Free Republic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA FREEDOM -- USE IT, FIGHT FOR IT, OR LOSE IT The DC Chapter, along with traveling FReepers and a lurker who came to DC especially to join us, certainly came out fighting today. There were nine of us spread out in a row to greet all the visitors at the White House. Everyone else was already there by the time I arrived: Ironman, Clinton's a liar, Cal's lurker friend, AGreatPer (stitches and all), Patriot, Doctor Raoul, 2Kool2be4gotten, and Kristinn. I am honored to be in the company of such a great group of American patriots. CHRIS BLACK ...

EPA FEARS AIRPORTS Back in April, the environmental whackos blew a few tons of hot air and CO2 at another of their air pollution meetings. And, of course, they identified a new source of atmospheric pollution. As Reuters reported: The meteorologists attending a world summit on climate change in the Costa Rican capital San Jose called on the industrial powers to recognize that airplanes along with industry were contributing to global warming. "Airplanes emit gasses that change the atmosphere and exacerbate the greenhouse effect, such as carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, sulfates and soot," said Ram Sundararam, secretary of the ...

After years of neglect and abuse, the Constitution has finally returned to our public discourse. The topic is presidential impeachment and the Constitution is the rulebook. In spite of all the evidence, the vote to remove Bill Clinton from office will, for some Senators, be the toughest vote of their entire careers. Yet, we as conservatives rightfully insist that our Senators stick to principle and uphold the Constitution. This has created a perplexing situation. If we demand that Congress obey the Constitution in this most difficult area, why do we not demand it on other occasions when the issues are ...

AUSTIN, Texas, July 3 (UPI) A financial statement filed by Texas Gov. George W. Bush reveals he purchased millions of dollars in U.S. Treasury notes last year as he geared up for his presidential election bid. The Dallas Morning News today reports Bush bought somewhere between $7 million and $14 million in notes after selling large chunks of his stock portfolio. Bush also collected a $106,250 advance on an authorized political biography. The filing shows Bush made as much as $2 million more on the sale of the Texas Rangers baseball team than was originally reported. His former partner, ...

MAPS OF GREATER ALBANIA ARE BEING DISTRIBUTED BY KLA Belgrade, 02/07/1999 (MPA) Maps depicting the so-called Greater Albania are being distributed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, to foreign journalists crossing the Yugoslav-FYROM borders. According to information by the Belgrade newspaper Blic, based on these maps parts of Serbia, Montenegro and FYROM are inside the Albanian borders. Additional Information from Antiwar.com Below is an earlier edition of the map of "Greater Albania" promoted by predecessors of the KLA.

DEVELOPING: BUSH CAMPAIGN HIT WITH FIRST SCANDAL

Future of Columbia/HCA unclear after mixed verdict 4.59 p.m. ET (2100 GMT) July 3, 1999 By Karin Miller, Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The trial of four Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. executives in Florida is over, but the jury is still out on the future of the nation's largest hospital chain and the investigation dogging it the past two years. Two officials were convicted Friday of defrauding the government through billing practices at one hospital. One was acquitted and jurors were unable to reach a verdict on the fourth. "It's such a mixed verdict that there's not a strong signal ...

Russia Today Article US Military Attaché In Moscow Ordered Expelled WASHINGTON, Jul 3, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Russia has declared a US military attaché in Moscow "persona non grata" and ordered him to leave the country this week, the Washington Times reported Friday, citing US military sources. Lieutenant Colonel Pete Hoffman, the assistant army attaché, was notified last week by the Russian Foreign Ministry of the expulsion order, the report said. The Pentagon and State Department had no immediate comment on the report. The newspaper said the Pentagon was puzzled by the action, the latest sign of military ...

This excerpt is taken from section four entitled - Friday, July 3, 1863 . . . SAW IT ALL BEGIN, SAW THE GUNS GO OFF ONE BY ONE, each one a split second after the last, so that there was one long continuing blossoming explosion beginning on the right, erupting down through the grove and up the ridge to the left like one gigantic fuse sputtering up the ridge. Armistead looked at his watch: 1:07. He could see shells bursting on top of the ridge, on the Union lines, saw a caisson blow up in a fireball of yellow smoke, ...

Precious independence is nibbled around edges all the time Posted for information and discussion only; not for commercial use. Published in The Orlando Sentinel on July 4, 1999. Our Independence Day is worth celebrating, but let's remember that the important part is genuine independence, not the birthday party. Thirteen British colonies decided, independently, to secede from the British Empire. The crown, as the Brits say, did not view the decision kindly, and there was war. Had British arms prevailed, the colonies would have remained British, at least for awhile, and the Revolutionary heroes we celebrate would have been hanged ...

This may be a little early in the game, but already lines are being drawn in the sand as Repubicans begin posturing to be the standard bearer for the party. Supporters are already forming lines lock step behind their candidate. The second tier of candidates has began whining (I guess whinging is no longer limited to liberals) that George W. Bush is hogging private sources of campaign donations. Main Street and moderate Republicans are concerned that the more conservative candidates are deemed unelectable by the population at large and will assure a democratic victory.And worst of all, the inter-party sniping ...

America's mood of contentment On the eve of July 4, people from Oregon to Maine are optimistic, with some misgivings. Brad Knickerbocker (bradknick@aol.com) Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor To be sure, not everyone is waving star-spangled banners over the state of civic affairs in the country. "Moral values aren't what they should be," says Sheldon Davis, a rail-thin rancher, as he feeds a dozen twitching Hereford cattle on the outskirts of Andice, a tiny Texas farm town. "When I was raised up, people went to church. Now they're only interested in making money, not working." "I'm very ...

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have onnected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, ...

Fresh predictions that the end of the world was nigh were today greeted with indifference by blase Britons. A warning from Nostradamus that the world will end tomorrow has reportedly prompted thousands of Americans and Japanese to head for the hills and prepare for the worse. But the British have apparently shrugged off the threat, foretold by the 16th century French mystic. In one of his 1,000 quatrains – verses mapping out of the future – the seer wrote: "In the year 1999 and seven months From the sky will come a great and frightening King To revive the great ...

MOSCOW, July 3 (Itar-Tass) - Five Russian landing ships will take paratroopers from the Tula and Pskov airborne divisions to the Balkans, the Defence Ministry told Itar-Tass on Saturday. Four of the ships have already left Sevastopol for Tuapse to pick up paratroopers. The fifth landing ship is standing set and ready for the voyage in Novorossiisk and is expected to sail off in the beginning of next week, Rear Admiral Vladimir Vasyukov, who is leading the four ships on their mission, told Itar-Tass. The ships are expected to deliver the troops and military hardware to one of the ...

WASHINGTON, Jul 3, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Russia has declared a US military attaché in Moscow "persona non grata" and ordered him to leave the country this week, the Washington Times reported Friday, citing US military sources. Lieutenant Colonel Pete Hoffman, the assistant army attaché, was notified last week by the Russian Foreign Ministry of the expulsion order, the report said. The Pentagon and State Department had no immediate comment on the report. The newspaper said the Pentagon was puzzled by the action, the latest sign of military friction between Russia and the United States. The Times cited ...

FOREIGN RELATIONS Defining 'victory' Although hard to remember now, NATO went to war in the former Yugoslavia for two main reasons: to convince the Yugoslav government to accept the Rambouillet plan for Kosovo, including a referendum on the province's future, and to prevent the forced expulsion of Kosovo's Albanian population. These initial goals, however, were quickly forgotten: Even as Yugoslav forces were driving 1.4 million Albanians from their homes, the US administration chose to drop its promise that the fleeing population might someday determine its own fate. In announcing the end of NATO bombing on 10 June, President Clinton nonetheless ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- NATO thwarted Russian attempts to fly reinforcements to its peacekeeping forces in Yugoslavia because the Kremlin wants to revise the agreement giving Russia a role in policing the peace, alliance and U.S. officials said Saturday. NATO's military headquarters in Belgium expects the Russians this week to continue talks on the requested revisions. They broke off Wednesday without agreement after three days. Russia wants to change an agreement reached in lengthy negotiations last month at Helsinki, Finland, that outlined Russian participation in a NATO-led peacekeeping force. NATO officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Russia wants to ...

GATHERING THE EVIDENCE Rape widespread but not on orders By LORI MONTGOMERY in Prizren, Yugoslavia As dusk fell on June 9, a drunken Serbian paramilitary soldier burst into a house full of Kosovo Albanians and announced that he wanted "fresh girls". For more than an hour, the stocky Serb assaulted three women at gunpoint - sisters Vesa, 25, and Nora, 29, and their neighbour Lumturije, 24. Heavily armed and half-naked, the man was trying to penetrate Lumturije when an officer from the Yugoslav Army suddenly appeared. Appalled by the tableau of screaming women and innocent blood, the officer beat the ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pushing a $1 trillion tax cut proposal, the Republican Party marked the Fourth of July holiday Saturday by calling for ``financial independence'' for America's families. ``For too long, you've been asked to sacrifice so that Washington could supposedly do more,'' Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., said in the party's weekly radio address. House Republicans say the federal budget surplus is so huge that Congress can cut taxes by nearly $1 trillion and still brace Social Security and Medicare for baby boomer retirements. Democrats and some moderate Republicans, however, say the surplus should first be used to increase ...