Credo

Driving down a major boulevard in Los Angeles one afternoon in August, 1991, I noticed an unusual number of black men panhandling at service stations, convenience stores and fast-food restaurants, begging mostly white individuals for the opportunity to clean their car windows for small change. I witnessed motorist after motorist hastily roll up their windows or withdraw from the men, all of whom looked as though they hadn't washed in days, maybe weeks.

Two very familiar TV faces, Joan Rivers and actress Vicki Lawrence, get new daytime talks shows this fall, as does familiar radio voice Rush Limbaugh. It's pretty much business as usual, though, for daytime this fall with a mix of game shows and informational series. Here is what's new to daytime, with premiere dates: Broadcast KNBC: "Life Choices With Eric Chapman"--The president and CEO of U.S. Health Corp. hosts a weekly series designed to motivate viewers to live healthier lives.

A raucous, milling crowd gathers in the foyer of the Kremlin's Palace of Congresses, shifting and jostling around a short, chubby-faced man speaking so fast that he sometimes becomes incoherent. For hours on end, his vocal chords seemingly made of steel, he pours out an unending stream of rapid-fire facts, figures, names and opinions, his wildly gesticulating hands stopping only occasionally to mop the perspiration from his face with a wet handkerchief.

OK, smart guy, everyone's waiting. Heard all about the success in Miami, know all about the Super Bowls in Washington, so Bobby Beathard, what seems to be the hang-up in San Diego? It's been more than a whole year since Alex Spanos hired the Smartest Man in the NFL , and 21 games later, the Chargers' 6-15 record under Beathard remains dumbfounding.

Communist Party conservatives have won their battle to put traditionalist jargon back into their party's draft platform--including a pledge to pursue the path blazed by V.I. Lenin and Karl Marx--but the document's guiding light is still President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's reformist thought and goals.

Bulgaria became the first Eastern European and formerly Communist country to adopt a democratic constitution. In a ceremony in Parliament in the capital of Sofia, 309 of the 400 lawmakers signed the document. Critics say the constitution favors the state at the expense of society and individuals. The fact that the Socialist Party, the renamed Communist Party, now has a majority in Parliament also prompted criticism.

For a hint of how the allied ground offensive in the Persian Gulf that many now believe is imminent would proceed, study the campaigns of Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Civil War. That's the advice of Field Manual 100-5, the Army's primary war-fighting manual.

Be brave as you venture into a new country. Give your children more than you've been given. Hong Sik Shin died Wednesday night, trying to live according this immigrant credo, his family said. His last act in life: ringing up $2.41 on the cash register in his Rosemead grocery and liquor store. A gunman, in an apparent robbery attempt, leveled a pistol at Shin and fired once, striking him in the chest.

John Hall, who founded the Cypress Pops Orchestra in 1989, believes that he has his finger on the cultural pulse of Orange County. "I decided to start a pops orchestra because I think it's more conducive to Southern California culture, versus a symphony orchestra," Hall, 47, said recently. "There is too much competition in the Southern California area for entertainment. . . . I give audiences what they want to hear, not what I want to hear. Pops repertory is popular . . .