Free Republic

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Conservative leader Angela Merkel is set to become Germany's first woman chancellor under a deal with Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, sources from both parties have said. The deal, which ends Schroeder's seven years in office, breaks a three-week deadlock that started when voters gave Merkel's conservatives a narrow victory but not the majority needed to form a center-right government. Instead, the two leaders' parties will form a "grand coalition" that bridges the country's right-left split, officials told news agencies. In exchange for Schroeder surrendering the chancellery, his party gets eight seats in the Cabinet, compared to...

American artist Cheryl Frances was commissioned by the Clinton Museum Store to create this a one-of-kind masterpiece using her favorite materials, vintage silverware and other found silver pieces. Featured in this 12-piece set is the White House on a silver tray, the Oval Office desk with movable objects, and the Clinton Family with First Pets Socks and Buddy. Interior details of the White House including paintings on the wall, a fireplace and more. Most unusual and wonderful. White House length is approximately 14”. $5,800 - Please call the Museum Store at 501-748-0400 if interested. http://www.clintonmuseumstore.com/whitehouse.htm

WASHINGTON -- Among the problems besetting the White House, the CIA leak investigation appears most threatening. That is because one of those under scrutiny, deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, is far more than merely the strategist behind President Bush's campaign victories.

AUSTIN - The Home Depot is facing a knotty problem figuring out where to put one important part of the home-improvement business: the dozens of day laborers who gather outside its stores here and across the nation. Morning after morning in city after city, contractors as well as homeowners needing an extra hand or two drive up to a Home Depot and hire laborers to paint walls, nail down roofing or trim branches, usually for $8 to $10 an hour. Not only has this caused friction between the stores and neighboring businesses and homeowners who do not want the men...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Israeli and U.S. citizen Robert J. Aumann and American Thomas C. Schelling have won the 2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The pair won the prize "for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Monday. Through their work, Aumann, 75, and Schelling, 84, have helped to "explain economic conflicts such as price wars and trade wars, as well as why some communities are more successful than others in managing common-pool resources," the academy said in its citation. "The repeated-games approach clarifies the raison d'etre of...

I have changed my mind about Harriet Miers. Last Thursday, I wrote in OpinionJournal's Political Diary that "while skepticism of Ms. Miers is justified, the time is fast approaching when such expressions should be muted until the Senate hearings begin. At that point, Ms. Miers will finally be able to speak for herself." But that was before I interviewed more than a dozen of her friends and colleagues along with political players in Texas. I came away convinced that questions about Ms. Miers should be raised now--and loudly--because she has spent her entire life avoiding giving a clear picture of...

Three weeks ago I lost my father. His health had deteriorated for a number of years, but the last few months things had been improving. And then one morning he couldn’t breathe. By the time my mother called 911 he was gone. After getting the phone call, all time seemed to stop. Nothing mattered. I sat there stunned, wondering why it had to happen now. Why didn’t I have a chance to say goodbye? There are pivotal moments in everyone’s life. It had become abundantly clear that this was one of those moments. I could only hope that I was...

Oct. 17, 2005 issue - One reason flying can be such a drag is that sinking feeling you get when you start talking to your seatmate and discover that she paid much less for her ticket than you did. The trick, of course, is to have access to the best information. What's true for airline fares is also true for airline shares. And for airline pension funds, too, given what happens when an airline goes broke. Pension-fund information—and the lack of it—links Northwest Airlines chairman Gary Wilson and 9/11 widow Ellen Saracini, whose husband was a United Airlines pilot. Guess...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Two New Orleans police officers repeatedly punched a 64-year-old man accused of public intoxication, and another city officer assaulted an Associated Press Television News producer as a cameraman taped the confrontations. There will be a criminal investigation, and the three officers were to be suspended, arrested and charged with simple battery Sunday, Capt. Marlon Defillo said. "We have great concern with what we saw this morning," Defillo said after he and about a dozen other high-ranking police department officials watched the APTN footage Sunday. "It's a troubling tape, no doubt about it. ... This department will...

We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail! Good morning!! Do not let the victims of the attacks on New York and Washington, nor the brave members of our Nation's military who have given their lives to protect our freedom, die in vain!! The death toll from the Pakistan earthquake is approaching 20,000. Saddam's trial is scheduled to start next week. And gold has hit an 18-year high. For AMERICA - The Right Way, I remain yours in the Cause, the Chairman.

Father Jeffrey T. Robideau, a priest of the Diocese of Lansing, Mich., has written a short 45-page book titled Homosexuality: A Look at Catholic Teaching. He has been gracious enough to allow me to print excerpts from his book, which is based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. First excerpt: Knowing that homosexuality is the desire for a perverted relationship with someone of the same sex, the Catechism states the ‘psychological genesis remains largely unexplained.’ We know that the problem lies in the thinking and in the heart as Scripture says in Mt 15:10. This leaves the question - Why and...

This Day In History | General Interest October 10 732 Battle of Tours At the Battle of Tours near Poitiers, France, Frankish leader Charles Martel, a Christian, defeats a large army of Spanish Moors, halting the Muslim advance into Western Europe. Abd-ar-Rahman, the Muslim governor of Córdoba, was killed in the fighting, and the Moors retreated from Gaul, never to return in such force. Charles was the illegitimate son of Pepin, the powerful mayor of the palace of Austrasia and effective ruler of the Frankish kingdom. After Pepin died in 714 (with no surviving legitimate sons), Charles beat out Pepin's...

NEW YORK — Hannah Rothstein, 7 months old, has chubby thighs and a dimpled bottom, but svelte German underwear. She still fits into her birth-to-3-month-old clothes because she lacks her peers' familiar bulge in the rear. She can sleep all night without a diaper. During the day, every so often — after Hannah's mother, Melinda, of Newton, Mass., places her on a plastic potty and makes a little "pss-wss-wss" sound — Hannah uses the toilet. For many parents in the United States, the idea of potty training before a baby is able to walk, or even before age 2, is...

They hoped this old town would be rediscovered someday. That new life would course through the tired streets, revive the aging storefronts, fill the burnt-out, boarded-up buildings. And when they learned that a new light-rail line was coming - the first passenger service in 40 years - their hope soared. Mark our words, community leaders said, the train will bring people back. In their dreams, this blue-collar burg on the Delaware's banks, a place the booming suburbs drained long ago, would be bypassed no longer. The town once called Progress would prosper yet again. First, the developers would come. Then...

Biologists examining evidence for the claim that birds evolved from dinosaurs have reached some surprising new conclusions. However, they caution that "the problem of avian origins is far from being resolved." Their analysis is published online October 10, 2005 in the Journal of Morphology, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and available via Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/morphology). Dinosaurs have long captured the imagination while their relationships have eluded full explanation. Innovative research and a comprehensive consideration of the old can also inspire new interpretations, as researchers recently found when examining the evidence supporting the current theory about feather origins and...

In what seems to be one of the worst – if not the worst – archdiocese in terms of the presence of non-celibate homosexual clergy, the saga of Miami whistle-blowing priest Andrew Dowgiert continues. The following is the most recent (edited) update from Father Dowgiert’s attorney, Sharon Bourassa: “We met with the canon lawyer on September 30 for four hours.  He came in from Rome and is considered to be one of the best.  We gave him all we have and he was shocked by the bigger picture of what is going on in our archdiocese.   “He has asked that we present...

Husker fans not heeding call to donate tickets to vets FREMONT, Neb. - A program to give Nebraska's veterans tickets to Cornhusker football games is running into some interference. Few Husker fans are willing to part with their tickets. The Nebraska Bookstore has been sponsoring the program to get veterans tickets to the Kansas State-Nebraska game on Nov. 12, the day after Veterans Day. The store said it would match the first 100 tickets donated to the game. But so far, fewer than 20 tickets have been donated. At least 700 veterans have registered for a chance to receive up...

After-school special Dawn taught math by day, but after the final bell had rung, it was phys-ed all the way By JEAN-PHILIPPE PINEAULT -- Sun Media MONTREAL -- Frustrated by her meagre salary, a Montreal math teacher took advantage of school holidays to work -- as an escort. Using the pseudonym Dawn, the 29-year-old, who recently retired from teaching, sold her sexual services by night and taught high school math by day. For four years, Dawn divided her time between the classroom and hotel rooms, without her colleagues' knowledge. The woman told Sun Media that her teacher's salary wasn't enough....

IRVING, Tex., Oct. 7 - Harriet E. Miers, President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court, spent the bulk of her 30 years in private practice representing clients in relatively mundane business deals and contract disputes. But most cases heard by the court do not grab headlines. Ms. Miers has come under fire from critics who say she lacks any substantive experience with weighty constitutional issues. But she has plenty of practice with the less provocative legal questions posed in most of the court's cases. Of the 80 cases before the Supreme Court last term, 25 involved questions directly affecting businesses,...

This article appeared in the May 19, 1989, issue of National Review. Margaret Thatcher [also] wrote a piece on Ronald Reagan that appeared in the December 30, 1988, issue of National Review. Some years ago, while I was still Governor of California, I was invited to address a large meeting of business leaders in London. Upon arrival I met another American and longtime friend, the late Justin Dart. The British Conservative Party had just elected Margaret Thatcher Leader of the Party. She was the first woman to hold that position and, if the Conservative Party won an election, she would automatically...