Free Republic

By any standard, the story of Pedro Miguel González is astonishing. The son of a prominent Panamanian politician, González, according to U.S. prosecutors, murdered a United States Army sergeant on a road outside Panama City on June 10, 1992, the day before Pres. George H. W. Bush was to visit the country. With his father’s help, González fled Panama, eventually coming back to be acquitted in a sham trial. Though the Clinton administration labeled him a terrorist, González became an important political figure in Panama, ultimately winning election as president of the national assembly — an event that so angered...

In his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, attorney-general nominee Eric Holder responded to the two top criticisms leveled against him by (1) defending clemency for members of a terrorist group and (2) saying, “I will be a better attorney general for having had the Marc Rich experience.” Holder has been criticized for several controversial and suspected politicized decisions he made as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration. Chief among these have been his role, which he says he regrets, in President Clinton’s pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich. Rich’s ex-wife, Denise Rich, had made large campaign donations to the Democratic...

Here is video of Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder responding to questions today from Sen. Arlen Specter about Holder's involvement in the notorious Mark Rich pardon that was granted by President Bill Clinton in the final hours of the Clinton Presidency. Holder worked in the Clinton Justice Department as Deputy Attorney General, and was involved in recommending the Rich Pardon. . . . . . (watch video)

We'll find no greater example of what happens when the government runs any non-military operation that requires coordination, business acumen, technical skill, financial management and inventory control than we've seen in the "digital transition." In this arena, the government has once again made the Three Stooges look like the U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Team. After the broadcast industry spent billions in technical costs and on-air inventory to run a huge amount of FCC-required PSA's, many in Congress, along with President-Elect Obama, want to push back the transition date: The Obama team decided to push for a delay after the...

Only two months after smoking areas were erected at two hospitals, the desire to go smoke-free on the premises will eliminate the smoking rooms entirely and replace them with smoking shelters. NHS Lothian (Scottland) will eliminate smoking rooms at Royal Edinburgh as well as at Astley Ainslie. The will then provide smoking shelters in it's phased shut down of the indoor smoking areas. The Health Board claims the action will assist smokers in quitting. The Health Board states, "These shelters will act as a platform to promote our stop smoking services, to encourage people to seek help to give up...

<p>SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. — A 12-year-old boy who fatally shot his mother after an argument over his chores was found guilty of premeditated murder. Judge James Conlogue found the boy guilty after a hearing Friday in Cochise County Superior Court in the southern Arizona town of Bisbee. The boy is not being identified because he was charged as a juvenile.</p>

<p>That's what 14-year-old Raylene Jaramillo's mother says may have led to the death of her daughter early Saturday.</p> <p>The point-blank shooting of the former Valley High freshman occurred during an underage drinking party at a house in the South Valley where police have been called more than a dozen times before, Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said Monday.</p>

There is a rush on in some quarters of the liberal mainstream press to blame President Bush for anything and everything that could cause grief to the incoming Obama Administration. The New York Times, one of the usual suspects, takes its turn today with an article that attempts to lay blame at the feet of Bush for a chain of events that has it's root in the decisions of President Bill Clinton.

During the eight years since Bill Clinton left the White House, he has worked tirelessly to save the lives of children in some of the most miserable places on the planet. He has traveled to Africa more than most of us travel to see relatives, in order to bring much-needed medicines for AIDS and malaria to those who would die without them and to support economic development in places like Rwanda and Malawi. He has used his contacts with philanthropists, billionaires and barons, governments and foundations, to raise hundreds of millions of dollars not for himself, but for those in...

I occasionally post satirical articles regarding issues of the day, but this one is NOT satire. It is a pdf document from NOW (National Organization of Nutca..I mean, Women) urging creation of this department to ensure women are treated equally. Funny, when Sarah Palin ran, they went after her with pure venom, showing no interest in womens' equality. Perhaps this office ought to be called "Office of Liberal Women Only"..

Clinton ImpeachedHouse Approves Articles Alleging Perjury, Obstruction The House of Representatives impeached the president of the United States yesterday for only the second time in American history, charging William Jefferson Clinton with "high crimes and misdemeanors" for lying under oath and obstructing justice to cover up an Oval Office affair with a young intern. At 1:25 p.m. on a day of constitutional drama and personal trauma, the Republican-led House voted 228 to 206 largely along party lines to approve the first article of impeachment accusing the Democratic president of perjury before a grand jury. Within the hour, lawmakers went on...

The high school in Salem, N.H., was abuzz last month as a photograph of a topless 15-year-old girl was sent from cellphone to cellphone. School staff intervened, and by the time they met with students in assemblies the next day they had discovered another compromising cellphone photo, this one of an eighth-grade girl. They soon found two more photos of naked or nearly naked girls on students' phones. Two weeks later, a similar incident occurred at nearby Sanborn Regional High School. The photograph in question was of a teenage boy. A report being released today shows that these were not...

When it comes to sex, tech and teens don't make the best bedfellows. As tech-savvy teens become increasingly fluent with new technology, from social networking sites to tricked-out new cell phones, research finds the negative consequences stacking up. According to the results of a survey released today by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com, 22 percent of all teen girls — and 11 percent of teen girls ages 13-16 years old — say they have electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude images of themselves. And these racy images are also getting passed around:...

NEW YORK (Dec. 1) - In the past year, 30 percent of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store and 64 percent have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are too apathetic about ethical standards. Educators reacting to the findings questioned any suggestion that today's young people are less honest than previous generations, but several agreed that intensified pressures are prompting many students to cut corners.

American teenagers lie, steal and cheat more at "alarming rates," a study of nearly 30,000 high school students concluded Monday. The attitudes and conduct of some 29,760 high school students across the United States "doesn't bode well for the future when these youngsters become the next generation's politicians and parents, cops and corporate executives, and journalists and generals," the non-profit Josephson Institute said. In its 2008 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, the Los Angeles-based organization said the teenagers' responses to questions about lying, stealing and cheating "reveals entrenched habits of dishonesty for the workforce of the future..."

Phoenix, AZ (AHN) - An 8-year-old boy who confessed to shooting to death his father and a man renting a room from his father in Arizona earlier this month, had told authorities he kept a log recording the instances his father and stepmother hit him. According to a search affidavit from a St. Johns, Ariz. Police officer, the boy told Child Protective Services agents that 1,000 spankings was his threshold.

Will a clause in the Constitution prevent Sen. Hillary Clinton from being secretary of state? Jeffrey Toobin reports.

President-elect Barack Obama plans to nominate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of state on Monday. Hillary's nomination will be made in the face of the Constitutional prohibition in the Emoluments Clause (Article I, Section 6, clause 2): -------------------------------------------------------- No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time: and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during...

BELGRADE -- An group calling itself the Army of the Republic of Kosovo has claimed responsibility for the bombing of the International Civilian Office (ICO) in Priština (on November 14th). Three German nationals were arrested on November 14 over the incident, but will probably be released due to a lack of evidence. The Albanian group sent a message via a personal e-mail account, threatening the Kosovo government, media and international organizations in the province. “As long as the UN plan is in force, we will attack with full might and there will be no security for Serbs that live in...

THE CONVENTIONAL wisdom has held that economic policy was a great success under Bill Clinton in the 1990s and a failure ever since. Hillary Clinton has made the comparison often, promising to end “the seven year detour” and “attack poverty by making the economy work again.” In January, in response to the president’s State of the Union Address, Barack Obama stated that it was “George Bush’s Washington that let the banks and financial institutions run amok and take our economy down this dangerous road.” Perhaps this reading of history makes for good politics in an election year, and it is...