A Word From John Paul II From The United Nations About A World Gone Askew – October 5, 1995

The solution was simple – it was the problem that was complex.

Click  on the link here for Audio Player – Pope John Paul II Addresses United Nations General Assembly – October 5, 1995 – NPR – Gordon Skene Sound Collection

Billed as the last address he would give at a gathering of the United Nations General Assembly, Pope John Paul II delivered an impassioned plea for peace in a world rapidly spiraling out of control . . . . or continuing to spiral out of control, on October 5, 1995.

With news that a tenuous peace had been struck in the powder keg of the Balkans only moments before the Pope was to give the address, his speech made that plea all the more urgent.

Pope John Paul II: “We need to clarify the essential difference between an unhealthy form of nationalism, which teaches contempt for other nations or cultures, and patriotism, which is a proper love of one’s country. True patriotism never seeks to advance the well-being of one’s own nation at the expense of others. For in the end, this would harm one’s own nation as well: doing wrong damages both aggressor and victim. Nationalism, in its most radical forms, is thus the antithesis of true patriotism, and today we must ensure that extreme nationalism does not continue to give rise to new forms of the aberrations of totalitarianism.”

Although both the message and the messenger were, and continue to be, subject to ironies, the spirit of peace and the necessity to work things out, rather than engage in continuous war was more crucial in those closing years of the 20th century than ever before. That we were slowly slipping into a world of factions, ideologies and terrorism would become abundantly clear in the coming years.

That this address by the Pope had more ominous overtones for the future than we could have imagined at the time is still being scrutinized. That we are becoming the thing we have feared the most is yet to be fully played out.

Brave new world, indeed.

Here is that address (in progress) from Pope John Paul II to the United Nations General Assembly, on October 5, 1995.

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Last Time The Lights Went Out – Government Shutdown’s Greatest Hits – Dec. 1995 – Past Daily Reference Room

. . .and the definition of insanity is . . . .?

Click on the link here for Audio Player – News reports on Government Shutdown – December 16-21, 1995 – CBS Radio News – Gordon Skene Sound Collection

With word today of the impasse on Capitol Hill and the resulting shutdown of Government, the flurry of finger pointing starts. And 17 years ago it was pretty much the same thing. The faces, for the most part, have changed. The tactics have remained pretty much the same. The lunatic fringe is more vocal now and the polarization is more pronounced than it was 17 years ago.

But in December 1995 it was the culmination of events that began with the first (four day) shutdown in February of that year. The tantrums continued. The people suffered. Life went on. The Shutdown dragged on for 21 days, the second time around.

Indications are this shutdown will have bigger consequences. In 1995 no one knew what those consequences would be. And in 2013 no one really does either. There are predictions of backlash, revenge at the polls during the 2014 mid-term elections and widespread panic. Since October is historically Padded Cell Season on Wall Street, anything can happen.

But most likely as before, life goes on  – and there are bigger concerns to deal with – bigger consequences. Sometimes, the name of the game is distraction. And sometimes, people in high places just throw tantrums because they can.

Either way . . .

So here, as a reminder of the last time Capitol Hill shut the Government down, are a series of reports from December 16-21, 1995 via The CBS World News Roundup. Something to compare notes to.

And the band will surely play on.

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A Photo-Op In Haiti – September 20, 1994

Politics as Theatre.

Click on the link here for Audio Player – News For September 20, 1994 – NPR Morning Edition – Gordon Skene Sound Collection

For September 20, 1994 the news was about U.S. troops landing in Haiti and the removal of one government, headed up by Military strongman Raoul Cédras and reinstating another government, that of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide, an elected President was overthrown in 1991, less than a year after taking office, and fled into exile until September 19, 1994 when pressure and the threat of military intervention from the U.S. forced Cédras to relinquish power and Aristide to return. Aristide however, was not pleased with the negotiation terms presented to Cédras by the Clinton White House, and refused to acknowledge the U.S. when he addressed the people of Haiti on his return.

Despite assurances there would be no U.S. invasion of Haiti, a symbolic one happened anyway and it was the source of much news and spin on Capitol Hill on this day in 1994.

But there was other news happening – most notably, the situation in Bosnia was spinning out of control with reports of fighting between Christian and Muslim forces. Also on this day was news about the proposed Clinton Health Plan and the stiff opposition being mounted by Republicans and the Insurance industry, hoping to kill any semblance of affordable Health Care for America.

All that, and so much more via this segment of NPR’s All Things Considered for September 20,1994.

A strangely familiar day, with names and faces changed, but situations eerily similar.

History’s like that.

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Hell Rendered: Designated Bosnia – September 5, 1995

Our situation in Syria may have more in common with this than with Saddam.

 

Click on the link here for Audio Player – NPR News – September 5, 1995 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection

On this September 5th the world is holding it’s collective breath. On September 5th in 1995 the world was looking at the situation in the region formerly known as Yugoslavia and that nightmare the ensued after the death of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in 1980 – the leader referred to as “the glue that held it all together” – the six republics known as Yugoslavia.

The glue eventually came apart at the seams, the intense settling of scores and the spread of religious factions exploded and turned the entire area into a slice of hell not witnessed since the darkest days of World War 2. Ethnic Cleansing became a new word in our lexicon of shock and horror in the mid-1990s. Killing was on a mass scale.

The U.S. and NATO attempted to broker a peace settlement but fighting continued before the U.S. staged a number of bombing campaigns on Bosnian Serb sites, finally bringing about the Dayton Agreement in December. But that was a ways off.

The news on this day was about the war in Bosnia as relayed by NPR on September 5, 1995.

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A Brace Of Squeakers – August 5, 1993

Never one to shy away from a good arm-twist.

Click on the link here for Audio Player – CBS World News Roundup – August 5, 1993 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection

Twenty years ago to the day, it was about arm-twisting and squeaker votes on Capitol Hill, scandals at the IRS, the Middle-East and Bosnia.

In short – a day just like any other.

Starting off with what was anticipated to be a Squeaker-Vote over the Clinton Budget Bill, with margins estimated at 6 votes, President Clinton had fingers crossed the Senate, and eventually the House would pass his 1800 page Compromise Deficit Reduction measure. Arizona Senator Dennis Deconcini summed it up this way:

Deconcini: “I think the Republicans have demonstrated that they do not care about deficit reduction. What they’re interested in is a crash, for this country to have a fiscal crisis, thinking they will pick up the pieces”.

Deconcini went from a No vote to a Yes vote, thus shifting the margin of victory over to the Clinton side. But it sill meant a lot more arm-twisting from The White House.

And word came out the IRS was in something of a shambles (feign surprise), with such bad bookkeeping as to cause one Senator to quip “if private executives kept accounts the way the Government does, they’d be in jail”.

The peace talks on Bosnia continued, with the Serbs promising to lift the siege of Sarajevo in order to lift obstacles to a peace agreement with the Muslim-led government. In addition, Serb forces agreed to move off of the two mountains they have taken by force in the previous week as well as opening two roads leading into Sarajevo will be opened, allowing food and supplies to reach the people living in the embattled area.

Secretary of State Christopher dabbled in some shuttle diplomacy with an unexpected visit to Syria and talks with President Assad signaled a start of a more active role of the U.S. in the Middle-East Peace process.

Big changes in the government in Japan with the end of a four-decade run by the Liberal Democratic Party by a coalition of Reform parties and much grumbling over who would take over as what.  The outgoing party refused to make things easy.

All that, and a bunch going on, this day in August 20 years ago as presented by The CBS World News Roundup for August 5, 1993.

Alina Devecerski In Session At Sveriges Radio – Nights At The Roundtable: Rock Without Borders Edition

The Face of Scandipop.

Click on the link here for Audio Player: Alina Devecerski – Live At Sveriges Radio, Stockholm – July 9, 2013

If you were ever wondering what the Pop Music scene was like in Sweden at the moment, here’s a taste. Alina Devecerski has been on the scene only a short period of time. Her breakthrough album, Marathon, gained a lot of attention for the singer-songwriter and was only released last year. In that short amount of time she’s managed to gain a toehold in the competitive Scandipop scene and managed to score one Number 1 hit out of the album. She’s currently touring all over Sweden and doing this guest appearance on Sveriges Radios Studio Sessions Program. It was recorded only yesterday (July 9th), so it’s still pretty fresh and lively.

Unless she breaks out of the Swedish-only atmosphere of all her songs so far, her chances of getting into the rest of the World music market might be a bit slim. But she has enough energy for several people and her music is pure Pop; laden with hooks and relentless beats. Plus she’s very cute.

All winning combinations for a star on the rise – no matter what country you’re in or what language you sing.

Broken Systems, Outrageous Gas Prices And Prolonged Weeping In Damascus – June 12, 2000

Amid the wailing, giggles.

Click on the link here for Audio Player: [audio https://pastdaily.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/cbs-world-news-roundup-june-12-2000.mp3]

A day of ironies, this June 12th 13 years ago. On this day in 2000 gas was inching towards the unheard-of $2.00 a gallon, the Judicial system regarding the Death Penalty was broken and Syria was outwardly mourning-but-inwardly breathing a sigh of relief over the passing of President Hafez Assad and eagerly looking forward to the new regime of the son, Bashar.

And oh, how much has changed.

A scant thirteen years later, Gas is snaking upwards from $4.00 a gallon, the Judicial system is still broken. Bashar Assad and the rest of Syria is covered from head to toe in Civil War.

And history’s just like that.

Here is that day, with all those events and much more, reported via The CBS World News Roundup for June 12, 2000.

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Mandela: “Why Are All The South African Rugby Teams White?” – April 17, 1998

Sergei Kiriyenko – if, at first you don’t succeed . . .

Click on the link here for Audio Player:

(Still dealing with the player situation – bear with us)

Taking a world view for this April 17th in 1998, via The BBC World Service Newsdesk program.

News of Russian President Boris Yeltsin making a second try at getting Parliament approval for his Prime Minister pick of Sergei Kiriyenko. He threatened to dissolve Parliament if it didn’t happen this time.

A judge in South Africa struck down a move by Nelson Mandela to investigate the Rugby teams in the country, saying it seemed strange that all the Rugby teams in the country were white.

A Senior White House Aide in Afghanistan received assurances from the Taliban that it would no longer launch attacks against its opposition in the north of the country. TImes have changed.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was readying for a Middle East trip and U.S. President Bill Clinton was getting ready to address the Chilean Congress with some questions as to whether or not notorious former dictator Augusto Pinochet would make an appearance.

All that and much more crammed into this half-hour of Newsdesk from the not-so-distant past for a change.

A GOP Hissy-Fit – February 26, 1996

Pat Buchanan: “Take a couple Prozac fellas, an’ calm down”.

Click on the link here for Audio Player: News for February 26, 1996

It was Primary season, this February in 1996. And the news for this February 26th was the campaign of Senator Bob Dole was in big trouble, financially. And with the upcoming Arizona Primary slated for the following day (February 26th in 1996 fell on a Monday, so . . .), the odds-on/coming-up-from-behind favorite was former Nixon speechwriter and ultra-Conservative pundit Pat Buchanan. This sudden turn of events for both the Dole and Buchanan campaigns tossed the proverbial monkey-wrench in the primary season, and the GOP was in an uproar over the possibility that, one more time, the GOP would be hijacked by the hardcore. And the horserace was turned into campaign for survival. Dole remained upbeat – Buchanan chuckled.

But in other news – Cuba was back on the front burner with additional sanctions being considered by the White House in light of an incident involving Cuban jets shooting down two unarmed planes. The Cuban government was reportedly holding one of the pilots, protesting that the planes were trespassing on Cuban air space and had proof it was no accident. The U.S. counter-protested that it was Cuba who was in violation of International air space.

In the Middle East, tensions were high proceeding a terrorist attack the day before, and a truck that plowed into a group of civilians in Jerusalem on this day was determined to be an accident, rather than a terrorist attack, even though bystanders believed it was and shot the driver dead. The driver was identified as a U.S. citizen living in the West Bank.

In Los Angeles, actor Hang Nor, who won an Oscar for this performance in The Killing Fields in 1984 was murdered outside his home.

And above Earth- a satellite on board the Shuttle Columbia, broke from its tether and drifted off into space, making it the second such failure for NASA.

And AOL, Compuserve and Prodigy were expected to appear in court to challenge the new Communications Decency Act, saying the Internet wasn’t like Television, but rather like newspapers and deserved the same First Amendment protection.

And so it went for this day in 1996 – as presented by The CBS World News Roundup for Monday, February 26, 1996.

Life In Sudden California – January 28, 1994

L.A. Earthquake aftermath – after 11 days you’d think it would stop. But no . . .

Click on the link here for Audio Player: News for January 28, 1994

Even though one of the deadliest earthquakes to hit Southern California occurred on January 17th of 1994, the earth was still shaking some 11 days later, with some 70 considerable aftershocks taking place on the morning of January 28th alone. The city, to say the least, was in a state of nervous exhaustion. Governor Pete Wilson went on Television to deliver a pep-talk to frazzled residents, with damage estimates reaching in excess of $30 billion.

But even then, the world continued to spin, and the news continued to made in other places. On this day in 1994 the scandal continued erupting over the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan skating attack, hot on the heels of Hardin’s emotional Press Conference/statement the day before. Subpoenas were going out to TV stations for video of Harding directly after the attack.

The good news coming out of this day was about the economy with reports that 1993’s economy raced ahead with a 5 point increase in Gross Domestic Product. Good news for the White House, with consumer spending on big ticket items on the increase.

Not such good news for residents in the Northeast as Winter storms turned that section of the country into an iceberg. The big fear was, once it got to melting, so would begin the flooding. A no-win situation was looming on the horizon.

And character actor Claude Akins died after losing a battle with Cancer. He was 67.

 

All that, and a lot more for this January 28, 1994 – as reported by The CBS World News Roundup.

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