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By David Gates
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These days Wen Ho Lee is trying not to think about his predicament. The Taiwanese-born scientist, suspected of spying for China, spends his days listening to Mozart and reading 19th-century French novels. Sometimes he putters in his garden or does odd jobs around the house. He avoids reading the newspapers or watching the news.
But the FBI agents in government-issue sedans parked outside his New Mexico home are a constant reminder of his ordeal. He recently discovered a small transmitter stuck to the underside of his car that enables the Feds to keep tabs on him. He's even tailed by gumshoes when he tries to steal away for a fishing trip. "This has all been very surreal for our family," his daughter Alberta Lee told NEWSWEEK.
Last week Lee went on a PR offensive, traveling to Washington for an interview with "60 Minutes." Just days before, his lawyers met with top Justice Department officials in an effort to head off criminal charges against their client. Sources familiar with the meeting say Lee's team bought him some time. Justice's Criminal Division chief, James Robinson, listened attentively, the sources say, and at the end of the session asked Lee's lawyers for a written submission to elaborate on why he transferred top-secret nuclear codes from a secured to a nonsecured computer at the Los Alamos lab. Lee, who maintains his innocence, says he began making backup copies of the codes after the classified computer system crashed in 1994.
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Justice officials remain uneasy about prosecuting Lee. The U.S. attorney in New Mexico is pressing for a charge of mishandling classified information. But one Justice official says, "If we don't have the goods on espionage, the question is, why are we doing this at all?"
CONSPIRACIESFirst Dodi, and Then Sonny?
A connection between Mohamed Al Fayed and Sonny Bono's mother? Not exactly. But two shadowy figures whom Fayed has sued for allegedly trying to sell him fake information about a plot to murder his son Dodi and Princess Di may have been involved in a similar scheme involving Mrs. Bono. After Sonny's death on the Lake Tahoe, Nev., ski slopes in January 1998, Shirley H. Cole, a lawyer for Mrs. Bono, says Oswald LeWinter told her that his friend George Williamson could help investigate the accident. Williamson made several trips to Nevada and claimed he'd discovered something "sinister" about Sonny's death--though he produced no evidence to back it up, says Cole. "All he did was get us agitated." Williamson could not be reached for comment.
CAMPAIGN 2000Iowa Pork
With 400 reporters signed up to cover it, next week's Iowa straw poll is being touted as the first major test of the crowded Republican presidential field. But the event, a fund-raiser for the state party, is shaping up as a spending contest. Candidates are paying lavishly for real estate (George W. Bush forked over $43,000 to rent a spot of lawn for his tent), food (Forbes promises barbecue; Buchanan will be serving burgers), voters (campaigns pick up the $25 fee to cast a ballot) and live entertainment. How to compete if you're short of cash? John McCain is boycotting. "It's a meaningless exercise," he says, noting that in '95, Phil Gramm spent $800,000 to tie for first place, never won another contest and soon dropped out.
TRADE WARJe Ne Foie Gras
They started it: the European Union banned American beef on (unfounded, says the World Trade Organization) health grounds. Now we're hitting back where it hurts: gourmet foods. Your fave Continental delicacies (French truffles, Danish pork) face a 100 percent import duty, born of revenge. Take that, Euros.
POLITICSParty On! Also Appearing on Your Ballot...
With 450 days before we vote for president, two moneyed, Beltway scions want you to think it's a two-man race. But not since early in the century have voters had so many candidates to contemplate. The early line on who's expected to rate a ballot line in 50 states:
Greens In '96 Ralph Nader took fourth, but the party has shopped names from Patch Adams to black activist Manning Marable.
Libertarian A repeat for Harry Browne, if he beats out gay ex-Marine Larry Hines, who calls his run "personal growth."
Reform Wild cards like Donald Trump don't suit the new fixer: Jesse Ventura, who's wooing former Conn. gov. Lowell Weicker.
U.S. Taxpayers Pro-life paleocons still pine for Pat Buchanan, but will likely provide home for GOP defector Sen. Bob Smith.
Natural Law Physicist John Hagelin makes food safety an issue, while pushing meditation as route to "problem-free" government.
GAY MARRIAGEMormon Money
Politics is a tough game for Latter-day Saints. Criticized for pouring cash into battles against same-sex marriage in Alaska and Hawaii, the Mormon Church apparently decided to organize its rank and file to support California's Definition of Marriage Initiative. Letters went out encouraging the state's 750,000 Mormons to donate privately. But some contained appeals for specific amounts, which some local church leaders say went too far. "This is beyond the bounds of anything I've been asked to do," said one. A Salt Lake City authority called the appeals "unfortunate" and against church policy.
FASHIONDressed to Kill (and Clean)
A bit of hanky-panky? Housewife Chic, replete with dustproof "head-kerchief" and apron-inspired wraps, is sweeping the nation. First seen on the runways at Louis Vuitton and Prada, the look has trickled down to cheap yet trendy fashion gurus. "It's definitely street wear," says Elena Corsano, an editor at Elle magazine. "A young, downtown thing." Anna Sui's fall collection has a special-order luxe version: an $85 head-kerchief.
THE BUZZBack to the Dystopian, Rage-Spewing Garden
Woodstock '99: three days of peace, love, reported arson, property destruction, looting, rape, policemen snapping pictures of nude young women and happiness. As always, chatter centers on one question: whom can we blame?
The Music The rap-metal crew (Limp Bizkit et al.) incites hate and rage in its songs. It egged the crowd on, urging destruction.
A Few Bad Seeds Most kids did the right thing. A couple hundred of them didn't. Don't blame the entire generation.
Greed Festival promoters charge $150 for tix, then $4 for a bottle of water on a hot summer day? You'd loot, too.
The Times They are a-changin'. Each era gets the Woodstock it deserves--ours is nasty and violent.
Kids Today They're just no good. No hardships + no cause = boredom, anger and idiocy. Throw in booze, drugs, nudity and pay-per-view cameras to achieve complete lunacy.
NEW FOODSummer Bears Fruit (and Veggies)
Years ago, pink grapefruit was a novelty. But who can fathom today's freaky produce? Here, food maven Sheila Lukins of The Silver Palate cookbooks rates summer's oddest bounty.
WINNING WEIRDOS Brocco-flower "gives cauliflower a new lease on life," even if it pales when cooked. Broccolini, a brand of asparagus-broccoli hybrid, is "delicate and refined," and yellow kiwis are supersweet. And Lukins loved the pluot, a plum-apricot combo: "I'd use it in anything."
PALETTES, NOT PALATES "People eat with their eyes," Lukins says, so odd looks entice when taste can't. Yellow watermelon is "less intense" than red. Doughnut peaches? "Cute, but no juice." And "lantern-like" cape goose-berries are only eaten cooked, sans lantern.
THANKS, BUT NO THANKS Lukins likes heirloom tomatoes, but our zebras were "medicinal." Seedy lemon cucumbers? "Why bother?" And jostaberries, the black currant-gooseberry blend? "Fuggedaboudit."
MOVIESSold Out at a Theater Near You
Devin Gordon, Dara Horn and Carrie Cooper
TRANSITIONSweet Swing
Trumpeter Harry (Sweets) Edison, 83, graced classic cuts by Count Basie, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. He was a warm, witty minimalist--who swung like no tomorrow.
Walter Jackson Bate, 81, brought head and heart to Pulitzer Prize biographies of John Keats and Samuel Johnson. "He... incorporated Johnson's ex-perience," wrote scholar B. H. Bronson, "and shared... that indomitable spirit."
A Maryland grand jury indicted Linda Tripp for secretly taping a conversation with Monica Lewinsky. In a second count, Tripp is accused of allegedly disclosing the tape's substance to NEWSWEEK.
Conventional WisdomWHILE AMERICA SWEATED EDITION
C.W.
Clinton = Hit with $90K fine for Monica fibs. But polls show he's still Our Bill.
Tripp - Indicted in Md. for taping Monica. Upside: No polls on her.
Slobo - Nuevo "Marshall Plan" will rebuild E. Europe--but not Serbia. Time's up.
Heat wave - Drought-ridden, hot, sticky summer is a killer. Relief will come--with hurricanes.
GOPs - Just what the overheated economy needs-- tax cuts for the rich. Duh.
'Blair Witch + No-budget indie horror flick boffo at BO. Project' Has H'wood execs screaming.
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