Free Republic

October 12, 2003 BY WILLIAM O'ROURKE The White House is full of secrets, even secrets predating 9/11. The list of corporate cronies who wrote the Bush/Cheney energy policy hasn't been divulged yet. President Bush made ''loyalty'' the chief virtue of his administration, and loyalty's first test is the ability to keep a secret. After 9/11, White House secrecy wasn't just a matter of personal, partisan loyalty, it became a matter of national patriotism, and the Patriot Act is all about secrets: how to keep the government's and how to find out yours. The Bush administration's leak of the name of...

12 Oct 2003 22:03:54 GMT Chavez decrees pay boost for Venezuela military CARACAS, Venezuela, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is resisting opposition efforts to call a referendum on his rule, on Sunday ordered a hefty salary rise for the armed forces in an apparent bid to shore up his support. The left-wing former paratrooper, who survived a brief coup last year, made the announcement at a time when his political opponents are campaigning hard for a referendum to try to vote him out of office in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. "I have decided that...

'There's nothing good about drug use. We know it. It destroys individuals. It destroys families. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up." -- Rush Limbaugh, Oct. 5, 1995, on the Excellence In Broadcasting network. Rush Limbaugh's fans often tell me I don't have the right to criticize "El Rushbo" because I don't regularly tune in his program. Granted, I often go weeks without listening to Limbaugh, but I do check out his show from time to time,...

The "Geneva Understandings" - a draft memorandum for a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement formulated by members of the Israeli opposition and Palestinian officials – includes allowing a certain number of Palestinians to return to areas inside the State of Israel, though not as part of a "right of return." Under the terms of the agreement, the Palestinians would be granted sovereignty over the Temple Mount, and the area would be monitored by international bodies. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, as well as the Western Wall, would remain under Israeli sovereignty. The main points of the draft...

A Christian mission serving homeless people since 1939 is under investigation for discrimination because its walls are adorned with crosses and other religious imagery. The probe was prompted by a city fair-housing investigator, who also happens to be a cross-dressing Wiccan openly contemptuous of mainstream religions, the Charleston, W. Va., Daily Mail reported. Huntington City Mission The investigation began May 8 when Okey Napier Jr., walked into the Huntington City Mission in West Virginia and noticed the "Christian imagery" and other things that caused the city's Human Relations Commission to probe allegations the homeless shelter violated the state's fair housing...

By Helen Fields Egyptologist Manfred Bietak was reading a 60-year-old report of a dig near Luxor in Egypt when a surprising find caught his eye. Near a mortuary temple from the 12th century B.C., archaeologists had uncovered a grid of shallow trenches, which they guessed was the base of a workers' hut. Bietak, head of the Institute of Egyptology at Vienna University, recognized the floor plan as that of the four-room houses used by almost all Israelites from the 12th to the sixth century B.C. What was it doing in Egypt? If Bietak is right, the trenches could be...

Sun October 12, 2003 06:11 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. machine tool demand rose 16.6 percent in August from the prior month, two industry trade groups said in a joint report on Sunday that showed the manufacturing sector is beginning to pick up momentum. The American Machine Tool Distributors' Association and the Association for Manufacturing Technology said U.S. August machine tool demand edged higher to $150.99 million from a revised $129.55 million in July that was reported at $157.06 million a month earlier. August demand, however, was down 3.2 percent from $155.93 million a year earlier in August 2002....

Elvis session 'changed music' Presley's session was credited with inventing rock and rollThe studio session for Elvis Presley's debut single has been voted the most pivotal moment in rock history. Mojo magazine readers named Elvis' Sun Records session in July 1954, when he recorded That's All Right, as the key world-changing moment in music. Bob Dylan's switch from acoustic to electric guitars in 1965 came second, ahead of the release of The Clash's debut single White Riot in 1977. Nirvana's 1990 tour was the most recent event in the top 10, at number 9. MOJO'S TOP 10 ROCK MOMENTS 1....

When The Los Angeles Times published articles just days before the California recall election detailing reports of inappropriate sexual behavior by Arnold Schwarzenegger, its editor steadfastly defended the timing. "It is a paper's job to disclose anything it knows that bears on a candidate's fitness for office — before Election Day, not after," the editor, John Carroll, said. But Republicans on talk radio, the Internet and some cable television talk shows accused the newspaper of shilling for Gov. Gray Davis. And many voters agreed. "This is a Davis ploy — he's the king of dirty tricks," one Schwarzenegger voter said,...

For Immediate ReleaseOctober 11, 2003 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Six months ago this week, the statue of Saddam Hussein came down in the center of Baghdad, and Iraq began the transition from tyranny to self-government. The goal of our coalition is to help the Iraqi people build a stable, just and prosperous country that poses no threat to America or the world. To reach that goal, we are following a clear strategy. First, coalition forces in Iraq are actively pursuing the terrorists and Saddam holdouts who desperately oppose freedom for the Iraqi people. Secondly, we are...

Bronislaw Geremek was a major intellectual force in the events that brought an end to the Cold War. Today, less than 15 years on, the former Polish foreign minister is anxious to prevent the dispute between leading European powers and the United States over the war in Iraq becoming another dangerous and destabilising fault line in the history of Europe. On a visit to Melbourne this week, one of the giants of eastern Europe's liberation from communist rule spoke frankly of the dangers for the European project if feuding persists between France and Germany, on the one hand, and the...

Reverend Peta Sherlock is a frontrunner to become Australia's first female bishop. In what promises to be one of the most bitter splits in the Anglican church in decades, the Melbourne Anglican Synod has broken ranks with other synods to approve the immediate ordination of women as bishops. The move pits them against Sydney's more conservative officials and is likely to lead to a major confrontation. The Melbourne Synod was expected to await approval of the motion at the national synod in October next year, where the powerful and conservative Sydney diocese is expected to be vehemently opposed. But in...

THE economy is growing again, thanks in part to President Bush's tax cuts, but high productivity has been keeping unemployment high -- until lately. Just last month and this, there have been signs that things are getting better. Small signs, but important signs. In September, the number of net jobs in the economy went up for the first time since early in the year. The number wasn't huge, just 57,000, but the positive direction gave economists hope. Then last week, there were fewer people putting in claims for unemployment insurance than anytime since early in the year. The high productivity...

<p>U.S. Companies Are More Positive on Profit, Aiding Stock Rally Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. companies' third-quarter profit predictions have been the most positive of the year, reinforcing optimism that growth will be fast enough to sustain this year's 18 percent advance in the Standard & Poor's 500.</p>

      (viewing movie requires Flash Player 6, available HERE) missus clinton's REAL virtual office updatehttp://hillarytalks.blogspot.comhttp://www.hillarytalks.ushttp://www.hillarytalks.org  You know, uh, I followed it as everybody did. I thought the recall was not a great idea, but it's up to the people of California and I wish them well now. They've got a lot of big problems out there. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ha, yuck. I am really worried though, about serving in the Senate with THE PREDATOR. missus clinton to Jon Stewart,"The Daily Show" Let us not miss the real point here. Missus clinton obviously knows that when...

France in a bleak mood Unemployment, constant public strikes and marginalisation in EU and the world have dented the morale of the French ByTamara Thiessen PARIS - From record unemployment to a chronic budgetary deficit, France's economic woes are taking a toll on the morale of the French. France is increasingly painted as a country which is not only failing to make the grade internationally, but seems hell bent on continuing in that downward spiral. A recent editorial in Le Figaro declared: 'French morale is in its socks.' Mr Yves Threard wrote: 'It suffices to see that conversations in Paris...

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An Old Urban Legend Confused by the Copernican Cliché Breakpoint With Charles Colson September 9, 2003 Dr. Dennis Danielson, professor of English at the Universityof British Columbia , has some advice: Don’t believe everything you read in textbooks. Speaking at the meeting of the American Scientific Affiliation in July, Danielson noted that the conventional wisdom says that when scholars thought the earth was the center of the universe, then humans were the king of the cosmic hill, creatures in God’s image. But when Copernicus discovered Earth orbited the Sun, man concluded that he was a mere animal—or so the story...

Fri, 10 Oct 2003 Important: War on Terror! Americans have a choice. The Choice Between Action and Inaction in Iraq President Bush, Vice President Cheney and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice discussed protecting the American people from the terrorist threat in three important speeches this week. "American cannot retreat from our responsibilities and hope for the best. Our security will not be gained by timid measures. Our security requires constant vigilance and decisive action. I believe America has only one option: We must fight this war until the work is done," President Bush said. Critics question the administration's pre-emption policy,...

Asian terrorists are 'bloodied but not beaten' By Kathy Marks in Sydney 13 October 2003 As survivors and victims' relatives marked the first anniversary of the Bali bombing yesterday, security experts warned that Islamic terrorists continue to pose a threat in south-east Asia. Last October's blast was the work of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a regional group with close links to the al-Qa'ida network. While 200 JI members, including a former operations chief, Hambali, have been arrested, experts say that the organisation remains intact and capable of mounting another attack. Bali's chief of police, General I Made Mangku Pastika, said recently...