Free Republic

Republicans haven't been panting after the White House for eight years so that a tax plan as weak as the one George W. Bush proposed yesterday could be passed into law. We are biting our fists until President Clinton leaves office in part so that this country can take a serious lunge at reforming and simplifying the tax code, making it fairer and friendlier to all taxpayers. A Bush administration, it seems, would not be much help. Americans are overtaxed and intimidated by the IRS and all hope of changing this lies in a Republican President who will sign ...

Store Owner Kills Partner in Simulated Robbery Police: Role-Playing Meant to Fend Off Crime Dec. 1, 1999 By Todd Venezia WILLINGBORO, N.J. (APBnews.com) -- A record-store owner accidentally shot his partner to death Monday when the two men used loaded guns to stage a simulated robbery in an effort to prepare themselves to fend off a real holdup, police said. John Chambers, 28, allegedly shot 30-year-old Brian "Swift" Perkins one time in the head when a 40-caliber Glock handgun he was using during the bizarre training session inadvertently went off, police said. Perkins, a disc jockey who got his ...

In 1996 the Teamsters Union did something a little unusual for an organization that was nearly bankrupt - it gave away more than $1 million. The money went not to the organization's dues-paying members but to liberal activist groups, the Democratic Party and, it turned out, the re-election campaign of former Teamsters President Ron Carey. In return for the contributions, you see, the lucky recipients were supposed to return the favor by making contributions to the Carey campaign. Several did. The idea was to circumvent federal labor laws that bar unions from spending funds on individual candidates in union elections. ...

As the melee in Seattle was televised around the world, we were especially touched by the Knight-Ridder account of a teary 21-year-old bank teller denouncing vandals who broke the bank's windows in the name of opposition to the World Trade Organization. "This is my job!" she cried, "This is how I eat!" If the rioters get their way, her fate will be shared by millions of even less fortunate people around the world. So she is a powerful metaphor for what happens when business and politicians allow trade to become hostage to special interests. Indeed, it might be worth having ...

We can expect to hear much uninformed discussion of the report released earlier this week by the Institute of Medicine on its study of medical mistakes. The Hippocratic Oath will be erroneously quoted, self-righteous politicians will demand accountability, and consumer advocates will man the barricades against the perceived lethal onslaught of a system of medical care rife with ineptitude and negligence. When the furor dies down, this important study must be analyzed with care to quell some of the current hysteria and seek out the real sources of the problem. The most important factor in the equation isn't incompetent or ...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. December 2, 1999 1999 Leonid Fireball Credit & Copyright: Arne Danielsen Explanation: Most Leonid meteoroids, the bits of comet debris which produce the annual Leonid meteor shower, range from a mere millimeter to a centimeter in diameter. Yet these cosmic grains of sand and gravel can put on quite a spectacular show. How can something so small generate so much light? The answer is their astronomical speed, as ...

First Matt Drudge got into a tussle with Fox News management. Then he quit his popular weekly TV show. Then, in a biting column on his website, he took on the network with which he is still affiliated, characterizing it, along with CNN, MSNBC and others, part of a globalist media complex. Yesterday, Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman, a frequent guest on the network, jumped into the fray -- accusing Fox News, which prides itself as "the fair and balanced" TV news alternative, of a pro-establishment bias against conservatives. Klayman was incensed by a report last night by Fox ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton was greeted by a famous playwright and protestors during an evening of fund raising Wednesday. Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Mamet praised the first lady for embodying qualities that allowed the protagonist of his new book - an intellectual pig - to succeed. "In the story she succeeds because she's persistent and compassionate and because she's well read," Mamet said. He spoke at a $250-a-head party to launch the new book "Henrietta," and to raise money for the Reach Out and Read program, the national pediatric-based early literacy program that encourages parents to read ...

Bush to be center of debate attention Event is front-runner's 1st with other GOP candidates Mary Ann Chastain/Associated Press A recent poll had Sen. John McCain leading Texas Gov. George W. Bush in New Hampshire, but overall front-runner Bush will be watched closely at tonight's debate in the Granite State. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Jeff Barker The Arizona Republic Dec. 2, 1999 MANCHESTER, N.H. -- The first debate featuring all six GOP presidential contenders finds Sen. John McCain in the enviable position of leading in the New Hampshire polls but having most of the pressure fall on Texas Gov. George W. Bush. ...

SEATTLE -- President Clinton wanted to launch a new round of global trade talks to burnish his postimpeachment record. What he got instead could be called The Tear Gas Round. The public-relations fiasco here is making it harder for U.S. negotiators to convince other members of the World Trade Organization to agree to an agenda for global negotiations -- the purpose of the Seattle meeting. The meeting is also highlighting how controversial trade issues have become and how ineffectual Mr. Clinton has been at convincing ordinary Americans that free trade benefits them. That diminishes the president's legacy and causes big ...

TOKYO — President Clinton's crooning half-brother Roger arrived in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on Thursday, the North Korean news agency said. "Pop singer Roger Clinton, brother of the U.S. President, and his party arrived here today to visit the DPRK (North Korea) on the invitation of the Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee,'' the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The KCNA, monitored in Tokyo, gave no details on the purpose of Roger Clinton's visit. But an official with Korecom, a private advertising agency in Seoul, said last month that Roger was invited to join North and South Korean ...

President Bill Clinton may be the world's champion in promising to "give" people something -- at someone else's expense. With our federal government staggering under a variety of promised "entitlements" while no one wants to face the huge responsibility of paying for them, Mr. Clinton wants to take credit for offering a new "entitlement." It's a great thing for new parents to be able to stay at home and take care of their babies, and for adoptive parents to be able to give time to their children. Nothing is more important in any of our lives than our children. ...

China Says Seattle Scraps Falun Gong Endorsement 4.58 a.m. ET (1010 GMT) December 2, 1999 BEIJING — The mayor of Seattle has scrapped plans to honor the leader of the Falun Gong spiritual movement under pressure from China, Chinese state media said on Thursday. U.S. followers of Falun Gong said on Monday Seattle Mayor Paul Schell had agreed to designate days honoring Falun Gong and its Chinese founder, Li Hongzhi, the China Daily said. But Chinese Ambassador to the United States Li Zhaoxing, attending World Trade Organization talks in Seattle, met Schell and persuaded him to revoke his endorsement, the ...

just a comment.

All Americans should be angered and disgusted by the barbaric, criminal vandalism committed by mobs in the streets of Seattle. Seattle's mayor had to declare an emergency. Police had to impose a curfew. The governor of Washington state had to call out 200 unarmed members of the National Guard -- all because unruly thugs have endangered people, burned a van in the street, broken out windows and engaged in outrageous looting. Why? A wide variety of factions, dissatisfied with the prospects of actions that may be taken at a meeting of the World Trade Organization, have chosen the wrong ...

Mayor Giuliani yesterday accused First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton of delaying regular commercial flights at La Guardia Airport so her plane could land. Giuliani's charges were quickly denied by Clinton's campaign -- and the Federal Aviation Administration, which attributed the many delays at La Guardia on Tuesday to bad weather and a large number of flights. Speaking before a Jewish group in Washington, D.C., Giuliani said, "There were planes being delayed because a certain candidate for the Senate -- who still doesn't live in New York -- is having the flights delayed that come into La Guardia Airport. "I ...

During that harshly cold winter in Valley Forge, George Washington didn't trek off to Florida and warm his toes in the sun-soaked beach sand. Instead, he chose to wrap his feet and trudge through the snow with his freezing soldiers. The reason Washington's men were willing to follow him, and endure every possible hardship, was that he led by example - not exalted decree. It's too bad that Congress has a different vision of leadership. In its final budget deal, Congress enacted a .38 percent ''across-the-board'' spending cut but left its own paychecks unscathed. Had members inflicted the austerity ...

George W. Bush is beginning to get on course. Money alone does not win elections. Message does. With his new tax plan, Bush has a message to go with his money. The Republican presidential candidate has proposed slashing tax rates at all income levels with a five-year, $483 billion package he says is ''designed to sustain our nation's prosperity and reflect our nation's decency.'' Doubling the child tax credit and lowering the marginal income tax rates would eliminate taxes for a four-person family earning $35,000, a tax cut of more than $1,500, Bush said. Many two-income families making $50,000 ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Des Moines television station WOI-TV has canceled a Republican presidential debate because Texas Governor George W. Bush and Senator John McCain of Arizona refused to participate. A Democratic debate also was canceled. The Dec. 11 GOP forum received positive responses from only four of the six hopefuls: Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Gary Bauer, Steve Forbes and Alan Keyes. Jim Parker, news director for the ABC affiliate, said that having only four candidates might make the forum insignificant to some viewers.

Mormons are being told to stay on the ground during the change from 1999 to 2000 "as a precaution," according to a church spokesman. "This is a precautionary measure only and may be subject to change in some parts of the world as developments unfold," was the explanation given in an official statement issued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No LDS leaders, employees or missionaries will be in the air between Dec. 30 and Jan. 5 to avoid possible trouble resulting from the Y2K computer bug. The possibility of evacuating missionaries from some countries may ...