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Eye on the Empire by Alan Bock Antiwar.com December 2, 1999 THE FIRST CASUALTY In war, goes the old saw, the first casualty is truth. That was certainly the case in the Kosovo war/bombardment/whatever, but it is important to remind ourselves and others of the fact. Lies will certainly be told during the next conflict – and who among us can doubt that there will be a next conflict. However, as in the Kosovo war, it might not be possible to prove at the time that certain government statements are lies, or it might be difficult to figure out ...

December 2, 1999 ESSAY / By WILLIAM SAFIRE Tall Man Falls Short Related Articles Op-Ed Columns Archive Forum Join a Discussion on William Safire WASHINGTON -- This was the week Bill Bradley was supposed to make a serious foreign-policy address at an appropriate forum: Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Editors held space on their front pages. Bradley failed to deliver. Instead the challenger to Al Gore tossed off an array of platitudes and anecdotes and then fielded a few friendly questions from students. It was as if he had stepped up to a moment of foreign-policy ...

December 1, 1999 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO FARMERS, STUDENTS FROM THE SEATTLE-TACOMA AREA WHO STUDY TRADE, AND AREA OFFICIALS 12:37 P.M. PST THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary (Seattle, Washington) ___________________________________________________________________________ ______ For Immediate Release December 1, 1999 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO FARMERS, STUDENTS FROM THE SEATTLE-TACOMA AREA WHO STUDY TRADE, AND AREA OFFICIALS Weyerhauser Facility Transit Shed - Terminal 5 The Port of Seattle, Washington 12:37 P.M. PST THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Good afternoon. John, thank you for your introduction and thank you for your example. I want to say a little ...

Demonstrators jammed the streets of Seattle and again blocked delegates from attending sessions of the World Trade Organization on Wednesday. But that doesn’t mean things aren’t happening behind the scenes at the global trade talks. Away from the chaos in the streets, one national delegation is likely to walk away from the meeting sorely disappointed: The People’s Republic of China. As early as two weeks ago, there was talk that China could wrap up its negotiations with other members of the WTO by this week’s meeting here in Seattle. Yet, what seemed to be a sure thing - China’s membership ...

`Education reform'' in Massachusetts is now seven years old. It has cost taxpayers more than $6 billion in increased state spending on public schools. It has enjoyed robust support from virtually the entire Bay State political establishment. It has been championed by the teachers unions. It has been earnestly covered by the press. And it has failed. After all these years of ''reform,'' educational achievement is as pathetic as ever. The latest statewide exam scores confirm it. In nearly every grade and every subject tested, a majority of Massachusetts public school students either did poorly or failed outright. Among ...

November 28, 1997 Al Gore's Arab Moneyman The story of a suspended ambassadorial nomination. by Kenneth R. Timmerman Clinton-Gore hubris knows no bounds. In the thick of the campaign finance hearings on Capitol Hill, the White House has nominated a controversial DNC fundraiser, Edward M. Gabriel, to become United States Ambassador to Morocco, a key country to the Middle East peace process. Gabriel's name was formally submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 8, before the FBI had completed its background investigation into Gabriel's finances, business connections, or personal life. Perhaps the White House was hoping Jesse Helms ...

November 28, 1997 Al Gore's Arab Moneyman The story of a suspended ambassadorial nomination. by Kenneth R. Timmerman Clinton-Gore hubris knows no bounds. In the thick of the campaign finance hearings on Capitol Hill, the White House has nominated a controversial DNC fundraiser, Edward M. Gabriel, to become United States Ambassador to Morocco, a key country to the Middle East peace process. Gabriel's name was formally submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 8, before the FBI had completed its background investigation into Gabriel's finances, business connections, or personal life. Perhaps the White House was hoping Jesse Helms ...

Not homeless Numerous readers e-mailed this column yesterday to take issue with Hillary Rodham Clinton's contention that Christmas celebrates "the birth of a homeless child." In reality, Joseph and Mary had traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem on orders to take part in a Roman census, and there was no room at the inn. Of course, as one reader pointed out, Mrs. Clinton might turn around and use this as an argument for statistical sampling.

Dec. 2 — Psycho-analyzing author Gail Sheehy has an explanation as to why she made a major error in her biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton: The first lady tricked her into it! The writer of “Hillary’s Choice” (which reveals intimate details about Hillary Clinton’s life and marriage) made a pretty egregious error in the biography, and now she’s accusing the first lady’s office of “mousetrapping” her into making the blooper. ONE OF THE pivotal points of the book is how Hillary was supposedly deeply hurt that her father didn’t attend her Wellesley College commencement, at which she spoke. Hillary’s relationship ...

Mr. Trump and I say: Sure, tax the rich AUSTIN -- Comrade Trump's dandy idea -- soak the rich! saith the Donald, that l'il lefty -- has raised The Issue That Dare Not Speak Its Name. To wit, the obscene maldistribution of wealth in this country, also known as the Income Gap. While Comrade Trump proposes a one-time 14 percent tax on everybody with more than $10 million to his name -- thus raising more than enough to pay off the entire national debt in one foul sweep -- Brother Bush is marching militantly in the wrong direction. Gov. Dubya ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 2, 1999 Contact: Joe Giganti (202) 646-5172 WTO VIOLENCE THE RESULT OF BREAKDOWN OF TRUST IN CLINTON ADMINISTRATION AND GOVERNMENT (Washington, D.C.) The last six-and-one-half years of lying, deceit, theft, and treason by the Clinton Administration and, in particular President Clinton, are starting to manifest themselves in civil unrest and anarchy. The state of emergency declared over violent protests in Seattle during the World Trade Organization ("WTO") conference is perhaps regrettably just the beginning of similar incidents, which Judicial Watch does not endorse. This is why Judicial Watch is working so hard to bring the Clinton ...

A dinner party tonight at the Washington, D.C., home of ABC News correspondent John Cochran and his wife, Barbara, has raised some eithics questions at ABC News. The guests of honor are Vice President Gore and wife Tipper. Cochran, who covers the White House, is expected to be ABC's lead reporter on Gore's presidential campaign. Politicians and the reporters who cover them socialize casually all the time in Washington. But there are certain unspoken guidelines. One is to avoid being too close -- or giving the appearance of chumminess -- with a politician, especially during a race. In campaigns, reporters ...

A dinner party tonight at the Washington, D.C., home of ABC News correspondent John Cochran and his wife, Barbara, has raised some eithics questions at ABC News. The guests of honor are Vice President Gore and wife Tipper. Cochran, who covers the White House, is expected to be ABC's lead reporter on Gore's presidential campaign. Politicians and the reporters who cover them socialize casually all the time in Washington. But there are certain unspoken guidelines. One is to avoid being too close -- or giving the appearance of chumminess -- with a politician, especially during a race. In campaigns, reporters ...

LI NK Bush Draws Criticism From Rivals Over His Tax-Cut Plan By Terry M. Neal and Eric Pianin Thursday, December 2, 1999; Page A22 DES MOINES, Dec. 1—Texas Gov. George W. Bush today made his case for across-the-board tax cuts, repeatedly evoking the image of a single mother, waitressing for a living, to typify those who would benefit most from his plan to reduce taxes by more than a trillion dollars over a decade. But the Republican presidential front-runner drew immediate criticism from the political left, which accused him of promoting an excessively expensive plan that would help middle- and ...

NEW YORK, Dec 01 (Reuters Health) -- US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens on Tuesday issued a temporary stay blocking the implementation of late-term abortion bans in Illinois and Wisconsin. The bans were set to go into effect following an October decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh District, which voted 5 - 4 to uphold as constitutional ``partial birth'' abortion laws in the two states. The ruling clashed with an earlier decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which found that similar bans in Nebraska, Iowa and Arkansas were unconstitutional. The conflicting decisions are ...

1) ABC and NBC worried how to "pay" for Bush's tax cut as NBC stressed how it's "even more expensive" than the House plan. CNN's Brooks Jackson fretted over how it doesn't aid those who don't pay income taxes with "no relief at all for millions at the bottom." 2) Clinton delivered the usual partisan rant about "risky tax cuts" that would have destroyed the Social Security surplus. The Washington Post cited the quote as evidence that Clinton avoided "sharp partisan rhetoric" and was "rather dispassionate." 3) Andy Rooney espoused Jesse Ventura-like views of religion, writing in his new book ...

BEIJING (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday the planet's protective ozone layer would start to heal in the next few years, but non-government organizations slammed the world body for not moving faster. The ozone layer, high up in the atmosphere, shields Earth from much of the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. The layer has been thinning for years through the use of damaging man-made chemicals, increasing the number of skin cancers, cataracts and other illnesses. ``The scientists predict that the ozone layer will begin its recovery in the next few years and will heal completely in the middle of ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Lynn Starks' 3-year-old daughter, Whitney, died two years ago after strangling in a bunk bed accident. Since then, the Oklahoma City woman has been pleading with federal regulators for mandatory standards for the familiar fixtures in children's bedrooms. When Whitney's head got caught between the guard rail and mattress support rail on the upper bunk she became one of 57 children killed in bunk bed accidents in the last nine years. Today, the three-member Consumer Product Safety Commission is expected to vote to impose the mandatory standards on the industry that Starks has been seeking. ``We don't ...

Buzz's Internet Magazine: The Current Wisdom The Current Wisdom 12/01/99 It's the 60's all over again in once peaceful Seattle. The left is out protesting against, well, against the left. Bill Clinton helped create the World Trade Organization(WTO) in 1995, and now the left is upset. The WTO basically negotiates trade disputes among nations. The website of the WTO (http://www.wto.org) is filled with statements and press releases about free trade(oh the humanity!) and adjudicating disputes. I found no indications that the WTO was plotting to take over the world. But therein lies the problem. The leftists that have gathered ...

If you're one of the lucky 50 people chosen to purchase one of the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton condos, you probably already know it. Or soon will. Contracts were mailed Monday to those whose new homes will be on the top eight floors of a 17-story Ritz-Carlton Hotel planned for downtown Sarasota. Kevin Daves, president of Core Development Inc., the company developing the hotel, confirmed Wednesday that more than 100 people applied for the condos. "We had an overwhelming response," he said. Daves, who plans to move to Sarasota, is one of the 50. He said that the selection ...