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The former United States attorney general, Ramsey Clark, has visited the ousted Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, at the United Nations detention unit near the Hague. A tribunal spokesman, Jim Landale, said the visit lasted about two hours. He said Mr Clark was not acting as Mr Milosevic's lawyer, but was giving him legal advice. Mr Milosevic is awaiting trial before the tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity. Mr Clark, who condemned the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia, said earlier that Mr Milosevic had asked for the visit thorugh intermediaries. From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. Ecclesiastes 10:2 Party at Howlin's ALL PREVIOUS THREADS PROJECT DAFFODIL-Updated Summary 7-25-01 In light of the Daffodil Principle where individual efforts over time add up to a mammoth contribution, we use this lesson as we seek to promote conservatism, the Republican Party and the administration of George Bush. Here is the link to the article if you are interested. THE DAFFODIL PRINCIPLE List of suggested projects: Volunteer/Get Involved in Republican Party, in individual campaigns Join GOP groups-Republican Business Women's Assn, become ...

The use of the missile defense issue to split detente between Russia and China is to the former's advantage, given assurances that the system isn't aimed against Russia The expressions of cooperation on the issue of missile defense by George Bush and Russian president Vladimir Putin at their recent summit meeting caught many international observers by surprise. But Bush's attempt to secure Moscow's approval of US plans to build a defense against ballistic missiles is the merely the latest in a series of moves to improve US-Russian relations. That represents a dramatic change from the rhetoric of last year's US ...

Dan Walters: Davis aides' financial dealings create new political headaches (Published Aug. 1, 2001) When Gray Davis realized early this year that the state's energy crisis posed a threat to his governorship, he hired a Praetorian Guard of highly paid advisers -- at taxpayer expense -- to escort him through the financial and political minefield. By midsummer, rapidly dropping energy prices and the lack of much-feared power blackouts had brought Davis to the brink of claiming victory. But suddenly, Davis is under fire again because of revelations about the financial dealings of his mercenaries. Secretary of State Bill Jones, ...

The friendly ties which once characterised the relationship between New Delhi and Moscow are disappearing even as India's influence in the international community is rising whereas that of Russia declining sharply, a CIA report says. "During the cold war period, India was largely viewed by outsiders as the junior partner... The relationship is no longer one of equals, that India is pre-eminent because it is rising while Russia is declining," the report released on Wednesday said. "India still trusts Russia, a sentiment that is perhaps a residue of the genuine friendship of cold war days but clearly not in ...

WASHINGTON - On the eve of consideration by the House, President Bush's energy legislation received new fuel from an unlikely source yesterday when the AFL-CIO endorsed the president's plan to open a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. ''The AFL-CIO has long supported the development of appropriate energy sources to meet the needs of the nation and the concerns of consumers, as long as the environment is protected,'' wrote William Samuel, director of the union's department of legislation, in a letter to House members. ''At our 1993 convention, delegates adopted a resolution that, in part, called ...

Treasury Is Planning to Borrow to Cover Cost of Tax Rebates The Treasury said yesterday that it would borrow the money needed for the tax rebates now going to taxpayers as part of President Bush's $1.35 billion tax cut. The plan to sell Treasury securities to pay for the rebates — up to $600 a couple or $300 for individuals — reflects a cash flow squeeze, not some sudden turn of the budget from surplus to deficit. Still, it is another sign of how markedly the outlook for the budget surplus has changed in just the last two months, as ...

‘It’s not a bad thing to be a martyr’ Jamal Mansour: Rejected the concept of peace. by Mohammed Daraghmeh In Nablus, West Bank JAMAL Mansour, a founder of the radical Islamic Hamas movement, speculated once about being killed by Israeli forces. Israel charged that Mansour was responsible for many bomb attacks in Israel in the past year and was planning more. Yesteday he was one of eight Palestinians who died when Israel fired rockets into the third-floor Hamas offices in a building in the West Bank city of Nablus. Also killed was Jamal Salim, 41, a local Hamas leader in ...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Conservationists sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to try to speed up the process of deciding whether the California spotted owl and the Pacific fisher should be listed as endangered species. The groups said the service missed its deadlines to determine whether the species were eligible for the Endangered Species Act. The agency had not seen the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, but it wasn't a surprise, said spokeswoman Patricia Foulk. She said the agency is under court order to handle 16 cases involving 300 species nationwide. "When this one goes through the system, ...

Russian judges study Oklahoma court system 2001-08-01 By Randy Ellis Staff Writer It’s one thing to read how a judicial system works in theory. It’s another to see how it works in practice. Four prominent Russian judges are in Oklahoma City this week to get a firsthand look at the U.S. justice system in action. Oklahoma City federal Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange, second from left, visits Tuesday with Russian judiciary members, from left, Zoya Andreyevna Konyayeva, Olga Valentinovna Gavrilova and Viktor Ivanovich Pashkov outside the Oklahoma City Federal Court House. STAFF PHOTO BY ROGER KLOCK So far, they’ve seen plenty ...

Perhaps the most politically incorrect thing Bill Maher could do these days is admit he's more or less a liberal. With the White House and Congress solidly conservative and the Senate on a constant Democratic deathwatch, these are not the best of times to be teetering left of center. And so the host of ABC's "Politically Incorrect" has done a rather political thing. He's come out as a libertarian. For Maher, this isn't a recent phenomenon. Maher had been calling himself libertarian well before Bill Clinton left for Chappaqua, N.Y. And why not? The host of the late-night political discussion ...

Davis' ethical mess: Bill comes due for not following the rules (Published Aug. 1, 2001) The price to Gov. Gray Davis of his ethical blindness is beginning to add up. Last Friday, his office announced the state had let go five energy buyers who held stock in companies they were dealing with. On Monday, two political communications consultants Davis had expensively hired, Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane, who had formerly worked for Southern California Edison, settled a conflict-of-interest suit brought against them, agreeing to leave state employment and not take any money for their work. Then came the news that ...

Headlines 17:25 Aug-01-01 ! Serious Accident Involving Israelis in Sharm el-Sheik 17:17 Aug-01-01 Ganim and Kadim Without Water and Electricity 17:00 Aug-01-01 Two el-Aroub Residents Arrested for Attacks 16:36 Aug-01-01 Heavy Shooting Reported in Hevron 16:34 Aug-01-01 Hesder Rabbis Halt Induction in Emergency Session 16:22 Aug-01-01 Fatah Threatens Israeli & US Targets Around the World 15:59 Aug-01-01 Shooting Reported at Ayosh Junction 15:45 Aug-01-01 Efrat Being Attacked by Terrorist Gunfire 15:44 Aug-01-01 Joint Security Meet Cancelled by PA 15:41 Aug-01-01 Shoham ‘Explosion’ Was a Blown Tire 15:28 Aug-01-01 Labor Law Committee Convenes on Primary Debate 15:25 Aug-01-01 Jewish Motorist ...

Heavy Duty Prayer Needed Continued: Today is my sons big day to see if he will have custody of his son, meanwhile in hopes that the mother will receive treatment so that my gransons life won't be in danger! Those who have followed me on the thread, "Heavy Duty Prayer Needed" knows what I'm referring too! I want to thank all my fellow freepers and Prayer Warriors especially and today I pray that Gods will will be for my grandson to be with my son until the mother receives help! May God bless all your prayers as well as mine! ...

Jeff Moran and some friends from Troop 1320 dropped onto the lawn near Trading Post 13 last Tuesday, a sweltering morning during the 15th Boy Scouts Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill near Fredericksburg, Va. Despite the heat wave, over the next 10 days they would help 32,000 other Scouts burn through 76,000 hamburgers, 479,000 eggs, 10 tons of beef stew—and countless hours energetically addressing a controversy that will not fade. "In the Bible, it's a sin to be gay," said Moran, 15, as the sun glinted off his dyed blue hair. Keep them out of scouting? "Exactly," he declared. Fifteen-year-old ...

Bozell, Lieberman and others on C-SPAN now. Just released online.... /snip/....Since the PTC’s last Family Hour study, which dealt with programming from near the end of the 1998-’99 season, sexual material has fallen 17 percent, to a per-hour average of 3.1 instances, but much of today’s Family Hour sexual content deals with topics, such as oral sex and pornography, which just a few years ago were rarely touched on even in 10 p.m. shows, let alone 8 p.m. fare..../snip/

August 1, 2001 -- WHY is Bret Schundler running on his opponent's strategy? From the moment the former Jersey City mayor won an upset victory in New Jersey's GOP gubernatorial primary, Democrats began licking their chops at the prospect of taking on an unabashed conservative. As far as Democratic nominee Jim McGreevey is concerned, Schundler's middle name is either "extremist" or "out of the mainstream." Indeed, to hear McGreevey tell it, the only issues facing New Jersey this fall are abortion, gun control and embryonic stem-cell research. Whatever happened to property taxes, auto insurance and getting rid of tolls ...

One of the state's largest Boy Scout councils has decided to adopt a ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy that would allow gay scoutmasters to be affiliated without technically violating the national ban against them. The board of the Massachusetts Minuteman Council - an umbrella organization of 330 Scout troops and 18,000 boys in Greater Boston - quietly and unanimously approved the bylaw on July 19. The policy bars exclusion of anyone on the basis of race, religion, or sexual orientation, said Brock Bigsby, Scout executive for the council. Bigsby maintains that the carefully worded policy is consistent with the ...

In the past few weeks, the Bush administration has refused to sign or ratify a number of international agreements. The Kyoto accord on global warming is the best known case. But the United States has also withdrawn its support for the treaty on germ warfare, warned the UN that it would not accept international regulation of the small arms trade if it impinged on the rights of U.S. gun owners and threatened not to attend the UN Conference on Racism if its agenda included reparations for slavery and condemnation of Zionism as a form of racism. These refusals have ...

Last week, I asked a senior House member why Rep. Gary Condit was still on the Intelligence Committee. Mr. Condit himself describes the committee as concerned with "very sensitive issues of immediate and long-term national security." I reminded the lawmaker that Mr. Condit's behavior has clearly made him a prime candidate for blackmail. "Well, with all this coverage he no longer looks to be blackmailable," this Condit colleague said before quickly changing the subject. That abdication of responsibility won't do. Mr. Condit has more to hide about his double life. That became clear when, just hours before police were to ...