Free Republic

New and improved Immigrants to America may strengthen their new country's ideal By Gene Edward Veith Notice the maids cleaning the rooms in the hotel. The busboys in the restaurant. The construction workers on the building site. The road crew repairing the highway. The farm workers. Notice how many of them are immigrants. They are also in jobs that escape the notice of most middle-class Americans—the slaughter houses, the poultry farms, those factories where the work is hot and dangerous. Increasingly, jobs that demand old-fashioned, sweaty, back-breaking labor are filled by folks coming into the United States from another country. ...

House OKs Bush-backed patients' rights billWASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House of Representatives narrowly approved a patients' bill of rights Thursday night after endorsing a compromise backed by the White House over lawsuits.The House dumped key language from a Democratic-backed managed care overhaul bill for a deal hammered out Wednesday between President Bush and Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Georgia. That cleared the way for the final 226-203 vote."The president has committed to sign our bill with this amendment," Norwood said. "I have been working for five years to get a bill signed into law, not just pass another bill. Like it ...

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- President Vicente Fox said Thursday he would bar American trucks until Mexican truckers are allowed on U.S. highways, following a U.S. Senate vote to impose tough restrictions on the entry of big rigs from Mexico. At a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Fox spoke more forcefully on the subject than he has before. ''If no agreement is reached, there won't be any Mexican trucks up there, because they don't want them, but there won't be any American trucks down here, either,'' Fox said. ''There currently aren't any American trucks in Mexico, and ...

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - "That's My Bush!" is officially a lame duck on Comedy Central. Despite rave reviews and strong ratings, the live-action sitcom spoof from "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone won't be back for a second season. Comedy Central has renewed Martin Short's "Primetime Glick," which averages lower ratings than "Bush!" but also costs less to produce. "That's My Bush!" costs $700,000 per episode, according to Broadcasting and Cable. "It's a matter of economics and financials," confirms Comedy Central rep Lisa Chader. "The show was a critical and creative success." It nevertheless managed to garner ...

The Privilege of Congressional Service Congressman Asa Hutchinson, 3rd Congressional District August 2, 2001 To the People of the Third Congressional District of Arkansas: Now that the United States Senate has confirmed my appointment to head the Drug Enforcement Administration, I will be leaving my congressional seat to take on that new responsibility. Despite the excitement of the new challenge, this transition is very difficult for my wife Susan and me, because we understand the high honor and privilege it is to represent the Third Congressional District of Arkansas. Our hearts and our home are in Arkansas, and were it ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a victory for President Bush, the Republican-controlled House passed patients' rights legislation Thursday night that gives millions of Americans sweeping new health care protections but a limited right to sue their HMOs. The 226-203 vote cleared the way for a compromise talks this fall with the Senate on a politically popular bill that has fallen victim to gridlock for five years. Final passage was a mere formality after a tense, party-line roll call on which the House rewrote the bill's legal liability provisions to ratify a compromise that Bush and a pivotal Republican lawmaker sealed ...

WASHINGTON — The administration says President Bush is nominating federal judges at a faster rate than his three most recent predecessors, but the Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee is dragging its feet on holding confirmation hearings for the nominees. As President Bush nominated 18 additional federal judges on Thursday, administration officials said the Judiciary Committee has held hearings on only four nominees — including just one for the first batch of 11 judges first nominated on May 9. To date, the White House has nominated 44 judges — 22 for circuit court of appeals spots, and 22 for district court judgeships. The officials ...

Friday, August 3 9:53 AM SGT Gays take over German TV advertising BERLIN, Aug 3 (AFP) - Homosexuals have become the stars of advertising campaigns in Germany, promoting anything from frozen foods to automobiles.The change preceded the legalisation of "homo" marriage and the first same-sex weddings in the country on Wednesday and the recent "coming-out" of the capital's new mayor, Social Democrat Klaus Wowereit, and heralded a social change.It featured advertising campaigns for frozen foods, Seat cars and Jacobs coffee. The former, for Langnese-Iglo, shows Holger warming up a "four-star" frozen meal with Max looking on, strumming a guitar."We ...

UFOs: TIME FOR FULL DISCLOSURE Put away all those psychopharmaceuticals, Jimmy. Turns out you ain’t crazy after all. As many of us thought, they were just trying to make you shut up. Jimmy was, of course, a career government worker of the scientific class. He had all sorts of high- level clearances and had a working knowledge of a number of Uncle Sam’s “black” projects. Jimmy is also the type of person whose word is as good as gold. He is both very religious and completely honorable. Jimmy is smart, easy to work with and was always seen as ...

Writing fiction-the weird practice of telling artful lies-can be quite bizarre when it affects the economic life of almost 4 million U.S. citizens residing in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.As Homer warned us centuries ago, "Beware of '956 companies' bearing gifts." The daily local press is replete with news covering the strong lobbying efforts being undertaken by the Governor of Puerto Rico, Hon. Sila Calderon, together with her colleagues, Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila and Secretary of Industrial and Commercial Development Ramon Cantero Frau, and, more recently, local legislators, before the U.S. Congress to allow a Puerto Rico-based controlled foreign ...

Friday, August 3 9:56 AM SGT UN's Annan urges reinforcement of fight against traffic in small arms UNITED NATIONS, Aug 2 (AFP) - Governments should establish legally binding rules against the illegal trade in small arms to build on agreements made at a UN conference last month on the subject, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Thursday.Of the more than 1,000 people killed daily by small arms, so-named because they are weapons that can be operated by a single person, 90 percent are civilians."These are significant first steps in alleviating a grave threat to international peace and security," Annan ...

Victim of shooting loses temporary custody of kids By DAVE SERENO Repository staff writer CANTON — John Markland’s fight for his life has turned into a battle for his children. Stark County social workers assumed temporary custody of Markland’s two daughters Wednesday, four days after a remarkable recovery from a near-fatal shooting allowed him to leave the hospital. The children, ages 4 and 6, told investigators their parents have a violent past that includes an incident where Markland chased their mother with a sword and tried to put it into her belly. They also said they saw their father shake ...

`To Kill a Mockingbird' pulled from high school reading list because of racially charged languageMUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) "To Kill a Mockingbird," the classic Harper Lee novel that explores racial tensions in a small southern town, has been pulled from the required reading list for freshmen at Muskogee High School. "It's a great book. It teaches life lessons," said Principal Terry Saul. But the book contains racially charged language and innuendoes and "we didn't want to put any kids in an uncomfortable situation." Any student who wants to read the book, which describes a lawyer's battle to defend a black man, ...

Sen. Graham oversees world of intrigue In his role heading up the Senate committee that monitors all the U.S. spy agencies, the Florida Democrat has had to learn how to keep secrets. By PAUL DE LA GARZA © St. Petersburg Times, published July 22, 2001 Graham WASHINGTON -- The scene was nothing like the sexy banter between 007 and Miss Moneypenny outside M's office. In this spy story, a small group spoke in hushed tones outside the supersecret hearing room of the U.S. Senate. The group, mostly men in dark suits and the occasional military uniform, was about to enter ...

BOSTON (AP) -- Ships using East Coast ports need to slow down to protect the endangered right whale, according to a federal report released Thursday. The 23-page draft report recommends ships cut their speed to 10 knots near whale habitats. It also proposes buffer zones of up to 15 miles around areas where right whales are spotted and mandatory shipping lanes in specified areas off Cape Cod, Florida and Georgia. The report, by the Ship Strike Committee of the National Marine Fisheries Service, will be reviewed by The National Marine Fisheries Service when it is submitted in September. About ...

COURT OUTLAWS POT -- FOR NOW Talking about wanting to really blow a gasket, I read the media account of the (United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, 00-151) U. S. Supreme Court decision on medical marijuana. We still believe the Supreme Court erred (8-0) in this case. But, the proof is in the pudding and in actually reading the opinion we see that, as usual, things are not exactly what the media represented them to be. It certainly got my blood pressure soaring, though! Because, for the Court to rule that a sovereign State may not legalize the ...

While out with a group of friends at church tonight, we were discussing liberal professors in college. When we were discussing the professor's opinions on various political systems, I brought up that they often say "Socialism/Communism should have worked, they just haven't been put into action by the right people" a point that was endorsed by a fellow church-going youth. How do you respond to something like this?

I think we need to start a grass roots movement to regain control of our Govt. Everyone sees the benefit of reduced spending and term limits would eliminate the need for our congresscritters to sell ther vote to special interests, and perhaps do what is right for the country. Input please

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House ethics committee has voted to dismiss a complaint filed last month against Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Indiana, in connection with 2000 presidential ballot recount in Florida. Rep. Peter Deutsch, D-Florida, had asked the House panel to investigate reports that Buyer sought contact information from the Pentagon for military voters during last fall's assessment of contested ballots in the Sunshine State. In a letter to Buyer, the chairman and the ranking Democrat on the House ethics committee said they had "gathered additional information concerning the alleged conduct" and had concluded that Buyer "did not forward or otherwise ...

Below is the URL for the Texas Registered Sex Offenders web site: http://records.txdps.state.tx.us/soSearch/soSearch.cfm You only need to enter the zip code to search any area in Texas ( Other states have them too). NO OTHER FIELDS NEED BE FILLED IN. This is the Texas Department of Safety Registered Sex Offenders web sight. You will not believe what you find. Be prepared for a shock when you find out they are on your block and just around the corner. Most of them are pedophiles.