Free Republic

Wake up, Mr. President: Every day is Election Day One of the fortunate ways in which this Bush is better than his father is his commitment to winning the presidency and then to getting reelected. While the father seemed to regard politics as an unpleasant duty and saw campaigning as something one had to do every four years, like it or not, the son appeared to revel in meeting the voters and making his case to the people. His determination in holding fast to his policies while aggressively persuading the nation that they were the right ones was a welcome...

June 29, 2005--The latest edition of the Hillary Meter finds that the number of people expecting New York's Senator to win the Democratic Presidential nomination has jumped to 64%, the highest level yet recorded (review trends for all Hillary Meter questions) At the same time, the number of Americans who say they will definitely vote against Senator Hillary Clinton has increased to 39%. Two weeks ago, 36% held that view. The number who will definitely vote for the former First Lady remains unchanged at 30%. With 30% definitely in her favor and 39% definitely opposed, Senator Clinton needs to win...

JESSICA SIMPSON sizzles in the all-new 'Dukes of Hazzard' movie, but how did she manage to squeeze into those Daisy Dukes? ET went straight to the source -- her personal trainer -- to see how she got into shape for her feature film debut! "I think she was extremely motivated by the fact that she knew that she was going to be up on the big screen for millions of people to see in some very revealing clothes, so it wasn't very difficult at all," says MIKE ALEXANDER, a celebrity trainer based at The Sports Club/L.A., a popular location for...

SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- Tony Stewart found his way back to Victory Lane with the help of some right-hand turns. The former series champion took over the lead when pole winner and race favorite Jeff Gordon faltered with transmission trouble and went on to win Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, his first win since last August at Watkins Glen International, the only other road circuit on the Cup schedule. It wasn't a romp, though. Several cars, including those driven by veterans Rusty Wallace and Ricky Rudd, had pitted only a handful of laps before and...

SHELDON, Iowa - At least 200 gallons of animal fat were spilled into a storm sewer Thursday morning, state environmental officials said. ADVERTISEMENT A hose separated from a truck that was delivering the animal fat to the Midwest Farmers Co-op in Sheldon, according to a news release from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. More fat may have been spilled, but all of it didn't enter into a nearby storm sewer, where much of it had solidified. A small, but unknown amount of the fat reached the Floyd River, the news release said. A small dam was built by the...

For a video game, Pac-Man is getting downright old. The ghost-wary hero with an insatiable appetite for dots turns 25 this month. ADVERTISEMENT From the early 1980s "Pac-Mania" to today's endless sequels and rip-offs, the original master of maze management remains a bright yellow circle on the cultural radar. But there was more to Pac-Man's broad appeal than eating dots and dodging on-screen archrivals Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. "This was the first time a player took on a persona in the game. Instead of controlling inanimate objects like tanks, paddles and missile bases, players now controlled a `living' creature,"...

NEW YORK - Paris Hilton plans to give up public life for family life. The 24-year-old hotel heiress, star of "The Simple Life" reality series, tells Newsweek magazine that when she was younger, "I thought it was cute to play a dumb blonde. On TV, I do it because it's funny. I consider myself a businesswoman and a brand." But Hilton says she plans to give up her public life in two years, by which time she expects to become a mother with her fiance, Paris Latsis. "I don't enjoy going out anymore," she says in the June 20 issue...

I can't find a link, but I just heard that apparently George H. W. Bush (the current president's father) has invited Bill and Hillary Clinton up to spend the weekend with them in Maine. What is up with that? If I didn't know better, I'd say that presidents 41 & 42 are in love.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Robbers who strike while wearing only underwear, their bodies slathered with oil to make them slippery and harder to catch, have resurfaced in Cambodia, a newspaper reported Wednesday. Two unidentified, underwear-clad burglars robbed homes in the southern province Takeo on May 30, the Cambodia Daily quoted area police chief Sok Tum saying. Police thought they had quashed the "underwear gang" last year, the report said. Residents started a community watch program to prevent such crimes, Sok Tum was quoted saying. But "the underwear thieves resurfaced in my region because the villagers stopped," he said, adding...

For those not acquainted with Ann Brashares' best-selling young-adult novel "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and the teen fandom swirling around it, Carmen, Tibby, Lena and Bridget are best friends. This is no small matter. The young women now in high school were destined for lifelong friendship when their mothers met at an aerobics class for pregnant women in Bethesda, Md. As the big-screen adaptation of the novel opens, the quartet is about to spend their first summer apart. Narrator Carmen (America Ferrera) will head off to South Carolina for a much craved reunion with her father. Her parents...

CAUGHT ON TAPE: DEM CHAIR DEAN CALLS GOP 'WHITE CHRISTIAN PARTY'

LINDENWOLD, N.J. (AP) - Police made a surprising discovery when they busted the alleged madam of a prostitution ring called August Playmates: The woman running the show was an 80-year-old grandmother. Authorities arrested Vera Tursi last month during a sting operation to crack down on prostitution rings posing as legal escort services. Police say Tursi ran the business from her two-bedroom apartment, taking $60 of every $160 US she charged clients for one hour with a call girl. Law enforcement officials say Tursi admitted her role in the business, saying she took it over a few years ago from her...

DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Greg Biffle's surprising run to the top of Nextel Cup competition got a boost Sunday from a stunningly easy victory in a crash-filled race on The Monster Mile. Biffle got his series-leading fourth win of the season to close within 46 points of pacesetter Jimmie Johnson. The victory in the $5.5 million MBNA 400 was Biffle's first at Dover International Speedway and the seventh of his career. In a race slowed seven times for 33 of its 400 laps, Biffle won in part because he avoided traffic problems that resulted in hard crashes. Among those taken...

Friday June 03, 2005--Fifty-three percent (53%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That's his highest level of Approval in nearly three months. It remains to be seen whether this reflects a lasting change or merely statistical noise. Forty-six percent (46%) disapprove of the President's performance. The President's Approval Rating has been at the 50% level or above on six of the last seven days (and nine of the last twelve). Fifty-seven percent (57%) of men give the President's performance their Approval along with 49% of women. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A group of young male students ran naked around a crowded Manila university block near the presidential palace Wednesday, saying they wanted to "bare the government's shortcomings" in education funding. The 15 activists, mostly in their 20s and some with "Education for all" written on their bodies in red paint, snarled traffic and drew giggles from passing females. At one point, they attempted to cross a barricade on a street leading to the palace, but were stopped by riot police who forced them to briefly parade - covered only with caps and dark glasses - in...

June 1, 2005--If Senator Hillary Clinton runs for President in 2008, just 26% of Americans say they would definitely vote for her. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 41% would definitely vote against the former First Lady. Those are the weakest numbers recorded during any of the five Hillary Meter surveys. Two weeks ago, those figures were 30% definitely for and 37% definitely against. Virtually the entire decline in support for Mrs. Clinton took place among male voters. Our previous survey found that 27% of men planned to definitely vote for her. Only 20% held that view in the current...

Hotel heiress Paris Hilton, star of "The Simple Life" reality show, is engaged to Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis, her spokesman said Monday. "They are happy and excited," said Rob Shuter, confirming the story first reported on People magazine's Web site. Latsis, 27, proposed to Hilton, 24, on Wednesday after she returned from a three-week publicity tour in Europe to promote her horror flick, "House of Wax," and her new fragrance. No wedding date has been set. It would be the first marriage for both. Latsis is a grandson of John Latsis, the last of Greece's shipping billionaires from the...

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Female inmates in Thailand's prisons are so short of underwear that the head of the main women's prison appealed to the public for donations - new or recycled. The director of the Central Women's Prison, Ankhanueng Lebnak, said Friday that the government refuses to provide a budget to buy each female prisoner more than two pairs of underpants each year because they are considered a luxury item, the official Thai News Agency reported. An appeal for assistance yielded donations of 74,010 new and used garments, and Ankhanueng began distributing the extra underwear to prisons across the...

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson slid past Bobby Labonte in the final turn to win the Coca-Cola 600 for the third consecutive year Sunday night. This one was nowhere near as easy as his previous wins. Unlike his past two dominating victories, Johnson had to come from fourth place to chase down Labonte after a restart with five laps to go. Labonte did his best to hold off Johnson, who needed just three laps around Lowe's Motor Speedway to pull onto the leader's bumper. Johnson got there on the final lap and edged past coming out of the final...