BY HARRY RING
Murderous liars - "The United States believes that senior
Iraqi scientists were helping to produce elements of the nerve
agent VX at the factory in the Sudan that American cruise
missiles destroyed last week... [but] the Administration
refused to describe its evidence in any detail." - News item,
August 25.
Don't choke on it - "...some of this is indirect, and some of it is inferential. It's hard to hang your hat on any one nugget of it." - U.S. official, "explaining" the bombing, August 31.
They are getting a crash course - "The Russian people just don't understand that capitalism is cruel. It's a mean, nasty system, predicated on the law of the jungle." - Investment adviser Robert Goodman, interviewed on CNN's "Trading Places."
Might be addictive? - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has finally agreed to distribute potassium iodide in states with nuclear power plants. Studies since the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster confirmed that use of the pill lowers incidence of thyroid cancer among those exposed to radiation.
Peter Crane, a lawyer who pressed the nuke agency, said, "They were worried that if you prepared too well for an accident it sends the message that accidents can happen."
P.S. - The potassium iodide pill has been available to nuclear emergency workers since 1985, but not to area residents.
The secure society - A group of London civil servants who happened to be part of a broad health study got early word that their department was to be privatized. During four years of waiting for the ax to fall, they were more likely to skip exercise, gain weight and sleep more than nine hours. Divorce and separation rates went up. High cholesterol and heart disease became more common.
Seems like a fair statement -Last year, administrative judges overturned decisions by the Social Security Administration denying benefits to 292,349 disabled applicants. Such reversals took an average of 340 days, some as long as two years.
Observed a claims lawyer: "The whole system is designed not to work."
Your choice - Clippings for this column are much appreciated. Mail c/o Pathfinder Bookstore, 2546 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90006. Or fax to 213-380-1268. Thanks.