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WASHINGTON –– The chief federal judge in the District of Columbia said changes in the way cases are assigned may be needed in light of questions about her assignment of two criminal cases against friends of President Clinton to judges he appointed. The acknowledgment by U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson came as an appeals court judge dismissed a complaint against Johnson and the eight other Democratic district court judges. The appeals court released the Nov. 17 decision Friday. In confidential court papers, Johnson wrote to appeals court judge Stephen Williams that perhaps "our special assignment system needs to ...

Administration OKs (Another) Supercomputer Sale to China The Clinton administration has approved export of an IBM supercomputer intended for China’s Meteorological Administration. Critics of the deal say Beijing could use it to improve the targeting of its nuclear warheads. (ABCNEWS.com/ Magellan Geographix) ABCNEWS.com Dec. 3 — The Clinton administration may soon allow China to buy an immensely powerful IBM computer that experts say Beijing could use to improve the targeting of its nuclear warheads. Sources tell ABCNEWS.com administration officials recently approved an unprecedented proposal to allow China to import an IBM RS/6000 SP supercomputer with an estimated processing speed of ...

        Why Al 'Internet' Gore Can't Afford to Play DirtyThe veep throws some mud at Bradley over health care. He needs to be careful that it isn't thrown back — with interestThursday, while the GOP presidential candidates gathered in New Hampshire to engage in debate and argue about the size of tax breaks, a less kind, considerably less gentle Democratic race was beginning to show its face. Campaigning in Iowa, Al Gore addressed a group of senior citizens, and warned them that Bill Bradley's sweeping health care reforms would "deny care to millions." Bradley, in an ...

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- In a fractious follow-up to the first major Republican presidential debate, Steve Forbes raised questions Friday about George W. Bush's refusal to discuss his youthful indiscretions. Bush's campaign called the rival a ``desperate candidate.'' With two more debates scheduled this month, the top three GOP campaigns intensified efforts to undermine their opponents -- even as they all claimed to be running positive campaigns. Arizona Sen. John McCain announced that more than a dozen supporters of the Texas governor had switched to his campaign after Thursday night's nationally televised debate -- the first session attended by ...

"Speaking of leftist agendas, bad news for the gun-control commissars. According to the Centers for Disease Control, gun deaths dropped 21% between 1993 and 1997 to the lowest level in more than 30 years. Firearm-related injuries fell 41%. The total number of fatalities dropped to 32,436 in 1997 (more than half of them suicides). The falling gun death rate correlates with the falling rate of violent crime."And speaking of disease control, experts now estimate that 98,000 Americans die from medical 'mistakes' every year in hospitals alone. That makes hospital errors the eighth leading cause of death, ahead of traffic accidents, ...

What a load of power whining around the World Trade Organization mess in Seattle. PW is when those with power get to sound like victims."talks may get hijacked" (National Post) and "Canadians shouldn't allow themselves to be browbeaten by anti-trade forces" (Globe and Mail). The corporations, governments and WTO bureaucrats sounded like they'd be lucky to survive. This week, Seattle's police joined the power whining -- though they had all the weapons, initiated all the violence (against people, that is, not windows), and there was no counterviolence. "Police take back streets," headlined the National Post, just like abused women try ...

Atlanta teacher charged with battery Gita M. Smith - Staff Friday • December 3 A second-grade teacher at Atlanta's Adamsville Elementary School has been charged with simple battery after allegedly raising welts on a pupil's arm with a rubber band. Marian E. Anderson, 53, has returned to the classroom after the Monday incident that led to the charge. Her court date is Dec. 15, said Atlanta police spokesman John Quigley. A school detective questioned Cartez Harris, 7, and his classmates Tuesday. Eleven children told police Anderson had repeatedly "popped" the rubber band on the boy's forearm until he cried, then ...

PALO ALTO, Calif. — A Stanford University researcher who had been an official in China's missile program has been sentenced to 15 years in a Chinese prison after being convicted of leaking state secrets, Stanford officials said on Friday. Stanford President Gerhard Casper said the school learned this week that Hua Di, 63, a research associate at the school's Center for International Security and Cooperation, was convicted by a Chinese court of leaking state secrets and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The researcher was arrested a year ago in Beijing while on his first visit to his homeland ...

Reuters · UPI Israel says Moslems damaging ruins on holy site Updated 11:33 AM ET December 3, 1999 By Megan Goldin JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Tensions between Israeli and Muslim religious leaders in Jerusalem sharpened Friday over construction work by Muslims at the city's most sensitive religious site. Moshe Debi, a spokesman for Israeli Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, accused the Waqf or Muslim religious trust of damaging remains on the site, known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary). The Waqf last week re-opened an entrance to a chamber under the esplanade, ...

Only about 50 percent of Russia's air traffic control systems are safe from Y2K computer problems, a top aviation official said Friday, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Russia has lagged far behind Western countries in checking safety equipment and infrastructure for Y2K compliance. But officials in many spheres claim to have ensured nothing will go wrong, in part because Russia is less computer-dependent than more developed countries. Some U.S. and other international flight experts have said Russia's air traffic control systems may not be ready in time. But Vladimir Andreyev, head of Russia's Federal Air Transport Service, said the ...

If the sixties were the age of the war reporter and the seventies the age of the investigative reporter, then the late nineties may go down in history as the age of the blowjob reporter. Well, OK, that's an exaggeration. But when it comes to blowjob reporting, exaggeration is OK. So is almost everything else. To hell with evidence, objectivity and all that stuff they teach in journalism school. Ever since the word "Lewinsky" entered the lexicon, nothing makes an editor's pencil perk up quite so much as the word "oral" next to the word "sex." http://www.thenation.com/issue/991220/1220alterman.shtml

Businesses and individuals who think they have the Y2K bug beat may have a new worry: computer viruses triggered by the new year. Anti-virus experts Friday said they have detected a new virus that could make computers appear to have a Y2K problem Jan. 1. When the computer restarts, the virus tries to erase data. At least four other Y2K-related viruses are known to exist. Two of them are also timed for the new year, and two activate right away and spread by posing as Microsoft programs for fixing Y2K problems or programs that count down to the new year. ...

Sergeant sentenced to 5 years for abuse By Dan Lewerenz, Associated Press, 12/03/99 COLUMBIA, S.C. - A Fort Jackson drill sergeant was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison and dishonorably discharged for groping or mistreating 20 women under his command at the Army's largest basic training center. First Sergeant Yoosuf Asad portrayed himself as someone who could help women with the physical ailments and challenges of basic training. The women in his training group nicknamed him ''Dr. Asad'' because of his groping. ''He made it seem like that was his job, that you could go to him for anything, ...

WTO Protesters Refuse to Give Names to Police Judge Orders Lawyers Be Allowed to Meet With Clients Dec. 3, 1999 SEATTLE (AP) -- Continuing their protest, many of the demonstrators arrested this week at the World Trade Organization conference have refused to divulge their names to law officers. That has left them sitting in crowded cells at the King County Jail without legal counsel because they have yet to be officially booked. King County Superior Court Judge Michael Spearman issued an emergency order Thursday requiring authorities to give defense attorneys access to protesters, except for those who are "physically uncooperative" ...

Defense lawyers know that when the truth hurts their client and their case, there are always options. A popular one is defaming the client’s victim. This often entails making irrelevant and unfounded attacks on the character and reputation of victims (or witnesses) in order to distract jurors from the facts of the case. This practice is reprehensible, and aggressive steps are needed to keep this practice out of the courtroom. When the strategy succeeds -- and the defense lawyer "wins" the case -- victims suffer a miscarriage of justice because a confused jury ignores the evidence or willfully refuses ...

I've just returned from a breakfast meeting with Dr. Keyes and the rest of the senior staff of the campaign. We have a personal request of Free Republic. We are looking at the coverage of the debate in newspapers and radio talk shows. The request is this: In your local newspapers, in the coverage of last night's debate, is Dr. Keyes name mentioned? If it is, in what context? If you guys would be so kind as to post the information here, the NAME of the newspaper, the TITLE of the article and contact information (phone number) for the newspaper, ...

For those interested in returning the power of the people to control their own money instead of relying on the 'graciousness' of Washington to allow them to keep a portion of it, I have the following recommendations: 1) vote for Alan Keyes for president. In my opinion, he seems to be the only candidate who has bothered reading the Constitution, knows of our country's history and is willing to follow the examples. 2) There are two online petitions at e-thepeople.com that call for the repeal of the 16th amendment and the end of the income tax. I recommend that anyone ...

Boston Globe Online Print it! THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING Salmon safeguard called overkill in Maine By Scott Allen, Globe Staff, 12/03/99 ccusing the Clinton administration of abusing the Endangered Species Act and betraying his state, Maine Governor Angus King vowed yesterday to oppose federal efforts to protect the last ''wild'' Atlantic salmon in the United States, arguing that the few remaining fish that spawn in Maine rivers are neither endangered nor even a species. King's contentious remarks signal a new round in what is already one of the most heated wildlife battles in New England. ...

WASHINGTON –– The chief federal judge in the District of Columbia said changes in the way cases are assigned may be needed in light of questions about her assignment of two criminal cases against friends of President Clinton to judges he appointed. The acknowledgment by U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson came as an appeals court judge dismissed a complaint against Johnson and the eight other Democratic district court judges. The appeals court released the Nov. 17 decision Friday. In confidential court papers, Johnson wrote to appeals court judge Stephen Williams that perhaps "our special assignment system needs to be ...

Anti-Slavery Group, Students Call on Professors to Divest from 'Slave Stock' at State House Rally BOSTON, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- In a rally on the steps of the Massachusetts State House, college students from across New England today demanded that their professors stop their pension funds from supporting slave raids. According to the latest SEC filings, TIAA-CREF, the pension fund of teachers and other university employees, holds over 300,000 shares in Talisman Energy, an oil company charged with supporting slavery and genocide in the North African country of Sudan. As the Washington Post stated in a recent editorial, Western corporations ...