Free Republic

One can give credit to George Bush for restoring dignity to the White House. Done. One can commend George Bush for responding appropriately to the Sept. 11 Islamist attack on the United States. Check. One can even give ol' George a pat on the back for his personal decision to kick alcohol and live a clean, reverent life. Patpatpat. But one can also draw the line at eating all one's fruits and veggies just like the president says good Americans should. Bush's four-day plug for more nutritious eating habits and improved fitness for a Better America has left me wishing...

Man who killed 5 in family executed By MIKE TOLSON Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle HUNTSVILLE -- Almost 10 years after he killed his adoptive parents, two sisters and brother-in-law in a gruesome scheme to claim his inheritance, Robert Coulson was put to death by injection Tuesday night, still insisting he was wrongfully convicted. "I'm innocent," Coulson said in a brief final statement from the gurney. "I had absolutely nothing to do with my family's murder. I want to thank the people who supported me. I hope they will continue the fight. That's all." As the flow of lethal drugs was...

Please keep adding 6/26/02 dated Elizabeth Smart updates to this thread... Remember to keep checking back to this thread today for today's developing news on the Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping. Some people may consider today to actually be day 21, I count 1 day for each 24 hours that have passed since Elizabeth was kidnapped. Elizabeth was taken from her home at about 1:30am on the morning of June 5th, 2002. Brigette's Ping List - (How To Join & How It Works)If you would like on my Elizabeth Smart Ping List, Please send me a "Private Reply" with your request... Please...

Hey Fatty! Yeah, you. On Wednesday, President Bush declared war on fat, saying of his own staff: "I insist that they take time off, out of their daily grind, to get some exercise...I know you’re a better worker if you exercise on a daily basis. I know you’ll keep the healthcare costs down in America if you exercise on a daily basis. I know your life will be more complete if you exercise and serve a neighbor in need." I admire President Bush, but I am always wary of government officials telling me how to make my life “more complete.”...

(Page 118) By disrupting the constant drumbeat of liberal propaganda -- Reagan was a brute, Cuba has excellent health care, Santa's home is melting, Gore won the election, and Clinton is Elvis--the Internet had become a threat to "democracy." The first chapter of Sunstein's book [Republic.com -- a book that apparently advocated censoring the Internet] was posted on Freerepublic.com --a website that is wildly popular on the basis of the now-discredited "consumer sovereignty" principle. One Freeper responded, "I've been exposed to a massive excerpt from Republic.com, a book written by a liberal, on a conservative niche website. Without that conservative...

Can't Republicans just defend free markets? This past week, C-SPAN aired live coverage of a Democratic strategy session in which campaign consultants set out their plans for defeating Republican congressional candidates this November. Speaker after speaker spoke of the need to configure the debate on domestic issues as a struggle between corporate interests and American workers. There is a reason for this strategy—Marxism sells. Oh sure, no Democrat would ever use the terms “Marxism,” “communism,” or “socialism” to describe his agenda. After all, these words do not score well in focus group testing. But the underlying strategy is one in...

w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m Rev. Jesse Jackson: Bush demand to oust Arafat will backfire GENEVA - The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Tuesday that U.S. President George Bush was making Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat a "living martyr" by demanding the Palestinians replace him as their leader. "That's presumptuous and will not work," said Jackson, who is in Geneva in an attempt to build a "third force" of religious leaders to try to build peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He said Bush's speech...

UNDERAGE DRIVER INVOLVED IN DEADLY ACCIDENT posted: 06-24-2002 You've heard about problems surrounding underage drinking, but what about underage driving? Police say they pull over teenagers all the time who have no business being on the street. One of the saddest examples is what happened this weekend in the Arklatex. A 16-year-old boy died this weekend after his 13-year-old sister, who was driving, hit another car. It's against the law for anyone under 15 to drive a car. If your teen is 15, they must be accompanied by an adult and have a permit. At 16, they can drive...

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - Russian security officials said Tuesday they had detained several military officers and others in connection with an attempt to smuggle military hardware and documents into China. A statement from the Federal Security Service office in Vladivostok, the major port city of Russia's Far East, said the arrests were made June 17, the same day border guards seized classified airplane parts and documents aboard a train en route to China. The statement gave no further details. There are two major military aircraft plants in the Russian Far East. One, in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, produces Sukhoi-27 fighter jets, and the other,...

An Act Of Evil Beyond Words Palestinian Homicide Bomber Kills 20 CiviliansJERUSALEM: A Palestinian detonated nail-studded explosives on a Jerusalem bus crowded with high school students and office workers Tuesday, killing himself and 19 passengers in the city's deadliest suicide attack in six years. Fifty-five people were wounded. The blast tore through the bus just before 8 a.m., sending bodies flying through windows and peeling off the roof and sides. Rescue workers later lined up the dead on a sidewalk and covered them with black plastic bags. "Where is my sister? Where is my sister?" a woman screamed at volunteers...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 June 26 In the Center of the Trifid Nebula Credit: GMOS, Gemini Observatory Explanation: Clouds of glowing gas mingle with lanes of dark dust in the Trifid Nebula, a star forming region toward the constellation of Sagittarius. In the center, the three huge dark dust lanes that give the Trifid its name all come together. Mountains of opaque dust appear on the lower left, while filaments of...

SUSPECT CHARGED IN 9-YEAR-OLD'S RAPE posted: 06-25-2002 Last week we told you about a nine-year-old girl in Shreveport who was raped. Police now have a suspect in custody; a 16-year-old. The teenager is charged with aggravated rape. Police say he forced the nine-year-old into a vacant house in the 600-block of Hyde Park and raped her. The suspect is also charged with burglary for an incident earlier this month.

Officials Still Scratching Heads over Green Liquid The Department of Environmental Quality says the spill into a canal on Milhaven road is still a mystery. The Department of Environmental Quality says the spill into a canal on Milhaven road is still a mystery. D.E.Q. regional director Curt Cormier says the spill isn't causing any toxic problems in the are and that all the animals in the water are still living. The D.E.Q. still hasn't found out exactly what the substance is, but they say the overnight rain washed it away. That leads them to believe the mysterious green goo is...

ISTANBUL, June 24 — Sakip Sabanci is a billionaire with, he says, a mission. First, he wants Turks to have a museum that meets international standards. Then he intends to reverse the flow of cultural masterpieces departing Turkey for the last couple of centuries. Finally, he is dead set on instilling a sense of philanthropy in the country's business elite. "I want to better Turkey, and art is a very important part of that effort," Mr. Sabanci (pronounced sah-BAHN-ja) said the other day, shaking both fists for emphasis. Mr. Sabanci certainly has the wherewithal to finance his dreams. He is...

Today in the Department of Defense, Wednesday, June 26, 2002 Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld hosts an honor cordon to welcome Minister of Defense Kodir Ghulomov of Uzbekistan to the Pentagon today at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The cordon will be held on the steps of the Pentagon River Entrance. Media must be at the River Entrance no later than 8 a.m. EDT. Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, conduct a DoD news briefing today at 1 p.m. EDT in the DoD Briefing Room, Pentagon 2E781. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz testifies on...

In the wake of the extraordinary speech George Bush gave in the Rose Garden on Monday afternoon, here are several modest predictions:• Yasser Arafat will be gone as the leader of the Palestinian Authority within a year -- probably within six months. And he will be gone in the best possible manner: not made a heroic "martyr" by an Israeli bomb or bullet, nor sent into yet another forced exile to wreak more destruction as a heroic leader-in-exile. No, this time the tired, old, failed, disgraced little tyrant without a country will leave as the loser he is; he will...

Saudi Arabia's Commerce Ministry has launched an investigation to determine why various products bearing a "Star of David" had been brought into the desert kingdom, the English-language Riyadh Daily reported yesterday. The ministry, according to the report, had dispatched "inspectors of commercial fraud" to various parts of the country to confiscate items such as children's toys, candy, and laser discs because they bore the six-cornered symbol. The companies behind the products were ordered to withdraw them from the marketplace, the newspaper said.

President Bush's Monday statement was the most clearsighted U.S. intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis in the 35 years since the 1967 war, and perhaps in the 54 years since the founding of Israel. It enunciated a policy that makes eventual peace at least conceivable, and meanwhile frees the president to pursue the global anti-terrorism agenda articulated in five other speeches in the past year. Eighty-one days had passed since the president's last intervention, which was the last gasp of the bankrupt policy of attempting to be an "honest broker" between terror and its victims. That April 4 statement was an...

Just when it looked as though Bush might go wobbly, the president goes after regime change in Palestine. WHAT'S BOTH NEW AND REMARKABLE about President Bush's plan for a Middle East settlement are two ideas that underpin his policy and have never before been applied to the Palestinians. Those ideas are regime change and democracy. Both are anathema to Bush's own State department, the Arab countries supposedly allied with the United States in bringing about a peace settlement, and the European nations which support and finance the Palestinian Authority and its leader Yasser Arafat. Just as new and remarkable is...

Witness: "We drew straws" to determine sheriff's killer June 25, 2002 A star witness in the Sidney Dorsey murder trial admits he helped three other men kill Sheriff-Elect Derwin Brown. Patrick Cuffy says they drew straws to decide who would be the shooter. A star witness in the Sidney Dorsey murder trial admits he helped three other men kill Sheriff-Elect Derwin Brown. Patrick Cuffy barely made eye contact with Sidney Dorsey, turning toward the jury instead. Getting on the witness stand was also tough for Dorsey's campaign manager, Clarence Moseley. Moseley kept important information bottled up inside until Derwin Brown...