Free Republic

Reynolds Starts Two New Jobs In one of his last official acts President Clinton commuted Mel Reynolds sentence. The former congressman had two years left to serve for tax evasion. (POSTER'S NOTE Democratic congressman Mel Reynolds was sent to jail for criminal sexual assault and solicitation of child pornography. Reynolds was among the 176 criminals excused in President Clinton's last-minute forgiveness spree. Reynolds received a commutation of his six-and-a-half-year federal sentence for 15 convictions of wire fraud, bank fraud and lies to the Federal Election Commission. He is more notorious, however, for concurrently serving five years for sleeping with an...

It's been 30 years since the last bombs fell during the Vietnam War, and longtime peace activist Peter Yarrow says it's about time that America apologizes. The singer-songwriter from the 1960s folk group Peter, Paul and Mary has grown gray, but his passion to fight for those affected by the war remains fervent. During his first trip to Vietnam this week, he told The Associated Press that the war wounds of the United States won't heal until the nation makes amends — a process he believes should involve helping Vietnamese suffering from the ill health effects of Agent Orange, a...

BOSTON — Putting John Kerry in the White House is the immediate goal of the Democratic Party, but this year's election has a broader purpose, former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros said today. "It is a foundational election in which we build for the future," Cisneros told members of the Texas media this morning before addressing the state delegation breakfast. "To me, that's the most important part of what this year's about." The message resonated with Democrats on the final day of the convention and comes at a critical time. The Democratic Party long has been criticized for lacking unity...

Could dynamic leader one day return to public life? Let's hope so. It's an ancient, wheezy saw that has long since attained cliche status, but, as is the case with so many cliches, there is an irreducible kernel of truth at its center: "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been." The line came to mind almost automatically on the occasion of an appearance here Monday by former San Antonio Mayor (and former Clinton administration secretary of Housing and Urban Development). Personal indiscretions resulted in his exit from politics years ago -...

EATONTON, GA (AP) -- After months of unorthodox tactics and protests by followers dressed as Egyptian pharaohs, mummies and birds, Nuwaubian cult leader Malachi York's child molestation case finally heads to trial Monday. And officials are doing all they can to keep the courtroom from turning into a circus. "It's like living in bizarro world," said Frank Ford, an attorney who has argued with the Nuwaubians in court. "They cannot stand being told no, and they cannot stand being ignored." York, who moved the quasi-religious United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors from New York to a central Georgia farm in 1993,...

MAY 28--Turns out the Florida woman who is suing for the right to wear a Muslim headdress in a driver's license photograph has previously been subjected to an, um, unveiled government portrait. Following her 1997 conversion to Islam, Sultaana Freeman (formerly Sandra Keller) was arrested in Decatur, Illinois for battering a foster child. Freeman, 35, pleaded guilty in 1999 to felony aggravated battery and was sentenced to 18 months probation. As a result of the conviction, state officials removed two foster children from Freeman's care. The mug shot of the felonious Freeman (below left) was taken after her arrest in...