Free Republic

WASHINGTON--Baby boomer and former President Bill Clinton is laying plans to celebrate his 60th birthday in grand style with a charitable fundraising extravaganza in New York late next month that will include an invitation-only concert by the Rolling Stones and contributor packages that run to $500,000 and higher. Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, who has generally avoided high-profile participation in her parents' political and philanthropic activities, is serving as co-host of the three-day party. She will host a Saturday brunch on a weekend that also features a golf tournment at the Bayonne, N.J., Golf Club, multiple receptions and a dinner at the...

The Rev. Jesse Jackson praised New York Sen. Hillary Clinton yesterday as "Sister Hillary," after Clinton cited his efforts to overturn the presidential election by challenging the Electoral College vote in Ohio. Speaking at his annual Wall Street Project fundraiser, Jackson said "Sister Hillary" had been an important ally in his fight for those "traumatized by what happened to us as a people and a nation in Ohio." He called Clinton "a light in dark places," who has "stood on the right side of history," according to quotes picked up by the New York Sun. The praise for Clinton came...

Ex-president Bill Clinton sounded confident on Monday when he told a Philadelphia crowd that John Kerry would win the White House and "make America the comeback country." But yesterday in Florida, the recuperating heart patient sounded a little less certain. "I think it is slightly more likely that he will win, but this thing is tight as a tick," Clinton told the Magazine Publishers of American gathering in Boca Raton. One reason for the uncertainty: Dubya enjoys "negative campaigning" in a way his father, who Clinton defeated 12 years ago, never did. "It was a pretty negative campaign, but I...

The Washington Post essentially recaps the AP story last night on Trousergate, Sandy Berger's theft of classified documents from a secure room last October, although they manage to leave out the trousers from their article. However, the story has shifted into a more muted tone in the hands of Susan Schmidt and Dan Eggen: The FBI is investigating Clinton administration national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger's removal of classified documents from the National Archives, attorneys for Berger confirmed last night. Berger inadvertently took copies of several versions of an after-action memo on the millennium bombing plot from the Archives...

Questions are swirling about the role ex-President Clinton may have played in encouraging one-time international human rights icon Nelson Mandela's acid attack on President Bush Thursday, where the former South African president accused his friend's successor of having an impaired intellect and being a racist. In some of the strongest criticism ever leveled against a sitting U.S. president by any foreign leader, Mandela told the International Women's Forum in Johannesburg that Bush is "a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, (and) is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust." Complaining about Bush's plan to attack...

Two Silver Lake Regional School District teenagers may face charges for allegedly having sex on a school bus on the way to school as several of their classmates egged them on, according to police. A 15-year-old middle school girl performed oral sex on a 16-year-old high school boy Dec. 12 as the bus traveled its normal route to the high school and junior high school, which are in separate towns, according to police and school officials. The Silver Lake school district includes Kingston, Halifax, and Plympton. Those on the bus who cheered on the couple may also be charged, according...

Tony Blair and George Bush today face mounting opposition to the war on Iraq from both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain, a survey of Labour MPs showed almost zero backing for military attacks on Saddam Hussein's regime. And in the States, former president Bill Clinton led a growing chorus of demands to postpone action until Osama bin Laden, the terrorist godfather thought to be behind the 11 September atrocities, is caught. In another blow, the head of the intelligence committee in Congress, Bob Graham, also called for war to be postponed until Afghanistan was dealt with. Mr Blair, who...