Free Republic

* It appears that the reports of the imminent demise of the Bush Administration are...you know.* The August recess, which begins later today, marks the effective end of the first Six Months of the Administration. The real six-month mark was July 20th, but most reporters chose to wait until they got a sense of what happened this week.* The President is doing so well this week: A good vote on his energy package, a good vote on his faith-based initiative, a good vote on his Patient's Bill of Rights compromise, the confirmation of his pick for FBI Director, and very ...

A small-town preacher was shocked to find he was unwelcome in his pulpit one Sunday morning. It seems his congregation was upset that he had been keeping company, in a most unholy way, with prostitutes.He pleaded for the flock to reconsider; he had been availing himself of the women's services only so as to be closer to the sinners when sharing the good news. The congregation had the good sense to ignore such lunacy.The House Republican leadership is on the verge of emulating the defrocked pastor.Once again GOP leaders are planning a tryst with the liberals while convincing rank-and-file activists ...

Legislators Refine Conservative Principles NEW YORK - If the United Nations in its impressive complex overlooking the East River epitomizes the trend toward an unaccountable global bureaucracy, on the other side of Manhattan Island this week an organization is meeting that is the very opposite of the U.N. It is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group of conservative-leaning state legislators devoted to the Jeffersonian concept of limited government and federalism. The difference of outlook between the delegates at the U.N. conference on small arms last month and the state legislators gathered at the Marriot Marquis hotel this ...

Have you ever wondered why Republicans don't put up much of a fight —for anything? Why do they let the Democrats run rampant and never appear to make any real progress in their battle for the small government they say they want and represent? The Democrats say and do anything, facing only blustery and hollow Republican protests while government grows larger and more intrusive every day. Why won't the GOP, as a unified party, really go on an all out attack against the many instances of immoral, criminal and deceitful behavior on the part of Democrats? Why doesn't the GOP ...

Ongoing discussions on the pros and cons of Nuclear Energy. Thread I

Black support for Bill Clinton was close to unconditional during his Presidency. Even as the country at large tired of his antics, cresting with impeachment, blacks stood by the President foursquare, or so the polls suggested. His post-White House presence in Harlem, this most famous of black communities, is a fitting coda. Anyway, that's the media's take since Mr. Clinton moved in this week. Forgive our skepticism, but the fact that Harlem was not Mr. Clinton's initial choice is hardly insignificant and even speaks generally to the Democrats' long association with the black community. Everyone knows that Mr. Clinton, ...

August 3, 2001 Alternative action Edward Blum      Civil rights groups from across the political spectrum are on tenterhooks awaiting the first big indication of how the Bush administration will address affirmative action during the next four years.      Relief is on the way however, because on Aug. 10, Attorney General John Ashcroft must file a key legal brief detailing the United States' position in a racial preference case headed back to the Supreme Court. If Mr. Ashcroft defends this bald-faced quota program – and the speculation is that he will – the same administration that Julian Bond of the NAACP pilloried ...

Parking areas ready for game, tax protest By WARREN DUZAK Staff Writer An anti-income tax picnic/rally at the Bicentennial Capitol Mall and a Tennessee Titans scrimmage at Adelphia Coliseum tomorrow are expected to stretch downtown's parking but not to the breaking point. City and state officials said yesterday they think there will be sufficient parking for both events. ''We are anticipating a pretty heavy volume of traffic, … but they should not have any problems with their parking,'' Bicentennial Mall Park Manager Thurman Mullins said. ''Basically, the parking will be unlimited.'' Mullins said the anti-tax group will be at the ...

Washington - Alarmed by the high percentage of immigrants killed on the job, especially in New York, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) yesterday called for a special congressional oversight hearing on the problem. Clinton's request for an agency review came during Senate confirmation proceedings for the nominee chosen to head the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Clinton, who frequently cited the Newsday series, "Death On The Job: Immigrants At Risk," asked presidential appointee John Henshaw what he intended to do about the lack of investigations by OSHA of immigrant occupational deaths reported by the newspaper last week. Clinton asked ...

(WASHINGTON, DC) Today, Congresswoman McKinney declared, "George W. Bush has shown his true colors. Now we know that they don't want to talk about slavery and reparations because they have already made up their minds. They just don't care about the issue." McKinney was reacting to an AP report that Ari Fleisher, spokesman for the President, stated that Bush opposes paying compensation to black Americans for slavery. "George W. Bush doesn't have room to dismiss black issues so cavalierly, McKinney stated. "After all, the world knows that he came to office as a result of a stolen election, a silent ...

EDITORIAL • August 3, 2001 Fanning the flames of failure      If there is one sure-fire way to ensure the absolute failure of a U.N. conference already prone to speechifying and single-issue posturing, it would be to couch the language of its draft agenda in such a way as to forcibly exclude the most powerful member states. As history poises to repeat itself, the fate of the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), to begin Aug. 31 in Durban, South Africa, will be, in large part, decided by conference planners and diplomats meeting this week in Geneva. Mary Robinson, U.N. high commissioner ...

Ban on U.S. rigs extended By Carter Dougherty THE WASHINGTON TIMES Mexican President Vicente Fox raised the stakes yesterday in a blossoming trade dispute with the United States over permission for Mexican trucks to operate on American highways. Noting that the North American Free Trade Agreement requires open borders, Mr. Fox said American trucks would remain barred from access to Mexican markets as long as Mexican truckers faced the same hurdle in the United States. "There won't be any U.S. trucks here until there is an agreement to let Mexican trucks travel there," he said. Mr. Fox made the comments ...

This list of rules will be handed to each person as they enter the state. 1. That slope-shouldered farm boy did more work before breakfast than you’ll do all week at the gym. He doesn’t need your respect, but he sure as heck deserves it. 2. It’s called a ‘gravel road,’ No matter how slow you drive, you’re going to get dust on your BMW. I have a four-wheel drive because I need it. Drive it or get it out of the way. 3. We all started hunting and fishing when we were nine years old. Yeah, we saw Bambi. ...

In the film "American Beauty," the character played by Kevin Spacey is fired from his job. He seeks revenge by threatening to reveal embarrassing facts about his boss, who gives him a large sum of money disguised as severance pay. The character goes on to have various adventures in an attempt to "find himself," including falling in lust with his daughter’s teen-age girlfriend. Unfortunate results ensue. A frequently heard topic of conversation is a narcissistic search for "who we are" and an effort to become "comfortable" with it. It is as if "who we are" is some hidden clue that ...

WASHINGTON For the past 30 years, the surest sign that education reform has been making a difference has been student achievement in mathematics. While scores in reading have barely budged - despite big changes in curriculum and heavy public investment - math gains have been strong and consistent across regions, racial and ethnic groups, and grade levels. That trend is continuing - with important exceptions - according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the nation's most respected and comprehensive test. Results of the NAEP 2000 Mathematics Assessment, released yesterday, show that 4th- and 8th-graders are ahead of where ...

Katie Couric just finished interviewing a Congressman from Connecticut, Jim Maloney. Maloney had apparently been helpful in arranging for the release from a Russian prison of a 24-yr. old American Fulbright scholar who had been convicted of drug charges and accused of spying. In introducing Maloney, Katie referred to him as "Democratic Congressman Jim Maloney", and throughout his appearance, the graphic on the screen below his image featured the "(D)".Contrast this with the treatment accorded Gary Condit, who was rarely if ever identified as a Democrat, more commonly referred to by Katie and her cohorts as "the conservative Congressman".

et's end the two-term limit on Presidents, and let's do it quickly. With Bill Clinton outpolling President Bush, why should the American people be denied their choice of chief executive? Why should a 22nd Amendment passed by Republicans to get even with Franklin Roosevelt stop 21st century Americans from having the President we want? Just look at the media jamboree attending Clinton's return to the spotlight. All he did was open an office in Harlem, and it was like Napoleon just back from Elba, kissing the flag of France. It's called democracy. People like leaders who are (a) full of ...

Good Morning!! Free the Senate! No Senate, no justice, no peace. The Tampa City Council has voted to keep the face-scanning cameras in the downtown area. A fire in the Pentagon yesterday forced thousands from their offices. And, he's back. Algore will be sponsoring a Nashville training session for demonflops who will be dispersed to New York, New Jersey, and Virginia (oh? - bring it on!) for the November elections. It wasn't clear, however, whether the training would include bribing vagrants with cigarrettes, abetting illegal aliens in the process of voting, larcenous activities associated with ballot counting, or other similar ...

I HAVE been for some days at the shore, in the company of many of my fellow middle-aged Americans who are wearing not a lot of clothes, and I have a report. My fellow middle-aged Americans, we are some kind of fat. I don't mean we are getting a bit thick around the middle, or that we are pleasantly plump, or that we are zaftig, or Rubenesque (we are Reuben-esque), or settling into our bodies. I mean we are fat, fat, fat. It's true: As a people, we have never been this fat. Probably, no people has ever been this ...