Free Republic

Limits to Party Loyalty "I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." --Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789. ME 7:300

COLUMBUS-After agreeing to sweeten the bill to suit Democratic tastes, a 26-year plan to spend Ohio's $10.1 billion anti-smoking windfall won broad, bipartisan support yesterday in the GOP-run House. About half will go to fix or replace public school buildings, much of the rest to public health. REST OF ARTICLE HERE

Daily thought for; Friday December 10th, 1999 ...Greater love hath no man than this ... Yesterday six firemen were remembered in a funeral ceremony attended by thousands. No sooner had the last words been said, Amazing Grace sung accompanied by the wailing bag pipes and taps played then we received word that a Marine helicopter with 18 US Marines on board had gone done in the pacific off the coast of San Diego. At this time it appears that six more men in uniform will go to be with those six firemen lost in Worcester, Massachusetts. Jesus tells us in ...

Divisions on Trade Issues Leave Democrats Vulnerable By Thomas B. Edsall Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, December 9, 1999; Page A22 Democrats are counting on a big grass-roots effort by labor unions, environmental groups and other foes of free trade to fuel their drive to win the House and retain the White House. But union enthusiasm for Democrats, particularly Vice President Gore, could dim as the feeling grows that the administration has been working against labor's interest, both during the Seattle trade talks and the recent decision to invite China into the WTO. Some labor officials point to the political ...

Chilling debit-card scam uncovered Major organized-crime bust reveals simple method of siphoning bank accounts TIMOTHY APPLEBY The Globe and Mail Friday, December 10, 1999 Toronto -- No debit card is safe.That was the chilling message to emerge yesterday from the arrest of dozens of alleged Eastern European organized-crime figures in the Toronto area and in several other cities. Stealing the encrypted data contained in the millions of such cards used daily around the world used to be a complex procedure. But not any more. Now, with a single swipe through an electronically doctored punch pad, that information can be ...

President Bill Clinton has proved he can be relied upon to be honest about virtually nothing. But if he were honest in his opposition to "guns," why wouldn't he seek to amend the Constitution to eliminate the right of American citizens to own and bear arms? Why wouldn't he demand that Congress enact laws to make the manufacture, sale and ownership of guns illegal? He doesn't try to do those things because he knows he would fail. But he is dictatorially using the power of the federal government to threaten a harassing lawsuit against the law-abiding and legal gun ...

HONOLULU (AP) -- The Hawaii Supreme Court has effectively ended the drive to legalize gay marriage in a state once considered one of the most likely to accept same-sex unions. In a ruling Thursday, the court said the effort by homosexual couples was rendered moot by a 1998 amendment to the state constitution overwhelmingly approved by voters. The amendment gave lawmakers the authority to limit state-recognized marriages to opposite-sex couples. ``Thank you to the Hawaii Supreme Court for affirming what we've known all along -- that marriage, by God's definition, is between opposite-sex couples,'' said Mike Gabbard, chairman of the ...

Please post your short news items, comments,and opinions here. All are welcome!

If Bill Bradley loses to Al Gore, the decisive moment will have been their Dartmouth College debate on Oct. 27. A voter invited the former basketball star to fire away at the Clinton-Gore fund-raising fraud of 1996. Instead, he turned the other cheek. Mr. Gore then clenched his other fist and pounded the Bradley health-care plan one more time. Six weeks later the New Jersey challenger has finally dropped his Quaker pose and is fighting back, sort of, but it may be too late. He's needed a huge media buy to keep his narrow New Hampshire lead, and his national ...

Soon the Iowa and New Hampshire will allow the first votes in the primary process.So maybe it's now time to pony up to the table and make your prediction on how your candidate will finsish in the sweepstakes in these two key first states.The purpose for this is to see how much reality exists among those supporters. We have seen numerous posts marginalizing the scientific polls when the cyber polls say something entirely different. Which will ultimately be more correct? The answer lies in the ultimate poll, the one where people fill out a ballot, punch a hole in a ...

Seems the verdict is already in on plans by the GOP's presidential front-runner, George W. Bush, to cut taxes--at least among the Beltway pundits. "It's stupid," says Newsweek's Evan Thomas. "Doesn't do very much for moderate and low-income people," sniffs National Public Radio's Nina Totenberg. "Totally irresponsible," adds Eleanor Clift on the McLaughlin Group. The received wisdom here, of course, is that in these prosperous times no one really cares about taxes anymore. Tell that to the folks running New Hampshire's state government, which is facing a backlash from a new, statewide property tax. The tax was forced into law ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton on Thursday signed into law legislation banning so-called "crush" videos that depict women crushing small animals like mice beneath their high heels, often during sex acts. The White House said the law establishes federal criminal penalties for the creation, sale or possession of "a depiction of cruelty to animals" with the intent to distribute it within the United States or overseas. To comply with the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech, the law makes exceptions for works of "serious religious, political, scientific, educational, journalistic, historical or artistic value." "The act would prohibit ...

CONCORD, N.H -- Just when romance seemed dead, along comes this flinty New England state demanding more passion in Republican presidential politics. Maybe it is just a hunger for the populist brigades of the now departed Pat Buchanan. How else to explain the rapid rise of underdog Arizona Sen. John McCain -- and the failure of Texas Gov. George W. Bush to capitalize better on the money and organization that make him the overwhelming favorite nationally. Mr. Bush's early lead in New Hampshire has collapsed, and following the Texan's lackluster performances in two televised debates, new polls suggest Sen. McCain ...

Salon Feature | McCain vs. New York To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > News Dec. 9, 1999 URL: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/12/09/mccain McCain vs. New York The GOP presidential candidate says he'll sue if the state's byzantine laws keep him off the ballot. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Andrea Bernstein John McCain may have been able to outlast his tormenters in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp, but that doesn't mean he's equipped to outsmart New York's tortuous ballot access laws. The Arizona Senator announced ...

Some Unease in G.O.P. Over Bush in Debates December 10, 1999 Some Unease in G.O.P. Over Bush in Debates Related Articles Campaigns: White House 2000 -- George W. Bush (R) Forum Join a Discussion on The Republican Party and Election 2000 By RICHARD L. BERKE ASHINGTON -- Many prominent Republicans have concluded that Gov. George W. Bush of Texas is an unimpressive debater, but they disagreed over how much that should be a cause for deep concern among his supporters. Some Republicans expressed fears that Bush would be no match for Vice President Al Gore or Bill Bradley in ...

Bush Concedes McCain's Surge Print Edition Today's National     Articles Inside "A" Section Front Page Articles On Our Site Top News/Breaking     News Politics Section National Section Bush Concedes McCain's Surge By Dan Balz Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, December 10, 1999; Page A01 Texas Gov. George W. Bush said yesterday that rival John McCain "may very well be the front-runner now in New Hampshire," as a round of polls taken after two recent GOP candidate debates showed the Arizona senator overtaking Bush's once-commanding lead in the nation's first primary state. "I've got a heck of a ...

12/9/99 -- 12:47 AM Schoolboy's puddle stomp gets him cuffed, arrested INVERNESS - A 12-year-old boy who stomped his foot in a puddle at school, spraying classmates and a school resource officer, was taught a lesson he's not likely to forget. Kyle Fredrikson was walking back to class from lunch when Deputy Tim Langer said the boy ``purposely stomped in the water'' after being told numerous times by school personnel to stay with the group and out of the rain. He didn't, and at that point, Langer took the sixth-grader to a school office where the boy was cuffed, put ...

ON COURAGE "They were doing a full back shot of me in a swimsuit and I thought, Oh my God, I have to be so brave. See, every woman hates herself from behind." - Cindy Crawford ON POVERTY 'Everyone should have enough money to get plastic surgery." - Beverly Johnson ON FATE 'I wish my butt did not go sideways, but I guess I have to face that." - Christie Brinkley ON ARRIVING 'Because modeling is lucrative, I'm able to save up, and be more particular about the acting roles I take." - Kathy Ireland, star of 'Alien From L.A.' ...

December 10, 1999                      Money: The Century's Agony                    By Robert L. Bartley, editor of the Journal.                    STOCKHOLM--A Nobel Prize is scarcely an invitation to modesty, least                    of all with the turn of a millennium only weeks away. So Robert Mundell,                    the 1999 laureate in economics, took as his memorial lecture subject "A                    Reconsideration of the Twentieth Century."                    The point is that the economic dislocations of the century, and the political                    dislocations they produced or advanced, flowed from ill-understood                    perturbations in international economics. In particular, the 20th century                    began with ...

Princess Diana has been controversially portrayed as the Virgin Mary in a major art exhibition at the Tate Gallery in Liverpool (Britain.)The 36 inch tall statue forms the centrepiece of the exhibition Heaven which explores how the cult of the celebrity has replaced religion.The late Princess is captured in the traditional pose of the Virgin Mary with her hands clasped and eyes towards the heavens.Exhibition organisers defended the image, claiming Diana was a saintly figure and the statue reflected her popularity. The exhibition coincides with the lead-up to the celebration of the birth of Christ at one of the holiest ...