BY HARRY RING
Jeez Mike, give us a break - "I kind of got off easy. Most revolutionaries were killed....it took 200 years for people to decide Jesus Christ was positive." - Junk bond megaswindler Michael Milken who was sentenced to 10 years and served two.
It figures - New York Judge Lorin Duckman hit the headlines when he ignored a woman's protection plea and released her ex-boyfriend who then killed her. Now its charged that during a 1991 spousal abuse case, the good judge confided to lawyers in his chambers: "Even I have beat my wife. It happens."
`Been a pleasure having you' - "Stay off the `blessing in disguise' theme....Don't say, `You shouldn't take it so hard.'... Stay off the topic of criticizing the company....Don't say, `I know how you feel." - From 10-hour how-to-fire course for AT&T managers.
Short-lived dream - Harvard researchers found a marked difference in attitude toward school among Mexican immigrant youth and second-generation Chicanos. The new arrivals liked school much more. "Immigrants arrive with a tremendous positive energy," one researcher said. "But the more exposed they are [to U.S. life] the more their dreams fade. The data is very strong on this."
`A few bad apples' dep't (I) - The Philadelphia District Attorney's office now has 99 cases in a single police district in which the convictions will require review. Six ex- cops admitted planting drugs on people, stealing their money and filing false reports.
`A few bad apples' dep't (II) - A Toronto Globe and Mail article on the murderous New Orleans police says that Antoinetta Frank, a cop convicted of slaying another cop, was the first person to survive being arrested for cop-killing. There was the 1990 case of a man who did survive arrest as a suspect in the killing of a policeman. But a mob of cops dragged him from a hospital emergency room and beat and stomped him to death.
Reasonable question - Responding to the assertion that New Orleans cops steal so much because they're low paid, attorney Mary Howell retorted: "There are plenty of poorly paid people in this city. How much money do you have to pay them so they don't steal? $50,000? $100,000?"
We're puzzled - The prime minister of New Zealand is getting flack on his proposal to drop the United Kingdom's royal honors system, including knighthood. Ranking judges are arguing that the titles compensate for the income drop lawyers suffer on becoming judges. Their wages and expense allowances range from $140,000 plus, to more than $200,000 (N.Z.$). The clippings we saw don't mention it, but can we assume that besides the honor, the titles have a cash value?
`Never tell people to think.' - To break a three-year slump in the apparel industry, one fashion expert admonishes retailers: "Reestablish authority. A bit of industry `command' might spark the confidence women need to buy something different....By telling women to stick to their own personal `style,' the industry has unwittingly caused women to buy clothing less frequently."