Free Republic

Do you know why candidates for office tend to be reluctant to propose detailed plans? Because they know the plans will be flyspecked and picked apart by just about everyone. Inviting criticism doesn’t help you to get votes. But fear of criticism prevents you from conceiving solutions to problems. So even if avoidance of criticism helps in propelling you to an election victory, how are you supposed to effectively govern? How are you supposed to fix the problems you told everyone you were going to fix? That’s why I’m happy to see so much criticism of the 9-9-9 plan I’ve...

DENVER - Referendum C won in the court of public opinion Tuesday as Colorado voters approved the measure to allow the state to keep $3.7 billion that otherwise would have been returned to taxpayers. The election was marked by a healthy turnout and marred by ballot shortages at many El Paso County precincts. After precincts ran out of ballots, the county’s results were delayed before being added to state totals, adding to the suspense early in the night. The measure appeared to be winning by about a 53-47 percent margin statewide. El Paso County voters were rejecting Referendum C by...

MOJAVE, Calif. — A $20 million, private investment in manned space flight earned a $10 million return yesterday when a stubby, white rocket captured the X Prize by soaring to the edge of space for the second time in less than a week. SpaceShipOne's jubilant backers predicted it won't be long before that red ink turns black, as the thirst for adventure and exploration fuels a boom in space tourism. "There are real dollars to be made here," said St. Louis entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, who created the prize to inspire a new breed of rocketeers and move human space travel...

"Walks like amnesty, talks like amnesty, it must be amnesty" Alexandria, VA - The White House's intention to grant legal status to non-citizens who have entered the country illegally was sharply criticized today by American Conservative Union (ACU) chairman David A. Keene. "The Bush Administration would have us believe that this move toward legalizing the status of illegal immigrants-lawbreakers-will curb the flow of illegal immigration and enhance our border security. Nothing could be further from the truth," said Keene. "When you send the message that violating our current border controls is all one has to do in order to stay...

Rather than rely on outdated web pages I thought I'd ask those who have family members deployed what our soldiers need. In addition to needs it would be nice to know what they would like to have for their "hearts and minds" missions in the various local communities. Any other suggestions of what we can do to support them during the holiday season would be greatly appreciated. Since I rarely to never do a vanity post let me take the opportunity to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and may Christ bless each of your families this holiday season.

Michael Emmons thought he knew how to keep a job as a software programmer. "You have to continue to keep yourself up to speed," he said. "If you don't, you'll get washed out." Up to speed or not, Emmons wound up being "washed out" anyway. Last summer, he moved his family from California to Florida for the Siemens Co., makers of electronics and equipment for industries. Not long after, Emmons and 19 other programmers were replaced by cheaper foreign workers. Adding insult to injury, Emmons and the others had to train their replacements. "It was the most demoralizing thing I've...

John E. Jones is my kind of conservative. The white-haired, vigorous banker is a fierce defender of capitalism and believes that only through hard work and a vigorous spiritual life (he's a devout evangelical) can one truly be fulfilled. At the same time, he is a devastating critic of some multinational corporations which, he says, have given us ''free trade,'' and a crusader for legislation to protect American manufacturing. In fact, free trade to him means America with its guard down; it's a threat to our economy and to the security of the nation. And Jones has the facts to...

ASSOCHAM Bulletin July 2003 (The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) PROTECTIONIST BACKLASH AGAINST OUTSOURCING IN THE U.S AND EUROPE What should be India’s Response? ASSOCHAM REPRESENTATION TO THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY The proponents of complete liberalization of trade and full market access have often sited economic efficiency to substantiate their viewpoint. Multilateral trade bodies like WTO are also based on these non-discriminatory principles. Ironically, the recent criticism of outsourcing, a concept based on efficiency criterion, comes from the patrons of trade liberalization i.e. U.S and U.K. Form of the outsourcing backlash Legislation aimed at...

<p>MIAMI BEACH, Florida (AP) -- Blacks in the South are key to the Democratic Party recapturing the White House and Congress next year, the Rev. Jesse Jackson told one of the country's foremost civil rights group.</p> <p>At Thursday's closing session of the NAACP's annual convention here, Jackson likened the role that blacks need to play in 2004 to that of Republicans in the 1960s and 1970s, when they successfully employed their "Southern strategy" to woo white voters in the former Confederacy.</p>

Eight people and a dozen laptops were crammed into a tiny windowless conference room at 5 p.m. last Monday. On the laptops: untested code. On the conference table: piles of silicon and metal. On the people's minds: escalating, deadline-induced panic. But by 2:30 a.m., data was being transmitted wirelessly to what had become a laptop-based flight control center for a Linux-controlled rocket. The aircraft was a few steps closer to blasting off into the upper atmosphere. Project leaders Andrew Greenberg and Brian O'Neel breathed a sigh of relief -- finally they had some assurance that they weren't, as Greenberg put...