Free Republic

Tanzania Scouts turned over to INS The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Tanzania Scouts turned over to INS Guy Taylor THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/1/01      The Immigration and Naturalization Service took custody of four Boy Scouts from Tanzania who left the National Scout Jamboree over the weekend, but would neither confirm nor deny the group is seeking asylum in the United States.      A spokesman speculated they were trying to escape poverty in their home country.      "We're still determining exactly why they left," said INS spokesman Bill Strassberger. "The initial premise appears to be to seek a better life in the United ...

Wednesday August 1, 12:36 AM Belgrade, Banja Luka to intensify economic cooperation BELGRADE, July 31 (AFP) - Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic met here Tuesday with top Belgrade officials for talks that focused on strengthening economic cooperation between Yugoslavia and the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska (RS). "We want to quickly lift all the economic barriers on the borders and start opening a free trade zone in the Balkans where it is easiest to do it -- between Serbia and the RS," Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said after meetings with Ivanic. Djindjic called for the abolishing of all ...

Jul 31, 2001 (Defense Daily) -- A Lockheed Martin [LMT] Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) failed to detonate in its last developmental flight test before a scheduled production decision, and contractor and Air Force program officials are looking into the cause, Air Force and Lockheed Martin said yesterday. On Friday afternoon, a Boeing [BA] B-52 bomber launched JASSM at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The test missile deployed its wings and control surfaces and flew on battery power before beginning its engine start sequence, which lasts about 30 seconds, an Air Force official said yesterday. Overall, the missile navigated ...

Elections panel calls for media restraint The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Elections panel calls for media restraint Joseph Curl THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/1/01      President Bush said yesterday that if new recommendations from a bipartisan voting reform commission had been in place during the 2000 presidential election, he would have won in a "landslide."      The impromptu comment, which drew laughter during an Oval Office bill-signing event, came shortly after the president "heartily" endorsed the commission's core principles.      Among other recommendations, the 103-page report calls for safeguarding military absentee ballots and asks the media to refrain from reporting results until polls ...

Hardware store man made keys for Levy The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Hardware store man made keys for Levy Jim Keary THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/1/01      An employee at a Northwest hardware store yesterday said he made copies of keys for Chandra Ann Levy during the week she vanished.      "She said she wanted some keys made, and she would come back and pick them up later," said John Woodfolk, 60, an employee at Candey Hardware Store at 1210 18th St. NW. "I saw her later as I was leaving for lunch. She waved at me."      Mr. Woodfolk said he made ...

Bush nears deal with House on patients´ rights The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Bush nears deal with House on patients´ rights George Archibald THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/1/01      House backers of a patients' rights bill, similar to a Democratic-endorsed measure passed by the Senate, appear to have reached an agreement with the White House, setting up a House vote tomorrow.      President Bush yesterday signaled confidence an agreement could be reached on the bill he previously threatened to veto.      "We don't have a specific deal yet but we're making progress," Mr. Bush told reporters in the Oval Office. The president has ...

Cubans seek support from Congressional Black Caucus The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Cubans seek support from Congressional Black Caucus Stephen Dinan THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/1/01      Black Cuban dissidents yesterday urged members of the Congressional Black Caucus, which has taken an interest in expanding U.S. relations with Cuba, to also take a leading role in demanding Cuba end discrimination against its black residents.      A handful of dissidents came to the Capitol to lobby caucus members and to tell them a part of the Cuban story they say hadn't been relayed — of a glass ceiling in employment, poorer living conditions ...

Bubba's curtain call The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Bubba's curtain call Tony Blankley Published 8/1/01      The big lug is back. After six months licking his exit wounds, The Man From Hope – Bill Clinton – held the first rally of his ex-presidency up in Harlem. It was, perhaps, ironic that it took Bill Clinton to push, if briefly, Rep. Gary Condit off the cable news shows. I couldn't help thinking that we might be seeing the Democratic dream ticket for 2004:      Condit/Clinton. It would pair up nicely with Bush/Cheney – Condit/Clinton would be the evil version of the young buck ...

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein may be considered a pariah in the West, but if one mainland publishing house has its way, he will be known in China as a writer of love stories. The Yangtze River Literature and Arts Publishing House, based in Hubei province, has already published a collection of short fiction by Libyan president Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi's book got a good reception amongst Chinese readers, and the firm is hoping that Saddam's will follow suit. Zhou Baiyi, head of the company, claims not to be bothered by the possibility people will accuse him or sensationalist publicity-seeking. As ...

Pentagon stuck with berets The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Pentagon stuck with berets Rowan Scarborough THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/1/01      The Pentagon has been unable to unload more than 618,000 Chinese-made black berets banned for use by American Army soldiers, and is keeping the $4 million worth of headgear in a warehouse in Pennsylvania.      The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), a Pentagon purchasing agent, had considered selling the berets to surplus stores, but officials said that option is unlikely because the made-in-China hats would probably end up on the heads of U.S. soldiers. This would make for an awkward fit since ...

House GOP joins unions on energy measure The Washington Times www.washtimes.com House GOP joins unions on energy measure Audrey Hudson THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/1/01      House Republicans yesterday teamed up with union leaders in an unusual alliance to attempt to enact President Bush's energy bill and open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling.      Republican House Whip Tom DeLay said he is "working hard to grow the vote," and with pressure from labor groups on reluctant Democrats, he and labor leaders say the measure should pass by a comfortable margin today.      "We feel confident we will be able to ...

ASHINGTON, July 31 — Republicans inside and outside the White House are focusing anew on the party's disadvantage among women in the electorate, a problem that has persisted — and by some recent measures worsened — through the beginning of the Bush administration. Earlier this month, the Republican National Committee announced that it would pump millions of dollars a year into a new campaign, "Winning Women," to be led by the committee's new co-chairwoman, Ann Wagner, who eagerly introduces herself as a 38-year-old suburban mom. Later this week, when Vice President Dick Cheney attends a special meeting of Congressional ...

President Bush's choice to oversee federal consumer protection efforts has touched off an unexpectedly fierce Senate confirmation battle, with both sides predicting a committee will reject the nominee on Thursday despite the White House's full-throated defense of her yesterday. The fight over the relatively obscure post -- Bush is seeking to elevate Mary Sheila Gall to chairman of the three-member Consumer Product Safety Commission, on which she already serves -- has developed into a proxy war with higher stakes. Although Bush endured the withdrawal of Linda Chavez as his choice to head the Labor Department and a bitter confirmation struggle ...

Chinese 'civilian' satellite a spy tool The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Chinese 'civilian' satellite a spy tool Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/1/01      China's military has deployed a new reconnaissance satellite that is being used to target U.S. forces in the region, according to U.S. intelligence officials.      The satellite is Beijing's first high-resolution imaging satellite and is disguised as a civilian earth monitoring system, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.      The satellite secretly has been designated as the Jianbing-3, officials said. Its public name is Ziyuan-2 (ZY-2). Ziyuan means "resource."      The satellite was launched Sept. 1 ...

Vindicating John Locke:How a Seventeenth-Century ‘Liberal’Was Really a ‘Social Conservative’ byThomas G. West Dr. West delivered this Witherspoon Lecture at the Family Research Council on February 23, 2001. The WITHERSPOON FELLOWSHIP LECTURES are published periodically by the Family Research Council. Opinions expressed in the WITHERSPOON LECTURES may not necessarily reflect the views of the Family Research Council or its board of directors. In addition, nothing herein should be construed as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any specific legislation before Congress. © 2001 by the Family Research Council. All rights reserved. In his 2001 inaugural address, President ...

ARNER ROBINS, Ga. — For most of its relatively short and often bumbling life, the B-1 has been the strategic bomber even the Pentagon has loved to hate. Even before the last B-1 rolled off the assembly line in 1988, the Air Force had determined that the plane was vulnerable to Soviet air defenses. A 1991 study found it could not fly in snow because it had no effective de-icing equipment. Engine problems sidelined it during the Persian Gulf war. And in 1999, the Pentagon delayed using B-1's over Yugoslavia until enemy defenses had been suppressed by aging B-52's ...

he federal Environmental Protection Agency's administrator, Christie Whitman, has agreed to go ahead with a plan issued in the closing days of the Clinton administration requiring the General Electric Company to spend more than half a billion dollars to dredge PCB pollution from the Hudson River, according to officials at the agency. The draft order, which will become official in 30 days after a government review, will set into motion the biggest environmental dredging plan in United States history, after more than two decades of disputes over the science of dredging and the political, economic and moral issues of ...

Wednesday, August 1st, 2001. A just released huge FOXNews Poll has Republican President George W. Bush hitting almost 60% in APPROVAL ratings vs. ONLY 25% in DIS-approval! So (as usual...) where is ALL the "mainstream" media on THIS latest one?!? That's well MORE than twice as high and then again of approval vs disapproval. Will we ONLY hear it on KSFO radio and Fox news TV?!? Let's get the TRUE word out to as many media and e-groups/people as possible. We can fight liberal slander and lies with TRUTH, but we need to Just DO IT! Cheers and God Bless ...

sorry, I know this doesn't really belong here, but you guys are the smartest bunch of people on the web so I thought I'd try. I need to sell a classic truck. Where's the best place? thanks,kelly in alaska

ASHINGTON, July 31 — State Department officials said today that they have been engaged in a strenuous and complicated diplomatic effort to persuade other nations to omit two contentious issues from the agenda of a coming United Nations conference on racism — whether Zionism is racism and whether nations should pay reparations for slavery. The officials said the outcome of the negotiations would determine whether the Bush administration takes part in the conference, scheduled to open on Aug. 31 in Durban, South Africa. "We want to go," a State Department official said today. "But not at any cost." This ...