The week's big news, and how's it's being spun.
Aug. 17 1997 3:30 AM

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Culture wars: President Clinton issued rules clarifying the right of federal workers to express religious faith (e.g., to wear medallions, pray, read the Bible) at the office. Clinton promised that the guidelines would bring social harmony. Civil libertarians pronounced them excessive; conservative Christians pronounced them insufficient. Clinton also took steps to let "socially disadvantaged" white-female-owned companies compete for set-aside contracts that were previously restricted to minorities. Black business leaders aren't happy about it, but the apparent purpose is to strengthen affirmative action politically by sharing its bounty. (8/15)

William Saletan William Saletan

Will Saletan writes about politics, science, technology, and other stuff for Slate. He’s the author of Bearing Right.

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More culture wars: Lawyers for Army Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney, who is black, threatened to expose sexual misconduct by senior white officers--which they claim has gone unpunished--if the Army prosecutes McKinney for alleged improper sexual advances against his six female accusers. The American Psychological Association passed a resolution questioning and restricting the use of "reparative therapy," which tries to turn homosexuals into heterosexuals. The Rev. Robert Schuller, who has lately won a reputation as President Clinton's favorite televangelist, agreed to pay a $1,100 civil fine for violently grabbing a flight attendant to convey his displeasure with first class cabin service. Assault charges will evidently be dropped. (8/15)

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Miscellany: New York City is up in arms over a Brooklyn policeman's alleged sexual assault on a Haitian immigrant in his custody. The American Medical Association agreed to endorse Sunbeam health products--and not to endorse another company's rival product--in exchange for royalties. ValuJet claims to have evidence that a contractor deliberately mislabeled the oxygen canisters that caused its notorious plane crash last year. A new law in Louisiana allows motorists to shoot and kill carjackers. The two cosmonauts who presided over a series of accidents aboard the Mir space station returned to Russia to begin taking the blame. (8/15)

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Slow news week: 1) All media outlets reported that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who had shown no remorse two months ago when a jury recommended he be sentenced to death, showed no remorse this week when he was sentenced to death. 2) Front-page stories: the 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, and the 50th anniversaries of the independence of India and Pakistan. 3) The White House announced that the year 2000 is approaching, and that President Clinton will respond by launching a project to assess "what that will mean, both symbolically and historically," and to "figure out a way to celebrate" it. (8/15)

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John F. Kennedy Jr. criticized his cousins' marital behavior while posing nude in his own magazine, George. (Warning: He's in shadow, so you can't see much.) John called Joe and Michael Kennedy "poster boys for bad behavior," citing Joe's split with his "embittered wife" and Michael's fling with an underage baby sitter. Critics scoffed that John is betraying his family to sell magazines. Joe's comment: "Ask not what you can do for your cousin but what you can do for his magazine." The New York Times called John's essay "vapid" and "sophomoric." Maureen Dowd's summary: "Buzz is thicker than blood." On the upside, the Times called the feud "another sign of the end of the Kennedys as an entitled political class." (For Slate's take, see "Readme.") (8/13)

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The AFL-CIO has said that it will lend the Teamsters $10 million a week to sustain striking UPS workers. Union leaders argued that this reflects organized labor's commitment to make the UPS strike its Maginot line. Analysts noted that the loan pledge was necessary to keep the Teamsters in the poker game with UPS, whose financial reserves dwarf the union's strike fund. UPS executives continued to beg for government intervention, and union bosses continued to deride them for it. (8/13)

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Basketball star Kevin Garnett rejected a $103-million guaranteed contract to remain with the Minnesota Timberwolves for six more years. Computed in annual terms, this would have been the most lucrative long-term contract in sports history ($17 million a year). Instead of accepting the terms, Garnett's agent reportedly wants $22 million a year. The salary cap for an entire 12-man NBA team is $27 million. Garnett has played only two years as a pro, and his team was swept in its only playoff series. The story prompted Minnesota's governor to declare, "This endless drive for money has to be curbed." Economists pointed out that the drive will go on as long as fans and taxpayers (through arena subsidies) keep supporting it. (8/13)

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More miscellany: More rich kids are going to public instead of private colleges, according to a study. The reasons: The price gap is growing, and the quality gap is shrinking. This is causing some critics to call for means-testing at public colleges. Newt Gingrich picked moderate Rep. Jim Greenwood, R-Pa., to replace alleged coup plotter Rep. Bill Paxon, R-N.Y., as long-range planning chief for the House GOP. This is viewed as further evidence that Gingrich is relying on moderates to protect him against rebellious conservatives. Boris Yeltsin's former bodyguard announced he has written a book exposing Yeltsin's drinking and heart disease. One problem: Everyone knows about Yeltsin's drinking and heart disease. (8/13)

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The government released data showing that welfare rolls have declined faster under Clinton than in any previous administration. The president said the drop showed that "the debate is over. We now know that welfare reform works." Skeptics pointed out that most states have hardly begun implementing the reforms made into law a year ago, and credited the strong economy (even while acknowledging that equally strong economies in the past have not had a similar impact on welfare caseloads). (8/13)

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President Clinton exercised the line-item veto against three items in the new budget deal: 1) a provision exempting New York from $200 million in Medicaid liability; 2) a tax break for a sugar-beet plant owned by a major Republican donor; and 3) a tax break for U.S. financial institutions that lend money abroad. Clinton used his veto ceremony to proclaim the triumph of fiscal responsibility over special-interest pork. The half-cynical view is that Clinton's triumph is just symbolic, because opponents will take the line-item veto right back to court and have it thrown out. The completely cynical view is that symbolism is all that Clinton wanted in the first place. (8/11)

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The United States is threatening to arrest Bosnian Serb boss Radovan Karadzic. American emissaries delivered that threat to Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic, hoping Milosevic can get Karadzic to disappear from Bosnian politics lest he undermine the peace after NATO troops depart. Meanwhile, the commander of U.S. peacekeeping forces there says NATO troops will begin exercising control over the Bosnian Serb "Special Police" who have been guarding Karadzic. (8/11)

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Sports in courts: DNA tests have matched Marv Albert to semen deposits and bite wounds on his accuser. Baseball veteran Tony Phillips was arrested for felony cocaine possession. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones fined coach Barry Switzer $75,000--a league record--for carrying a loaded, unlicensed handgun into an airport. Virginia police arrested basketball star Allen Iverson on narcotics and gun charges after catching him riding in a car going 93 miles per hour. Two National Basketball Association referees pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns. (8/11)

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A new study trashes the theory that female chimps are peaceful and egalitarian. The study, headed by three women (including famous animal behaviorist Jane Goodall) finds female chimps obsessed with competing for dominance in order to secure more food and offspring. According to the Los Angeles Times, Goodall says she hadn't noticed this competition before "because it is expressed not through the easily visible fights that the males have but through subtle rituals." So much for wishful extrapolations about human biology, concludes the Times. (8/11)