win a consolation prize: no longer will they have
- to swear publicly that they paid no bribes to get elected; a
- signed statement will now suffice.
- </p>
- <p> GLASNOST ON GAS. For years U.S. intelligence agencies
- claimed that the Soviet Union had stockpiled as much as 600,000
- tons of poison gas; the Soviets insisted that they had none.
- Finally in March 1987, Moscow admitted to having 50,000 tons,
- a figure the CIA found unbelievable. Now, after deliberation,
- the CIA has come up with its own new estimate: 50,000 tons.
- </p>
- <p> STARK REMINDERS. It has been two years since an Iraqi
- missile plowed into the U.S.S. Stark in the Persian Gulf,
- killing 37 sailors. The Iraqis apologized for their "mistake"
- and promised to compensate the U.S. So far, they have paid $37.3
- million in death and injury claims, but are balking at an
- additional $89.1 million bill for ship repairs.
- </p>
- <p> FUTURE SHOCK. If you want to predict an earthquake, ask the
- Soviets. Some time ago, seismologist Vladimir Keilis-Brok and
- a colleague in a Soviet-American research project in Moscow
- concluded that California was due for a major banger in
- mid-October. The U.S. embassy passed word to Washington on Oct.
- 17 -- the day of the Northern California quake. Keilis-Brok says
- his researchers can predict with 80% probability that an
- earthquake will occur within five years.
- </p>
- <p> GNAW, IT'S ONLY A TOY. First Mutt Millie might find this
- unappetizing, but one of the hottest items at a Capitol Hill
- pet shop is a $12.99 vinyl chew toy for dogs, molded in the
- likeness of First Master George Bush. "It sells really well,"
- says store manager Anne Yescavage, "because it's got a little
- Dan Quayle coming out of his pocket." Chew on that.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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