Free Republic

The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. Ecclesiastes 10:2 A special thanks to Billie for adding all the names. Party at Howlin's ALL PREVIOUS THREADS. PROJECT DAFFODIL-Updated Summary 7-16-01 In light of the Daffodil Principle where individual efforts over time add up to a mammoth contribution, we are looking at ways to use this lesson as we seek to promote conservatism, the Republican Party and the administration of George Bush. Here is the link to the article if you are interested. THE DAFFODIL PRINCIPLE List of suggested projects: ...

LANDMARK FILES COMPLAINTS WITH IRS AND FEC AGAINST THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 	 	     As part of its Quality Schools 2001 initiative, Landmark Legal Foundation has compiled substantial information showing that the NEA uses tax-exempt general revenue to influence the election of candidates seeking public office – for which it has neither paid income taxes nor reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as required by the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). The last several NEA Form 990 federal tax returns, submitted to the IRS under penalty of perjury, disclose no political expenditures whatsoever. The NEA and several of its affiliates have ...

Storm hits federal ship loan program Builders want to preserve competitiveness, clout 06/24/01By Bill Walsh Washington bureau/The Times-Picayune WASHINGTON -- A chill wind blew through the U.S. maritime industry this year when President Bush announced he wants to eliminate a Depression-era government program that puts taxpayers on the hook for potentially risky private shipbuilding loans. The program, Title XI of the Merchant Marine Act, has for years attracted a mixture of skepticism and scorn from critics, especially in the late 1980s, when the program stuck the U.S. Treasury with bad debts and half-finished boats as the oil bust ground ...

Nutria season nears By JOE MACALUSO Advocate outdoors writer Come Sept. 1 a new world will open for Louisiana hunters. Nutria, the malevolent creature thriving in the state's marshlands and swamps, will become legal -- legal to hunt, that is. State wildlife officials said they know hunters have killed the large, pesky rodents for years. However, unless you had a state-issued permit to do away with the furry critter, it was illegal for hunters to shoot them. "Nuisance animal" permits have been granted to landowners for a decade. The other way to have nutria in possession was to have ...

House rebuffs Bush administration drilling in Gulf, national monuments By CURT ANDERSON The Associated Press 6/22/01 7:51 AM WASHINGTON (AP) -- Siding with Florida's Republican governor against his brother, the House voted to delay a Bush administration effort to open part of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas exploration. The House also voted to block a Bush administration plan to pursue new oil, gas and coal development in national monuments. Both amendments were attached to an $18.9 billion Interior spending bill for fiscal 2002, which passed Thursday on a 376-32 vote and moves next to the Senate. Florida ...

- - JUDICIAL WATCH DESERVES AN APOLOGY - - ATTACKED BY CLINTON SPOKESMAN FOR SEEKING INVESTIGATION OF CLINTON STAFF VANDALISM Bush White House Finally Admits Clinton Staff Vandalism Six Months Later Federal Court Judge Considering Hearing Into Destruction of Hard Drive Data, E-mail and Other Computer Evidence By Departing Clinton-Gore Staff (Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today demanded an apology from Bill Clinton spokesman Jake Siewert for an attack on it last week in The Washington Post over its investigations into the destruction of government property by departing staffers ...

Russia Offers Iraq Surprise Proposal By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Russia introduced a surprise Security Council resolution Tuesday to counter a U.S.-backed British proposal aimed at lifting sanctions on civilian goods entering Iraq while toughening enforcement of an arms embargo.The resolution by Russia, one of Iraq's main council supporters, does not mention lifting sanctions or stepping up monitoring of Iraq's borders. Instead, it calls for a six-month extension of the existing U.N. oil-for-food humanitarian program with a few extra demands designed to please Baghdad.The British proposal, submitted earlier and which has the support of ...

Social Security Seeks Protection By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Identity theft has become a national crisis, with more Americans than ever losing personal information to scam artists, Congress was told Tuesday.For $39.95, a thief can buy someone's Social Security (news - web sites) number on the Internet, use it within minutes to get a credit card, then start buying big-ticket items like cars and jewelry.``It's risk-free,'' said James Huse Jr., the Social Security Administration (news - web sites)'s inspector general, after a demonstration of Internet options. ``Why wouldn't criminals do this?''He told the House Ways and ...

Bush Nominates Banker To Head FDIC WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush (news - web sites) on Tuesday nominated Texas bank executive Donald E. Powell to be chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.Bush nominated Powell for a five-year term as chairman and for a six-year term as a member of the FDIC board of directors. The position is subject to Senate confirmation.Powell would replace Donna Tanoue, appointed by former President Clinton (news - web sites), whose term expired in October. She had agreed to remain in the position until a successor was confirmed.Powell, 59, is president and chief executive officer ...

House Ratifies Bush Testing Plan By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Tuesday ratified President Bush (news - web sites)'s plan for annual math and reading tests for millions of elementary and junior high schoolers, the cornerstone of the new administration's legislation to improve student performance in classrooms across the country.The 255-173 vote marked a solid victory for the president and a bipartisan coalition on the first of several key challenges to the measure that Bush has declared his top domestic priority.``The core of this bill is to require real accountability from every school district ...

O'Neill: Further Tax Relief Coming By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Confidently predicting final passage this week of President Bush (news - web sites)'s massive tax cut, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said Monday that the administration viewed it as the ``first tax bill, not the last.''O'Neill predicted that bigger-than-expected revenues in coming years will allow the administration to provide more tax relief to the country, including reducing the time it will take to completely eliminate the estate tax.``We believe we will demonstrate in the next few years that we are still generating more money than we need ...

U.S. Senate to Vote on $1.35 Trillion Tax Cut Bill By Andrea Shalal-EsaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate is due to continue debate and vote on Monday on a $1.35 trillion 11-year tax cut, which would cut income tax rates across the board and give taxpayers a break this year.Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott on Sunday predicted easy passage of the tax cut measure, aided by the support of 10 or more Democrats.``It will pass,'' the Mississippi Republican told NBC's ``Meet the Press'' program. ``I believe overwhelmingly.''The bill's sponsors have been striving to keep a fragile coalition of backers from ...

Ford Recalls 50,000 New Explorers By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F - news) is recalling 50,000 brand new Explorers because an assembly line conveyor belt that was too narrow for the wider 2002 model may have cut the tire tread.It's the second recall of a 3-month-old redesigned model that was scrutinized to prevent such problems after last year's Firestone tire recall.The recall includes 50,000 four-door Explorers built at Ford's plant in Louisville, Ky. When the sport utility vehicles were loaded too far to the right on the conveyor belt, it left cuts five ...

Big Guns Aim At Campaign Finance Reform It's the gun industry versus campaign finance reform. At their convention, NRA leaders are taking potshots at John McCain and his reform proposal. Saying its members helped preserve "liberty" by electing George W. Bush to the White House, leaders of possibly the nation's most powerful lobby are turning on another prominent Republican in what it characterizes as an effort to defend that liberty. Meeting in Kansas City, the National Rifle Association is slamming Sen. John McCain (news - bio - voting record), R-Ariz., and attempting to lead a popular assault on McCain's high-profile ...

Republicans Defend Olson Nomination WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans defended the nomination of Theodore Olson for solicitor general on Sunday, brushing aside Democratic assertions that he misled senators during his confirmation hearings.``I believe him to be, having known him for over 20 years, very truthful,'' former independent counsel Kenneth Starr told ABC's ``This Week.'' ``So let's find out any additional facts. I think that the facts will be very supportive of Ted and Ted's credibility.''The nomination of Olson, the lawyer who successfully argued the Florida election case in the Supreme Court on behalf of now-President Bush (news - web sites), deadlocked ...

Bush Commencement Text By The Associated Press, Text of President Bush (news - web sites)'s speech at Notre Dame University's commencement ceremony Sunday, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks, Inc.BUSH: Thank you all. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please be seated.Thank you, Father Malloy (ph), and thank you all for that warm welcome, Chairman McArtin (ph), Father Scully (ph), Dr. Hatch (ph), Notre Dame trustees, members of the class of 2001.It is a high privilege to receive this degree. I'm particularly pleased that it bears the great name of Notre Dame. My brother, Jeb, may be the Catholic in the family, ...

Cheney Says Energy Woes Solution at Home, Not OPEC Photos Reuters Photo By Barbara HagenbaughWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pressuring oil-producing nations to expand output is not the answer to America's energy problems that instead must be resolved by increasing domestic output, U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney said on Sunday.Speaking three days after President Bush (news - web sites) unveiled a plan to expand U.S. energy output, Cheney rebuffed suggestions that the administration should also pressure OPEC (news - web sites) countries to increase their oil output to address an immediate problem of high gasoline prices.``We have talked to OPEC, we do ...

Lott Sees 'Overwhelming' Passage of Tax Cut Bill WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott on Sunday predicted the U.S. Senate would approve a $1.35 trillion 11-year tax cut by an overwhelming margin on Monday, aided by the support of 10 or more Democrats.``It will pass,'' the Mississippi Republican told NBC's ``Meet the Press'' program. ``I believe overwhelmingly.''The Senate is scheduled to continue debate and vote on the compromise Senate tax cut package, which cuts income tax rates across-the-board and gives taxpayers a break this year, on Monday. The bill's sponsors have been striving to keep a fragile coalition ...

Cheney Says Israel Should Stop F-16 Attacks WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israel should halt the use of U.S.-built F-16 warplanes for attacks as violence in the Middle East escalates, Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said on Sunday.When asked if Israel should stop using F-16s, Cheney replied, ''Yeah, I think they should stop, both sides should stop and think about where they are headed here.''But Cheney declined to discuss if the United States would take steps to force Israel to keep the American-supplied F-16's grounded.``It's a very delicate situation,'' he said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' television program.Israel deployed ...

Sunday May 20 10:46 AM ET U.S. Spy Plane Unlikely to Fly Out of China-Cheney WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The damaged U.S. spy plane that made an emergency landing in China last month will probably not be able to fly home and will have to be shipped out in crates, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said on Sunday.``The airplane will be returned, there have been negotiations under way,'' Cheney said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' television program. ``My guess is it may well have to be crated out, partly because it's in bad shape.''China has said it ...