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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 2001)
■ - 5, •• ~ • r .I M Bush strikes back with humor at party I THE ASSOCUJH) PRESS WASHINGTON — President Bush struck back with humor at anybody who might suggest he is dumb, lazy, inarticulate and, worst of all, a puppet president allowing Vice President Dick Cheney to make all the important decisions. “To those people I say Bush said, casting a deadpan nod in Cheney’s direction. “Dick, what do I say?” His audience roared with laughter, perhaps because it included many of the people who liiel perceptions and mispercep tions about the nation’s 43rd president Bush was the featured speaker Saturday night at the spring dinner of the Gridiron Club, a 116-year-old institution that gathers Washington’s media and political elite for a night of satire and civility. The political press corps pro duced die usual musical parodies poking fun at the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and itself, drawing tongue-in cheek “responses" from Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut for the Democrats and Attorney General John Ashcroft lor the Republicans. But the president stole the show with a self-deprecating reply to those who say he is not quite up to the Job. “Those stories about my intellectual capacity do get under my skin. You know, for a while I . even thought my staff believed it,” he said. “There on my sched ule first thing every morning it said, ‘Intelligence briefing.’” Bush claimed it got so bad that he turned to Democratic powerbroker Robert Strauss for advice. “He said, ‘Just remember, Mr. President You can fool some of the people all of the time. Those are the people you need to concentrate on.’” The president showed he is smart enough to map the human genome, as a habit ai}d an act of practicality. “I hope to eventually clone another Dick Cheney,” Bush said. "Then I won't have to do anything!" And on it went. One after another, Bush mentioned a per ceived shortcoming, then con fronted it with humor. Recalling his "youthful indis cretions," the president said the straight-laced Ashcroft "is not the kind of guy I hung out with in col lege.” He admitted to suffering foot in-mouth disease, quoting one wag who said, “George Bush’s lips are where words go to die.” Lieberman, Gore’s running mate, suggested he has not got ten over .the loss. Turning to Cheney, Lieberman said, “Mr. vah... vah... vah... vah. For some r reason, I’m still having trouble putting that title (of vice presi dent) before Dick Cheney’s name. "Maybe I should just address you the way President Bush does ... ‘Good evening, sir.’" Even Ashcroft poked fun of Bush, saying that a 24-7 shift at the White House means "24 hours a week, seven months a year." Ashcroft is not the kind who would question his boss’ smarts - unless, of course, he was looking for a laugh in the name of civility and satire. Thus, the attorney general let it slip that Bush ordered his Cabinet recently to “travel to all 54 states." Russia blames rebels for blast THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia — Police posted sketches of six suspects in markets and stores and set up a hotline for tips on Sunday as they tried to resolve a string of bombings that killed at least 21 people and injured ntore than 100 in southern Three bomb-laden Russian cars exploded almost simultaneously Saturday in three towns near the breakaway republic of Chechnya in the worst act of terror to hit die region in months. Russian officials blame Chechen rebels for die blasts but have offered no hard evidence. Rebel leaders have denied responsibility for the attacks. “The composite drawings of the suspects were made and have been posted near markets and shops in the Northern Caucasus,” said CoL Viktor %Shkareda, a spokesman for the regional Emergency Situations Ministry. The sketches were also broadcast on Russian television Sunday and police set up special tele phone numbers to call if the suspects were spot ted. Officials did not say whether the suspects were thought to have planted the bombs or were just wanted in connection with the blasts. The worst blast hit Saturday morning near a bustling farmer’s market in the city ofMineralnye Vody. The bomb, detonated by remote control, killed 19 people, according to Col. Alexander Lemeshev, duty officer for the Emergency Situations Ministry in the northern Caucasus. Seventy victims remained hospitalized Sunday, with eight in critical condition, Shkareda said. At about the same time of the Mineralnye Vody blast, two Interior Ministry inspectors were killed in a car bomb explosion on a highway near the vil lage of Adyge-Khabl in the Karachayevo Cherkessia region. 4 The third car bomb was detonated near the entrance to a.traffic police office in the nearby town ofYessentuld in the Stavropol region, injur ing 13 people, police said. Miheralnye Vody, Yessentuki and Adyge-Khabl are located within 100 miles of Chechnya to the northwest “It was a carefully planned act of Chechen rebels,” Russia’s Federal Security Service said in a statement Saturday. “It is an effort by the rebel * leaders to distract Russian security forces from the operation in Chechnya.” But rebel Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov released a statement Sunday denying any role in the explosions. “We are not fighting with civilians; we conduct a guerrilla war with the (Russian) occupants,* Maskhadov’s statement said. “We have nothing to do with the criminal structures of Russia and do not fight with women, old men, children and civil ians.” C Editor Sarah Baker |H Mooofioi Editor Bradley Davis mw Associate Nows Editor Kimberly Sweet ^ Assljomoot Editor Jill Zeman ■fli opinion Editor Jake Giazeski Sports Editor Matthew Hansen Asststoot Sports Editor David Diehl m Arts Editor Samuel McKewon W Copy Desk Chief: Danell McCoy ahem Copy Desk Chief: Jeff Bloom Art Director Melanie FaJk ■JMkm - Art Director Delan Lonowskl O Photo Chief: Scott McClurg Desifo Coordinator Bradley Davis Z—-f Web Editor Gregg Stems Assistant Web Editor Tanner Graham General Managor Daniel Shattil IX Pnhilcatlont Board Russell Willbanks i Chairman: (402) 484-7226 •J2 Profoetlsnal Advisor Don Walton r? (402)473-7248 Advortfsing Manager Nick Partsch , (402)472-2589 Assistant Ad Manager Nicole Woita Classified Ad Managor Nikki Bruner Clrcalotioa Manager. ImtiyazKhan Fax number (402) 472-1761 m—i-t uej- hi.l. J-ii —« wonu wwe mo. www.oaiiyneo.coin The Daiy Nebraskan (USPS144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Boards Nebnsla Union. 1400 R St, Lincoln, NE 6^88-0448, Monday tfwough Friday duing the academic year, weekly during the summer sessions.Tlie pubfic has access to the Pubtcations Board. Readers are encouraged to submd story ideas and comments to the Daly Nebraskan by calng (402) 472-2588. Subscriptions are $60 for one year, rename &eno address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R SI, Lincoln N£ 6858W448. Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 2001 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN .tH* David Sflverman/liewsmaters A wounded Palestinian is euacnated to a waiting ambulance during violent dashes with brad! troops gnawing an army roadblock on the outskirts of the West Bank Palestinian town of Nablus Sunday. At least 20 Palestinians were injured during dashes that enipted when hundreds of demonstrators began stoning Israel troops manning the roadblock who responded with uoleys of rubber-coated metal billets. Partvs araue on use of untaooed reserves ■ Democrats accuse Bush of using California's energy problems as an excuse to drill for oil. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON—The Bush admin istration wiD not go “begging die OPEC countries or anybody else” to increase oil production as long as the United States has untapped reserves that could ease an energy pinch, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Sunday. Making the case for oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Abraham said no one should be sur prised that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries recently chose to cut output to keep prices high. “They have decided to put their own interests first, and I think that’s some thing the American people need to rec ognize," Abraham told “Fox News on Sunday.” “We are not going to take the approach of begging the OPEC coun tries or anybody else with respect to oil production.” Abraham’s comments come amid concern about power shortages and m blackouts in California, as well as the possibility of soaring electricity and gasoline prices across the country this summer Democrats argue there are other ways to improve the country’s energy efficiency than drilling in the Arctic refuge and that fuel should not come at the expense of the environment Some Democrats say President Bush, a Texas oil man, is wrongly using the California energy crisis to make his argument when the state is suffering a shortage of electricity, not oil During the presidential campaign, Bush repeatedly talked of pressuring OPEC to keep oil production reason able. He suggested his administration would be able to sway OPEC nations better than President Clinton's was. Some Republicans described Clinton’s approach as embarrassing “tin-cup diplomacy.” Abraham said die Bush administra tion would make the argument to OPEC leaders that die supply and demand of die market should determine price, not cartel manipulations. Beyond that, the United States would not supplicate. “Wfe should not expect OPEC to nec essarily just do what the United States m considers in its best interests. And I think that just argues for us to develop more energy resources here at home,” Abraham said Development of Alaskan reserves is a critical element of Bush’s energy strat egy. The refuge could hold as much as 16 billion barrels of oil, larger than reserves in neighboring Prudhoe Bay, although the oil would not be available for a decade. Bush has acknowledged that open ing the Arctic refuge to drilling may be a hard sell in Congress. Senate Democrats have pledged to block legislation that would lift the refuge’s protection. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said the refuge should remain pristine and that it was “completely fraudulent” for Republicans to suggest that America’s dependency on oil was going to be solved by drilling in the refiige. He also said Republicans were wrongly holding California up as an example of why die nation should drill. “In California, only 1 percent of the entire electricity grid of California comes from oiL They’re trying to sell the notion that this is going to address California. It doesn’t address California.” English army buries diseased-animal remains THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON—As Britain struggled to keep up with the disposal of slaugh tered livestock, the army started dig ging huge pits at an old air base on Sunday for the mass burial of up to 500,000 carcasses from the foot-and mouth epidemic. Earthmovers scooped out huge trenches at an abandoned airfield at Great Orton in Cumbria County, north west England, with more than 190 cases - the region wbrst hit by the highly infectious disease. Brigadier Alex Birtwistle, who is leading the operation, said the army was licensed to bury up to half a million animals in the mass grave. “We have about 500,000 sheep to ' TODAY Sunny High 43, low 25 TOMORROW Mostly cloudy High 50, low 32 take out of farms live and bring to be slaughtered in the most humane way. It is an apocalyptic task,” Birtwistle said. The government has said Britain would slaughter nearly all livestock on farms adjacent to foot-and-mouth infection sites in an effort to contain the disease. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on Sunday con firmed 27 new cases of the disease, including more than a dozen in Cumbria, bringing the total to 597. Some scientists believe this could spiral to 4,000 by June. In the Netherlands, government officials confirmed a new case of foot and-mouth disease Sunday at a farm in the northeastern town of Oene in the province of Gelderland, bringing the number of infected farms in that coun try to five. Dutch health officials today will begin vaccinating animals at farms where foot-and-mouth is suspected, after receiving approval from the European Union on Friday. France last week reported its sec ond case of the disease and Argentina has identified 55 cases, while Ireland has one case of the disease, which strikes cloven-hoofed animals like sheep, pigs and cows. i Britain's Environment Agency, which approved the Cumbria site, said it had investigated more than 180 areas to find acceptable places for such large scale culling. The main problem in Cumbria was to avoid polluting groundwater, which provides water supplies in large areas. Jane Brown, director of operations at the Agriculture Ministry, said as soon as die Cumbrian pit was ready “we will use it to bury some of the bodies that have already been slaughtered on forms that we haven't been able to dis- - pose of % “Then we will begin bringing live sheep here from around the edges of the very infected areas around Penrith,’’ for slaughter and burial, she explained The Environment Agency was assessing the suitability of a second area for slaughtering and burying sheep, Brown said The aim was to catch up with the backlog of carcasses and to begin creat ing the “firebreak” Prime Minister Tony Blair has described to prevent the dis ease from spreading further. Another large cull was scheduled for Tuesday in Anglesey, Wales. About 40,000 livestock within a 50-square mile area of southwest Anglesey were scheduled to be slaughtered The Associated Press ■ Switzerland Parliament votes to legalize abortions until 12th week LUGANO —Years after, most of Europe legalized abortion, die Swiss parliament voted Friday to permit women to end pregnancy until the 12th week. A key political party, however; immediately announced it would force a national referendum on the issue, delaying for years a decision on when - or whether - the law will take effect Closing its spring session Friday, the National Council - parliament’s larger chamber - opted by 107 to 69 votes to legalize abortion without obliging women first to seek neutral advice at a state-approvecLcenter. The other house, the Council ofStates, approved the proposal22-20. \ Nonetheless, an alliance of women’s organizations who had lobbied hard for the legislation welcomed the approval of the law. ■fewgia WWF to buy WCW, end professional wrestling rivalry ATLANTA — The World Wrestling Federation is buying die ailing World Championship Wrestling business from AOL Time Warner Inc., ending an intense rivalry that has inflamed professional wrestling fans for nearly 20 years. WCW, a division of AOL’s Rimer Broadcasting System Inc. unit, had been planning to stop production after tonight, but the deal announced Friday gives it new life. Stamford, Conn.-based WWF, whose Monday show is the top-rated program on cable TV, said it would produce new WCW programming. “Thisisasmart business deci sion and a good investment for us," said Linda McMahon, chief executive of World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. “We're grabbing it because it is simply that kind of opportunity." ■ Oklahoma Murderers make pact; only one commits suicide EDMOND—One of two con victed murderers who held an elderly couple hostage in their home was found dead inside the house Saturday, authorities said. Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel said William B. Davis may have killed himself. The other inmate, Douglas E. Gray, emerged from the home and surrendered, Whetsel said. Hostage Gilbert lltepker, 73, walked out of his home and was reunited with his wife, Mildred, 72, who had been released earlier in the evening, police spokes woman Qynda Chu said. Whetsel said the men appar ently made a pact to kill them selves if they were cornered, but Gray changed his mind. ■ Egypt Archaeologists find 11 mum mies in Western Desert CAIRO — Archaeologists have found II mummies in Egypt's Western Desert, including one of a child entombed with his parents and wearing a mask that shows him in tears. The mummies are about 1,800 years old, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said in a statement They are in good con dition and were found near Bahariya Oasis, 215 miles south west of Cairo. "The most beautiful one is that of a 3-year-old child lying next to the mummies of his father and mother It has a mask with the drawing of a child who appears to be crying,” die head of die coun cil, Gabballah Ali Gabballah, said in the statement Gabballah said archaeologists also found the tombs of the par ents of the mayor of Bahariya dur ing the period of Pharaoh Ahmose II, who ruled from 570 to 526 BG Because of a reporting and editing error, the NU Athletic Department's budget shortfall was overstated in Friday’s Daily Nebraskan. The Athletic Department ended up about $250,000 in the red last fiscal year.