Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 10, 1993)
NrWS DTGFST NebmSkan Edited by Jeff Singer jL l|J[ / V V L/ JL^XVJl / -1^ Wednesday, November 10,1993 Gore, Perot battle over NAFTA WASHINGTON — Vice Presi dent AI Gore on Tuesday accused Ross Perot of abandoning his one time support for the North American Free Trade Agreement “to bring out the politics of fear.” In a contentious debate, Perot countered that the deal NAFTA "ower the liv ing stan dards of working -'Ameri cans.” There was in stant and frequent tension in me high-stakes debate, with Perot and Gore repeatedly interrupting each other and squabbling over whether the deal with create or kill jobs, and the propriety of both sides spending millions to press their views. Perot told the CNN audience that the administration was “buying (votes) big time with your money.” Gore said more was being spent “against the NAFTA, for sure.” He called on Perot to publicly disclose what he has spent. With the House vote on the deal a week away and Clinton behind. Gore and Perot fought not only over the detads of the trade deal but for pub lic support. Clinton needs about 25 more votes for a victory in the House. As the debate got underway, one undecided House member, Jim Bacchus. D-Fla., announced his support for NAFTA. The agreement would create the - it I am putting my country’s interests far ahead of my personal business. — Perot Texas businessman ___ «« — world’s largest free trade zone by eliminating tariffs and other trade barriers over a 15-year period. Gore and Perot sat side-by-side during the 90-minutc debate. The vice president used hand gestures to make his point. Perot pulled out photo graphs. including shots of slums in the shadows of Mexican factories. Gore accused Perot of repeatedly playing fast and loose with the facts, saying he had predicted 40,000 Amer icans would die in the Persian Gulf war and that 100 banks would fail alter President Clinton took office. “You were wrong,” Gore said as he eyed Perot. “The politics of negativ ism and fear only go so far.” Perot said that “36 families own over half'of Mexico and “85 million people work for them in poverty.” In fact, the entire population of Mexico is about 85 million people and recent studies indicate about 14 million of those people live in poverty. More than two-thirds of economic activity there is controlled not by big fami lies, but by small and medium-sized businesses. Perot said Mexican employers were abusive and employees too poor to buy American goods. “People who don’t make anything can’t buy anything," Perot said, as he w w displayed his photographs. “Never forget that.” The Gore-Perot showdown was the climax of a frenzied day of jockey ing over NAFTA. The White House tried to wrest the momentum by taking on Perot ; and aggressively lobbying uncommit ted and wavering Democrats. The anti-NAFTA coalition, from Perot to conservative commentator Patrick Buchanan to House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, showed no signs of buckling to White House pressure. Clinton served as a warmup act for Gore, using a morning event to deliver a spirited defense of the free trade deal. Gore was on the offensive during the prime-time debate. He said Perot’s son supported the trade deal and that Perot himself did, too, “until he start ed running for president and started to bring out the politics of fear.” “1 am putting my country’s inter ests far ahead of my personal busi ness,” Perot retorted, saying he stood only to make “tiny” gains, “some thing like the trickled waters coming over Niagara Falls. Would you know the truth even if you saw it” he said in an angry exchange with Gore. “You’ve been up here too long.” NAFTA overview Key facts about the North American Free Trade Agreement: WHAT IT DOES: Tariffs and other trade barriers among the United ^ States,Canada and Mexico would be eliminated, creating the world's largest and richest trading bloc, covering 360 million people. WHEN: Jan. 1,1994, if Congress approves. Ht TARIFFS: Eliminated over a 15-year period. Levies on half of the more than 9,000 products would be phased out immediately, 65 percent of them within five years. U.S. tariffs on Mexican products now average less than 4 percent; Mexican tariffs on American products average 10 percent. AGRICULTURE: Tariffs on all farm p'oducts would be phased I out but producers would be given 15 years to adjust to a |_I duty-free status on sensitive products. These include com and dry beans for Mexico and orange juice concentrate, melons, sugar and asparagus for U.S. farmers. Mexican import licenses, which cover about 25 percent of U.S. exports, would be dropped immediately. AUTOS: To qualify for duty-free treatment, the North American content of cars, now 50 percent, would have to reach 62.5 percent after eight years FINANCIAL SERVICES: Mexico would allow U.S. and Canadian banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies free access _ after a six-year transition period during which bans on foreign ownership would be phased out. TELECOMMUNICATIONS: U.S. companies would be allowed to compete for contracts from Mexico's public telephone system, and investment restrictions would be eliminated by July 1995. I TEXTILES: Mexico would be able to escape high duties on shipments to the United States and Canada as long as the clothing was made from yarns and fabrics from North America. TRUCKING: Mexico would allow foreigners to invest in its J j trucking firms, and U.S., Mexican and Canadian trucking companies would be allowed to do business on cross-border routes that are now prohibited. SIDE AGREEMENTS: Would establish trinational commissions to oversee environmental and labor laws with the possibility of sanctions, either punitive trade tariffs in the case of the United States and Mexico or fines in the case of Canada, for failure of a country to enforce its own laws. AP Authorities think they have found California arsonists LOS ANGELES — The man ac cused of being “Fcdbustcr,” a letter writing antagonist who threatened to set fires to “settle a score” with the government, has a long history of crime, including an arson arrest at age 9. Federal prosecutors haven’t charged Thomas Lee Larsen in any of the wildfires that swept through Southern California during the last two weeks, destroying hundreds of homes and leaving three people dead. But in scaled court documents ob tained by the Los Angeles Times, authorities said Larsen “clearly and completely matches the profile of a serial arsonist.” Larsen, 43, was convicted of coun terfeiting in 1977 and sentenced to four years in prison. In 1987, he re ceived a six-year sentence for spray ing acid on seven people and 500 cars while making deliveries for a hardware company. The victims in cluded a 10-year-old girl. Larsen also was convicted of lewd behavior with a 16-year-old boy and has been arrested on charges of as sault and arson. Less than a year after he was re leased from a state mental hospital in 1975, he was accused of attempting to set fire to the Sands hotel in Las Vegas. He wasn’t convicted. He also was arrested on an arson charge at age 9. Larsen was one of two suspects linked to the fires. A 17-ycar-old boy whose name wasn’t released was ar rested in one of the wildfires. Ana heim fire investigator Mike Feeney wouldn’t say what charges would be sought. “It’s an arson investigation,” he said Tuesday. On Monday, Larsen was ordered held without bond in the “Fcdbuster” investigation. Nebraskan Editor Jeremy Fitzpatrick Night News Editors Jeff Zeleny 472-1766 Lisa Sickert Managing Editor Wendy Mott Kristine Long Assoc News Editors Angie Brunkow Andrea Kaeer Kara Morrison Art Director David Badders Editorial Page Edilor Kathy Steinauer General Manager Dan Shattil Wire Editor Jeff Singer Production Manager Katherine Pollcky Copy Desk Editor Chris Hopfensperger Advertising Manager Jay Cruse Sports Editor Todd Cooper Senior Acct. Exec. Bruce Kroese Arts & Entertainment Tom Mainelli Publications Board Chairman Doug Fiedler Editor 436-6407 Photo Chief Shaun Sartin Professional Adviser Don Walton 473-7301 FAX NUMBER472 1761 The Daily NebraskanfUSPS 144 080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Ne braska Union 34,1400 R St., Lincoln, NE, Monday through Friday dunng the academic year; weekly during summer sessions Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a m and 5 p m. Monday through Friday The public also has access to the Publicatipns Board For information, contacl Doug Fiedler, 436 6407 Subscription price is $50 for one year. Poslmaster Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St Lincoln NE 68588 0448 Second class postage paid at Lincoln NE ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1993 DAILY NEBRASKAN Man denies sexual assault claims MANASSAS, Va. — A man whose penis was cut off by his wife took the stand Tuesday and denied he sexually assaulted her beforehand. John Wayne Bobbitt described initially feeling a “tug” on his pe nis when his wife sliced it off with a filleting knife as he slept the night of June 23. “It hurt a lot,” he said. Bobbitt said he did not realize at first what had happened. "1 grabbed myself, I jumped up,” he said. Bobbitt said he then woke up houseguest Robert Johnson and asked him to take him to the hos pital. He answered “no” when asked if he ever sexually attacked his wife and or told her, as she had claimed, that forced sex excited him. Bobbitt, 26, is charged with marital sexual assault. Mrs. Bobbitt, 24, faces her own trial Nov. 29 on a malicious wounding charge; her lawyer has said he will likely use a temporary insanity de fense. Each spouse could be sen tenced to 20 years in prison if con victed. Babbitt admitted creating a list of women he had slept with but denied a prosecution suggestion that he tormented his wife with it. “It was my own private copy. I didn’t show that to her ever,’’ he said. He said that the couple had dis cussed separating. They were mar ried in 1989. . Mrs. Bobbitt had testified Mon day that her husband pinned her to the bed and raped her in their Manassas apartment. After he fell asleep, she said, “I lifted the sheets and 1 cut it.” The prosecution rested earlier Tuesday, and Judge Prince Will iam County Circuit Court Judge LcRoy F. Millette Jr. denied a rou tine defense request to dismiss the charge. In morning testimony, a court counselor, Steven Rogue, said Mrs. Bobbitt came to his office two days before the incident and asked about court protection. She complained her husband physically and sexu ally abused her, Rogue said. To get a court order protecting her, Mrs. Bobbitt would have had to appear before a judge. Rogue said she decided not to appear and said she would return later in the week. She never came back. STATE WIRE Buffett endorses Kerrey in re-election bid OMAHA — Billionaire Warren Buffett, the richest man in the United States has agreed to be honorary chairman ofU.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey’s re-election bid, if there is one. A Kerrey spokesman said the an nouncement doesn’t necessarily mean the Nebraska Democrat who shocked many people by not seeking a second term as governor will seek a second Senate term, but it’s a strong sign that he will run in 1994. Is it everything but an announce ment? “It’s pretty close to that,” said Steve Jarding, a spokesman in Kerrey’s Omaha office who also worked on Kerrey’s 1988 Senate race and unsuccessful 1992 presidential bid. In a written statement under a let terhead proclaiming Bob Kerrey For United States Senate, Buffett was quoted as saying Kerrey has what it takes to create jobs. Buffett, who runs the Omaha based Berkshire Hathaway invest ment company, said he is especially happy about a bipartisan commis sion co-chaired by Kerrey that is sup posed to recommend federal govern ment spending cuts. } Sports wire San Francisco s Bonds wins third MVP award SAN FRANCISCO — With a $43.75 million contract, Barry Bonds already was in a financial class by himself. His third MVP award puts him in an athletic class by himself. By being voted the National League’s MVP on Tuesday, Bonds not only showed he was well worth the San Francisco Giants’ investment, he became the first player to win the award three times in four years. He joined seven others as a three time honoree. and the 29-year-old slugger easily could become base ball’s first four-time Most Valuable Player. Bonds hit .336 with a league-lead ing 123 RBIs and 46 home runs and scored 129 runs — all career highs — while leading the Giants to a fran chise-record 103 wins. He received 24 of 28 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Bonds also received four second place votes for 372 points, far ahead of Philadelphia Phillies center field Len Dykstra. Bonds won the award in 1990 and again last year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, becoming the premier player on last year’s frcc-agent market. The Giants stunned baseball by giving him a six-year deal that made him the richest player ever.