Free Republic

Here is but the latest act of submission to Islam by your State Department. A State Department cable has just been sent out with this announcement: The Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) has assembled a range of innovative and traditional tools to support Posts' outreach activities during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Here, in contrast, is the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,...

WASHINGTON — Whether it's over health care, climate change or most other big Washington battles this year, Congress keeps debating the same underlying issue: Is the federal government getting too big and intrusive? The subject bitterly divides Republicans from Democrats, and the public's mood seems ambivalent. Polls show public majorities think the government's rapidly growing cost is worrisome. Most want better health care and curbs on global warming — but they're wary of giving government too much power to do either.

Washington, D.C. (BNO NEWS) – President Barack Obama will announce on Saturday that Jeffrey Zients will join his administration as the Chief Performance Officer while Aneesh Chopra takes on the job as his Chief Technology Officer. The announcement, which will be made during Saturday's weekly radio address, was embargoed by the White House until 6 a.m. EDT on Saturday but was broken when Federal Computer Week ran a story more than 6 hours early. Jeffrey Zients, who has 20 years of business experience as a CEO, management consultant and entrepreneur will also serve as Obama's Deputy Director for Management of...

Other states in America have jobs, homes that are affordable, opportunities for climbing the economic ladder and friendly down to Earth people who are good and righteous individuals. Then there are Liberal Democrat states colored in blue which reflects how blue things are there like in Maine. Maine has the distinction of being the worst place to set up a business and has like Michigan the worst job market in the country. It is the 3rd poorest state in the nation, it has the largest state government rivaled only by California, (pending the cuts to their budget of course) and...

A rising chorus of GOP leaders are protesting that the blockbuster Democratic stimulus package would provide up to a whopping $5.2 billion for ACORN, the left-leaning nonprofit group under federal investigation for massive voter fraud. Most of the money is secreted away under an item in the now $836 billion package titled “Neighborhood Stabilization Programs.” Ordinarily, neighborhood stabilization funds are distributed to local governments. But revised language in the stimulus bill would make the funds available directly to non-profit entities such as ACORN, the low-income housing organization whose pro-Democrat voter-registration activities have been blasted by Republicans. ACORN is cited by...

As the Legislature’s lame-duck session sputters to a close this week without much action expected, California budget watchers remain in limbo, hoping federal assistance will help alleviate the state’s financial burden. The state is preparing a new round of mid-year budget cuts to close an $11 billion shortfall. But even as budget stakeholders play defense, some are quietly talking about new proposals that could re-channel pots of existing money into new programs, such as an expansion of health care coverage for uninsured children. Part of the lethargy of the lame-duck session, according to Capitol leadership sources, is the remaining uncertainty...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2008 – Newman’s Own awarded a combined $75,000 in grants to 15 nonprofit organizations for their innovative volunteer efforts to improve military quality of life during the company’s ninth annual awards ceremony, held at the Pentagon here today. Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, helped present the awards alongside executives from contest sponsors Newman’s Own, Fisher House and the Military Times Media Group. “The clever ideas, the way the ideas were brought forth, the things that were meaningful to people who had family and knew they would be meaningful...

WASHINGTON - President Bush's 2009 budget will virtually freeze most domestic programs and seek nearly $200 billion in savings from federal health care programs, a senior administration official said Thursday. The Bush budget also will likely exceed $3 trillion, this official said. Bush on Monday will likely present his proposed budget for the new fiscal year to Congress, where it's unlikely to gain much traction in the midst of a presidential campaign.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Before Bob Jansen can teach English to the adult immigrants in his lowest-level class, he has to show about a quarter of them how to hold a pencil. Adult education teachers like Jansen are finding themselves starting from scratch as uneducated immigrants and refugees from conflict regions of Africa and rural areas of Mexico and Central America flock to the United States. An estimated 400,000 legal and 350,000 illegal immigrants are unable to read or write even in their native language, according to a July 2007 report from the Migration Policy Institute, an independent Washington think...

As another World AIDS Day dawns this morning, prepare for the usual media blitz of stories designed to promote more spending on failed approaches to HIV/AIDS, and more bashing of the Bush Administration despite increases in spending by the billions each year.  Here are some of the questions that the media probably won’t ask the professional HIV/AIDS lobby, which grows ever fatter while the human tragedy rises: • What have American taxpayers gotten for the $20 billion per year (and rising) government spending on HIV/AIDS? • What has happened to the more than half a billion condoms that the...

But what about farmers and ranchers who plant grain where unfavorable weather is the norm rather than an exception? Not much rain falls on Oklahoma, the Dakotas or the Texas panhandle. That's just the way it is. Between 1985 and 2005, more than 12,000 purportedly drought-stricken agricultural producers in those states claimed federal disaster payments at least every other year. This group collected $1.4 billion in all, about 60 percent of total federal farm disaster relief aid during those two decades, according to a database compiled by the Environmental Working Group. You'd think that Congress would have concluded that there...

There may be no better sign of the changing debate over the nation's farm subsidies: A Midwestern governor running for president calls for cuts in a system that has steered hundreds of millions of dollars a year to his state. "I didn't get much of a reaction from farmers," said Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D), "because deep down most of them know the system needs to be changed." Politicians such as Vilsack have joined a host of interest groups from across the political spectrum that are pressing for changes in government assistance to agriculture. They want the money moved from...

Kent Conrad's Web site proclaims that the North Dakota Democrat "has been a leading voice for fiscal responsibility" in Washington... ...$4.9 billion, which is the amount of emergency drought relief the parsimonious Mr. Conrad is attempting to shovel into a Senate military construction bill in this week's lame duck session. If this is the sort of "fiscal discipline" we can expect from the new Democratic majority, K Street ought to be popping the champagne corks. Farm-state Senators have been pushing for this handout for months, and the only good news is that they've modestly scaled back their demands. Nebraska Democrat...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 -- Nearly five years after America “awoke to a nightmare attack” on Sept. 11, 2001, the nation is thankful that terrorists haven’t succeeded in launching another attack on U.S. soil, but recognizes that it’s not for the terrorists’ lack of trying, President Bush said at the White House today. “Nineteen men, armed with box cutters, took control of airplanes and turned them into missiles,” Bush said of the Sept. 11 attacks. “They used them to kill nearly 3,000 innocent people. We watched the Twin Towers collapse before our eyes -- and it became instantly clear that...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Aug. 28, 2006 -- As members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit here make last-minute preparations for their upcoming deployment, Staff Sgt. Danny Sava and his family are getting their own affairs in order so they’re ready for another long separation. Marine Staff Sgt. Danny Sava, his wife, Julia, son, Anthony, and daughter, Alyssa, stroll past a sign at the top of a stairwell in the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s command headquarters that marks the days until Sava’s upcoming deployment. “E-22” marks “Embarkation minus 22,” or 22 days until Sava and 2,300 fellow...

HEIDELBERG, Germany (Army News Service, June 6, 2006) – An increase in locally focused contributions from Soldiers and Department of Defense civilians to the Combined Federal Campaign Overseas will bring nearly $100,000 to family and youth programs in U.S. Army, Europe. Brig. Gen. Rusty Frutiger, USAREUR deputy chief of staff for personnel, and Peter F. Sun, IMA-EURO chief of staff, received the $98,895 check, symbolizing the donations designated for Family Support and Youth Programs, from Renee Acosta, worldwide CFC campaign manager. “The FSYP is unique to the CFC-O and is the only way to donate locally while overseas,” said Constance...

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2006 – Spouses of the military's senior enlisted leaders gathered here today to learn about each service's program for wounded troops and to share ideas for the future. Marine Gunnery Sgt. J.A. Burks, a representative for the Marine for Life program, speaks to the spouses of senior enlisted leaders during a conference at the Pentagon, May 9. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The wives of the senior enlisted leaders from the combatant commands and the service senior enlisted advisors met at the Pentagon in conjunction with their husbands' conference,...

AL ASAD, Iraq (April 25, 2006) -- Combat stress can consist of many more things than just combat, and when times get tough, while deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom, service members turn to the chaplain's office for help. "Our services are critical for those service members who wish to participate," said Navy Cmdr. Craig G. Muehler, chaplain, Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 3, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. "We offer services for all religions and denominations." By just touching the 'tip of the iceberg,' deployed service members go through problems such as marital difficulties, depression and overall loneliness which can take their...

WASHINGTON - The nation's largest labor organization on Tuesday criticized plans to expand guest worker programs for immigrants seeking to come to the United States, parting company with longtime Senate Democratic allies who pushed successfully to include them in broad-based immigration legislation. "Guest worker programs are a bad idea and harm all workers," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a statement released the day after the Senate Judiciary Committee cleared an immigration bill. "They cast workers into a perennial second-class status, and unfairly put their fates into their employers' hands." Sweeney's statement praised numerous provisions of the overall immigration legislation,...

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2006 – Cadets representing 11 National Guard Youth ChalleNGe programs from 10 states were on hand here today to accept awards for excellence in the their programs. Cadets from 11 National Guard Youth ChalleNGe programs from 10 states attended the 2006 National Guard ChalleNGe Program Award Luncheon. The awards program, presented by the United Service Organizations of Metropolitan Washington, recognized excellence in several key components of the ChalleNGe program. Photo by Samantha L. Quigley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Although the programs were being honored, Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2006 – In the old Star Wars movie "The Empire Strikes Back," Luke Skywalker gets a new, fully functional right hand after Darth Vader chops his off with a light saber. Today, thanks to work under way through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, servicemembers who have lost limbs in the line of duty could experience something almost as revolutionary in the years ahead. Among the cutting-edge technology DARPA is developing is a highly advanced, mechanical arm that works and looks just like a human one, Jan Walker, a DARPA spokesperson, told the American Forces Press Service....

WASHINGTON (AP) - A $40 billion budget-cutting bill nearing final House passage would badly hurt welfare and children's services programs in California, according to an analysis Friday by a group that advocates for low-income people. Among the bill's costs to California, according to the Center for Law and Social Policy in Washington: -$2 billion over the next five years to comply with new welfare rules requiring many more recipients to participate in work training and other programs. -$1 billion in child support payments that would go uncollected over the next five years because of cuts in funding for child support...

Following up on his Wall Street Journal article Tuesday defending the Iraq war, Sen. Joseph Lieberman is reminding Bush administration critics that it's wrong to claim that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. attacked in 2003. "The so-called Duelfer Report, which a lot of people read to say there were no weapons of mass destruction - concluded that Saddam continued to have very low level of chemical and biological programs," Lieberman told ABC Radio host Sean Hannity on Wednesday. "[Saddam] was trying to break out of the U.N. sanctions by going back into rapid redevelopment...

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - An advocacy group on Wednesday gave the state mostly C and D grades - and no A's - for health, economic and education programs affecting children. Children Now said many California children live in poverty and lack adequate education and health care. The Oakland-based group issued a report card covering nine subjects: health insurance, dental insurance, childhood obesity, adolescent health, infant health, family economic security, early education, K-12 education and after-school programs. The group gave the state three B's, three C's and three D's. The state received a B-minus for children's health insurance programs, although the...

WASHINGTON -- In recent weeks, Air Force chapels raised thousands of dollars to provide comfort for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Chapel communities contributed more than $376,000 for Hurricane Katrina survivors since the storm hit three weeks ago, according to the Air Force Chief of Chaplains Office here. “The Air Force chapel communities are being very generous and making sure our fellow Airmen and families are being taken care of,” said Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Brett Oxman, who works budgeting issues for the chaplains office at the Pentagon. The donations came from around the world, ranging from Edwards Air Force Base,...

The achievement gap between minority and white students has long been a stain on the bright mosaic of culturally and racially diverse school districts.From North Jersey to Cleveland to San Diego, whites as a group generally score considerably better on standardized tests than their minority peers. Whites also tend to enroll in more honors classes, while minorities are more prevalent in remedial courses.Now, one Bergen County district is introducing a sweeping concept that it hopes will bridge its gap by addressing a wide range of possible roadblocks to academic success.The initiative includes dozens of ideas. Some are in the talking...

More than a third of the software installed on PCs worldwide during 2004 was pirated, with losses from unauthorized software increasing by $4 billion from 2003, according to a study released this week by the software trade group Business Software Alliance. Thirty-five percent of all software installed on PCs was pirated, down from 36 percent in 2003, according to the study, conducted by research firm IDC. Estimated losses from software piracy climbed, however, from $29 billion to $33 billion, as both the legal and unauthorized software markets grew from 2003 to 2004. IDC estimated that $90 billion worth of software...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - After years of neglect, scores of transportation projects statewide would receive a badly needed infusion of $1.3 billion under a plan outlined Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The proposal is a key part of Schwarzenegger's revised 2005-2006 state budget that is due out on Friday. Facing a shortfall estimated at $8.6 billion, Schwarzenegger proposed in January a $111.7 billion spending plan that included more than $4 billion in borrowing and the transfer of $1.3 billion in sales tax money from transportation programs to other uses. The governor told an audience of mayors and city council members from...

It is my belief that about half of the Americans who call themselves liberal do not hold the great majority of positions held by mainstream liberal institutions such as the New York Times editorial page, People for the American Way, and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. So here is a test of this thesis to be given to anyone who believes he or she is a liberal. If you feel I have omitted a liberal position or have unfairly characterized any of them here, please email me. This is still a work in progress. Thank you, Dennis Pragerdennisprager@dennisprager.com...

- Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released the 2005 Congressional Pig Book, a sweeping compendium of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. Congress spent more tax dollars on pork this year than in any other year in history. For fiscal 2005, appropriators stuffed 13,997 projects into the 13 appropriations bills, an increase of 31 percent over last year’s total of 10,656. In the last two years, the total number of projects has increased by 49.5 percent. The cost of these projects in fiscal 2005 was $27.3 billion, or 19 percent more than last year’s total of $22.9 billion....

What do Democrats want? Many answers, or partial answers, can be found in the 90th anniversary issue of the New Republic, in the post-election issue of the American Prospect, and in various other writings by smart Democrats unhappy with the defeat their party suffered in 2004. These writers avoid the left blogosphere's wacky claims that the election was stolen. They understand that both parties played to win and turned out many new voters. John Kerry got 16 percent more votes than Al Gore. George W. Bush got 23 percent more votes in 2004 than in 2000. Most of these Democrats...

For many Bay Area school districts, persuading voters to pass parcel taxes in Tuesday's election isn't about selling new and innovative programs in these lean economic times -- it's about pleading to keep what they have. From Walnut Creek to Milpitas, superintendents and school boards in 17 districts are trying to maintain everything from music programs to school nurses to lower class sizes as they calculate budgets for next fall. Declining enrollment and unrealized monetary pledges from Sacramento have squeezed many districts in recent years. "We've been a high-performing district ... we have high expectations for our students," said Superintendent...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's $2.5 trillion budget is shaping up as his most austere, trying to restrain spending across a wide swath of government from popular farm subsidies to poor people's health programs. Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday defended the plan against Democratic criticism that Bush had to seek steep cuts in scores of federal programs because he is unwilling to roll back first-term tax cuts that opponents contend primarily benefited the wealthy. The budget's submission to Congress on Monday will set off months of intense debate. Lawmakers from both parties can be expected to vigorously fight to...

Large numbers of teachers believe themselves incapable of meeting the learning expectations placed on their institutions by the No Child Left Behind Act. Like the characters in "Atlas Shrugged," they find themselves having to deal with problems they did not create within the constraints of a system designed to fail. In order to remain in their chosen profession, those caught in the middle must place blame elsewhere in order to find an "out." Those who refuse to "work within the system" disappear. Mediocrity rises to the top and excellence disappears. Public education has cried "wolf" one too many times, claiming...

CAMBRIDGE, Md., Oct. 20 -- Slot machine gambling could once again dominate the General Assembly's agenda when lawmakers return to Annapolis in January, legislative leaders predicted Wednesday, even as they reiterated their sharp divisions on expanded gambling. . . . Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) has made the legalization of slots his keystone initiative since taking office but has failed repeatedly to build consensus for a plan. Ehrlich has run into strong resistance not just from House leaders, but also from rival factions within the business community, each of which wants to carve its own cut of the proceeds...

Gang-related murders soaring L.A., other cities in crisis as youth programs lack funds to fight crime. By Beth Barrett Staff writer Even as violent crime declines overall, gang-related murders have soared across the country and now represent a major law enforcement crisis in the Los Angeles area, other major cities and even rural communities, according to a study released Tuesday. While funding of juvenile programs was being cut, gang activity has been spreading rapidly from Los Angeles to the rest of the country, and homicides linked to juveniles in gangs have soared from 692 nationally in 1999 to more than...

Emerging post-holidays from the pile of stories virtually ignored by America’s media, comes the Bush version of Dickens. It seems George and Laura don’t just ask others to help faith-based groups, they pitch in themselves, as kids who’d gathered for Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program found out on a Monday afternoon in Alexandria, Virginia, this past December. Prison Fellowship was founded by Chuck Colson, and its Angel Tree program makes sure children of prisoners receive presents during the holidays. The program has many volunteers, but they aren’t usually accompanied by a crowd of more than 40 reporters as the President...

Today Linux, Tomorrow the World? By James V. DeLong The term "open source" is linked with software, and most particularly with Linux, the operating system which, it is hoped or feared, can challenge both Microsoft's position on the desktop and its ambitions to extend its empire into server space. The theory is that Linux and other open source programs are written by hordes of volunteers, each contributing his/her widow's mite of code, communicating at zero cost over the Internet, and self-organizing their efforts without need for either the incentives of markets or the commands of organizational hierarchies. The proof that...

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC has made changes to its Tuesday and Thursday schedules to make room for the new midseason comedy "The Tracy Morgan Show," while ABC and the WB network have bid farewell to "L.A. Dragnet" and "Tarzan," respectively. Meanwhile, NBC has cut back the order for its sophomore series "American Dreams" from 22 to 18 episodes. In other scheduling news, CBS has announced that it will replace the first part of its canceled four-hour miniseries "The Reagans" on Nov. 16 with a rerun of a two-episode arc of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (news - Y! TV)."...

<p>School districts that look to this list for help choosing which anti-drug programs to adopt, however, won't see affiliations between panelist and program clearly posted in the glossy 8-by-11-inch brochure the Dept of Ed folk put out. Panelist Gilbert Botvin, for example, is listed for his affiliation with Cornell University Medical College -- not with the exemplary "clearly articulated and logically appropriate" Life Skills Training program he developed.</p>

<p>Although Viacom hasn't given the official go-ahead, 'We wouldn't be going through all of this if we didn't think the channel, as a consumer proposition, wasn't going to be a home run,' said Gene Falk Senior Vice President of Digital Media programming at Showtime.</p>