Free Republic

San Francisco, CA (AHN) - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced he will run for governor of California. The 41-year-old mayor used social networking sites Twitter and Facebook to announce his decision to seek the Democratic nomination for the state's gubernatorial race to succeed Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. "I'm running for Governor because California needs a new direction. In San Francisco, we've defended people's civil rights, created a universal health care program, protected teachers from layoffs and enacted a local stimulus plan that will put people back to work and save jobs. And we've done it while balancing our budgets...

Aiming to stake his claim to the tech-savvy young voters who helped elect President Obama, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, 41, today took to the new media to formally announce he's running for governor - by directly addressing hundreds of thousands of supporters simultaneously via YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. "We can't afford to keep returning to the same old tired ideas and expect the same result," the Democrat told supporters in his three-minute YouTube announcement, part of the unprecedented "virtual fly-around" campaign announcement done entirely in the new media. The gubernatorial candidate's announcement video, which premiered on his Web page,...

Terrorists `Just Hoodlums’ The greatest threat to the nation, Paul said, is an overextension of the U.S. military and ``involvement in places we shouldn’t be.’’ Terrorism shouldn’t be fought by waging war on nations, he said. Terrorists are ``just hoodlums and convicts, so to speak, but we incite them with our foreign policy,’’ he said.

(Fortune Magazine) -- When the black SUV crested the hill and stopped near a cluster of low buildings in the desolate Rwandan village of Rwinkwavu, a crowd of people cheered and the cameras started to roll. Showtime. Paul Kagame, the tall, cave-chested President of Rwanda, alighted from the driver's seat, and Bill Clinton, thinner than he used to be and ruddy in a brightly checked shirt, emerged from the passenger's side. They were there to visit a hospital that treats people with HIV/AIDS, and Clinton was ... still Clinton. The former President was midway through a nine-day, seven-country African sprint...

My fellow members of the American Legion, I have made some serious mistakes and miscalculations in our struggle against Islamic extremism over the past five years. Some of these were made out of anger and impatience in the months after we were so viciously attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. Others were made out of my heartfelt belief that our American values—freedom, democracy, market economics—are the surest path away from the fury and despair that have plagued the nations at the heart of the Islamic world. I still believe deeply in those values. I am still convinced that we are facing...

Monday, Aug. 22, 2005 11:59 a.m. EDT Mexican Presidential Race Kicks Off ... in Los Angeles The leading contenders for the presidency of Mexico plan to launch their 2006 campaigns this fall – in Los Angeles. Last month Mexicans living in other countries were given the right to vote by mail, beginning with next year’s presidential election, and the candidates are seeking to woo support from Mexican immigrants in the U.S. Story Continues Below But they will have to begin their campaigning in the U.S. early because Mexican laws bar campaign appearances outside the country after candidates are selected this...

I have received dozens of emails with this heading: Go Home and Take Care of Your Kids. I think of all the name calling and unnecessary and untrue trashing of my character, this one offends me the most. What do the people who send me this message mean?

BLITZER: Do you think she's [Cindy Sheehan] going too far in politicizing her own personal tragedy? BEGALA: No, she has a perfect right. She has absolute moral authority. She is a Gold Star mother. She gave her son's life for her country. And she is the most position, most pristine position to speak about these things. I think the conservative activists that Bay talked about are overplaying this in a terrible way. They could be having a legitimate debate over America's role in Iraq. Some people think we should do more, some less. It's an honest debate. Instead, they're attacking...

With Sir Elton John and David Furnish's "civil partnership ceremony" just months away, one might presume that a celebrated dressmaker is quietly toiling away on elaborate outfits for the couple (below). Let's not forget that Elton appeared at his 50th birthday bash five years ago dressed as King Louis XIV, sporting a 3ft-high wig. But no. I am finally able to write the words "Elton", "dressed" and "discreetly" in the same sentence. "We won't be inappropriately dressed on the big day," says Furnish, who hosted the White Tie and Tiara Ball with Elton on Thursday night. "Fancy dressing at a...

PRESIDENT BUSH WENT to the Pentagon on Monday to publicly tell Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that he is doing “a superb job.” A superb job? Mr. Rumsfeld has been overseeing a Defense Department where such outrages as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal have taken place, and there are disturbing hints that it is not an isolated incident. The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has been frustrated for months in trying to get Pentagon action on prisoner abuse problems. As the independent Army Times newspaper observed: “This was a failure that ran straight to the top.” The impact...

TORONTO (CP) - Former U.S. president Bill Clinton says the Palestinian rejection of his proposal for peace in the Middle East destroyed the best chance the region had to end the fighting. "When the history of this region is written, the failure of the Palestinians to accept former (Israeli) prime minister (Ehud) Barak's acceptance of the peace proposal I put on the table will be viewed as the most colossal error in their history," he said Monday night. Speaking at a packed fundraiser for the Jewish group Hadassah-Wizo Organization of Canada, the ex-president talked mostly about the Middle East,...