Just Hold My Hand And Sing Kumbaya
Just Hold My Hand And Sing Kumbaya
HERSHEY, Pa. (AllPolitics, March 7) -- Miss Manners comes to Capitol Hill, sort of, as lawmakers head off for a weekend in the Pennsylvania countryside to find a way to restore manners and mutual respect among members of Congress. Civility is "not an end in itself but is a necessary prerequisite to getting our work done," said Rep. David Skaggs (D-Colo.). "If we can't talk to each other decently, we can't compromise." About half the House members were planning to leave Washington today for a three-day, privately financed retreat in Hershey, sponsored by the Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trusts and run by The Aspen Institute, a nonprofit educational organization.
Now The Quarterback Piles On
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 7) -- The GOP is pummeling President Bill Clinton for alleged campaign fund-raising problems, with former quarterback and failed vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp the latest to jump onto the pile. If the situation "weren't tragic, it would be laughable," Kemp said. "President Clinton told us four years ago that he would put together the most ethical administration in history. Anyone care to comment?" Kemp said Thursday night at a Conservative Political Action Conference dinner. "Four years after President Clinton said he wanted high ethical standards, Indogate, filegate, independent counsel, Lincoln Bedroom sleep-overs, illegal contributions and the solicitor-in-chief are the headlines in The Washington Post," said Kemp, who is pondering a bid for the White House in the year 2000.More Trouble For Hubbell?
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 7) -- Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr's office questioned a loyal Clinton supporter about an $18,000 payment to Webster Hubbell while the former associate attorney general was under criminal investigation. Texas insurance magnate Bernard Rapoport said he was interviewed Thursday about hiring Hubbell for six months in 1994 at the behest of longtime Clinton supporter Truman Arnold. Rapoport hired Hubbell about the time he was an overnight White House guest in April, 1994. At the time, Whitewater prosecutors were launching a criminal investigation of Hubbell that culminated in his guilty plea to two felonies and a pledge in December 1994 to cooperate with Whitewater prosecutors.
Pols Beware: No Crimp In Crime Yet
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 7) -- Three strikes and you're out? Not so fast.
The much-ballyhooed set of three-strike laws, which calls for tough sentences for three-time violent criminals, has apparently not put much of a crimp in crime. Violent and overall crime rates between 1994 and 1995 actually dropped more in 37 states without three-strikes laws than in 13 states that had such laws, the Justice Policy Institute reported Thursday. The drop in violent crime in states without those laws was 4.6 percent, compared to 1.7 percent in three-strike states; overall crime dropped 1.2 percent in uncovered states, compared to 0.4 percent in states with mandatory sentencing provisions. "It is entirely too early to conclude if three-strikes legislation is working or not. These early figures do show, however, that any politician running another campaign on the effectiveness of three strikes is blatantly misleading the public," the report from the liberal group concluded. The 13 states with three-strikes laws in 1994: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Clergy: No Federal Dollars For Assisted Suicide
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 7) -- Congress should refrain from spending federal money on physician-assisted suicide, say religious leaders, who favor better care and comfort for patients rather than euthanasia. "By and large, seriously ill patients do not want assisted suicide," Archbishop Bernard Law told a House Commerce subcommittee Thursday. "They want decent health care, control of their pain and the same kind of love and support that everyone needs when vulnerable and dependent on others." He was joined by Jewish, Greek Orthodox and Lutheran leaders.