Free Republic

FOREX-Euro hits 4-year high on Snow comments Sun May 11, 2003 07:23 PM ET TOKYO, May 12 (Reuters) - The euro hit another four-year high against the dollar on Monday after U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said a cheap U.S. currency would help U.S. exports. "When the dollar is at a lower level it helps exports, and I think exports are getting stronger as a result," Snow said on a U.S. television programme on Sunday. On another programme, Snow said Washington was commited to a strong dollar but that its value would be set by markets. "The fact that he...

The one-man global content provider By Steven Martinovich web posted May 12, 2003 Mark Steyn jokingly, we think, bills himself as a one-man global content provider and it's a claim he has evidence for. He appears regularly in The Daily Telegraph, the National Post, The Spectator, The Sunday Telegraph, the Jerusalem Post -- among others -- and refuses to write for the New York Times. Mark refused to do an interview with ESR unless he could pose nude on our cover but relented and gave us one anyway. First, thanks very much for joining us despite our waffling on allowing...

Mr Blair has secretly agreed to share sovereignty of Gibraltar with Spain in return for Madrid's support for the war in Iraq According to the Sunday Express, the deal was stitched up at the summit meeting in the Azores attended by the British and Spanish leaders and President Bush before hostilities began.

Margaret Drabble went haywire on these pages last week [opinion, 8 May]. Her state was, she told us, "almost uncontrollable". She deceived herself. It was out of control. "It has possessed me like a disease," she continued. "It rises up in my throat like acid reflux…" Drabble was referring to her loathing of America. Her list of American horrors, apart from the war in Iraq, was standard issue. "I detest," she wrote, "Disneyfication… Coca-Cola… burgers… American infantilism... American imperialism..." and so on.Countering the arguments Drabble advanced to justify her pathology is easy. The lady is a fine fiction writer, but...

Despite movements across the nation to teach creationism in public schools, a science historian said Monday that Christians haven't always used a literal interpretation of the Bible to explain the world's origins."For them, the Bible is mostly to teach a religious lesson," said Ernan McMullin of the earliest Christian scholars.McMullin spoke to a crowd of about 60 people at Montana State University on "Evolution as a Christian theme."McMullin, a professor at the University of Notre Dame and a Catholic priest, is recognized one of the world's leading science historians and philosophers, according to MSU.He has written about Galileo, Issac Newton,...

What strategy caused the Iraqi regime to collapse? What must the United States and Britain do to consolidate the fleeting gains of a historic military victory? PISRR: penetrate-isolate-subvert-reorient-reharmonize. In the final years of his life, retired Air Force Colonel John Boyd (1927-1997) invented PISRR as a complement to his now famous OODA (observe-orient-decide-act) loop. Some PISRR elements describe what has happened so far in Operation Iraqi Freedom; others suggest what must come next. From the outset of the 2003 Iraq war, Coalition armor, infantry, and special forces and constant pressure from the air quickly penetrated and isolated major portions of...

Subject: Light A Candle. View Full Header From: REDACTED Date: Sun, May 11, 2003 4:02 pm To: REp Priority: Normal Lifght a candle and stop cursing the darkness. If you don't know that your president misslead the American people int believing that Saddam was responsible for the 9-11, then you are living in total ignorance like a clam burried in the sand. He killed 140 young Americans and thousands of Iraquis, and for what?????? To prove that this morom who disgraced the uniform formerly is now a make believe hero.. See an old movie called "The Secret Life Of Walter...

<p>Washington -- With the House's passage of a $550 billion tax cut plan, Congress is moving toward the third tax reduction in as many years for President Bush -- the same number passed in an entire generation before he came to office.</p>

THE hero soldier who inspired the nation as his troops blazed a trail through Iraq has finally opened his heart about the war that changed his life. The News of the World was the only paper invited to be present as Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins left his beloved Royal Irish Regiment after being promoted to full colonel. "I look at Iraq and it's a bit like living in a street where there's a nice house," he said. "But every night you can see a father going home drunk and hearing his wife and children crying. "And finally some neighbours have...

<p>STEPHEN Baldwin struck out with a waitress in Montreal the other night. He wanted her more than anything on the menu at the Java U restaurant - where, unfortunately for him, her boyfriend was working, too. "That [bleep]hole was really coming on to her," the boyfriend told The Post's Linda Massarella. "He was saying, 'I can get you into the movies,' and asked for her number. She wasn't interested, she's not an actress." When Baldwin's bodyguard stood up, grabbed the waitress' arm and screamed, "Honey, dump that loser and come with us," the boyfriend intervened. Heated words were exchanged, and Baldwin exited with only his muscle for company.</p>

North Florida Surgeons and the medical liability crisis At-a-glance • Not a protest, but our only option: North Florida Surgeons’ decision to close its doors May 2 was not our way of protesting, but the result of crushing economic realities – soaring claims, losses and premiums are threatening our survival. • A high-quality, experienced practice: North Florida Surgeons was formed in 1996 by combining the practices of about 20 established general surgeons with a combined 140 years of surgical experience. We are a good, veteran practice caught up in this crisis. • Filling a community need: In its eight years...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX 02/01/99 17:21 UTC XXXXX MEDIA DECEIVED: WHITE HOUSE AIDE BLUMENTHAL MADE UP QUOTES FOR NY TIMES, SMEARED STARR OFFICE It has been seven months since NEW YORK TIMES columnist Anthony Lewis printed questions that White House aide Sidney Blumenthal said were posed to him before the Lewinsky grand jury. Questions, it would later be revealed, that were never asked! In his June 29, 1998 column -- slugged "Questions that Degrade" -- Lewis wrote: "Sidney Blumenthal, assistant to the President, made his third appearance before Kenneth Starr's grand jury in Washington last Thursday... Mr. Blumenthal decided to...

The economy shed 18,800 jobs in April, pushing the unemployment rate up to 7.5 per cent, Statistics Canada said Friday in a report that started to show the impact of the SARS outbreak on the labour market. The report follows more than a year of better-than-expected job growth in this country. Economists had expected to see a pullback in employment in the latest numbers, although most had seen at least some job growth in April. Forecasts had called for employment to increase anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 positions. The nation’s jobless rate was widely seen holding steady at 7.3 per...

Around 250 Commandos arrived home to an emotional welcome after weeks of fierce fighting in Iraq. The troops of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, who flew into RAF Brize Norton in the early hours, were greeted by their families at the Citadel barracks on Plymouth Hoe, Devon, with banners, union flags, balloons and air horns. But the joy of their return was tempered with the memory of the loss of three of their colleagues in a helicopter crash in the early days of the conflict. Commanding officer Lt Col Simon Wolsey said his men performed "magnificently," adding: "It was the...

<p>Not every one of a president's judicial nominees has the right to a straight up-or-down vote in the Senate, Democratic leader Tom Daschle said Sunday.</p> <p>Democrats have held up votes on two of President Bush's picks, leading majority Republicans to propose last week a change in Senate rules to restrict the use of delaying tactics to block nominations.</p>

Canberra, Australia, May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Treasurer Peter Costello will ignore calls for tax cuts in Australia when he releases the budget tomorrow, preferring to keep an expected cash surplus for an election next year, economists say. Costello will forecast a A$1.9 billion ($1.2 billion) surplus in the year ending June 30 which may rise to A$3 billion in fiscal 2004, economists surveyed by Bloomberg News said. Everyone from the lowest paid workers to business leaders are calling for Costello to pass on some of the surplus in tax relief when he delivers the budget at 7.30 p.m. Sydney time....

Shrine to suicide bombers is a model of intolerance From A Correspondent in Balata refugee camp, West Bank DARK corridors lined with photographs of the dead and imprisoned wind through Balata youth club in concentric circles, leading to a shrine to the Palestinian suicide bombers who have wrought devastation in Israel. As Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Prime Minister, met Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, to thrash out details of the “road map” to peace, in the West Bank’s largest refugee camp students from the Fatah movement that he founded with Yassir Arafat in the 1950s had other ideas....

The Times Reaps What It Sowed 2 by Mia T, May 11, 2003   "It's a huge black eye," said Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of The New York Times Company and publisher of the newspaper, whose family has owned a controlling interest in The Times for 107 years. "It's an abrogation of the trust between the newspaper and its readers." … The Deception Reporting Process Riddled With Lies… There was no inkling, Mr. Raines said, that the newspaper was dealing with "a pathological pattern of misrepresentation, fabricating and deceiving." … But Mr. Sulzberger emphasized that as The New York Times...

Graham alleges Bush 'cover up' Sunday, May 11 By Brian E. Crowley, Palm Beach Post Political Editor Follow Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) on his campaign for the White House. The Post coverage DES MOINES, Iowa - U.S. Sen. Bob Graham told a national television audience Sunday that the Bush administration is hiding intelligence information from the American people to "cover up" failures both before and after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Graham, former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, helped author a House-Senate intelligence report concerning terrorist activity and the role of the nation's intelligence community. Speaking on CBS's Face...

I'm thinking about packing up from NY and moving out to Texas. But before I consider moving out there, I want to make sure I'm not moving to another Kalifornia or New York. What is the political climate like? Is it conservative? Republican? What are the philosophical undertones of the population? Conservative? Liberal? How about the faith of the population? Is there a large Catholic [faituful] population? How are the gun laws? Open carry? Income tax? Corporate Tax? Is the State homeschool friendly? How organized are Freepers out there? What is the best place to find employment for IT workers?...