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If you are able and have any thing left after Christmas shopping for those you love, please put a little in FR's stocking. In November 68 Freepers donated $3485 to the Free Republic. $875 of which, was for the legal fund. This is the best we have done since last May when we were working on the Hero's Rally. I thank each and every one of you for your help in keeping the Free Republic up. DONATE to THE FREE REPUBLIC AND HELP KEEP OUR REPUBLIC FREE. To donate by mail send check to Free Republic LLC PO Box 9771 ...

As King County prosecutors charge some World Trade Organization protesters, the first of what could be many damage claims related to the riots was filed yesterday. Attorney John Muenster filed a claim on behalf of Melissa Benton and Shauna Lin Balaski, who say a King County sheriff's deputy squirted them with pepper spray while they were inside their car. Claims are the first step in seeking damages before a lawsuit can be filed. County officials have 60 days to respond. According to their claim, the women, both students at The Art Institute of Seattle, were parked in a grocery-store lot ...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. –– A jury found Wednesday that the Rev. Martin Luther King was the victim of a murder conspiracy, not a lone assassin. The King family had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Loyd Jowers, a retired Memphis businessman who claimed six years ago that he paid someone other than James Earl Ray to kill King. A jury of six blacks and six whites needed only three hours to reach their verdict. The Kings were seeking unspecified damages, but what they wanted most was for the jury to find evidence of a conspiracy and lend support to the family's ...

This is supposed to be a critique of the two Republican presidential debates, but I find myself constrained by the fact that I enjoyed them. At first, during the first debate, I thought: Well, this is orderly and decorous, but in time I found it genuinely interesting. I thought the second one was interesting, too. When the candidates talked about taxes, they actually talked about philosophy; when they talked about China, they actually touched on morality. And they were up to it, and impressive. So I feel a little like the 18th-century coffeehouse friend of Dr. Johnson who said: "I ...

Just a heads up

"News flash, Rudy — it's not good to arrest the homeless people," declared TV "personality" Rosie O'Donnell on her version of Firing Line for the crayon set. News flash, Rosie — shut up. No seriously, just be quiet. I was over-served last night, and my hangover can't take any shrill, thoughtless, liberal bleating about homelessness. And when I hear it in that over-accented Epcot Center New Yorkese, I feel as if I just drank a glass of warm bourbon with a cigarette in it or ate some day-old fried eggs with James Carville's hair in them. By trying to ...

As a potential barrier to future trade liberalization and global prosperity, the anti-WTO protests in Seattle continue to worry me. (See David Frum's excellent article). The sovereignty issue that so upset the protesters is a red herring. What the protesters need to realize is that free trade helps the poorest nations the most. Prosperity, after all, is what makes progress possible on issues like health, education, the environment, jobs, wages, and growth. The poorest nations have the worst economic and environmental records. We learned that with the bankrupt Soviet Union and its East-bloc satellites. A young person concerned about ...

Some people, it seems, get offended way too easily. I mean, isn't that what all this prayer hullabaloo is all about-people getting offended? At least that's what I hear the courts and the ACLU telling us. I am not easily offended. Outside of getting run off the road by a Mack truck, nothing much offends me. Daddy and Mama gave little Nicky a sense of humor. Some people, however, either weren't born with a sense of humor or they lost it in a crap game. These people are still in the minority, but those of us in the majority are ...

10 Crips indicted on drug, racketeering charges By Ann Carnahan Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Ten Crips members, including one of the gang's founders, have been indicted on drug and racketeering charges. The Denver grand jury returned a 37-count indictment last week against Phillip Jefferson, one of three who started the gang in Denver in 1985, and nine others. The indictment was sealed until Monday to give authorities time to round up the 10. Seven are in jail, two are still at large and Jefferson is in a local hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. Jefferson, ...

Are Jokes Clean Tricks? The media always likes to accuse Republicans of engaging in dirty tricks. They like to congratulate Democrats on the success of theirs. Since Republicans always get trashed for dirty tricks, it occurred to me that perhaps they should try clean tricks. Clean tricks are just jokes. But they are devastating to a political career. Here are a few of mine. Care to contribute yours? If the ultimate dirty trick is to break into the Democratic National Committee then is it a clean trick to get someone to try to break out. If it is dirty trick ...

(CNSNews.com) - A 13-year-old eighth-grade Virginia boy has been suspended from school for almost four months for failing to immediately give school officials a three-inch paring knife that he took from another student to prevent her from possibly committing suicide. At a hearing Tuesday, attorneys for the boy argued unsuccessfully that Benjamin A. Ratner, who was suspended in early October from Blue Ridge Middle School in Purcellville, Va., should be allowed to return to classes before his suspension expires on Jan. 25, 2000. An attorney with the civil liberties legal foundation representing Ratner told CNSNews.com that the school's "zero tolerance" ...

DECEMBER 08, 11:35 EST Death Row Inmate Tries To Kill Self By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press Writer HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A condemned murderer hoarded his anti-depressants and tried to kill himself with an overdose this week but may be executed as scheduled tonight anyway — if he recovers in time. Court rulings have determined that an inmate must be aware of his surroundings and know why he is being punished before he can be executed. David Long, 46, was still scheduled today for lethal injection after 6 p.m. for killing three women with a hatchet in 1986. He confessed ...

Former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, wanted by (capital of Ethiopia) Addis Ababa on charges of genocide, is back in Zimbabwe where he has political asylum, a diplomat said in (capital of Zimbabwe) Harare on Wednesday.'Yes, he is back in Zimbabwe, a high-ranking diplomat said, adding that Mengistu, 62, had returned last Thursday, the day after his release from a South African hospital where he had received treatment for a heart ailment.(South African President Thabo Mbeki) spokesman Parks Mankahlana insists Mengistu left South Africa before a formal request for his extradition had been received from Ethiopia, and that the question ...

Prominent Democratic Donor Jeffrey Sudikoff has been sentenced to prison for insider trading and fined 3 million dollars. Here is the partial press release from the USAO. FORMER IDB CHAIRMAN JEFFREY SUDIKOFF SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR IN PRISON, $3 MILLION FINE FOR INSIDER TRADING In the largest insider trading case ever prosecuted in Los Angeles, the founder and former chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors of IDB Communications Group, Inc. was sentenced today to one year and one day in federal prison for a scheme in which he illegally sold more than $1.8 million worth of ...

The presidential hopeful, and former Republican, brings his Reform Party road show to St. Petersburg. ST. PETERSBURG -- This may be the closest Patrick Buchanan gets to returning to the White House. The former aide to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan strolled out of a model of the Oval Office at the Florida International Museum Tuesday night. He stood in front of a fake Rose Garden in a dimly lit room, shook hands with two or three reporters and glanced around. Just one television camera. That's a bad sign for a presidential campaign when forests of TV cameras and ...

Russia has backed away from the threat to kill Grozny's 40,000 civilians but it is feared the Kremlin may use powerful weapons to destroy the city. Some Russian analysts say the military may be planning to use fuel vapour bombs, which can suffocate people in underground shelters. Moscow may want to get civilians out of the city to minimise international protests if such weapons are used, they say. Russian planes and artillery continued to pound what remains of the city today despite the military's claims they were allowing civilians to leave Grozny unimpeded. Trying to deflect international criticism, Russian ...

NEW YORK- Continuing with his Big Fat Idiot series, Al Frankin announced today that he has signed a new book deal with Lez Publications. Tentatively titled ROSIE O'DONNELL IS A BIG FAT IDIOT, this new effort departs from Franklin's previous work. "In stead of attacking a conservative, I have decided to take on one of my own, like-minded liberals," Franklin said in a phone interview today. "I mean, what makes some people think that because they have a t.v. show, act in the movies and are a liberal, that they can spout off any old kooky idea that pops into ...

I saw this picture once of Clinton walking past a homeless fellow. I think it is in Santa Monica, from when, I'm not sure. He's looking the other way.

QUESTION: Why did the men of Kosovo allow the "authorities" and the "police" to come into their towns, round them up, shoot them dead, rape the mothers of their children, and confiscate their worldly property? ANSWER: Simple, they had no Second Amendment Right to individually keep and bear arms in their homes, and so they had no guns to defend themselves. QUESTION: Why have the Swiss, since their initial organization as a freedom loving federation the mid 1200’s, never been conquered? ANSWER: Because every family has a basic load of bullets, and a military grade assault rifle in their home, ...

Please pardon the vanity, but this is a question I've been asking myself quite a bit lately. If Y2K is as serious a threat as we are being told, and if there's the slightest hint of something shady going on by the federal government to take advantage of the situation (and I'm talking about martial law, evacuation camps, UN involvement, etc.), then why hasn't someone as reputable as Matt Drudge, who is both outside the mainstream press with its corporate controls, and has a burning desire to publish the news he believes has the greatest impact, reported it yet? If ...