Free Republic

TOKYO (AP) _ Martha Stewart may have found the perfect place to market her goods, her style and herself in Japan, a nation where pristine decorating is a devotion for a huge middle class and traditional womanly virtues are still an unabashed norm. Even her ties to the ImClone insider trading scandal, which have battered her image and her company's share prices in the United States, have been largely ignored in Japan. Chikako Honda, who owns Martha Stewart Everyday brand plates and watches Stewart's cooking show on Japanese cable TV, was quick to brush off the questions of whether Stewart...

Bush wrapped up two days and 4.5 million in fund raising in California, trying to help conservative Bill Simon's uphill challenge to Democratic Gov. Gray ). The president also tended to his own political image as he courted the California voters who rejected him in 2000 by more than 1 million ballots. In his nearly year and a half in office, Bush has bolstered his conservative record by championing tax cuts, increases in defense spending, business-friendly regulations and an energy policy palatable to oil companies. He also rolled back some environmental regulations and choked off funds to family-planning groups allied...