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REASON Express December 21, 1998 Vol. 1 No. 32
- - The Kitchen Sink - - Well, what haven't we had, a UFO on the South Lawn on New Year's Eve, maybe? Yet for all the drama and venality of simultaneous impeachment and despot spanking, very little has changed. Bill Clinton's final line in the sand was always 34 senators. Now we move to that venue with a few burning questions: Can censure, in fact, head off a Senate trial? Can a trial be short? Does there exist a council of Democrats who can get Clinton to resign? Maybe on the first, probably on the second, and no on the third seems to be the consensus view. But the consensus has consistently failed to imagine all the things that can happen with Bill Clinton in the White House.
- - The Other Shoe - - Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.) lobbed a hand grenade into Republican holiday plans by abruptly announcing his departure from the House in the wake of revelations about his past adultery. His challenge to the president to do the same, while a dramatic rhetorical flourish, of course will not move the immovable colossus of Hope. What it does do is hand a scalp to Hustler's Larry Flynt, who has hired investigators to dig up dirt on members of Congress and who claims to have had the Livingston story down pat, complete with phone sex tapes. Much of official Washington was tied up in spasms of revulsion at the idea of Flynt inserting himself into such a solemn undertaking as impeachment. But the revulsion is misplaced. Why should we be surprised to find a pornographer coming to the defense of the first pornographic president? The Lewinsky matter was not even the first, or second, titillating episode that Bill has delivered. Recall Gennifer Flowers' tales and tapes--tapes!--of an amorous governor and a search for a state-government job that the mainstream media brushed aside in 1992. Even an obvious artful dodge by Clinton about Flowers on "60 Minutes," a dodge that was remarked upon widely as such and would foreshadow the past months of dissembling, did not set off alarm bells amongst the media mavens in early '92. Nearly seven years later we get ABC News' normally verbose Sam Donaldson summing up the week's events as, "Sad." That would more accurately describe the performance of the news elites in covering Clinton. For whatever reason--ideology, malice, or sloth--they chose to follow an agenda that did not include pursuing relevant facts. Now, Larry Flynt has his own agenda and his own idea of what is relevant. And in a way, Flynt's journalism is a lot more honest.
- - The Neediest Victims - - In this holiday season it is comforting to know that a plentiful bounty has blessed some. Like poor Richard Scruggs of Pascagoula, Mississippi. Why, just a few years ago, Dick was selflessly mounting a campaign to have his state, along with several others, file suit against tobacco companies. Now comes word that he will reap the benefit of his litigious ways. Scruggs and his firm will receive some $874 million from the multi-billion dollar settlements states have reached with tobacco companies. And that is not all. Several more states that Scruggs helped to represent have yet to finalize their settlements, meaning millions more could be headed his way. And to all a good night. http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-12/20/199l-122098-idx.html
- - Cloning Around - - Word that South Korean scientists may have cloned a human being was front-page news. With it came the now familiar admonishments to halt research in this field before it is too late. But the incident itself shows why that knee-jerk response could have very bad outcomes. The evidence suggests that these South Korean researchers knew very little about what they were doing. It is not even clear that they in fact did what they claimed; cloned a human embryo before destroying it. In short, they are exactly the kind of people you do not want mucking around human genetic research. Yet they are exactly the ones who would have the field to themselves if a blanket ban on such research were instituted and enforced by the U.S. and other nations with leadership in the field. Some scientists would still set up shop somewhere to pursue such research. Human genetic research probably should make us all a little uneasy. But underground, illicit research by incompetents should be positively terrifying. http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-12/17/119l-121798-idx.html See the Reason Online Breaking Issue "Should Cloning Be Banned?" at http://www.reason.com/biclone.html
QUICK HITS - - Quote of the Week - - "I am still committed to working with people of good faith and good will of both parties to do what's best for our country...It's what I intend to do...until the last hour of the last day of my term," President Bill Clinton vowing to hang around for way too long.
- - Quote of the Week, Yuri Andropov We Hardly Knew Ye Division - - "I just woke up this morning and it seemed like a good thing to do," Speaker-elect Bob Livingston (R-La.) on his decision to walk away from the speaker's chair as well as his House seat.
- - Quote of the Week, the Pollster Theory of Governance - - "Don't they know they have a sacred constitutional duty, because we have a representative form of government, to heed the will of the people and respect their judgment?" a very confused Barbra Streisand at a rally in Hollywood arguing that Clinton should not be impeached.
- - Cruising for Booze? - - More warnings about Web sites enticing minors to drink, this time from the nannyish Center for Media Education. Funny thing is one of the supposed awful sites, Southern Comfort, requires a login form with age and address to gain access to the site. http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/cyber/articles/16alcohol.html http://www.southerncomfort.com/
REASON NEWS San Francisco Bay Area readers are invited to join Reason editors Virginia Postrel, Nick Gillespie, Chuck Freund, and Michael Lynch at a special benefit dinner at Fior d'Italia Restaurant, 601 Union Street, December 29. Cocktails begin at 6:00 p.m., followed by dinner at 7:00. The price for this four-course dinner is $100 and all proceeds go to support Reason. Copies of Virginia Postrel's new book, The Future and Its Enemies, will also be available for sale. For information or to reserve a place, contact Neha Shah at nshah@reason.org or 310-391-2245.
Virginia Postrel will be discussing her new book, The Future, and Its Enemies on the following programs: Los Angeles: "AirTalk with Larry Mantle," KPCC, 89.3 FM, Tuesday, December 22, 5:00-6:00 p.m. Austin: "Austin at Issue," KLRU-TV 18, December 31, 8 p.m.; January 1, 9 p.m., January 2, 7 p.m. She will also be speaking at the World Trade Center Borders, New York City, on January 4 at 1:00 p.m.
To be notified of Reason media appearances and events in your area, send a note with your e-mail address and your zip code to Neha Shah at nshah@reason.org
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