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Edited by Alan Phelps A IJLj T f VJ A
Clinton Helds questions on packed agenda
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — President-elect
Clinton on Thursday detailed a crowded blue
print for action including aquick reversal of the
Bush administration abortion policy and the 1
creation of more than a half-million jobs in his '
first year.
Clinton, in his first formal news conference
since the election, also promised his transition
and administration would have the strictest
ethical guidelines in history.
Calling on congressional Republicans as
well as Democrats to work with him on his busy
agenda, he said, “The clear mandate of this
election from the American people was the end
of politics as usual and the end of gridlock in
Washington and the end of finger pointing and
blame.”
Vice President-elect A1 Gore stood nearby
as Clinton fielded questions at the Old Arkan
sas Statehouse.
The Arkansas governor called the news con
ference to announce 48 additions to his transi
Plan reverses some Bush policies
ion team,a mix ol political and policy advisers
;harged with helping Clinton build ihc first
Democratic administration in a dozen years.
“They rcllcct my commitment to assem
bling the most qualified arid diverse group of
beople available, including men and women
vith broad experience, some of whom served in
he campaign and others who are just joining us
now as we move toward governing,” Clinton
said of his picks.
The president-elect then answered ques
ions on an array of topics, from his general
economic and foreign policy priorities to his
specific plans to provide jobs and deal w'ith
nuclear proliferation, as well as his feelings on
the heavy security and intense media attention
that came with his election.
“I’m having a wonderful lime,” Clinton
said. “It is an enormous responsibility, but I
asked for it, and it s an indulgence to Iccl
overwhelmed by it. ... I’m just going to give
you my best effort every day.”
He spoke quietly and seriously throughout
most of the 40-minute, nationally televised
question-and-answer session, but took a few
occasions to joke and one to angrily denounce
the Bush administration search of his State
Department passport files during the campaign.
If he hears of people doing anything like
that, he said, “I will fire them the next day.”
Clinton shed little new light on his agenda,
but did offer a portrait of his priorities in the
economic and foreign policy arenas and a
glimpse at some of the steps he is likely to take
in his first days as president.
Clinton said he would lift the Bush adminis
tration ban on abortion counseling at federally
funded clinics and revise Bush’s Haiti policy to
allow refugees now summarily returned to their
country to petition for political refugee status.
Clinton also said he would keep his promise
to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military
but first “I want to consult w ith a lot of people
about what our options are, including people
w ho may disagree with me about the ultimate
merits.”
On the economy, he said he remained com
mitted to his campaign pledge to offer a middlc
class tax cut;,to provide an investment tax credit
for new factories and equipment, which he
predicted would create some 500,(XX) jobs in
his first year, and to accelerate spending on
road, bridge and other infrastructure work he
said would create additional jobs.
As for other domestic priorities, Clinton
listed universal health care, campaign and lob
bying reforms, and his proposal calling for
national service to pay off college loans.
Gay sonar instructor returns to Navy duty
MOFFETT NAVAL AIR STA
TION, Calif. — Keith Mcinhold,
kicked out of the Navy after reveal
ing he was gay, reclaimed his job as
a sonar instructor Thursday under
court order.
“This is the day I’ve looked
forward to,” Mcinhold said as he
walked onto the military base w ith
his uniform in a paper bag. “I’ll be
proud and honored to wearthe uni
form of my country again.”
The 30-year-old petty officer’s
reinstatement wasn’t the first time
the military has been forced to take
back an openly gay soldier. How
ever, after a judge renewed a rein
statement order this week for
Mcinhold, President-elect Clinton
announced plans to end the
military’s half-century ban on ho
mosexuals.
“Part of the reason this case is so
important is because of the atten
tion it has generated, and because
ofThe political climate in which it
has arisen,” said Benjamin Schalz,
a lawyer for the American Associa
- 44
This is the day I've looked forward to. I’ll be proud
and honored to wear the uniform of my country
again.
— Meinhold
U.S. Navy petty officer
-ft '
lion of Physicians for Human
Rights, a San Francisco-based gay
rights group.
Meinhold was honorably dis
charged in August after going on
national television and saying he
was gay. He said Thursday many of
his former superiors and co-work
ers at Moffett knew for several
years he was homosexual.
Dozens of reporters surrounded
Meinhold as he entered Moffett, 40
miles south of San Francisco.
“I have had wonderful support
from people from all walks of life
— this has been very empower
ing,” said Meinhold, from Palo Alto.
Moffett spokesman John
Shackleton said Mcinhold’s duties
with Patrol Squadron 31 will be the
same as before he was discharged.
The military’s rationale for ex
cluding homosexuals is the same
one used earlier by the military to
exclude blacks. Schaiz said.
President Truman heard similar
reservations, and overrode much
protest when he ordered rac ial inte
gration in 194X.
From the rank-and-file to Penta
gon brass, opponents say homo
sexuality isn’t compatible with
military life. An open policy would
be divisive,a morale-buster, a likely
source ofconflict and turmoil, they
contend.
Homosexuals have always been
in thcmilitary. But it’s been aquict
real ity, an orientation that could be
hidden or overlooked — unlike a
person’s color or sex. If trouble
cropped up, a soldier or sailor could
. be moved on or out.
Opposition to reversing the
policy has come from deep within
the military, retired soldiers and
even Clinton advisers.
Two of the Pentagon’s most se
nior officers— Gen. Colin Powell,
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, and Gen. Gordon Sullivan,
the chief of staff of the Army —
have repeatedly declared their op
position to any change in the policy.
Both arc expected to continue in
service under Clinton.
Admiral William Crowe, the
re tircdchairm an of the Joints Chiefs
of Staff who endorsed Clinton be
fore the election and advises him
on military matters, has said he
warned Clinton to move slowly.
Number 1
Study calls United States most violent industrialized society
WASHINGTON — The United
Stales leads industrialized nations in
murders, sexual assaults and other
attacks, and the fear of violence has
permeated American life, the authors
of a new study say.
The specter of violence has de
graded American life, left people
afraid to walk their neighborhoods at
night, putchildren in danger in school
and caused many to barricade them
selves behind locked doors, accord
ing to a report released Thursday by
the National Research Council.
“The nation’s anxiety on the sub
ject of violence is not unfounded. In
1990, more than 23,(XK) people were
homicide victims,” the report said,
although it noted that murder rates
were higher earlier in this century,
and higher still in some locations last
ccnlury.
“Violent deaths and incidents that
result in lesser injuries are sources of
chronic fear and a high level of con
cern with the seeming inability of
public authorities to prevent them,”
the report said.
The United States, the study found,
is generally more violent than other
societies.
“Homicide rates in the United
States far exceed those in any other
industrialized nation,” the report said.
“Among 16 industrialized countries
surveyed in 1988, the United Slates
had the highest prevalence rates for
serious sexual assaults and for all
other assaults including threats of
physical harm.”
Despite this, the study said U.S.
violence is not the worst it has ever
been. The homicide rale peaked in the
early 1930s and then dropped for the
next 30 years, the study said. The rate
rose again between 1979 and 1981,
then declined, only to rise again in the
laic 1980s.
“Historical data suggests that cer
tain cities may have experienced still
higher homicide rates during the 19th
century,” the report said.
Both victims and perpetrators of
violent crime arc more likely to be
male and come from ethnic or racial
minorities, the study said. The most
likely to commit violence are men in
the age range of 25 to 29. In the
majority of assaults, rapes and homi
cides, the perpetrator was an acquain
tance of the victim.
Homicide rales are five limes higher
among blacks than among whites,
and the rate among Native Ameri
cans is almost double that of the rest
of the population.
Victims most often are minorities,
with blacks 41 percent and Hi span ics
32 percent more likely to be victims
than are whites.
The cost to society of violence is
high, the report said. It estimated
these average costs per violent inci
dent: rape, S54 ,(KX); robbery, S19,2(X),
and assault, SI6,(XX).
Instead, the study advocated cer
tainly of punishment.
“A 50percent increase in the prob
ability of incarceration would pre
vent twice as much violent crime as a
50 percent increase in the average
term of incarceration.”
New jobless
claims decline
to 2-year low
WASHINGTON — The number
of Americans filing new claims for
jobless benefits fell to a two-year low
in late October and remained under
400,(XX) for the sixth-straight week,
the government reported Thursday.
Economist Thomas F. Carpenter
of ASB Capital Management in Wash
ington said the report was the latest
sign that “the employment situation
has at last stabilized.”
“The claims numbers suggest that
the hiring phase of the economic
growth cycle is on the verge of kick
ing in,’’Carpenter said. “It won’t kick
in ina big way, but it will start kicking
in.”
The Labor Department reported
first-time applications for unemploy
ment insurance fell by 5,000 to
355, (XX) in the week ended Oct. 31,
the lowest sinceclaims totaled 354,(XX)
in the week of Aug. 4, 1990. Many
analysts had expected claims to rise.
Initial claims, which peaked at
530,000 on March 23, 1991, at the
depths of the recession, have num
bered less than 400,000 since Sept.
26.
Not included in the report, how
ever, were 20,869 new claims filed
under a special emergency unemploy
ment program. That total was down
from 23,497 for the week ended Oct.
24 and the lowest since 20,754 appli
cations were filed in the week of Sept.
25.
The emergency program numbers,
unlike the national figures, arc not
seasonally adjusted.
Many analysis believe the unem
ployment rale should improve if
claims hold below 400,000. The rate
fell for the fourth straight month in
October, hilling a six-month low of
7.4 percent.
Still,thcclosely watched four-week
avcrageofnewclaimsalsodropped to
a two-year low in the week ended Oct.
31. It fell from 371,500 to 364,500,
the lowest since the average was
356, (XX) on July 14, 1990.
Many analysts prefer to track the
four-week average because it smooths
out the volatility of the weekly re
ports. ’
Safe sex a rarity, researchers say
WASHINGTON—Americansare
not practicing “safe sex,” leaving
millions at risk of infection by the
AIDS virus, according to authors of
the largest national sexual survey in
more than 40 years.
The survey results, to be published
Friday in the journal Science, indicate
that heterosexual Americans are not
taking seriously the risk of AIDS and
that the vast majority with multiple
partners are engaging in sexual inter
course without condoms.
AIDS has been most prevalent in
the United Stales among homosexu
als and intravenous drug users.. But
Joseph Catania, a University of Cali
fornia, San Francisco researcher and
.—
an author of the study, said that with
so many people not using condoms or
other protection, “it is just a matter of
lime before it w ill spread w idely into
the heterosexual community."
For the survey, more than 10,000
Americans were questioned by tele
phone about their sexual practices.
Respondents were selected by a ran
dom digit dialing system and repre
sented people bctw-cen the ages of 18
and 75, married and single, living in
major cities and in rural areas.
“This is the first of a kind,"Catania
said, because it concentrated on be
havior related to the risk of sexually
transmitted diseases, such as AIDS.
He said it w'as the first large-scale
survey on human sexuality in the U.S.
since the Kinsey report in 1948.
“Kinsey asked a lot of questions
we didn’t ask, but the Kinsey study is
not a representative sample and this
one is,” he said.
Among the findings:
• Seven percent of respondents
said they had had multiple sex part
ners in the previous year. Ten percent
of those with added AIDS risk factors
said they had had multiple partners.
• Among those with multiple sex
partners, 17 percent used condoms all
of the time. Among those with high
risk sexual partners, the condom use
was only 1.1 percent.
Netfraskan
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