On the Record

Time is running out for budget summit. With August break just ahead, chances of a compromise are no better than 50-50. “George Bush must get a considerable payback for breaking his no-new-taxes pledge,” say Evans & Novak. “There are no signs whatever of the budget agreement making the cuts in spending that would be needed for that result.”… Washington Times says Sen. Phil Gramm (R., Tex.) is standing firm against any new taxes… Latest Dick Wirthlin poll finds that 54 per cent of those questioned are ready to vote against any congressman who approves higher taxes… That there is a cut-taxes, cut-spending feeling in the land was demonstrated when the balanced-budget amendment failed in House by just seven votes. The five Republicans who broke ranks are Benjamin Gilman, Amo Houghton, and Bill Green of New York, Silvio Conte (Mass.), and John Rhodes (Ariz.)…. In Massachusetts, House Minority Leader Steven Pierce has been getting major press play as Dukakis legislature tries to trim state’s budget deficit. Pierce is now running neck and neck with leading Democratic candidates. John Silber shades him 35 to 34.4 per cent; he shades Frank Bellotti 40.6 to 40.4 per cent. Latest (July 30) poll shows Silber now leading Bellotti 34 to 31 per cent, while Evelyn Murphy, the leftmost Democrat, is favored by 27 per cent of Democrats. … In Senate races, Paul Simon (D., Ill.) leads Rep. Lynn Martin 51 to 39 per cent, and Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) leads Rep. Tom Tauke 47 to 37 per cent. But in Indiana, Republican Sen. Dan Coats, appointed to fill out Dan Quayle’s term and fighting his first senatorial campaign, has handy lead over Rep. Baron Hill, 59 to 26 per cent. In the lively Texas gubernatorial race it looks like a landslide for Republican Clayton Williams over Democrat Ann Richards. The Washington Inquirer’s “Eye” puts it this way. “The Yahoos, the Joe Sixpacks, the Bubbas of America just aren’t listening to the intellectual geeks in Washington.”

The Czech newspaper Narodna Ob-roda says Fidel Castro is calling home all Cuban students at Eastern European universities at the end of the present term. For two reasons: a shortage of cash, and fear that the students will be affected by political developments in the former satellites. Castro’s quarrel with Spain over dissidents who have taken refuge in Spanish embassy in Havana could jeopardize more than $300 million in annual trade with Spain and put the kibosh on sizable (projected $50 million) Spanish investments in the Cuban tourist industry…. Yanez Pelletier, a hero of the Cuban revolution now turned human-rights activist, says “next year is going to be a terrible year for Cuba. We don’t have any hard currency and here Fidel is fighting with his friends [Spain].”… Americas Watch, the human-rights monitoring outfit, has charged the Salvadoran rebel FMLN with “flagrantly violating” international law by executing several hundred people since the early 1980s without benefit of trial…. In China, authorities have announced the execution of several hundred people in recent weeks. The executions, say China experts, are a kind of preventive measure to ensure against public demonstrations when the Asian Games are held in Peking next month…. Boris Yeltsin, displeased at the treatment his resignation from the Communist Party received in official Soviet press, will set up TV and radio stations and a Russian Republic news agency in the near future…. London’s Financial Times reports a first. East German taxi drivers have gone on strike for lower fares. New hard-currency rates are chasing away business.

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Time is running out for budget summit. With August break just ahead, chances of a compromise are no better than 50-50. “George Bush must get a considerable payback for breaking his no-new-taxes pledge,” say Evans & Novak. “There are no signs whatever of the budget agreement making the cuts in spending that would be needed for that result.”… Washington Times says Sen. Phil Gramm (R., Tex.) is standing firm against any new taxes… Latest Dick Wirthlin poll finds that 54 per cent of those questioned are ready to vote against any congressman who approves higher taxes… That there is a cut-taxes, cut-spending feeling in the land was demonstrated when the balanced-budget amendment failed in House by just seven votes. The five Republicans who broke ranks are Benjamin Gilman, Amo Houghton, and Bill Green of New York, Silvio Conte (Mass.), and John Rhodes (Ariz.)…. In Massachusetts, House Minority Leader Steven Pierce has been getting major press play as Dukakis legislature tries to trim state’s budget deficit. Pierce is now running neck and neck with leading Democratic candidates. John Silber shades him 35 to 34.4 per cent; he shades Frank Bellotti 40.6 to 40.4 per cent. Latest (July 30) poll shows Silber now leading Bellotti 34 to 31 per cent, while Evelyn Murphy, the leftmost Democrat, is favored by 27 per cent of Democrats. … In Senate races, Paul Simon (D., Ill.) leads Rep. Lynn Martin 51 to 39 per cent, and Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) leads Rep. Tom Tauke 47 to 37 per cent. But in Indiana, Republican Sen. Dan Coats, appointed to fill out Dan Quayle’s term and fighting his first senatorial campaign, has handy lead over Rep. Baron Hill, 59 to 26 per cent. In the lively Texas gubernatorial race it looks like a landslide for Republican Clayton Williams over Democrat Ann Richards. The Washington Inquirer’s “Eye” puts it this way. “The Yahoos, the Joe Sixpacks, the Bubbas of America just aren’t listening to the intellectual geeks in Washington.”

The Czech newspaper Narodna Ob-roda says Fidel Castro is calling home all Cuban students at Eastern European universities at the end of the present term. For two reasons: a shortage of cash, and fear that the students will be affected by political developments in the former satellites. Castro’s quarrel with Spain over dissidents who have taken refuge in Spanish embassy in Havana could jeopardize more than $300 million in annual trade with Spain and put the kibosh on sizable (projected $50 million) Spanish investments in the Cuban tourist industry…. Yanez Pelletier, a hero of the Cuban revolution now turned human-rights activist, says “next year is going to be a terrible year for Cuba. We don’t have any hard currency and here Fidel is fighting with his friends [Spain].”… Americas Watch, the human-rights monitoring outfit, has charged the Salvadoran rebel FMLN with “flagrantly violating” international law by executing several hundred people since the early 1980s without benefit of trial…. In China, authorities have announced the execution of several hundred people in recent weeks. The executions, say China experts, are a kind of preventive measure to ensure against public demonstrations when the Asian Games are held in Peking next month…. Boris Yeltsin, displeased at the treatment his resignation from the Communist Party received in official Soviet press, will set up TV and radio stations and a Russian Republic news agency in the near future…. London’s Financial Times reports a first. East German taxi drivers have gone on strike for lower fares. New hard-currency rates are chasing away business.