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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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Here's the big story out of the Beltway tonight...Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, the
only black Republican in Congress and a member of the House GOP leadership, said
Monday that he intends to retire at the end of his term. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&ncid=703&e=2&u=/ap/20020701/ap_on_el_ho/watts_future_15
Bodansky and Beau Dietl will do the Fouth of July terrorist threats: Americans should
take extra care on the Fourth of July because the national holiday is an attractive
symbol to potential terrorists, Bush administration officials said Sunday. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&ncid=703&e=9&u=/ap/20020701/ap_on_re_us/attacks_july_fourth_4
I suspect Bodansky may have something to say on this disturbing development: Worrisome
Alliance...The Lebanon-based Islamic extremist group Hezbollah is working more closely
with al Qaeda on logistics and training for terrorist operations, officials say. (The
Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2324-2002Jun29.html
Fareed will discuss his latest piece: Freedom vs. Security...Delicate balance: The
case for 'smart profiling' as a weapon in the war on terror
http://www.msnbc.com/news/773884.asp
We've got Sununu to do the possible Dems '04 bashing Bush....Al Gore told top
Democratic fund-raisers Saturday that the party's 2000 campaign had too many
consultants and that if he runs for president again he will speak from the heart and
"let it rip."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&u=/ap/20020630/ap_on_re_us/gore_retreat_4&ncid=703&e=1
Potential presidential contender John Kerry of Massachusetts criticized President
Bush's handling of the war on terrorism Saturday while campaigning for Iowa Democratic
candidates. (Des Moines Register)
http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4789004/18586934.html
Here's the D Block debate...Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch will take on attorney Lee
Casey...
Despite U.S. spat, world court opens...The United States on Sunday vetoed a resolution
to extend U.N. peacekeeping operations in Bosnia, in a battle with other U.N. Security
Council members over a new International Criminal Court.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/774409.asp
The world's first permanent war crimes tribunal officially came into existence Monday,
hailed by supporters as a milestone in international justice that will prevent future
Hitlers, Pol Pots and Saddam Husseins -- but vehemently opposed by the United States.
(AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&ncid=716&e=2&u=/ap/20020701/ap_on_re_eu/un_international_court_29
Dominic Bellone compiled and edited the Briefing in Washington, DC
At least 120 members of an Afghan wedding party were either killed or wounded when a
U.S. plane bombed a village in the central province of Uruzgon on Monday, 105 miles
northeast of the southern city of Kandahar, residents said. (Reuters)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20020701/wl_nm/afghan_usa_bombing_dc_3
Since the attacks on Sept. 11, the Bush administration has been scrambling to increase
funding for computer hardware and software to organize a flood of terrorism-related
information. (USA Today) http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/2002/07/01/namesinside.htm
President Bush forcefully defended school voucher systems on Monday, praising
programs that allow taxpayer money for private schools after the Supreme Court upheld
such a program here. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=716&e=6&cid=514&u=/ap/20020701/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_23
Checkpoint screeners at 32 of the nation's largest airports failed to detect fake
weapons -- guns, dynamite or bombs -- in almost a quarter of undercover tests by the
Transportation Security Administration last month, documents obtained by USA TODAY
show. http://www.usatoday.com/news/attack/2002/06/30/airport-security.htm
An Israeli tank shelled a house in the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, killing a
suspected Hamas bombmaker whose work is blamed for the deaths of 121 Israelis.
(Chicago Sun Times) http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-meast01.html
Hamas vows revenge for killing...An elite team of Israeli forces on Sunday
assassinated a top bomb maker in the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/677951.asp
While intelligence officials are not certain whether Osama bin Laden is alive or dead,
they have found a tantalizing document that suggests he was living at least as
recently as the last days of December. (Time Mag)
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,267726,00.html
Air Force jets scrambled twice over the weekend to intercept small airplanes making
what turned out to be at least three harmless intrusions into the airspace over Camp
David while President Bush was at the Maryland mountain retreat. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020701/ap_on_go_pr_wh/camp_david_planes_8
Gertz: China's air force test-fired a new air-to-air missile for the first time last
week in a move that has altered the military balance across the Taiwan Strait, defense
officials say. It was identified by the U.S. last week as the Russian-made AA-12
Adder. http://washingtontimes.com/national/20020701-95731060.htm
At a time when many authorities, from the U.S. Supreme Court to state governments, are
rethinking aspects of capital punishment, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft is
aggressively pursuing the federal death penalty and frequently overruling his own
prosecutors in the process, according to records and public officials. (The Washington
Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5450-2002Jun30.html?referer=email
Top Bush aides won't deal with 'flawed' Arafat...President Bush's top foreign policy
advisers said yesterday that Yasser Arafat already has lost his last chance to be
regarded by the administration as a credible participant in Middle East peace
negotiations. (The Washington Times)
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20020701-25247994.htm
Iraqi Command Center Hit by U.S. Warplanes (Reuters)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63874-2002Jun28.html?referer=email
Democrats Moving Warily on Iraq...With military operations against Iraq's Saddam
Hussein seemingly inevitable, House Democrats have plunged into a thorny internal
debate over whether and how strongly to challenge President Bush as he presses ahead
with the war on terror. (Roll Call)
http://www.rollcall.com/pages/news/00/2002/07/news0701c.html
WorldCom Inc., already facing charges over nearly $4 billion in disguised expenses,
told the government Monday that it is investigating possible irregularities in its
reserve accounts. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&ncid=716&e=1&u=/ap/20020701/ap_on_bi_ge/pitt_worldcom_24
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Monday he thought al Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden was probably not alive, but if he was he could not be in Pakistan. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&u=/nm/20020701/wl_nm/pakistan_binladen_dc_3&ncid=721&e=2
The Bush administration has designated 33 toxic waste sites in 18 states for cuts in
funding under the Superfund cleanup program, according to an E.P.A. report. (The New
York Times)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=68&ncid=68&e=3&u=/nyt/20020701/ts_nyt/bush_slashing_aid_for_e_p_a__cleanup_at_33_toxic_sites
Independence, Minnesota?...Former representative Tim Penny, a fiscally conservative
Democrat during his time in Washington, entered the race for Minnesota governor
Thursday on the Independence Party ticket (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5477-2002Jun30.html?referer=email
Militant American Muslims operating out of rural communes in California and other
Western states have targeted this rural Virginia community for an influx of members
who have ties to Middle Eastern terrorists. (The Washington Times)
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20020701-1056999.htm
Former President Jimmy Carter will visit Venezuela next week to mediate talks between
the government and its opposition, which have been locked in a power struggle since a
failed coup. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&ncid=703&e=4&u=/ap/20020630/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_us_carter_2
Federal Election Commission records show that liberal activist Jane Fonda gave $500 to
the Bowles campaign Feb. 19. But on March 29, the campaign returned the check to the
woman derided as "Hanoi Jane" for her opposition to the Vietnam War. (Roll Call)
http://www.rollcall.com/pages/columns/hoh/
Sen. Fred Thompson, a star of Hollywood movies and real-life political dramas, played
the leading man again on Saturday. This time it was at his own wedding. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020630/ap_wo_en_po/us_people_thompson_wedding_1
The Newlyweds: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020630/168/1ru1a.html
With House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (Okla.) telling colleagues late
last week that he is "95 percent" certain he will retire, ex-state Sen. Tom Cole
appeared ready to run for the seat if the effort to keep Watts in Congress fails.
(Roll Call) http://www.rollcall.com/pages/politics/00/2002/07/pol0701c.html
Page Six: Dunne hath no fury like Dominick Dunne. Having just waged a written war with
Gore Vidal, the Vanity Fair fixture has turned his guns on New York Times style scribe
Bob Morris. http://pagesix.com/pagesix/44998.htm
Opinion/editorial
A godless Constitution...The federal judge who ruled the Pledge of Allegiance
unconstitutional got it right; our founding fathers never intended to make God a part
of public life, writes David Greenberg in Slate.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/773696.asp
Boot: George Woodrow Bush...The president is becoming a Wilsonian interventionist.
http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110001926
Jimmy Carter: Mideast needs new mediator
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/2002/07/01/ncguest2.htm
Doonesbury http://www.ucomics.com/doonesbury/viewdb.cfm?uc_full_date=20020701
Mallard Fillmore http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/mallard.asp
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