Free Republic

Imagine if Bill Clinton had nominated his personal attorney and White House counsel to a post on the U.S. Supreme Court. Somehow, I can't imagine my conservative friends supporting the nominee – particularly if there were questions about controversial documents being destroyed that might actually shed light on scandals of the past. The stunning series of articles by WND columnist Jerome Corsi, raising serious and nagging questions about Harriet Miers' role as chairman of the Texas Lottery Commission and the cover-up of the way that story intersects with George W. Bush's National Guard service, points up why this kind of...

The rumor mill had it right. Buyouts aimed at reducing staffing at the Philadelphia Inquirer and its Knight Ridder stablemate The Daily News were announced this morning. In a memo to staff Tuesday, Daily News Editor Michael Days called it "a lousy day." He said full-time Guild-covered employees were eligible. "The goal is to reduce our staff by about 25 employees before the end of the year," he wrote. "The Inky's goal is about 75 staffers.

Rick Rodriguez: Griego Erwin resigns amid internal inquiry into her columns By Rick Rodriguez -- Bee Executive Editor Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, May 12, 2005 Diana Griego Erwin, whose column has appeared in this space three days a week, resigned Wednesday amid an internal inquiry into whether some people mentioned in several recent columns actually existed. During our inquiry we found we could not authenticate the existence of several people even though they were identified by name, age and sometimes by the neighborhoods in which they were reported to have lived. We used extensive online database searches as well...

Posted on Tue, Mar. 22, 2005 THE HUSBAND Friends: Michael Schiavo good, loyal The friends of Michael Schiavo spoke out on his behalf, describing him as a decent man who never abandoned his stricken wife. BY SANDY BAUERS Knight Ridder News Service PHILADELPHIA - Friends praise Michael Schiavo He has been vilified on websites and talk shows. He has been called a wife-abuser, an adulterer, a money-grubbing murderer. Death threats have been left in his mailbox. Throngs of protesters have waved signs and chanted outside his house in Clearwater, and they have gathered again. Sometimes, even Michael Schiavo's friends have...

RIDING THE RAIL Late-night rail service's fate riding on Metro evaluation Low ridership could spell end to 'last call' trains By LUCAS WALL Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Late-night bar patrons downtown might be running out of time to use the train as their designated driver. Metro is reviewing whether to continue late rail service on Friday and Saturday nights. The extended weekend hours began in June at the request of city officials and downtown businesses who hoped the availability of the rail ride might lure more customers. It hasn't happened. "Ridership has been disappointing, but Metro leadership is now working...

I am starting a thread on worthless, liberal local newspapers. Jump in with your favorite -- or least-favorite.

Bush re-election machine busy tearing down another war hero Sunday, August 22, 2004 JOE HALLETT If John Kerry wins the Democratic nomination, I mused on Jan. 17, President Bush will do back flips to avoid comparisons of their respective military records. On a stage in Des Moines, Iowa, that night, I watched a retired policeman embrace the Massachusetts senator, creating the most poignant moment of the Democratic campaign for president. Jim Rassmann had come from Oregon to tell the world that 35 years earlier, then-Navy Lt. Kerry, wounded, turned his swift boat around against enemy fire and fished Rassmann out...

The Columbia Journalism Review styles itself as "America's premier media monitor." It considers itself an objective observer of journalistic trends and bias, but it has achieved a well-deserved reputation for a blatantly left-of-center focus. So, it should hardly be surprising that its recent analysis of political spin, which, admittedly, pervades the 2004 presidential campaign, proved to be a poorly disguised hit-piece on the Bush White House. The article, "Tsunami," which appears in the July-August issue, was written by Bryan Keefer, an assistant managing editor of CJR's Campaign Desk and co-editor of Spinsanity.org. Declaring that "[t]he campaign '04 information war is...

ChronicallyBiased.com has learned of an apparent new Houston Chronicle policy regarding light rail's notorious accident rate. The Chronicle will no provide coverage of many Metrorail collisions. News of the policy appears in an message by the Chronicle's Lucas Wall on Wednesday: From: Wall, Lucas; XXXX@XXXXX Date: Wed Aug 4, 2004 3:46 pm Subject: MetroRail Crash NumbersI’m not going to continue this debate. But FYI, the Chronicle is no longer reporting every light rail collision in the paper. This decision has to do with space constraints and the fact we do not report on every fender bender car crash. But we...

A Pause for HindsightPublished: July 16, 2004 ver the last few months, this page has repeatedly demanded that President Bush acknowledge the mistakes his administration made when it came to the war in Iraq, particularly its role in misleading the American people about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and links with Al Qaeda. If we want Mr. Bush to be candid about his mistakes, we should be equally open about our own.During the run-up to the war, The Times ran dozens of editorials on Iraq, and our insistence that any invasion be backed by "broad international support" became...

June 29, 2004 -- Newsday whacked its editorial and operations staff by 46 people, making the cuts among the deepest absorbed yet by any in Tribune Co.'s relentless cost-cutting drive. Newsday Publisher Ray Jansen said that approximately 40 union and non-union employees in the operations and editorial departments had accepted the paper's voluntary buyout offers. But the paper apparently had to dig deeper than the 40 volunteers to satisfy the corporate cost cutting mandate from Chicago. "Unfortunately," said Jansen, "It was necessary to lay off six people in other departments and eliminate their jobs." The paper is wasting no time...

San Antonio's most comical liars do not hang out at the Bexar County Courthouse or jail. No, that distinction belongs to the gang that can't shoot straight over at Avenue E and Third St.-- publisher W. Lawrence Walker's San Antonio Express-News. And those clowns actually are swagger-strutting proud of their transparent lying. Two of their pet year-to-year lies have been spectacularly disproved to the point of hold-your-sides hilarity. But before enjoying a good laugh at the rickety prevarications, first give a good up-and-down look at the quiet-spoken but pompous little creeps who write them. Walker pays some of them more...

George Bush is selling out Iraq. Gone are his hard-liners' dreams of setting up a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic republic, a light unto the Middle Eastern nations. The decision makers in the administration now realize these goals are unreachable. So they've set a new goal: to end the occupation by July 1, whether that occupation has accomplished anything valuable and lasting or not. Just declare victory and go home. The tyranny of Saddam Hussein will be over. But a new tyranny will likely take its place: the tyranny of civil war, as rival factions rush into the void. Such is...

Coming from a liberal anti-Bush/anti-GOP rag, the poll is on the lower right. Choices: It's about time Medicare offered drug benefits. I like it. It doesn't do enough for those who need the most help. I'm against it. The $400 billion price tag is a budget buster. I'm against it. If Democrats and Republicans both hate it, it must be a good compromise. I don't know enough to offer an opinion

Some United States Marines are reportedly running short of food and ammunition.Others have been pinned down for days trying to clar Iraqi resistance. But United States Central Command Headquarters insists that everything in Operation Iraq Freedom is going fine. 'Our plan is working, and we are one day closer to achieving our objectives Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said at a daily breifing.Reporters in Central Iraq have said that some units are running short of food, fuel and ammunition, much of which was expended battling an Iraqi army the brass and some politicans hoped would melt away.