Free Republic

June 26, 2002 5-Term Alabama Democrat Loses Runoff for HouseBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IRMINGHAM, Ala., June 26 — Representative Earl F. Hilliard, a five-term incumbent, was ousted today in a Democratic runoff after a nasty campaign against a well-funded challenger who swamped the poor district here with commercials questioning Mr. Hilliard's stance on the Middle East. The upset victory by Artur Davis, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was tantamount to election because there is no Republican nominee. With 77 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Davis had 40,549 votes, or 56 percent, and Mr. Hilliard had 31,792 votes, or 44 percent. Mr. Hilliard,...

June 26, 2002 Border Security Stepped Up; Snags Are Seen for AgencyBy ELIZABETH BECKER ASHINGTON, June 25 — The Bush administration moved ahead today with steps to strengthen the United States' borders, while Congress questioned whether other measures to prevent terrorism were being delayed by plans for a new department for domestic security. A report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, questioned the administration's assertion that the department could be operating within a year. At a hearing before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, David M. Walker, the comptroller general of the accounting office, said it normally took...

Macapagal calls off search for Sabaya body PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday ordered troops to 'call-off' the search for Abu Sabaya's body, saying they should concentrate on the manhunt for Abu Sayyaf leaders who are still alive. "The 50 thousand-peso reward is there for the fishermen to look for him and if the Navy seals of the US will be made available, then let's have a smaller unit of ours so it's not all being done by the Americans alone," Ms Macapagal said in a speech aired over the state-owned Radyo ng Bayan. "But I think the bulk of...

<p>Men won't commit to marriage because they enjoy a sexually active single life in a social climate that doesn't push them to marry, a new report says.</p> <p>Young men are indeed "commitment phobic," which is bad news for young women who want build a family before they get too old, said researchers Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and David Popenoe, who run the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University.</p>

June 26, 2002 State Parties Adept at Raising Soft Money, Report ShowsBy RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. ASHINGTON, June 25 — As state political parties prepare to assume a much larger role in campaign fund-raising, a new report shows them to be very skilled already at soliciting the sort of unlimited donations from corporations, unions and others that will soon be off-limits to national parties. State parties pulled in $307 million on their own in the 2000 elections, according to the report today by three campaign-finance watchdog groups. Spotty disclosure laws made much of that money difficult to track and revealed...

June 26, 2002 Amtrak Gives Itself 2 Weeks, in a Lightless TunnelBy DAVID FIRESTONE ASHINGTON, June 25 — Amtrak officials said tonight that they had found enough cash to operate for about two more weeks but warned that continued inaction by the White House and Congress would force the railroad to shut down by July 8 or 9. Several days of intensive negotiations with the White House have resulted in promises of about $100 million in loan guarantees, about half of what the nation's passenger railroad needs, said David L. Gunn, the new president of Amtrak. Democrats in Congress have...

<p>Lawmakers in both parties, including those from states with sizable American Indian populations, said yesterday that they support the use of Indian names and symbols by a 4-H summer camp in West Virginia.</p> <p>"Certainly, we want to encourage cultural enhancement and greater participation in 4-H," said Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat. "I would think that [the use of Indian symbols] would allow the promotion of greater involvement."</p>

<p>NEW YORK -- Martha Stewart may be facing a wider probe of her sale of ImClone Systems Inc. shares, including possible charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements.</p> <p>In a story posted on its Web site late Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed source familiar with the case, said federal prosecutors widened their probe and are investigating whether Stewart misled prosecutors in divulging details about her sale of ImClone stock.</p>

<p>LONDON — An amateur radio-scanner enthusiast is putting Britain's royal family and political leaders at risk by publishing on the Internet classified information he picked up, British Broadcasting Corp. radio reported yesterday.</p> <p>BBC Radio 4's "Today" show carried an interview with an intelligence source who said communications that radio scanner Paul Wey is putting on the Web would be "gold dust" to terrorists planning attacks.</p>

<p>Terrorism threatens to dominate American politics in ways never imagined before September 11, with the outcome of the November congressional elections perhaps hinging on a last-minute warning of a major terror attack, the authors of a bipartisan poll said yesterday.</p>

The smoke is overwhelming. The heat is overpowering. And that's just the rhetoric about Arizona's mammoth forest fire. While the flames rage across the high country, the debates rage over what to do about our overgrown, tinder-dry forests and over who is to blame for their sorry state. In the blaze of competing sound bites, it's easy to miss the most important point: There are broad areas of agreement. Broad enough to create a blueprint for reducing the risk of future infernos. • 1: Fires are a natural part of the Southwest landscape, a periodic housecleaning that gets rid of brush...

Stanley Works () is making a big change. Last month, the tool-making company's shareholders voted to reincorporate in Bermuda. Its workers will stay in New Britain, Conn., but its parent company will go abroad, a move called "corporate inversion." The change will save Stanley about $30 million a year in taxes.Stanley isn't alone. Others have made similar moves in the last year. Now some members of Congress are calling them "unpatriotic," and pushing laws to stop the practice. Others in Washington say the nation's antiquated and burdensome corporate tax code is the problem. They want it fixed to remove the...

<p>Republicans are seeking information on their rivals' fund raising and their political ads as part of a lawsuit against the new campaign-finance law.</p> <p>The law's authors, meanwhile, are preparing to sue to change the way regulators plan to enforce the legislation.</p>

<p>John Kenneth Galbraith is not a Republican guru. Try to tell President Bush and Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican. Both are following Mr. Galbraith's political prescription for "the good society."</p> <p>Six years ago Professor Galbraith published "The Good Society: The Human Agenda" in which the good society is defined as one politically organized to coerce "the favored" to work for the poor.</p>

<p>JERUSALEM — President Bush's Middle East speech was welcomed yesterday by most regional leaders but scorned by the Palestinian people, who rejected the call for Yasser Arafat's ouster as interference in their sovereign affairs.</p> <p>"Bush's message was clear. He told us to drink from the sea," said Bahira Rezak, a teacher living in Gaza City.</p>

<p>News that Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christine Todd Whitman was unaware that her agency had released a potentially explosive report contradicting President Bush's position on global warming was shocking to some, but hardly a surprise. Her latest embarrassment is part of an emerging pattern at EPA, suggesting not isolated cases of internal miscommunication, but a campaign of political sabotage, waged by ideologues within, to undermine both Mrs. Whitman and the Bush administration.</p>

<p>Last week, President Bush announced the first recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in his presidency.</p> <p>This is an award inaugurated by President Kennedy to honor civilians who have served their country in the arts, literature, sport, politics and other endeavors.</p>

<p>The sagging stock market is diverging significantly from the rising economy. It's a puzzling and very unusual event. Much of this disconnect can be traced to a loss of investor trust stemming from corporate corruption and the breakdown of accounting standards. Worries about domestic terrorist bombings are also weighing down Wall Street.</p>

<p>A Saudi Arabian man who attended Marymount University in Arlington, Va., on a student visa was accused yesterday of fraudulently taking at least 50 English-language proficiency tests to allow other foreign student-visa holders to remain in the country illegally.</p> <p>Saleh Ali Almari, 25, who was already in custody on unrelated charges, was named in a five-page affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria that said authorities found in a search of his Falls Church house a "number of items possibly related to planned acts of terrorism."</p>

<p>WINCHESTER, England -- Talk about bad form. The tiff that developed here in Britain last week over Downing Street's maneuverings to increase Prime Minister Tony Blair's role at the Queen Mother's funeral has exposed Mr. Blair, and his trusted spokesman Alistair Campbell, as monumentally gauche, grasping and, in the view of many Britons not very trustworthy. On the latter point, it only probably reinforced a perception that was rather widespread already, but there are murmurings now that the scandal may cost at least Mr. Campbell his job. Britain's acerbic spinmeister may be hoist with his own petard.</p>