Free Republic

Calif Pwr Mgr Held Stk In Co State Signed $4B Deal With Updated: Wednesday, August 1, 2001 07:27 PM ET, y Jason Leopold OF DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LOS ANGELES (Dow Jones)--The executive manager of the California Department of Water Resources, who had direct oversight in the state's long-term power supply contract negotiations, held shares up until last week in a major energy company the state signed a $4 billion deal with, according to documents obtained by Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday. Viju Patel, the DWR's long-term contract manager, held between $2,000 and $10,000 of stock in Pennsylvania-based Allegheny Energy Supply (AYE, ...

Contrary to the love story in the summer box office disappointment "Pearl Harbor," Tom Brokaw's description of the love exhibited by "The Greatest Generation," is very different: "Faith in God was … part of the lives of the WW II generation," Brokaw explains. "A sense of personal responsibility and a commitment to honesty is a characteristic of this generation. … It's how they were raised." "Disciplined by their military training and sacrifices. They married in record numbers. ... They stayed true to their values of personal responsibility, duty, honor, and faith. … [Those] outside their families reminded them of ...

WASHINGTON – Conventional wisdom has the media running circles around the capital police in investigating the Condit-Levy case. Only, the conventional wisdom hasn't looked at all the facts. Yes, overly deferential Washington Police Department detectives didn't pin the married congressman down, forcing him to admit his affair with the star-crossed intern, until the media embarrassed them into it, as I pointed out in an earlier column. But the media haven't been ahead of the cops in this case, nor have they been doing their jobs for them. I've learned from my reporting and others' that the Washington police knew ...

Code inspectors and police in Palisades Park rousted more than a dozen people Tuesday in their first move against a home occupied by non-Asians since launching a crackdown on illegal boardinghouses last month. Officials said the conditions at 35 E. Ruby Ave. were the worst they have encountered among the nine houses raided so far. Police said 15 South Americans lived packed in a small brick single-family dwelling. "The basement is a deathtrap," said Construction Official Anthony Pollotta. "I've got combustibles piled up against the furnace and the hot-water heater." He said a narrow, wobbly staircase led to three ...

President Bush celebrated the 11-year-old Americans With Disabilities Act by calling for the regulatory screws to be tightened against American business. In his recent radio address, he touted something called the New Freedom Initiative, which will spend more money to increase enforcement of public accommodations and anti-discrimination regulations related to disability. He further promised continuing government efforts so long as "some barriers remain" for disabled people. That will be until the end of time. There is nothing that government can do to tear down all barriers for everyone regardless of physical or mental ability. Can you imagine that Bush ...

The secret to achieving power in today's America is not being the best, the brightest, or the most ruthless. The secret is coalition building; convincing specific blocs of people that you have their interests in mind, that you will favor them. Hillary Clinton did this masterfully in her victorious campaign for the Senate. She put together a New York coalition of minorities, union workers, liberal suburban moms, and one-issue fanatics to clean Rick Lazio's clock. While Mr. Lazio was trying to win wide support for his "honest, clean-cut" approach to politics, Mrs. Clinton was clean-cutting his throat by deal ...

Is there some group of people whose liquidation you'd tolerate? Perhaps some race, religion or creed that deserves punishment, even extermination? What if I told you that such a group exists and you have been taught to silently condone their destruction? Well, there is a group whose persecution you are indoctrinated to tolerate. Atrocities against this group are not to be mentioned in polite company. Murders and rapes against this group are not worthy of detailed TV news reports. I am talking about persecution against African whites. Yes, they are Africans – born and bred in Africa. Yes, they ...

Governor in hot seat over news of stocks, POWER CRISIS Common Cause has urged fines because of Davis' staff's holdings By Andrew LaMar, Published Wednesday, August 1, 2001, CONTRA COSTA TIMES SACRAMENTO -- Following revelations that Gov. Gray Davis' press secretary owns stock in a major energy company, the head of a nonpartisan public interest group has called for deeper investigation of conflict-of-interest charges leveled at the administration. Both the governor's office and the Department of Water Resources should be fined by regulators for violating the state's Political Reform Act, said Jim Knox, the executive director of California Common Cause. ...

"A horrible and shocking thing has happened in this land – the prophets give false prophecies, and the priests rule with an iron hand. And worse yet, my people like it that way! But what will you do when the end comes?" – Jeremiah 5:30-31 It is doubtful that Jim Jones' followers knew when they signed up for duty that mass suicide was part of the package. Ditto for David Koresh and his followers at Waco – even though they had some help. But what about us? The scent of death is beginning to waft around the Republican Party. ...

As expected, Senate Democrats are continuing their scorched-earth campaign to block President Bush's judicial nominees. With judicial vacancies at 107 and rising, the real question is who will provide the leadership necessary to get the Bush nominees confirmed. It won't be Sen. Trent Lott, the nominal Republican leader. He's already shown he is either incapable or just not interested. When the Senate confirmed Roger Gregory to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on July 20, Lott was the lone negative vote. He said he was voicing his opposition to the recess appointment President Clinton used last ...

As Congress debates "fixing" the Ponzi scheme we call Social Security, consider a few things: Congress established Social Security with a little-known loophole, allowing states and municipalities to exempt their public employees from Social Security. In 1981, two years before Congress closed the loophole, three counties in Texas opted out and set up their own privatized retirement system. The result? Since 1981, the counties' 5,000 public employees, while taxed at the same rate as Social Security, enjoyed an average return on an investment of 6.5 percent, compared to Social Security's 2.2 percent. England and Chile also set up privatization ...

Despite 225 years of witnessing the horror of wars fought by male American soldiers, there are still a number of idiots – mostly feminists who themselves will never have to face an armed enemy soldier – pushing lawmakers to drop a ban against allowing women in combat. Israel – a nation of about 6.2 million people constantly at war with its neighbors – allowed women in combat, the idiots shriek. Why, then, must the American military, as regards ground combat roles, remain so androcentric, so "male-centered"? It's time to debunk the myth, once and for all, that Israel's experience ...

Park Service Report Calls for Environmental Protection By Cat Lazaroff WASHINGTON, DC, August 1, 2001 (ENS) - A National Park Service advisory board is urging the agency to change its managerial emphasis, from promoting tourism to protecting the park system's natural resources. The report cites challenges facing the National Park Service, and takes a new look at the agency, and the social, cultural and political environment within which it operates. Yellowstone National Park, named as one of the most endangered parks in the nation due to heavy visitor traffic (Photo courtesy NPCA) The report, "Rethinking the National Parks for ...

Democrats axing Bush nomination The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Democrats axing Bush nomination Dave Boyer and Stephen Dinan THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      Democrats are expected to hand President Bush his first defeat on a nomination today when a Senate panel votes on Mary Sheila Gall to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission.      "We don't have a requirement to confirm anybody the president sends up, especially on an issue as important as this is to children," said Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.      Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, is leading the opposition to Miss Gall. Congressional sources say Mrs. Clinton has decided ...

This must mean it's really 69! Here's the link to the story...

WASHINGTON – While three successive Israeli governments have failed to stop the wholesale destruction of Jerusalem Temple antiquities by the Islamic Religious Trust, or Waqf, a Christian Republican U.S. congressman from Virginia is making a bid to do so. Rep. Eric Cantor is sponsoring a measure designed to halt all U.S. financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority until excavation beneath the Temple Mount is stopped. Supporters of the bill say it will send a message to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat that "desecration" of the Temple Mount will no longer be tolerated. The Temple Mount came under Israeli control in ...

As the House prepares to vote on a version of a so-called "patient's bill of rights" – including, quite possibly, a version not supported by President Bush – some experts, policy analysts and lawmakers say they don't expect much improvement overall because the main culprit, Health Maintenance Organizations, or HMOs, will survive any reform efforts. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, in an interview last weekend on "Fox News Sunday," said the president "wants to sign a good bill." But increasingly, there is a consensus that any "good bill" would severely reduce or eliminate the federal government's ...

Faith-based role is seen for gay churches The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Faith-based role is seen for gay churches Larry Witham THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      The leader of the nation's association of homosexual churches yesterday said the Bush administration's faith-based initiative was so likely to pass that its congregations should prepare to request funds for work in AIDS ministries.      The Rev. Troy Perry, moderator of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), said in a letter to his churches that the headquarters will "prepare resources" so congregations can "seek funding for many community-based services."      The announcement, which said ...

The socialist's dream of constant observation as a means of people control is arriving, albeit 17 years behind Orwellian schedule. Like Will Smith, in " Enemy of the State," the g-men know where we are, and what we are doing at all times. Well, not at all times, just when we're in "public". So far Tampa and Virginia Beach are the only two cities stupid enough to announce what they're actually doing. No doubt some cities with "traffic cameras" propped up all over the place have designs or have already linked similar software to track specific vehicle or personal ...

Warner aide reprimanded The Washington Times www.washtimes.com Warner aide reprimanded Ellen Sorokin THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published 8/2/01      A top campaign official for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark R. Warner was reprimanded yesterday for posing as a constituent caller and making confrontational remarks about Mr. Warner's Republican opponent during a radio call-in show.      Communications Director Amanda Crumley will keep her job but has written a letter of apology to Gov. James S. Gilmore III and WTOP radio for a prank call she made Tuesday to the monthly "Ask the Governor" show, in which she criticized Mark L. Earley's campaign.      Miss ...