Free Republic

<p>Thirty-five states and the District increased their adoptions of children in foster care last year and will receive around $11 million in bonuses, the federal government said yesterday.</p> <p>Nearly 50,000 foster children were adopted in fiscal 2000, up from 46,000 in 1999, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson told some 200 adoptive families, children and advocates at a Capitol Hill rally yesterday.</p>

<p>Imagine that you inherit a sizable chunk of money and, following your broker's advice, invest it in a particular stock, which promptly tanks. Undeterred, your broker recommends digging into your savings and plunging more into the same stock. You lose that, too.</p>

<p>Imagine that you inherit a sizable chunk of money and, following your broker's advice, invest it in a particular stock, which promptly tanks. Undeterred, your broker recommends digging into your savings and plunging more into the same stock. You lose that, too.</p>

<p>A civil war has raged in Sudan since a 1989 military coup overthrew the democratically elected government. An estimated 2 million people have died in a conflict that has pitted the militant Islamic regime against Christians and other non-Muslims living in the southern parts of the country.</p>

Article traces the rise and fall ... and fall ... and fall of Herman Badillo, the trailblazing Puerto Rican-born politician who was the "first Hispanic everything" -- first Hispanic borough president, first Hispanic congressman, first Hispanic deputy mayor. Today, Badillo is expected to be slaughtered in the NYC Republican primary by media magnate and political novice, Michael Bloomberg. Badillo has been deserted by his erstwhile "allies," Mayor Rudolf Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki. The article asks and seeks to answer the following question: How could a man enjoy such a meteoric political rise and fall? The answer the writer gives, ...

<p>Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott said yesterday he could conceive of trading a cut in the capital-gains-tax rate for a reduction in payroll taxes.</p> <p>Key Democrats over the weekend suggested cutting payroll taxes, which are used to fund Social Security, as a way to help the ailing economy.</p>

<p>The first prime minister of the newly independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba, has transmogrified into a heroic figure unrecognizable to those who knew him well in 1960.</p> <p>Beginning with independence day on July 1, 1960, this reporter covered Lumumba's two months in power with the kind of access unknown to subsequent generations of journalists. We dropped by Lumumba's home every day and sipped soft drinks in his living room while waiting for him to emerge from his post-lunch "naps." His aides winked knowingly about the boss' insatiable sexual appetites. Reporters nodded approvingly. Sexcapades didn't make the cut as news in those days. Wasn't adultery Leopoldville's favorite sport in the wicked Belgian colonial period that had just ended?</p>

<p>Last Thursday, the White House hastily configured a Rose Garden event to announce President Bush's designation of former Sen. John Danforth to be his special envoy for Sudan. Unfortunately, unless a House-Senate conference committee expected to convene today defies the immense pressure being brought to bear by the Bush administration, Wall Street, foreign oil companies and trade interest groups, Mr. Danforth can probably forget about doing anything useful in his new capacity. In fact, his mission may actually prove detrimental to the quest for a just peace for the people of Sudan.</p>

<p>The current food fight between Republicans and Democrats over who is doing the most to "save" the Social Security surplus may be a bipartisan plan to avert attention from the more important budget issue: the excessive spending growth projected for many programs that seems to be of little concern to either party.</p>

<p>Secretary of State Colin Powell is probably confident that he has covered all the key bases for his two-day visit to Colombia, which begins today. Mr. Powell is slated to meet with government and military officials, political figures and human rights groups. And, yet, it is likely that Mr. Powell won't get the full picture.</p>

<p>Imagine for a minute that a popular restaurant in Manhattan's Times Square was blown to bits by a terrorist's bomb. Would the American public demand from the Bush administration an immediate and aggressive effort to prevent similar attacks from occurring in the future? Or would Americans prefer a wringing of hands so as not to perpetuate a "cycle of violence" or "inflame" an already volatile and dangerous enemy?</p>

<p>Imagine for a minute that a popular restaurant in Manhattan's Times Square was blown to bits by a terrorist's bomb. Would the American public demand from the Bush administration an immediate and aggressive effort to prevent similar attacks from occurring in the future? Or would Americans prefer a wringing of hands so as not to perpetuate a "cycle of violence" or "inflame" an already volatile and dangerous enemy?</p>

<p>When Andrew Brimmer's control board first began poring over the city's financial books in 1995, its members were warned to believe half of what they saw and none of what they heard. The Brimmer board took heed. When Alice Rivlin's control board stepped in in 1999, she and her colleagues heard the same warning. Unfortunately, the Rivlin board bent over backwards to believe elected officials. Now, at a critical juncture, it is necessary to sound warning bells because the city seems to be up to its old overspending tricks again.</p>

<p>The United Steelworkers of America this year hit on a novel strategy to convince the Bush administration to open the way for curbs on imported steel: make itself politically indispensable to the new Republican president.</p> <p>Despite the strong free-trade stance of the White House, the steelworkers union this year managed to win White House support for its cause by working the issue at the grass roots, and by playing a savvy Washington game.</p>

<p>If there is any bright side to the distressing August unemployment numbers reported Friday by the Department of Labor and last week's cascading stock market, it is that the White House and Congress might soon agree to reduce the capital gains tax as a growth-promoting measure.</p>

<p>Will Al Gore be the Democratic nominee for president in 2004? Or has the party passed him by, eager now for a new face and chock-full of ambitious aspirants?</p> <p>The answer to this question may hinge on the always-interesting relationship between the establishment elite of a party and its rank-and-file voters. It is quite clear that, as of now, the establishment is dubious about a second Gore bid. The regular guy is another story.</p>

<p>In "My Father's Keeper: Children of Nazi Leaders" under the intriging subtitle "An Intimate History of Damage and Denial," Stephan and Norbert Lebert, two journalists, father and son, keep asking the same question: What happened to the children of Adolf Hitler's murderous elite and how do they cope with their ominous legacy?</p>

Trouble on the horizon &copy;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;WorldNetDaily.com The buzz around North Carolina Senator John Edwards began to build even before he won the contest for the seat then held by Lauch Faircloth in November, 1998. While this seat has been something of a cursed chair since Watergate figure Sam Ervin retired from it in 1974 (no one has won re-election in the position, and one occupant, John East, committed suicide), Edwards was not expected to win against the popular and experienced Faircloth. Edwards used his personal story to great effect, and the soft money that flooded the state in support of ...

The pitfalls of moderation and compromise &copy;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;Creators Syndicate, Inc. I had almost decided what to write about this morning when I received an e-mail from one of my favorite e-mailers touching on the same subject. I chose to interpret it as a sign. The always-thoughtful Christopher lamented, "It seems as if 'our side,' from the president down to the Congress, is continually doing just enough to anger and therefore energize the opposition, but never enough to convince 'the base' that significant and beneficial changes are imminent." I concur that President Bush and congressional Republicans seem to be seeking to ...

Britney, Beyonce & J'Lo help cure AIDS? &copy;&nbsp;2001&nbsp;WorldNetDaily.com Remember '80s' rock stars' vapid, all-star recordings of "We Are the World" and "Do They Know It's Christmas"? Neither achieved its purpose, raising little money for the poor and hungry they were designed to help. But it made selfish, millionaire rock stars feel good about themselves for preaching charity to us, and it got them great publicity. Now, the rock stars of the new millennium want to do it all over again. Like Michael Jackson, some things from the '80s shouldn't make a comeback. And this is one of them. The ...