Free Republic

Even in Towns Hit by NATO, Albanians See Serbs at Fault By IAN FISHER PLANEJE, Yugoslavia -- Syl Shigjeqi stepped into the shower through a hole in the wall of his house, up a ramp of rubble, over the faucet's skeleton, a shaving brush, soap and, somehow, teacups. There is no shortage of destruction in Kosovo, but here it is possible to see what NATO's bombs added to it. "We had everything here," said Shigjeqi, 33, a baker, who came back Wednesday to see what little was left of his home. "Hot water heater. Shower. Washing machine. It was very ...

South Carolina Gains Ground as Pivotal Primary State By DAVID FIRESTONE COLUMBIA, S.C. -- For the next nine months or so, it will not be safe to sneak off to a barbecue lunch at Maurice's Piggy Park here, or to enjoy a quiet game of canasta at a neighborhood center for the elderly in Charleston, or to walk along the sand at Myrtle Beach. At any moment, the orderly pace of life in South Carolina could be interrupted by the heavy tread and blinding smile of a Republican Presidential candidate. It does not get the advance publicity of Iowa or ...

States Are Given New Legal Shield by Supreme Court By LINDA GREENHOUSE WASHINGTON -- Thrusting the doctrine of state sovereignty well beyond existing boundaries, the Supreme Court Wednesday placed sharp new curbs on the ability of Congress to make Federal law binding on the states. In three cases, all decided by identical 5-to-4 votes, the Court made states immune from suits by state employees for violations of Federal labor law; by patent owners for infringement of their patents by state universities and agencies; and by people bringing unfair-competition suits over states' activities in the marketplace. In the labor case, in ...

ESSAY / By WILLIAM SAFIRE The Gorebush Era DETROIT -- Relying on poll numbers as they denounce reliance on pollsters, establishment politicians and the Boys on the Bus have leapfrogged primary elections to decide -- nearly a year and a half before Election Day -- that the contest is between George the Dubyuh and Albert the Gee. How wrong they may be. One of the anointed may make a terrible gaffe under stress or lose his voice or suffer an unexpected malady. The smug linearists may be panicked by a grass-roots emergence of a Fresh Face. Lovers of real contests ...

NATO'S 79-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, which involved thousands of sorties and some of the most sophisticated precision weapons, succeeded in damaging only 13 of the Serbs' 300 battle tanks in Kosovo, despite alliance claims of large-scale destruction of Belgrade's heavy armour. With Nato's Kosovo Force (Kfor) now spread out into every area of the province, troops from all the different nationalities taking part in the peacekeeping operation have been searching for destroyed or damaged tanks and artillery. They have, so far, come across only three crippled tanks. During the air campaign, elaborate claims were made by Nato officials that ...

For Editorial and Discussion use only: Roll Call Should the Purchase Age for Handguns be Raised? No. By : U.S. Representative Bob Barr (GA-7) June 21, 1999 Liberals and conservatives agree on one thing.  We want to end the incoming tide of juvenile violence that threatens to engulf our homes and neighborhoods, and is already casting a pall over our schools.  The key point at which liberals and conservatives part is on the issue of blame.  Liberals blame guns; conservatives blame criminals.  Boil the debate down, and it really is that simple. With the exception of the National Instant Check ...

Investigators in Sicily believe the Mafia is behind an unexplained rise in cases of the animal disease brucellosis among humans. A report in La Repubblica newspaper said Cosa Nostra is marketing a vaccine that prevents cows with the bacterial disease from testing positive. The undetected sick animals are passing the bacterium on to humans by direct contact or through dairy products. The probe began when magistrates noted a steady increase in cases of brucellosis in humans while the frequency of the disease in animals was declining. The number of animals identified with the disease dropped from 4 per cent in ...

What gives? Our new best friends are shooting at us? Nothing from Brokow, Rather and Jennings? I'm shocked, SHOCKED!!!! US troops under fire again in Kosovo VITINA, Yugoslavia, June 24 (AFP)AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE - US troops came under attack and returned fire during a tense and busy patrol overnight Wednesday in southern Kosovo, the second firefight here in just three days. Two Apache helicopters and several road patrols, including one with AFP reporters aboard, received an emergency radio call to provide backup at the shooting scene. It was the peak of a busy night in which four homes were set ablaze ...

1. Thou shalt not trivialize the Ten Commandments by using them for political purposes. 2. Thou shalt not violate the constitutional separation of church and state. 3. Thou shalt not seek to intimidate or embarrass any student whose religious beliefs might be different from those of the majority of students. 4. Thou shalt not seek to establish or promote a state religion even in ways that seem to some as small and benign. 5. Thou shalt not claim that posting religious creeds such as the Ten Commandments will prevent terrible instances of school violence such as the Columbine killings, which ...

Thursday, June 24, 1999     By Dan Margalit Circles close to Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak have been discussing a proposal for the new prime minister to visit Hosni Mubarak before visiting President Bill Clinton. They recall that Yitzhak Rabin, on being elected, first visited Cairo and only afterwards journeyed to Washington.As one in a long line of goodwill gestures by Barak to Middle East leaders, the idea is logical. The Americans, however, do not consider that the relationship between the two countries is as it was in 1992 when Rabin came to power. After the disappointment of Benjamin ...

LEST THERE BE any lingering doubt about the central issue in the 2000 presidential race, a preview of coming attractions was seen last week in Washington. The political stars aligned to bring us gun control from the left and the Ten Commandments from the right as each party proposed a solution to cultural decline. Most Democrats wanted more gun restrictions. They failed to get what President Clinton requested because a rebellious group of Democrats -- led by Rep. John Dingell of Michigan -- revolted. Republicans want restrictions lifted against the Ten Commandments so local school districts can decide whether to ...

WASHINGTON - Almost immediately after the House killed a gun-control bill last week, Democrats proclaimed the vote would help them retake the House in 2000. Some even chanted ''Six Seats!'' on the House floor, referring to the net gain needed for Democratic control. But after a few days' reflection, Representative Patrick Kennedy, who led the ''Six Seats'' cry and is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, cannot name a single Republican who could be defeated because of his or her vote on gun control. ''Individually, no,'' Kennedy said in an interview. ''If they vote the interest of their district, ...

For fair use Hill Republicans Try to Dunk Gore in Some Y2K Hot Water By Michael Grunwald and Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, June 24, 1999; Page A04 Congressional Republicans moved yesterday to force a showdown with President Clinton over the Year 2000 computer bug, hoping to present Vice President Gore with his own Y2K problem. House GOP leaders agreed to accept the Senate's version of a bill to limit liability for damages resulting from Y2K computer failures, clearing the way for its final passage. But Clinton repeated his intention to veto the bill, a move Republicans believe ...

With War Over, Clinton Renews Fight for His Domestic Agenda By JOHN M. BRODER WASHINGTON -- With the conflict in Kosovo more or less behind him and impeachment a fading memory, President Clinton is eager to reassert himself in the familiar realms of domestic policy and politics. White House aides described the president, who returned from a weeklong trip to Europe early Wednesday, as eager to shed the unaccustomed mantle of wartime commander and to devote his full energies over the next several weeks to what he truly loves: verbally punishing Republicans over domestic policy matters like gun control and ...

Paris, Thursday, June 24, 1999Vote Delay Seen Aiding UN in Timor But Some in Territory Say More People and Resources Urgently NeededBy Michael Richardson International Herald TribuneSINGAPORE - By delaying the self-determination vote in East Timor, Secretary-General Kofi Annan hopes to give the United Nations more time to become an effective watchdog in the disputed territory while prevailing on Indonesia to honor its promise to provide security necessary for a free and fair ballot, analysts said Wednesday. But some aid workers warned that without a significant increase in personnel and resources, the UN election monitoring mission to East Timor, ...

For fair use . . . Terms Unlimited By George F. Will Thursday, June 24, 1999; Page A27 In the 1936 campaign, after four years of increased federal spending, President Roosevelt was to campaign in Pittsburgh, where in the 1932 campaign he had called for reduced federal spending. FDR directed his speechwriter, Samuel Rosenman, to "see whether you can prepare a draft giving a good and convincing explanation" of his somersault. Rosenman read the 1932 speech and told FDR only one explanation would do: "The only thing you can say about that 1932 speech is to deny categorically that you ...

Paris, Thursday, June 24, 1999Now It Looks as if Britain Will Be Outside for a Long TimeBy Roy Denman International Herald TribuneLONDON - Something historic changed this month between Britain and Europe. The result will be that Britain will be outside for a long time, perhaps 10 or 20 years, perhaps even longer. This is a major change. Two years ago, when Tony Blair became prime minister, he smilingly assured everyone that Britain would play a leading role in Europe. The days of stonewalling by Margaret Thatcher and John Major had gone. At long last Britain was in the ...

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Bill Bradley, who is challenging Vice President Al Gore for the Democratic presidential nomination, Wednesday likened the National Rifle Association to ``big tobacco'' and called for meaningful legislation to control pistols.On his first visit to Ohio since announcing his candidacy in January, the former senator from New Jersey also said he would not accept a spot on the ticket as vice president and that the U.S. economy will be an important issue in the election. Bradley said he is running for the office of president and would not accept the number two spot. ``There are number one ...

Subject: Winning the "Lottery" ---------- Bros, Well, I'm finally back in England after being TDY since the end of January, at least for two weeks anyway. Got sent direct to Cervia AB, Italy, from Operation Northern Watch in Trukey after being at the Incirlik AB for over 7 weeks ("Luv the 'Lik" no 'mo ! ). My house and yard is a total mess! There doesn't seem to be an end in sight in the Kosovo situation, but the war is over for me for a while. Some of you probably already heard through the grapevine about what happened to ...

CIA Analyst Raised Alert On China's Embassy Concerns Unheeded Before Belgrade Attack By Vernon Loeb and Steven Mufson Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, June 24, 1999; Page A01 A mid-level intelligence officer assigned to the CIA persistently questioned the targeting of a building that turned out to be the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, but his concerns went unheeded inside the spy agency and at the U.S. military's European Command, a senior U.S. intelligence official said yesterday. "I'm not sure that's the right building," the senior official quoted the analyst as saying. Although NATO war planners say they meant to strike ...