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Political Notebook .c The Associated Press AMES, Iowa (AP) - Publisher Steve Forbes is accusing Texas Gov. George W. Bush of relying on money from special interests groups to win the Iowa Republican straw poll Aug. 14. Forbes swung though a county GOP barbecue to mingle with activists Saturday, but his mind was clearly on Bush. A memo leaked last week showed Bush is seeking to line up 50 prominent interest groups to commit to delivering backers to the straw poll, and that drew Forbes' ire. The approximately 12,000 activists who show up for the poll will not pick any ...

BITTER BIBI BLASTS BARAK ON SYRIA By URI DAN JERUSALEM BENJAMIN Netanyahu had only bitter words for Ehud Barak, the man who crushed him in Israel's elections on May 17 and will succeed him as prime minister: "All Ehud dreams of is enjoying a meal of humus in Damascus - so he can give back the Golan Heights to the Syrian dictator and win the Nobel Peace Prize." Netanyahu made this acidic comment recently to a close confidant who visited him in his office, which he will continue to occupy until Barak takes over - by July 9 at ...

IF IT'S nearing a presidential election year, the talk in Washington must be about Bob Woodward's latest book. Some things you can count on. But this scandalette doesn't have as much to do with what's in this tell-little book as what's on it. Namely, a picture of the five post-Watergate presidents taken while Messrs. Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton were attending the funeral of Mr. Watergate himself, Richard Nixon. But where are the first ladies? They've been--how do you put this delicately?--cut. Erased. Removed. Like outdated Soviet leaders atop Lenin's Tomb at an old May Day parade whose presence ...

FLAG-BURNING AND ITS DISCONTENTS The House of Representatives has again approved a constitutional amendment to bar desecration of the American flag. Flag-burning is a noxious gesture of America-hatred and a provocation to all those who love this country and are properly angered at those within it who seek to undermine its institutions and its spirit.But the Constitution of the United States should not be amended to prevent it. Such amendments are not the proper remedy whenever the Supreme Court renders a decision that a majority of Americans deem unwise - as happened in 1989 when the court ruled that ...

2121 GMT, 990626 Yugoslavia/Hungary/NATO – The Vilaggazdasag economic paper reports that Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban was instrumental in persuading President Clinton to abandon plans of a 200,000 soldier ground invasion of Kosovo in April. The paper quoted unnamed sources saying, "a subsequent lengthy telephone conversation between Orban and Clinton greatly contributed to the Alliance’s dropping of plans to use Hungarian territory" for that purpose. Orban would not confirm or deny the report on June 25, but said, "It happened more than once that I put forward deterring views at internal (NATO) political and military talks. 2110 GMT, 990626 Yugoslavia – ...

Republican Governors Responsible for Tax Reduction, Michigan's Engler Says By Brian Reid Republican Governors Responsible for Tax Reduction, Engler Says Washington, June 26 (Bloomberg) -- The number of days that the average American worker must work to pay for government -- both taxes and the cost of government regulation -- fell to 173 days in 1999, said John Engler, Michigan governor, in the Republican party's weekly radio address. The 173rd day of 1999, which fell last Tuesday, was dubbed the ``cost of government day,'' by Engler, who said Americans reached the milepost 11 days earlier than in 1995. Engler credited ...

For fair use Press Aide for Campaign Is Appointed by First Lady By ADAM NAGOURNEY n the verge of starting a summer of nearly nonstop travel across New York State, Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that she had hired a press secretary for her Senate exploratory committee. It is her first high-profile campaign appointment and a clear sign that Mrs. Clinton is shifting her attention from being First Lady to laying the foundation for a prospective Senate race. Mrs. Clinton selected Howard Wolfson, 32, who is now the chief of staff to Representative Nita M. Lowey, who had planned to ...

For fair use Hillary Clinton Takes Political Risk on Bankruptcy Legislation By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE ASHINGTON -- Since the collapse of her health care project in 1994, Hillary Rodham Clinton has seemed to retreat from the gladiator pit of high-profile policy issues, devoting herself instead to less visible topics like foster care and adoption. But for more than a year, Mrs. Clinton has been engaged behind the scenes on a legislative issue -- consumer bankruptcy -- that could prove politically tricky for other Democrats and for her own political ambitions. The high-powered banking and credit card industries, concentrated in New ...

For fair use PEACEKEEPING Ensnared in Logistics, U.N. Lags in Asserting Control By CARLOTTA GALL RISTINA, Yugoslavia -- The lines of people standing outside office buildings in Kosovo's capital show where they think the power lies. Saturday, dozens of young people were filling out forms applying for jobs at the new headquarters of the United Nations mission here. Another line of people waited outside the central NATO military police station to report theft or damage to their property over the last few months. By contrast, the Serbian Government building, once the bastion of local power, stands almost deserted, its windows ...

For fair use Four Countries Alive and Ailing in the Balkans By JOHN TAGLIABUE OME -- A decade after the old Yugoslavia began to break up, President Clinton paid a visit to the thriving, peaceful land of Slovenia a week ago, followed quickly by a visit to bedraggled Albanian refugees waiting to return to Kosovo. The contrast could not have been greater, and the quick succession of Balkan photo-ops hinted at how differently the various parts of what once was Yugoslavia are faring these days. One lesson was hard to miss: The earlier these countries broke off from Belgrade -- ...

The US organization for the protection of human rights "Human Rights Watch" announced that it has evidence on war crimes committed by ethnic Albanian Kossovo Liberation Army, KLA, members against the province's Serb and Gypsy population. In the report issued by the organization it is mentioned that ethnic Albanian rebels systematically killed, raped and tortured the Slav-speaking population to force them leave Kossovo. It should be noted that representatives of the organization have held investigations in the regions of Urahovac, Prizren and Pec and have facts at their disposal on the participation of KLA rebels in the murder of 5 ...

Lyrics Copyright 1999, Doug from Upland. Not for commercial use without permission of the author. Twelve years ago she received the news…that her son had lost his life And it felt just like her heart had been… cut out…by a knife Then she wondered how she ever could go on Ever since her great tragedy She's been on a lonely quest Cause her son's life had such meaning…yes To her he was the best Linda Ives has vowed that justice will prevail And so hard is her fight…against the conspiracy They have put many obstacles in her way It ...

An Italian soldier and 14 civilians were killed in Kossovo in the last 24 hours, according to a statement issued by NATO. The alliance appears hesitant to proceed with setting a price on Milosevic's head. NATO secretary-general Javier Solana stated that the Yugoslav president must be brought to the International Court of Justice in The Hague stressing, however, that the alliance can not arrest him on Serb territory. not for commercial use

For fair use EDITORIAL OBSERVER George W. Bush Crams for the White House By STEPHEN R. WEISMAN hen meeting with his policy experts, many of them alumni of his father's Presidency, George W. Bush is said to project an air of confidence if not entitlement. "I am going to be the next President," he declares, according to one adviser. "I need your help, not to become President, but to be a good President." By all accounts, the Texas Governor who studied at Yale and Harvard is not only running hard for the White House. He is also cramming for it ...

HOPING to salvage his tattered presidency from the stain of scandal and impeachment, President Bill Clinton is planning a book on how to improve race relations, one of America's most sensitive issues. As with all Clinton's previous initiatives on race, however, the project, supervised by a team of ghost writers and consultants, has become bogged down by disagreement among White House aides over its message. Two deadlines for the manuscript, which was originally due in April, have been missed and the chief consultant on the project has departed in despair. White House aides say Clinton - whose sensitivity to discrimination ...

Original PostWASHINGTON — Victor Reis, the assistant Secretary of Energy for Defense Programs, resigned his office effective July 30, an agency spokeswoman said Saturday. "He did resign, yes,'' said the DOE spokeswoman, who asked to remain unidentified. Reis, who oversees U.S. nuclear weapons development, is one of the officials at the center of the swelling controversy involving allegations that China stole American nuclear secrets. He submitted his resignation to President Clinton, who appointed him in 1993, the spokeswoman said. The Washington Post Saturday quoted some U.S. officials as saying Reis resigned because of disagreements with Energy Secretary Bill Richardson over ...

Uncle Sam Has All Your Numbers Huge Net for Deadbeat Dads Catches Privacy Criticism By Robert O'Harrow Jr. Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 27, 1999 As part of a new and aggressive effort to track down parents who owe child support, the federal government has created a vast computerized data-monitoring system that includes all individuals with new jobs and the names, addresses, Social Security numbers and wages of nearly every working adult in the United States.  Government agencies have long gathered personal information for specific reasons, such as collecting taxes. But never before have federal officials had the ...

Update: June 25, 1999 Justice is closer Any hope of justice for Kevin and Don died in Linda Ives on November 29, 1995, when the FBI claimed that their investigation turned up “no evidence that a crime had even been committed.” Her optimism, however, was restored when the “train deaths” case found new life on the internet. As the story of a bipartisan cover-up unfolded on our website, supporters throughout the internet took action on Linda’s behalf via phone calls, e-mails, faxes and letters, and changes began to take place - Dan Harmon went to prison, I.C.Smith was ousted, ...

June 27, 1999 THE DAMAGE In the Rubble That Was Kosovo, Damage Tally Has Barely Begun By IAN FISHER PEC, Yugoslavia -- Rexhina Gashi, a 68-year-old Albanian woman too stubborn to leave her block, says she stood on her balcony and for two months watched the Serbs tear her city apart. First came the looting. On her street, a once-graceful row of houses and shops with wooden roofs that runs from the main square here to a white mosque, it was mostly soldiers and their girlfriends. But some Serbian civilians drove up with cars, she said, cramming their trunks full. ...

No Flames, I'm going to fry in hell anyway for posting this. NY Times June 26, 1999 Pope Defends Clergy Celibacy Order Filed at 1:52 p.m. EDT By The Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope John Paul II expressed solidarity with victims of sexual abuse by clergy Saturday, but insisted such scandals are no reason to drop celibacy requirements for priests. The pope's mention of sexual abuse came during a meeting with bishops from Ireland, a predominantly Catholic nation which has been rocked by pedophilia scandals involving clergy. The case of a pedophile priest in Ireland earlier this ...