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| Tuesday, December 19, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Bush firm
on tax cut Al Gore
could still win Convicted
US spy returns home
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Israeli
family takes Arafat to court Fiji’s
media ‘helped’ cause coup
Bruce Willis (left), Dwight Yoakam and Billy Bob Thornton (right) smile prior to the premiere of Thornton's All the Pretty Horses" in the Westwood
area of Los Angeles on Sunday. — AP/PTI photo Chinese moved by diary
writer’s death
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Bush firm on tax cut WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters, PTI) — Mr George W. Bush on his first visit to Washington since being confirmed the next President of the USA, today prepared for a showdown with Congressional Democrats over his tax proposals. The President-Elect said he was not prepared to compromise on the size of his $ 1.3 trillion tax cut and will explain the proposal to Congress. He, however, said, “It’s going to be, I’m confident, memorable trip.” “I think we have a unique opportunity to make the tax code more fair for those who struggle to get into the middle class,” he said, adding that the current tax code was unfair to the people at the bottom of the economic ladder. During his visit to the nation’s Capital, Mr Bush is scheduled to meet President Bill Clinton, Vice-President and his former Democratic rival Al Gore, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan and several Congressional leaders. Whether one has to wait for happier times for a tax cut or a tax cut is necessary to give a boost to the economy will be a topic that is expected to figure prominently in the Bush-Greenspan discussions. Mr Bush yesterday defended his tax cut proposal, saying, “I campaigned on a tax relief package that I firmly believe - believed then and believe even more now - is important as an insurance policy against any economic downturn.” Democrats, however, favour a tax cut only for the non-affluent and not an across-the-board tax cut which would put more money into the pockets of the rich. Mr Greenspan is considered the architect of the current record US economic expansion and has said he would prefer using future budget surpluses to pay down the national debt rather than cut taxes. Mr Bush then was headed to Capitol Hill to meet Republican and Democratic leaders of the US House of Representatives and Senate. Afterward’s he planned to interview prospective employees at Madison Hotel, where he is staying on the three-day trip. While Mr Bush was on his mission to mend fences, electors across the USA on Monday were to carry out the traditional formality of meeting and officially casting ballots in the electoral college. While usually pro forma sessions in state capitals, the gatherings were more noteworthy following Mr Bush’s razor-thin victory by just one more than the 270 electoral college votes he needed to clinch the presidency. In Florida, where the contest for the state’s critical 25 electoral votes prolonged the election for an astonishing 36 days, electors were to cast ballots at noon EST (1700 GMT). The Bush camp
was confident the slates would be pledged as promised. |
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Al
Gore could still win WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (IANS) — Democrat Al Gore can yet turn his defeat into victory if just three of the 538 members of the US Electoral College, scheduled to meet on Monday to formally elect the country’s 43rd US President, defect - an improbability in the present circumstances. The defections of three electors would give Gore the requisite 270 such votes needed to win the presidency. There are no curbs on party-hoppers in at least 24 of 50 American states. In these states, electors are not legally bound to uphold the mandate of the majority and are free to switch sides. An advocacy group, Citizens for True Democracy, has launched an e-mail campaign, urging people to write letters to the electors in the 18 states where Republican George W. Bush got majority in the November 7 election, advising them to vote for Gore who polled 337,576 more popular votes than Bush. Gore, having conceded election to Bush last week, has said he will not support any renegade attempts to subvert the official Electoral College result. Though there are little prospects of such defections, the campaign appears to have created a sense of uneasiness in the Republican camp. To ward off such a possibility, Vice President-elect Richard Cheney has made appeals for avoiding defections. The suspicion began when media reports identified four Bush electors as possible converts. Those four were bombarded with calls, pro and con, more heavily than the overall group, says the Washington Times. Defections are not unknown in US history. The so-called “faithless electors,” voted against their state’s winner for the first time in as far back as in 1796. The electors will cast secret ballots at their state headquarters on Monday that will be sent to the US Congress. Sitting Vice-President Gore, who presides over the Senate, will make them public on January 6. And then the successor to President Bill Clinton will formally emerge. It is not the first time that the candidate elected to the presidency won the election despite losing the popular vote. It happened in 1824, 1876 and 1888 as well. The formula of allocating electoral votes envisages one vote for the state’s two Senators and one each for its House of Representatives members. Every four years, on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, they meet in their state capitals to formally elect the president. The Electoral College was created by the founding fathers as a compromise between those who wanted direct election of the President and those favoring Congress to do the job. In fact, on election day, voters choose slates of electors representing each candidate and the candidate who wins the popular vote gets that state’s electoral votes. Since the popular votes are not always equal to
electoral votes, a kind of situation arises as has been witnessed this
time. Gore got more popular votes nationwide than President-elect Bush
but fewer electors. |
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Convicted US spy returns home PORTLAND (USA), Dec 18 (Reuters) — US businessman Edmond Pope, pardoned and freed by Russian President Vladimir Putin last week after being convicted of espionage, returned to the USA, crediting his wife with saving him amid a nasty legal fight. The 54-year-old former naval intelligence officer, who has cancer, was discharged from a military hospital in Germany and arrived here yesterday. Pope, flanked by family members and clutching his wife’s hand, was cheered by well-wishers at the local airport. “I can’t describe how wonderful it is,’’ Pope said when asked how it felt to return to the USA after eight months of incarceration in Russia. “It’s fantastic,’’ he said, “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. I was hoping six months ago that we’d be able to have this. But there’s just a lot of complications that came up.’’ A Russian court sentenced pope on December 6 to a 20-year imprisonment for his conviction on the spying charges. He denied being a spy. The businessman denied that he was trying to obtain secrets about a high-speed Russian torpedo. He said in his defense that he had been researching declassified material. Pressure from President Bill Clinton helped win a pardon for Pope from Mr Putin. Pope left Russia on Thursday and was examined by US Doctors in Germany. Pope credited the efforts of his wife, cheri, with liberating him. “She
saved me,’’ Pope told mediapersons at the airport. “She worked
hard. She got on national TV. She pushed Congressmen. She pushed
President Clinton. She pushed President Putin. She really is the one
that saved me.’’ |
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Israeli family takes Arafat to court JERUSALEM, Dec 18 (Reuters) — Family of one of two Israeli soldiers lynched by a Palestinian crowd is taking Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and his self-rule Authority to court, accusing them of failing to prevent the killing. A frenzied mob in the West Bank city of Ramallah beat Vadim Norzich (35) and Yosef Avrahami, (38) to death in a police station on October 12, tossing one body from the window before pounding it with a window frame and dragging it through the streets. Both corpses were mutilated so badly they could be identified only by dental records. “Arafat and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are guilty of the murders. They had the power to prevent it and they didn’t,’’ Norzich’s brother, Michael, told Reuters. “We have had no reaction from the PA since the lynch. They have not tried to show the family or the world that they are sorry for what happened,’’ he said. Doubtful of their chances of receiving compensation directly from PA coffers, the Norzich family is asking an Israeli court to clamp a 64 million shekel ($16 million) lien on money Israel collects and transfers monthly to the Palestinian Authority. The funds, derived from customs and valued-added taxes and transferred under interim peace measures agreed in 1993, would be paid to the family if they won their case. The head of the police station, Kamal al-Sheikh, said after the attack that his 21 officers had not fired to disperse the crowd because of limited manpower. “If a single bullet had been fired...an appalling massacre would have taken place,’’ he said. Arafat told British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who visited the region in October, that he had ordered the arrest of some of those involved and that the Authority was “making a very serious investigation’’ into the lynchings. Meanwhile, efforts to revive a moribund peace process shift to the USA on Monday as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators go to Washington for separate talks with US officials against a backdrop of continued bloodshed. Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and peace negotiator Gilead Sher are to leave tonight for the talks, as are Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, senior negotiator Saeb Erekat and preventive security chief Mohammed Dahlan. The diplomatic offensive may be US President Bill Clinton’s last chance to score a West Asia peace accord before his successor George W. Bush takes office on January 20. In Ramallah Abed Rabbo told Reuters: “We will start consultations with the Americans on Tuesday in Washington and the Israelis will have their own consultations with the Americans, and if there is a need, there will be trilateral meetings.’’ Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said he was ready to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, but only after proper preparation. Abed Rabbo, however, played down hopes of a summit and said there had been no progress in exploratory talks with Israel. Israeli political sources said a Barak-Arafat meeting would be possible only after the round of Washington talks. Despite the diplomatic efforts to ease the 12th week of violence raging in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the blood continued to flow. Clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians have resulted in the deaths of at least 329 persons, most of them Palestinians. Thirteen Arab Israelis and 38 other Israelis have also died. In two separate incidents in the West Bank yesterday, two Palestinian men accused of being collaborators with Israel were killed by Palestinian gunmen, hospital sources and Palestinian villagers said. Also in the West Bank, the body of an 18-year-old youth was found in the village of Aboud, near Ramallah. He had been killed by a bullet in the head, the Israeli police said. Palestinian radio reported that villagers said Jewish settlers killed him. GAZA (AFP): An estimated 1,250 Palestinians, living in the Gaza Strip, returned to work in Israel on Sunday, following the easing of an Israeli ban on Palestinian workers, General Saeb al-Ajez, a police chief in the Gaza Strip, said. Al-Ajez told reporters, “1,250 Palestinians entered Israel to work today.” Israel reissued work permits to 5,381 Palestinians, residing in the Gaza Strip, but not all of the permits have been distributed, anonymous Palestinian Labour Ministry sources said. The number of Israeli work permits issued to the West Bank have not been disclosed. A Palestinian security official indicated that Israel had authorised only 50 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to work in Israel on Friday. The Israeli Government announced on Thursday that 16,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would be allowed to return to work in Israel. To qualify, the Palestinians had to meet the Israeli criteria of being at least 35 years old, married, and the father of at least one child. Before the intifada, or Palestinian uprising, started on September 28, some 120,000 Palestinians worked daily in Israel. But
in the wake of the intifada’s clashes between Israeli soldiers and
Palestinians, Israel had sealed its borders with the Palestinian
territories, triggering mass unemployment amongst the Palestinians. |
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Fiji’s media ‘helped’ cause coup AUCKLAND, Dec 18 (AFP) — A row has broken out in Fiji over claims the news media may have helped cause the coup which bought down the country’s government in May. As befits a small country it quickly turned nasty, pitting David Robie, Head of the University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme, against the lively local media headed by the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fiji Times. On May 19 plotters led by George Speight seized Parliament and held the government hostage for 58 days, freeing them only after the government had been deposed by the military. Unlike two coups in 1986, the media this time had no controls imposed on them and even had full access to Speight and Parliament the whole time he held hostages. Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji’s first ethnic Indian Prime Minister, had held office for just a year, marked by bad media relations. It climaxed in October, 1999, when Chaudhry asked whether the Times as “carrying the torch for people engaged in seditious activities ? “The newspaper needs to take a serious look at where it is headed. Is it not fanning the fires of sedition and communalism by giving un due prominence to stories that are really non-stories?” Robie, a journalist originally from New Zealand, in a just published academic paper, said some sectors of the Fiji media waged a bitter campaign against the administration and its rollback of privatisation. Chaudhry got off on the wrong foot with the media industry virtually from the day he took office, Robie says, appointing his son private secretary in a move that damaged his credibility. But the Times “appeared to wage a relentless campaign against the fledgling government, both through its editorials and slanted’ news columns”. Political commentator Jone Dakuvula, a member of former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s Soqosoqo Ni Vakavulewa Ni Taukei party is quoted as saying the Times was “blatantly antagonistic to the government and focused on highlighting allegations of corruption, nepotism and sexual indiscretions” against Chaudhry. Robie says no journalist seriously analysed the party’s manifesto in order to help public understanding of what the government had pledged to do. “The
evidence suggests that the Fiji Times, in particular, had a hostile
editorial stance towards the Chaudhry government.... The focus of news
media coverage, particularly the Fiji Times, after the election was to
play up conflict.... It tended to play to the agenda of politicians
who wanted to inflame indigenous Fijians against the government.” |
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Hollywood’s
tough cowboy hero FOR fans of straight, no-nonsense, taciturn cowboy heroes
in traditional westerns, with much bang-bang and a little kiss-kiss,
George Montgomery, who died last Tuesday at the age of 84, was just
the man. Of the scores of pictures he made during four decades, more
than half of them were good, solid westerns, especially those made in
the late 1950s. The handsome, well-built Montgomery was certainly made to be a Hollywood heman. Born George Montgomery Letz, the youngest of 15 children of an immigrant Russian farmer, he was raised on a remote Montana ranch, where he learned many of the roping and riding skills he displayed in his films. In
1935, he was hired to perform stunts in the Gene Autry western “The
Singing Vagabond.” Billed as George Letz, he continued as a stuntman
and bit-part player in Autry movies. In 1940, he was given a
contract by 20th Century-Fox, which changed his name to George
Montgomery, and immediately gave him a good supporting part in “The
Cisco Kid and the Lady”. His first leading role came in “The
Cowboy and the Blonde” (1941), where he played a rodeo star who “tames’’
a shrewish actress. Montgomery’s future wife, singer Dinah Shore,
claimed that she fell in love with him on seeing him in the picture.
They were married two years later, but not before Montgomery had
relationships with Hedy Lamarr and Ginger Rogers. Rogers was his
co-star in William Wellman’s “Roxie Hart” (1942), one of
Montgomery’s best films. On leaving Fox, Montgomery began his “have
gun, will travel’’ career in a plethora of entertaining,
politically incorrect (vis-a-vis “Red Indians’’ and women)
low-budget movies, mostly under journeymen directors such as Sidney
Salkow, William Castle and Ray Nazzarro. Montgomery, sounding more
and more like Clark Gable, rode alone into many lawless towns and
cleaned them up. He played the title role in “Davy Crockett - Indian
Scout” (1950) and the outlaw Bat Masterson in “Masterson of Kansas”
(1955). Montgomery, who divorced Shore in 1963 after 19 years of
marriage, is survived by a son and daughter. — The Guardian,
London Chinese moved by diary writer’s death BEIJING, Dec 18 (AFP) — Four hundred persons attended the funeral of a cancer patient whose online diary of the last days of his life became a cyber and literary sensation in China, state media reported today. Many of those who went to the funeral of Lu Youqing, 37, in Shanghai today had been moved by his “Diary of Death,” which he began on August 3 after he gave up painful and expensive cancer treatment for a neck tumour. Lu, a former advertising executive, died a week ago after battling cancer for six years. He had begun the diary as a way to deal with his impending death and to leave a record of his thoughts for his wife and 10-year-old daughter. His diary stirred many to reexamine the meaning of life as they race to keep on top of rapid changes in their society caused by 20 years of economic reforms which have placed more emphasis on competition and making money. Lu’s poetic interpretations of his illness and his determination to introduce the fate of cancer patients to a wider audience made his endeavor a daily topic in the Chinese media. It sparked a debate over death, with some branding Lu a coward for forgoing treatment and others lauding him as a hero for bravely facing death. His situation also pointed to problems with China’s health care and social welfare system, which leaves those who cannot afford care by the wayside. Every person who attended Lu’s funeral yesterday was given a sunflower stalk, Lu’s favorite flower, and a bag of sunflower seeds. Instead of sombre music, soft, mellow melodies were played. |
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