Free Republic

NEW YORK (AP) - The nation's largest city is eliminating glass and plastics from its recycling program on Monday in what recycling advocates say is the first significant rollback of such a program in the United States. "No other big cities have taken a step back like this, and I'm not even familiar with any smaller cities taking out elements of their recycling programs," said Laura Haight, senior environmental associate of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "It's unprecedented," she said. "People across the country are looking very closely at this." Starting Monday, sanitation workers will collect only paper...

By revealing so clearly the foam-at-the-mouth hostility to religion that grips our elites, the 9th Circuit's "under God" decision is proving a Godsend, although the two hapless judges in the majority would probably insist that we refer to it simply as a "send." The decision was such a howler that even many of those whose mouths usually foam decided to cringe instead. Not one U.S. senator could be found to support the ruling. Tom Daschle announced it was "nuts." Even the hyper-separationist New York Times said it was "rigid." This is like Greenpeace coming out in favor of slaughtering more...

<p>Scandal is always fun, and political scandal is like frosting on a cream puff. With rumors of FBI agents roaming state Capitol hallways, and questions about Gov. Gray Davis' fundraising, this could be a hot summer in more ways than one.</p>

Ralph Nader, the consumer rights advocate and former presidential candidate, brought a rock concert and more to Portland on Saturday night. Nader said the event at the Cumberland County Civic Center — which featured not only nationally-known and local performers but political activists — was designed to introduce young people to "the great civic tradition of our country." Part of that tradition, he said, "is entertainment." Headliners were Patti Smith, a longtime rock singer from the 1960s and 1970s and a political activist, and Jello Biafra, former lead singer for the Dead Kennedys. But the important message behind the music...

<p>Californians endured their first round of major rolling blackouts on Jan. 17, 2001. That same day, Gov. Gray Davis declared a statewide emergency.</p> <p>It's been more than a year since the last rolling blackouts swept through California, but the state of emergency still is in effect, as are an extraordinary range of governor's emergency powers that come with it.</p>

Herein follows a copy of General Patton's (unabridged) speech to 3rd Army on the eve of D-Day. Although not Politically Correct by contemporary standards, in the context of the pending invasion of Europe and the human losses anticipated, it communicated an important message to his target audience. General Patton’s Speech Somewhere in England June 5th, 1944 "Be seated." Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here...

While intelligence officials are not certain whether Osama bin Laden is alive or dead, they have found a tantalizing document that suggests he was living at least as recently as the last days of December. That would mean bin Laden survived last year's American bombardment of Afghanistan, including the assault on Tora Bora. The evidence, according to a source who has seen a French intelligence analysis of it, is a short handwritten letter, bearing bin Laden's signature, to al-Qaeda operations chief Abu Zubaydah. The note, which was among the documents found on Abu Zubaydah when he was seized in a...

Results also show a majority of voters (51%) says President Bush deserves to be re-elected for another term in 2004. In contrast, 28% say it is time for a new president, and another 20% are not sure. Republicans are staunch supporters of Bush deserving re-election (86% re-elect, 4% someone new) compared to Independents (42% re-elect, 27% someone new, 32% not sure) and Democrats (27% re-elect, 51% someone new, 22% not sure).

Today's winner of the annual Cap and Gown Roulette Game is ... Lorne Michaels! Come on down, Mr. Saturday Night Live! Accept your honorary degree from University of Toronto! Last week's parchment prize winner was TV's beloved Mr. Rogers - Fred McFeely Rogers - at Dartmouth University. Graduating students griped they deserved better than a man who talks to puppets. As if. Truth is, showbiz and celebrityhood have muscled their way into the halls of academe. Unlikely candidates are chased with the fervour of bookers on TV talk shows. Fred Rogers is a definite "get". "It's like Barney the dinosaur...

President Bush is heading toward a decision to cut off millions of dollars of funds for an international family planning program opposed by abortion foes, according to people familiar with the plans. Bush aides said an announcement is still a couple of weeks away, and they cautioned that no final determination has been made. But administration officials said Bush aides directed State Department officials in recent days to devise a plan to eliminate this year's funding for the program, a United Nations effort meant to keep population growth in check. An adviser to the Bush administration said senior administration officials...

It was yawning time for me when Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein made TV appearances to gloat on the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in and enjoy their notoriety for bringing down one of the most competent U.S. presidents in history. Yes, for a long weekend this month, they had a field day on TV and in newspapers and magazines discussing Nixon's shame and how Watergate is now part of our political culture -- even being carried over in silly, silly ways such as referring to one of Jean Chretien's political scandals as "Shawinigate." Now, I know no one is...

Prevacid is too expensive to make in this Country?Those who take it know what Prevacid is for, but I'll give a link to it anyway ----- http://www.prevacid.com/  ------I started Prevacid about a year ago. The Dr. who prescribed it gave me some 1 week blisterpaks of them to get me started and see if I tolerated it. These Packs had a lot of info on them that ARE NOT on the prescription bottle. ONE PIECE OF INFO WAS THIS ----- "MADE IN CHINA"That, to me, means that the finished cost of each capsule was on the level of Pennies each. The...

State of the Debate: The Historical Present What has superseded the academic culture wars of the 1990s? It's not what you think. Rick Perlstein Copyright © 2002 by The American Prospect, Inc. Preferred Citation: Rick Perlstein, "State of the Debate: The Historical Present," The American Prospect vol. 13 no. 13, July 15, 2002. This article may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from the author. Direct questions about permissions to permissions@prospect.org. The phone call made me nervous. I'd never been offered an all-expense-paid press junket before. Wasn't this the sort of...

he leading intellectual force on the liberal wing of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is widely said to be Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and lives in Los Angeles."Reinhardt is the combination of two things," said Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California in Los Angeles. "He is one of the most liberal judges on the court, and one of the judges who is most likely to push the envelope." Judge Reinhardt, 71, concurred in the Pledge of Allegiance decision. As the senior active judge on...

The US-China Security Review Commission today released an in-depth, first of its kind study by researchers in the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland on Chinese newspaper reporting about the U.S. This report, commissioned by the USCC in response to a request by the U.S. Congress to measure and assess Chinese perceptions of the U.S, found divergent attitudes in the Chinese press towards the U.S. on a variety of issues – ranging from an overwhelmingly positive tone on issues relating to economic and trade relations with the U.S. to a consistently negative coverage of U.S. foreign policy. The...

June 30, 2002 Secrecy of Japan's Executions Is Criticized as Unduly CruelBy HOWARD W. FRENCH SAKA, Japan, June 24 — When the hangman failed to summon him from his cell by late December, Toshihiko Hasegawa, a convicted murderer, reckoned that, by the practices of Japan's penal system, he had at least one more year to live. After weeks of intense foreboding over the approach of death, Mr. Hasegawa wrote his adoptive mother to tell her that he could at last breathe freely again for one more year, when he expected that his execution watch would resume. "It seems that...

MADRID, Spain, Jun 30, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Spanish police believe suspected Sept. 11 suicide pilot Mohamed Atta met in Spain with other key leaders of the attack on the World Trade Center eight weeks before the hijackers flew U.S. airliners into the buildings, a newspaper said Sunday. Atta met in or near the northeastern city of Tarragona on July 10 with Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, a Yemeni who is now the subject of a worldwide manhunt, and Marwan al-Shehhi, a cousin of Atta with whom he took flight lessons in Florida, El Pais newspaper said. U.S. authorities believe...

SALON.COM TEETERS ON THE BRINKSEC Filing Suggests a Web Star May Soon Flame OutJune 28, 2002QwikFIND ID: AAN69SBy Mercedes M. Cardona NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Salon Media Group, parent of Salon.com, has informed the Security and Exchange Commission that it may be forced out of business by the same financial difficulties that have devastated the Internet publishing world it played a major role in pioneering. In documents filed with the SEC, the San Francisco company, whose online publishing operations are among the Web's oldest and most celebrated, disclosed that its auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, have given it a negative "going concern" opinion...

A plane transporting the assistance of the American government Monday in Teheran Sunday June 30, 2002 - 11h25 GMT TEHERAN, June 30 (AFP) - a civil cargo aircraft, transporting the assistance of the American government to the victims of the seism to Iran is waited Monday evening in Teheran, one learned Sunday at the UNICEF, in load of the routing of this assistance Cd.-10 chartered by a private company, will leave Pisa, in Italy Monday afternoon and will gain Teheran in the evening, indicated to the AFP Souleymane Diallo, representing in Iran of the agency of the United Nations...

Copy and Paste the following letter to your State Reps (AND e-mail it to everyone in your mailbox)... For Senators -- Click here For the President: president@whitehouse.gov Dear Senator [Last Name], or Dear President Bush: As you know, liberal judges in San Francisco have declared our Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. And in doing so, they declared all-out war on every man, woman, and child in America who believes in our basic right to the Freedom of Religion. That is why I am asking you now -- directly and unequivocally -- to introduce and actively support a bill in the...