Free Republic

t is not unusual for Washington's elite to jockey for the best seats in the house at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Butin an unusually bitter cultural contretemps, Clinton loyalists and the Bush White House are fighting over who should occupy seats on the center's socially and politically influential board of trustees. A seat on the board of the Kennedy Center is one of the most prized plums a president can bestow, and former President Bill Clinton selected five lucky men for the honor as he was preparing to leave the White House. They expected ...

<p>And now to Congressman Gary Condit's political future. The speculation about whether he'll run for reelection reached a fever pitch today. So much so that his office felt the need to issue a statement. Our congressional correspondent, Kate Snow, has the latest on that -- Kate.</p>

Enjoy the little things , for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. "Tithe if you love Jesus !Anyone can honk. You can give without loving but you cannot love wiyhout giving. Beat the Christmas rush ,come to church this Sunday ! Come early for a good back seat . Life has many choices-Eternity has two .What's yours ? Worry is interest paid on trouble before it is due . A man's character is like a fence .It cannot be strenghtened by whitewash. A clear conscience makes a soft pillow. The wages of ...

<p>Rep. Gary Condit will not run for an eighth term in office, a source close to the embattled California congressman told Fox News on Friday.</p> <p>Condit is planning to announce his decision in the next few weeks, the source said. He intends to remain in office until January 2003, the end of his seventh term.</p>

<p>Washington, Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Democrats who control the Senate Armed Services Committee moved to prevent President George W. Bush from withdrawing unilaterally from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty.</p> <p>In a 13-12 party-line vote, the committee passed a defense spending bill for next year that cuts funding for missile defense and includes language giving Congress the right to approve ad hoc the cost of any test activity that would violate the terms of the treaty, irrespective of whether the U.S. is still party to it.</p>

<p>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: After spending some three months under the withering glare of the media spotlight, there are reports that the lawmaker from California may retreat to the private sector.</p> <p>CNN's Bob Franken is following the story and joins us with a closer look now.</p>

<p>KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to talk about Gary Condit now: Is he going to call it a career? Well, a published report out this morning says the California congressman is telling colleagues he is leaning toward retirement.</p> <p>CNN has been reporting similar information, and our Bob Franken is with me now with more details -- hi, Bob.</p>

Some time ago, a newspaper began a report on a terrible accident near Los Angeles with the headline "Ten People, Baby Die When Van Hits Truck." When I questioned him, an editor saw no reason to reword this as "Eleven People Including Baby Die" or "Ten Adults and Baby Die." To him a 1-year-old was not a "person." Indeed, the subject seemed to interest him less than if I had complained about the use of a comma instead of a semicolon. When asked at precisely what age a child becomes a "person," he was unable to reply. Nor did he ...

Illinois administrators who hire teachers should be able to see how many times applicants flunked their competence exams and how they scored, politicians said Thursday in response to a Chicago Sun-Times investigation of teacher test records. The Sun-Times found that one of every 10 Chicago teachers employed full time last year and tested since 1988 had flunked at least one teacher test of Basic Skills. The exam is so easy, experts say, an eighth- or ninth-grader should be able to pass it on the first try. It's being replaced with a tougher one Sept. 15. In addition, statewide, 414 teachers ...

ANN ARBOR, MI—Individual freedom is ebbing in the U.S. due to steady government encroachment, Ann Arbor resident and camera-store employee Adam Britt told guests at a party Tuesday. "Our way of thinking has shifted so that the individual, not corrupt private and public institutions, shoulders the blame for society's ills," Britt told fellow partygoer Jim Kass while helping himself to raw vegetables and dip. "The accused drug dealer is incarcerated without adequate due process under a mandatory-sentencing law, yet the corporate polluters get off scot-free." Britt added that, ironically, much of this encroachment is the result of government deregulation throughout ...

<p>KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A published report out this morning says California Congressman Gary Condit is telling colleagues he's leaning toward retirement.</p> <p>Our Bob Franken has been reporting that Condit's friends believe he'll leave office. Bob joins us now from Washington with the details -- good morning, Bob.</p>

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 7 — Though colleagues of Rep. Gary Condit tell ABCNEWS the embattled congressman is leaning towards retiring from Congress at the end of his term, his office says a decision has not yet been made. "Media reports today stating that Congressman Condit has reached a decision regarding his 2002 campaign are inaccurate," a Condit staffer said, reading a prepared statement from the congressman's press office over the phone. "No such decision has been made." In previous reports, Condit's aides said he would run for another term. However, Condit ...

<p>BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Gary Condit's office tells CNN there has been no decision made on his future plans. This counters some reports today that Condit will step down at the end of his current term.</p> <p>CNN's Bob Franken back in Washington, but still on the Condit beat for us.</p>

MODESTO, Calif., Sept. 7, 2001 CBS Rep. Gary Condit (CBS) Rep. Gary Condit, under fire for his conduct after the disappearance of former federal intern Chandra Levy, has not made a decision about his political future, a spokeswoman for the congressman said. "Reports that Congressman Condit has reached a decision on running for re-election are inaccurate," spokeswoman Marina Ein said Friday afternoon. She said he'll "make a final decision" on his "own timetable." The remarks come after several media outlets reported that Condit would not seek another term when his current one expires. The Washington Post reported in Friday's ...

<p>MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has denied a request from an atheists group to put a statue of the organization's symbol in the lobby of the state judicial building.</p> <p>American Atheists Inc. is the latest group to try to place a statue in the building since Moore had a monument to the Ten Commandments quietly moved into the building in August.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of the biggest states party to the government's antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. warned on Friday they might pursue their own sanctions against the software giant if they conclude the U.S. Justice Department is going too easy on the company. A day after government attorneys said they had dropped the idea of pushing to break up Microsoft, New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer insisted that the government take a close look at Microsoft's new Windows XP operating system before proposing a new remedy torein in the company. Spitzer and ...

<p>LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: We're continuing to follow developments in the Gary Condit story.</p> <p>CNN's Bob Franken now from Washington with the latest on that -- Bob.</p> <p>BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, CNN has learned that Congressman Gary Condit's office is about to put out a statement regarding reports that he has decided that he is going to not seek reelection. This is a draft copy of the statement that's going to be released soon, according to two sources -- two top sources, well-informed sources connected to Congressman Gary Condit.</p>

Sept. 7, 2001, 7:12AM Delay in Southeast Texas deregulation urged Associated Press BEAUMONT -- A lack of competition among electricity providers in Southeast and East Texas has prompted Acting Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff to urge state utility regulators to delay electric deregulation in those areas. In a letter to Public Utility Commission Chairman Max Yzaguirre this week, Ratliff said customers could pay more if no other electric providers step in. The regions are currently served by Entergy Corp. Statewide deregulation is scheduled to begin Jan. 1 following a limited pilot program. However, so far, no competing retail providers have signed ...

Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill into law Thursday allowing future criminal prosecution of a caretaker of a vicious dog, not just the owner, if the animal kills or gravely injures someone. The legislation was introduced by Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, after 33-year-old Diane Whipple was mauled to death by a Presa Canario-mastiff dog in a hallway of her San Francisco apartment building in January. The muscular dog, named Bane, and a second Presa Canario, Hera, were owned by prison inmate Paul ``Cornfed'' Schneider. But at the time, the animals were in the care of Whipple's neighbors, San Francisco ...

<p>MODESTO, Calif. (AP) — A county official said Friday that a grand jury has reached a decision on whether it will investigate claims that Rep. Gary Condit obstructed justice by asking a flight attendant to deny they had an affair.</p>