Free Republic

Supposed infalliable proof given to me by one of the filthy urchins of DU on why big governments actually DO work: "Not ALL government programs suck! What about the US military?! They're the greatest force on earth and last I checked they certainly weren't privatized!"

August 1, 2001 The New York Times PBS Channels in New York Plan Merger By BILL CARTER Channel 13, the nation's largest public television station, is expected to merge operations with WLIW, Channel 21, the Long Island-based public television station that is the country's fourth-largest, after a vote by the WLIW board yesterday. The merger, which would leave the management of WNET in charge of the stations, would be the first of its kind among public television stations. Executives from the two stations said viewers would see all of the shows they had enjoyed on each station, but without ...

In a July 31 letter to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), NBC president and chief operating officer Andrew Lack said the network considers Waxman's request to see internal NBC News election-night videos to be a closed matter. 'Your continued pursuit of videotape and unfounded `rumors' cannot be explained by any objective view of the facts,' Lack said in a one-page letter, his third to Waxman on the subject since February. 'As far as we are concerned, this matter has now been brought to a close.' Since Lack's sworn House testimony Feb. 14, Waxman has been pressing NBC for details about a ...

When Liberals Attack B.R. Burton MessianicArt.com I've put way too much confidence and hope in the human race. At least, the left-wing of it. Liberals, when unable to refute logical arguments, grounded positions and informed opinions, attack the person. They cannot stand basic common sense because a large percentage of their beliefs would be reviled as lunacy. Therefore they must create an all pervasive cloud of egalitarian political correctness, so that the perception of the average American will be obscured from the 'hideous, ugly and dangerous' reality - the truth. Those who dare dissent from their Marxist utopian atmosphere of ...

The popular media's coverage of the Dmitri Sklyarov case is a scandal. 26-year-old programmer and encryption gadfly Sklyarov has been languishing in jail for almost two weeks now, and the popular media has paid almost no attention to his truly outrageous arrest. It's a case that has the ugliest implications not only for the press (online and off) but for open discussion of technology, and especially for the First Amendment, now clearly being undermined in the name of copyright protection by the DMCA. This is the opposite of what copyright law was meant to do. When reporters were threatened with ...

Condi Rice is emerging as one of the White House’s most popular -and most effective- figures When Condoleezza Rice told a friend in California that she was headed back to Washington for a job in yet another Bush administration, the friend ribbed her about being drawn to the political spotlight. “Oh, no, I’m just going to be national-security adviser,” Rice told her. “I can’t stand politics.” She may not like politics, but Rice knows how to play the game. She has become one of America’s favorite Bush administration figures. And chances are good the public will be seeing a lot ...

There are two things that you can kiss good-bye foreverâ??make that three, if we include our freedom. First, the words "tax cut." Second, the words "Republican President." Not only will the tax cut be reversed, you will soon find a communist U.S. government adding to the income tax with a new "asset tax." And, you better take some collection item photos of George Bush since there never will be another Republican President in this country. If soaring dependency, 75% approval ratings for felon Clinton at the peak of impeachment hearings, a Republican wanting to grant citizenship to millions of illegals, ...

US presses for rapid political settlement in Macedonia WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday cranked up the pressure to secure a speedy political settlement in Macedonia while denying charges it was tilting toward the ethnic Albanian camp. "We do think that now is the time to reach a deal," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a briefing here, referring to ongoing talks in Ohrid, southern Macedonia bringing together the country's main Macedonian and ethnic Albanian parties and international mediators. He made the comments before the announcement late Wednesday of a breakthrough on the key issue of ...

This is a call to action in support of those DC FReepers who will be burning vacation time in order to be in front of the Capitol building tommorrow afternoon. See thread ANNOUCEMENT: DC Chapter to FReep Condit... We obviously will not have an "overwhelming" crowd - that said we are usually always overwhelming - just sometimes not in numbers. So - what can you do? If you are in the DC area and can make it - then do so. If you are a FReeper from anywhere - then start an overnight e-mail campaign aimed at your rep's in ...

MR. FLEISCHER: Hello, recess anxious people. Good afternoon. In addition to personnel I have a readout on two phone calls the President made, and an opening statement about some important legislation pending on the Hill today concerning energy. Personnel: President Bush today is announcing his intention to nominate six individuals to serve as United States attorneys, and his intention to nominate two individuals to serve as members of the federal judiciary. The individuals for U.S. attorney are: Timothy Burgess for the district of Alaska; Henry Mattice, Jr. for the eastern district of Tennessee; Robert McCampbell for the western district of ...

From the website: "I am desperately trying to find my sister Emily Brent. She has been missing for almost two years now and I fear that she is either being held against her will by a foreign government or is the innocent victim in an international conflict." "Emily is a United States citizen and a military veteran. I have been unable to contact her and have not heard from her since August of 1999. " "I have retraced her steps and can give you the following background information." "Emily, an accomplished pilot, had her own business and owned her own ...

Planning to use your cellphone or hair removal products, eat a variety of foods or even breathe today? Well, look out - you might be in danger of cancer. One of New Zealand's biggest killers, cancer - which kills a quarter of the population aged over 45 - or even just the risk of cancer has always been a hot topic. The soy sauce cancer scare is not the first and will not be the last. And a look through the past 13 years of Herald files found it is not the most unusual by any means. Take broccoli, for ...

I ran across this web site that my uncle is associated with. The home page has a moving redition of "My Country Tis of Thee". Guaranteed to bring a tear to a grown man's eye.

NEW DELHI, India, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A "dead" man, whose last rites were being performed by his relatives, called home just as his body was to be placed on the pyre. As wailing relatives of Sukumaran were preparing to perform the last rites at Vypeen town in India's southern Kerala state, the telephone call from the " deceased" gave way to joy among the family members. The family had mistaken the body of an unidentified man to be that of Sukumaran, who was away from home for several days. Sukumaran, an astrologer, often was away from home for ...

President Bush said Wednesday that he had reached a compromise on a bill that would expand patients’ rights to sue their medical insurance providers over treatment decisions that cause injury or death. Bush appeared at a White House briefing with Rep. Charlie Norwood, the Georgia Republican who had worked for weeks to design a compromise measure. While not giving any details of the compromise, Bush told reporters, “It will give members something positive to vote for.” A HOUSE VOTE on Norwood’s bill was tentatively scheduled for Thursday. Norwood is the chief GOP sponsor of legislation to expand patients’ rights to ...

Who is kidding whom? The Weymouth Board of Health claims restaurant and bar owners will not be negatively impacted by the new smoking ban passed at last Wednesday’s Board of Health meeting. Restaurant and bar owners say the Board of Health is out of touch with reality. Who is right? The total smoking ban, one of the strictest in the country, affects all restaurants and bars, in addition to all public areas. Weymouth’s justification for the new regulation, although premised on public health concerns, was also justified by the Health Board’s claim that a total smoking ban is not ...

The Mexican government is changing its special border-crossing force from a police operation to one focused on warnings and rescues. In part because of corruption, members of Mexico's Grupo Beta no longer will be drawn from law enforcement agencies and will not act as police officers. The national director of the agency, Jaime Paz Garca, said Grupo Beta agents now will be drawn from civilian agencies to focus on warning would-be border crossers of that activity's dangers and on rescuing crossers who are in trouble. Grupo Beta agents no longer will pursue suspects when border crossers are robbed and won't ...

People may finally be nearing their limit.Despite a growth burst that more than doubled the global human population over the past 50 years, a study released today predicts it will peak at 9 billion by the year 2070 and then begin to decline."People thought for many years that we would breed ourselves out of existence," says Warren Sanderson, a professor of economics and history at State University of New York at Stonybrook and co-author of the study appearing in this week's Nature . "They thought we'd produce so many children, there would be no standing room left on the ...

Teen-Ager Attacked by Hippopotamus KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- A hippopotamus reportedly attacked an 18-year-old woman after she entered its cage and plunged into its pool at a zoo in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The woman, identified only as Yekaterina, ignored warning signs and dove into the pool with a female hippopotamus and its 6-year-old offspring, local newspapers reported Wednesday. The hippo picked up the woman with its mouth and shook her by the waist before tossing her into the air, the papers said. Three zoo visitors then rescued the woman, the daily newspaper Fakty said. The woman was ...

Norton directed to reconsider lizard decision Tucson, Ariz. _ A federal appeals court has directed Interior Secretary Gail Norton to reconsider her decision not to list the flat-tailed horned lizard for protection as a threatened species. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Norton failed to consider "important factors" in deciding not to designate the lizard as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The court called the decision "arbitrary and capricious." The secretary has argued that adequate habitat exists on public land to ensure the lizard's viability. The lizard's natural habitat extends from southwestern ...