Free Republic

When J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) suddenly replaced Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) as Speaker of the House in 1999, Republicans nationwide voiced pessimism about their prospects of retaining the House in 2000. While GOP fundraisers hoped Hastert's low-key manner would heal the wounds caused by Gingrich's inflammatory style and the derailment of his designated successor by personal scandal, they also feared that Hastert wouldn't be able to match his predecessor's ability to fill the party's campaign coffers. Their fears, however, have proved groundless. In fact, Rep. Tom Davis (Va.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), says Hastert's rumpled affability ...

Former Republican Rep. Jim Talent plans to challenge Democrat Sen. Jean Carnahan next year for the seat she was appointed to after her husband was killed in a plane crash. Talent was to issue a statement Thursday from his St. Louis office announcing his plans to run, a Missouri Republican familiar with his decision said Wednesday. Talent is forming an exploratory fund-raising committee in preparation for declaring himself a candidate, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Talent, 44, narrowly lost last year's race for Missouri governor. Rich Chrismer, a spokesman for Talent, would not comment, saying ...

The passion for dealing with social questions is one of the marks of our time. Every man gets some experience of, and makes some observations on social affairs. Except matter of health, probably none have such general interest as matters of society. Except matters of health, none are so much afflicted by dogmatism and crude speculation as those which appertain to society. The amateurs in social science always ask: What shall we do? What shall we do with neighbor A? What shall we do for neighbor B? What shall we make neighbor A do for neighbor B? It is a ...

The vote provides an extra $250,000 to cover more than 900 overtime shifts and pay for the 70-member Violent Crimes Task Force created last week. The task force has so far made nearly 140 arrests. "We have a real crisis in the city," said Councilman Pat DeWine. Since the April shooting and the riots that followed, 89 people have been shot. The police force is under federal investigation and facing a lawsuit accusing the department of harassing blacks. The officer who shot 19-year-old Timothy Thomas in April is awaiting trial on charges of negligent homicide and obstructing official business. Police ...

Whitman, Jeffords Clash Over Global Warming WASHINGTON, DC, July 30, 2001 (ENS) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman says the Bush administration will address the problem of global climate change and greenhouse gas emissions by pursuing an approach that stresses research. Market based solutions, technology transfers to developing countries, and increasing cooperative research efforts with allies are also part of the plan. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman (Photo courtesy EPA) "These efforts have recently borne fruit, particularly recent agreements with Japan and Italy to collaborate on climate modeling efforts and with El Salvador ...

CNN LARRY KING LIVE Will Chandra Levy Ever Be Found? Aired July 30, 2001 - 21:00   ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, will Chandra Levy ever be found? D.C. police now say chances are just 50/50. Her family ignores the odds and vows to keep on hoping. Day 91 of this headline-grabbing mystery. And with us is former prosecutor and best-selling author Barbara ...

For a man who seemingly spends so little time with his pants on, Congressman Gary Condit has a remarkably well-developed instinct for covering his ass. But Condit hasn't acted alone. No, he's had a great deal of help in this enterprise from the see-no-evil wing of the Democratic party. It has been said, "to sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards out of men." One must assume, in these days of gender equity, that silent women are just as cowardly. On October 8, 1991, then-Rep. Barbara Boxer, of Condit's own home state of California, and six other ...

Chief Justice Roy Moore presented the monument, which is four feet tall and holds two tablets with the Ten Commandments displayed on them. It weighs 5,280 pounds and is displayed in the Supreme Court rotunda. Engraved on the granite are quotes from America's forefathers supporting the Commandments' basis as the foundation for law. "To restore morality we must first recognize the source from which all morality springs," Moore said in a speech after the statue was unveiled. "From our earliest history in 1776 when we were declared to be the United States of America, our forefathers recognized the sovereignty of ...

"The whites must pay." No this isn't the latest rap song burning up the charts (but we all know it could be). Rather it's what Muammar Gaddafi proposed as the solution to the thorny question of who precisely should pay reparations for slavery. Funnily enough, he offered this Solomonic tidbit while on a trip earlier this month to visit his friend Robert Mugabe, the president-for-eternity of Zimbabwe. It's funny because Mr. Mugabe is actually a policy trailblazer on making whites pay. He's declared war against white farmers in his own country as a way to distract the populace from ...

In case you're wondering what Al Gore is doing nowadays, he is writing movie reviews. You can see the reviews at AL GORE AT THE MOVIES which have been cataloged by RJayne. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the movie review index.

HotlineScoop.com | Wednesday, August 1, 2001 Oh, Waiter! One Order Of Olbermann! By Howard Mortman h, sweet déjà vu. A Democratic male politician admits to fooling around with a starry-eyed female intern. There's a media frenzy. There's big ratings. And there's Keith Olbermann, hosting a cable show -- and he's calm. He's not in the eye of the hurricane -- he is the eye of the hurricane. Olbermann appeals to people who lower the shades to their doublewide trailers before turning on Cavett. Did someone press the rewind button? You'd be excused for asking the question. But this time, ...

Philadelphia-Area Hospital Admits Responsibility In Patient Deaths Deaths From Miscalculation In Routine Lab Test For Coumadin Levels Drug Used To Prevent Heart Attack, Stroke In Elderly Patients NEW YORK, August 1, 2001 CBS (CBS) For the second time this week, a hospital is announcing what no hospital wants to admit: it is responsible for patient deaths. The patients, in their 80s and 90s, had been taking the blood thinning drug Coumadin, reports CBS Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin. They died as a result of miscalculations in a lab test routinely given to monitor Coumadin's effect on the blood. The results ...

Jul 30, 2001 The Polish foreign ministry asked Britain on Monday to extradite a Stalinist-era prosecutor living in Britain, the Polish news agency PAP reported. Acting at the request of the National Remembrance Institute, the ministry passed on an arrest warrant for Helena Wolinska. "The warrant was prepared by the Warsaw branch of the Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation," Barbara Makosa-Stepkowska, the director of the justice ministry information office, told PAP on Monday. Wolinska ordered the arrest of non-communist wartime resistance hero Gen August Fieldorf in 1950 on trumped-up charges. He was executed in 1953, ...

Speaking of Abbe Lowell . . . Journalist David Simon, writing in the Baltimore Sun, tells the story of an encounter he had with Lowell back in 1986. Simon had been investigating a Maryland state senator, Clarence Mitchell, whom Lowell represented and who had allegedly taken a $50,000 payoff from drug trafficker Melvin "Little Melvin" Williams. After Simon published an article detailing prosecutors' case against Mitchell, to which Williams's father-in-law had testified, Lowell summoned Simon to his office. Lowell asked: "What if I could get Melvin Williams to call you at The Sun and assure you, on the record, that he only ...

Chandra's Phone Calls Joshua Micah Marshall tries to unravel recent reports about Chandra Levy's phone calls in the days before she disappeared. Earlier this week Newsweek reported that "a flurry of last-minute calls has been widely reported--but it didn't happen." Chandra's cell-phone records showed no calls to Rep. Gary Condit's "foo-foo line," his secret pager number, during the last week in April. But Marshall says it's not clear this means Chandra wasn't in touch with Condit: Rita Cosby of Fox News has reviewed copies of Levy's cellphone records that she has in her possession. . . . When Levy contacted Condit, ...

One U.S. Navy Cult Secret of W.W.II - It's Not Always in the Ship's Log: Submitted by James C. Phillips The Ill-fated USS William D. Porter From November 1943 until her bizarre loss in June 1945, the American Destroyer William D. Porter was often met with the clever greeting, "Don't shoot, we're Republicans!" when she entered port or joined other naval ships. The significance of this expression was almost a cult secret of the United States Navy until the story resurfaced and received wide publicity after a ship's reunion in 1958. More than half a century ago, the "Willie ...

Aug. 1 — Rep. Gary Condit will extend the public silence he has maintained since he was romantically linked to missing intern Chandra Levy for at least several weeks, a source close to the congressman told NBC News on Wednesday. Instead of addressing constituents during the congressional recess that begins Friday, Condit will attend a family retreat with his two adult children to “benefit from the healing that family togetherness brings,” the source said. “THE CONDITS HAVE not been together since May 1 (the day police believe Levy disappeared),” said the source, who spoke to NBC News’ Norah O’Donnell ...

At least one enterprising author has figured out how to cash in on the troubles of Rep. Gary Condit (D-Calif.). “It may be premature, but I’ve sent a copy of our Divorce Common Sense Handbook: 180+ Things Not To Do Before Your Divorce to Congressman Condit,’” writes Judy Colbert of Crofton, Md., in promoting her 1999 book. Among the things she advises Condit to do, should his marriage be legally dissolved: • Find a good family practice attorney — you can’t use anyone involved in the Chandra Levy investigation; • If you should find a box of cash stashed ...

China is constructing one of the most ambitious railway projects ever undertaken, crossing some of the highest mountain passes in the world. The new line will run more than 1,000km (625 miles) from the city of Golmud, in China's Qinghai province, to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and cost at least $3bn to build. The new line will open up travel to Tibet.On the high, arid Qinghai plateau gangs of labourers are manhandling heavy iron rails into place. At 3,000m above sea level, the air is thin and the work is backbreaking. These workers have left behind homes and families ...

Environmental extremists are often silly and ridiculous and wacko, but this time, they've taken their worship of lower forms of life over humans too far. Four firefighters have died because water could not be accessed to put out a fire. Why? Because the helicopter "might have" scooped up some endangered fish when it took up the water. Reports Fox News: "Firefighters Tom L. Craven, 30, Karen L. Fitzpatrick, 18, Devin A. Weaver, 21, and Jessica L. Johnson, 19, burned to death while cowering under protective tents near the Chewuch River, home to protected species salmon and trout." Folks, salmon ...