Free Republic

Call him Al Gore, media baron. The former vice president is close to striking a $70 million deal to acquire Newsworld International, a tiny cable network owned by French media giant Vivendi Universal, media sources said. Gore and his backers want to turn the digital channel into a liberal-leaning network. His partners include ex-Democratic fund-raiser Joel Hyatt and media investment banker Steve Rattner, who's said to be lining up financing. Carried in just 20 million homes, NWI airs newscasts from around the world, including reports from the Canadian Broadcasting Co. The net is part of Vivendi Universal Entertainment, the show...

Two years ago one of my younger brothers and one of my sisters tried to take over my parents' finances and force them to live in a nursing home. When they failed, they took filed a petition with probate court in Connecticut to have my parents declared incompetent to handle their own affairs. When they failed, my father and mother disowned them and told them never to darken their doorstep ever again. About a year ago both my parents who were by then in failing health came to live with my wife and me. My mother was suffering from multi-infarct...