Free Republic

SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 26: ALARMED by the recent utterances of some teachers and the anti-US and pro-Taliban protests on the campus, Kashmir University is planning to constitute an ‘‘intelligence wing’’ to spy on ‘‘erring’’ teachers, scholars and students. The intelligence wing will record all activities of staff and report the same to the Vice-Chancellor for action. The idea of keeping an eye on staff, especially teachers, was mooted by Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, also the university pro-Chancellor, at the apex university council meeting on Sunday, sources said. ‘‘The Chief Minister asked the VC to constitute an intelligence wing, probe the activities ...

David Lewis, a world-renowned microbiologist who spent almost three decades at the Environmental Protection Agency, became so concerned about the misuse of science at the agency that he wrote letters to Vice President Al Gore and EPA Administrator Carol Browner alerting them to the deteriorating situation. When he got no response, Lewis went public with an article in the prestigious British journal, Nature, in which he warned that science at EPA had reached a "state of crisis." EPA responded to Lewis' claims by accusing him of ethics violations. The charges were later dismissed by a Department of Labor mediation board. ...

FECInfo - Public Disclosure, Inc. www.tray.com *************************** NEW DATA The July 1 download of data from the FEC is now available. $200,000 CORPORATE FINE The FEC announced yesterday that carpet maker Beaulieu of America Inc paid a $200,000 civil penalty for a "knowing and willful" violation of the FECA after providing bonuses and reimbursements to thirty-six employee who had given to Lamar Alexander's 1996 presidential campaign. CEO Carl Bouchaert was fined $1 million in December 1998 for his role in the scheme. The case was handled by the Department of Justice. JUNE 30TH CANDIDATES CLOSE BOOKS - NEW REPORTS DUE ...

Bill Clinton is into his seventh year as President of the United States. He cannot be re-elected to that office, and he is not likely to run for another one. His impeachment and trial were carried out by people who, whatever their other shortcomings, cannot be accused of understating the case; but his acquittal was greeted with loud public approval. No one is going to try that again. And anyway, what would be the point? Clinton is the lamest of lame ducks. But there are currently three books about what a creep he is on the New York Times nonfiction ...

DUKE UNIVERSITY FRESHMAN Jay Strader first knew there was something wrong when he returned home after class. Vandals had broken into his dorm room and left an ominous message on his computer monitor—"We’re going to kick your ass." Soon after this jarring event, Strader was shooting pool with a friend in the dorm’s recreation lounge when a dormmate noticed him. "That was a real ass— of a letter you wrote," the young man snarled, referring to a letter Strader had recently written to the Chronicle, Duke’s student-run daily newspaper. The two exchanged words and insults, and the conversation became increasingly ...

Thanks to swift action by the Clinton White House, America's first line of defense against crazed gunmen in public school halls will be--teenage movie ushers? President Bill Clinton unleashed the full pomp of a White House ceremony to ask the movie industry to tighten enforcement of the film rating system, lest more shootings like the one at Columbine High School befall the nation. "You shouldn't have to worry about your G-rated kids getting into violent or suggestive R-rated movies,'' Clinton said. Interestingly, Clinton took no credit for improving the social graces of the nation's youth. Only 12 years ago, Tipper ...

Quick: What exactly did George Stephanopoulos do in the Clin- ton White House? He hosted the daily press briefing for a few months, but he botched the job so badly that Clinton handed the job to Dee Dee Myers. So how did he spend the rest of his tenure? Don't feel bad if the answer escapes you. Stephanopoulos himself seems confused about what he was supposed to be doing, a problem that has apparently plagued him for years. In 1989, he signed on with Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.), then the House majority leader. "My new job was as exciting as ...

There is a scattering of what used to be called hard news in Bob Woodward's latest hot Washington book, Shadow, though it is not clear whether anybody-even the author-much notices or cares. For example: Confusion has always surrounded the meaning of President Clinton's violent rage on December 6, 1997, after Secret Service officers at the White House's northwest gate let slip to Monica Lewinsky that her pined-for ex-boyfriend-in-chief was at that very moment meeting privately with another woman, Eleanor Mondale. Critics of the president have theorized that he was at that point already concerned about Lewinsky's potential testimony in the ...