Update on a Clinton Pardon

And now the most telling two minutes in television, the latest from the political grapevine:

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Pardoned by President Clinton in 2001
Remember Glenn Braswell. He is that California businessman who was pardoned by President Clinton for his 1983 fraud conviction involving a bogus hair growth product. The pardon made headlines when it emerged that Braswell had paid Clinton's brother-in-law Hugh Rodham $200,000 for his help on the case. Braswell has now been picked up by federal agents on tax evasion charges in Miami.

More Protests in the Mideast
Thousands of Iranian Muslims protest in the streets of Teheran. A popular newspaper has been shut down. All this the result of a cartoon the newspaper published that was interpreted as an insult to the late Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the Iranian revolution 24 years ago. But the drawing that caused all the trouble is actually an American political cartoon from 1937, which expresses a view of Franklin Roosevelt's attempt to pack the Supreme Court with justices friendly to his New Deal programs. The robed figure shown in it may look a bit like Khomeini, but the Chicago Sun-Times, reporting on the situation says it's unclear why the now closed newspaper published it.

Another Controversial Campaign
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals mounted a magazine and billboard campaign to pressure Environmental Protection Agency chief Christy Whitman on the issue of animal testing. The ads demanded to know how Whitman would feel if her beloved Scottish Terrier "Coors" was being used in painful poison tests. Only after the campaign had begun did PETA learn from Whitman that Coors, mother of the president's dog Barney, had been put to sleep after a battle with cancer. The group has now halted the campaign. Said one PETA person to NBC, "We do have feelings after all."

Did Have Some Qualifications...
The New York Times says in an editorial today that House Republican leaders passed over Congressman Chris Shays, a leading backer of campaign finance reform, in favor of Virginia Congressman Tom Davis, described by The Times as "a key party fund-raiser last November." The Times says that Shays "has declined to complain about the snub." But in fact, Shays has done a lot more than decline to complain. Tom Davis was in fact the chairman of the Republican campaign committee and Shays says, "I'm convinced we have a guy who brought us across the River Jordan and we had to find a place for him."