Free Republic

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the school-choice program in Cleveland is constitutional. This is a great victory for America's children, especially those children from poor and minority backgrounds who benefit the most from school choice. But while we chalk one up for freedom, we should not forget how hard the struggle has been and how many people have helped bring about this victory.When the contemporary school-choice movement started a dozen or so years ago, its leading protagonists probably could have met comfortably in a telephone booth. In an amazingly short period, it has grown into one of the...

A group called Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the bus bombing in Israel in which 17 Israelis were killed. It is based in Syria and is headed by Ramadan Shallah, who lived several years in Florida and was a professor at the University of South Florida. But that’s not all – his alleged former associate, another University of South Florida professor, is still here, defending the rights of Muslims accused of terrorist activities. The media are preoccupied with the president’s plan to create a new department of homeland security. But we still don’t have answers to the question of how...

<p>This is just what we need. Amid mass murder on U.S. soil, a difficult war on terror, the fires of hell consuming Colorado and Arizona, the stock market extinguishing people's wealth, almost ungraspable fraud alleged at WorldCom, the phenomenon of suicide bombers, the threat of biowarfare, Martha Stewart hurled into media purgatory -- amid this, the federal appeals court in San Francisco decides now is the moment to declare that God is dead.</p>

Reuters Business Report Bush to Give Speech on Corporate Reforms By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush, angered at relentless scandals in U.S. boardrooms, will use his Saturday radio address and a July 9 speech in New York to urge Congress to approve his plan for corporate responsibility, a senior administration official said on Friday. Bush has already proposed plans that if enacted, would ban corporate executives from profiting from erroneous financial statements. That was in response to the implosion last year of the Texas-based Enron Corp. (NasdaqNM:WCOME - News), one in what has become a string of recent...

We had saved our money for quite awhile to buy new living room furniture. I decided instead selling the old set, I would give it to charity and I called Habitat for Humanity to scheduled date. The person on the phone assured me that they take used furniture. My old set still looks pretty good, but was hard to arrange in our living room. There wasn't anything wrong with the old set, Other than a few nubbies on the edge of the couch where our now deceased cat liked to sharpen her claws. It could have easily been fixed by...

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “word for the day”. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the “word of the day”; in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-) Practice makes perfect.....post on.... avidity \ah-vid-i-ty\, noun: avidities; noun, plural 1. Ardent desire or craving; eagerness. 2. Keen interest or enthusiasm: followed the tournament with avidity. 3.Chemistry. A. The dissociation-dependent strength of an acid or base. B....

Remarks to the Republican Jewish Coalition House Majority Whip Tom DeLay Washington, DC June 18, 2002 During these critical days, all of us who support Israel and love freedom need to redouble our efforts. We need to fully and adequately convey to the American people exactly why Israel cannot possibly find peace or achieve security by rewarding aggression with weakness and concessions. On the morning of September 11 every American realized that the war against terrorism was now the defining mission for our generation. Americans suffered through the types of brutal homicide attacks that have become a familiar pattern in...

Palestinian Authority officials said yesterday that US President George W. Bush will not be able to sell his idea of ousting PA Chairman Yasser Arafat to European leaders, and said Bush's remarks have only strengthened Arafat, assuring him of victory in upcoming elections. "Even Hamas officials are now saying that if this is true, they will vote for Arafat," a senior Palestinian source said. Should Arafat be ousted, the alternative will be an Islamic extremists leadership, he added. Arafat adviser Bassam Abu Sharif said Europeans have told Palestinians they will not accept Bush's call for Arafat's ouster. "President Bush will...

UPI's Capital Comment -- Daily news notes, political rumors and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.Seeing Red -- The ruling by a U.S. federal court in San Francisco concerning the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance brings to mind an essay comedian Red Skleton shared with his audience many years ago on the subject. The essay diagrams the pledge. "I -- Me; an individual; a committee of one.Pledge -- Dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self-pity. Allegiance -- My love and my devotion. To the Flag...

Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, "What is happening with the National Security Advisor evokes sadness and distress, and renders all the actions of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright insignificant and limited, in comparison to the actions of the Advisor. "I do not conceal that from the very onset of the election campaign which brought Bush Jr. to the White House, I was among those who were enthusiastic and pleased with George Bush's taking the helm of the American Administration. This was despite the troubling doubts which surrounded his attainment of the most important position in the world. "I, as...

It's been six years since one decision by a federal judge has kicked up this much controversy. In 1996, Judge Harold Baer Jr. threw out evidence in a cocaine case because the police had searched a car only because, when they approached it, four men started running away from it. Running away from the police, Baer ruled, was perfectly reasonable behavior for black men, not suspicious in the least. After Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, and pretty much everyone else denounced him, Baer reversed himself.Ninth Circuit judges Alfred Goodwin and Stephen Reinhardt are getting the Baer treatment this week. The...

According to Richard Tren, chairman of Africa Fighting Malaria, "The use of small amounts of DDT means the difference between life and death for thousands of people in the developing world every day." In recent decades, new or recurrent malaria epidemics in Swaziland, Madagascar and South Africa have abated, primarily through the agency of this powerful insecticide. Malaria currently kills more than 2 million people every year, many of them children. Scientists estimate one child in Africa dies from malaria every twenty seconds. This toll is hard to imagine. Death by malaria can be reduced and even eliminated by the...

Over the weekend (21-22 June), I caught the last segment ("predictions") of The McLaughlin Group TV program. Host John McLaughlin's prediction: "Ten more major corporate ethic scandals will surface over the next six months." Since then, we've had the Worldcomm, and today, the Xerox revelations. Anyone want to start placing bets on Numbers 2-10???

Pilot lost control, says rescue team member who was on the craft ASHFORD -- Army Rangers returned yesterday to where their rescue helicopter crashed the day before on Mount Rainier, flying in to retrieve climbing gear they left behind while rescuing an injured climber. Neither the pilot nor two rescuers onboard the Bell Jet Ranger helicopter were hurt when it went down late Tuesday afternoon at the 8,800-foot level of the 14,411-foot peak. They were assisting in an effort to rescue climber Jesse Whitcomb, 19, who suffered a head injury earlier in the day. "I knew the pilot had lost...

Secret Soldiers: The Story of World War II's Heroic Army of Deception by Philip Gerard, Dutton, $25.95Steel My Soldiers' Hearts: The Hopeless to Hardcore Transformation of 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, United States Army, Vietnam by Col. David H. Hackworth, (U.S. Army, retired) and Eilhys England, Rugged Land, $27.95Chariots of the Damned: Helicopter Special Operations From Vietnam to Kosovo by Maj. Mike McKinney (USAF) and Mike Ryan,. St. Martin's, July, $24.95Fighting Dirty: The Inside Story of Covert Operations, From Ho Chi Minh to Osama bin Laden by Peter Harclerode, Cassell & Co., July, $29.95By David Mastio, USA Today U.S. armed forces,...

Supreme Command, By Eliot Cohen, Stackpole, 353 pages, $22.95Beyond Terror, by Ralph Peters, Free Press, 288 pages, $25By John Lehman If President Bush is to avoid strategic blunders in his war on terrorism, he must learn from Desert Storm -- and from less recent military history too. More than a century ago, Georges Clemenceau put the matter bluntly: "War is too important to leave to the generals." Eliot Cohen takes up this theme in "Supreme Command" (Stackpole, 353 pages, $22.95), a brilliant account of Lincoln, Churchill, Clemenceau and Ben-Gurion -- how each man handled the military leaders who served him....

<p>WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled that taxpayer money can be used to send children to private and religious schools, a decision that clears the way for the most sweeping change in America's public schools in generations.</p> <p>By a single vote, the court ruled in favor of a school-voucher program in Cleveland, giving legal blessing to similar programs in a handful of states that offer vouchers to help pay for private-school education. The decision ensures that the voucher movement, which started a decade ago, now will ripple out to state legislatures, 12 of which have considered vouchers in their most recent sessions, and into Congress. The decision also appears to back school tax credits, an increasingly popular way for states to help parents move their children out of public schools.</p>

CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo — It was almost like the day after Thanksgiving. Peacekeepers from the United States and several other nations flooded into the corrugated metal building on Wednesday to see the new, larger post exchange at Camp Bondsteel. "Welcome shoppers to the new PX" was the mantra of the Army Air Force Exchange Service officials at the grand opening ceremony. Even AAFES commander Maj. Gen. Charles J. Wax was on hand to cut the ribbon and open the store. And then, soldiers shopped ’til they dropped. Pfc. Patricia Ramirez had her arm wrapped tightly around a Playstation 2...

Analysis. From GIS (Global Information System) Station, Jerusalem, and other sources. The Israeli Government on June 26, 2002, laid out an explicit case to the international community for offensive military operations against key Middle Eastern adversaries which pose a threat through the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Ephraim Halevy, Director of Mossad, the national-level Israeli intelligence agency, said on June 26, 2002, in a rare speech, that Israel could not spare any effort to foil, prevent or delay the attainment of weapons of mass destruction by states like Iran, Iraq, Syria and Libya. Speaking to a meeting of...

PORTSMOUTH -- The largest modernization in the Coast Guard's 200-year history is imminent now that a long-awaited $17 billion contract has been awarded, the service's Atlantic Area commander said Wednesday. ``I am going to get some return on my investments really quick, which is going to be bad news for the bad guys,'' Vice Adm. James D. Hull said in describing the effect of the 20-year contract with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. ``This contract makes me stand up and smile.'' The ``Deepwater'' project calls for buying up to 91 ships, along with 35 fixed-wing aircraft, 34 helicopters and...