Informed Sources

Grounding "Orbiting Pork"

Washington -- NASA's planned $17 billion space station, dubbed the "Orbiting Pork Barrel" by opponents, barely got past the House last year. This year it may not even lift off the pad of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Influential Chairman GEORGE BROWN, worried about the project's effect on other items in the nasa budget, has told the President to glean some money from elsewhere for the station -- perhaps from foreign aid or environmental programs -- or else Brown's pivotal vote for the project will stay grounded too.

Beware of Stereotypes

Washington -- During a breakfast with reporters recently, Southern-born Clinton strategist JAMES CARVILLE warned against stereotyping Southerners as being ignorant and easy to corrupt. But later he told the gathering to beware of the President's enemies because of the people some of them are paying for damaging information. "You know," he said, "when you drag hundred-dollar bills through trailer parks, there's no telling what you'll find. I know those people ... I used to make out with some of them."