Free Republic

A hurricane exposes the poverty of America's inner cities, and the champions of big government make political hay out of it. Riots lay bare the underclass in Paris's suburbs, and the French are astounded that such a thing could exist in their country. Bill Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards, and others seized on the New Orleans issue to blame the Bush administration for causing or exacerbating that city's poverty. This took an amazing amount of chutzpah, considering that New Orleans and Louisiana are longtime strongholds of their own political party. In fact, Democrats have long controlled almost all of America's...

...I saw "Capote" on a recent Saturday evening, and got more than I bargained for. The film is built around Gerald Clarke's 1988 biography and "In Cold Blood"--Capote's "non-fiction novel" about the brutal murders, by drifters Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, of the four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kan., in 1959... This is not a Hollywood message movie like George Clooney's Edward R. Murrow film, waving warnings about McCarthyism. One can take from "Capote" what one wishes, and what I took away was how far the distance was in 1959 from New York's Upper East Side to...

California's housing boom appears to be peaking, and the resultant slowdown is expected to produce "weak growth" in the state's economy during the next two years and a possible recession by the end of 2007. That's the view of economists at UCLA Anderson Forecast, which plans to release its widely watched quarterly outlook this morning. "There are some signs that the housing party is ending," said Christopher Thornberg, senior economist at the University of California, Los Angeles group and author of its California forecast. Thornberg points to an almost doubling of homes on the market in the past six months,...

TRENTON, Sept. 15 - The joke has long been that dead people vote in Hudson County, New Jersey's legendary enclave of machine politics. But now the joke may be on New Jersey, according to a new analysis of voter records by the state's Republican Party. Comparing information from county voter registration lists, Social Security death records and other public information, Republican officials announced on Thursday that 4,755 people who were listed as deceased appear to have voted in the 2004 general election. Another 4,397 people who were registered to vote in more than one county appeared to have voted twice,...

Dear Red States...  We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us.  In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon,Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.  To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get Elliot Spitzer. You get Ken Lay.  We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.  We get Intel,...

It is strange how the media can play tricks on you. I don't know how this happened, but all of a sudden, GOP states are being called red states. I think we should give red back to the left, it is a color that suits them. One can only wonder if the media was conscious of the connection between the left and the color red when they decided to make red the color for the GOP. This is not like it is some kind scred tradition, it is something that was made up for the 2000 presidential election and should...

CHICAGO - Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed on Friday legislation that requires background checks on potential firearms buyers at gun shows, closing a loophole police and others contend has been exploited by gangs and other illegal buyers. Background checks are already required for people buying guns at licensed stores to ensure they don't have a criminal record that would bar them from possessing firearms. The new law, which applies to unlicensed dealers, has long been sought by gun-control advocates and police. "Today is a step in the right direction," Blagojevich said. "It's a step for sane and commonsense gun laws, gun...

In her best ''I’m-a-liberal-first-even-though-I’m-trying-to-fool-the-red-state-rednecks-that-I’m-not'' mode, Sen. Hillary Clinton tried to vanquish two of her colleagues on Monday. Although it will be very hard to come up with anything beyond the continuing ''Dean-Screams'' or Durbin’s ''I hate the military guards at Gitmo (but I’ll apologize so that I get away with it)'' songs, Hillary is still working on it. Speaking at the initial Aspen Ideas Festival (organized by the Aspen Institute--billed as a ''non-partisan'' think tank--which in Dem-speak means liberal or leftist), Sen. Clinton said of President Bush: ''I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington.'' I...

Saturday, May 28, 2005 Baldacci's 'favorability' at 29 percent By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press ©Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.   E-mail this story to a friend   GOVERNOR'S APPROVAL RATING One year ago: 54 percent Last fall: 61 percent This month: 43 percent A telephone survey that tracks what Mainers think of their political leaders has given Gov. John Baldacci a favorability rating of 29 percent, half that of Maine's two U.S. senators and lower than that of President Bush. Eighteen months before Baldacci seeks a second term,...

Friday, May 27, 2005 Executives give state's economy failing grade By EDWARD D. MURPHY, Portland Press Herald Writer Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend Maine business executives have a dour view of the economy, the business climate and the state's ability to tackle economic problems, a new study of senior managers in the state has found. "The results are not very encouraging," said Verne Kennedy, whose Florida-based Market Research Insight company conducted the survey of 502 business leaders for the Maine Economic Research Institute. "From the employers' perspective, they're giving the economy an...

Give Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley credit for enthusiasm. On Monday, he and three colleagues introduced a bill to repeal the hated Alternative Minimum Tax, well before President Bush's tax reform commission reports its findings in late July. For readers unaware because they're lucky enough to live in low-tax states, the AMT is the parallel tax system designed some 35 years ago by Democrats to make sure the rich can't exploit too many loopholes. But because it isn't indexed for inflation it is sweeping up more and more middle-class taxpayers, especially in New York, California and other liberal states....

HOUSTON - A 68-year-old Pennsylvania man was arrested on charges he tried to build a bomb and sell it to an agent he thought was a member of Al-Qaida, officials said Monday. Ronald Allen Grecula of Bangor, Pa., was arrested Friday in Houston during a meeting with undercover FBI agents, U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said. During that meeting, Grecula indicated willingness to build and sell an explosive device that was to be used against Americans, officials alleged in court documents. Grecula was set to make his initial court appearance Monday afternoon. He has been charged with attempting to provide material...

Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) speaks out against plans to close the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard during a rally held at the shipyard in Kittery, Maine, May 16, 2005. Last week the Pentagon recommended the closure of 33 major domestic U.S. military bases and the realignment of 29 more, threatening a hard economic blow to many communities across the country. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

Saturday, May 14, 2005 Maine takes big hit By BART JANSEN, Washington Correspondent Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend Staff photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette Maine Sen. Susan Collins rips into the base-closure recommendations at a Friday press conference in Brunswick. With her, from left, are U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, Gov. John Baldacci, U.S. Rep. Tom Allen and U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe. With Maine bearing the brunt of a plan to restructure the nation's military, lawmakers and community leaders vowed Friday to fight plans to close Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery and halve...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2005 CONTACT: BARRY FLYNN (207) 622-6247 Media Advisory MAINE TAX BURDEN RANKED HIGHEST IN THE NATION Maine Republican Party points to an honor John Baldacci truly earned AUGUSTA: Coming off of the news that Maine has earned top honors as the highest-taxed state in the nation according to the Tax Foundation's recent findings, the Maine Republican Party announced its disappointment in Governor Baldacci and majority Democrat efforts to claim meaningful tax-relief for the people of Maine. Maine Republican Party Chairman Randy Bumps made the following statement: "As Mainers prepare this week for April's dreaded...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Steelcase Inc. announced Monday that it will cut 600 jobs over the next two years as it shuts down its remaining manufacturing operations in the city and consolidates work at other plants. The furniture maker said it will vacate the remaining factories at its sprawling Grand Rapids campus. Much of the work from the chair and panel plants will be moved to plants in Kent County's Gaines Township and Kentwood. About 30 jobs will move to Steelcase's plant in Mexico, The Grand Rapids Press reported. One hundred...

Residents of Eastern Washington want to split Washington in two. Why not cut the rubes loose?State Senator Bob Morton, a Republican from the Eastern Washington town of Orient (pop. 115), has a crazy idea. It's laughable, really. Unless you've been studiously ignoring our local newspapers in recent weeks (and who could blame you), you've probably heard about it. The senator from Ferry County wants to split Washington State in two. A clean break, along the line of the Cascades. The 19 counties to the west, mostly urban and suburban, with a hefty majority of the state's population and a strong...

Study predicts city flood threat due to warming By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | February 15, 2005 WASHINGTON -- By the end of this century, global warming threatens to raise the sea level enough that a heavy storm would send flood waters into Boston's downtown waterfront, the Financial District, and much of the Back Bay, based on projections in a federally funded report to be released today. The five-year study, commissioned by the US Environmental Protection Agency and completed by university researchers, indicates that the mildest impact of global warming would leave local landmarks such as Massachusetts General Hospital, the...

| It's time for Boston to own up to the ugly reality: We are a city of pigs. Drive around town and see for yourself. Up and down Dorchester Avenue yesterday, the gutters were clogged with every kind of debris imaginable: men's shoes, fruit, beer bottles, losing lottery tickets, Dunkin' Donuts cups, cigarette butts. But it's not just a Dorchester problem. Charles Street on Beacon Hill, the bastion of upper-crust boutiques, low-key restaurants, and gaslit street lamps, looked as if it had just been attacked. A half-eaten take-out meal spilled from a plastic bag in a snowbank outside the 7-Eleven...

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