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December 11, 1999 Russian Bug Set Artfully in Woodwork, U.S. Concedes By PHILIP SHENON WASHINGTON -- Russian spies managed to place a sophisticated eavesdropping device in a conference room on the executive floor of the State Department by removing a piece of wall molding and replacing it with a nearly identical piece with the electronic bug embedded inside, government officials said Friday. Describing the installation of an eavesdropping device in the headquarters of American diplomacy as a serious breach of national security, investigators said they could not help but marvel at the Russians' methods and audacity. With remarkable skill, the ...

MIDI - CAMP GRENADA Scumbag killer…yo, Mumia…in your pants you’re…gonna pee-a You’ll meet Sparky…he’s electric…of your writing he cares not that it’s eclectic In your cause your…fans are mired…but 5 bullets…you had fired It’s the truth they…cannot handle…for the officer they never held a candle By the liberals…you’re admired…they think every-…one conspired By your tactics…they’re deluded…they should join you and should all be executed You fooled Whoopi…you fooled Woody…each of them is…quite a goodie They exhibit…fuzzy thinking…most positions that they take are really stinking With the crime that you committed…your own life you have forfeited It’s your choice…and it’s ...

December 11, 1999 THE STRATEGIES: Prosecution [Of Lee Case] Will Mean Tug of War on Secrets By RAYMOND BONNER WASHINGTON -- Before deciding to go ahead with Friday's indictment of Wen Ho Lee, senior law enforcement and intelligence officials of the Clinton administration concluded that the necessity of a prosecution outweighed any damage to national security that might result from the release of classified information. That judgment will be seriously challenged, as the case unfolds over the coming weeks and months. According to the government, Lee had access to the most sensitive nuclear weapons data possessed by the United States, ...

December 11, 1999 THE RESPONSE: Lee's Defenders Say the Scientist Is a Victim of a Witch Hunt Against China By DAVID STOUT WASHINGTON -- Lawyers for Wen Ho Lee reacted to his indictment on Friday with anger and dismay, while a former high-ranking government lawyer said the charges arose at least partly because Dr. Lee is of Chinese descent and the current political climate "demonizes China." "We look forward to proving Dr. Lee's innocence and his being exonerated of all charges," the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers said in a statement. The firm said the government had spurned repeated ...

December 11, 1999 Safety Board Retains Control of EgyptAir Case By MATTHEW L. WALD WASHINGTON -- After appearing eager last month to turn over the investigation of the Egypt Air crash to the F.B.I., the National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday that it would hold on to the case for at least another month and do a thorough investigation. Investigators said this was partly because they were looking for a cockpit instrument that could confirm or refute their theory that a co-pilot deliberately crashed the jet. Investigators still believe that the crash, which killed all 217 people aboard the ...

December 11, 1999 No Accord on Island Bombing as Administration and Puerto Rico Point Fingers By ELIZABETH BECKER WASHINGTON -- Hopes for settling the dispute over bombing exercises on the island of Vieques appeared to dwindle today, as senior administration officials and the governor of Puerto Rico differed over whether they had actually agreed on the future of a bombing range there and, if so, what exactly they had agreed to. White House and Pentagon officials complained that the governor had reneged on a promise to endorse President Clinton's proposals, while the governor said the president had announced a plan ...

December 11, 1999 THE OVERVIEW: Nuclear Weapons Engineer Indicted in Removal of Data By DAVID JOHNSTON and JAMES RISEN WASHINGTON -- A federal grand jury in New Mexico indicted a nuclear weapons engineer on Friday on 59 counts of illegally removing highly classified design, construction and testing data from the Los Alamos weapons laboratory where he was employed. The indictment charged that the engineer, Wen Ho Lee, had violated the Atomic Energy Act and Foreign Espionage Act, assembling collections of 19 computer files that contained some of the country's most closely held nuclear weapons secrets. Dr. Lee, who has been ...

ER 86 87, you express a number of my sentiments. I turned my TV OFF on July 4th and have not watched it since. (The volume of reading around here, immediately shot up.) Your comments reminded me of my letter to The Honorable Henry Hyde, as the moment of the Senate vote neared, during "President" Clinton's Senate Impeachment Trial, last winter: Dear Mr. Hyde, What do Thomas Jefferson and Henry Ford have in common? They were both authors of major works. They brought together many pieces, which surrounded them in their respective areas of interest, for Jefferson: politics, for Ford: ...

Sorry about the vanity folks

John W. Magaw Joins FEMA Team Washington, December 9 -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today that John W. Magaw will be joining the agency management team. Magaw, who currently serves as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), will work in the FEMA Director's office where he will plan and coordinate FEMA's domestic terrorism efforts. "I am pleased John Magaw has agreed to join the FEMA team," said FEMA Director James Lee Witt. "I look forward to working with him as we continue refining our plans that deal with the consequences of any acts ...

Croatian President Tudjman Dies By Michael Dobbs Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, December 11, 1999; Page A26 Croatian president Franjo Tudjman, a former Communist general who steered his nation of 5 million to independence from Yugoslavia and became its first popularly elected leader, has died after six weeks of treatment for abdominal disorders, Croatian state television reported early this morning. Tudjman was 77 and reportedly had been fighting cancer for three years. The official statement did not say when Tudjman died. "The big heart of president Franjo Tudjman ceased to beat," Parliament speaker Vlatko Pavletic said. The constitution calls for ...

U.S. Proposes U.N. Concessions on Iraq Easing of Sanctions Offered to Win Russian Support for Resuming Arms Inspections By Colum Lynch Special to The Washington Post Saturday, December 11, 1999; Page A24 UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 10—In a last-ditch effort to win Moscow's backing for the return of U.N. disarmament experts to Iraq, the United States has made concessions that could hasten the suspension of economic sanctions and might reopen Baghdad to limited air traffic, diplomats said today. The United States and Britain are pushing for a vote as early as Monday on a U.N. Security Council resolution that would offer ...

In Chile, Softer Side of the Hard Right Presidential Hopeful Makes Gains by Cutting Link to Past With Retooled Message By Anthony Faiola Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, December 11, 1999; Page A23 PINAFLOR, Chile—Long-haired Chilean rockers belted out Lou Bega's hit song "Mambo No. 5" on an outdoor stage, dazzling the several hundred people in the main square of this small central Chilean town. "You and me gonna touch the sky," they crooned, preparing the crowd for take off. After the warm-up band finished, the headliner rocketed to the stage. But it was no musician. It was Joaquin Lavin, ...

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) - A state judge on Friday dismissed the city of Bridgeport's lawsuit that sought to make gun makers responsible for the costs associated with gun violence. Superior Court Judge Robert F. McWeeny agreed with gun makers who argued the city did not have legal standing to sue because the city had not suffered any direct injuries from guns. ``The plaintiffs have no statutory or common law basis to recoup their expenditures. They lack any statutory authorization to initiate such claims,'' McWeeny wrote. Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim said the city would appeal. ``We have a right, and the ...

The Clinton Administration has stupidly given Fidel Castro the moral high ground in its insistence on turning a six-year-old half-orphaned child into a political football. At stake here are fundamental, inalienable rights of parents as protected, or which are supposed to be protected, by the U.S. Constitution. Instead, the debate over whether or not six year old Elian Gonzalez, who survived after the small boat his stepfather and mother had left Cuba in had capsized, should be returned to his father in Cuba or remain in America with second and third cousins. His mother and stepfather drowned in the Straits ...

Back Home, President Seeks Funds For Library: Clinton Touts Plan, His Achievements By Vanessa Williams Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, December 11, 1999; Page A19 LITTLE ROCK, Dec. 10—President Clinton today asked his home state's business community to chip in toward his dream of building a $125 million presidential library that he said he wants to be "a museum, but not a mausoleum." Clinton, who was keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, made his pitch at the end of remarks in which he touted his presidency's achievements and repeatedly thanked the people of ...

Panel Keeps U.S. Judges' Investment Files Secret By Joe Stephens Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, December 11, 1999; Page A12 After a private five-hour meeting, a 15-judge committee adjourned yesterday without lifting an unprecedented ban on the release of public documents listing investments held by the nation's 1,600 federal judges. The financial disclosure committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference offered no explanation for the nationwide moratorium, which has drawn criticism from members of Congress, legal scholars and journalists. A spokeswoman said only that "an announcement on this issue will be made soon." The Internet news organization that sparked the moratorium ...

This conundrum has an answer. But like that classic medieval query about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, its answer may be knowable only to God. LOL. Nevertheless, I invite you to take your best shot at answering this riddle. One of our answers is bound to be correct!

For Immediate Release 10 December 1999 Canal Turnover Opponents To Meet In Panama Future of Panama/US relations and security issues on the agenda Howard Phillips, Chairman of The Conservative Caucus and presidential nominee of the Constitution Party and Larry Klayman, Chief Counsel of Judicial Watch, will hold a press conference on Tuesday, December 14th in Panama regarding the impending transfer of canal authority from America to Panama. Critical issues such as the control of Balboa and Cristobal (at the two ends of the canal) by Hutchison Whampoa, a Chinese firm and matters pertaining to the mutual national security interests of ...

Clinton Speaks Of Loyalty, Mistakes In Visit Home By Randall Mikkelsen HOPE, Ark. (Reuters) - President Clinton braved a blustery cold rain Friday to dedicate his childhood home in a ceremony steeped in nostalgia and full of allusions to his scandal-clouded legacy. ``In a funny way, it's the rain that makes this day more poignant for me,'' Clinton told a small crowd of several dozen townspeople who came out in the wet chill to see him. Speaking in front of the white, two-story frame house he first lived in, Clinton hailed the values that he said Hope taught him, referred ...