Free Republic

Limbaugh garners hopeful support inside hometown From staff and wire reports Rush Limbaugh's hometown of Cape Girardeau boasts a splashy mural along a Mississippi River floodwall of its famous native son. Before he gained celebrity and riches on the airwaves, "Rusty" Limbaugh pitched Little League baseball and Blake Esicar played first base, a lineup immortalized in a black and white snapshot Esicar proudly displayed Saturday in his family's meat market. "Rusty could throw quite a curve ball," Esicar said, then shook his head. "I just know he's dealing with quite a curve ball now, and we're just praying for him."...

Wolfowitz Praises U.S.-Hungarian Partnership for Freedom By Gerry J. GilmoreAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2003 – Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz praised the U.S.-Hungarian military partnership during a statue dedication ceremony Oct. 11 honoring a Revolutionary War-era Hungarian patriot who had fought – and died – for America. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz shakes hands with Istvan Nyirjesy, president of the Michael Kovats Memorial Committee, right, as Hungarian Minister of Defense Ferenc Juhasz applauds the bronze statue of Hungarian patriot Col. Michael Kovats de Fabricy during an unveiling and dedication ceremony at the Hungarian...

Indo-Asian News Service US mortgage bank Abbey has announced that it would outsource some of its back office works to India with a view to cutting cost, angering the workers' union who say the move will result in large-scale job losses. Abbey is discussing its outsourcing plans with MsourcE, which provides accounting, payroll and processing services to a host of companies globally in Bangalore and Pune, reported silicon.com. Amicus, a trade union that represents insurance and financial services workers, has called for an immediate meeting over the pilot project of Abbey. "Outsourcing is a fact of global life but it...

Chic Leftist BigotryOctober 12, 2003by Bruce Walker The Left does not care about bigotry except as a carefully nurtured vice used to create artificial schisms between peoples and to leverage Leftism into undeserved power.  Grand bigotries fed constantly by the Left are familiar to anyone trapped in the prison of popular culture: men are all rapists; white people are all racists; Christians are all intolerant maniacs.The hypocrisy of this animus is also well known.  Leftists defend genuinely and dangerous misogynists like Bill Clinton and Gary Condit, but throw thoughtless condemnations at men who threaten Leftist hegemony, like Arnold Schwarzenegger and...

Sunday, 12 October , 2003, 12:38 Oracle Corporation will move 27 per cent of jobs from its Rocklin facility in California in the US to India. Oracle will move 175 of the 650 positions at its Rocklin facility to India within the next seven months, reports said quoting sources. The jobs that will be moved to India will be in payroll and accounting and data entry. The company has also taken steps that would make it easier to sell real estate it owns in Rocklin, the reports said. Oracle, based in Redwood Shores, California, is one of the world leaders...

<p>What is it with us? How did the Bay Area become the odd man out in California politics?</p> <p>On Tuesday, while the rest of the state eagerly dumped Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and replaced him with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Bay Area said no and not him.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON -- Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country as U.S. public opinion on the mission sours.</p> <p>And all the letters are the same.</p> <p>A Gannett News Service search found identical letters from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, also known as "The Rock," in 11 newspapers, including Snohomish, Wash.</p>

October 11, 2003 Forget the gold watch — retiring S.C. cops gets partner for $1 By PEGGY TOWNSEND Sentinel staff writer This is not the dog is question. It is just an example of the breed. Colors can vary.) SANTA CRUZ — When officer Carey Lindgren turns in his badge after 29 years with the Santa Cruz Police Department today, he’ll take something special with him. His police dog, Yourie, an energetic Belgium Malanois who loves having his ears scratched, will be going home with the longtime patrol officer. But for awhile, Lindgren worried that wouldn’t be the case —...

The Doctor is IN Dear Anti-Immigrant, It was wholly a pleasure to read your letter to the paper. Specifically, the kind of pleasure a psychoanalyst might feel on spotting a favorite patient out in the waiting room, someone with not just one exotic delusion but a whole walking, talking basket of them. For I could just as easily have addressed this letter to Dear anti-Abraham Lincoln, or Dear anti-Semite, or just Dear generally anti-American. After all, this is a whole nation of immigrants. Even the first Americans came here from somewhere else. The most impressive thing about your short yet...

The platform is the party's contract with the people." This noble sentiment has been used by both Republicans and Democrats in characterizing their state and national party platforms over the decades. It can become an embarrassing yardstick for any party that lives a double life. Consider President Bush and his Texas State Republican Platform of 2002, which is still in effect. The authors and endorsers of this lengthy document were taking no chances. It says crisply that each "Republican candidate for a public or party office shall be provided a current copy of the party platform at the time of...

 ‘I Am Addicted to Prescription Pain Medication’ By Evan Thomas With Arian Campo-Flores and Catharine Skipp in West Palm Beach; Martha Brant, Mark Hosenball, Debra Rosenberg and Eleanor Clift in Washington; Kevin Peraino, Suzanne Smalley, Susannah Meadows, Peg Tyre and Rebecca Sinderbrand in New York <EXCERPTS> ...But it’s hard to find many people who really know him. He was a lonely object of mass adulation, socially ill at ease, at least occasionally depressed and, for the past several years, living in a private hell of pain and compulsion... New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd spent a revealing dinner date with...

When heaven and hell clashed and paradise was torched Hers was a story of youthful abandon, theirs was a testament to the bloody hatred they felt towards the hedonistic behaviour on their turf. Both would crash head on in those terrifying hours in Kuta on October 12. Darren Goodsir pieces together the night Australia's outlook changed forever. Renee Fowler didn't want to go partying. Her mother, Lynda, did, and pestered the teenager to join her for a night of wild abandon in Kuta's heady bars and clubs. The first call came at 4.30pm. Lynda, already in good spirits, was in...

<p>Municipalities are rushing to file lawsuits against manufacturers of a gasoline additive that they say has polluted their water supplies.</p> <p>The hurry is intended to beat a provision in the impending energy bill that would ban such legal challenges.</p> <p>But the lawsuits simply aren't fair.</p>

<p>Legislation to make it easier for California cities and counties to develop needle-exchange programs for intravenous drug users was vetoed Saturday by Gov. Gray Davis.</p> <p>With more than 200 bills awaiting action this weekend, Davis signed nine measures and vetoed five, including the needle-exchange proposal, AB 946.</p>

Claiming to have acted solely in the public interest, Republicans in Austin devised congressional districts that will place almost half of all Texans, against the wishes of most, in a different congressional district. This is not the first time the good of one party's politicians has outweighed the will of the people. The compromise bill was fashioned in the absence of Gov. Rick Perry, who was in New York promoting Texas business and raising campaign funds. Since his presence had done so little to advance either public or party interest, little was lost through his absence. U.S. House Majority Leader...

In stark contrast to their official position on terrorism, a senior Palestinian official said Sunday that Palestinians are entitled to fight Israel "by all means," a seemingly implicit approval of the suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of people and derailed past peace initiatives. Farouk Kaddoumi is representing the Palestinians at a weeklong series of meetings and summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is prevented from leaving Ramallah by the Israeli military. "Pursuing the armed struggle is a must, as it is the only solution in sight to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Kaddoumi, the de...

<p>Their dad is an internationally famous bodybuilder and action movie hero. Their mom is a national television personality and part of an American political dynasty.</p> <p>But the children of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver do not fit the stereotype of spoiled celebrity kids, friends and colleagues of the couple insist.</p>

<p>Ronald Reagan revived the conservative movement with a simple, easy-to-recognize philosophy: Take as little of the people's money as possible and spend it wisely; shrink the size of government, and leave business alone to create jobs.</p> <p>But the principles that define conservatives are blurrier. Today, being conservative has more to do with issues of morality and religion than with a commitment to sound economic policy and common sense government.</p>

<p>California Democrats can be sorted today into two groups. There are the ones who get the recall. And then there are the ones who don't.</p> <p>The ones who don't can't be missed. There's state Sen. John Vasconcellos, acting like an ass by calling Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger a "boob." Or Sen. Sheila Kuehl who says the Senate will have to save the state from the new governor's "ignorance." This comes from someone who, when I interviewed her last winter about about her universal health care legislation, couldn't explain the details of her own bill.</p>

<p>DALLAS (AP) -- The Oklahoma Sooners have the drill down pat. They stomp rival Texas, send the Sooner Schooner circling the Cotton Bowl turf, then gather around the 20-yard line for a team photo with the scoreboard in the background.</p>