Free Republic

In a vivid sign of waning support for the economic embargo on Cuba, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said he believes that the United States should open trade with the Communist regime and that he has backed the restrictions on travel and trade only out of loyalty to two Cuban American members of the House. Speaking at a trade promotion event in Wichita, Kan., on Wednesday, Armey acknowledged that congressional support for the 4-decade-old restrictions is fading. "If they last a year, it will be the last year they last," said Armey, who plans to retire from Congress at...

Global Heat or Heavy Raines? Yesterday's environmental disturbance may have been caused by human intervention. By Mickey Kaus Updated Tuesday, June 4, 2002, at 4:29 PM PT Is the two-day global warming controversy an example of Raines Power -- the ability of the new populist, activist, bigfooting editor of the NYT to singlehandedly shape the national debate? That's what Andrew Sullivan suggests: A reporter finds some tiny and insignificant change in the wording of administration policy, and Raines puts it on his front page. Drudge takes the bait and Rush follows. Sullivan's on to something, I suspect. The original NYT...

THE NATION A Natural Split With Bush, and Many Quit Environment: Longtime, key officials who favor conservation say they are frustrated by new rules. ELIZABETH SHOGREN 06/03/2002 Los Angeles Times Home Edition Page A-1 Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON -- James Furnish is hardly the kind of person you'd expect to quit his government job on principle during the Bush administration. A political conservative and an evangelical Christian, he voted for President Bush and plans to do the same in 2004. As a deputy chief of the U.S. Forest Service, he was eager to give his new bosses the...

The alleged mastermind of modern evil, clad in military camouflage, AK rifle propped beside him, a concession to modern technology — TV — referred to God, God, God. He followed his Divine references by issuing threat, threat, threat, “death to the infidels.” Shortly afterwards, the leader of civilization, clad in expensive suit and tie, replied on TV from the White House. God, God, God, he said, followed by “We’re gonna, we’re gonna, we’re gonna … smoke ‘em out.” The bearded man and the clean-shaven one agree that women should not have the right to decide on whether or not they ...

...... "I think the criticism has to be leveled at Marion Bradley," says Huston, laughing because she's well aware that she's passing the buck—to a person who's dead. (Bradley died in 1999.) Then she adds, "Christianity is punitive. Women were burned at the stake for witchcraft. Where once women were revered as healers, as doctors, as mystics, all of a sudden, with the onset of Christianity, male power came into being. And guilt. Christianity is so largely based on guilt." ...

Imagine a cheap, light computer made largely of paper. Imagine complicated electronic circuits woven into fabric that could easily monitor a hospital patient's condition. Imagine a profound change in the design of electronic gizmos, which might soon be freed from the tyranny of the circuit board and the silicon chip. That's a lot to ask from one little invention. But a new cellular phone, which could be available to consumers before the end of the year, holds such promise. I recently held a working prototype of the new phone--about the size of a credit card--and listened to the ringing at ...

     POMONA -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the GOP presidential candidate, vowed to win California as he spoke Thursday to an enthusiastic crowd of thousands of cheering supporters waving blue-and-white Bush-Cheney signs at the Los Angeles County Fair.      In rolled-up shirt sleeves and no tie, Bush gave a 10-minute stump speech under a sweltering sun in the Heritage Farm section of Fairplex. He was surrounded by a racially diverse group on stage with a red barn as his backdrop. After his speech, Bush cut a purple ribbon to officially open the fair.      Bush said his campaign "stands by the ...