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© St. Petersburg Times, published March 17, 2002
Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma is an ardent defender of Israel. In a March 4 Senate floor speech, he laid out reasons why the Jewish state should not have to give up land in exchange for peace with the Arabs.
Jews have had a presence on the land for thousands of years, Inhofe said. And they are an important democratic ally in the Mideast.
But Inhofe's last reason raised eyebrows at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which noted the statement in an e-mail newsletter: "Because God said so."
After quoting a passage from the Book of Genesis in which the Lord gives land to Abraham, father of Isaac, whose descendents were the Jews, Inhofe said in his speech: "This is not a political battle at all. It is a contest over whether or not the word of God is true."
Washington's transit authority has finally surrendered in the fight over what to call National Airport.
Four years ago, Congress renamed the airport after Ronald Reagan, giving it the odd distinction of being named after two presidents (Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport). But the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority refused to acknowledge the new name on rail maps. At the root of the dispute was the fact that Arlington County, Va., where the airport is located, is run by Democrats.
Republicans in Congress raised a fuss and ordered the change in a spending bill last year. So the transit authority has finally made the switch. Reagan's name is being added to signs and maps.
But the switch might make the Gipper, a longtime foe of big government and federal spending, a little uneasy. The new signs and maps will cost the transit authority about $400,000.
The HHS Weekly Report is now available on the Web at www.hhs.gov/news/newsletter/
weekly. But don't expect it to tell you much about the massive government agency for which the publication is named.
A more appropriate name would be the Tommy Thompson Weekly Report.
The Web publication reports Thompson's schedule, covers his public appearances and boasts about any honors he receives.
Last week, he was honored by the American Ireland Fund. "Two of the secretary's grandmothers emigrated from Ireland," the report noted.
The newsletter is believed to represent a new way for an agency to spend taxpayer money to aggrandize a Cabinet secretary. It is published by the HHS press office which, by the way, is notorious in Washington for its failure to answer phone calls from journalists.
Because of congressional opposition to his nomination, President Bush squeaked Otto Reich into his post over at the State Department in January while Congress wasn't looking.
Actually, Congress was on vacation, and the Constitution lets the president do that under a so-called recess appointment. Congress mainly objected to Reich's role in the Iran-Contra scandal, the Reagan administration's arms-for-hostages deal.
At the time, Reich was in charge of an office that, through propaganda, tried to win support in the United States for the U.S.-backed Contra rebels fighting the Marxist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, which was a no-no.
On Tuesday, though, Reich, the State Department's top diplomat in Latin America, had the last laugh, literally.
During an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, he began his remarks this way, according to a transcript by the Federal News Service: "Well, I didn't expect quite this many people either, but it's nice to see so many friends, former colleagues, unindicted coconspirators. (Laughter.) That was supposed to get a better laugh than that. (Laughter.) That was a joke. (Laughter.)"
-- Times staff writers Mary Jacoby, Bill Adair, Paul de la Garza and Sara Fritz contributed to this column.