Free Republic

EU Urges Turkey Not to Execute Ocalan BRUSSELS — The European Union on Tuesday urged Turkey not to execute Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan, saying that to do so could create further problems in its attempt to join the 15-nation bloc. Germany, which holds the rotating EU presidency until Thursday when Finland takes over for six months, urged the Turkish parliament not to confirm the sentence announced on Tuesday by a Turkish court. "It (the German EU presidency) expresses the hope that Turkey will follow what has invariably been the practice for the last 15 years and not carry out ...

WASHINGTON — After weeks of wrangling with Congress, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger has agreed to an informal meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday afternoon. Berger consented to appear when Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott agreed that no stenographer would be present to record the discussion. The classified meeting will take place in a secure briefing room in the Capitol building. Berger had been resisting lawmakers' requests to appear before congressional committees. He will face questions from lawmakers on what he told the president about Chinese espionage and when. Berger was briefed in 1996 on the allegations of ...

You'll know a politician is really serious about campaign-finance reform when he makes the following pledge: If elected, I promise I'll never use public money to promote my campaign for public office. Had Vice President Al Gore made that pledge a few years back, he'd never have shown up yesterday at Jefferson Hospital to announce the zillion-dollar anti-cancer initiative. Nor would Gov. Ridge have assembled an army of politicians down at the Navy Yard to announce the $430 million in public subsidies that attracted the Kvaerner folks to the Navy Yard. But that, of course, is not how it ...

"And you won't leave that miserable bitch for me....."

De-industrializing America: The U.S. Trade Deficit  The American economy seems to be chugging along nicely.  Wall Street breaks records almost weekly and unemployment is at a 25 year low.  Things couldn't be better, or could they?  While on the surface the economy may look bright, the real picture may not be so rosy.  Although sales are climbing, U.S. manufacturing has been declining. This has resulted in a huge U.S. trade deficit in goods.  Many economists believe that American economic growth is reduced by 2-3% points due to our trade deficit.  Both the Democrats and Republicans have ignored this issue, as ...

Members of the nation's largest teachers union predicted Monday that school vouchers will fail once the public catches on to their inherent flaws. The National Education Association is meeting in Orlando this week and next, two months after Florida lawmakers approved the nation's first statewide voucher system. Students in low-performing schools can use tax money to attend private schools. While the union has shifted its focus in recent years to embrace certain education reforms, it holds firm against vouchers. "Vouchers aren't going to make it," said Lee Berger, a staff member with NEA's Urban Initiative, which tries to shore ...

The court refranchises the states By William Buckley Published June 27, 1999 The first thing to tell yourself today, even though you told it to yourself a week ago and a month ago and a decade ago, is that (a) it isn't always easy to figure out how the Founders would have interpreted their own Constitution in the modern world, and (b) even if the constitutional language screams out at you in boldface type its meaning, there is nothing to do about it if five members of the Supreme Court say that some other meaning is really implied. Consider ...

Smug, horny, unedited panderers! If you want to understand what’s wrong with Salon magazine, read Thor Hesla’s smug, juvenile piece on right-wing pundette Ann Coulter. Coulter recently wrote a column for George in which, according to Salon, she complained "that she was having trouble getting dates in the nation’s capital." Salon’s piece purports to give Coulter dating tips. The problem isn’t just that Salon takes this promising premise and turns it into an extended, locker-room style sexual mockery of Coulter. (Sample witty advice: "Stop being a mean bitch," "Get your head out of your ass"). Nor is the problem that ...

Johanna Berrigan, a Catholic Worker layperson out of Philadelphia, is used to working with poor people, but she wasn't prepared for a "death row for infants" that she found in Baghdad hospitals. The hospitals, devoid of almost everything they need and staffed by doctors exhausted and grieving, are just a place to die for thousands of Iraqi children suffering from diseases and infections brought on by malnutrition and contaminated water. Our government is responsible for this. The embargo on Iraq, which even denies the Iraqis chlorine to use for purifying their water supply, has become a weapon of mass destruction. ...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Rio Summit-Statement Highlights of a political statement issued Tuesday by 48 European Union, Caribbean and Latin American leaders in which they pledge to: -Preserve democracy and promote and protect ``all human rights and fundamental freedoms;'' Ensure free and impartial judicial systems. -Work toward peace ``and reject all forms of intolerance including xenophobia and racism, for the benefit of international and regional security.'' -Pay special attention to ``protect the rights of the most vulnerable groups of society, particularly children, youth, disabled and displaced persons and migrant workers and their families.'' The ...

What about Constitution desecration? PART 1 As a constitutional amendment against flag desecration sailed through the House of Representatives yesterday, I was wondering what the penalty is for desecrating the Constitution. I just wish more members of Congress had their priorities straight. The flag is just a symbol -- an important symbol, to be sure, but a symbol, nonetheless. A symbol of what? Presumably it is a symbol of the hard-won freedom we have experienced in the United States for most of its history. That freedom, our founders reminded us, was God-given and protected by the U.S. Constitution. Thus, the ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A conservative public interest group is preparing to file suit against first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton as she moves toward an anticipated U.S. Senate bid from New York, a source said Monday. Judicial Watch intends to challenge Mrs. Clinton for having traveled in recent months at public expense between Washington and the state of New York, the source said. The group believes she should pay for the trips herself, contending the main purpose of the travel is her political future, not any role as first lady, the source said. Mrs. Clinton has traveled to New York ...

On Monday, the administration released new predictions of federal government surpluses — $1.1 trillion more than expected — that Clinton said would make it easier to avert a cash shortage likely to face the health insurance program for the elderly and disabled in 2015. The president proposed using $794 billion of those surpluses for Medicare. NO...NO...NO... Lets cut taxes and pay off that 7 trillion national debt first...Can you imagine an economy of no debt and low taxes...hmmmmm...lets call our senators and representatives...pickup the phone and give them a calll...;)

The following Poll numbers are from today's AOL LIVE POLL-if you have AOL please vote! The New Yorker magazine is reporting that friends of President Clinton believe he will run for the U.S. Senate seat from Arkansas in 2002. Do you think Clinton would make a good senator? Yes 2139 23.3% No 6724 73.2% Not sure 318 3.5% Total votes: 9181 If you had the chance, would you vote for Clinton as a senator? Yes 1854 20.2% No 7075 77.3% Not sure 229 2.5% Total votes: 9158 Why do you think President Clinton and Hillary Clinton would consider running ...

WASHINGTON--In the 1936 campaign, after four years of increased federal spending, President Roosevelt was to campaign in Pittsburgh, where in the 1932 campaign he had called for reduced federal spending. FDR directed his speechwriter, Samuel Rosenman, to "see whether you can prepare a draft giving a good and convincing explanation" of his somersault. Rosenman read the 1932 speech and told FDR only one explanation would do: "The only thing you can say about that 1932 speech is to deny categorically that you ever made it." Which brings us to the wee problem one Republican senator and some House members--all ...

WASHINGTON — With the independent counsel law about to expire and his last pending cases about to be resolved, the end may finally be near for Kenneth Starr's lengthy investigation. Starr associates said Tuesday he may be close to wrapping up his investigation that started with Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton's investment in the failed Whitewater land deal in Arkansas and expanded to various White House scandals, including Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. All that appears to be left for Starr would be to write a final report on his five-year, $40 million investigation, and he may be out of ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said today it is investigating an attempted computer security breach last week at a defense agency responsible for reviewing sensitive technology exports. An unidentified employee of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency is under investigation for allegedly seeking unauthorized access to the computer system of a coworker, agency spokesman Clem Gaines said. Gaines said the employee under investigation by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations had requested access to the government computer used by Peter Leitner, a senior advisor to the defense agency on matters involving exports of sensitive technologies. Gaines declined to identify ...

With the brunt of the 2000 campaign looming, we must prepare for the long season of poll-tested sound bites. It's hard to imagine any of today's politicians, however, matching the eloquence and substance of a sample of quotations put together by the Libertarian Party: "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -- Ronald Reagan. "A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend of the support of Paul." -- George Bernard Shaw. ...

When Bill Bradley detailed his views on childhood poverty earlier this month in Los Angeles, two words were conspicuously missing from his speech. One was the word "fathers." The other missing word was "missing"--as in, missing fathers. Bradley came no closer to the subject of missing fathers than some fleeting references to the stresses confronting single parents. As a senator from New Jersey, Bradley had worked to toughen child support collection from absent fathers, but in his speech he casually dismissed those who believe that childhood poverty cannot be addressed without attacking the broader cultural problem of fragmenting families--a much ...

I smelled evil White House spin machine propaganda when I heard about Hubbell's plea agreement and wagered myself that this newspin (that Hitlery is in the clear because Hubbell is pleading guilty and she won't have to testify and nevermind that Hubbell might be spilling the beans about her to save his miserable hide) did not come from OIC's office. I was right.