Free Republic

His big smile totally makes cents. The California resident who became an overnight millionaire after winning the $2 billion Powerball prize flashed a wide grin as he was spotted dipping into his large fortune on Wednesday. Edwin Castro was photographed taking out a fat envelope of cash from a Chase bank Wednesday with his newly hired security team in tow. The lucky 30-year-old, who was dressed down in a quarter-zip Under Armour shirt, joggers and flip-flops while running his bank errand, added a whopping $997.6 million to his account when he won the largest lottery prize in US history last...

Facing the first real rough patch of his presidency, President Obama and his supporters are once again resorting to a tried-and-true tactic: attacking George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. In his White House press conference last week, Mr. Obama referred to the Bush era at least nine times, three times lamenting that he "inherited" a $1.3 trillion debt that has set back his administration's efforts to fix the economy.

Here's the ticket: a private evening rockin' the night away with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during the kickoff of the Rolling Stones' "A Bigger Bang'' U.S. tour on Aug. 21 at Boston's Fenway Park. Here's the bottom line: $10,000 a pop to get in on a private preconcert reception and front-and-center seats to watch the show -- or $100,000 to sit with the governor in his luxury box. The eyebrow-raising event is one of a cluster of glitzy fundraisers the star-power governor will headline in the next few weeks as he seeks to arm his campaign fund with $50 million in...

He who pays the fiddler calls the tune, so they say. And, if anyone thinks it's any different in Washington, they probably have their head stuck someplace it doesn't belong. Most of us would call what lawmakers get bribes. They don't, though. They call the donations -- the ones accounted for on the record -- "campaign contributions." They call their paid vacation trips -- family and all -- "fact finding tours." Then, of course, there are all the paid golfing outings, ski trips, sporting events, and whatnot, most of which are thousands of miles away from their state. Those are...

I Have a Dream Inc: is King's estate cashing in on his legacy? By Andrew Buncombe in Washington 28 August 2003 The words remain as powerful and inspirational today as they were to the people who heard them on that hot summer evening 40 years ago. "I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice," the Rev Martin Luther King told 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on 28 August 1963. "I have...