Notebook

WINNERS & LOSERS

[WINNERS]

HAROLD ICKES Reno delays making a decision on independent counsel. Now he can put her back on his Christmas list

EPICTETUS Tom Wolfe borrows from him, and 1st century Stoic's books are rereleased. Luckily, no royalties

PAMELA LEE Scientists say breast implants can't be linked to disease. Links to vapidity, however...

[& LOSERS]

BOB DOLE Auditors say his campaign overspent and should pay back $17.7 mil. And he didn't even win

IMF World Bank claims IMF's efforts worsened Asian crisis. New name: Ill-Advised Meddling Fund

MIKE TYSON Pleads no contest to assault; parole officer won't be pleased. He'll fight again, but in a ring?

GOING THROUGH A PHRASE

In the battle of words, the 2000 campaign may be a showdown between the "compassionate conservatism" of the George W. Bush camp and the "practical idealism" of Al Gore and pals. While plenty of people are willing to claim authorship of these slogans--Michael Savage of KSFO in San Francisco claims he has been promoting "compassionate conservatism" since 1995, and Gore's folks say Al came up with his--perhaps someone should check out their pedigrees before printing up the bumper stickers. Looks as if these phrases have played the field.

"[I] challenge [the Reagan Administration's] failure to exhibit a compassionate conservatism that adapts itself to the realities of a society..." --Vernon Jordan, 1981

"I intend...to bring a new slogan to the Democratic Party of compassionate conservatism." --Representative James Jones, Democrat, 1984

"...practical idealism, democracy and plain common or garden decency..." --John Major, Conservative Prime Minister of Britain, summing up his beliefs, 1991

"...practical idealism and enlightened realism..." --Richard Nixon, on his method of dealing with foreign adversaries, in Seize the Moment, 1992

ANIMATION NATION

Four big cartoon movies may soon be playing in a Cineplex near you. Life is short, so which one should you choose to see? Here's a handy-dandy chart with all you need to know about the adventures of Z-4195, Moses, Dil Pickles and Flik.

MOVIE ANTZ ANIMATORS 35 WEIRDEST CASTING Woody Allen as a worker ant FAST-FOOD TIE-INS None, because the studio rushed the movie out to beat A Bug's Life PROTESTS SPARKED University entomologists fault the depiction of the ant colony and life-style GROWNUPS' BONUS The ants drink from an aphid's anus

[MOVIE] THE RUGRATS MOVIE [ANIMATORS] 160 [WEIRDEST CASTING] Lisa Loeb as a newborn baby [FAST-FOOD TIE-INS] One free toy with any Burger King Kid's Meal [PROTESTS SPARKED] Grandpa less stereotypically Jewish in movie, after complaints about Rugrats strip [GROWNUPS' BONUS] This unfinished line: "Born under Venus, look for a ..." [MOVIE] A BUG'S LIFE [ANIMATORS] 60 [WEIRDEST CASTING] Phyllis Diller as the Queen [FAST-FOOD TIE-INS] One Bug toy in each McDonald's Happy Meal [PROTESTS SPARKED] Entomologists steamed because the ants have four legs instead of six [GROWNUPS' BONUS] Transgender issues raised when Ladybug is actually a guy