Free Republic

Gore Makes It a Family Affair NEWSWEEK Gun control is now being defined as a "family" issue—and will soon be aimed by the Democrats directly at Texas Gov. George W. Bush. That was one of the clues to Campaign 2000 that emerged last week as Vice President Al Gore formally kicked off his presidential bid. Polling for the Democrats has found more than 80 percent siding with Clinton and Gore over Bush on issues like mandatory gun locks, background checks at gun shows and opposition to concealed weapons. It was no coincidence that Gore criticized efforts to shield the gun ...

Atheists Under Siege By MICAH WHITE We hear it everywhere, from churches to Congress: we need to allow religion back in the schools if we want to avoid another tragedy like the one at Columbine High School. Groups like the Christian Coalition say there has been a moral decline ever since the Supreme Court banned school prayer. They were disturbed by the story of Cassie Bernall, the Columbine student who was killed after saying she believed in God. And they make demons out of all atheist students, as if they had anything in common with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. ...

Dear Members of the House of Representatives, Last week, both Republicans, and Democrats worked together to defeat Clinton's evil attempt to further impede the rights of American citizens to keep and bear arms. Over the next few weeks, some Members of the House may be tempted to go back on this good work and further harm our rights. Some are saying that Democrats will do everything they can to attach riders to almost every new bill in an attempt to please their King. It was only a few years back when Republicans did this on other issues, but Democrats stood ...

The Horrors of Kosovo New York Times Editorial During the NATO bombing of Kosovo, when Serbia controlled reporters' access to the region, journalists could document atrocities only by interviewing the ethnic Albanians who had fled to refugee camps. News reports of their accounts usually carried the words "could not be independently confirmed." They can be now. Journalists have fanned out through Kosovo, and the confirmation is horrifying. Ethnic Albanians offer reporters crumpled lists of the dead and lead them to burned mosques, the remains of bodies and fresh graves dug by friends and family to bury the victims. There were ...

Everything in Ruins and Little to Eat By JOHN KIFNER POSLIC, Yugoslavia -- The villagers here began arriving back home Saturday night, part of a flood of refugees racing back over the border from nearly three months in camps and makeshift housing. They found their houses in ruins -- both from Serbian pillaging and NATO bombing -- no electricity or drinking water and, worst of all, hardly any food across a wide stretch of southern Kosovo. "Everybody wants to come back," said Nijazi Kryeziv, who made the short journey from Kukes, Albania, where six of the nine refugees camps have ...

Milosevic Urges Serbs to Go Back to Kosovo By STEVEN ERLANGER BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Hundreds of Serbs who had fled Kosovo, fearing vengeance from the Kosovo Liberation Army rebels, responded Sunday to appeals from the Yugoslav government to return to the province and to trust the security provided by NATO-led forces. President Slobodan Milosevic, moving to shore up his position after failing to keep NATO out of Kosovo, has urged the province's Serbs to defend the right to their land by staying put, or returning if they have already fled. By praising the very NATO forces -- now under a ...

THE BUTCHER BILL The Monetary And Moral Cost Of Kosovo By Edward Zehr The ambassadors of the nations currently participating in the U.N. Security Council droned on, spinning the facts in accordance with the agenda of NATO. Only the occasional discordant note marred the effect -- the delegate from Brazil, for example, deplored the failure of the NATO countries to obtain the authority of the international organization for the use of military action against Yugoslavia. The Chinese delegation discreetly echoed this sentiment, expressing their fond hope that member nations would first consult the U.N. the next time they determine ...

U.S. and Russia Strive to Repair Relations Frayed by Kosovo By JANE PERLEZ COLOGNE, Germany -- The reasonable face of Russia, President Boris N. Yeltsin, walked stiffly, but his presence here Sunday was enough to reassure President Clinton and other Western leaders that dialogue with Moscow was possible in the aftermath of the Kosovo war. After weeks of tensions since the start of the war, culminating in an unnerving standoff between Russian and NATO troops at the main airport in Kosovo, the Russian and American leaders met Sunday and decided to let bygones be bygones, according to Clinton's aides. "I ...

Serb Troops Complete Their Pullout From Kosovo By STEVEN LEE MYERS PODUJEVO, Yugoslavia -- The last of some 40,000 Serbian forces left Kosovo Sunday a few hours ahead of NATO's deadline for withdrawal, in effect ending Yugoslavia's control over a province at the center of Serbia's cultural and historical lore. With the withdrawal completed, the NATO Secretary General, Javier Solana, announced that he had lifted the alliance's threat to resume bombing, formally ending a 78-day air war that culminated with the occupation of Kosovo by NATO-led peacekeepers in the last eight days. While the withdrawal of Serbian forces went relatively ...

Schools Seek Ways To Lure Teachers .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's schools, relying more and more on uncertified instructors, are having a tough time recruiting teachers these days because of competition from higher-paying industries more attractive to college graduates. A survey released today by the American Federation of Teachers found that beginning teachers made $25,735 on average in 1997-98, compared with $42,862 for new engineering graduates and $40,920 for new computer scientists. The national average salary for all teachers in the 1997-98 school year was $39,347, according to the union. In other professional fields, lawyers earned ...

QUOTE: RUSH: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just witnessed a delectable and juicy moment in the House of Representatives. We have seen what in effect is the establishment of the true genuine lame duck status of President Clinton. We have seen the President finally now, unable to marshall his forces and push through the House of Representatives in his traditional way, intimidation, fear and crisis mongering, his gun control bill. It was close but it failed. And it failed, ladies and gentlemen, because 20 percent of the House of Representatives Democrats voted with the Republicans. And another way of looking ...

"Let us make Terror the order of the day." French Revolutionary edict. When the infamous 500 or so, in effect self elected, of the French Revolutionary Assembly ran out of French soldiers to run amuck and burn France back to dark obscurity and to round up and arbitrarily kill innocent French citizens, in order to reduce the population AND KILL CIVILIZATION for effective communism, what did the officiating criminals do? They released scores of hardened prisoners, gave them spiked wine, a gun from the armory and let engage in untold barbarity and mass murder. Amazingly, such was the desperation ...

AFTER a spate of kidnapping and shootings in and around the eastern Kosovo city of Gnijlane, Serb residents are accusing the United States Marines of reacting too slowly to what they say is a takeover of the city by Albanian rebels. Gnijlane, with a large Serb population, many of whom vow not to flee the city, remained relatively untouched by war until Nato started its air campaign. After the air strikes began, Serb paramilitaries or Yugoslav soldiers began killing civilians, including at least two old Albanian men on the edge of town. Now the tables have been turned and ...

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion. DO THE RIGHT THING FOR HEP-C VICTIMS A GENEROUS AND CARING NATION IGNORES SUFFERING HERE AT HOME RIGHT HERE DAVE RUTHERFORD The Calgary Sun; EDITORIAL/OPINION, Pg. 15 June 18, 1999, Friday, Final EDITION Is it just me, or is it hypocritical to help others around the world, but refuse to help at home? News agencies in places like Iran are running stories about tainted blood and the Internet is full of talk about deadly blood Canada is doing its part militarily, financially and ...

Tom DeLay Holds No Gavel, But a Firm Grip on the Reins By MELINDA HENNEBERGER WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom DeLay swears it's only the force of his personality that has everyone in Washington persuaded -- mistakenly, of course -- that he's the guy running the House of Representatives while Speaker Dennis Hastert sends out for sandwiches. "I'm just -- I'm aggressive, and I've been aggressive all my life," says DeLay, the majority whip, not unhappily. And the speaker, he says, is just understated. Hastert doesn't think it's his job to talk to the press, DeLay notes, and will never suit ...

Future Bleak for Bill to Keep Health Records Confidential By ROBERT PEAR WASHINGTON -- Legislation to protect the privacy of medical records is dying under pressure from insurance companies, health care businesses, law-enforcement officials and others lobbying Congress to preserve their access to sensitive information on patients. As envisioned, the bill was supposed to establish comprehensive federal standards for the confidentiality of medical records. The goal of a uniform medical privacy standard was originally shared by consumer advocates and the health care industry, which now operates under rules that vary from state to state. But some consumer and privacy advocates ...

G.O.P. Retreating From Hard Stand Against Abortion By RICHARD L. BERKE WASHINGTON -- The Republican Party has undergone a fundamental repositioning, and softening, of its stand on abortion, recognizing that a more tolerant position on probably the most divisive issue in American politics is crucial to its hopes of reclaiming the White House. Several major presidential candidates are barely mentioning abortion on the stump, if at all. Some members of Congress are concentrating on other issues, like taxes and education. Even some leaders of the anti-abortion movement have moderated their positions, all in the name of political pragmatism. Historically, Republicans ...

Monday, June 21, 1999 Edition Texas gun law a campaign issue AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Almost as soon as it was signed into law, a state measure blocking Texas cities from suing gun and ammunition makers and dealers has become an issue between presidential hopefuls. Elsewhere around the nation, nearly two dozen cities and counties - including Miami, Chicago, New Orleans and Detroit - have sued gun makers in efforts to recover damages for crimes involving firearms. Gun manufacturers say they should not be held responsible for accidents or criminal acts. The leading GOP candidate for president, Texas Gov. George ...

THE mainland's air combat strength and military ties with Russia have been boosted with Moscow's decision to sell 72 of its front-line Sukhoi-30 jet fighter-bombers to Beijing.Following years of negotiations, Russian President Boris Yeltsin has given the green light to sell three squadrons of the state-of-art combat aircraft to the mainland, Russian diplomats said.Moscow and Beijing had agreed in principle to negotiations on the sale during Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to Russia early this year, Moscow-based diplomats said.Until recently, both countries had only agreed on 72 twin-finned and twin-engined jets following the US-led Nato air strikes against Yugoslavia, which ...

June 20 update -- On Friday, by a lop-sided vote of 280-147, the House killed a bill containing mandatory background checks on private sales at gun shows, requiring trigger locks to be sold with all new and used handguns, banning imports of over-10-round magazines, prohibiting gun ownership for life for violent juveniles, and prohibiting possession of "assault weapons" and high-cap magazines by all under 18, President Clinton and the press have been screaming that it was a great victory for the NRA. It would have been except that it was Clinton and all but 10 Democrats, aided by 82 ...