Free Republic

One candidate's refusal to speak entirely in Spanish became an issue Friday night in an historic Spanish-language debate between the leading candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Texas. Dan Morales, a former two-term Texas attorney general, answered reporters' questions in both Spanish and English during the hour-long debate with Tony Sanchez, a Laredo millionaire. Sanchez said Morales had violated the negotiated rules that they would only answer questions in Spanish. The Spanish-language debate was billed as the first ever in the nation between gubernatorial candidates and recognition of the growing political power of Hispanics in the United States. The ...

If Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall was right 180 years ago when he observed that "the power to tax involves the power to destroy," then the 19 members of the federal Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce should ask themselves today: Will taxing the Internet kill this revolutionary medium in the cradle? Regrettably, some members of the commission, appointed by Congress last year to study the feasibility of taxing electronic commerce, appear unconcerned with such questions. Egged on by governors and mayors, they are pushing proposals to start taxing the Internet as soon as a congressionally imposed three-year moratorium on ...

(For education and discussion purposes only) "Virile and fertile" anti-Christian sentiment is growing around the country, religious groups said Thursday, a day after a gunman spouting blasphemous rhetoric burst into a youth service at a Fort Worth Baptist church and fatally shot seven persons. "I believe there is a growing climate of hostility that is directed against Christians . . . who find themselves as the targets of a great hostility in this culture," said William Merrell, a spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention. A "disturbing double standard" is evident in the way attacks on Christians are viewed compared with ...

(For education and discussion purposes only) NEW YORK — House Republican leaders warned an Internet tax commission Tuesday that the GOP-led Congress is in no mood to expand taxes on electronic commerce, including sales taxes on purchases across state borders. "This idea is not a popular one in Congress or among the American people," wrote three dozen GOP lawmakers in a letter to the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, which is holding its second of four meetings. The 19-member panel of business and government officials was created by Congress last year to recommend future tax policy on Internet business ...

(For education and discussion purposes only.) ALL POLITICIANS come out 200 percent in favor of education, especially when an election is coming up. What that usually means is that they are prepared to dump more billions of taxpayer dollars down the bottomless pit of our failing public schools, whether or not that makes any difference whatever in the educational outcome. During all the years when this approach has failed educationally, it has succeeded politically. Above all, it succeeds in winning the support of the country's biggest union, the National Education Association, which has millions of dollars to contribute to political ...

(For education and discussion purposes only) By Michael Farris Jill Floyd, a social worker for the Yolo County (Calif.) Department of Social Services (DSS), had the "goods" on the Calabretta family. An anonymous tipster had heard a child's voice yelling "No, Daddy, no" late at night. Another time, the tipster had heard a child's voice yelling "No, no, no" from the back yard. Additionally, the tipster knew that the Calabrettas home-schooled their children and were very religious. Ms. Floyd went to the home four days after DSS received this report. She demanded entry. Shirley Calabretta, a member of Home School ...

Judge Jails Homeschooler (For education and discussion purposes only) By ELIZABETH LECLAIR Messenger Staff Writer ST. ALBANS - The look of disbelief was evident on Karen Maple's face as the Vermont District Court bailiff on Wednesday escorted her into custody of the Vermont Department of Corrections. Maple, the 36-year-old Bakersfield mother who has been battling the court and state education department for the right to homeschool her 15-year- old son, Trevor, was found in contempt of court for failure to bring him to a juvenile court hearing on August 13. "This is one of the few occurrences that we've seen ...

For Information and Discussion Only. Not for Reproduction. (CNS) - Constitutional scholars are stunned at the ferocity of the reaction by Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell to a challenge by the Southeastern Legal Foundation to the legality of the city's affirmative action program. In the four weeks since foundation president Matt Glavin sent the mayor a letter suggesting the city's race preference program was illegal and unconstitutional, Glavin and his associates have been on the receiving end of hate tactics reminiscent of those employed by reactionary whites against blacks during the civil rights campaigns of the 1960s, Glavin told CNSNews.com. Indeed, ...

Washington, DC - Amidst familiar promises from Congressional leaders for a post-July-4th push for spending restraint and broad-based tax cuts, a study released today by the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union (NTU) warned that the fiscal legacy of the 106th Congress could be quite the opposite. "Since their election to majority status in Congress in 1994, Republicans have been a little like the Chicago Cubs - continually promising better results next year and continually failing to produce those results," observed NTU Director of Congressional Relations Eric V. Schlecht. "The conservatives who supported these Republicans, on the other hand, have displayed their ...

FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY (CNS) - A new report analyzing television coverage of the recently released Cox Committee report on Chinese espionage and the 1987 congressional report on the Iran-Contra scandal shows a large disparity in coverage of the two events by the three major broadcast TV networks. The report by the Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group Media Research Center showed that ABC, CBS and NBC aired a total of five stories the evening the Cox report was released. But 12 years ago, the networks air three times as many stories on the day of the Iran-Contra report, raising fresh ...

Note: This is an exact replication of National Public Radio(NPR) interview between a female broadcaster, and US Army General Reinwald who was about to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military installation. Interviewer: "So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base? General Reinwald: "We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting".... Interviewer: "Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it..."? General Reinwald: "I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range"... Interviewer: "Don't you admit that is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children"... ...

>Not for reproduction< Republicans actually helped their image with voters -- and boosted their election prospects in the 2000 election -- by impeaching President Clinton, a leading Democratic pollster said Thursday. At the same time, Democrats are suffering from a delayed voter disgust with Mr. Clinton's scandals that has improved GOP chances for the presidency and Congress in next year's elections, according to Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. As a result of the "time-release" change in attitude among voters, moral values have become the dominant issue for voters and could spell defeat for Vice President Al Gore and his fellow ...

THE BELTWAY BEAT ======================================================= Decision on Committee Chairs Threatens to Slow Appropriations Process Speaker Dennis Hastert's, R-Ill., troubles organizing his conference have been, to say the least, readily apparent during recent debates on gun control and the appropriations process. Hastert can now add another topic to the list of issues that has angered conservatives in his caucus: committee chairmanships that will be up for grabs after the 2000 election and how they will be assigned. Very quietly last week, House leaders announced that current committee chairs will be able to obtain chairmanships on other committees or subcommittees after their six-year ...