Daimler-Benz and Chrysler are merging. It's the largest industrial merger to date, worth $35 billion to $40 billion. The global spin: Merger mania continues. The world auto industry is consolidating into GM and Ford in the United States, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen (which appears to be buying Rolls Royce) in Europe, and Toyota and Honda in Japan. The economic spin: 1) Foreigners continue buying American companies and endangering the jobs of their American workers. 2) Don't worry, there's little overlap between Daimler (which makes Mercedes cars) and Chrysler, so nobody will be fired. 3) Then what's the point of merging? The union spin: 1) The Chrysler bosses are selling out America. 2) Wait a minute--we get to join forces with the German unions, which have even more clout and better benefits. Workers of the world, unite! (5/8/98)

Middle East update: 1) Secretary of State Madeleine Albright demanded that Israel accept withdrawal from another 13 percent of the West Bank in order to qualify for further U.S. peace talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. 2) Speaker Gingrich accused President Clinton of trying to "blackmail [Israel] on behalf of Arafat." 3) Hillary Clinton endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state. Some Republicans called this a trial balloon or "Freudian slip" on behalf of the president, but his aides disavowed her remarks. The New York Times chided Gingrich for exaggerating Clinton's conflict with Israel, and American Jewish leaders rebuffed an Israeli-backed proposal to criticize Clinton's position. The conventional spin: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will eventually knuckle under to Clinton, completing Arafat's triumph. The contrarian spin: The price being demanded of Israel--that the Palestinians must have 40 percent of the West Bank prior to final-status talks--is now so far below original forecasts that Netanyahu has won the haggling and can safely give in. (5/8/98)

The U.S. Marine jet that killed 20 people in Italy by snapping a ski lift cable nearly struck the ski gondola in which they were riding, according to testimony in a military justice hearing. The jet allegedly came within 130 feet of hitting the gondola after flying just 300 to 500 feet above the ground--well below its permitted altitude--for at least seven miles, bolstering the theory that the crew was flying recklessly. Crew members are charged with involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, and other offenses. (5/8/98)

New York's state supreme court denied a woman the right to implant her frozen embryos in defiance of a contract she had signed with her then-husband. Before their divorce, the couple agreed their frozen embryos could be used only if both consented. A lower court, citing the right to procreate under Roe vs. Wade, ruled that the woman was entitled to "exclusive control over the fate of her nonviable fetus." The state's high court disagreed. The superficial spin: It's a defeat for Roe vs. Wade. The sophisticated spin: It's a victory for the spirit of Roe, because the high court ruled that the procreation decision had been rightly made by the couple--"not the state and not the courts"--through their contract. The pro-life spin: This means that embryos will be treated as just another contractually disposable commodity. (5/8/98)

Judge Norma Holloway Johnson rejected President Clinton's invocations of executive privilege and attorney-client privilege to prevent interrogation of his advisers in the Lewinsky affair. The spins: 1) This means Bruce Lindsey and Sidney Blumenthal must testify. 2) This ruling bodes ill for Clinton's similar invocation of presidential privilege to prevent Secret Service testimony. 3) Ken Starr is on a roll, having won three consecutive rulings from Judge Johnson. 4) The White House will appeal her decision to the Supreme Court. 5) Comparisons to Watergate are resuming. (5/6/98)

The Dan Burton follies continued. In the previous episode, Burton, the chairman of the House investigation of the campaign finance scandal, was under fire for 1) releasing transcripts of Webster Hubbell's phone calls from jail and 2) omitting parts of the transcripts in which Hubbell vouched for Hillary Clinton's innocence. In today's episode, Burton 1) said he would bypass Democratic objections by assigning the investigation's next step to a GOP-stacked committee; 2) reversed that decision, evidently at Speaker Gingrich's behest; and 3) "accepted the resignation" of his chief investigator, David Bossie, who is blamed for releasing the transcripts. Gingrich said Bossie was fired. The Chicago Tribune called for Burton's removal. The Washington Post groaned that Burton "once again lived up to his caricature" as an overzealous idiot and pointed out that his real crime has been to distract attention from the transcripts, which indicate that White House "emissaries" encouraged Hubbell and his wife to fear their livelihood depended on remaining silent about the Clintons' roles in Whitewater. (5/6/98)

Politicians of both parties christened the new Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. It is the biggest U.S. government building, aside from the Pentagon, to have been erected, and it cost more than twice as much as had been projected. The half-cynical spin: The joke is on Reagan, because the building belies his rhetoric against big government. The fully cynical spin: The joke is on us, because the building faithfully reflects Reagan's continuation of big government, despite his rhetoric. (5/6/98)

A new drug combination has eradicated tumors in mice by disrupting the growths' blood supply. The director of the National Cancer Institute calls it the most exciting prospect to date for fighting cancer. Nobel Laureate James Watson says the discoverer of the drug remedy, Dr. Judah Folkman, "is going to cure cancer in two years" and will be remembered alongside Darwin as a civilization-transforming figure. Skeptics noted that frequently, drugs that work in animals don't work in humans. Folkman's cautious spin: "If you have cancer and you are a mouse, we can take good care of you."(5/4/98)

Eleven European countries agreed to dissolve their currencies into a single unit, the euro. Supporters argued it will simplify transactions, eliminate the risk of currency fluctuations, and promote economic growth. Skeptics argued Europe lacks the conditions--labor mobility, wage-price flexibility, and political and cultural unity--necessary to let people in diverse regions adapt to the rigidity of a central bank. Optimists replied the euro will generate those conditions itself. Then France and Germany embarrassed the optimists by fighting over which of their candidates would preside over the central bank. They compromised by giving each candidate half the president's term. Cynics concluded that just as in the old order, European politicians will go on meddling in monetary policy and fighting with each other. (5/4/98)

Justice Department campaign-finance prosecutor Charles LaBella said he had advised Attorney General Janet Reno to seek an independent counsel to probe fund-raising phone calls by President Clinton and Vice President Gore. LaBella said Reno rejected his advice. The GOP spin: 1) This confirms Reno is either a Clinton crony or a puppet of Clinton cronies but 2) LaBella's report will force her to stop obstructing the appointment of an independent counsel. The White House spin: LaBella's preference for an independent counsel is old news. Reno's spin: She's still waiting for the "specific and credible evidence" necessary to justify such an appointment. (5/4/98)

The Senate voted 80-19 to expand NATO to include Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Supporters called it a triumph for the Clintonian vision of a big, happy family of democracies. Critics called it a triumph for the Clintonian vision of a big family of clients for happy U.S. defense contractors. Doomsayers warned it would freak out the Russians, who might resort to nuclear weapons. Half-cynics argued that the United States' obligation to arm and defend the new members isn't worth the military help the new members will provide. Complete cynics replied that the Poles are better allies than the French. (5/1/98)

President Clinton held his first solo news conference since the onset of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He tried to talk about economic growth and NATO expansion, but reporters focused their questions on Lewinsky--and then focused their follow-up coverage on their questions about Lewinsky. CBS spent 38 seconds showing its own reporter asking a Lewinsky question, leaving 14 seconds for Clinton's reply. The pundit consensus: 1) Clinton ducked all the Lewinsky questions. And they call this a news conference? 2) He tried simultaneously to turn the other cheek (to Starr and Newt Gingrich) and to portray Starr as the obsessed leader of a partisan vendetta. 3) His vendetta spin (which the New York Times called "self-serving") curdled the turn-the-other-cheek spin. (5/1/98)

Computer programmer Larry Froistad was arrested after confessing in an alcohol/addiction-related Internet support group to murdering his daughter. Members of the support group turned him in. The media seized on the Internet angle, pondering whether e-mail is private (answer: No) and whether it's ethical for members of an online support group to breach confidentiality if they suspect a crime (answer: You decide). Big-picture theorists concluded courts will now treat Internet confessions as fair game. Skeptics argued that this case doesn't set such a precedent, because Froistad confessed to the police by phone after learning that support group members had told them about his postings. (5/1/98)