Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:41:18 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Meghan Clyne :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Meghan+Clyne istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/dont-know-much-about-us-history-neh-chief-is/30675/ Mon, 10 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The ferocity of the debate in recent weeks over what makes an American - the heated immigration argument in the Congress, the large-scale protests on city streets - may have shocked some citizens, but it's an issue the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Bruce Cole, addresses every day. "We have waves of people coming into our country, seeking the blessings of our liberties," some of whom arrive without clear ideas of what unites them to America or what binds... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/un-provokes-a-new-standoff-over-us-demands/30383/ Wed, 5 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The United Nations has provoked an America-versus-the-world standoff pitting Ambassador John Bolton against the remaining 190 U.N. member states over America's effort to impose fiscal restraint on the $1.9 billion renovation of the world body's headquarters. According to observers at the United Nations and documents made available to The New York Sun, the United Nations' Fifth Committee, the world body's budgetary arm, is pushing to appropriate an additional $100.5 million for... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/change-in-law-proposed-to-stamp-out-anti-semitism/30324/ Tue, 4 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The United States Commission on Civil Rights is calling on Congress to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly protect Jews against anti-Semitic harassment on America's campuses. The provision is one of a series of "findings and recommendations" adopted yesterday by the seven-member federal commission after a heated meeting held by teleconference and open to the public. The commission's recommendations came after months of delay and negotiations with the federal Department of... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/congressmen-grill-swiss-bankers-over-ties-to-bin/30062/ Thu, 30 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The Swiss banking giant, UBS, may have helped Iran develop its nuclear program, may have held an account for Al Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden, and could find itself investigated as part of Congress's ongoing inquiry into the United Nations oil-for-food scandal, lawmakers said yesterday. During an intense grilling on Capitol Hill, the bank was also accused of engaging in a pattern of resistance to congressional inquiries, as lawmakers cited years of non-cooperation with... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/education-department-backs-away-from-anti/30008/ Wed, 29 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Against a backdrop of alleged anti-Semitism at some of the nation's top universities, including Harvard and Columbia, the federal Department of Education is said to be backing away from a 2004 policy of protecting Jewish students against discrimination and harassment on campus. According to staff of the United States Civil Rights Commission and members of Jewish organizations, correspondence from the Education Department's assistant secretary for civil rights, Stephanie Monroe, has... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/israel-lobby-dean-to-leave-post-in-june/29927/ Tue, 28 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, currently facing a storm of criticism for a paper he co-authored about an "Israel lobby," will step down at the end of June, according to the School's administrators and faculty. The academic dean, Stephen Walt, is scheduled to vacate his administrative position on June 30, the dean of the school, David Ellwood, told The New York Sun. Mr. Walt will remain at the Kennedy School as a professor. Mr. Walt has come under... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/israel-lobby-study-attracts-more-abuse/29835/ Mon, 27 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - One of America's most prominent Jewish advocacy organizations has jumped into the fray surrounding the Harvard Kennedy School of Government's academic paper about the "Israel lobby," denouncing the paper as "a sloppy diatribe." Criticism also came a New York legislator, who dismissed the study as a "prejudiced rant." The paper, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," was written by the academic dean of the Kennedy School, Stephen Walt, and a political science professor and the... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/harvards-paper-on-israel-drew-from-neo-nazi-sites/29741/ Fri, 24 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - A prominent Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz, is alleging that the authors of a Harvard Kennedy School paper about the "Israel lobby," one of which is the Kennedy School's academic dean, culled sections of the paper from neo-Nazi and other anti-Israel hate Web sites. "What we're discovering first of all is that the quotes that they use are not only wrenched out of context, but they are the common quotes that appear on hate sites," Mr. Dershowitz, who is identified in the... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/harvard-school-distances-itself-from-deans-paper/29638/ Thu, 23 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Harvard's Kennedy School of Government is removing its logo from a paper about the "Israel lobby" that was co-authored by its academic dean. The new version of the paper also has a more prominent disclaimer warning that the paper's views belong only to its authors. The changes appear to be a sign that the university is distancing itself from the document in the face of a furor from faculty members, Jewish leaders, and a congressman who say it fails to meet academic standards and... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/harvards-paper-on-israel-called-trash-by-solon/29554/ Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The uproar over a paper co-authored by the academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government about what is described as the far-reaching influence of an "Israel lobby" erupted on Capitol Hill yesterday, as one congressman labeled the paper "trash" and described its authors as "anti-Semites." The paper also drew fire from Cambridge, Mass., as Harvard faculty members and students joined the chorus of denunciations. One day after Kennedy School scholar Marvin Kalb lambasted the... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/kalb-upbraids-harvard-dean-over-israel/29470/ Tue, 21 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The furor over a paper co-authored by the academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government about what is described as the far-reaching influence of an "Israel lobby" intensified yesterday, as it drew sharp criticism from a prominent Kennedy School scholar, President Clinton's special coordinator for the Middle East negotiations, and figures identified in the paper as members of the "lobby." The paper, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," was written by the Kennedy... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/foreign/irans-democracy-movement-greets-news-of-ganjis/29426/ Mon, 20 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Iranian democracy activists warned yesterday that one of Iran's most famous dissidents, Akbar Ganji, who was freed over the weekend, would soon be back in jail if he kept up his criticism of the Tehran mullahs' regime. "He has a temporary release," the editor of American-backed Radio Farda, Ali Sajjadi, said. "And the length of that temporary release is based on what he will do. Probably they won't take him back to jail if he keeps quiet. Otherwise, if he starts to criticize or to... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/foreign/after-three-years-cuban-free-press-lives/29347/ Fri, 17 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Despite the Castro regime's increasingly brutal repression of dissidents and independent journalists, Cuba's underground free press survives three years after a notorious crackdown meant to destroy it, according to a new report released yesterday by Reporters Without Borders. The report, which documents the struggle against the Castro dictatorship's stranglehold on information in Cuba, marks the three-year anniversary of the infamous March 2003 crackdown on the Cuban opposition... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/questions-surround-activities-of-clinton-donor/29226/ Thu, 16 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Senator Clinton's likely Republican opponent in 2006 and a South Korean newspaper are raising questions about campaign donations the New York Democrat has received from a New York businessman who is involved in an organization that sets up cultural events in North Korea. The organization was founded by a man who later resigned as South Korea's ambassador to America after allegations emerged that he helped establish a "slush fund" for South Korean politicians. "Once again serious... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/new-york/rangel-protects-a-tax-loophole-on-virgin-islands/29139/ Wed, 15 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Rep. Charles Rangel, a Democrat of New York, is holding up a nonpolitical legislative process as leverage to help the U.S. Virgin Islands reopen a tax loophole, Senate aides told The New York Sun yesterday. Senior staff on Capitol Hill familiar with tax legislation said that Mr. Rangel, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has oversight of taxation, has refused to participate in and sign on as a co-sponsor of "technical corrections" bills on the October... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/un-warns-avian-flu-to-hit-us/28917/ Fri, 10 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The United Nations' stark warning that avian flu could arrive in America within six months or less has brought to light the country's unpreparedness for a pandemic expected to infect 75 million people and debilitate 40% of the country's work force, medical analysts said yesterday. "This will be 50 times worse than Katrina," the co-director of the Pandemic Preparedness Initiative at the Trust for America's Health, Kimberly Elliott, said of America's ability to respond to the crisis... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/foreign/us-will-use-emirates-to-watch-iran/28831/ Thu, 9 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The State Department yesterday stressed the importance of plans to station at least 10 diplomats in Dubai to monitor the Tehran regime and support Iran's pro-democracy movement. The move was intended to assure a restive Congress of the Bush administration's commitment to containing the Iranian nuclear threat. The siting of the monitors in Dubai reemphasized that the president and the State Department believe the United Arab Emirates is a strong American ally in the war on terror at... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/virgin-islands-donors-invest-in-key-senators/28712/ Wed, 8 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Concern is mounting that Senate support for the U.S. Virgin Islands' efforts to reopen a tax loophole is being won with more than $235,000 in campaign contributions. Five senators identified by USVI representatives as allies in their campaign - Senator Crapo, a Republican of Idaho; Senator Gordon Smith, a Republican of Oregon; Senator Baucus, a Democrat of Montana; Senator Thomas, a Republican of Wyoming, and Senator Talent, a Republican of Missouri - have each received tens of... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/reagan-aides-try-to-remember-kt-mcfarland/28643/ Tue, 7 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - As Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland seeks to defeat Senator Clinton on the strength of her leadership in the Reagan Pentagon, some prominent Reagan-era defense officials say they remember little about the personality or work of the latest Republican candidate for the Senate from New York. "I don't think she was a central person that everybody had an opinion about," an undersecretary of defense for policy in the Reagan administration, Fred Ikle, told The New York Sun yesterday. While... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/foreign/congress-outbids-bush-on-iran-democracy-aid/28521/ Fri, 3 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Senator Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, is seeking to one-up the Bush administration's request for federal aid to Iran's pro-democracy movement, calling for $100 million to help the Islamic Republic's transition to freedom. Mr. Santorum is the sponsor of the Senate version of the Iran Freedom and Support Act, a bill that, among its many provisions, would toughen sanctions against the Iranian regime, provide "financial and political" assistance to civil society organizations... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/rangel-backs-tax-loophole-for-the-rich/28419/ Thu, 2 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - One of the most vociferous congressional critics of President Bush's so-called tax cuts for the rich, Rep. Charles Rangel, is also one of the House's most "vigorous" advocates of restoring a tax loophole that allowed multimillionaires to evade up to 90% of their personal federal income taxes, according to representatives of the U.S. Virgin Islands who lobbied Congress yesterday to reopen the loophole. "It's not fair what they're doing here," Mr. Rangel said of Washington's efforts... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/virgin-islands-asks-to-reopen-a-tax-loophole/28321/ Wed, 1 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Representatives of the U.S. Virgin Islands will ask Congress to reopen a tax loophole that allowed some of America's wealthiest financiers to dodge almost 90% of their personal federal income taxes, in testimony to be delivered here today before the Senate Energy Committee. The hearing will become part of an intensifying campaign by USVI officials and inhabitants to ease residency and income restrictions implemented in 2004 after press accounts - including front-page stories in The... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/new-york/mayor-blasts-bushs-proposed-cuts-to-federal/28337/ Wed, 1 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Sounding more like a denizen of Capitol Hill than the occupant of City Hall, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday criticized the Bush administration's proposed cuts to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, outlined a plan for the rebuilding of New Orleans, and denounced the atmosphere of partisanship in Washington. Delivering the keynote address at the National Low-Income Housing Coalition's annual policy conference, Mr. Bloomberg used most of his remarks to tout his... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/university-accused-of-cheating-to-win-bush-library/28263/ Tue, 28 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The legal drama surrounding the George W. Bush Presidential Library is heating up as the school favored to receive the institution, Dallas's Southern Methodist University, finds itself accused of trying to manipulate the legal process in order to ensure a lawsuit against the school is heard before an SMU-affiliated judge. The initial lawsuit against SMU alleges that the school violated its legal obligations to local homeowners in an effort to secure land currently occupied by the... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/lawsuit-over-eminent-domain-could-snarl-bush/27794/ Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST DALLAS - The school favored to host the George W. Bush Presidential Library, Dallas's Southern Methodist University, may encounter a snag next week in the form of a lawsuit alleging that the school has improperly seized local homes in order to secure land for the proposed library site. Amid increasing outrage among Republicans over the use of eminent domain and other coercive measures to obtain private property for public projects, a case in Dallas County's 134th Civil District Court, which is... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/martinez-upset-by-bushs-neglect-of-cuban-democracy/27474/ Mon, 13 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON — A Florida senator and former member of President Bush's cabinet is proclaiming his "profound disappointment" with Mr. Bush's neglect of Cuban democracy in his State of the Union address. Senator Martinez, Republican of Florida, sent a letter late last week to Secretary of State Rice and the president's National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, faulting the White House for skirting oppression in the Western Hemisphere during Mr. Bush's most visible annual speech. In his remarks... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/anger-at-brandeis-is-growing-over-a-palestinian/27376/ Fri, 10 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Brandeis University's refusal to address concerns about possible ties between a prominent Palestinian Arab scholar, Khalil Shikaki, and the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad is prompting outrage in the Jewish community and among some Brandeis alumni. Calls are mounting for an investigation into Mr. Shikaki's documented associations with known terrorists. Mr. Shikaki was named last year as a scholar at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/new-york/clinton-touts-hawkish-credits/27288/ Thu, 9 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Swinging back at GOP efforts to paint Democrats as weak on security, Senator Clinton is touting her hawkish credentials in what analysts described as an attempt to distance herself from the party's anti-war wing in advance of her Senate and White House bids. Weeks after President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, told the Republican National Committee that national security will be a key component of GOP congressional campaigns this year, Mrs. Clinton yesterday dismissed Mr... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/foreign/bushs-denunciation-of-syria-may-portend-regime/27066/ Mon, 6 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - President Bush's denunciation of Syria on the heels of anti-Western violence there - sparked by the publication in the West of political cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad - could be the first step toward regime change in Damascus, Syrian opposition leaders said yesterday. The violence spread to neighboring Lebanon yesterday, where demonstrators set fire to the Danish Consulate in Beirut - which also housed the Austrian Embassy and the Slovakian consul - and then spread the... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/boehner-gives-gop-fresh-face/26999/ Fri, 3 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The upset victory by Rep. John Boehner's of Ohio over the acting majority leader, Roy Blunt, puts a fresh face on a party tainted by the scandal over lobbyist Jack Abramoff, but will provide minimal help to the GOP in 2006 electoral battles, analysts said yesterday. Some of New York's congressmen, meanwhile, praised the election as a boon to the state and its Republican delegation. In a dramatic day of balloting on Capitol Hill, Mr. Boehner, 56, emerged as the Republicans' new... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/bush-energy-plan-irks-critics-from-free-market/26908/ Thu, 2 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Critics lashed out at President Bush over his proposals to break America's oil addiction, contending the plan will undercut the basis of America's strong economy, misdirect the country's energy reform priorities, or further poison an already fragile environment. In his State of the Union address Tuesday, Mr. Bush, a former Texas oilman, raised eyebrows when he proclaimed that America is "addicted to oil" and unveiled his "Advanced Energy Initiative" to replace more than 75% of the... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/bush-calls-for-end-of-tyranny/26818/ Wed, 1 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - President Bush's focus on domestic initiatives in his State of the Union address is an attempt by Republicans to co-opt traditionally Democratic issues in advance of the 2006 elections - and, amid a public discourse dominated by a long-term war, will remind voters that the GOP is the party of new ideas, analysts said. In his fifth State of the Union, President Bush unveiled last night a series of proposals aimed at making Americans better-educated, more economically competitive... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/bush-to-encounter-skepticism-on-iran-in-speech/26717/ Tue, 31 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - When President Bush talks to the Congress this evening about the importance of Iran's transition to democracy, he will face some skepticism - fueled by his own State Department which has irked both houses by blocking support to Iran's pro-democracy movement for fear of disrupting now-failed nuclear talks, members and aides on Capitol Hill told The New York Sun. Those nuclear negotiations have now been referred to the United Nations Security Council. Yesterday, that body's five... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/congress-racing-to-isolate-a-hamas-regime/26664/ Mon, 30 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Congress is moving quickly in the face of Hamas's victory in the Palestinian elections to slash American funding for the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations and ensure that America moves to isolate the new regime. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican of Florida, will introduce House legislation this week to slash American funding to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations; designate the Palestinian Authority as a "terrorist sanctuary," and close down some... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/foreign/un-opens-its-doors-to-hollywood-che-biopic/26676/ Mon, 30 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The United Nations' decision to open its doors for a Hollywood biopic about a Cuban mass murderer, Ernesto "Che" Guevara," has drawn fire from opponents of the Castro regime who say the world body should be "embarrassed" for helping whitewash the communist assassin's history. Last weekend, the U.N. General Assembly served as a movie set for "Che," the upcoming film about the life of Guevara, Fidel Castro's most notorious associate. The film, slated for release later this year, is... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/foreign/concern-mounts-on-syria-as-opposition-gathers/26597/ Fri, 27 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Concern is mounting that a Syrian opposition conference convening here this weekend will perpetuate the exclusionary tactics of the Assad regime, as pro-Syrian democracy leaders edged out of the meeting - the first large-scale, international summit here of Syrian dissidents - also warned of participants' alleged Baathist and Muslim Brotherhood ties. The conference, to be held this Saturday and Sunday across the Potomac in Northern Virginia at the Crystal City Marriott, will gather... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/new-york/clintons-criticism-of-pork-barrel-spending-under/26538/ Thu, 26 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Senator Clinton, a Democrat of New York, slammed the federal government for failing to prioritize national security in its spending allocations yesterday - the same day she and New York's senior senator, Charles Schumer, won the "Porker of the Year" prize from a government watchdog group accusing the lawmakers of wasting taxpayer money. Speaking before the 74th winter meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, Mrs. Clinton told a ballroom full of the country's municipal... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/foreign/most-wanted-terrorist-is-spotted-in-syria/26427/ Wed, 25 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - One of the American government's most wanted terrorists visited Syria late last week with Iran's President Ahmadinejad, according to a former Reagan administration national security official and Iran watchers on Capitol Hill. The former official, Michael Ledeen, now an author and scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, made the claim in an article published yesterday afternoon on the Web site of the conservative magazine National Review. Several American government officials... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/house-insurgents-pressing-to-oust-entire/26349/ Tue, 24 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The shake-up from the scandal over lobbyist Jack Abramoff may extend far beyond the resigned majority leader, Tom DeLay, with an influential faction of congressional Republicans calling for the party's entire House leadership slate to face an election that would prompt a "self-examination." Behind the effort to force new elections is Rep. John Sweeney, a Republican of New York, who first issued his call for mid-Congress votes on all House leaders last week. Since then, Mr. Sweeney... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/cuban-players-may-defect-during-tourney/26275/ Mon, 23 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Hope is rising that Major League Baseball's World Baseball Classic will prompt Cuban players to defect to America, as opponents of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro are readying aid to asylum-seekers in advance of the international tournament. "I'm hoping that despite the manner in which these players will be watched over, that some of them do avail themselves of this opportunity, and I certainly encourage them," Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican who has promised to help... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/foreign/america-to-osama-bin-laden-nuts/26211/ Fri, 20 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden's most recent outreach effort to America's "fifth column" - an audio-taped message in which he threatens more attacks while offering a "truce" to America in the terror war - will only backfire and strengthen American resolve to liquidate Al Qaeda, analysts said yesterday. Portions of the 10-minute recording, Mr. bin Laden's first dispatch to America in more than a year, were first aired yesterday morning on a Qatar-based, Arabic-language television network... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/us-holocaust-museum-comes-under-fire-for-failing/26139/ Thu, 19 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Amid pledges from Iran to "wipe Israel off the map" and to hold a conference examining whether the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews is a "myth," America's Holocaust Museum is under fire for its silence about Arab assistance to the Nazis during World War II, and about the intensifying hatred of Jews in the Arab Middle East today. Leading the charge is Holocaust Museum Watch, a national organization formed 18 months ago to spur the museum toward meaningful acknowledgment of Arab... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/pressure-on-bush-grows-over-policy-on-cubans/26062/ Wed, 18 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Pressure is mounting on President Bush to overhaul America's "wet-foot/dry-foot" policy on Cuban migration, as cries from lawmakers in Washington and Florida - and the desperation of a hunger striker in Miami - fuel an intensifying furor over the administration's deportation of 15 Cubans who risked their lives seeking freedom in America earlier this month. At a press conference in Miami yesterday, the president's brother, Governor Bush of Florida, said the wetfoot/dry-foot policy... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/concern-mounts-over-brandeis-professors-ties/25980/ Tue, 17 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Concern is mounting about the possible connections between a prominent Palestinian Arab scholar, Khalil Shikaki, and leading members of the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Government wiretaps introduced at the trial of a Florida professor accused of operating the American wing of PIJ, Sami Al-Arian, show Mr. Shikaki distributed money in the West Bank for Al-Arian associates allegedly tied to PIJ - conversations the federal government argues may represent terrorist... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/bush-enforcing-cuba-embargo-in-new-push/25722/ Thu, 12 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is cracking down on Americans who have violated the embargo against Cuba, targeting a "solidarity" trip to Havana in July 2005 by the New York-based pro-Castro group Pastors for Peace. The Treasury Department sent administrative subpoenas to more than 100 people who traveled to Cuba last summer with the activist group - a first-step enforcement action that could lead to up to $65,000 in fines being imposed on each traveler. The founder and executive director... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/human-rights-watchs-letter-seen-as-anti-israel/25679/ Wed, 11 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Concern is mounting over a letter sent to President Bush last month by one of America's largest human rights organizations, Human Rights Watch, denouncing Israeli settlers in the West Bank and the Israeli security fence as part of an "illegal" land grab. Supporters of Israel this week excoriated the missive, which urges a cessation of American funding to the Jewish state, as "anti-Israel" and "racist." Writing to the president on December 27, the executive director of Human Rights... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/restive-conservatives-may-yet-make-bid-for-delays/25510/ Mon, 9 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - Speculation is surging here that restive conservatives might soon push their own candidate to run for majority leader in the House on a platform of right of center Republican ideals to challenge the acting majority leader, Roy Blunt, of Missouri, and the chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, John Boehner, of Ohio, both of whom official announced over the weekend that they would be seeking the post. The flurry of campaigning for the vacant leadership post of Rep... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/president-to-push-medical-record-computerization/25457/ Fri, 6 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - President Bush is readying a major push to computerize the nation's medical records, including what is expected to be between $100 million and $200 million in funding for the program in the federal budget he will propose next month. Two likely 2008 presidential contenders and leaders of their respective political parties, Senator Frist, a Republican of Tennessee, and Senator Clinton, a Democrat of New York, teamed up last year on legislation to try to encourage doctors to replace... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/judge-alito-faces-grilling-schumer-says/25470/ Fri, 6 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - As Judge Samuel Alito stands poised to become the next associate justice of the Supreme Court, and as the Bush administration tours the country to highlight positive economic numbers, New York's Senator Schumer launched a two-pronged attack on the president yesterday - comparing Judge Alito to failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, and lambasting the president for an alleged indifference to the economic woes of middle-class Americans. In a speech delivered yesterday on Capitol... MEGHAN CLYNE http://www.nysun.com/national/bush-to-sign-monumental-school-voucher-law/25158/ Fri, 30 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON — President Bush will soon sign into law what is being described as the largest school voucher program in American history,providing about $1.6 billion in federal money for students affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Under the law, the money can go to parochial schools. That provision has won praise from school choice advocates and some religious leaders while attracting criticism from the National Education Association, a union that represents teachers who work at mainly...