NEWSPOEM

BALKAN FOES SIGN 1995 PEACE PACT,

clear way for troops of AN UNPACIFIED U.S.

NATO issues ultimatum to BOSNIA's 15 lawyers and jetliner pilots

a grim turn for F.A.A. DECEMBER senate whitewater panel proposes cutting two embattled Serb leaders' hours

hope in AIDS case is put in marrow from bill clinton

DIVIDING one baboon's detour on the way to the white house

NEWSPOEM 16 DECEMBER 1995

IT'S HARD TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE EVENTS IN EASTERN EUROPE IF YOU'RE AFRAID YOU MIGHT WORK OVERTIME OR

FREEZE TO DEATH THIS CHRISTMAS

White men wearing suits and ties were photographed shaking hands in France. Police officers wearing camoflage uniforms and automatic rifles were photographed shaking hands in deep snow. The men in uniforms had less contrast than the men in suits, despite the fact that the camoflage was not intended for deep snow. None of the men were recognizable, including President Clinton.

In Mannheim, Germany, an American soldier hugging a woman as he prepared to leave for Bosnia was photographed using a flash. In Ilidza, a Serbian-held Sarajevo suburb, a woman at an outdoor market making coffee using an unrecognizable device was photographed as Serbs prepared to leave.

The Serbs were not in focus.

NEWSPOEM 17 DECEMBER 1995

Friday nobody suspected that disagreements over the Federal budget would lead to another shutdown, like the one that left 800,000 Federal employees unemployed for six days last month.

It is not likely that the military will be affected by the shutdown.

Severe weather is causing many expensive and awkward failures to move troops and equipment by air into Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

This won't be another Vietnam.

NEWSPOEM 18 DECMBER 1995

I understood why I smoke cigarettes today as I wandered through Lincoln Square Mall where an elaborate system of visual, auditory, and olfactory cues persuaded me to buy things I can't afford.

NEWSPOEM 19 DECEMBER 1995

MURDER TOTAL DROPS 12 %

CHICAGO Associated Poets -- In the first six months of 1995, 388 murders were committed in Chicago. This is substantially fewer than the 478 murders reported in the first six months of 1994. Milwaukee, Springfield, and Rockford also reported decreases. The number of murders in New York city dropped 835 to 574. This is the largest drop in the murder rate since 1960, as far back as FBI statistics go. Experts attribute this to the development of stable turf agreements between drug traffickers.

NEWSPOEM 20 DECEMBER 1995

poor get poorer and rich get richer

Champaign ASSOCIATED POETS -- A few striking public transportation workers in France have returned to work, although the crisis seems far from over. Many, but not all striking Caterpillar employees have replaced replacement workers and are back at work in the wake of the failed strike. 260,000 Federal employees are still out of work due to lack of funding. Yale University graduate teaching assistants are threatening to withhold grades and strike unless recognized as a union; the University has threatened them with financial aid sanctions and expulsion. President Clinton is battling congress to veto a bill that would give U.S. troops a pay increase. But UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS clerical workers may receive a 4-6% raise over the next 3 years.

But the former Executive Director of the State University Retirement System Dennis Spice is under investigation for illicitly spending over $9000 of pension funds for campaign contributions, in addition to $780 on a party and $182 for Hawaiian dinner shows featuring Don Ho. A report published Monday revealed that Governor Jim Edgar had received more than $460,000 in campaign contributions from out-of-state donors, raising some question as to whether the Republican was representing his constituents alone. The investigation of the Whitewater land venture, involving a failed Savings and Loan which cost taxpayers more than $60 million, has not yet proven President Clinton guilty.

This reporter has learned too much to continue smoking cigarettes. It is not his own death he objects to: it is the profit made from it. NEWSPOEM 21 DECEMBER 1995

NEWSPOEM 12-22-1995

Arthur -- In 1990, a little boy named Samuel Herschberger was helping his father with the milking charges relating to the 1979 coup that brought them to power, when a spinning drive snagged his pants killing at least 75 people and injuring 76. In a bloody blur, his scalp, left arm and right hand were nearly torn off, and killed at least 25 people and injured more than 100 just about every long bone in his limbs was shattered. At least six people were reported to have survived, but any casualty figures are preliminary.

NEWSPOEM 95 XMAS

FM -- Stories of Christmas presents past. A tribute to heroically cheerful retail employees. Static whining like Bosnian wind. A carnival of unnecessary expenditure concluded, stores and offices remain closed and the economy collapses like a malnourished sprinter. Dean Martin dead at 78. Planecrash flight 965 deadliest in 7 years. Santa claus in military base in Tuzla. Chow was alright -- I've had better, I've had worse. If we only ate one proper meal in 1995, we have just finished and bloated with meat and alcohol we descend into uselessness. The poor remain invisible beneath a white shroud of static drifting from the sky.

NEWSPOEM 28-December-1995

U.S. FIRED IN BOSNIA

TUZLA -- A U.S. attack on the Bosnian peace agreement did not cause any injuries to U.S. troops. NATO had not determined which factions were fired. "This is very disappointing," the NATO commander said. "It's stupid and it's very dangerous."