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| Dave Marlett, Editor | theconservative@usa.net | Number 31 |
http://www.wilderness-cry.net/tcn | ||
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| Dave Marlett, Editor | theconservative@usa.net | Number 31 |
http://www.wilderness-cry.net/tcn | ||
On the eve of the GOP convention, a New York Times/CBS News poll showed that Republicans (often castigated for being out of step with the nation's social temperament) are much closer to the electorate than their rivals. While 40 percent of delegates said abortion should be limited to rape, incest and threats to the mother's life, 37 percent of the public took this generally pro-life position (compared to 26 percent who said abortion should be available on demand).
The public is profoundly uneasy about the taking of human life in the name of the exercise of human rights.
The American Enterprise Institute polled Americans on whether 17 of this century's most important innovations have made life better or worse. Only four drew more of a negative than positive response -- including nuclear weapons and legalized abortion (the latter was rejected by 42 percent to 34 percent).
[ ConservativeHQ ]
- The Clinton administration has been spending the money Congress appropriated to overthrow Saddam Hussein on contractors and consultants while withholding arms from the Iraqi opposition, experts said.
The latest example is a workshop proposed by the Conflict Management Group, a nonprofit offshoot of Harvard Negotiation Project at Harvard Law School. The subcontractor group describes its objective in turbid academic jargon: "To identify, diagnose, and enhance the ability of the Iraqi opposition parties, and the individuals within the parties, to discuss, design, and facilitate intra- and inter-organization dialogue, cooperation, and problem solving."
Translation: Pull Iraqi resistance fighters out of the field, bring them to Harvard, and teach them how to get along.
"They couldn't find Iraq on a map," said Francis Brooke, the Washington representative of the main opposition group.
"It's ludicrous what they're proposing. Somehow, theoretically, they're going to grab all the Iraqi opposition parties they know nothing about and bring them together in a Harvard seminar, where they're going to teach them how to get in touch with their inner selves."
Brooke said he had talked on the phone with Ahmed Chalabi, head of Iraqi National Congress (INC), the London umbrella organization for the Iraqi opposition. The group had e-mailed Chalabi, asking for his help in obtaining "a list of opposition parties and contact information."
"What a great waste of money," Brooke said Chalabi had told him, "Raise h____ about it."
That the fractious Iraqi opposition needs cohesion to prevail against Saddam Hussein is not in dispute, but is the Harvard workshop an effective way of going about it?
A congressional staffer familiar with Iraq said, "It came as a surprise to me that anyone would think that this kind of expenditure would be a useful contribution to the effort."
He was asked why the administration would rather spend money on consultants than on weapons and ammunition. He met that question with a long pause.
[UPI]
Money to prevent forest fires now ravaging the West went instead to President Clinton's prized lands legacy initiative and to his new national monuments.
Congressional and Interior Department aides confirmed the White House cut the Interior Department's request of $322 million for fire preparedness, or prevention, to $305 million for this year. At the same time, the White House increased its budget request for land acquisitions from $15 million to $49 million.
"Their priorities are using the money for land acquisition and a lot of different things, like building a visitor center at a new monument," said Les Rosenkrance, former director of the National Interagency Fire Center.
The lands legacy initiative is Mr. Clinton's conservation effort to purchase land and preserve it as open space. Mr. Clinton also has declared nearly a dozen new national monuments during his two terms in office.
Documents obtained by The Washington Times show an even greater cut proposed for next year's firefighting season. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) requested $400 million, which the White House slashed to $297 million in its 2001 budget request -less than current funding.
At the same time, the White House increased the agency's land acquisition fund from $49 million to $60 million.
This summer's record-breaking fire season has produced nearly 69,000 fires, which have burned 5.5 million acres of land in more than a dozen Western states and Florida. The 10-year average of acreage burned by Aug. 20 is 2.5 million acres destroyed in 58,000 fires.
The budget cuts this year are "so extensive, and by dropping below that, they're catching a lot less fires than they could have," said Mr. Rosenkrance, who retired in April.
Firefighters yesterday battled 98 fires in 11 states covering 1.3 million acres - the largest in Montana and Idaho.
In Yellowstone National Park, six fires are burning on more than 6,000 acres and the south entrance to the park remains closed. Lack of resources and the safety risk to firefighters are restricting park crews to battling only one of the blazes, which covers 3,200 acres.
Gov. Marc Racicot declared Montana a disaster area last week, and ordered evacuations in parts of the state. More than 365,000 acres, an area larger than the city of Los Angeles, have burned there, including 169 buildings and more than 50 houses.
Thousands of firefighters have been called in to fight the Western fires, plus 500 soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas, a battalion of Marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif., and firefighters from Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
[ Washington Times ]
According to the newly released documents, obtained from the U.S. Navy through the Freedom of Information Act, the Clinton administration has an ongoing contract with Russian-based weapons-maker Zvezda Strella and U.S. weapons-maker Boeing/Douglas to develop jointly "pre-planned product improvements (P3I)" for the Kh-31 "Krypton" anti-radar missile. The deadly Krypton missile is designed to destroy American Patriot and Aegis radar systems.
"If true, this is worse than Loral or Hughes (security scandals)," commented a national security source inside Capitol Hill. "This is not a commercial satellite venture. The Krypton is a weapon."
The American improvements to the Russian Krypton, including design and fuel changes for "extended range," were given directly to the Russian missile contractor in a joint U.S./Russian "Foreign Technology Comparison Test" program. The documents show that since 1995, U.S. and Russian weapons engineers have worked together on the joint project to test and improve the advanced Krypton missile for use as a Navy target missile.
"We cannot deny the authenticity of the documents," said Russian Embassy press officer Mikhail Shugalian from his office in Washington, D.C. "Otherwise, I can provide no comment."
Last month, WorldNetDaily reported that American defense contractor Orbital Sciences won the U.S. Navy Supersonic Sea-Skimming Target drone contract, beating a combined team of Boeing and Russian contractor Zvezda that offered an "extended-range" Krypton missile. However, the Orbital Sciences target will not be ready for Navy testing until 2001 or 2002, resulting in a Navy shortage of target missiles.
To fill the gap, the Clinton administration has an active contract with Russia to provide as many as two hundred more MA-31 Krypton target missiles. Boeing spokesman Bob Alarotti confirmed that the U.S. Navy deal with Boeing and Russian contractor Zvezda to supply Krypton target missiles is continuing. Alarotti also confirmed Russian and U.S. engineers have tested the missile.
"We have an active contract with the Navy to supply MA-31 (Krypton) targets from Russia," stated Boeing spokesman Bob Alarotti. "There have been a whole series of tests done against the missile since the mid-1990s.
The problem-plagued Navy Krypton project is also dogged by allegations of improper financial activity. In 1999, Jane's Defense reported that each Krypton missile purchase included a 28 percent "fee" given directly to Russian generals. Navy documents obtained using the Freedom of Information Act show that each MA-31 missile costs $910,000. The extremely high price for the MA-31 is almost twice the cost of similar U.S. weapons.
The 28 percent fee per-missile amounts to over a quarter million dollars per missile paid directly to the Russian generals. U.S. Navy managers have previously denied any knowledge of allegations of corruption regarding kickbacks in the payments for the Russian missiles.
"We send the money to the Russians," stated Mr. G. Hotze the U.S. Navy program manager for the MA-31 program in October 1999, "What they do with it is their business."
[ WorldNetDaily ]
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