Free Republic

Last week I went to the San Joaquin County (California) Fair... a dismal fair with amateurish displays, few 4-H animals, and surprisingly few commercial hawkers. Usually two to three of the barn-like buildings of the fair are filled with business people trying to sell their wares. This year, only one small building held about a baker's dozen of them. Usually full, this year only half the stalls in the animal barns were in use by 4-H'ers. The normal agricultural and civic pride displays from the county's cities and farm communities were notably absent this year. Why, I don't know. It...

A National Day of Protest Independence Day isn't what it used to be. It isn't even what it was a year ago, when I wrote my first "Mourn on the Fourth of July" essay. When I sat down to write the second one this year, I was appalled when I began to catalog the difference that a year can make. I shared the second essay with a few friends -- and they agreed. Several of them even thought that the concept deserved to have some action attached to it, and that's why this page exists. What is "Mourn on the...

<p>The Senate Finance Committee yesterday voted to approve a welfare-reform bill that adds about $9 billion in new spending for services to welfare recipients.</p> <p>New funding includes $5.5 billion over five years for child care, $33 million a year for "second-chance" maternity homes for unwed mothers and $25 million a year for work programs for parents who owe child support, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.</p>

Anyone remember the Cuban Mariel boat lift of the 1980's? This is when thousands of Cubans packed dozens of boats and came to the US in the 1980's. I just read a report that Castro said a few hours ago that he may rip up all US-CUBA immigration accords and even close down the US interest office in Havana. I think he will do this to try to hurt Bush and this nation. He has used his people's desperation to get back at his enemies and I'm afraid he may do this. Lets all hope it's all talk. Just wanted...

Real interest rates are one of the most important macro-market drivers yet they are often overlooked in analysis.  We examine the current real interest rate scene in the US.       As summer officially begins in the northern hemisphere, the financial markets are increasingly taking a back seat to the wonderful joys of summertime.  When compared to beach vacations, backyard barbecues, and exploring the great outdoors, the endless stream of information blasted worldwide by the markets seems much less alluring.   In the States and Europe, the markets often seem to slip into suspended animation during the prime summer...

KARACHI, Pakistan, Jun 27, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Pakistani police and FBI agents arrested eight people, including three Palestinians and two Sudanese, as part of the investigation into the deadly bombings at the U.S. Consulate and a hotel in southern Pakistan, police said Thursday. The detainees were the latest foreigners apprehended in connection with the attacks, which officials suspect were the work of Islamic militants possibly aided by al-Qaida. In the first raid Wednesday, police and the FBI late in the afternoon rushed a group of men who had gathered in the car park at Karachi's airport, police...

Sixteen years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the head of the Israel Cancer Registry says scientific studies show the fallout caused much less damage to those exposed to its effects than had been expected. Dr. Gad Rennert, an epidemiologist at the Technion's medical school who maintains records for the Health Ministry on all cancer cases, says the principal harm from the nuclear meltdown has been a significant increase in thyroid cancer in children, which is "relatively easy to treat." Rennert said low levels of radiation were responsible for the happy news. He believes that increased reports of breast cancer and...

This is your wake-up call My friends, I've been taking a lot of flak lately because of my stand on President Bush and the Republicans. Well, my thinking is that the coming elections are so critical that the very continuation of America as we know it may be at stake. All of our institutions are controlled by liberals. Both houses of Congress are awash in liberals and socialists and moderates and very few conservatives. The Courts are infested with liberal activist judges. Our media and entertainment industries are overrun by liberals. Our universities are overrun by liberals. Our public...

IDDA, Saudi Arabia, June 26 — Saudi Arabia voiced its qualified support today for the Bush administration's initiative toward ending the Arab-Israeli conflict, noting that the plan left many crucial questions hanging, including how to end the present violence. "It contained a clear American commitment toward finding a solution to the Middle East crisis," Prince Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister, said in a news conference today. "It is very important that the U.S. plays its central role in this."But he noted the lack of any defined mechanism to implement Mr. Bush's plans, and he said the kingdom awaited clarification...

JAKARTA, Indonesia, June 26 — An area of Jakarta popular for foreign travelers was attacked Wednesday by Islamic extremists who oppose the sale of alcohol, police and witnesses said. About 150 men armed with sticks and swords forced their way into cafes and smashed alcohol bottles in the area, which caters mainly to low-budget backpackers. NO ONE WAS injured in the midday raid on the street, Jalan Jaksa, by members of the Islamic Defenders Front. Police were present during the attack but made no arrests, said Lt. Wagimin, who goes by a single name. The Front has staged similar attacks...

The debates: Granholm agreed to five; she should stick to that Nary an election season passes without the customary public squabble over candidate debates. And so this year, we find Attorney General Jennifer Granholm and former Gov. James Blanchard tussling over the number of debates they will agree to in advance of the Aug. 6 Democratic gubernatorial primary. In this debate over the debate, Blanchard has the upper hand. Several weeks ago, Blanchard issued a challenge to hold five debates. Granholm quickly agreed. Now, she says that two debates are enough. Blanchard's camp correctly notes that the attorney general appears...

WASHINGTON, Jun 27, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- American diplomats are meeting with top Palestinian officials even as the Bush administration calls for the ouster of Yasser Arafat as the leader of the Palestinian Authority. Among the diplomats is Ronald Schlicher, who heads the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, the main contact point for the Palestinians with the United States in the absence of formal relations. A senior U.S. official said Wednesday that Schlicher was likely to have "a full range of contacts" with the Palestinian Authority whether or not he sees the Palestinian leader. President Bush called Monday...

Claire Cozens Tuesday June 25, 2002 The oil giant Exxon Mobil is suing Greenpeace for misusing its corporate logo after the environmental pressure group replaced the two "S" letters in Esso with dollar signs. Exxon, the oil giant that owns the Esso brand, is claiming Greenpeace's "Stop E$$o" campaign is illegal and harmful to the company's reputation. It has applied for an injunction in the French courts that would force Greenpeace to remove the doctored logo from its campaign website. Esso France, which launched the suit, has also claimed Greenpeace is attempting to draw a connection between Esso and "the...

The rim editor comes to me late one evening with a problem. Hundreds are dead and thousands are homeless in flooding that has ravaged several southern regions in recent weeks. Seemed pretty dire, so I wrote a headline that indicated that the nation had been ravaged by storms. And that's the problem. "The boss says this is too negative," the editor tells me. "Please soften it." "Too negative?" I ask with bulging eyes. "How can it be too negative? Hundreds of people are dead. What's soft about that?" "Eh," the editor sniffs. "This is a country of 1.3 billion people....

My reaction to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on the Pledge of Allegiance is a little different than most of those you will read or hear elsewhere. Is it a correct ruling? No. Is it a ruling that has anything to do with the Constitution? No. Is it unexpected? Not by me. To me, it was just a matter of time. Let's remember that in 1962 and 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayer in the schools was unconstitutional. The fact that it took nearly 40 years for the other shoe to drop is something of...

<p>Lawyers for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national homosexual-rights group, yesterday filed a lawsuit against New Jersey officials on behalf of seven same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in that state.</p> <p>"The courts are like a candy store for gays. Whatever they want, they get," said Matt Daniels, executive director of the Alliance for Marriage, an organization that is pushing for passage of a constitutional amendment that would limit marriage to a union of a man and a woman and would preclude the U.S. Constitution, any state constitution, or any federal or state law from being interpreted differently.</p>

<p>A key House Republican introduced legislation yesterday to temporarily cut legal immigration to the United States by about 20 percent as part of a broad reform of immigration laws.</p> <p>Rep. George W. Gekas, Pennsylvania Republican, the chairman of the immigration subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, said government agencies need time to restructure and to catch up with the current backlog of applications.</p>

Oh, man, Denver can't win for losing. First the Avs are knocked out of the NHL playoffs by some team whose name we forget but whose motto, if Avs fans are to be believed, rhymes with "bed springs buck." Then the drought turns our mountain playgrounds into tinderboxes. And now a mean old federal judge in Virginia refuses to move the trial of accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui to Denver. Well, on second thought, one out of three ain't bad. We confess to having been less than thrilled when Moussaoui, the accused 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 atrocities, asked to...

<p>U.S. rapid-reaction forces are on standby to aid Pakistanis in raids on al Qaeda hide-outs, but the Americans were not activated early yesterday in a bloody firefight near the Afghan border.</p> <p>Gen. Richard B. Myers, Joint Chiefs chairman, yesterday disclosed the military arrangement that could put U.S. soldiers in direct combat outside Afghanistan in the rugged tribal areas of western Pakistan.</p>