BY HARRY RING
'Experience preferred...' -Army Secretary West says he
can't explain how Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney got appointed to
the panel probing sexual harassment in the army. Last June,
Sgt. Maj. Brenda Hoster filed a sexual harassment charge
against him. Under ensuing pressure, she took early
retirement.
Tsk - Time Pentagon correspondent Mark Thompson says the McKinney episode couldn't come at a worse time for the Army brass, which is now taking its budget to Congress. Bleats Thompson: "It doesn't allow you to talk about your new tanks if you have to talk about this sergeant major."
Crackdown - They're going to do a safety check at four nuclear research labs in New Mexico operated for the government by Lockheed Martin Corp. A supervisor admitted that he and two others covered up the December shutdown of a reactor that was running over its safety limit. The three supervisors have been demoted and suspended for a week without pay.
Confess carefully - The British government has a bill in Parliament to expand police powers, including bugging practices. Cops would have the right to secretly install surveillance equipment in church confessionals. Brushing aside a Catholic church protest, a government spokesman said it was unlikely there would be any exceptions. "We are keen not to create any loopholes," he declared.
The can-do system - Germany's jobless rate swelled to 12.2 percent in January. In east Germany, the figure was 18.6 percent. An official said the numbers show "a clear worsening" of the unemployment situation and could explained only be partially by the cold weather.
A murderous system - "Up to two million British children are suffering ill health and stunted growth because of malnutrition.... Poverty on a scale not seen since the Thirties is blamed for the return of rickets, anemia and tuberculosis...." - The Observer of London, citing a School Milk Campaign report scoring government cutbacks on school meals.
...meanwhile - A survey of National Health Service hospitals in Britain found that in a three-month period more than 400 critically ill children had been turned away from intensive care units for lack of beds and nurses.
Poetic insight - The 19th Century German poet Heinrich Heine described a visit to Paris banker James Rothschild: "... as I was making my way to Herr von Rothschild, a servant in livery carried his chamber pot across the corridor and a stock market speculator who was passing at the same time removed his hat respectfully before the mighty utensil.... I noted the name of this devout person and I am convinced that, in the course of time, he will become a millionaire."
Sold - At the grand opening of the San Francisco Coffin Outlet, Mayor Willie Brown scoffed at a $5,000 deluxe casket, suggesting a cheap pine box is sufficient. One coffin salesman felt he could easily change the mayor's mind. He'd tell him: "You're wearing a $2,500 suit and a $300 shirt and a $400 pair of shoes, and you're going to get buried in a box?"