Free Republic

The Republican promises of smaller, less intrusive government is getting harder to believe. Especially when a more plausible plot line is unfolding every day: that the GOP has put aside the ideals of Reagan and Goldwater in order to pursue a political strategy based on big spending.For the latest, check out a report just released by the libertarian Cato Institute that tells a striking story about just how out-of-control spending has gotten under President Bush.-Bush has presided over the largest increase in federal spending since Lyndon Johnson.-Even excluding defense and homeland security spending, Bush is the biggest-spending President in 30...

Chewing gum-maker Wrigley has resisted calls from a number of UK councils to help pay for cleaning gum off streets. The US group has instead offered to make an undisclosed "significant contribution" to a government fund to raise awareness about littering. Local authorities have said it costs £150m a year to clean streets of discarded chewing gum. Wrigley said it was working to tackle the problem, which it blamed on "irresponsible disposal". It said it would contribute to a Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) scheme to prevent gum littering and make money available to councils for...