Free Republic

While other governors are waging tense battles with state employees, proposing deep spending cuts and taking no-tax-increase pledges to cover their budget shortfalls, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy -- whose wealthy state faces the largest per capita deficit in the nation -- is taking a different tack. ... Malloy is unapologetic about proposing a budget that raises taxes on everything from personal income to haircuts.... Malloy also admits he's "not one of those people who dislikes government," a defiant political statement these days given the national tea party movement and demands for major cuts in government spending.... "He's different in...

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., joked today that he decided to run for vice president when he realized he couldn't play professional football. But that's not stopping the senator from making the sport a prominent part of his campaign, as evidenced by his appearance at the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. ..... One of the busts that caught Biden's eye? O.J. Simpson. "Now there's a guy who ruined his life," Biden said. "But what an athlete." Although Biden said he was a Steelers fan in a meeting with the team's coach Mike Tomlin on Aug. 29, he later said...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays is in line to be chairman of a big House committee. But, he said yesterday, if his turn comes and he's denied that chance -- he's leaving Congress. "I'm 61 years old; I've been in Congress 20 years," he said, talking quickly and emotionally during a brief interview. "If I have to fight to become chairman of a committee, given the job I've done, I need to move on." ..... Shays said if it is clear that he won't get one of these top posts, he either won't run for Congress in 2008 or,...

"When Richard Armitage finally acknowledged last week he was my source three years ago in revealing Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA employee, the former deputy secretary of state's interviews obscured what he really did," Bob Novak claims in a column set for Thursday release. Novak, attempting to set the reocrd straight writes: "First, Armitage did not, as he now indicates, merely pass on something he had heard and that he 'thought' might be so. Rather, he identified to me the CIA division where Mrs. Wilson worked, and said flatly that she recommended the mission to Niger by her husband,...

The movement to give groggy teens a bit more shut-eye by pushing back the school start time is gaining steam. Fifty mothers gathered at a Central Middle School PTA meeting yesterday to hear how the Wilton League of Women Voters studied adolescent sleep patterns, concluded that the start of high school ought to be pushed back and then worked with the school system to change the start time from 7:15 a.m. to 8:20 a.m. without adding transportation costs to the district budget. "New research is showing that (adolescents') hormones and circadian rhythms don't allow them to go to sleep until...

NEW intelligence reports suggesting that 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta arrived in the US in late 1999 or early 2000 - six months earlier than previously thought - are likely to spark a reassessment of public servant Johnelle Bryant's incredible story of a face-to-face meeting with the terrorist. In an extraordinary 2002 interview later branded a hoax by some media -- including the ABC's Media Watch -- Ms Bryant claimed to have met Atta in late April or early May of 2000 when she worked as a loan officer with the US Department of Agriculture's farm services agency in Florida. Ms...

Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf said yesterday he was "angry" at Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's response to a soldier who complained he and his fellow grunts in Iraq lack sufficient armor plating. And Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a Vietnam War hero, reiterated that he has "no confidence" in the Pentagon boss. After a soldier told Rumsfeld that he and his fellow servicemen must scrounge for metal to better fortify their Humvees, the secretary told him, "You go to war with the Army you have." That response didn't sit well with the former general. "They deserve every bit of protection we can give...

EXCERPTS: Company says vehicle orders waiting for OK WASHINGTON -- Despite Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld's assertion that the military is outfitting Humvees with armor as quickly as possible, the company providing the vehicles said it has been waiting since September for approval from the Pentagon to increase monthly production by as many as 100 of the all-terrain vehicles, intended to protect against roadside bombs in Iraq. Army officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged yesterday that they have not approved new purchase orders for armored trucks, despite the company's readiness to produce more. They said the Pentagon has...

The Army Reserve is facing an extreme shortage of company officers, a situation aggravated by a surge in resignation requests. The shortage — primarily of captains — has seriously reduced the capabilities of the Reserve, and continued losses will further reduce the readiness of "an already depleted military force," according to an Army briefing document submitted last month to Congress. Army Reserve resignation requests have jumped from just 15 in 2001 to more than 370 during a 12-month period ending in September. To preserve its leadership ranks, the Reserve increasingly has rejected resignation requests, forcing some officers to stay on...

It's an offense punishable by death during wartime. It's been committed by 5500 soldiers since the war with Iraq began. The men, who have violated military orders and oaths, tell 60 Minutes Wednesday that it isn't cowardice, but rather the nature of the war in Iraq, that turned them into American deserters. American soldiers currently living in Canada tell Correspondent Scott Pelley why they made the decision to desert their units, in a report to be broadcast on Dec. 8, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. One soldier, Pfc. Dan Felushko, 24, tells Pelley, "I didn't want...'Died deluded in Iraq' over my...

TAMARAC, Fla. -- The Kings Point retirement community is home to some 8,000 people, almost all Jews. That's more than the Jewish population of 13 states; more Jews than in Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia, Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas combined. Come Nov. 2, there is little doubt that Jews at Kings Point, and across the United States, will, as Jews have for generations, vote overwhelmingly Democratic for president. But there is evidence on the ground here, and in a recent national survey by the American Jewish Committee, that President Bush stands to marginally improve his 19 percent 2000 showing among...

To preserve the environment is to preserve a link to God for future generations to enjoy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during his address to a Greenwich environmental group yesterday at its annual meeting. "I don't believe nature is God or we ought to be worshiping it as God," Kennedy told members of the Greenwich Land Trust, a group that works to preserve open space in town. "But I do believe it's how God communicates with us." Kennedy, an avid outdoorsman and attorney for two environmental groups, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Riverkeeper, talked for an hour at the...

WASHINGTON, June 27 — In one of the first consequences of its landmark ruling on gay rights on Thursday, the Supreme Court today set aside the lengthy prison sentence imposed on a gay Kansas teenager for having had sex with a younger boy. In a brief order with little elaboration, the court vacated the 17-year sentence imposed in 2000 on the defendant, Matthew Limon, and returned the case to the Kansas courts "for further consideration in light of Lawrence v. Texas." The case of Lawrence v. Texas, which was decided on Thursday and overturned an Texas antisodomy law, upheld the...

It could be the ultimate whodunit. Fifty people live on the island, 12 may be suspected of engaging in child sex — and the future of all is in jeopardy. They are the descendants of the sailors of the Bounty — the infamous British warship whose crew mutinied in 1789 and went ashore at Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific Ocean. The last trial on the British protectorate was 105 years ago. Pitcairners are now dreading the prospect of another trial, which could tear the island community apart. No charges have been filed yet, and the prosecutor has declined give...

Insider notes from United Press International for Oct. 16 ... The odds are suddenly lengthening against the expected smooth progress toward enlarging the European Union by 10 member states at next week's special Brussels summit. First, Sunday's Irish referendum is in trouble, with the trade unions breaking ranks with the consensus among the main political parties and calling for a "No" vote --- which would certainly hold up the enlargement process. Worse still, Wednesday's collapse of the new Dutch government followed a bitter row among the right-of-center coalition parties, with senior Liberals and Christian Democrats claiming that Poland, Latvia, Lithuania...

Ruling Meant To Open Up Primaries; State Seeks Stay In a ruling that could have far-reaching effects on Connecticut elections, a federal judge Tuesday struck down a state law dictating how candidates get on the primary ballot. U.S. District Court Judge Peter Dorsey ruled that the primary system - a pillar of the old political party system in place since 1955 - is "overly burdensome" and most likely unconstitutional. The ruling seemed unlikely to affect this year's elections. Dorsey refused to order the secretary of the state to allow two of the plaintiffs to petition their way onto the September...

<p>WHICH American cardinal recently disclosed to insiders a confidential letter he received from a bishop urging the cardinal to resign for the good of the church? The cardinal is being urged to quit before his much-gossiped-about homosexual indiscretions are uncovered by the media . . .</p>

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of the Los Angeles Archdiocese told one of his lawyers in a recent e-mail that the diocese made 'our big mistake' by not turning over three cases involving priests accused of wrongdoing to the LAPD, according to e-mails obtained Thursday by the Los Angeles Times. "It was a huge mistake on our part," Mahony wrote in an e-mail dated March 27. "If we don't, today, 'consult' with the Det[ective] about those 3 names, I can guarantee you that I will get hauled into a Grand Jury proceeding and I will be forced to give all the...

<p>No, this is not a match at the Bridgehampton Polo Club. It's the brutal, bloody Afghan "sport" of Buzkashi, played on horseback with the carcass of a headless goat instead of a ball.</p> <p>A U.S. soldier is seen in Mazar-e-Sharif, trying his hand at the ancient game that dates to the time of Genghis Khan.</p>

Mayor Giuliani's gay housemate has lifted the lid on their bizarre "Odd Couple" lifestyle. Close pal and fund-raiser Howard Koeppel, 64, is providing Hizzoner with a crash-pad refuge from marital strife at Gracie Mansion. And the Queens car dealer told The New York Times his straight buddy - who's divorcing Donna Hanover - admires his own long-term relationship with live-in partner Mark Hsiao, 41. "I think the fact that we have such a good relationship makes him more comfortable," said Koeppel. "I kid Rudy sometimes," said Koeppel. "I say, ‘Listen, if this thing doesn't work out now with [gal pal ...