Strange Bedfellows

WASHINGTON -- The old saw that politics makes strange bedfellows was never truer than it is now, in the domestic debate over the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to include three former Iron Curtain countries -- Poland, Hungary and what is now the Czech Republic.Speaking out against the move pushed vigorously by President Clinton and backed with varying degrees of enthusiasm by the other NATO members are such conservative figures as Republican Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina and such liberals as Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, with Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, perhaps the most outspoken liberal in the Senate, expressing serious skepticism.

Cancel whatever it is you've got planned for this evening and check out USA."Kratts' Creatures" (5 p.m.-5: 30 p.m., MPT, Channels 22 and 67) -- Chris and Martin try to blend in with the wild ponies of Assateague Island. PBS."Mad About You" (6: 30 p.m.-7 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- A treat for early-evening TV fans: re-runs of one of the '90s best sitcoms. Today brings the conclusion of a two-part look back at Jamie and Paul's wedding."Columbo: Strange Bedfellows" (9 p.m.-11 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2)

If you're looking for an enjoyable activity this weekend, head for the Francis Scott Key High School auditorium Friday or Saturday night.The curtain rises at 8 p.m. both nights on "Strange Bedfellows," a comedy that shows the talent and sophistication of the drama students at Key.Directed by faculty members Suzanne Summit and Faison Drury, the play is an ensemble effort that combines a witty script, fun sound effects, live music by the Key Brass Sextet, and...

Be fruitful and multiply . . .In an otherwise sorry performance, that's one Biblical injunction the human race has fulfilled abundantly. In the year 1 A.D., there were about 200 million people living on Earth. It took another 18 1/2 centuries for world population to reach 1 billion. But by mid-1993, that number had multiplied to 5.5 billion and was growing by 90 million people a year.As the nations of the world prepare to gather in Cairo next month for the United Nations' International Conference on Population and Development, there is remarkable consensus that giving families - especially women - the means to control the number and spacing of their children is good.

For a prime example of how politics makes strange bedfellows, look no further than the odd alliance behind the successful effort to place a term limit measure on the Nov. 8 ballot in Baltimore. If the proposal is approved by voters, the city charter would be saddled with an ill-advised amendment restricting the mayor, the comptroller and all City Council members to two four-year terms.Organizers and backers of the ballot initiative include C. Nelson Warfield, a Montgomery County lawyer reportedly tied to a Chicago public relations firm that has assisted the campaign; Penn Parking owner Lisa Renshaw, who lives in Anne Arundel County and ran unsuccessfully in the 1992 Republican primary in Maryland's First Congressional District; former U.S. Ambassador to Austria Ronald S. Lauder of the Estee Lauder cosmetics dynasty, who failed in last year's Republican mayoral primary in New York City; and Baltimore activist Morning Sunday, who paid petitioners for each signature they obtained, a dubious tactic borrowed from the National Rifle Association's book.

WASHINGTON -- Any way you look at it, this was quite a sleep over.Those formerly strange bedfellows -- Bill Clinton, George Bush and Jimmy Carter -- all tucked in under the same roof for a presidential slumber party.Never before had two former occupants of the White House been asked to stay over by the current resident.So when President Clinton offered Mr. Bush and Mr. Carter bed 'n' breakfast Monday evening, it provided a perfect nightcap for a historic day.(Dear Miss Manners: Where do you sleep the guys who used to have the house keys when you're playing host?

The first and so far best postmodern book on American presidential campaigns was Joe McGinniss' "The Selling of the President." Its real strength was not in portraying the way clever television advertising helped elect Richard Nixon president in 1968. (That issue had been around since 1952, when Adlai Stevenson, who refused to be sold "like a bar of soap," ran against Dwight Eisenhower, who carped about being marketed but acquiesced and won.)Rather, where Mr. McGinniss broke ground was in recognizing that for the first time in 1968, brilliant strategies had been employed not just to sell perceptions to the electorate through the media but, more important, to manipulate public opinion to influence news decisions.

Most people have some skeleton in the closet, an offbeat pastime, a guilty pleasure, something that, in their most paranoid daydreams, could land them as guest specimens on one of those sleazy TV talk shows.My bad dream goes like this:''Men who compost! On the next 'Geraldo!' ''Or: ''Men who compost, and the women who love them! Next time on 'Sally Jessy!' ''OK, there it is, the complete dirt: I keep a compost bin in my back yard. What can I say? To quote the T-shirt I once received as a gift, ''Compost happens.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Top executives of Apple Computer Inc. were to visit IBM headquarters in Armonk, N.Y., yesterday to discuss a far-ranging technology alliance that could have a major impact on the computer industry, industry executives said.One part of the talks, according to these executives, was a proposal for IBM to license from Apple, and perhaps even to help develop, basic software for a new line of Apple computers that will be a successor to its Macintosh family.The companies also were to discuss whether Apple will use a powerful IBM microprocessor that IBM uses in some of its computers.

Strange bedfellows have teamed up in defense of the First Amendment, which is under attack by equally strange bedfellows. The conservative Rep. Henry J. Hyde, R-Ill., introduced a bill to ban campus codes against ''hate speech.'' Cheering him on was the liberal Nadine Strossen, head of the American Civil Liberties Union.At issue are the ''sensitivity codes'' by which a number of American colleges and universities hope to teach their students basic kindergarten manners. Most of the codes ban racism, sexism and other intolerant ''isms.

It's a name only a policy wonk could love: comparative effectiveness research. But get ready to hear a lot about it; it could save your rights as a patient - and maybe even your life. If opponents have their way, it could be the bogeyman that brings down health care reform. Using false and misleading scare tactics, Conservatives for Patients Rights, a group opposed to comprehensive health care reform, announced last week a $1 million ad attacking comparative effectiveness. However, an emerging consensus of strange bedfellows - from insurance companies to the Institute of Medicine to patients rights advocates - all support making a national investment in research to compare the effectiveness of drugs, devices and diagnostic procedures, and sharing the information that results with physicians and patients.

Death penalty stands on ever shakier ground Maybe next time, the phone will ring for Alex X. Mooney and it will be the pope rather than a mere cardinal. Maybe the governor will perform the Irish music live rather than just have it playing in the background in his office when Mooney comes a-calling. Maybe the former lieutenant governor and fellow Republican will linger even longer over dessert the next time he has a three-hour dinner with the state senator from Frederick. In the end, the religious, governmental and party wooing failed to persuade Mooney to support a bill repealing the death penalty in Maryland - his vote against it in committee yesterday effectively killed the measure for this session.

PESSIMISTS ARE SAYING that the Middle East road map, laid out just weeks ago by President Bush in conjunction with the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, is already a dead letter. The five suicide bombings in Israel between Saturday and Monday simply proved the point. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon doesn't like the road map, and neither do the Palestinian militants of Hamas or the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Strange bedfellows - they're in cahoots to fend off peace. Optimists (and President Bush is one of them)

In an outgrowth of the "Baltimore Believe" campaign, a broad coalition of foundations, businesses, city leaders and social advocates plans to raise $30 million during the next two years to strengthen programs that improve the lives of children and fight crime and drug abuse. The effort, dubbed "Reason to Believe," began before the gubernatorial election in the fall, as the institutions realized they were competing for scarce money to accomplish many of the same goals. Since then, "Reason to Believe" has grown to more than 30 participants, and organizers are looking for more, as a state budget crisis threatens programs.

WASHINGTON -- The old saw that politics makes strange bedfellows was never truer than it is now, in the domestic debate over the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to include three former Iron Curtain countries -- Poland, Hungary and what is now the Czech Republic.Speaking out against the move pushed vigorously by President Clinton and backed with varying degrees of enthusiasm by the other NATO members are such conservative figures as Republican Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina and such liberals as Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, with Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, perhaps the most outspoken liberal in the Senate, expressing serious skepticism.

Cancel whatever it is you've got planned for this evening and check out USA."Kratts' Creatures" (5 p.m.-5: 30 p.m., MPT, Channels 22 and 67) -- Chris and Martin try to blend in with the wild ponies of Assateague Island. PBS."Mad About You" (6: 30 p.m.-7 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- A treat for early-evening TV fans: re-runs of one of the '90s best sitcoms. Today brings the conclusion of a two-part look back at Jamie and Paul's wedding."Columbo: Strange Bedfellows" (9 p.m.-11 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2)

If you're looking for an enjoyable activity this weekend, head for the Francis Scott Key High School auditorium Friday or Saturday night.The curtain rises at 8 p.m. both nights on "Strange Bedfellows," a comedy that shows the talent and sophistication of the drama students at Key.Directed by faculty members Suzanne Summit and Faison Drury, the play is an ensemble effort that combines a witty script, fun sound effects, live music by the Key Brass Sextet, and...

For a prime example of how politics makes strange bedfellows, look no further than the odd alliance behind the successful effort to place a term limit measure on the Nov. 8 ballot in Baltimore. If the proposal is approved by voters, the city charter would be saddled with an ill-advised amendment restricting the mayor, the comptroller and all City Council members to two four-year terms.Organizers and backers of the ballot initiative include C. Nelson Warfield, a Montgomery County lawyer reportedly tied to a Chicago public relations firm that has assisted the campaign; Penn Parking owner Lisa Renshaw, who lives in Anne Arundel County and ran unsuccessfully in the 1992 Republican primary in Maryland's First Congressional District; former U.S. Ambassador to Austria Ronald S. Lauder of the Estee Lauder cosmetics dynasty, who failed in last year's Republican mayoral primary in New York City; and Baltimore activist Morning Sunday, who paid petitioners for each signature they obtained, a dubious tactic borrowed from the National Rifle Association's book.

Be fruitful and multiply . . .In an otherwise sorry performance, that's one Biblical injunction the human race has fulfilled abundantly. In the year 1 A.D., there were about 200 million people living on Earth. It took another 18 1/2 centuries for world population to reach 1 billion. But by mid-1993, that number had multiplied to 5.5 billion and was growing by 90 million people a year.As the nations of the world prepare to gather in Cairo next month for the United Nations' International Conference on Population and Development, there is remarkable consensus that giving families - especially women - the means to control the number and spacing of their children is good.

WASHINGTON -- Any way you look at it, this was quite a sleep over.Those formerly strange bedfellows -- Bill Clinton, George Bush and Jimmy Carter -- all tucked in under the same roof for a presidential slumber party.Never before had two former occupants of the White House been asked to stay over by the current resident.So when President Clinton offered Mr. Bush and Mr. Carter bed 'n' breakfast Monday evening, it provided a perfect nightcap for a historic day.(Dear Miss Manners: Where do you sleep the guys who used to have the house keys when you're playing host?