Free Republic

Vol. 16 No. 2    THE GROWTH OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN THE 1920S Randall G. Holcombe    The federal government has grown substantially in the 20th century. In 1913, just prior to World War I, federal government expenditures were 2.5 percent of gross national product and by 1990 they had risen to 22.5 percent of GNP. The relatively small size of the federal government before World War I shows that it exhibited minimal growth in the 19th century, in stark contrast with its tremendous growth in the 20th century. [1] Figure 1 shows real per capita federal expenditures...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. MEXICO CITY -- Shouting and cheering around a traffic circle moistened by a late-afternoon shower, 15,000 jubilant Mexicans chanted an appeal to the man who had just toppled 71 years of single-party rule: "Don't fail us!" As fireworks exploded above him, Vicente Fox smiled down from a stage and promised: "I won't." Two years later, the man whose campaign made "Today! Today! Today!" a national catch-phrase is pleading for patience. In an interview with The Associated Press, Fox said people may have unrealistic expectations about how fast he can transform Mexico....

Please visit CatholiCity.Com and participate in their Poll at the bottom of the page. The poll concerns what we think of the bishops' actions/inactions in Dallas.

Searchers returning to Draper area after dogs pick up scent A Salt Lake police detective and an FBI agent were en route Friday night to West Virginia to interview Bret Michael Edmunds — a man they hope can give them clues in the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart. Maren Laurence, 10, plays the harp Friday at the Arts Festival trying to raise money for the Elizabeth Smart Search Fund. Laura Seitz, Deseret News Boarding a Delta Air Lines jet at 5:08 p.m. the pair were set to arrive in West Virginia sometime after midnight Eastern time. There they hope Edmunds will...

DATELINE: LONDON UK JUNE 19TH 2002 IMMEDIATE RELEASE SSAF WINDOW FILMS LIMITED RECEIVES EUROPEAN SMART AWARD FOR INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY IN 2002 SSAF WINDOW FILMS LTD. of Great Britain and its group of associated worldwide companies, including SSAF INTERNATIONAL LTD., SSAF USA LLC, SSAF MOSCOW, AND SSAF (TURKEY), have been awarded the "Smart Award for Technology Innovation." The award was given for the latest development of SSAF IMPAX Security Window Film. SSAF window films have been saving lives for over 30 years. They have been accepted as a necessary safety material in the construction and glazing industries. Security has become a...

<p>A provision in the bill seeking to create a Homeland Security Department will exempt its employees from whistleblower protection, the very law that helped expose intelligence-gathering missteps before September 11.</p> <p>The legislation now before Congress contains a provision allowing the director of the proposed agency to waive all employee protections in Title V, including the Whistleblower Protection Act. The act protects government employees from retaliation or losing employment for speaking out on waste, fraud and abuse.</p>

There has been many an instance where I have attended what quaintly used to be called graduation exercises.  Yesterday I attended what I thought would be just another in a long series of these, but I was wrong.  Everything was different about this one, starting with the latest in politically correct titles.  My niece was graduating, er make that culminating from the sixth grade.  It seems that we mustn't use the term graduation until the 12th graders are done with it.  My mistake. Grade school graduations, er culmination's, were generally innocent affairs.  The children were herded into a large room...

A graduate has sold his soul on an internet auction site for less than £12. Artist Gareth Malham came up with the idea after watching an episode of the Simpsons in which Bart makes a similar transaction. The 26-year-old, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, posted an advert on the eBay site and his soul was bought by a man from Oklahoma in the US, for £11.61 ($16.95). Mr Malham said the buyer wanted a new soul as he had lost his own in a bet over a game of air hockey. Members of the clergy have dismissed the sale as "dangerous". Mr Malham,...

Supreme Court orders release of extreme right activist Federman Itim Jun. 21, 2002 The Supreme Court on Friday ordered police to release of extreme right-wing activist Noam Federman from arrest Friday noon. Federman is accused of allegedly supplying weapons to the Jewish terror cell that planned to blow up a hospital in East Jerusalem. In his ruling, Supreme Court Justice Yaakov Tirkel wrote that unlike the other members of the terrorist cell, who are accused of attempted murder, Federman is accused of relatively light offenses, and poses no threat to the public. He ordered that that Federman be removed into...

By Danielle Haas JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel threatened on Saturday to launch a "crushing offensive" and impose an indefinite reoccupation of Palestinian areas unless suicide bombing and shooting attacks against Israelis stopped. "We have to take much more massive action than we have until now. If this means entering the territories and staying there for a long time then we will have to consider it," Amos Yaron, director general of the Defense Ministry, told Israel Radio, describing the potential action as a "crushing offensive." A five-week reoccupation of Palestinian towns, cities and camps across the West Bank in April and...

Moroccan authorities have detained two people, including a police officer, in a suspected plot by al-Qaida operatives to attack U.S. and British warships, a newspaper said Saturday. The officer, who works at Casablanca's airport, is suspected of helping an al-Qaida operative evade Moroccan border controls, said the Al Ahdat Al Maghribia, Morocco's largest circulation daily. The newspaper gave no details about the alleged role of the other detained person, a Casablanca merchant. Moroccan authorities in May caught three Saudis suspected of plotting to sail a dinghy loaded with explosives from Morocco into the Strait of Gibraltar to attack U.S. and...

Christian Jennings on the Kosovo-Macedonia border WHEN Daut Haradinaj, once a commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army, walked into a UN police station in Pristina on Wednesday and gave himself up to face war crimes charges, it was final proof that NATO and the UN had come full circle in their relationship with former KLA guerrillas . Haradinaj’s surrender had been negotiated by his brother, Ramush, also a former KLA commander and now leader of one of Kosovo’s Albanian political parties, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, or AAK. Both brothers led KLA units that fought against Serb forces...

Microsoft .Net software's hidden costSat Jun 22,11:11 AM ETJoe WilcoxCompanies planning on moving their old programs to Microsoft's new .Net software plan had better prepare for sticker shock: Making the conversion could cost roughly half of the original development cost, Gartner says. More resources from CNET:  ?  CNET News.com: Top CIOs  ?  Tech gifts for Father's Day, click here!  ?  Find a job you love. Over 1 million postings.  ?  Live Tech Help. Submit your question now. CNET Newsletters: News.com Daily Dispatch News.Context (weekly) News.com Investor (Daily) More Newsletters(CNet/ZDNet Privacy Policy) News.com Video:  ?  Could Red Hat be the next...

What should I know about Smallpox? Vaccination is not recommended, and the vaccine is not available to health providers or the public. In the absence of a confirmed case of smallpox anywhere in the world, there is no need to be vaccinated against smallpox. There also can be severe side effects to the smallpox vaccine, which is another reason we do not recommend vaccination. In the event of an outbreak, the CDC has clear guidelines to swiftly provide vaccine to people exposed to this disease. The vaccine is securely stored for use in the case of an outbreak. In addition,...

<p>Gov. Gray Davis accused his GOP rival, Bill Simon Jr., of "hypocrisy" on offshore oil drilling Friday and urged him to support California's lawsuit against the federal government aimed at preventing new drilling.</p> <p>The governor sent Simon a letter questioning his commitment to opposing additional drilling.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Gray Davis accused his Republican opponent Friday of trying to ``masquerade as a savior of the coast'' while actually showing a willingness to accept more offshore oil drilling.</p> <p>He challenged GOP nominee Bill Simon to support a state lawsuit that's designed to head off more drilling in federally controlled waters.</p>

Airport worker from Yemen is denied bondBy MATTHEW ROY, The Virginian-Pilot© June 22, 2002 A Norfolk International Airport worker detained by immigration officials in a recent security sweep was denied bond Friday after a judge was informed that federal agents want to interview him about the bombing of the Norfolk-based destroyer Cole. Jamil Ali Jaghman, 26, has said he knew nothing about the Cole and would be willing to speak with agents. His lawyers said the government wants to interview him only because he is from Yemen, the Middle Eastern country where the ship was attacked. ``INS is painting with...

<p>STRATFORD — A photograph on the cover of the 2002 Stratford High School yearbook that shows two recent graduates in what some see as a stiff-armed Nazi-like salute is causing a stir in town and has led to an investigation by school officials.</p>

<p>As a Cardinal fan this has been an awful week.</p>

Gold's believers, some of them held in high regard in financial circles, this week are waging all-out war against the dollar, which they sense is close to a decline of epic proportions. RBC Global Investment Management Inc., a division of Royal Bank of Canada, said this week in a report, "The U.S. dollar has been levitating for a long time, but the underlying fundamentals continue to erode. The U.S. current-account deficit exceeds $400 billion annually, and the continuation of this chronic deficit has turned the U.S. into the world's largest debtor as most of these deficits are being recycled into...