Free Republic

Lobbyists Are a Lode for the Leading Presidential Campaigns By DON VAN NATTA Jr. WASHINGTON -- Gov. George W. Bush of Texas is running as a Washington outsider, but that is not stopping a galaxy of Washington insiders from contributing more than $1 million to his Presidential campaign at a fund-raiser here on Tuesday night. On the campaign trail earlier this month, Bush criticized the capital's deeply divisive culture, saying that as President he would try to "change the tone of Washington, D.C." On another occasion, he derided the "zero-sum politics" of the capital. "It's an 'I win, you lose' ...

Democrats Stall Bill to Force Consideration of Patients' Rights By FRANK BRUNI WASHINGTON -- Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the majority leader, set aside an agricultural spending bill Monday after Democrats sought to attach to it a broad proposal for changes in managed health care. While those maneuverings were highly technical, the implications were not. Democrats were serving notice that new protections for patients enrolled in health maintenance organizations were among their uppermost priorities, and that they were willing to disrupt other Senate business to compel consideration of the issue as soon as possible. Republicans, for their part, were confronted ...

G.O.P. Attorneys General Unite to Push an Agenda of Restraint By ALISON MITCHELL WASHINGTON -- At a time of new activism among state attorneys general, Republicans are creating an attorneys general association of their own to promote government restraint and raise money for the election of more Republicans to the post. The move, by the Republican National Committee in concert with several Republican attorneys general, comes at a time when many of the states' chief legal officers have been aggressively expanding their role by suing tobacco companies or joining the Justice Department in bringing antitrust charges against the Microsoft Corporation. ...

THE OPPOSITION Belgrade Group Plans Rallies for Early Election and Reform By STEVEN ERLANGER BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- A small group of Yugoslav opposition parties said Monday that it would call demonstrations this weekend to demand early elections and democratic change. But Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is considered highly unlikely to call early elections, senior government officials said Monday. The term of the federal parliament does not expire until 2001 and the Serbian parliament until 2002, while Milosevic's own single term runs through the spring of 2002. While Milosevic's political position is considered to be weaker now, after the defeat by ...

I keep getting emails from American readers pleading to know how deeply Clinton has damaged American national security. In truth, I cannot say much more than I have already but I shall once again repeat myself: American security has been shattered. Chinese officials have privately bragged about the extent of their penetration, their placing of agents, their successful use of bribery and blackmail. I have heard stories that I would never repeat, though I know them to be true, because many readers would consider them fantastic. But would they be any more fantastic than a president selling his country's ...

CLASHES NATO's Peacekeeping Force Struggles to Keep Order By DAVID ROHDE MITROVICA, Yugoslavia -- For the third consecutive day, several dozen Serbs in civilian dress who call themselves "warrior citizens" prevented ethnic Albanians from entering the predominantly Serbian sector of this northern Kosovo industrial town on Monday, jeering and threatening any Albanian who dared to enter. In a direct challenge to NATO authority, the Serbs are declaring their neighborhood, about a third of the city, and the predominantly Serbian towns to the north a "Serbian zone." The area stretches the width of a valley 30 or so miles from here ...

Unity 2000 wrote: Fellow Concerned Conservatives: Are you tired of the current malaise in politics? From President Clinton to the Establishment figures in the Republican Party, it seems as though the choices we have been getting are no choices at all. The Establishment is ready for a "Gore vs. Gore-lite" contest -- we at Unity 2000 have something else in mind. Remember ‘92? Remember ‘96? We were told, on both occasions, to be quiet and accept a moderate, so that we might have "victory." Not in 2000, folks. We don't want those candidates. We don't want those "victories." Unity 2000 ...

WHITE HOUSE MEMO Laurels Elude President as Public Judges a War By JOHN M. BRODER WASHINGTON -- Presidents can ordinarily expect a surge in public support when they commit American forces to a foreign conflict and an even greater reward in public approval when the war ends with minimal loss of American life. But the conflict in Kosovo is no ordinary one, and Bill Clinton is no ordinary President. Clinton went on prime-time television 10 days ago to declare that the United States and NATO had won the war in Yugoslavia after 78 days of aerial bombardment. Clinton said that ...

THE SEPARATISTS Rebel General Planning a New Army for Kosovo By CARLOTTA GALL PRISTINA, Yugoslavia -- The chief of general staff of the Kosovo Liberation Army already has the formation of a future army for Kosovo planned out, even as he is preparing to disarm and demobilize his guerrilla force. The rebel official, Gen. Agim Ceku, arrived on Monday in Pristina, the Kosovo capital, dressed in his military fatigues, the red and yellow rebel insignia on his cap and sleeve, to mark the signing of the agreement to demilitarize. Ceku, 38, has emerged in the last three months as the ...

• The NATO peacekeeping force suffered its first fatalities since entering Kosovo on June 12 when an explosion killed two British Army soldiers -- Gurkhas from Nepal -- and two civilians, as they were clearing munitions from a school. • Rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army promised NATO that they would disband, but the agreement included, at the rebels' insistence, a pledge by the NATO allies to consider letting the rebels form a provisional army modeled on the National Guard in United States. • Speaking in Slovenia, the small nation that broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, President Clinton called ...

Pyongyang, June 21 (KCNA) -- The United States recently egged the South Korean authorities on to spark an armed conflict in the West Sea of Korea. However, the South Korean authorities were hit hard in the conflict. The U.S. has begun massively reinforcing their aggression forces in South Korea in the wake of the incident. The U.S. introduced two ultra-modern nuclear-powered submarines into South Korea and sent the aircraft carrier "Kitty Hawk" to Japan under the pretext of "coping with the tense situation on the Korean peninsula." The U.S. Defense Department announced that aircraft carriers and many fighter planes have ...

Lyrics Copyright 1999, Doug from Upland. Not for commercial use without permission of the author. There is someone who needs mocking He's in need of mocking everywhere He's a dullard and a dunce…we're all tired of his stunts With his traitor boss they really make a pair Algore is an idiot…in every way We can't wait to see which foot he'll put into his lying mouth today Algore is an idiot…at him we laugh Don't take him serious…get ready he'll pull another gaff There are none so foolish as those who think he's real He will tell you with ...

LOOTING ethnic Albanians were ordered to hand back their booty yesterday after more than 40 tractors were stopped by Kfor troops in the Serb village of Grace. British tanks were ordered in to enforce a crackdown. Earlier, French Nato forces had appeared to watch looters stripping houses without intervening, but that was denied later. In the same village the previous day, crowds of Albanians were seen running into houses after the last Serbs left, setting fire to buildings and stealing possessions. Then, Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Jackson had admitted his regret at the incident and had insisted that Nato had "taken ...

Agreement to Disband Kosovo Army Includes Pledge to Consider Provisional Army By STEVEN LEE MYERS PRISTINA, Kosovo -- The agreement reached early Monday to disband the Kosovo Liberation Army included, at the insistence of its commanders, a pledge by the NATO allies to consider letting the rebels form a provisional army for Kosovo modeled on the National Guard in United States. The agreement, signed in the dead of night after a frenetic weekend of military and political wrangling from a mountainous rebel redoubt in central Kosovo to the capitals of Europe, gave no timetable for creating an army and no ...

UNITED NATIONS -- Shattered by Serb atrocities, slammed by NATO bombing, and stunned by the refugee exodus, the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo live in a surrealistic twilight between hope and despair. Now that there is an absence of war in the Balkan region, can there ever be true peace? Carl Bildt, the U.N.'s political supremo for Kosovo admits candidly that the task ahead is "challenging and complex," representing the largest magnitude of a UN mission ever undertaken. The former Swedish Prime Minister from the center right party adds, "that while the hostilities have stopped, there is not a peace agreement." ...

Bush Says He Backs Defeated House Gun Bill By David S. Broder Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, June 22, 1999; Page A04 GREENVILLE, S.C., June 21—Texas Gov. George W. Bush today said he would have voted for a gun control bill defeated by the House last week and defended his decision to sign legislation barring cities in his state from suing gunmakers for the costs of violence on their streets. Bush said the 24-hour check on weapons sales at gun shows contained in the House bill "would have made it harder for convicted criminals to get a gun." Most Democrats ...

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Monday June 21 5:48 PM ET Two-Day Security Review Closes U.S. Nuclear Labs SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) The nation's three nuclear weapons laboratories shut down operations Monday for a two-day security review in the wake of allegations of Chinese espionage and lax oversight, lab officials said. The so-called standdown at Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico and Livermore Laboratory in California comes after heavy criticism in Congress of security standards at the labs. ``A standdown is a very unusual thing,'' John Bass, a spokesman for Los Alamos lab, said. During the two days, employees will review ...

Clarity did a bang up job!! He was terrific, stupendous, fantastic! He spoke knowledgeably about Don's case and even more importantly, he spoke out for the protection of our first amendment rights and against corruption in the Philadelphia DA's office and government corruption and abuse everywhere. Clarity also discussed Free Republic and gave this wonderful group some great publicity. We will post a more detailed account tomorrow!

Greater Intervention and Military Cutbacks are a Deadly Combination by Jason Morrow   What if they threw a war and nobody came? As a result of current defense policies, such a scenario is not far out of the realm of possibility. In a classic case of trying to have his cake and eat it too, President Clinton has consistently pushed for base closings and reductions in military personnel while simultaneously deploying more troops abroad to regional conflicts, including the current conflict in Kosovo. The combination of these actions is eroding the ability of our military to fulfill its mission. Since ...