"We conclude as a matter of law that gay men with female sexual identities in Mexico constitute a 'particular social group'" protected by U.S. asylum rules, Judge A. Wallace Tashima, in a unanimous US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision

abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/transvestite_asylum000825.html

WHAT PRICE VAINGLORY?

"I don't know how you put a price tag on the investigation" of such an important terrorism suspect, McCraw said. "Moreover, I think it's imperative that would-be terrorists know that if they commit such an act, the combined resources of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are going to be used to bring them to justice."
-- "Southeast Bomb Task Force" chief Steve McCraw on the $25 million (plus?) price tag on the search for Eric Robert Rudolph

http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/read/rudolph/index.html

[Well, let's see there, Steve. Putting a price tag on the investigation doesn't appear to have been all that difficult -- unlike finding Rudolph, who eluded your massive task force and it's sophisticated technology with impunity for nearly three years ... and we're still counting. -- ed.]

POLL THIS!

82% of Americans surveyed in a nationwide Portrait of America poll believe it's too easy for criminals to purchase handguns, and nearly 61% believe children can too easily purchase handguns. 58% think stricter enforcement of existing laws, rather than passing new ones, is a better way to reduce handgun violence.
[...]
The POA poll found a strong majority of Americas, 72%, believe regulations like mandatory gun registration might help decrease handgun violence. Support for registration cuts across party lines, enjoying the support of 66% of Republicans, 78% Democrats, and 71% of Independents.

http://205.252.89.107/html/poll-1192.html

http://www.portraitofamerica.com/

THE NEXT VIETNAM?

Agent Green casts shades of Vietnam over Colombia

In Puerto Asis, in the remote, coca-rich hinterland of Colombia, Father Luis Alfonso Gomez is preparing for war. As President Bill Clinton arrives this week to promote efforts to fight the drug trade and end the 30-year civil war on which it has thrived, the priest fears his country may drag the superpower into a new Vietnam. [...]

Source: www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/08/27/stifgname02001.html

THE NEXT WACO?

Mass media interpretation:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26278-2000Aug25.html

http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2000-07-27/news.html

See protagonists' article at: http://www.embassyofheaven.com/current/johnjoe.htm

SADLY, NO, HE WAS NOT

[...] Democrats say the [defense budget] cuts Cheney is complaining about actually started under his watch, in the Bush administration. And Lockhart challenged him today to detail exactly which U.S. military deployments he thinks were off-base.

"Was he against our actions in Haiti? Was he against our action of returning peace to Sarajevo and Bosnia? Was he against reversing ethnic cleansing in Kosovo? Was he against eight years of containment of Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction?" [...]

abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/cheney_military000831.html