For the Record

■ Although Minority Leader Bob Dole urged his colleagues to apply same standards to Clinton appointees that Democrats applied during John Tower confirmation hearings, serious questions remain concerning several: Ron Brown, for his representation of foreign businesses and governments; Lloyd Bentsen, for his breakfast club; Donna Shalala, for her use of federal grant money; and others. . . . Taking the blame: Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.), who was picked to be GOP attack dog. Even New York Times editorialized: “Mr. Lott wound up yapping along behind the Democratic parade.” . . . Wholly enthusiastic about new Administration: Modern Language Association President Houston Baker. At MLA’s December convention, Baker declared to thunderous professorial applause: the election of Bill Clinton was “the rebirth … of the possibility for hope in the humanities.” . . . Putting this endorsement in perspective, MLA panels included “Outing Goethe and His Age,” “Hermaphrodites Newly Discovered: The Politics of Gender,” “Henry James and Queer Performa-tivity.” . . . Public-relations firm of Oglivy, Adams & Reinehart has been hired by homosexual organizations to get gays into Administration. . . . Justice Department sources claim transition representatives working in Justice offices have been wearing gay-rights and abortion-rights buttons. … As Clinton regulators prepare to go into action, gay activist Mike Petreles has openly stated lobby’s intentions: “We want queer quotas.” . . . Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has become first large New York law firm to extend health-care benefits to gay partners of its employees, reports The National Law Journal. Unmarried heterosexual couples, however, will not be covered. . . . On the other side of the sexual revolution, Cheryl Russell of The Boomer Report, a monthly consumer newsletter, says, “Every woman I know is having sex dreams about Bill Clinton.”

■ While chief UN negotiator Cyrus Vance struggles to put together Bosnian compromise, Mustafa Ceric, a leader of the Moslem community in former Yugoslavia, told The National Catholic Register: “Moslem oil has value, it seems, whereas Moslem blood had none. But no amount of Western tears will ever replace the blood now shed.” . . . The 90 per cent Albanian majority in Kosovo, former Yugoslav province that Serbian dictator Slobodan Miloševič annexed, is trying to avoid the “mistakes” of their Bosnian Moslem co-religionists by following tactics of Solidarity and Catholic Church in Poland during cold-war days. They have organized a parallel underground government, clandestinely electing a prime minister and parliament and setting up underground schools. A Serbian attack on Kosovo or an “implosion” of ethnic violence, some say, could trigger a Third Balkan War, bringing in Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria. “We deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for patience,” says Buja Bukoshi, prime minister of the self-proclaimed republic. . . . Despite Moscow’s apparent support of U.S. peacekeeping efforts in former Yugoslavia, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev claimed credit on Russian TV recently for upholding interests of Serbia, Moscow’s long- time political ally. … A new breed of Iranian “moderates”—like Javad Larijani, American-educated special advisor to Foreign Ministry—are pushing Iran President Rafsanjani to re-integrate Iran into world economy and encourage foreign investment. . . . Washington observers, meanwhile, are worried about Iran’s continuing military build-up. Delivery of Soviet attack submarine Kilo was made in November, one of four on order and the first owned by any Persian Gulf state. Rafsanjani has also, armed with missiles from Peking, staked claim to several islands and beefed up coastal bases near Strait of Hormuz, which guards entrance to Gulf. . . . Potential hot potato on plate of incoming Administration: U.S. interagency panel has okayed sale of jet engines to Deng Xiaoping’s China—over strong DoD objections, and despite growing signs Peking is willing to press oil claims in contested area of South China Sea.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

■ Although Minority Leader Bob Dole urged his colleagues to apply same standards to Clinton appointees that Democrats applied during John Tower confirmation hearings, serious questions remain concerning several: Ron Brown, for his representation of foreign businesses and governments; Lloyd Bentsen, for his breakfast club; Donna Shalala, for her use of federal grant money; and others. . . . Taking the blame: Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.), who was picked to be GOP attack dog. Even New York Times editorialized: “Mr. Lott wound up yapping along behind the Democratic parade.” . . . Wholly enthusiastic about new Administration: Modern Language Association President Houston Baker. At MLA’s December convention, Baker declared to thunderous professorial applause: the election of Bill Clinton was “the rebirth … of the possibility for hope in the humanities.” . . . Putting this endorsement in perspective, MLA panels included “Outing Goethe and His Age,” “Hermaphrodites Newly Discovered: The Politics of Gender,” “Henry James and Queer Performa-tivity.” . . . Public-relations firm of Oglivy, Adams & Reinehart has been hired by homosexual organizations to get gays into Administration. . . . Justice Department sources claim transition representatives working in Justice offices have been wearing gay-rights and abortion-rights buttons. … As Clinton regulators prepare to go into action, gay activist Mike Petreles has openly stated lobby’s intentions: “We want queer quotas.” . . . Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has become first large New York law firm to extend health-care benefits to gay partners of its employees, reports The National Law Journal. Unmarried heterosexual couples, however, will not be covered. . . . On the other side of the sexual revolution, Cheryl Russell of The Boomer Report, a monthly consumer newsletter, says, “Every woman I know is having sex dreams about Bill Clinton.”

■ While chief UN negotiator Cyrus Vance struggles to put together Bosnian compromise, Mustafa Ceric, a leader of the Moslem community in former Yugoslavia, told The National Catholic Register: “Moslem oil has value, it seems, whereas Moslem blood had none. But no amount of Western tears will ever replace the blood now shed.” . . . The 90 per cent Albanian majority in Kosovo, former Yugoslav province that Serbian dictator Slobodan Miloševič annexed, is trying to avoid the “mistakes” of their Bosnian Moslem co-religionists by following tactics of Solidarity and Catholic Church in Poland during cold-war days. They have organized a parallel underground government, clandestinely electing a prime minister and parliament and setting up underground schools. A Serbian attack on Kosovo or an “implosion” of ethnic violence, some say, could trigger a Third Balkan War, bringing in Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria. “We deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for patience,” says Buja Bukoshi, prime minister of the self-proclaimed republic. . . . Despite Moscow’s apparent support of U.S. peacekeeping efforts in former Yugoslavia, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev claimed credit on Russian TV recently for upholding interests of Serbia, Moscow’s long- time political ally. … A new breed of Iranian “moderates”—like Javad Larijani, American-educated special advisor to Foreign Ministry—are pushing Iran President Rafsanjani to re-integrate Iran into world economy and encourage foreign investment. . . . Washington observers, meanwhile, are worried about Iran’s continuing military build-up. Delivery of Soviet attack submarine Kilo was made in November, one of four on order and the first owned by any Persian Gulf state. Rafsanjani has also, armed with missiles from Peking, staked claim to several islands and beefed up coastal bases near Strait of Hormuz, which guards entrance to Gulf. . . . Potential hot potato on plate of incoming Administration: U.S. interagency panel has okayed sale of jet engines to Deng Xiaoping’s China—over strong DoD objections, and despite growing signs Peking is willing to press oil claims in contested area of South China Sea.