Free Republic

<p>TOGUS, Maine (AP) Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi said Thursday that even a proposed $1.5 billion budget increase would not fund medical treatment for all veterans seeking care.</p> <p>The cabinet secretary, speaking during a visit to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Togus, said his department will have to begin cutting services without the budget increase.</p>

<p>A top Housing Authority official has smoked himself out of an $80,000-a-year job.</p> <p>After consulting with the mayor's office, Housing chairman Tino Hernandez yesterday ordered the immediate firing of Robert Swinton, the deputy director of the Office of Facility Planning, one of five employees spotted by a Post reporter last week in extended smoking sessions outside the agency's headquarters at 250 Broadway.</p>

Relations between Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and some members of the City Council have deteriorated to such an extent that Council leaders are warning that the mayor's prized antismoking legislation may be in jeopardy. From the beginning, Mr. Bloomberg has made it clear that extending the city's antismoking law to small restaurants, bars and bar areas was a deeply held personal policy goal, like gaining control of the school system. But although the administration quietly lined up support from a few council members before introducing the proposal, the speaker, Gifford Miller, has yet to sign on. Relations between Mayor...

Schools crack down on legal smokers By KATE ANDREWS / Daily Progress staff writer Oct 2, 2002 The scent of cigarette smoke used to be a constant in teachers' lounges, and students often could be found puffing away in school courtyards. But no longer. School systems are cracking down on smokers over the legal age of 18 - even those who would partake when there are no students around. Because all of Albemarle County's school buildings - including the bus garage and building services office - have been officially "tobacco-free zones" for the last two years, that means no...

MOSCOW, Oct 01, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Anna Kournikova of Russia defeated Marie-Gaiane Mikaelian of Switzerland 6-4, 6-3 Tuesday to advance to the second round of the US$2.2 million Kremlin Cup. Kournikova, ranked 35th in the world and still looking for her first career title, entered her 116th WTA tournament on a wild card. The 21-year-old Russian played with more energy than Mikaelian, running down balls and hitting hard. The two traded breaks early in the opening set, but then Kournikova made a decisive break in the 10th game. She then dominated the second set, breaking her opponent...

The movement to get the Dallas City Council to pass a city ordinance to make ALL establishments 100% smoke free is gaining momentum. They advocate preventing a bar or restaurant owner to make his or her own decision about giving a choice to the customer. They advocate putting into LAW that you can't... CAN NOT... smoke anywhere in the City of Dallas. "Well, how about the cigar bar in Del Frisco's after a big steak dinner?" Nope. In fact if they get this passed, they might come back and try to get a law passed that we can't eat...

Smokers have long complained that their rights are being taken away they can't puff in bars, restaurants or in the workplace and are subject to taxes. And if they work for Los Angeles County, they're also docked $10 a month. "This bad habit has cost me $90 so far this year,' said Bobi Johnson, Supervisor Gloria Molina's health deputy, and a smoker. "That doesn't count what I've spent buying these cigarettes.' Officials from area cities, the California State Association of Counties, the League of California Cities and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California say they know of...

THE physically and mentally disabled may no longer be barred from becoming pilots or air traffic controllers. Eyesight and other medical tests imposed on flight crew have been found to be in breach of anti-discrimination laws. The finding, by the Federal Attorney General's Department has created fears air safety regulators will be hit with discrimination complaints. Civil Aviation Safety Authority lawyers have made an urgent application to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission for an exemption from federal Sex and Disability Discrimination Acts. Under CASA rules, pilots, flight navigators, flight engineers and air traffic controllers must past strict eyesight...

** ALERT ** Mayor Bloomberg's Proposal to Ban Smoking Everywhere in NYC (see above) CITY COUNCIL HEARING DATE IS SET - (CONFIRMED) IF EVER YOU WANTED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND LET OUR LEADERS KNOW YOU FIND THEIR BEHAVIOR UNACCEPTABLE, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SO! YOU MUST ATTEND THE CITY COUNCIL HEARING *CONFIRMED DATE:  THURSDAY, OCT. 10th, 1PM  PLACE:  CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS * Date and time is always subject to change by the council.  Please call the Speaker's Office at 212-788-7210 a few days before to confirm. LET'S FILL THE CHAMBERS WITH ALL THOSE OPPOSED.  LET...

LAS VEGAS - Perhaps the biggest threat to growth in the U.S. casino industry comes not from antigambling interests, but from health-conscious public officials. A group that sets the country's indoor air-quality standards is under "enormous" pressure to make casinos and other hospitality venues smoke-free, an expert warned attendees at the Global Gaming Expo on Thursday. "With the collapse of the tobacco industry, (?) the hospitality industry is next to come under attack," said Elia Sterling, president of Theodor Sterling Associates, an indoor air-quality firm based in Vancouver, B.C. If the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers,...

BOSTON (AP)--Smoking at work, including in bars and restaurants, would be banned in Boston under a proposal announced by the mayor Tuesday. No worker should be forced to breathe the toxins in second-hand smoke, Mayor Thomas Menino said. "It's a question of fairness," Menino told reporters. "The long-term health of the worker far outweighs any fleeting enjoyment smoking can give. "You want to smoke? Go outside," he said. Menino's request mirrors a law in California and pending legislation in New York City. Boston already requires restaurants to partition any smoking area or place it at least six feet from...

NEW YORK -- Philip Morris Cos. filed unfair-competition lawsuits against certain Internet cigarette sellers, alleging the defendants are violating the company's trademarks. The eight suits, filed in U.S. District Courts in California and New York, allege the defendants are violating federal and state laws by misusing Philip Morris' trademarks to attract Internet users to their Web sites, the tobacco company said Monday. The company alleges its trademarks, including Marlboro, have been illegally used in Internet addresses, company names and promotional materials. The suits also allege that many Internet vendors sell cigarettes without complying with laws regarding excise-tax payments, while claiming...

    Vietnam - America's Most Controversial War American Prisoners of War – American Soldiers Missing in Action These men are our sons, our husbands, our brothers, and our fathers. We sent them from the arms of their loved ones to a hostile nation. There, they endured the horrors of war - fighting for freedom. Fighting for your Freedom. And now we must fight to bring them home. The first Americans were captured in 1954 in South Vietnam. They were held three weeks and interrogated before being released. Others captured later were not so fortunate.During the entire Vietnam War...

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In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “word for the day”. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the “word of the day”; in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-) Practice makes perfect.....post on.... dilettante \DIL-uh-tahnt; dil-uh-TAHNT; dil-uh-TAHN-tee; -TANT; TAN-tee\, noun; : dilettantes, also dilettanti \-TAHN-tee; -TAN-\; plural dilettante, dilettantish; adjective dilettantism; noun 1. An admirer or lover of the fine arts. 2. An amateur; especially, one...

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “word for the day”. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the “word of the day”; in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-) Practice makes perfect.....post on.... dilatory \DIL-uh-tor-ee\, adjective: dilatorily; adverb dilatoriness; noun 1. Inclined to defer or put off what ought to be done at once; given the procrastination; delaying; procrastinating 2. Marked by procrastination or delay; tardy;...

<p>The first heavier-than-air flight took place in 1903 when man went aloft in hot air balloons which were used for aerial observation in the American Civil War, Franco-Prussian War, and American campaigns in Cuba. Air balloons over the battlefield provided rapid, accurate reconnaissance of enemy forces. Steerable airships, or dirigibles, were the logical replacements for balloons, but air power developed from the epic, controlled-power flight of Wilbur and Orville Wright which occurred at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903.</p>

Concession speach

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE SEPT 17 2002 11:13:02 ET XXXXX ALERT AS NUCLEAR BOMBS GO MISSING[EXPRESS] TWO hundred nuclear warheads have gone missing in a country suspected of selling high tech arms to Iraq, it emerged last night. The terrifying revelation will heighten fears that Saddam Hussein could be just one step away from having all the ingredients of an atomic bomb. He has threatened terrorist attacks if Britain and America confront him. The warheads, which have vanished in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, contain enough highly-radioactive plutonium to destroy every capital in Europe and North America several...

Then click on TOBACCO. Scroll down and see just how much money your state is getting in BLOOD MONEY to further ban, control, restrict and raise taxes on people who choose to smoke a legal product. Why is YOUR hospitals going smoke free? For The MONEY! Why is YOUR Doctor after you to Quit Smoking? For the MONEY! Think about it: the states are in dire financial need for health care. In steps old Easy Money Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. If the state signs up to chop off the heads of their smokers, the state will be a recipient to...