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Pentagon offers power shift in base-closing procedure The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Pentagon offers power shift in base-closing procedure Rowan Scarborough THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      The Pentagon today will propose a new base-closing procedure that gives the defense secretary more power to select candidates for shutdowns while limiting options for an independent commission that would recommend a final list by July 2003.      The Pentagon will rename the process, once called the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act, as the Efficient Facilities Initiative of 2001 (EFI), according to briefing documents obtained by The Washington Times.      "It improves the existing base ...

House OKs energy measure backed by Bush The Washington Times www.washtimes.com House OKs energy measure backed by Bush Audrey Hudson THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      The House last night gave the green light to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the centerpiece of President Bush's energy plan.      A last-minute amendment to stop drilling in the Alaska wilderness area was defeated by a 223-206 vote, with a nearly equal number of Democrats and Republicans breaking ranks with their party leaderships. Voting for the anti-drilling amendment were 171 Democrats, 34 Republicans and one independent; voting against were 186 Republicans, 36 ...

Reputations can be ruined on Internet The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Reputations can be ruined on Internet August Gribbin THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      Rep. Gary A. Condit could lose his job if some of his colleagues have their way. But the California Democrat has already lost his reputation, and the Internet has figured prominently in that.      As of last week, any Web surfer from Maryland to Mali could within 11 seconds begin retrieving 11,800 references to the congressman -- and many are as blunt as one that begins, "Missing: Gary Condit's character "      But one particularly scurrilous Internet report ...

August 2, 2001 Litany of race, again Ben Wattenberg Herewith some items on the racial front, perhaps with a pattern, and perhaps not a bad one. We have a winner for the harshest political rhetoric of the year. The award goes to Julian Bond, Chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who said at that organization's recent meeting: "Instead of uniting us, the new administration almost daily separates and divides. They selected nominees from the Taliban wing of American politics, appeased the wretched appetites of the extreme right wing and chose Cabinet officials whose devotion ...

Daschle seeks to separate stem-cell, cloning debates The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Daschle seeks to separate stem-cell, cloning debates John Godfrey THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat, said yesterday he fears both sides of the stem-cell debate will try to misuse the incendiary issue of cloning to further their cause in the Senate.      "I think as we write about it and talk about it, we can't casually intermingle these issues and make them one in the same. They're not," Mr. Daschle said yesterday.      "I strongly believe that this country ought to advance research ...

August 2, 2001 Strikeout on the bi-partisan field Donald Lambro      Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle broke longstanding political protocol when he sharply criticized the administration's foreign policy while President Bush was in Europe at the G-8 summit of major industrial powers.      In a rare breach of political tradition that says the opposition party does not attack a president on foreign policy grounds when he is abroad representing America, Mr. Daschle accused Mr. Bush of pursuing "unilateralist," isolationist policies. America was losing the respect of world leaders, he suggested.      Mr. Daschle pulled back slightly from his criticism after Mr. Bush ...

August 2, 2001 Slowly losing faith Donald Devine      In my half-century of writing about public affairs, nothing has been more perplexing than the fate of President George W. Bush's faith-based initiative. Friday's House of Representatives adoption cannot hide that the bill guts what once was one of the best ideas of any recent administration -- and the Senate leadership has already called it dead upon arrival there.      In 1978, a book by your servant showcased the charitable tax credit as the main conservative tool for dismantling the bureaucratic welfare state, to replace it with individual 100 percent tax-deductible contributions ...

U.S. woes threaten Schroeder's career The Washington Times www.washtimes.com U.S. woes threaten Schroeder's career Carter Dougherty THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      BERLIN -- The U.S. economic slowdown is dragging down Europe's largest economy, making it unlikely that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder can fulfill his pledge to reduce the country's persistently high unemployment rate before federal elections late next year.       The development is giving new hope to the opposition Christian Democrats who, troubled by a 2-year-old campaign-financing scandal, for the first time see a chance of unseating Mr. Schroeder in September 2002.      Germany, which accounts for nearly one-third of the ...

August 2, 2001 Flight delay repair that won't fly Dorothy Robyn      Desperate to avoid another summer of aviation gridlock, Congress is poised to exempt airlines from the antitrust laws so they can "coordinate" their flight schedules to reduce delays at congested airports. Frustrated passengers beware: Schedule-fixing can be as harmful as price-fixing. There's a better answer: use the market to make airlines pay for delays.      Because lawmakers blame delays on "overscheduling" by airlines that compete to offer more frequent flights in prime time, their solution is to let carriers cooperate to reduce service. The good news is that Congress' ...

August 2, 2001 Drug war's casualty Paul Craig Roberts      Conservatives should rethink their support for John P. Walters, who has been nominated by President Bush as director of National Drug Control Policy. While they are at it, they should reconsider their commitment to the war on drugs, which is destroying our freedom.      Mr. Walters is a good man, and he would pursue drugs energetically. The problem with Mr. Walters is that he would pursue drugs at too high a cost to our civil liberties and privacy and at the expense of the sovereignty of Latin American countries.      The conservatives' ...

Bush trips quelled European fears The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Bush trips quelled European fears David R. Sands THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01        European fears of a unilateralist shift in U.S. foreign policy have "subsided quite a bit" in the wake of President Bush's two trips to the continent, Romania's foreign minister said yesterday.      Remaining differences on issues such as the Kyoto Protocol on global warming are part of a much more "predictable relationship" between strong allies, Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana told reporters and editors at a luncheon interview at The Washington Times.      "President Bush has paid a tremendous amount ...

Jackson may boycott Toyota The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Jackson may boycott Toyota Steve Miller THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      The Rev. Jesse Jackson said yesterday that Toyota has made no progress on improving its record on minority issues, and that he is prepared to go ahead with his threat of leading an economic boycott.      Mr. Jackson said the U.S. arm of the Japanese automaker, initially under fire from the civil rights activist for an ad it placed earlier this year, has not yet agreed to enhance its number of minority-owned dealerships, nor has it shown a willingness to do ...

August 2, 2001 Inside the Beltway John McCaslin Political tidbits and other shenanigans from around the nation's capital.      Cold shoulder Top Stories • U.S. seeks flexible pact on ABM • Top general is accused of sex bias • Compromise by Bush sets up vote on patients' bill • Backlash stopping red-light cameras • House OKs energy measure backed by Bush • Reputations can be ruined on Internet      To set an example for the rest of the nation on conserving power, President Bush more than two months ago ordered thermostats set at 78 degrees in the nation's 500,000 federal buildings.      And how has the government responded? ...

Backlash stopping red-light cameras The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Backlash stopping red-light cameras Sean Scully SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      LOS ANGELES -- The nationwide rush to embrace red-light cameras has run into a rebellion in Southern California, where one city has turned off the machines temporarily and another has backed away from buying them, citing legal concerns.      The backlash comes at a time when the District plans to continue installing more red-light cameras operated by a private corporation -- despite the opposition of many motorists.      The Southern California rebellion is also occurring on Capitol Hill, where critics ...

August 2, 2001 Inside Politics Greg Pierce News and political dispatches from around the nation.      Thumbs and eyeballs Top Stories • U.S. seeks flexible pact on ABM • Top general is accused of sex bias • Compromise by Bush sets up vote on patients' bill • Backlash stopping red-light cameras • House OKs energy measure backed by Bush • Reputations can be ruined on Internet      Sen. Mitch McConnell wants his fellow Republicans to boycott today's Senate Rules and Administration Committee meeting in protest of committee Democrats' refusal to send his election-reform bill to the floor along with the Democrats' version.      But it's a safe boycott ...

Police union votes for removal of chief The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Police union votes for removal of chief Brian DeBose THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      The D.C. police union made its case clear on Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey this week, holding an impromptu vote not to renew his employment contract.      On Tuesday evening, what was to be a standard summertime union meeting, which usually attracts an average of 25 officers, according to police sources, turned into a raucous forum criticizing the chief's recent actions. It ended with a vote to oppose the renewal of Chief Ramsey's employment contract, ...

Need seen for future space weapons The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Need seen for future space weapons Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      The U.S. military will need space weapons in the future to protect commercial and military satellites, the Air Force's top general said yesterday.      Gen. Michael Ryan, the chief of staff of the Air Force, said despite some legal and policy barriers, the military is moving toward deploying both defensive and offensive space weapons because of the United States' growing dependence on satellites.      "I would say eventually we're going to have to have capabilities to take things ...

EDITORIAL • August 2, 2001 The Vieques problem      The recent referendum vote by Vieques island's residents to stop Navy live-fire training has no real effect. It's just another political kick in the teeth of military readiness. What makes this one worse than usual is that it's a direct result of President Bush's casual announcement of his decision to cease fire on the island by 2003.      Mr. Bush chose to throw away the crown jewel of Navy training.      Vieques, a small patch of ground off the east side of Puerto Rico, is about 80 square miles of nothing in particular, ...

Tip to lead Levy search to a parking lot in Virginia The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Tip to lead Levy search to a parking lot in Virginia Published 8/2/01      THE WASHINGTON TIMES      Military investigators last night prepared to search for Chandra Levy's body at a parking lot under construction in Fort Lee, Va., after Metropolitan Police received an anonymous tip by way of a California-based Web site.      Police spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile said wetip.com received information that the missing former intern was buried in the parking lot. The Web site accepts anonymous tips from throughout the country and then distributes ...

August 2, 2001 In search of a hero John J. Vecchione      John Adams – who Russell Kirk called the "founder of true conservatism in America" – is receiving the strange new respect normally accruing only to Republican Party switchers. Safely dead for 175 years, our second president is getting rave reviews from Democratic congressmen and liberal pundits. David McCullough's new biography of Adams sits atop the nonfiction best seller list and is creating a buzz for Adams that living conservatives would kill to receive. Mary McGrory, Maureen Dowd and NPR have chimed in with worshipful pieces on Adams.      Miss ...