Free Republic

BAGHDAD – American troops could face trial before Iraqi courts for major crimes committed off base and when not on missions, under a draft security pact hammered out in months of tortuous negotiations, Iraqi officials familiar with the accord said Wednesday. The draft also calls for U.S. troops to leave Iraqi cities by the end of June and withdraw from the country entirely by Dec. 31, 2011, unless the Baghdad government asks some of them to stay for training or security support, the officials said. It would also give the Iraqis a greater role in U.S. military operations and full...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – By some measures, Barack Obama has a thin record. He's a Senate newcomer who has never worked in the White House, governed a state or run a business. Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton points to his resume as evidence that Obama is not ready for the White House. “He was a part-time state senator for a few years, and then he came to the Senate and immediately started running for president,” she says dismissively. Obama's accomplishments are more substantial and varied than Clinton suggests. And he has a longer record in elected office than she does,...

True to his word, Ron Paul abolishes the IRS, the CIA, the border patrol, and calls all military personnel stateside to serve as border guards. Problems immediately start to arise. The income tax code is still law, but with no enforcement agency, people soon just stop paying taxes. Congress tries to implement supplementary measures, but ultimately enforcement is the duty of the Executive and the Paul Administration has announced they will pursue no enforcement of income or payroll tax collection. The US government goes bankrupt in the first year of the Paul Presidency. Social Security and Medicare benefits cease to...

When Eastern Europe broke free in 1989, we all realized just how little thought had been given to the transition from socialism to capitalism. Mises had told us the collapse was coming, and we should have been prepared. As America comes to resemble a command economy, we need a transition plan here too. Yuri Maltsev proposed a "One-Year Plan" for the U.S.S.R. We're not in that bad a shape (yet), so we could do it in 30 days. DAY ONE: The federal income tax is abolished and April 15th is declared a national holiday. The 40% reduction in federal revenues...

WASHINGTON - Democrats may have declared a one-year moratorium on pet projects treasured by members of Congress, but the move will hardly stop horse trading in Washington or moves by lawmakers to try to steer taxpayer money back home. Nor will it touch billions of dollars in already budgeted Pentagon earmarks, which go to everything from research into better body armor for overseas troops to finding bone marrow matches to treat leukemia patients. The temporary ban on earmarks — footnotes in spending bills that lawmakers use to deliver federal bacon to their states — has been greeted with applause by...

Lower interest rates on student loans. More special forces for the military. Expanded prescription drug benefits for senior citizens. Greater federal support for renewable energy and alternative fuels. Congressional Democrats have a long list of priorities they'd like to enact when they assume the power of the majority in January. After all, they've been wandering in the political wilderness for 12 years. They've had lots of time to scribble down stuff under the heading "to do." But faced with record federal deficits and the expense of the war in Iraq, Democrats have also vowed to be more fiscally responsible than...

It's become more and more obvious that Republican apologists are going to be able to get away with blaming the upcoming "stunning" defeat on the Foley "scandal," rather than the fact that large chunks of its base and other normally dependable voters are going to stay home in disgust over the several years of: Wild-eyed pork, earmarks, and increasing government size and power. intentions to put Gonzales and Miers on the Supreme Court. Failure to engage the strongest enemies of the US, in particular Iran. Horrible mismanagement of the Iraq occupation. Passing and signing the Campaign Finance Reform act. The...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Just two Arab countries have supplied almost 50 percent of California's imported oil over the past five years, a dependence that leaves the state more vulnerable than the rest of the country to disruptions in the world oil markets. The finding, based on an analysis of state and federal crude oil import statistics, underscores the challenges confronting both California -- the biggest gas-consuming state in the U.S. -- and the country as a whole as lawmakers grapple with consumer outrage over high prices at the pump and a U.S. deficit that has widened on the back...

Texas Pre-Kindergarten Limited English Proficient (LEP) Pilot Program The following applications have been preliminarily selected to receive a grant for the Texas Pre-Kindergarten Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Pilot Program. Revised 4/12/06 Contacts: Carlos Garza(Funding) Discretionary Grants Phone: (512) 463-9269 carlos.garza@tea.state.tx.us Roberto Manzo (Program) Office Education Initiatives Phone: (512) 936-6060 roberto.manzo@tea.state.tx.us Program Description: The purpose of the Texas Pre-Kindergarten Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Pilot Program is: To implement multi-age programs serving 3-, 4-, and 5-year olds that assure that English language learning children receive appropriate activities to enter school prepared to succeed. The pilot program must provide many opportunities for the...

DALLAS - Oil companies said Monday that damage to their massive Texas refineries from Hurricane Rita appeared lighter than expected, but analysts are still predicting that retail gasoline prices may remain near $3 a gallon for weeks or even months longer. That's a consequence of tight supplies and the fact it may take weeks to restart refineries that closed in the wake of the hurricane in Texas and Louisiana — about a dozen. Combined with reports of Rita-related damage to rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, the idle refineries raised fears about shortfalls of heating oil and natural gas, fuels...

When he was named president of the Club for Growth (clubforgrowth.org) last year, Pat Toomey didn't need anyone to tell him how important it was having the Republican lobbying group on his side in a tight political race. When the former Lehigh Valley congressman almost unseated Arlen Specter in the Senate primary last spring, the club — which specializes in helping candidates who favor small government, free markets and low taxes — contributed nearly $1 million to his campaign. I asked Toomey about his new job and his future political plans, when I called him at his offices in Washington:...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Thomas Sowell: The fallacy with 90 lives By THOMAS SOWELL, Creators Syndiucate November 20, 2004 Cats are supposed to have nine lives but fallacies must have at least ninety. Some notions will be believed, no matter how many times they have been refuted by facts. One of these seemingly immortal fallacies is the implicit assumption that our enemies have unlimited resources, so that our efforts at strengthening ourselves militarily are doomed to be self-defeating. At least as far back as the 1930s, the intelligentsia and others have warned against military spending as setting off an "arms race" in which each...

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Moderate Islam or Fata Morgana? and freemuslims.org Speaks Out.There is good news to report: The idea that "militant Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution" is finding greater acceptance over time. But there is also bad news, namely growing confusion over who really is a moderate Muslim. This means that the ideological side of the war on terror is making some, but only limited, progress.The good news: Anti-Islamist Muslims have found their voice since September 11. Their numbers include distinguished academics such as Azar Nafisi (Johns Hopkins), Ahmed al-Rahim (formerly...

If there was ever a "Most Valuable Player" award given for a political campaign, this year it would most definitely go to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth[1]. Because they spoke out against a liberal Democrat, these men are getting a constant anal exam by the Kerry campaign and Kerry's socialist cheerleaders in the major media. Yet, no matter the heavy amount of professional media harassment received, the Swifties continue on, walking point, representing American veterans with courage and honor. And look at that faux war hero, John Kerry, running scared like a little girlie-boy again. With just two little...

<p>San Francisco, CA, Jun. 21 (UPI) -- A plan is being considered that allow non-citizens, including illegal immigrants, to vote in San Francisco school board elections.</p> <p>The San Jose Mercury News said Monday the proposed November ballot measure was aimed at getting more parents involved in their children's education by waiving California's requirement that voters be U.S. citizens.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite increasing concern about terrorist threats to the United States, the FBI before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was hampered by a culture resistant to change, inadequate resources and legal barriers, the national commission investigating the attacks said on Tuesday. "From the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, FBI and Department of Justice leadership in Washington and New York became increasingly concerned about the terrorist threat from Islamic extremists to U.S. interests both at home and abroad," said the report, presented at a commission hearing. Attorney General John Ashcroft, his predecessor, Janet Reno, former FBI Director...

<p>At the Robin Hood Foundation's charity auction in New York last year, the most coveted prize wasn't the slumber party with Britney Spears, or the skating lessons from Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes. It was a package called "Yeah, Baby!" that included a trip to the Bahamas and a dozen tickets to the annual Victoria's Secret lingerie fashion show. The winning bid, from five couples, was $560,000.</p>

Damascus defiant in face of air strike, but options are limited Brian Whitaker Wednesday October 8, 2003 The Guardian (UK) Syria's youthful president sounded resolute and defiant yesterday in his first public comment on the Israeli air raid that struck deep into his country's territory. "We can, with full confidence, say that what happened will only make Syria's role more effective and influential," he told the pan-Arab newspaper al-Hayat. "We are not a superpower, but we are not a weak state either. We're not a country without cards ... We are not a state that can be ignored." In the...

Supreme Court Rules There Are Limits on When Government Can Forcibly Drug Criminal Defendants The Supreme Court ruled Monday that there are limits on when the government can forcibly medicate mentally ill criminal defendants to make them well enough to stand trial for fraud or other charges. The 6-3 ruling, a defeat for prosecutors, means that the government will have to revise a common practice now of putting defendants on anti-psychotric drugs for their trials. Justices said that the Constitution allows the government to administer drugs only "in limited circumstances." The case required the court to balance the government's interest...