A partial shutdown of the government enters its third week. The House approvesa bill that would return 280 thousand federal workers to their jobs. Congress and the White House still have work to do to balance the budget. In a surprise move,House Speaker Newt Gingrich throws his support behind the plan.

The U.S Army completes a ribbon pontoon bridge and now NATO troops can cross over the flooded Sava Riverinto Bosnia from Croatia – to beginenforcing the Dayton, Ohio peaceaccord. The temporary bridge spansmore than 3 football fields.

The FDA approves a new therapy that useslight to destroy cancerous throat tumors sobig, that even swallowing is difficult. Photofrin is the first of a new type of cancertreatment called photodynamic therapy, inwhich patients get a drug to make their tumorslight sensitive. The light then kills cancer cells.One drawback – patients are susceptible tosevere sunburns for 30 days. Up until now,lasers would chip-away at the tumor, butthroat tumors are known to grow large in size, even lasers became useless.

German authorities order CompuServe to shutdown access to more than 200 Internetnewsgroups deemed indecent and offensive. It’s the first case involving government censorship of a commercial online service. CompuServe reluctantlycomplies. Some of the newsgroups in question contain child pornography andother sexually explicit materials. The cutoff directly affects all 4 millionCompuServe subs in the U.S. and 146 other countries. Some fear the action is a precedent.

Best selling books -Politically Correct Holiday Stories – James Finn-Garner…The Christmas Box – Richard Paul Evans…Five days In Paris – Danielle Steel…The Horse Whisperer – Nicholas Evans
More Books  -
The Tiger In The Grass – Harriet Doerr…The Lost World – Michael Crichton…In The Cut – Susanna Moore…The Road Ahead – Bill Gates…Charles Kuralt’s America – Charles Kuralt… The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success – Deepak Chopra…Miss America – Howard Stern…Lincoln – David Herbert Donald…Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman

Passing – singer/actor Dean Martin (Dino Paul Crocetti) (78) dies at his Beverly Hills Home of acute respiratory failure. Known as the “chief-deputy” to the chairman of the board in Sinatra’s “Rat Pack,” Martin started out as a solo singerin records and radio. (He did a 15-minute late-afternoon show on WMCA in NewYork City in the late 40′s.) Teaming up with Jerry Lewis, the pair wasunstoppable in movies and as a night-club act from 1946-1956. As a solo artist,Martin scored on the charts during this period with huge hits on Capitol Records -hits like “Return To Me,” “That’s Amore,” “Memories Are Made of This” and “Volare.” After the pair split up in 1956, Martin continued his recording and moviecareer, often appearing in dramas such as “The Young Lions” in 1958, “Some Came Running” in 1959 and “Rio Bravo” in 1959. The late 50′s and early 60′s saw Martin team with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and JoeyBishop for several movies and nightclub appearances (esp in Las Vegas) as “The Rat Pack.” In the middle of the Rock n Roll British invasion – he scored a #1record with “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime” and other top-10 records during the mid-60′s “The Dean Martin” variety show, was one of the top television shows through the 60′s and into the 70′s.

Some Dean Martin quotes through the years- “Two of the greatest turnin’ points in my career were, first, meetin’ Jerry Lewis. Second, leaving Jerry Lewis. I became a realactor because of these two things.” About acting – “And if any actor tells you it’s tough, tell ‘em they ‘re full of beans … To become half a success in what you do, you have to enjoy it or else you become a griper. The good Lord gave me a talent and I’ll use it until I run dry.” “I like people. I love what I am doing and Ithink people can tell that. You know more men want to see me than girls. You know why? I never sing to the girl. I figure that some guy is paying the bill and here I am singing to his girl, then he’s gong to get threatened. I don’t flirt with the girls like Wayne Newton does. I sing over their heads”

Martin’s second wife – onetime Orange Bowl queen Jeanne Beigger – “I married him knowing nothing about him. I divorced him 23 years later and I still know nothing about him.” Condolences – Frank Sinatra – “Dean was my brother -not through blood but through choice. Our friendship has traveled down many roads over many years and therewill always be a special place in my heart and soul forDean. He has been like the air I breathe, always there, always close by.” Jerry Lewis, according to his manager Joe Stabile is “completely shattered and grief stricken.”

Said comedian Alan King: “I am going to have a drink right now for him.”Goodbye Dino – Jerry Lewis, closing his tributeto his longtime partner said – “Rest well and don’t forget to short-sheet my bed when I get there.” Also paying tributes to the superstar at his funeral – Shirley MacLaine andRosemary Clooney. Other attendees included Barbara Sinatra (Frank couldn’t make it and was said to be too overwrought to attend), Angie Dickinson, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Robert Stack, Tony Danza, Edie Adams and Cyd Charisse. Las Vegas hotels including the Sands, Stardust and Flamingo dimmedtheir lights on Thursday evening for 10 minutes, in Martin’s memory.

Tech news -

The first wiretap on the Internet leads to three arrests on charges of illegallyselling and manufacturing electronic devices and cellular telephone cloning.Secret Service Agent Brian Gimlett tells a news conference that the governmentfollowed the alleged mastermind of the operation – Bernhard Bowitz, on theInternet, documenting his worldwide equipment sales.

Television News -

Turner Broadcasting System Inc launches its eighth cable network this week – the CNNfn business channel. Says Lou Dobbs, CNNexecutive vice president and veteran business journalist – “We’re not going to be pretentious, but aim to be entertaining and fun, presenting eventhe absurdities of business. There is no monolithic market authority that has asole handle on the truth and we won’t pretend there is. We’ ll have psychics and astrologers as well as hard empiricalists. We’re  not trying to be hip, we’re trying to be human.” Its rival, CNBC, targets hard-core investors with serious talkingheads. CNBC is doing well financially. Advertising revenue has swelled to $110million this year – up from $40 million in 1993. The channel will make $80 million in profit for its parent – General Electric Company.

Television ratings -Monday Night Football – 17/8 ER – 17.1 Seinfeld – 16.8 Frasier – 16.6 Caroline in the City -14.6 NYPD Blue – 14.5 Friends – 14.4 Coach – 14.2 Home Improvement -13.6 Grace Under Fire - 13.1 Single Guy – 12.7 Wings – 12.7 The John Larroquette Show – 12.6 NewsRadio – 12.5 Movie – Eye of the Stalker – 12.0 Roseanne – 11.5 Dateline NBC (Tues) – 11.3 PrimeTime Live – 11.0 Hudson Street – 10.8 Family Matters – 10.5 20/20 – 10.5 Ellen – 10.2 The Naked Truth – 10.1 Kathie Lee/Home For Christmas – 10.0 Law & Order – 9.9

Saturday Night television -CBS – Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, Touched By An Angel, Walker, Texas Ranger   NBC – Movie (My Girl), JAG   ABC – The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Maybe This Time, Movie   Fox – Cops, Cops, America’s Most Wanted  A&E – At the Improve Biography, Movie(Monty Python &The Holy Grail) Comedy Central – Stand-Up, Offisides, Comics Kill, Dr Katz,The Critic, Ben Stiller, Exit 57 Sci-Fi Channel – Max Headroom, Twilight Zone, Tales of theDarkside, Movie(Nightflyers) TNN – Backstage, Grand Ole Opry, Statler Brothers, Ralph Emery on the Record with Mel Tillis, Charlie Daniels Talent Roundup

A& E Biography – Dean Martin

Top Albums This Week In 1995 -

Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness -Smashing Pumpkins

Something To Remember – Madonna

 R. Kelly – R. Kelly

Liquid Swords – Genius/GZA

Waiting to Exhale – Soundtrack

Tigerlily – Natalie Merchant

Dogg Food – The Dogg Pound
Jagged Little Pill – Alanes Morissette

Alice In Chains – Alice in Chains

Oscar & Steve – Mandy Patinkin

Insomniac – Green Day

Fresh Horses – Garth Brooks

Presidents of the USA – Presidents of the USA

Four – Blues Traveler

Fresh Horses – Garth Brooks

Home – Deep Blue Something

Sixteen Stone – Bush

More Albums This Week -

The Ghost of Tom Joad -Bruce Springsteen…Nirror Ball – Neil Young…To Bring You My Love – PJ…HarveyPost – Bjork…Elastica – Elastica

Top Albums In 1995

Cracked Rear View – Hootie &The Blowfish

CrazySexyCool – TLC

Jagged Little Pill – AlanisMorissette

The Hits – Garth Brooks

Waiting To Exhale – soundtrack

Anthology 1 – The Beatles

Top Videos for 1995

The Lion King

Forrest Gump

Cinderella

Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs

The Mask

The Santa Clause

Angels In The Outfield

SpeedCasper

The Barney Series
At the movies this week in 1995 -

Toy Story

Waiting To Exhale – Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett

Jumanji – Robin Williams

Heat – Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro

Father of the Bride Part II – Steve Martin, Diane Keaton

 Grumpier Old Men – Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau

 Sudden Death – Jean-Claude Van Damme

 Sabrina – Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond

Cutthroat Island – Geena Davis, Matthew Modine

An American President – Michael Douglas, AnnetteBening

Casino – Robert DeNiro, Sharon Stone

Tom and Huck – Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Brad Renfro

Sense & Sensibility – Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant

Dracula Dead and Loving – Leslie Nielson

Week of December 25, 1995 as compiled by Gary West for www.mrpopculture.com and www.mrpophistory.com