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This is a question for my fellow Freepers: I have a Ukrainian family living here in Annapolis, Maryland with me. We crossed the border with Mexico at Tijuana in April. One person has a tourist visa issued by the U.S. Consulate in Ukraine. The other two were issued "Humanitarian Visas" by the Department of Homeland Security at the border. We applied for human services benefits through Maryland Gov. for food stamps etc. We applied for Social Security cards for two of our people so that they could apply for work in area businesses (both are college educated and speak acceptable...

Industries from banking to broadband,homebuilding to automaking asked for – and received – millions in the stimulus signed into law last month.One industry that’s been particularly hit by the bad economy, though, didn’t get a dime of that $800 billion – public television. It certainly could have used the help. Even one of PBS’ brightest stars, Ken Burns, is feeling the effects of the recession. As he toured the country this month promoting “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” word came that the upcoming series is the last General Motors Corp. will support. GM has backed Mr. Burns for 22...

Annapolis – An argument sparked by the Democratic National Convention turned violent when an Eastport man punched and chased his girlfriend around the house with a knife, Annapolis police said.City police responded to a call Wednesday afternoon from a woman who said her boyfriend attacked her. Jessica Christine Oldenberg told police that an argument began when her boyfriend Lorenzo Prince Glenn, was watching coverage of the Democratic convention and shouted “(expletive Republicans”.Ms. Oldenberg responded: “My dad is a Republican,” to which he responded, “(expletive your dad.)”According to the police report, Ms. Oldenberg “wanted to further upset him” and followed with...

Kunte Kinte, Alex Haley, and Leonard Blackshear - three lives that have forever changed the face of Annapolis.Last night, more than a hundred people joined the bronze children around the statue of Alex Haley as if they were listening to stories from the book that forever lay open in his lap during the annual commemoration of the arrival of Kunte Kinte in America in 1767.Snip"Would we be here today if Alex Haley and Leonard Blackshear had not decided to explore their rich heritage?" asked Anne Jenkins, a poet and long-time Annapolis resident.Snip"History is a powerful source and a shining light,"...

Adrienne T. Washington’s Friday column (“Whims of meddlers violate D.C. autonomy,” Metropolitan) illustrates exactly the attitude that must be overcome before the Third World streets of the District of Columbia are rehabilitated. Mrs. Washington uses the common “don’t tell us what to do” defense for supporting D.C. home rule, even though the District’s murder rate, the highest in the country, is even higher than that of Baghdad. There are children dead in the streets, a corrupt city government, a functionally illiterate populace and an equally dysfunctional city educational program. All Mrs. Washington appears to be concerned with it the Districts...

A Harvard-bound New Jersey teenager who successfully sued her high school because she wanted to be the sole valedictorian at graduation has been dumped by the Ivy League university, apparently for plagiarism. Blair Hornstein, 18, was back in the limelight yesterday after a Harvard admission review board revoked her acceptance into the freshman 2007 class, The Harvard Crimson reported. According to Harvard admission rules, a student’s acceptance can be revoked “if you engage in behavior” that brings into question your honesty, maturity, or moral character.” Questions were raised about Hornstein’s suitability when she was caught plagiarizing extensively from materials published...

Japan is No. 1 again. It was No. 1 in the 1980’s, for all the right economic reasons. Now it has taken pride of place again – for all the wrong reasons. But that shouldn’t prompt any self-satisfied smirking among the rest of us. The numbers, like a bad traffic accident, are mesmerizing. Tokyo is first in wealth contraction, down $18 trillion, or about four times gross domestic product. It’s first in real estate busts, first in financial busts (the Nikkei average is down 80 percent over the last 12 years), and first in national debt levels (nearly 140 percent...

Every where you turn these days someone on the left is denouncing President Bush as Hitler, Satan, a terrorist, or a tyrannical emperor. A Yale law professor said Bush is “the most dangerous person on Earth.” A famous editor referred to Bush as “a lawn jockey” and “Pinocchio,” magically transformed into a “great leader” by 9/11. Some of the angry rhetoric flirts with the fringe idea that the United States planned the terrorist attacks. A Purdue professor said that “There was no ground to be certain” that America and Israel aren’t behind the attacks. A Columbia law professor compared 9/11...

ANNAPOLIS – For Chris Haley, yesterday was the culmination of a storynearly 230 years in the making, as the third and last phase of the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial was dedicated at the foot of the City Dock here. About 150 people sweltered during the dedication ceremony along the concrete wall of the dock, where elected leaders unveiled 10 plaques on pedestals telling the story of the late Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Roots,” and his quest to document his family’s history from its African origins to present day. “It is unbelievable that it has grown into an almost national...

November 10, 2001 The Editor Letters@washingtontimes.com Gentlemen: I have read your “Nobles and Knaves” section in Saturday’s paper as well as the article on November 8th referring to former president Clinton’s speech at Georgetown University. I was reminded of a story I had read as a child about Philip Nolan, the “Man Without a Country”. Nolan, having proclaimed at his trial for sedition in 1817 that he never wished to hear of the United States again, was banished to sea aboard a U.S. Naval ship, never to hear the name of the United States or see the country again. He ...

VENTURA, Calif. – In what could turn out to be a landmark decision, a Ventura County Superior Court judge ordered a Ventura couple to support their 50-year old son indefinitely. Judge Melinda Johnson ruled two weeks ago that James and Bertha Culp of Ventura pay their son, David Culp, $3,500 a month for living expenses because he is incapable of supporting himself. Mr. Culp suffers from depression and bipolar disorder. They were ordered to begin payments this month from their monthly income of about $20,000. James Culp is a retired trailer park developer. The Culps are appealing the decision. The ...

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is considering recommending an honorary knighthood for his old friend, former President Bill Clinton, according to British and American sources. Mr. Blair is said to be concerned that such an award to the Democratic ex-president could harm relations with President bush, even though knighthood’s for former U.S. presidents have become a modern tradition. Ronald Reagan and President George Bush, Mr. Bush’s father, were honored after they left office. A Democratic Party source said that Mr. Clinton frequently telephones Mr. Blair even though he is no longer at the White House. Said the source: “Clinton usually ...

Texas once had a governor, James Edward “Pa” Ferguson, who was succeeded by his wife, “Ma” in 1924. A debate ensued. Should all those Mexican children streaming across the border go to school in English or start out speaking in Spanish? Holding up a Bible, Ma Ferguson settled the issue in her own inimitable fashion. “If English was good enough for Jesus Christ,” she declared, “its good enough for us.” Jimmy Carter likes to tell that old story these days to remind us just how easy it is for us to become trapped in our own view of the world ...

Friendship Heights Mayor Alfred Muller yesterday admitted to failing his loved ones and community, then a judge sentenced him to three years probation for fondling a boy in a bathroom at the Washington National Cathedral. D.C. Superior Court Judge Shellie Bowers, as expected, sentenced the mayor to probation with a list of conditions, such as no unsupervised contact with children under sixteen. Dr. Muller also must register in Maryland as a sex offender. The bathroom encounter “was not an accident” the 26-year mayor told the judge. “I fully admit that”. Dr. Muller,58, went on to list those he had failed, ...

The Anti-Defamation League yesterday acknowledged that it had taken $100,000 from fugitive financier Marc Rich shortly after its national director had suggested that Mr. Rich's ex-wife ask President Clinton for a pardon.Abraham Foxman, whose group monitors anti-semitism around the world, told reporters at ADL headquarters that he had "made a mistake" in writing a letter on ADL stationary supporting the pardon. Mr. Foxman had previously said nothing about the pardon. His suggestion came at least eight months before Mr. Rich's attorneys filed a pardon application with the Clinton White house. Mr. Clinton granted the pardon in his last hours - ...

Friendship Heights Mayor Alfred Muller, recognized nationally for trying to impose one of the country's strictest smoking bans, pleaded guilty yesterday to sexually abusing a teen-age boy at the Washington National Cathedral. The mayor entered a pre-indictment guilty plea in D.C. Superior Court to one count of misdemeanor sexual abuse. He faces a maximum of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine when sentenced before Judge Shellie Bowers on May 11. Dr. Muller, 58, has been advised by his attorney not to comment on the plea agreement, which reduces his charge from a felony. It was not clear yesterday ...

The current debate about President Clinton's much sought-after legacy overlooks his most salient accomplishments. He was the first person in history to make "oral sex" a newsworthy term, and he introduced it into the vernacular of grade-school children. Mr. Clinton also sustained a reasonable accusation of rape with a disinterested shrug. He gave unprecedented credibility to Larry Flynt and Hugh Hefner by affording these pornographers public comity. Mr. Clinton's administration made "Waco" synonomous with "Dachau." He oversaw the transfer of America's military secrets to China's communist government, and artfully misused the U.S. military to distract from his frequent peccadilloes. In ...

Tallahassee, Jan. 12- The head of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights today described as "laughable-ha, ha, ha" the sworn testimony of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris that she had delegated responsibility for the operation of the Nov. 7 election and could directly answer few questions from the panel. The commission chairwoman also said that if there were systematic problems with the presidential election here, then Gov. Jeb Bush (R) was responsible. "Voting in Florida is like there's some kind of goody in a box and you want to get it, but you've got to be persistent to get ...

Black conservatives have paid a heavy price for holding views that run counter to the line set by the civil rights establishment.For more than thirty years, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams, both economists and columnists, have faced hostile crowds, hate mail and death threats. Most of this comes from opposing afirmative action and arguing that racism cannot be blamed for crime, poverty, illegitimacy, and poor school performance. Since disagreement means ostracism, conservative black intellectuals can expect to be shunned as heretics and Uncle Toms and to have their books ignored or dismissed much of the time. Advancement in the academic ...

GENEVA (AP) A new television commercial from the United Nations that highlights the success stories of refugees features Secretary of State Madeline Albright, dancing and lip-synching in a grocery store to a soul classic. Tne U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released the commercial yesterday as the organization marked its 50th anniversary. The 60-second spot stars some of the world's most famous refugees. Mrs. Albright grooves to Aretha Franklin's "Respect" along with Sudanese-born model Alek Wek; Chilean writer Isabel Allende; Canadian rapper Keinaan, originally from Somalia; Guatamalan Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu, and British Internet businessman Sieng Van Tran, whose family ...