Free Republic

MILWAUKEE (Cour t TV) — A Democratic political consultant for the 2004 John Kerry presidential bid told jurors Tuesday that the five campaign workers accused of slashing the tires of vans rented by Republicans on Election Day boasted about the stunt. "They were boisterous, slapping high-fives, laughing and so forth," said Opel Simmons III, a campaign strategist, referring to the five defendants after they returned to campaign headquarters at about 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 2, 2004. Simmons, who said he saw the men leave the office about 30 minutes earlier, testified that he only learned of what they did after...

To the anti-war lobby, it was cause for jubilation. 'No Qa'eda-Iraq tie', crowed The New York Times. 'White House misled the world over Saddam', exulted our own Independent. And presidential candidate Senator John Kerry claimed that the Bush administration had 'misled America over the need for war'. The excitement was over a preliminary assessment of evidence about al-Qa'eda by the US commission investigating September 11. The only problem was that the press coverage was untrue. The report does not rule out links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qa'eda. On the contrary, as the commission's chairman, Thomas Kean, confirmed: 'There were contacts...

<p>Virginians would pay $2 billion a year in new taxes on sales, salaries, smokes and motor fuel under a plan tentatively approved yesterday by the state Senate on a voice vote.</p> <p>"I hate taxes, but I love Virginia more," said Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester. Capping nearly two hours of sometimes-testy debate, moderate Republicans teamed with Democrats to easily keep anti-tax Republicans from weakening the package, which also includes tax breaks for the poor as well as millionaires.</p>

FAIRFAX, Va., Feb. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Charles W. Jarvis, chairman and chief executive of Virginia's United Seniors Association, today announced an aggressive "Mark Warner Lied" campaign to expose Governor Mark Warner's flip-flop on taxes. "In October 2001, candidate Mark Warner said, 'I will not raise taxes.' In December 2003, Governor Warner proposed the biggest tax increase in Virginia's history. There's no way to deny it: Mark Warner Lied," Charlie Jarvis said. The "Mark Warner Lied" campaign includes radio and television ads as well as an aggressive grassroots campaign. "This is a critical battle in the fight against higher taxes,"...

<p>WASHINGTON - Claude A. Allen of Virginia received the lowest passing rating from an American Bar Association panel for his qualifications to sit on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.</p> <p>Allen, deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, was rated "qualified" by a "substantial majority" of the 15-member panel, and an undisclosed minority judged him "not qualified," a congressional aide said yesterday.</p>

Pickin' and Grinnin': College football goes to the courts June 12, 2003 The unthinkable has happened. College football is now mirroring society. Let's all officially welcome the group entering through the back door, with their shiny suits and plastic hair and their arguments for the sake of argument. Ladies and gentlemen, lawyers and politicians have their slithery sights set on our sacred game. The problem: They were invited by five jilted and jaded girlfriends from the Big East, who can't understand why The Bachelor didn't pick them. Officials from Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Rutgers have filed suit...

<p>WASHINGTON - Her publishing house isn't the only one hoping to cash in on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's memoirs.</p> <p>The Senate Republican election committee, led by Sen. George Allen, R-Va., would be pleased to see the former first lady's profile elevated in a way it can take to the bank - the fund-raising bank, that is.</p>

<p>Gov. Mark R. Warner yesterday prevailed in preserving Virginia's tax on dead millionaires' estates and giving raises to public employees.</p> <p>The Republican-controlled General Assembly overwhelmingly agreed with his proposal to guarantee 2.25 percent raises for public employees, including schoolteachers.</p> <p>And three Senate Democrats who had previously backed repeal of the inheritance tax switched their votes, denying the legislature the constitutionally required majority to overturn Warner's veto and put the controversial phaseout on the books.</p>