Free Republic

With 224 pair of empty shoes strewn at their feet, nearly a dozen youth braved the rain today to raise awareness of gun violence at a rally in front of city hall. Each pair of shoes represented one Texas child or teen-ager killed by guns in 2000, said Jennifer Beazley, executive director of Texans for Gun Safety. The organization's youth division, Young Texans Against Gun Violence, led the event. Glen Lambert, 20, said the group does not oppose gun ownership, but he said he believes access to firearms needs tighter control. "I'm against gun violence even though I'm for citizens...

Reign of modernism will end in 21st century, critics contend rt in the 21st century will draw its inspiration from traditions that were largely neglected during modernism's 20th-century heyday, say artists, critics and collectors who advocate a return of classical ideals. "I look at modern art as very much like what happened with communism - it was an idea that was a house of cards and couldn't work," says Allan Banks, president of the American Society of Classical Realism and vice chairman of the American Society of Portrait Artists. "A lot of the rubbish that we've been handed (in...

Polygraph tests given in case of missing Utah girl 06/20/2002 Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY - Police have administered polygraph tests to a number of people both inside and outside 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart's family, authorities said Thursday. Sixteen days into the investigation of Elizabeth's apparent abduction, police say they still have no suspect. The girl reportedly was taken from her bedroom at gunpoint in the early hours of June 5. Police Chief Rick Dinse wouldn't elaborate on what the polygraph tests found. He also said police also have searched the hard drives of 12 computers, and "We have found...

RE: Weekly Message from Bud Macfarlane, Founder of CatholiCity.com Volume VI, Number 12 Dear CatholiCity Citizen, I wasn't planning to send you a message this week because we're still recovering internally from the technical knock-outs we suffered this month, but I wanted to let you know about four excellent Commentaries we've posted regarding the Bishop's Conference on our homepage: http://www.catholicity.com/ 1. IN DENIAL? I'm disappointed that the U.S. bishop's failed to address the problem of dissent and homosexuality in our seminaries and priesthood during the conference. They quickly tabled a proposal by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz to investigate the causes of...

National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre recently gave a fiery speech before the NRA Annual Convention, railing against those who would shred the Constitution in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The Constitution, he said "is pristine and inviolate...The Bill of Rights doesn't care about opinion polls. It doesn't tolerate cherry-picking some parts but not others." Strong words and fine sentiments; but, ironically, the NRA is currently engaged in the very trade-off that LaPierre decried. The organization played a key role in promoting President Bush's crime-control initiative, Project Safe Neighborhoods, which undermines the 10th Amendment in...

A two-day symposium in the capital has concluded that Arab Jews have enjoyed greater fundamental rights and freedom under Arab Islamic rule than under Israeli Zionist regimes. Participants of a symposium on The Jews in The Arab World, held at the Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up, said in their final communique that Arab Jews have always been denied their fundamental rights and freedom under Israeli regimes. The symposium began on Sunday and concluded on Monday, with the final communique released on Tuesday. The participants called upon Arab research and study centres to conduct studies to reveal the true picture...

<p>When hotel workers won new contracts with big hotels on the Las Vegas strip last month, the deals represented a triumph for a growing force in the American labor movement: Hispanic women.</p> <p>Many of the union members at the bargaining table were Hispanic and female. The union, Culinary Local 226 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, forced casino operators to agree to their demands -- although tourism still hasn't recovered from the slowdown that followed the Sept. 11 terror attacks.</p>

ANTONY SUTTON: A GIANT DEPARTS NOT A REAL HUMAN BEING By: Alan Stang Even many well-informed people today don’t know who Tony Sutton was. That invisibility was a function of his integrity. At his death a couple of days ago, he would have been world famous had he not told the truth. I once accused Tony of being a vacuum cleaner, not a real human being. For instance, readers of Western Technology & Soviet Economic Development, his massive three-volume study of Soviet military capability, know it nailed down the fact that the Red Army was made here in the United...

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - Milan Popovic of Yugoslav weapons producer Krusik is desperately seeking an investor ready to help to revive and transform his company. "Our production is almost at a standstill," said Popovic, marketing manager at what was once the country's main manufacturer of 60-120 mm caliber ammunition and rockets. "Army orders are dwindling. The rocket line has been halted. Exports have been slashed tenfold from over $100 million a decade ago," he told Reuters. In the 1980s, Yugoslavia's arms exports averaged over $400 million a year and sometimes much more. Figures from the military trading firm Jugoimport SDPR...

Personal Problems The Supremes ignore the Constitution in Atkins. By Richard W. Garnett I oppose the death penalty. To be clear, I accept the idea that the death penalty can serve as a deterrent; I am convinced that retribution is the justification and proper purpose of punishment; and I continue to believe in the reality and facticity of evil. Nevertheless, I have come to believe that the abolition of the death penalty could be an important step in building what Pope John Paul II has called a "Culture of Life," and that opposition to capital punishment can serve as a...

DFW Area. Follow the link to the website then let the video load, it's of the local news cast about the story.

Athens 2004 organizers keen on Israeli security firms By TAL MUSCAL Some 12 Israeli security firms currently at the EXPO-SEC convention in Athens, Greece have caught the eye of organizers of the 2004 summer Olympics, to be held in Greece, the Industry and Trade Ministry said today. Oded Distel, Israel's economic attache in Athens said the security budget for the Athens Olympic is set at $650 million and local firms have a very good chance of being involved securing the games. Companies on display include: Israel Aviation Industries, Elbit, Verint, and Checkpoint. Distel said the uncertainty around hiring security firms...

If the S&P closes down Friday 6/21/02, the stock market will have experienced its worst 17-week period ever (based on number of up/down S&P weeks), with the S&P being down 14 of the past 17 weeks.

A former Illinois state lawmaker was indicted Wednesday on federal bribery charges that he paid thousands of dollars to win $4 million in contracts with a suburban Chicago rail system. Roger Stanley, a former Republican state representative, is a mail consultant whose companies have done thousands of dollars worth of business with Illinois House members. According to prosecutors, a total of $130,000 was paid to Donald Udstuen, a former member of the Metra commuter rail organization's board of directors. Udstuen, also the former chief lobbyist for the Illinois State Medical Society, was charged in May with tax fraud conspiracy along...

Heavy clouds and high humidity Thursday dampened the Hayman fire, allowing firefighters to attack problem spots and hold fire lines that had been threatened by wild runs of flames earlier in the week. "The news is much better on the Hayman fire," U.S. Forest Service spokesman Bobby Kitchens said Thursday morning. "We feel like that today we are really going to give it a shot, get out there and really put a hurt on this fire." Kitchens said the eastern edge of the fire, which flared Tuesday, and the southern edge, which threatened the Indian Creek subdivision near Florissant on...

Notice to Time reporter over passport NEW DELHI: A week after Time magazine published an article that commented pejoratively on Prime Minister Vajpayee, the home ministry-run Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) swung into action against its principal author. Correspondent Alex Perry has been summoned and asked to "explain" his alleged possession of more than one passport. Perry, who was outstation on Thursday, which was also his birthday, will appear before the FRRO on Friday. The FRRO extended the deadline after Time sought an extension, but stipulated that legal proceedings would be initiated if he failed to appear. Sources in Time...

Activist, artist Silas Trim Bissell dies By SUSAN PALMER The Register-Guard   Recommend this story to others.   Labor activist and artist Silas Trim Bissell died Saturday after a lengthy struggle with brain cancer. He was 60. Bissell, a Eugene resident since 1981 who co-founded the Campaign for Labor Rights in 1995, lived a varied life that included teaching college-level writing classes, a stint as a physical therapist and a decades-long career as an artist. Silas Trim Bissell, shown in his studio in 1993, was an artist with a cause.Photo: The Register-Guard But through all that ran a thread of activism,...

A familiar refrain of proponents of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is that US ratification of the controversial UN document would not result in significant changes in US law. Since the United States already recognizes the equal status of women, they say, US ratification is necessary solely to bolster the standing of the Convention in the rest of the world. For instance, Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), a CEDAW supporter, said at last week's Senate CEDAW hearing that it is "highly, highly, highly unlikely" that the Convention would have any important domestic...

NBCSandiego.comExpert: Danielle's Blood On Jacket, In Motor Home Chance Of Mismatch Close To Nil POSTED: 10:40 a.m. PDT June 20, 2002UPDATED: 1:06 p.m. PDT June 20, 2002 SAN DIEGO -- A bloodstain found on a jacket belonging to child murder suspect David Westerfield matched a DNA sample from the 7-year-old girl he is accused of killing, a police DNA analyst said Thursday. Danielle van Dam Murder Annette Peer of the San Diego Police Department's forensic biology unit, said that a stain on a jacket that Westerfield left at a dry cleaner and another stain found on the carpet of his...

n the early 1980s, Northwestern University law professor Daniel D. Polsby referred to the "individual right" interpretation of the Second Amendment as "a lot of horse dung."By 1994, he changed his mind, saying: "Almost all of the qualified historians and constitutional-law scholars who have studied the subject concur. The overwhelming weight of authority affirms that the Second Amendment establishes an individual right to bear arms, which is not dependent upon joining something like the National Guard. It goes without saying that like all constitutional rights, the right to keep and beararms is subject to reasonable regulation consistent with its purpose."</>...