Free Republic

Bonking for the bonus - not for the babies June 09 2004 at 08:54AM Sydney - Women are getting pregnant not because they want a baby but to get hold of the cash bonus the government has promised, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) said on Wednesday. Under a programme intended to help raise the birth rate there is a bounty of Aus$3 000 (about R12 000) for every child born from the start of the financial year on July 1. The lump-sum payment, to rise to Aus$5 000 in 2008, is tax free and goes to married and unmarried, rich...

Sept. 25 —  A sickly schadenfreude is pervading the coverage of Bob Greene’s swift demise. A little over two weeks ago, Greene was one of the country’s best-paid journalists, writing a four-times-a-week syndicated column for the Chicago Tribune. Then, on Sunday, Sept. 15, a 1988 hotel-room encounter with a teenager came to light.GREENE RESIGNED, apologizing for his “indiscretions.” The Tribune covered the story on its front page. Since then, Chicago’s been awash in gleefully salacious tales of Greene’s other purported extramarital affairs: Steve Dahl, a Chicago shock jock, invited women who were willing to divulge the details of their dalliances...