Free Republic

<p>Substitute Israel for America and Yasser Arafat for Osama bin Laden. Can anyone explain the difference?</p>

June 24, 2002 Bush Facing Test in Fight to Avert a Financial CrisisBy RICHARD W. STEVENSON ASHINGTON, June 23 — The Republican-controlled House faces a politically painful decision in the coming week about whether to give in to increasingly urgent demands from the Bush administration for action to avert a government financial crisis, the latest example of the White House economic agenda's becoming trapped in partisan gridlock. The administration is likely to succeed in its efforts to persuade the House to support an increase in the legal limit on the national debt, because failure to do so would leave the...

<p>What else is there to say about the haymaker that Merrill Lynch & Co. threw to Martha Stewart's key backup witness in the insider trading scandal of ImClone Systems Inc.?</p> <p>A month ago, the waters of that scandal were barely tickling Martha's toes. Now they're lapping at her throat. We'll take a look in a minute at what this might mean for Martha financially, as well as for investors in her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.</p>

June 24, 2002 Israeli Missile Strike Kills Six in GazaBy REUTERS Filed at 5:07 a.m. ETGAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in a helicopter missile strike on a car carrying Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip Monday and surrounded Yasser Arafat in his headquarters in the West Bank.Helicopter gunships fired at a car on the outskirts of southern Gaza's Rafah refugee camp, leaving the vehicle a burning wreck and scattering body parts around it. Two senior Hamas activists wanted by Israel were among the dead.The air strike continued a spasm of violence that has complicated plans by President...

Harare - Violence is anticipated in Zimbabwe as some of the 2,900 white farmers, who were told to stop farming on Monday, ignored the deadline and continued going about their business. Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) spokesperson Jenni Williams on Monday said: "There are fears of violence. We do anticipate there will be violence and we hope it will be curtailed." Some 2,900 white-owned farms in Zimbabwe have been ordered to cease operating on Monday after a controversial land reform law was amended to give the government sweeping powers to seize farmland for redistribution, Williams said. On May 10 the government...

Sunday, 23 June, 2002, 17:12 GMT 18:12 UK Apartheid claim targets banks and computer firmsAn assistant to a prominent American lawyer, Ed Fagan, says US computer companies and German banks will be included in lawsuits he is bringing to get compensation for victims of South Africa's apartheid regime. Mr Fagan has already filed an anti-apartheid lawsuit against banks in Switzerland and the United States. A Swiss newspaper reported that about $50bn in compensation was being sought. The banks are accused of profiting from loans to the white South African Government while a United Nations embargo was in force. From the...

<p>June 24, 2002 -- Paul McCartney's pregnant daughter was left bruised and battered after two muggers viciously attacked her on a London street, it was reported last night.</p> <p>The assault occurred as Mary McCartney, 33, left her work and was placing belongings in the trunk of her blue Mercedes.</p>

More heavy thunderstorms are predicted for this afternoon, which could cause additional flooding on the heels of an unexpected storm that dumped as much as 10 inches of rain on Broward County and south Palm Beach County on Sunday. There is so much moisture in South Florida's muggy air that as much as two or three inches of rain could fall in some areas during intense storms, the National Weather Service said. The weather service said South Florida's ground is so saturated that two to three inches of rain in one hour and 2.5 to 3.8 inches of rain in...

We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail! [President Bush] Good morning!! Do not let the victims of the attacks on New York and Washington, nor the brave members of our Nation's military who have given their lives to protect our freedom, die in vain!! The Sunday Mirror of London is reporting The Evil One will deliver an address (the BBC is also reporting a similar story, saying in addition The Evil One is alive and well), filled with the usual invectives against America, on July 4. The Evil One's spokesman, according to the paper,...

http://www.timesnews.net/zine_pics/4988.jpg Former Congressman Jimmy Quillen and Gov. Don Sundquist leave Sunday's service. David Grace photo. Friends, colleagues mourn Westmoreland's death By CHELSEA SHOUN KINGSPORT - State Rep. Keith Westmoreland was remembered Sunday as a man who stood up for his beliefs and worked for the common good of all Tennesseans. "He was a man who stood up for his friends, a man who stood up for his colleagues, a man who stood up for the community and a man who stood up for his family," said Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, and speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Naifeh eulogized Westmoreland...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A spokesman for international forces hunting al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan said Monday a claim by a spokesman for the militant group that it was still 98 percent intact was "wishful thinking."U.S. army Colonel Roger King also denied reports that hundreds of coalition forces had joined Afghan troops since Saturday in a fresh hunt for fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in the mountains of southern Afghanistan.King spoke to reporters at Bagram Air Base, where General Tommy Franks, the top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was due to arrive later in the...

Legislature enters final week in a quandary By TOM SHARP Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The threat of a government shutdown looms over the Tennessee Legislature as members scramble this week to balance the state's budget while facing a nearing deadline. "Is this not the equivalent of looking for loose change in the couch?" Sen. Jim Kyle, D-Memphis, asked the Senate Finance Committee last week. Lawmakers must battle through budget proposals with names such as DOGS and CATS, even as the possibility of an income tax lingers. And they know any decisions may prove temporary since November elections will...

<p>June 24, 2002 -- BAGRAM, Afghanistan - British marines broke into a suspicious village compound and chanced upon one of the largest weapons caches uncovered in southeastern Afghanistan - rooms stacked high with hundreds of mortars, rockets and heavy weapons.</p>

NEW YORK, Jun 24, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- George Stephanopoulos says his experience as a White House insider will help him host a Sunday-morning talk show. The ABC News show, "This Week," will benefit by having a host who knows how politicians are prepped for talk shows, Stephanopoulos told Time magazine in the issue on newsstands Monday. "Because I spent so much time doing that, I think I'll be able to recognize pretty quickly when I'm being spun," said Stephanopoulos, who worked for Bill Clinton's campaign and presidency. Stephanopoulos, already a panelist on the program, will replace...

Hey! Political pundits! There's a hot new ideology making its way through Internet chat rooms and discussion groups! Meet the Shutupicrat! He's a liberal!"Those KKK rednecks should just shut up and go back to *censored*ing their cousins."  He's a conservative!"If black people can't get seated at Denny's they should quit whining and go to some other restaurant."  He's a libertarian!"I'm tired of screechy parents trying to ban video games just because their own stupid brats are mental cases."  He's an authoritarian!"If protesters don't want to get beat up by the police, they should stick to protesting in their own living...

ISLAMABAD, (PNS): Pakistan will move UN and international community over the brutally martyred Pakistan rangers jawan by Indian forces besides lodging a strong protest with India over this gruesome incident of killing. This was said by Major General Rashid Qureshi, director general of ISPR while addressing a press conference here Saturday. He regretted that Indian troops subjected Lance Naik Maqsood to relentless violence before killing him. The parts of his body were scorched and damaged badly, he told. "I will appeal international community to see how terribly the Indian forces are violating the human rights", he pointed out. World community...

<p>June 24, 2002 -- The fate of Martha Stewart's empire - and her freedom - could depend on testimony from the stockbroker who dumped her ImClone shares, Newsweek reports this week in its cover story.</p> <p>Stewart, whose worth has been estimated at around $1 billion, sold off about 4,000 shares of ImClone, valued at $228,000, the day before the company was due to announce that one of its highly touted cancer-fighting drugs had been rejected by the Food and Drug Administration.</p>

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jun 24, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Pakistani authorities working with the FBI have detained 45 Muslim militants for questioning about deadly car bombings at a U.S. Consulate and a Karachi hotel, an official said Monday. The men were detained late Sunday in the eastern city of Lahore. They have not been charged in either attack. The June 14 car bombing outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi killed 12 people and injured 50. A May 8 suicide bombing outside the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi killed 11 French engineers and three other people, including the bomber. An...

lobal Crossing has acknowledged in discussions with lawyers for investors that documents were destroyed in its offices in Rochester, Montreal, Toronto and Minneapolis, after the company circulated an electronic message early in February explicitly telling employees not to shred any records, lawyers involved in the discussions said over the weekend. The message was sent several days after federal investigators requested documents from the company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January. These disclosures go beyond statements by a current and a former employee of Global Crossing, the troubled telecommunications company, that they had witnessed document shredding at the company's...

Italy's leading political party is offering a complementary electric fan to people who take up membership this summer.The move from Forza Italia comes after temperatures reached up to 40C in the country last week.The centre-right party headed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi believes the offer will boost its summer subscription campaign.Anyone applying for party membership before August will get a desktop fan worth £28.Head of promotion Fulvio Martusciello told Il Nuovo website: "We're giving away the chance to subscribe to Italy's leading democratic party and get some relief from the heat."We think it's a real bargain, and we're sure the...