WASHINGTON, May 15 (UPI) -- Capital Comment -- Daily news notes, political rumors, and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.
East Timor troubles -- Up until they announced who would actually be going, the White House was being very closed-mouthed about the composition of the United States delegation to East Timor's May 20 independence celebration. The widely circulated rumor that it would be headed by former President Bill Clinton turns out to be true.
Nevertheless, the idea that Clinton would be asked to lead the delegation -- which some suggest is a proffered olive branch from the 43rd president to his predecessor -- was not well received in GOP political circles. A source tells Capital Comment former Vice President Dan Quayle was under consideration to be the number 2 VIP on the trip in an attempt to pacify complaining conservatives. According to the source, Quayle wanted to go but was unwilling to travel on the same plane with Clinton, so thorough is his dislike for the man who is only the second president in U.S. history to be impeached.
The idea of sending two planes was on the table for a while but, as it turns out, Quayle will not be going. Instead, the number two spot is being held by former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, with Assistant Secretary of State for Asian Pacific Affairs James Kelly, National Security Council Director for Asian Affairs Karen Brooks, U.S. Charge d'Affairs for East Timor Shari Villarosa and Brig. Gen. John G. Castellaw, Deputy Commander of the Marine Forces in the Pacific, rounding out the delegation.
End of an era -- As has been long rumored, the ABC television network has given its late night talk show Politically Incorrect the ax. Comments made on air by host Bill Maher in the aftermath of Sept. 11 angered a radio talk show host in Texas who then organized a campaign of complaints directed at the program's advertisers. The ensuing controversy led the network to take the show off the air for a brief period -- although the network's Washington, D.C., affiliate never put it back on the air. ABC is giving the post-Nightline timeslot to comic Jimmy Kimmel, the former co-star of Comedy Central's Win Ben Stein's Money and current co-host of the network's The Man Show. "It's been a good long run," producer Marilyn Wilson told Capital Comment, adding graciously that "We wish Jimmy the best of luck." Wilson suggests the production company behind the show, Brillstein-Grey, may have a few irons in the fire and that, while the show may no longer be seen on ABC, it may reappear in a different configuration somewhere else.
It ain't over 'til it's over -- Mary Frances Berry, chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, is not taking her recent legal defeat as the final word. Berry and the Bush administration got into a public tussle over whether a vacancy existed on the commission -- the White House said "yes." Berry said "no."
The Bush administration named Cleveland attorney Peter Kirsanow to fill the vacancy that existed but Berry, who maintains the term of Commissioner Victoria Wilson has not expired, refused to let him take a seat at the table and the whole thing ended up in federal court.
In the first round, Judge Gladys Kessler, a Clinton appointee, sided with Berry's version of the facts. Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed Kessler's ruling, effectively giving the seat to Kirsanow. Berry says the commission will appeal the decision to the United States Supreme Court, looking to them for affirmation of the idea that Wilson was appointed for a full six-year period rather then to simply fill out the term of a commissioner who died. In any event, there will be a lot of eyes on the commission when it meets Friday. Kirsanow will attend the meeting and Berry has, so far at least, promised she would not try to block him from taking his seat -- but there are rumblings that fireworks may still ensue.
Bearing the brunt of climate change -- A new study by the World Wildlife Fund alleges that global warming is about to wipe out the homes of polar bears. The report, Polar Bears at Risk, says natural habitats are "being threatened by the reduction of the sea ice (that) is melting earlier in the spring" because of warmer temperatures. The bears are then forced to move to land earlier then is optimal, they say, without having developed as much fat reserve as they might need to exist during the ice-free period, the report says. "They are skinny bears by the end of summer, which in the worst case can affect their ability to reproduce," the WWF says.
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