Free Republic

Arnold Schwarzenegger has launched his most ambitious project to date with a scheme to save California "hundreds of millions of dollars" on the $4bn the state spends each year on goods and services. The governor's plan to centralise purchasing in a single agency is the first and relatively modest step in his much-anticipated California Performance Review - he calls it "blowing up boxes" - to clear red tape, bureaucracy and waste. Observers expect the Republican governor to make the performance review the centrepiece of his first term in office. Plans already drafted, including disbanding some 200 state boards and commissions...

In a sign that no matter is too small to affect international diplomacy, the US State Department has issued an edict banning its longtime standard typeface from all official correspondence and replacing it with a "more modern" font. In an internal memorandum distributed on Wednesday, the department declared "Courier New 12" - the font and size decreed for US diplomatic documents for years - to be obsolete and unacceptable after February 1. "In response to many requests and with a view to making our written work easier to read, we are moving to a new standard font: 'Times New Roman...

Among the garish signs of bagel shops and chain bookstores, next to the familiar golden arches on the north side of Route 347, a plain white board with stark black lettering is a sign of bad times for town Republicans. "WELCOME TO CROOKHAVEN TOWNSHIP," it reads. Erected by Stony Brook native Bill Sullivan last week outside B. Sullivan's, his now-defunct catering hall, bar and club, the sign provoked double-takes from some drivers. Others stopped to take a photo. Still others clapped Sullivan, 39, on the back and commended him for his "guts." LOOK! AN EXCERPT!

(Editor's Note: The following is the 31th of 100 stories regarding government regulation from the book Shattered Dreams, written by the National Center for Public Policy Research. CNSNews.com will publish an additional story each day.)Jay Montfort's Sour Mountain Realty is a family-owned New York company that has had a tough time with New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The story begins early in the last decade, when owner Jay Montfort decided to operate a surface mine. Immediately after he filed the required permit application to the DEC, Montfort found himself bogged down in a complicated and time-consuming process....

The State of Maryland told land owner Gene Pratt he could not build a small office building on his property unless he coughed up about $2,000 for a certified architect's drawing of the project, so he erected an outhouse on the roadside site to protest the costly government red tape. "When you get to be 67 years old you just don't need the aggravation," Pratt told the Associated Press. "I'm definitely not going to build anything there now." It seems that a landowner does not need an expensive drawing of a two holer to build it, so Pratt, who appears...

Washington, D.C. (SatireWire.com) — A confusing knot of new Iraqi regulations that require "non-resident aggressors" to obtain hundreds of federal and provincial pre-invasion permits and licenses will further delay any attack on Saddam Hussein, said frustrated U.S. officials who have also been told they must publish an "Intent to Overthrow" notice in an Iraqi newspaper of record. "I'm starting to think all the hassle is just not worth it," complained U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has been shuttling back and forth between Washington and the Iraqi consulate in Paris trying to get the appropriate paperwork. "We have to get...

AIRLINES, RED TAPE AND UNIONS; A RECIPIE FOR FINANCIAL DISASTER MARK A SITY 8/13/02 For decades the airline industry has been struggling. Doing well in that industry means loosing less money than your competitors do. In fact, I can't remember ever seeing profits for any of the major carriers for 2 consecutive quarters. On those rare occasions that one might make a profit, it is so miniscule compared to the amount of money spent and the past loses as to be laughable. Usually the "profit" is a result of an influx of tax dollars. Why is this the case? Even...