Free Republic

When most Americans hear the term “welfare,” they immediately think of welfare mothers with two illegitimate children, planted in front of the TV and living in public housing. The kind that welfare reform was supposed to take care of. But here's a surprise: Some of the biggest welfare recipients of all are not poor at all. They are prosperous and profitable businesses. A competitive advantage In 1997 the Fortune 500 corporations recorded best-ever earnings of $325 billion, yet incredibly Uncle Sam doled out nearly $80 billion in taxpayer subsidies. These welfare payments come in every conceivable shape and size: government ...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., a Southern Baptist minister who has called the breakdown of the American family one of the nation's biggest problems, said Tuesday he has filed for divorce. Hutchinson cited unspecified troubles in his nearly 29-year marriage to his wife, Donna. "There have been tremendous strains on our marriage during the past few years and we sought extensive counseling prior to taking this action," Hutchinson said in a statement. The couple have three sons in their early 20s. In his statement, Hutchinson said he filed papers for the divorce Tuesday, but he did not ...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A conservative group alleged Tuesday that Hillary Rodham Clinton is misusing taxpayer funds for ``personal political benefit'' as she explores a campaign for a Senate seat from New York. ``We will be seeking appropriate remedies which may include the return of the money for the U.S. taxpayer and which would also include other types of action to prevent this from happening in the future,'' said Larry Klayman, chairman and general counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Judicial Watch. A spokeswoman for Mrs. Clinton said the first lady had followed requirements set by the Federal Elections Commission. ``The ...

Noise from supertankers, oil exploration and new military sonar equipment scrambles the communications systems of sea life, forcing changes in migration routes and breeding grounds, a new report warns The Full Story

Russian advance into Kosovo was smart move -- Zhirinovsky.MOSCOW, June 29 (Itar-Tass) - The bringing of Russian peacemakers to Kosovo "was the smart and only possible decision," Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said in a live program of the Echo of Moscow radio station on Tuesday. That move showed the might of the Russian army, and "its potential of making fine actions on the European theatre of operations," Zhirinovsky said. In his opinion, the number of Russian peacemakers in Kosovo shall be increased to 10,000 men, "and troops shall be brought to Serbia on the latter's consent." On the ...

NATO must quickly get its full 55,000-strong peacekeeping force into Kosovo to flush out Serb paramilitaries who remained behind in defiance of the peace agreement, Defense Secretary William Cohen said Tuesday. Cohen told reporters that NATO had expected some remnant Serb forces to try to disrupt the peacekeeping operation, but that so far they have not presented a major obstacle to stabilizing the Serb province. ``What will be important is for us to accelerate - to the extent possible - the arrival of the full KFOR force,'' Cohen said. KFOR is the Kosovo Force of peacekeepers that now numbers ...

Key Republican Seeks To Quash IMF Gold Sales By Mark EganWASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Republican Leader Dick Armey Tuesday denounced the proposed sale of International Monetary Fund gold to help reduce poor countries' debt and said he would back legislation to block the proposal.Under the plan, up to 10 million ounces of the IMF's 104 million ounce gold reserve would be sold and proceeds used to offset debt owed by poor countries.``Just a way for the IMF to acquire liquidity for more mischief without being accountable,'' said Armey of Texas.He told Reuters it was ``very, very likely'' he would co-sponsor ...

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush made a direct appeal for Hispanic support today, visiting a Mexican-themed fair and slipping almost immediately into Spanish as he addressed a crowd of curious onlookers. ``Thank you for having me,'' Bush told a racially mixed crowd of several dozen, speaking in English. In Spanish, he said, ``It's a great honor to be here with all of you.'' Bush's California trip, his first since announcing he would seek the Republican presidential nomination, is dominated by seven fund-raising stops over three days. His campaign said he will net $4.2 million today. In ...

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush made a direct appeal for Hispanic support today, visiting a Mexican-themed fair and slipping almost immediately into Spanish as he addressed a crowd of curious onlookers. ``Thank you for having me,'' Bush told a racially mixed crowd of several dozen, speaking in English. In Spanish, he said, ``It's a great honor to be here with all of you.'' Bush's California trip, his first since announcing he would seek the Republican presidential nomination, is dominated by seven fund-raising stops over three days. His campaign said he will net $4.2 million today. In ...

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA THE HON. BOB BARR United State House of Representatives 1130 Longworth Building Washington, D.C. 20515-1007 Plaintiffs, v. THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20500-0005 and THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20530, Defendants. _____________________________________ ) COMPLAINT Plaintiff, The Honorable Bob Barr, hereby files this Complaint for violations of the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a et seq. As grounds therefor, Plaintiff respectfully alleges as follows: JURISDICTION AND VENUE 1. This court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to ...

President Clinton is apparently drunk with glee over his ''victory'' in Kosovo. He's so giddy that he wants to use NATO as a global cop to ferret out and crush injustice across Europe and in Africa. It would be a grave mistake. Yet no one in Washington has thrown up a stop sign. While addressing U.S. troops at the Skopje airport in Macedonia the president got carried away. He declared that ''we'' won't allow people in central Europe and Africa to be attacked because of ethnic, racial or religious differences. ''We can do it now. We can do it tomorrow, ...

It wasn't so long ago, just two years in the past, in fact, that the Supreme Court decided that police can roust passengers from a car during a routine traffic stop, based on no suspicion of wrongdoing on the part of those passengers. That decision, Maryland v. Wilson, was supposed to make life better by reducing the risk to police officers of pulling a car over. Instead, the Supreme Court's 1997 decision turned out to be one more slip down a well-greased slope, culminating in last week's decision making the possessions of car passengers fair game for pawing and prodding ...

Hey, Bill Clinton! Listen up! Don't get swept up in euphoria about your domestic agenda and Hillary's race for the Senate. Not just yet. There's still work to be done in Yugoslavia. Hasn't anybody told you that ethnic cleansing is still going on in Kosovo and you may need to play commander-in-chief a while longer? Surely, you've seen interviews on TV of Kosovar Serbs, complaining about having their homes raided and burned. They look just like the ethnic Albanians who were complaining about the same thing three months ago. Call one of the field commanders if you haven't heard that ...

Let's see.... I think it started when Madalyn Murray O'Hair complained that she didn't want any prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said, you had better not read the Bible in school - - the Bible that says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said, OK. Dr. Benjamin Spock said that we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said, an expert should know what he's talking about, so we ...

New Thread here. Can someone please link?

There was $3 million tucked in for commercial reindeer ranchers in Alaska. Salt Lake City got $2.2 million to build sewers and other infrastructure for the 2002 Winter Olympics. And don't forget the $3.7 million for redoing the dormitory for House pages here in Washington. Such "emergency" expenditures demonstrate the resurgent appetite of many in Congress for spending, including pork-barrel projects. Airports and roads, the military, and farming are all areas gaining from the recent surge in congressional generosity. A hefty budget surplus is erasing some of the rationale for fiscal austerity, but congressional observers see another force at work. ...

By far Bill Gates is the coolest, followed by Axl, Larry King "alive" is the worst, exept for possiby "power to the communists" Fonda.

Disney/Donald Duck Video on Population Control Sold by Planned Parenthood Affiliate (Population Research Institute ) A 1968 Disney propaganda cartoon featuring Donald Duck encourages families in the developing world to have few children. The cartoon "Planificacion Familiar" ("Family Planning") was created by Disney for the US Population Council, one of the chief promoters of population control, and is being distributed by the Chilean affiliate of Planned Parenthood, Associacion Chilena de Protection de la Familia (APROFA), for home and educational viewing. APROFA is selling the video as part of a set which retails for approximately $25. The set includes "Planificacion Familiar," ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., JUN 28 (ZENIT).- Aretha Franklin and a soul choir have recorded the "Lord's Prayer" as part of the first series of programs prepared for the celebration of the Jubilee 2000. This tribute to the Pope will also be part of a program entitled "The Prodigal Son," produced in honor of the Holy Father's 79th birthday last May. The program will be shown live on the RAI television network tomorrow, June 29. Aretha Franklin, "the Queen of Soul," sang for the Pope once before -- in 1987, when he visited the city of Detroit.

Reno Subpoenaed In Arkansas Death Penalty Case 4.20 p.m. ET (2021 GMT) June 29, 1999 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Lawyers for a white supremacist convicted of murdering three people in 1996 subpoenaed U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and her chief deputy Tuesday in an attempt to challenge the death penalty recommended by a jury for their client. Defense attorneys for Daniel Lewis Lee argued federal prosecutors failed to get the required permission from Reno to pursue the death sentence and demanded Reno and Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder testify in the final penalty phase of Lee's trial. Prosecutors earlier ...