Free Republic

Budding journalists According to a survey by Qtopics, an Internet firm, the top five questions American children ages 7-10 would ask our presidential candidates are: 1. Do you lie? 2. Do you think Monica Lewinsky is pretty? 3. Do you like Pokemon? 4. Do you take drugs? 5. What's your favorite TV show? Sounds more like the Washington press corps.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) -- When it comes to institutional images, tabloid newspapers are right up there with HMOs, personal injury attorneys and, perhaps, snakes in the grass. Mainstream journalists look down on them, celebrities try to sue the pants off them, and just about everyone glances over their shoulder before sneaking a peek at them in the checkout line at the grocery store. But how bad can they be? National Enquirer editor Steve Coz was given a rare opportunity to answer for his sins and the relentless pursuit of that juicy detail at a recent privacy-and-the-press forum at the ...

I was contacted by a very close friend today. He called to say he had had dinner recently with a senior attorney who is a titled corporate officer for a leading high tech company. My buddy told me there are rumors floating around Silicon Valley to the effect that China may have called for the prosecution of Microsoft. They wanted Microsoft to be forced to publish its source code, or, in the alternative, to force a 'break up' of the corporation. It seems that China plans on duplicating the Operating System software and selling a cloned system in direct competition ...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton, one of the most famous women in the world, has failed to hold on to an early lead over Rudolph Giuliani among New York's female voters, two statewide polls out Wednesday reported. The findings dramatize a potential problem for the first lady that some of her advisers privately acknowledge and which top aides to the New York City mayor are well aware of as the two prepare for next year's Senate race. New Yorkers have never elected a woman as governor or U.S. senator. Marist College's Institute for Public Opinion poll, the first ...

Somebody years ago came up with the catchy slogan, "Not a Dimes Worth of Difference between the two parties." I believe it was George Wallace in 1968, but it doesn't matter it he coined the phrase or not, it is becoming clearer by the day, he was right.Now you diehard Republicans that will read these words, don't just write off this opinion as the ramblings of a Buchanan supporter, I am not, or as the instigating of a Democrat, thats not my leaning either. I believe that along with approximatelly 25% of the voting public, I am independent. I voted ...

Forbes Disappointed In Bush Tax Plan "Nothing much is going to change in terms of the tax and spend tendencies of D.C if Bush is elected" Web posted 12/01/1999 04:11 PM EST (Washington, DC) — Steve Forbes, Republican presidential candidate, made the following remarks regarding the economic plan unveiled by George W. Bush today: "It's very disappointing. It's Washington politics as usual. George W. Bush's economic plan is a missed opportunity. "Every Washington politician and lobbyist that's looked at Bush's plan today probably heaved a sigh of relief – they know that nothing much is going to change in terms ...

The U.N. General Assembly endorsed a resolution on Wednesday aimed at pressing the United States to abandon plans to build an anti-missile defense. The vote on the resolution, recommended last month by the assembly's disarmament and international security committee, was 80-4, with 68 abstentions. Voting against the draft, together with the United States, were Albania, Israel and Micronesia. The members of the 15-nation European Union abstained, except for France and Ireland, which voted for the resolution. It calls for continued efforts to strengthen and preserve the 1972 Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty between the United States and the then Soviet Union, which ...

Cohen Strikes Out at German Military Cuts By Charles Aldinger HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Defense Secretary William Cohen criticised cuts in German military spending on Wednesday, calling on Berlin to take a major role in NATO's plan to modernize its military power and mobility. In a hard-hitting speech to Germany's generals and admirals, Cohen said the commitment of only 1.5 percent of gross domestic product to defense was not enough and sent a bad message to Atlantic allies, especially new NATO members Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Germany's budget allocation for military investment and procurement of new arms ``should ...

In the one ongoing criminal prosecution resulting from President Clinton's tawdry affair with an intern and his numerous criminal acts to cover it up, Linda Tripp's lawyers were back in court last week. Tripp is being prosecuted in Maryland state court for taping her own phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky without Lewinsky's consent. On Friday, Nov. 19, 1999, Tripp won the right to a pretrial hearing on whether her indictment should be dismissed. She claims the Maryland prosecutors improperly relied upon her immunized testimony to the Independent Prosecutor Ken Starr in violation of her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. ...

Jordanian Parliament debates US wheat Updated 12:24 PM ET December 1, 1999 By SANA ABDALLAH AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 1 (UPI) Jordanian legislators condemned the government Wednesday for trying to release a shipment of U.S. wheat said to be contaminated by rodents and insects. During a heated debate in the 80-seat lower house of Parliament, lawmakers lashed out at the government for insisting that the wheat was fit for human consumption although, as one legislator said, "mice and insects can be seen with the naked eye." Some legislators demanded that the 47,500-ton shipment be destroyed. Others suggested using it for animal ...

John Gibson just announced this before going to the commercial break. The topic is the Panama Canal handover "to the Chinese" (yup, he said that). Gibson is usually pretty good on this stuff...but shoot, I gotta run and pick up my kid from school in a couple of minutes. Can anyone watch and post if any good calls come in? Thanks.

Last night I heard on the radio that there was a privacy issue with Comet Cursors (also distributed on the Netscape Smart Update Site). Evidently a record is made each time you click on anything using this program. The following is taken from the Comet Cursor Web Site, where you can go either to uninstall the program or to download a privacy patch. When I went to Netscape Smart Update earlier I notice that it no longer recognizes that I had installed this program--probably they have pulled it, pending resolution of this flap. Here's the announcement and the URL to ...

I called Rush today to discuss the possibility that violence similar to that which is occurring at the WTO convention, may also happen at the Republican National Convention this July. While I was able to state my major point, Rush had hung up and proceeded to mention our escapade with the Teamsters Octber 2, 1998 (without knowing who I was). He got the details incorrect and I was unable to immediately correct him as I was no longer on line nor was I able to identify myself to him. I was able to contact his program again shortly thereafter to ...

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A member of Sen. Robert Torricelli's 1996 fund-raising committee admitted in court Wednesday that he made $2,000 in illegal contributions to the Democrat's campaign. Carmine Alampi, the former treasurer of the Bergen County Democratic Party, is the third person to admit wrongdoing in the campaign, and the first directly connected to the campaign itself. Alampi, 46, admitted that he took money from someone else and gave it the campaign to circumvent donation limits. He pleaded guilty to aiding a campaign finance violation, which carries up to a year in prison and a fine of up ...

Pat was just on Fox. He condemned the larceny of unruly protesters. Read off the facts of our trade deficit. What a man, may be back on.

George W. Bush took a major step toward reclaiming the tax issue for Republicans by proposing to cut income-tax rates for everyone. Unlike the congressional Republicans, Bush has been nervy enough to suggest cutting the top tax rates: He would replace the 39.6 and 36 percent rates with one 33 percent rate. The lowest tax rate, meanwhile, would drop from 15 to 10 percent. Bush would make some other bold moves as well: He would end the estate tax and the tax on Social Security benefits (which punishes senior citizens who work). And, as he had announced before, he ...

The protests in Seattle were supposed to adhere to a schedule, a plan, a choreography. There were signed permits. There was an official route for the protest march. Anyone with a gripe about the World Trade Organization was supposed to proceed in an orderly fashion down a certain street, holding banners, wearing amusingly satirical costumes, humming old Pete Seeger songs. The schedule did not mention rioting. This morning we have to pose the awful question: DID SOMEONE FORGET TO FAX THE SCHEDULE TO THE ANARCHISTS? All across America, people are surely wondering what exactly is going on in Seattle, ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Vice President Al Gore moved quickly Wednesday to stop Love Canal from turning into "Love Story.'' The vice president telephoned an upstate New York reporter to explain his latest hyperbole — a suggestion the previous day that it was his 1978 investigation of toxic waste sites that uncovered the chemical contamination of Love Canal. "If anybody got the misimpression that I claimed to do what citizens in Love Canal did, I apologize,'' Gore said. At a high school forum Tuesday in New Hampshire, Gore answered a student's question about youth cynicism with a tale from ...

EgyptAir would not object to the FBI taking over the investigation into the crash of Flight 990, the airline's chief said Wednesday. U.S. investigators had been on the verge of turning the case over to the FBI last month to handle as a criminal investigation when the Egyptian government strenuously objected. There has been no indication the government has eased its objections. American investigators apparently suspect that one of the pilots was responsible for the plane's plunge into the Atlantic Ocean off Massachusetts on Oct. 31 and the deaths of all 217 people on board. EgyptAir Chairman Mohammed Fahim ...

Clinton admits Beijing to control crucial waterway through Panama President Clinton admitted yesterday that the Communist Chinese will, in fact, run the Panama Canal when the United States pulls all of its troops out and relinquishes control of the vital waterway Jan. 1, 2000. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office before leaving on a trip to the west coast, Clinton addressed the issue of the imminent U.S. surrender of the American-built multi-billion-dollar canal. "I supported it at the time and I still support it," Clinton said, referring to the controversial 1978 treaties signed by then-President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian ...