CBS Evening News - 1992-03-05

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:02] Is this police brutality or justifiable

[0:06] force? Does the picture tell the full

[0:09] story? Courtroom arguments on both sides

[0:11] today. Congressional check bouncers, a

[0:14] new push to actually names.

[0:17] >> I don't know how some of these folks uh

[0:19] slept at night given the kind of uh

[0:22] books that they kept.

[0:24] >> And a rich to richer story straight out

[0:27] of the 1980s.

[0:29] This is the CBS Evening News.

[0:36] Good evening, Dan Rather reporting.

[0:38] Opening arguments today in the case of

[0:40] Los Angeles police accused of brutality.

[0:43] Millions of people around the world have

[0:44] already seen the amateur video of white

[0:47] police officers beating an unarmed black

[0:49] motorist. Today, that videotape was seen

[0:52] through the eyes of a jury. Ron Allen is

[0:55] covering the trial. Further,

[0:57] >> the crux of this trial is the videotape

[0:59] that caught the four officers in the

[1:01] act. This morning, the prosecutor's

[1:03] pictures spoke as strongly as his words.

[1:06] >> You have a man who is down, a man who is

[1:08] not aggressive, a man who is not

[1:10] resisting. Yet, those blows from Officer

[1:13] Pal and Officer W's batons continue and

[1:17] continue and continue.

[1:19] >> On the videotape, Sergeant Stacy [ __ ] is

[1:22] seen holding wires from two electric

[1:24] darts he fired at King. [ __ ] 41, a

[1:27] 14-year veteran, was supervisor on scene

[1:30] that night. He's charged with assault

[1:32] and trying to cover it up. Officer

[1:34] Lawrence Powell on the left, hit King

[1:36] the most, more than 45 times. Powell,

[1:39] 29, has three years with LAPD. Along

[1:42] with [ __ ] he's charged with assault and

[1:44] lying on his police report. Powell was

[1:46] training rookie Tim Wind, who's on the

[1:48] right, hitting and kicking King more

[1:50] than a dozen times. Win31, just three

[1:53] months on the force, has been fired and

[1:55] now faces assault charges. And the tape

[1:58] shows officer Ted Pino stomping on

[2:00] King's Head once. Pino, 39, also charged

[2:03] with assault, is a 9-year LAPD veteran

[2:06] who was suspended 5 years ago for

[2:08] excessive force.

[2:10] >> Today, their attorneys base much of

[2:11] their defense on what they say happened

[2:13] before the tape rolled when the officers

[2:16] say they were about to handcuff King and

[2:18] believed he was high on drugs. y old

[2:20] single man.

[2:21] >> He rolled back and forth, pulled his

[2:23] arms away from the officers, and pushed

[2:25] himself up, throwing Powell off to one

[2:28] side and Bino off to the other.

[2:30] >> The conclusion of every officer who was

[2:33] there at the scene was that they had a

[2:35] duster on their hands, a person who was

[2:38] under the influence of encyclodine, PCP,

[2:42] or angel dust.

[2:44] >> And when the defense looks at the tape,

[2:45] they see something completely different

[2:47] than most of the public. justified force

[2:50] by cops in danger.

[2:52] >> Tim Wind used the baton. He

[2:56] acted in accordance with his training.

[2:59] Tim Wind also uses what's called the

[3:03] front kick. It's also called the

[3:05] departmentally approved front kick.

[3:08] >> The incident happened in Los Angeles,

[3:10] but the defense got the trial moved to

[3:12] neighboring Ventura County. Largely

[3:14] white and conservative. The jury of

[3:16] seven men and five women has no black

[3:19] members. As the trial unfolded today,

[3:21] one defense attorney broke ranks with

[3:23] the others and said two of the cops were

[3:25] out of control. Eventually, Rodney King

[3:27] will take the stand and explain his

[3:29] behavior. Behavior the police are trying

[3:31] to make the central issue in the trial.

[3:34] Ron Allen, CBS News, Ventura County.

[3:37] >> In Washington, the House of

[3:38] Representatives of the people of the

[3:40] United States is in an election year

[3:42] uproar over money in the bank. Not your

[3:44] bank. Theirs at issue is whether you

[3:48] should be allowed to know the names of

[3:49] all members of Congress who use the

[3:52] House Bank to write bad checks. From

[3:54] Capitol Hill, Bob Shaver has the latest.

[3:56] Bob. Dan. The House Ethics Committee has

[3:59] decided to urge Congress to release the

[4:02] names of only the worst abusers, 24

[4:04] members and former members of Congress

[4:06] who were among those writing thousands

[4:08] of hot checks on the now defunct House

[4:10] Bank. They decided not to make all the

[4:12] names public because some of the

[4:14] violations were minor, but the panel's

[4:16] chairman conceded some of the abuses

[4:18] were also startling.

[4:19] >> I was rather shocked by uh the number of

[4:22] checks that were written and uh and the

[4:25] size of the overdrafts in certain cases.

[4:26] As I said to some others, I don't know

[4:29] how some of these folks uh slept at

[4:31] night. It's closed now, but despite its

[4:33] looks and name, the institution that

[4:35] operated for decades in this capital

[4:37] suite was not really a bank, but a place

[4:39] where members of Congress could deposit

[4:41] their pay and write personal checks. But

[4:43] unlike your bank, checks were often

[4:45] cashed even when there were no funds to

[4:47] cover them. The bank just held the

[4:49] checks until additional deposits

[4:51] arrived. Some members clearly abused the

[4:53] privilege. The committee discovered that

[4:55] over the last three years, at least

[4:57] 20,000 checks were written when there

[4:59] were insufficient funds to cover them.

[5:01] Some members had overdrafts totaling

[5:03] more than $100,000.

[5:06] Although many overdrafts were minor, 355

[5:09] members of Congress, ranging from House

[5:11] Speaker Foley, the top Democrat, to the

[5:14] House's number two Republican, N.

[5:15] Gingrich, had recorded overdrafts over

[5:18] the last three years. One reason that

[5:20] the first cries of cover up came from

[5:22] freshman members.

[5:24] >> Mr. Speaker, there's only one way to

[5:25] resolve all of this controversy, and

[5:27] that's to release all of the names.

[5:29] >> What we have is a system here that is

[5:32] decayed and corrupt, and we need to do

[5:33] something about it.

[5:35] >> Even though no taxpayer money was lost

[5:37] in the bank transactions, it has

[5:38] triggered citizen outrage still evident

[5:41] today.

[5:41] >> It's like uh the privileged uh class

[5:45] almost.

[5:46] >> Make them do like everybody else. If

[5:47] they want to have an overdraft

[5:48] protection, make them sign up for it at

[5:50] the bank. Make them pay the interest.

[5:52] >> Whether any more information about this

[5:54] becomes public is not yet clear, but

[5:57] even the innocent here, Dan, know this

[5:58] is going to be heavy baggage to carry

[6:00] into an election year.

[6:02] >> Bob Chaffer live on Capitol Hill.

[6:04] Thanks. In America in the 1980s, what

[6:06] former President Reagan and those who

[6:08] support him called the Reagan Revolution

[6:10] put more money in the pockets of the

[6:12] rich. We already knew that. But a new

[6:15] study indicates that those who did best

[6:18] of all by far were the very richest of

[6:21] the rich. Correspondent Bob F has the

[6:24] details.

[6:29] The new figures compiled by the

[6:30] Congressional Budget Office show that in

[6:32] the 1980s for Americans of privilege,

[6:34] the music was very sweet. From 1977 to

[6:38] 1990, a staggering 60% of the increase

[6:41] in after tax income in this country went

[6:43] to just 1% of all families, those making

[6:46] at least $310,000

[6:48] a year.

[6:49] >> The United States now has greater

[6:51] disparities of income than virtually any

[6:53] Western European country. The numbers

[6:56] show the rich did get richer. While the

[6:58] bottom 40% of families saw their income

[7:00] decline during the Carter Reagan years

[7:02] and the typical American family saw its

[7:04] income creep up just 4%. For that top 1%

[7:07] incomes exploded up 77%.

[7:11] >> Look at this. If we don't have a new

[7:14] economic policy for the '90s, you're

[7:16] going to have more and more and more

[7:18] people working harder, making less, the

[7:20] country losing its economic leadership.

[7:22] One reason so much wealth went to so

[7:24] few. While top income tax rates were

[7:26] slashed, compensation for executives

[7:28] skyrocketed. By 1990, according to one

[7:31] survey, bosses were making 120 times as

[7:34] much as an average worker. 15 years

[7:36] earlier, they were making only 35 times

[7:38] more.

[7:39] >> The American CEOs who went over to Japan

[7:42] were paid on average about eight times

[7:43] as much as their Japanese counterparts.

[7:46] We should think about that.

[7:49] But today, when toes were being lovingly

[7:51] tended to on Miami's Gold Coast, and

[7:53] where shopping bags were bulging on

[7:54] Beverly Hills Rodeo Drive, there were

[7:57] voices which argued good times for the

[7:59] rich can mean good times for others,

[8:01] too.

[8:02] >> Well, I don't believe in the politics of

[8:04] envy. Uh,

[8:06] and the fact that that people who work

[8:09] hard and invest and if they do it

[8:11] honestly and they're doing very well, I

[8:13] think that's terrific. While there's

[8:15] some dispute about the meaning of the

[8:16] numbers, they virtually guarantee that

[8:18] the issue of tax fairness will be front

[8:20] and center in the presidential campaign.

[8:22] Even though it wasn't even on the agenda

[8:24] here, Bob, CBS News, New York. Federal

[8:28] banking regulators tonight rejected the

[8:30] 1 and a3 billion settlement offered by

[8:34] Michael Milin to settle government civil

[8:36] suits against him. The government says

[8:38] it needs more information before signing

[8:40] any deal with the jailed junk bond

[8:43] manipulator. The proposed deal would

[8:46] have left Milin and his family with a

[8:48] reported half a billion dollars at

[8:50] minimum. And then there were four. As

[8:53] CBS News first reported yesterday

[8:55] afternoon, Democrat Bob Kerry is out of

[8:57] the presidential race. The senator from

[8:59] Nebraska made it official today.

[9:02] After New Hampshire, I was delighted, or

[9:05] at least I appeared delighted, to say

[9:07] that I had won a bronze. I then went on

[9:10] to South Dakota and was happy to be able

[9:13] to say that I won a gold, but after

[9:16] Tuesday, I feel a little like the

[9:18] Jamaican bobsled team.

[9:21] We had a lot of spirit, but

[9:22] unfortunately, we didn't get a lot of

[9:23] medals.

[9:25] >> Carrie, now considered a vice

[9:26] presidential possibility, said he would

[9:28] have no problem supporting any of the

[9:30] other Democratic presidential

[9:32] candidates. Still ahead on tonight's CBS

[9:34] Evening News, private lives, politics,

[9:36] and the press. Are the standards for

[9:39] candidates too high? And a new debate

[9:42] over pain and painkillers. Who decides

[9:44] how much a patient can take?

[9:57] >> Does your washing machine like to dance?

[10:00] When it gets unbalanced, does it strut

[10:01] its stuff instead of cleaning yours?

[10:04] What you need is a strong, silent type.

[10:07] The Frigid Air Horizon 2000. Unlike some

[10:10] washers, it adjusts to unbalanced loads

[10:12] and keeps on running. Frigid Air. Clean

[10:16] clothes without the song and dance. And

[10:18] now get up to $75 cash back on built to

[10:21] last appliances from Frigid Air.

[10:24] >> How could this happen? They've taken the

[10:26] secret.

[10:27] >> Europeans are upset. The Kellogg's

[10:29] Muslik cereal uses their secret recipe.

[10:32] >> This we kept in the family.

[10:33] >> After all, they've been guarding this

[10:35] delicious secret forever. Ah, but this

[10:38] luscious blend of sweet fruit, crunchy

[10:40] nuts, and crisp whole grains was

[10:42] destined to become Kellogg's Muslim.

[10:46] You told

[10:47] >> it wasn't me. I swear.

[10:50] >> Kellogg's Muslan secret for great taste.

[10:56] >> No pain, no gain. That may be a good

[10:58] motto when you're exercising in the gym,

[11:00] but it's bad medicine if you're in the

[11:03] hospital and recovering from surgery. As

[11:05] CBS News health correspondent Magnus

[11:07] reports tonight, the government now says

[11:09] more pain medicine could very well mean

[11:12] a faster recovery.

[11:14] >> Hollywood's fictional account of one

[11:16] woman suffering is a real life nightmare

[11:18] for more than half of all hospitalized

[11:20] patients in the US.

[11:22] >> MY DAUGHTER IS IN PAIN. GIVE HER THE

[11:24] SHOT. YOU UNDERSTAND?

[11:26] >> YOU'RE GOING TO BE I GOT THE SHOT.

[11:29] >> TODAY, THE government urged America's

[11:31] healthcare workers to stop begrudging

[11:33] painkillers to their patients. Too much

[11:36] may be dangerous, but officials warned

[11:38] too little can be just as bad. New

[11:40] guidelines introduced today urge

[11:42] physicians to administer morphine to

[11:44] patients after surgery more regularly.

[11:47] Not just on an as needed basis, which

[11:49] forces the patient to actually complain.

[11:52] Not only can this prevent unnecessary

[11:54] suffering, but it can mean that patients

[11:57] recover faster and leave the hospital

[12:00] earlier.

[12:01] >> Critics of the current system say the

[12:02] problem is fear. Fear on the part of

[12:04] practitioners they'll be sued if

[12:06] something goes wrong and fear that

[12:08] painkillers make addicts of patients.

[12:10] >> They think that they're going to hook

[12:12] the patient on the drug and then they'll

[12:15] rob uh strip shopping centers. They'll

[12:18] hit little old ladies over the head and

[12:19] steal their purses. That's what an

[12:22] addict does. Patients who are taking

[12:25] these medications for pain don't do

[12:26] things like that.

[12:28] >> Instead, what they do is suffer. Of

[12:30] hundreds of letters Dr. Hill received

[12:32] from patients across the country, one

[12:34] woman who'd had five back surgeries

[12:36] wrote, "I'm tired of being made to feel

[12:38] by doctors, pharmacists, and even family

[12:41] that I'm a dopehead and a chronic

[12:43] complainer." The patient is the only one

[12:46] that knows

[12:47] uh the intensity of their pain and what

[12:50] relieves them.

[12:52] >> Soon more patients may be able to

[12:53] relieve their own pain. The new

[12:55] guidelines support using introvenous

[12:57] drips of painkillers which are

[12:59] controlled by the patient. Dan

[13:02] >> thanks. Stay with us here for more CBS

[13:05] news, including a nightmare for many

[13:07] needy Americans who are left to wait for

[13:10] benefits that they're entitled to.

[13:19] This is regular.

[13:21] This is better. This Bayer is regular,

[13:23] but for headaches, Anisonin is better.

[13:26] This is regular. This is better. This

[13:30] Bufferin is regular, but for headaches,

[13:32] Anisonin is better. What makes Anison

[13:34] better? It's simple. Regular Bayer and

[13:36] Bufferin have one ingredient for pain.

[13:38] But Anisonin has two ingredients. An

[13:40] effective pain medicine plus a second

[13:42] ingredient that makes Anison work

[13:44] better. For headache relief, get Anison.

[13:46] Get better.

[13:49] >> What's with the fifth glass?

[13:50] >> It's sunsweet prune juice with prune

[13:52] pulp. Hun.

[13:52] >> Be still my heart.

[13:54] >> It has bits of real prune

[13:56] >> for more fruit flavor.

[13:57] >> Tastes richer.

[13:58] >> No. Costs about the same as regular

[13:59] sunsweet. Sunsweet prune juice with

[14:01] prune pulp.

[14:04] >> Hey, you're home.

[14:07] >> Thank you for a lovely dinner. Aren't

[14:10] you going to ask me in

[14:13] >> for coffee?

[14:14] >> Well,

[14:16] I do have tasters choice.

[14:18] >> Then how can I refuse?

[14:21] >> Savor the sophisticated taste of tasters

[14:24] choice.

[14:26] >> Well,

[14:27] >> just one more cup.

[14:29] >> You uh said that two cups ago.

[14:32] >> You know how much I love your coffee.

[14:35] Then

[14:37] by all means

[14:39] >> take it with you.

[14:48] >> This farming community looks peaceful

[14:50] and serene, but there are kids in the

[14:52] hood trying to be like the big city

[14:53] street gang.

[14:54] >> Here's a handgun that's been taken.

[14:56] >> Ed Bradley's street stories tonight.

[15:00] New government figures indicate that a

[15:02] record number of Americans, almost 13

[15:05] a.5 million, are receiving help from

[15:08] other Americans in the form of

[15:10] government welfare payments to help pay

[15:11] for food, clothing, and shelter. That is

[15:14] an increase of 2 million since the

[15:16] recession began. Nearly a million people

[15:19] who are eligible for other government

[15:22] assistance are still waiting in line.

[15:24] That's for social security help. As

[15:26] Bruce Morton reports, Washington's

[15:28] answer to their plight is to let them

[15:30] wait.

[15:33] David Pritchard, former deputy sheriff

[15:35] and corrections officer, can't work

[15:36] because he has emphyma. He applied for

[15:39] Social Security disability payments. It

[15:41] took almost two years to process his

[15:43] claim while he lived here in his

[15:45] cousin's garage.

[15:46] >> It did have its moments considering

[15:49] there's nothing out there but an

[15:50] electric cord and it floods. Richard

[15:53] says he was surprised by the almost

[15:55] two-year delay.

[15:56] >> I thought if you were at a certain age

[15:59] or disabled that you would just receive

[16:01] your benefits without lawyers, hearings,

[16:04] administrative law judges, denials,

[16:08] case workers, which change regularly.

[16:11] So, I'm surprised

[16:13] >> he shouldn't be. A congressional hearing

[16:15] heard today from Lewis Moore of

[16:16] Baltimore, diabetes, high blood

[16:18] pressure, heart problems, whose

[16:20] disability appeal has been pending since

[16:21] October 1990.

[16:23] >> I have been homeless living at church

[16:26] shelters in Baltimore.

[16:28] >> In fact, the problem keeps getting worse

[16:30] because the Bush administration's budget

[16:32] won't let the Social Security

[16:33] administration hire enough people to

[16:35] process all the claims. The backlog of

[16:37] disability claims reached 800,000 this

[16:40] fiscal year and should reach a,300,000

[16:43] next year.

[16:44] >> By your own admission, you say that the

[16:46] backlog is going to increase 70% of

[16:48] disability cases. Now, that's uh that's

[16:52] not absurd. That's tragic and it's

[16:54] irresponsible.

[16:55] >> Back in Sacramento, old corrections

[16:57] officer Pritchard summed it up.

[16:59] >> There are people who are in need of what

[17:03] they have coming.

[17:05] What you got coming? You got coming.

[17:08] That's prison jargon.

[17:10] >> Prison jargon. Maybe Washington

[17:12] bureaucracy jargon. No. Bruce Morton,

[17:16] CBS News, Washington.

[17:37] In Japan, they buy a remarkable new car

[17:40] that comes with 7,041

[17:42] miles already on it.

[17:47] The Honda Accord from Mary'sville, Ohio.

[17:50] The bestselling Americanmade car in

[17:52] Japan.

[17:56] The medical facts are clear. Tylenol is

[18:00] so gentle on your stomach, doctors even

[18:02] recommend it to their ulcer patients for

[18:04] everyday aches and pains. They know

[18:06] Tylenol can't aggravate an ulcer the

[18:09] same way aspirin can. That's important

[18:12] for all of us to know. And so is this.

[18:15] Hospitals use Tylenol 23 times more than

[18:18] all aspirin brands combined. Tylenol,

[18:22] the pain reliever hospitals use most.

[18:26] like to try total

[18:27] >> officially. I'm a Neutrorain man.

[18:29] >> Hope you're hungry.

[18:30] >> I could eat my whistle.

[18:32] >> Good. You'll have to eat four bowls of

[18:34] neutrorain to get all the vitamins and

[18:36] minerals in one bowl of total.

[18:38] >> Four bowls.

[18:39] >> Yes. Whole grain total has 100% of a day

[18:42] supply of 12 vitamins and minerals.

[18:44] >> Four bowls.

[18:45] >> Takes four bowls of neutrorain for that.

[18:47] >> The call goes to total.

[18:50] >> Is that official?

[18:51] >> Yes.

[18:52] >> Total one bowl 100%.

[18:56] I'm Harry Smith.

[18:56] >> And I'm Paula Lison. Think you can eat

[18:58] and lose weight at the same time?

[19:00] >> We'll tell you which foods can help you

[19:01] tomorrow on CBS This Morning. It's

[19:03] breakfast for your head.

[19:07] Another warning today for Saddam

[19:09] Hussein. Britain said the allies have

[19:11] not ruled out a new military strike to

[19:13] force Saddam to comply with the UN

[19:16] ceasefire deal and give up his weapons

[19:18] of mass destruction. CBS News

[19:20] correspondent Alan Pizzy is inside Iraq

[19:23] and he reports that there are no signs

[19:25] of Saddam's grip on power loosening.

[19:30] A few months ago, the undercurrent in

[19:32] the streets and bizaars of Baghdad was

[19:34] one of rebellion. The Rockies would be

[19:36] killed.