Deceptive practices -- An Internet site purporting to represent a collection of anti-globalization activists appears "to be a front for the National Alliance, one of the nation's largest and most active anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi organizations," the Anti-Defamation League says. The group has issued a warning that the site seems represents "'a deceptive new tactic' by hate groups to lure activists on the radical left into the hate movement." According to the ADL, the group, which calls itself the Anti-Globalization Action Network, uses a domain name practically identical to that of a Canadian Web site catering to anti-globalization activists. "Since the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, white supremacists have taken great interest in the destructive and violent elements of some anti-globalization rallies. This Web site appears to be a deceptive new tactic by hate groups to encourage the most violent and radical activists to redirect their anger by joining the ranks of the National Alliance," Abe Foxman, ADL national director said. "The white supremacists once again are taking advantage of the Internet by creating what appears to be a legitimate grass-roots Web site, which is in reality just a front for bigotry, racism and anti-Semitism."

Must see TV -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich leads an investigation into whether America is in fact winning the war against what President George W. Bush has called the "Axis of Evil" on the Fox News Channel Saturday night. Gingrich conducts an examination of the threats posed by Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Gingrich interviews leading experts in the field -- including exclusive conversations with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. -- about the potential risks the United States and the rest of the world in "Not If, But When," which [aired] at 11 p.m. EDT.

News from the left side of K Street -- The Senate is considering important changes to the nation's telecommunications laws, which has caused the K Street lobbyist clack to bring on some new people. One new hire that has some insiders scratching their heads is the choice of former Clinton and Gore consultant Carter Eskew to an advisory position with the United States Telecom Association.

Eskew is no stranger to controversy. Following a $40 million dollar public relations campaign he led on behalf of the tobacco industry, Eskew joined Al Gore's presidential effort following the announcement that George W. Bush, then the governor of Texas, had out raised the vice president by almost double in the first six months of 1999. The news caused some inside the Gore camp to panic and, thus, Eskew's help was enlisted.

In the current scenario, Eskew was brought into the USTA orbit by former Clinton operative Tom Amontree, a former Little Rock reporter who served as director of the office of communications at the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Clinton administration. One source close to the issue says Eskew got the nod after he promised Amontree access to prominent Democrats in order to push USTA's congressional agenda. Republicans are unhappy that Eskew was hired over several prominent Republican firms including Quinn Gillespie & Associates and McCarthy, Marcus & Hennings. So, with some Democrats still smarting from Eskew's efforts on behalf of big tobacco and the House still firmly controlled by the GOP, many wonder just how welcomed Eskew and USTA will be in the halls of Congress.

Changing chairs in Cheney-land -- The office of Lynne Cheney, wife of the vice president, is making some changes to its staff. Sarah Straka becomes Mrs. Cheney's personal aide, replacing former Deputy Chief of Staff and Personal Aide Laura Chadwick, who has left her post. Replacing Straka in her position as staff assistant is Alexandra Fielding, who was previously employed at the political advertising firm National Media Inc., located in Alexandria, Va.

A generous, generous nation -- The United States Census Bureau is reporting that among the 7.2 million people who paid support to a member of another household in 1997, the median amount of the financial assistance was $2,940. "Because many providers assisted more than one recipient, the average amount going to a single recipient was considerably less than $2,900," said Wil Masumura, author of Who's Helping Out? Financial Support Networks Among American Households: 1997. "The amounts and percentages varied by the characteristics of both providers and recipients." More than three-quarters -- 78 percent -- of all recipients of regular financial support were children of the support providers, compared with two-thirds, or 66 percent, in 1988, the last time this report was issued.

Masumara's report found that men paid about $3,000 in support in 1997, while women paid slightly more than half as much though, the bureau cautions, the report uses data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and that statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and non-sampling error. The data covers all monetary assistance regularly furnished by households to individuals in separate households, particularly child support, but does not cover sporadic financial aid or non-monetary support such as gifts or services.

Out -- Steve Grossman, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the Clinton administration, has dropped out of the race for governor of Massachusetts. Grossman, who has never held elective office, shepherded the party thorough the impeachment proceedings, was one of five Democrats competing for his party's nomination. His departure leaves former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, State Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, Massachusetts Senate President Thomas Birmingham and former State Sen. Warren Tolman in the race. Businessman Mitt Romney, son of former Michigan GOP Gov. George Romney, is in the race on the Republican side.

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Copyright 2002 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

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