Free Republic

Schwarzenegger Says Won't Raise Taxes in Calif. Wed August 20, 2003 08:52 PM ET By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - With a veteran diplomat and a business legend at his side, Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Wednesday that as governor of California he would wrestle the state's mammoth debt into submission without raising taxes. Emerging from a meeting in Los Angeles with 19 business and academic leaders, Schwarzenegger laid down his economic program for the first time since declaring his candidacy in the Oct. 7 recall, sounding notes of fiscal conservatism. "I'm very much a believer that the people of...

Why Federal Law May Keep the Terminator off the Air Until After California's Recall Election: A Primer By MICHAEL C. DORF ---- Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2003 Between now and October 7, broadcast television stations in California must be careful not to air Terminator 2, reruns of Diff'rent Strokes or old Saturday Night Live episodes featuring Father Guido Sarducci. Why? Because Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gary Coleman, and Don Novello, the respective stars of these fine pieces of entertainment, are all certified candidates for Governor in California's recall election. So are an additional 132 people. Under a longstanding interpretation of a federal statute,...

INTERVIEW Is the Left Guilty of ‘Treason’? CBN.com – Ann Coulter is a syndicated columnist and author of three best-selling books, including her latest, Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism. She recently spoke with CBN News Anchor Lee Webb about the book on "The 700 Club." LEE WEBB: Ann, it's a pleasure to welcome you back to "The 700 Club." ANN COULTER: Thank you, it's nice to be here. WEBB: Now you have made a reputation writing provocative books and making provocative statements over the years, but wow, you've really tackled a big one...

Review of the FBI's Performance in Deterring, Detecting, and Investigating the Espionage Activities of Robert Philip Hanssen August 14, 2003 Office of the Inspector General -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNCLASSIFIED EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I. Introduction In this report, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) examines the performance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in deterring, detecting, and investigating the espionage of Robert Philip Hanssen, a former FBI Supervisory Special Agent. Hanssen's espionage began in November 1979 - three years after he joined the FBI - and continued intermittently until his arrest in February 2001, just two...

What is a WTO ministerial? Cancun has been hitting the headlines recently, as the next ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is slated to take place in this Mexican city from September 10 to 14. The meeting is of significance to India, as is the case with all other WTO members. To understand why, we need to comprehend what the WTO is about. The WTO has 146 members including giants like the US, EU and Japan. The WTO makes rules to govern global trade and acts as the appellate body in case any member suffers from violation of...

Shareholders vote 'No' on KCS's Nafta Rail effort Kansas City Southern's effort to create Nafta Rail appeared to fall apart Monday as stockholders in a Mexican rail company voted down the sale of controlling interest in a major Mexican rail line. Terms of the transaction required the TMM shareholders' approval. KCS and TMM together own an 80 percent stake in Mexico's TFM railroad. KCS announced in April it would try to buy out TMM's share. Company officials on both sides of the border apparently were huddled Monday in efforts to decide how to respond to the shareholder vote. According to...

Thousands Rally In Support Of Ten Commandments Monument Moore: 'It's About The Acknowledgement Of God' MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore told thousands of supporters Saturday that he would be guilty of treason if he didn't fight to keep a monument of the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the state judicial building. Drawing cheers and shouts of "amen" at a Montgomery rally, Moore said his crusade to keep the 5,300-pound monument was not about bolstering his own political career, as some have claimed. "Let's get this straight," said Moore. "It's about the acknowledgment of God." Buses and...

<p>Going for a distinctive look, the Air Force unveiled the proposed new utility uniform Aug. 6. The predominantly blue-and-gray uniform uses a tiger-stripe pattern reminiscent of the tiger-stripe uniform worn by the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. Many U.S. troops at that time adopted the same look.</p>

Blackout causes explosion at Marathon refinery MELVINDALE, Mich. -- An explosion rocked the Marathon Oil refinery, causing police to evacuate hundreds of people who lived nearby. Officials said the blast was linked to the nation's massive power outage. The Thursday evening explosion occurred in one of the plant's vessels -- smoke stacks that can be seen burning off gases produced by the plant, Melvindale Fire Chief Sam Pedron said. Pedron said the widespread power outage that spread to parts of Michigan affected a pump at the 183-acre complex, which produces gasoline as well as jet and other fuels. That caused...

"Sure, NAFTA was really a wonderful deal for America. Two years after we negotiated and signed it, our trade surplus is gone, we've got a $15 billion trade deficit with Mexico, 300,000 jobs have gone south, the Florida winter tomato industry is on its back, illegal immigration is soaring into this country, Mexico is the prime source of narcotics and drugs, and my good friend Sen. Dole negotiated a $50 billion bailout with Bill Clinton for the regime that brought this all about. " Pat Buchanan NAFTA verdict undeniable Any doubts what happened under NAFTA? Just follow the money and...

US, EU, Canada team up at WTO From correspondents in Geneva August 13, 2003 THE EU, Canada and the US said today they had teamed up in crafting a proposal aimed at reviving deadlocked WTO talks on opening up markets for industrial goods' trade. But reactions from other countries at talks at WTO headquarters earlier today were quite cool, with Pakistan and other developing countries accusing the proposal of being a step backwards, trade sources said. With just over four weeks to go before a pivotal World Trade Organisation meeting in Mexico, the negotiations, like those in areas such as...

UN aims to scrutinise multinationals International companies could find their activities subject to investigation and censure by United Nations human rights officials under principles expected to be adopted on Wednesday in Geneva. The UN's draft Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations asserts that companies should be subject to the kind of enforcement procedures at the UN Commission for Human Rights previously applied only to nation states. UN ethics guidelines may alarm multinationals Click here The move to adopt the norms marks a first step by the UN towards the regulation of multinationals. It is likely to spark a long...

The curious team of Paul and Maurice How much influence does Maurice Strong -- radical environmentalist and leading exponent of the United Nation's higher humbug -- have on PM-in-Waiting Paul Martin? This question has arisen because Mr. Strong is moving to Ottawa, while Mr. Martin is filling in part of the time until his coronation by co-chairing a UN development commission, to which Mr. Strong is "special advisor." Certainly the two go back a long way. Mr. Strong, who came from a dirt-poor background in Depression-era Manitoba but exhibited a genius both for business wheeling and dealing and political networking,...

The paradox of global liquidity China and India must try and develop a regional long-term bond market based in Singapore, says S Sivakumar Published : August 11, 2003 The rising US current account deficit as a per cent of GDP over the years has led to a build up of dollar reserves in the rest of the world, especially in Asia. The de facto dollar standard has led some to claim that it can be sustainable over the long-term. This article tries to present a quick overview of the international monetary arrangements of the past, highlight the global liquidity situation,...

CATASTROPHE IN THE SKY Did environmentalism bring down Columbia? NASA probed exact same glitch of insulation striking tiles in 1997 More than six years ago, NASA investigated extensive thermal tile damage on the space shuttle Columbia as a result of the shedding of external tank insulation on launch – now a prime suspect in the Columbia's disastrous disintegration upon re-entry yesterday. The problems began when the space agency switched to materials and parts that were considered more "environmentally friendly," according to a NASA report obtained by WorldNetDaily. Did concerns for environment cause shuttle disaster? NASA investigators have quickly focused on...

U.S. Clamps Secrecy on Warnings Before 9/11 It's not just the Saudi secret that's being kept. The recent report of the joint congressional committee that probed intelligence failures before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon reveals what the Bush administration doesn't want Americans to know about the American government. You would not know this from media accounts about this report. They have dwelled on what the Bush administration doesn't want us to know about the Saudi government. This is the famous 28-page chapter, a series of blank lines across page after page, that the president...

Comparing the US and the EU Constitutions A successful working constitution, like that of the US, is concise and provides a clear political and legal framework -- unlike the counterpart proposed for the EU By William Niskanen Monday, Aug 04, 2003,Page 9 `Europeans should be careful about any major political structure that is presented for their approval.' Europeans will soon consider a proposed constitution for the EU that is very different from the US Constitution. The US is the oldest and largest surviving constitutional republic -- a nation that has experienced a larger increase in area, population, and income; absorbing...

Ginsburg: Rulings in other countries are relevant here U.S. Supreme Court The U.S. Supreme Court is looking beyond America's borders for guidance in handling cases on issues like the death penalty and gay rights, according to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The justices referred to the findings of foreign courts this summer in their ruling that states may not punish gay couples for having sex. And in 2002, the court said that executing mentally retarded people is unconstitutionally cruel. That ruling noted that the practice was opposed internationally. "Our island or lone ranger mentality is beginning to change," Ginsburg said Saturday...

It took generations of hard working, sacrificing Americans to build our economic system, a system now being dismantled by small-minded, greedy globalists. By Lawrence J. McNamee As Americans witness the flight of their manufacturing and now white-collar service sector jobs to Asia and Latin America and other nations with low wages, some are asking, "What is the real intention of the U.S.-based multinational corporations?" Perhaps economic globalism represents an attempt to equalize incomes of the First World and Third World. Yet this policy is impoverishing American workers and providing highly exploitative, low-paying jobs elsewhere. This could be discounted as just...

<p>The Treasury Department said Monday that it would decline to provide the Senate with a list of Saudi individuals and organizations the federal government has investigated for possibly funding al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.</p> <p>The action was the second in two weeks to set the White House and Congress at odds over the Saudis and federal intelligence-gathering related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.</p>