Free Republic

You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night. You pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for the bus: 1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die. 2. An old friend who once saved your life. 3. The perfect man (or) woman you have been dreaming about meeting someday. Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car. (you have a two seater) Think before you continue reading. This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was...

Albany - State Comptroller H. Carl McCall said yesterday that ex-convicts should get preference in seeking college financial aid. McCall, who is running for governor, backtracked shortly afterward, saying students without criminal records shouldn't be passed over. His rivals in the race for governor hammered him anyway. At a campaign stop at a homeless youth center in New York City, McCall responded to a question from a student about how he could help ex-convicts receive more education. "Just because you're an ex-offender, you should not be denied education aid. The fact that you're an ex-offender, I think you ought to...

WASHINGTON, June 18 (UPI) -- Project Safe Neighborhood, which was created by President George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft and promises tougher federal enforcement of existing state firearm laws, violates the U.S. Constitution and can lead to serious miscarriages of justice, according to a policy analyst and attorney with an influential Washington think tank. Analysts at some think tanks agree with the conclusions of the study, "There Goes the Neighborhood," released by the libertarian Cato Institute. Others say the arguments of Gene Healy, the report's author, are unfounded and based on a narrow political agenda. No one, however,...

In private meetings with wealthy Americans and their financial advisers, the accounting firm Ernst & Young has for months been selling four techniques to eliminate or sharply reduce income taxes. Ernst & Young says the techniques are legal and proper. But some experts on tax shelters say that at least one of them should not pass muster in an audit and that because the techniques hide transactions from the Internal Revenue Service, they may amount to tax evasion, which is illegal, rather than aggressive tax avoidance, which is legal. Without these deals, the money would be taxed at rates from...

Scientists running a pioneering experiment with "living robots" which think for themselves today said they were amazed to find one escaping from the centre where it "lives". The small unit, called Gaak, was one of 12 taking part in a "survival of the fittest" test at the Magna science centre in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, which has been running since March. Gaak made its bid for freedom yesterday after it had been taken out of the arena where hundreds of visitors watch the machines learning as they do daily battle for minor repairs. Professor Noel Sharkey said he turned his back...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Fed up with President Hugo Chavez's politicization of the military, budget cuts and ties to Cuba, hundreds of retired officers promised to march on the presidential palace Thursday to demand Chavez resign. Facing 30-day jail terms if they wear their uniforms for a political demonstration, the marchers, led by Hidalgo Valero, a former National Guard lieutenant colonel, decided to carry them instead. Some feared the protest could trigger clashes as in April, when shootings at an opposition march sparked a coup that ousted Chavez for two days. Dozens died in riots, and the coup revealed a...

A defense team is visiting Washington this week to discuss Taiwan's plans to purchase eight diesel submarines and four destroyers from the US, Chinese-language newspapers said yesterday. The head of the Defense Ministry's planning department, Wang Li-shen (¤ý¥ß¥Ó), is leading the visit and was expected to meet with members of the US Department of Defense yesterday and today, according to the mass-circulation Liberty Times, which quoted unidentified US sources. Another report in a Chinese-language newspaper said that Wang's delegation would meet with US officials next week. The Taiwanese military would neither confirm nor deny the report. To avoid prompting protests...

<p>"I'm giving this thing to you with one condition," the father said to his daughter. "When the time comes that you aren't afraid of it, I want it back."</p> <p>The gift was a handgun that the father had owned for years. He'd always had guns, handguns and rifles, for hunting and target shooting. The daughter had grown up in a house where guns were taken for granted almost like furniture - almost but not quite.</p>

Shock rocker Marilyn Manson pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery and disorderly conduct charges for gyrating against a security guard last summer. Clarkston district Judge Gerald McNally on Wednesday fined Manson $4,000 but denied a prosecutor's request for jail time and counseling. Earlier, McNally had dismissed a fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct charge, which was a felony with a maximum penalty of two years in prison. A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but the defendant agrees to accept the court's punishment. Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, did not speak during his hearing, other than...

Seven Israelis were killed, and nearly fifty were injured, when a Palestinian suicide bomber stormed a bus stop at the French Hill intersection in northern Jerusalem Wednesday evening and detonated the explosives he was carrying. The victims included an Israeli woman and her five-year-old granddaughter, on their way home from a kindergarten party. The bombing was the second in the capital in 36 hours. Noa Alon, 59, from Ofra, had organized an end-of-the-year party in the kindergarten she managed, under the title, "Be happy, even when under pressure." A videotape of the party, which documented the clothes that Alon and...

<p>Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson is interested in helping resolve the fate of missing Jacksonville Navy pilot Scott Speicher, according to an official in Jackson's organization and a lawyer for Speicher's family.</p> <p>James Gomez, director of international affairs for Jackson's Rainbow-PUSH Coalition, said he planned to speak with Jackson in more detail yesterday after meeting last week with a representative of the downed airman's family. It may be several weeks before a firm decision is made about Jackson's role, Gomez said.</p>

30 Years Later, Watergate Memories Endure Scandal's Lesson: Don't Take Presidents At Their Word POSTED: 4:21 p.m. EDT June 18, 2002 UPDATED: 6:19 p.m. EDT June 18, 2002 WASHINGTON -- It happened 30 years ago, but the memory of the Watergate scandal lives on. It all began on the night of June 17, 1972, when President Richard Nixon's Republican operatives broke into the Democratic national headquarters at the Watergate complex. Their action led to one of the worst scandals in the American presidency, with Nixon lying and trying to use the FBI and CIA in his elaborate cover-up. It also...

<p>MIAMI (AP) -- A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit alleging that ABC discriminates against disabled people trying to become contestants on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."</p> <p>The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the lawsuit contained a valid claim that the show's qualifying system, which uses touch-tone phones, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. A three-judge panel likened the phone system to other "places of public accommodation" covered under the law.</p>

In accordance with the government's new policy of re-claiming Palestinian Authority-controlled territory following terrorist attacks, the IDF is expected to widen its current operations in Area A and remain there for an indefinite period in response to last night's attack in Jerusalem. Hours after the attack, IAF helicopters and warplanes hit Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip. The IDF Spokesman said IAF helicopters targeted metalwork factories used to make weapons in Khan Yunis, Gaza City, and the Jabaliya refugee camp. A statement issued by the IDF said the army will continue to operate "using all means at its disposal in...

[Glenn Reynolds writes on his blog] A READER WHO PREFERS TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS forwards this chunk from a memo to the FBI regarding last fall's anthrax mailings: UNQUOTE Analysis of Anthrax Letters and Envelopes Executive Summary The letters were written and sealed prior to September 11 by Mohammed Atta. The letters to the Post and Brokaw were given to one individual or organization to mail. The letters to Senators Leahy and Daschle were given to another individual or organization to mail. These individuals did not know the contents of the letters nor whom the letters originally came from. The anthrax...

<p>One of the most gratifying responses to the tragedies of 9/11 was the sudden desire of millions of Americans to give something back to their country for the blessings of democracy and freedom. Many citizens, especially young ones, would do much more if given the opportunity to serve. A system of voluntary national service would harvest this new growth in our civic capital by mobilizing to meet the big challenges facing our country, including the urgent new one of homeland security.</p>

<p>The crowd of pro-income tax demonstrators grew yesterday from last month's protests and the size of the crowd protesting against an income tax shrunk, but tax opponents predicted a larger turnout today when lawmakers return for floor sessions at 10 and 11 a.m.</p>

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 19, 2002 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II harshly condemned Tuesday´s suicide attack by a Palestinian, which killed 19 people and wounded 50 in Jerusalem. Violence rocked the Mideast city again today, as a suicide bomber blew up himself and six other people at a bus stop. More than 35 were wounded. "The tragic news of yesterday´s attack, which sowed terror and death in Jerusalem, can only elicit the most absolute reprobation on the part of all," the Pope said today. Many of the dead and wounded were students going to school by bus. At the end of the...

<p>Opponents of President Bush's Faith-Based Initiative have rushed to claim that government funding of faith-based organizations providing social welfare services violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment. But in their purported fidelity to Constitutional values, they have overlooked the implication of an equally important amendment, the 14th. Government's failure to fund inner-city, faith-based charities on the same basis as it funds other non-profits clearly violates the Equal Protection Clause. It's time for courts to intervene, and end this discrimination against the faithful.</p>

<p>Either he's a good actor or Mitch McConnell was genuinely amazed by the way the trial-lawyer lobby dictated terms to Senate Democrats on this week's terrorism insurance vote.</p> <p>"I've been here 18 years and I can say with total confidence that there's no special interest that completely owns, lock stock, the Republican conference," the GOP Senator told us yesterday. "But, by golly, I think the Democrats in the Senate are a wholly owned subsidiary of ATLA [the Association of Trial Lawyers of America]. They ought to be embarrassed."</p>