Free Republic

All they want for Christmas is an SLR-95 semiautomatic? Well, maybe. A Republican candidate for Congress in Illinois is raising campaign money by raffling off two guns — a rifle and a .45 handgun — at $5 a ticket. So far, Michael Curtiss has sold 1,500 of them. The raffle also includes a safety lesson and a book on crime. But Dr. Curtiss, a physician, is out to make a point. “Someone has to draw a line, and the raffle is an illustration that it’s not the gun that kills; it’s the idiot behind it,” he said. Dr. Curtiss hopes ...

Dominoes Will Continue to Fall Throughout 2000, Says Y2K Expert Link to entire article Remarks by Norman Dean, Executive Director of the Center for Y2K and Society, George Washington University, 23 November 1999: . . . for the past several months, there has been a flood of press releases from government agencies, banks, utilities, and manufacturers reassuring the public that they are Y2K ready. . . that the only thing we have to fear is panic. The ultimate reassurance came two weeks ago, when President Clinton told us that we do not have to store any food. . . the ...

Abolishing all economic barriers without regulation can destroy cultures and societies. The great scientific discovery that gave us penicillin was achieved by Sir Alexander Fleming for one reason alone: When his routine cultivation of bacteria for an experiment failed because some mold contaminated the petri dish, Fleming immediately realized that it was not his original experiment that was important, but rather the "disturbance" that ruined it. Once he focused on the mold, it was a straightforward deduction that it produced something that could kill bacteria--an antibiotic. Likewise, when we consider what happened at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, ...

Just heard on the radio that Wen Ho Lee was just arrested by the FBI. Hope this isn't a re-post.

Excerpts from an extensive radio interview of Chip Tatum continued ---------- A: Chip, on this - we were talking about Ollie North. Tell us more about Ollie North. Now, you had direct contact with him, didn't you? T: Old Blood and Guts himself, you bet. That's what he likes to refer to himself as. A: Well, is he really a blood-and-guts man, or is that all a front? T: I think that's quite a bit a front. I think he was a warrior. He was placed in a position that greed got the best of him. However, Vietnam days, he ...

Presidential candidate Steve Forbes on Thursday defended his aggressive plan to privatize Social Security and said problems created by a transition period for the newly revamped program could be solved with long-term bonds. In an interview with The Arizona Republic editorial board, Forbes defended his plan to allow citizens to invest Social Security funds in their own retirement accounts and said some of the costs associated with introducing the plan could be paid for with the bonds. "If you need to issue bonds to pay benefits, those bonds could be financed at 4.4 percent long term, amortized over 40 ...

Y2K Problem Shows Up - (NISKAYUNA) Here's an example of what people are talking about when they say computers get confused over Y-2-K. The Selective Service System has sent Frank Blood of Niskayuna a warning that he has ten days to register for the military draft. That's because records show he was born in '81. Well, Blood was born in '81, all right, but it was 1881. He died 16 years ago.

President Clinton, who is suffering from flu-like conditions (YEAH SURE Mr. Rueters!!!) , waits before giving a speech to the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce in Arkansas, Friday. The president's remarks focused on the importance of trade and economic development to the long-term prosperity of Arkansas. (Larry Downing/Reuters)

The controversial drug Ritalin is being quietly phased out in favor of a powerful blend of amphetamines as doctors search for the best way to treat children who have problems sitting still. Adderall — twice as potent as Ritalin and originally sold as an obesity drug in Canada — has captured 28 percent of the market for drugs to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, up from virtually nil 10 years ago, according to its manufacturer, Shire Pharmaceuticals. That puts Adderall ahead of Ritalin, although methylphenidate, Ritalin's generic version, is still a big seller. "It's like Ritalin, but a step stronger," said ...

DETROIT (AP) - The parents of Detroit's most hardcore truants were summoned to meet with a prosecutor Thursday and threatened with 90 days in jail if they did not get their kids to class. The meetings were ordered for the parents of 66 mainly elementary school students - some of whom missed more than half of the last school year. The prosecutor's get-tough approach is part of a campaign in Detroit and elsewhere around the country to hold adults more accountable when their children skip school. The Detroit parents were told to bring their youngsters along to the meeting as ...

If your name is Bill Clinton or Strum Thurman or if you're a senior naval brass hat you can check into Maryland's Bethesda Naval Hospital and be assured that you'll get VIP treatment that includes real doctors to put you to sleep while the surgeon wields his knife. But if you're a nobody -- a lowly serving or retired sailor who's been promised top quality medical treatment for life if you just stand down range and let enemy sharpshooters have at you for at least 20 years -- don't expect the same treatment as what's given to the new American ...

Libraries that defend unrestricted Internet access as free speech are facing mounting resistance from parents and family groups seeking to block out pornographic sites. The pressures prompted one library this week to drop Internet access altogether, a move the American Library Association called unprecedented. City commissioners in Hudsonville, Mich., voted Monday to pull the plug. Hudsonville officials said they felt cornered: If its library installed software filters to block out sexually explicit sites, free-speech advocates might sue. If the library did not, then conservative groups might sue. The American Family Association was already demanding a referendum on restricting access. "It's ...

Major-league brats Even in sports, sparing the rod spoils the star By Paul Chesser The tendency of many football and basketball scouts these days is to treat a player as a package of raw statistics: How fast can he run 40 yards? How many pounds can he bench press? What's his vertical leap? But other scouts look more at personal history. Did a talented player become used to coaches sparing the rod used on non-stars? If he was spoiled when young, does he continue to demand that coaches and others let him do whatever he wants? That seems to be ...

LONDON (Reuters) - British pop star George Michael on Friday accused Sir Cliff Richard of exploiting religion in his ``vile'' chart-topping single ``Millennium Prayer.'' The much-criticized song, which marries the words of The Lord's Prayer to the music of ``Auld Lang Syne,'' went to No. 1 in the British charts after Christians were urged to buy it. Richard -- at 59 known as the ``Peter Pan of pop'' -- was ''always taking his hat off to himself, telling you how many hits he's had,'' Michael said in a rare interview with London's Capital Radio. ``Yes, an absolutely great achievement, but ...

URL: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/12/10/anarchists Who were those masked anarchists in Seattle? The media has blown the story, but there's a growing fringe of activists who believe property destruction isn't "violent," and are bent on convincing the rest of us. - - - - - - - - - - - - By L.A. Kauffman In the week since the dramatic World Trade Organization protests, in which a massive nonviolent blockade was overshadowed by attacks on stores like Niketown, Starbucks and the Gap, the media reporting about the activism has been as confusing as some of the protests themselves. Most reports simply labelled ...

A friend of my wife is getting married in a couple of weeks to a guy who claims to be a nephew of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. I've talked to this guy several times and the more I get to know him, the more I think he's a bulls**ter, so he's likely not related to the good senator. However, in case the groom is truthful and Daniel Patrick does show up for the reception, I'd like to be prepared with some good discussion topics.So, what would you ask the senator from New York if you had him cornered at a ...

STAFFORD, Calif. (AP) - Two years ago Friday, a 23-year-old preacher's daughter climbed 180 feet into the branches of an old growth redwood, determined to save it from a woodsman's chain saw. Since then, Julia Hill, known to her friends as Julia Butterfly, has changed her life. She has also tried to change the way people look at California's old forests through an Internet campaign and interviews with reporters around the world. This month, one more thing may be changing: She may be coming down from the tree she calls Luna. ''My feet will not touch the ground until there ...

PANAMA -- At noon on Dec. 31, the U.S. will finally give up the Panama Canal. The deadline, negotiated by President Jimmy Carter in 1977, has revived a bitter debate in the U.S. over whether Panama is up to the job of running the canal -- and even whether potential enemies might try to capitalize on America's retreat. But the debate misses the point. Even if things go terribly wrong, which is unlikely, the effect on the U.S. would be minor. Sweeping changes in the American military, economy and transportation systems over several decades have transformed the canal from a ...

WASHINGTON –– A lawyer for Monica Lewinsky said today the former White House intern probably will be subpoenaed to testify next week in the Maryland wiretapping case against Linda Tripp. Plato Cacheris said he has been advised that state prosecutors likely will need to call Ms. Lewinsky for a pretrial hearing that could determine whether the wiretapping charges will go to trial. "She is not enthusiastic about an appearance. She wishes this whole matter would just go away," Cacheris said. Mrs. Tripp's lawyers say the case should be thrown out because their client's immunized cooperation with Independent Counsel Kenneth ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A lawyer for Monica Lewinsky said today the former White House intern probably will be subpoenaed to testify next week in the Maryland wiretapping case against Linda Tripp. Plato Cacheris said he has been advised that state prosecutors likely will need to call Ms. Lewinsky for a pretrial hearing that could determine whether the wiretapping charges will go to trial. ``She is not enthusiastic about an appearance. She wishes this whole matter would just go away,'' Cacheris said. Mrs. Tripp's lawyers say the case should be thrown out because their client's immunized cooperation with Independent Counsel ...