Free Republic

THE first permanent European Union military structure was agreed yesterday in spite of repeated assurances by Tony Blair that he would not support the creation of a Euro army. EU leaders supported the idea first tabled at last month's Anglo-French summit of the Union creating a 60,000-strong rapid reaction force capable of a range of missions described as "crisis management". The force will require a permanent but deployable headquarters in which to train and prepare for missions. No decision has yet been made on the HQ structure but it represents the Union's first standing military organisation. Critics argued it would ...

A superior court judge Friday dismissed Bridgeports lawsuit against the gun industry,raising questions about whether courts and cities can force changes in the way handguns are sold. Friday ,judge Robert F.MCweeny threw out all counts in the 100 million lawsuit filed last february by Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim.

Motherhood won't slow down CNN'S Amanpour By Phil Kloer, Cox News Service December 11, 1999     ATLANTA -- Pregnancy and motherhood are not going to slow down CNN's Christiane Amanpour any more than sniper attacks and death threats have in the past. "When you have a child, you have a bigger responsibility to your personal survival," she said recently in Atlanta. "I think I'll adapt and modify, but the fundamental thing I do, I can't give up." What Amanpour does, of course, is cover the world's most dangerous places -- Bosnia, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, Haiti -- as CNN's chief ...

Pennsylvania High Court Says Behavior More Important Than Biology When Determining Paternity Lori Litchman (The Legal Intelligencer) --Behavior is more important than science in determining paternity, a divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled.Even though a blood test showed that David Fish was not the father of a boy born while he was still married to Ruth Fish, the court said that because he acted as the father for the first three years of the boy's life, Ruth could not seek support from the man believed to be the biological father of the child."The father-son relationship with appellant's husband is the ...

I finally did it! I got a chance to jaw a bit on C-span this morning on Washington Journal. After I spoke briefly to a cute-sounding girl with a lovely British accent, I waited through only one phone call and I spoke with the director of "space.com" about the future of NASA. I discussed the concerns from a recent thread here about the style of managment at the space agency. I related to him the experience of another technology based industry, the US automobile business. In the 70's, all the major car makers in the US were being run by ...

Fox just reported another suit by a city was just thrown out because the Judge ruled the city had received no direct damage from guns.

A massive cheating scandal has been uncovered in New York City schools which some say is the largest ever of its kind. A special investigator Tuesday charged 32 schools and 52 school employees in a cheating scheme running since 1996. Teachers and administrators acting as proctors for city and state standardized tests helped students cheat by providing questions in advance, pointing out incorrect answers, or even marking correct answers, the special investigator's report claims. New York Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew said the employees named in the report have been removed from their jobs and some may be fired pending ...

Through the Rev. Jesse Jackson's lobbying, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission will examine strict discipline policies of schools. At the urging of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the federal government will take a closer look at schools' "zero tolerance" policies. Jackson's demonstrations on behalf of six students expelled in Decatur, Ill., gained national attention. The district there said it was following a policy of zero tolerance toward violence. The U.S. Civil Rights Commission decided Friday to explore whether such policies tend to disproportionately affect minority and disabled students, Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry said. Jackson said Education Secretary Richard Riley told him ...

It's ironic that relations between Moscow and Beijing may be closer now than during the Cold War, when they ostensibly shared an ideology and an enemy in Washington. And yet the basis for their newfound bonhomie is the selfsame rivalry with the U.S. Following a hastily organized summit between presidents Boris Yeltsin and Jiang Zemin, the two nations issued a joint communiqué denouncing the West's use of human rights as a pretext to intervene in other countries. Beijing and Moscow formally split in 1962 over doctrinal differences and China's efforts to acquire an atomic bomb, but the post-Cold War ...

Russia is a sick country ruled by a sick man. Russia is involved in a vicious military campaign against civilians in Chechnya. It parallels the bloody action by Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic against Kosovo. And simultaneously, a Russian diplomat in Washington has been caught monitoring a listening device that someone artfully placed within a seventh-floor conference room of the U.S. Department of State. These things do not make good relations. They are reminders that though Soviet Communism has collapsed, the Russian bear has not become domesticated. President Bill Clinton engaged in a multibillion-dollar air war against Milosevic because of his ...

Conservative News Search CNS  Advanced    CNS: Opinion/Humor Update: 7:51 ET December 11, 1999 I'm Tired of the 'Last' Everything of the Millennium By Rich Galen CNS Commentary 10 December, 1999 * I don't care how much police officers and fire fighters get paid. It isn't enough.* The fifth, and final, presidential press conference of this year - or any other year starting with the number 19 - was held, not in the East Room at the White House, but at the State Department. Legacy. Legacy. Legacy. The White House is now completely focused on foreign policy in its increasingly ...

Sunday, December 12, 1999 ABC's "This Week" with Cokie Roberts and Sam Donaldson Airtime is 9:00 a.m. EST CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS FOR TIMES IN YOUR AREA Comments can be submitted using the form linked below: http://www.abcnews.go.com/onair/ThisWeek/TW_email_form.html CNN's "Late Edition" with Wolf Blitzer Airtime is 12:00-1:30 p.m. EST CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR TIMES IN YOUR AREA Ambassador Keyes is scheduled to be on from approximately 12:30-12:50 p.m. in a solo interview with Wolf Blitzer.

WATERLOO, Iowa — Turning up the heat in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, Vice President Al Gore accused rival Bill Bradley yesterday of "flying off the handle" in response to criticism of his proposals. Gore pointed to a pamphlet distributed in New Hampshire by Bradley's state campaign as full of "personal invective" that doesn't meet even minimal standards for clean campaigning. The pamphlet, which addressed the issue of prescription drugs, accuses Gore of "uncontrollable lying," a disease described as "Gore-itis." "Now in response to substantive questions about policy differences, he has resorted to this kind of personal invective," ...

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 11, 1999 A Close Encounter Of The Stellar Kind Credit: Digitized Sky Survey, SkyView Explanation: The unassuming star centered in this sky view will one day be our next door stellar neighbor. The faint 9th magnitude red dwarf, currently 63 light-years away in the constellation Ophiucus, was recently discovered to be approaching our Solar System. Known in catalogs of nearby stars as Gliese 710 it is predicted ...

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) -- A blind man tried to rob a bank as a security guard who helped him to the teller's window stood nearby, police say. Bruce Edward Hall, 48, entered the bank Tuesday, accepted the guard's help, then gave a teller a note demanding money, police said. The teller mouthed, "It's a robbery" to a guard, then gave Hall some money. The guards stopped him as he walked away. "It was the wildest thing," bank spokeswoman Kim Cherry said. Hall was not carrying a weapon. He was charged with robbery.

There is a great scene in Jerry Maguire where the sports agent asks his obnoxious client (who is standing naked in the locker room) what he wants, and the player says, "I want to have "Qwan!" - the total package, the aura of respect. You know, like Jerry Rice!" (paraphrasing). Presidential elections are won and lost the same way: WHO HAS QUAN? - who brings the "package" to the table? All 6 Republican candidates have great attributes, and would be far superior to Gore and Bradley. So what does it take TO WIN? Who can bring the 25% middle-of-the-roaders into ...

Chihuahua Has Wild Car Ride CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) -- After his Jeep was rear-ended in the parking lot of a Taco Bell, Tinker Melonuk stepped out to have a word with the driver of the offending Chrysler. In the driver's seat was a Chihuahua named Mr. Chips, one paw on the wheel. The dog had just had a wild ride, with the car careering across five lanes of traffic from a nearby McDonald's. ``I said to myself, 'If this dog's mouth moves, I'm getting out of here,''' said Melonuk, a Baptist pastor. Taco Bell, after all, has commercials featuring a ...

Plaintiffs in a wrongful death case against the government will leave it up to a federal court judge and John Danforth to pick a neutral expert to determine whether flashes recorded by an infrared camera in 1993 could be gunfire directed against the Branch Davidian complex near Waco, Texas. Michael Caddell, a lawyer for the Branch Davidians, notified the federal court in Waco on Wednesday that any expert suggested by the plaintiffs would be suspected by the government. The Justice Department already has nominated an expert for the court to consider and Caddell has questioned his independence. Caddell said the ...

Is Microsoft deliberately lying about Y2K "compliance" or just being extremely misleading? Microsoft says: "Status:  Compliant (prerequisite required)".   What does this mean?  WARNING!  Microsoft really means NOT COMPLIANT without the Y2K fix!  If you advertised a damaged auto with the words "Perfect condition! (prerequisite repair work required)" you would be obfuscating...if not outright lying.  So is Microsoft.  This looks like a blatant attempt by Microsoft to whitewash their products, hiding the true facts from the public.  Millions of Microsoft users could be adversely affected. Why would Microsoft deliberately mislead people into thinking their computers will work perfectly through 2000?  Damage ...

Dec. 10, 1999, 8:37PM Don't rely on famous name, Kennedy warns Bush AUSTIN (AP) -- Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy took advantage of a Texas fund-raiser to offer some political advice to Republican presidential hopeful Gov. George W. Bush. "The one thing that bothers me about George W. is a young man getting along on the basis of a famous family name," Kennedy said. "I've got news for him: It's not going to work." "I had to get out there. I had to get right out there and start right at the bottom," Kennedy quipped over the audience's laughter. The ...