Free Republic

Emergency workers in Trinidad and Tobago are racing to clean up a massive oil spill after a mystery vessel ran aground near the Caribbean island, casting a pall over Carnival tourism. The spill was "not under control" as of Sunday, said Prime Minister Keith Rowley, who added that the country is grappling with a national emergency. The mystery vessel capsized Wednesday in waters off the Caribbean island, having made no emergency calls, with no sign of crew, and no clear sign of ownership.

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday proposed another huge round of borrowing to build prisons, schools and dams in a state of the state speech that also called for cleaner fuels to help curb global warming. The borrowing proposals, which add up to $43.3 billion, are similar to ideas that were cut out of the enormous borrowing plan the governor put forth last year. The Legislature changed it and cut it in half, and voters eventually approved $42.7 billion in bonds in November. Addressing a joint session of the Legislature, Schwarzenegger said he was bringing the ideas back because,...

Last fall, when it was evident that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "year of reform" ballot measure package was doomed and had seriously eroded his popularity, he and his advisors began looking for a political life ring and hit upon "infrastructure" -- doing something about the state's badly neglected highways and other public facilities. It was, in a sense, a natural choice. Schwarzenegger had assumed the governorship on a three-word slogan, "recover, reform and rebuild." The first referred to the chronically and dangerously unbalanced state budget, the second to making the political system more responsive and the third to improving the infrastructure....

OAKLAND — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Legislative leaders barnstormed the state Monday to tout their agreement on a $37.3 billion infrastructure bond package likely to play a pivotal role in November's election. The tarmac at Oakland International Airport was awash in bipartisan praise as the "Big Five" — the governor and the Assembly's and state Senate's Democratic and Republican leaders — held their news conference before jetting to Burbank, Santa Ana and San Diego for similar events. "I think this is going to be terrific for the whole state of California," Schwarzenegger said of the plan lawmakers approved in the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a bipartisan delegation of legislative leaders flew around the state yesterday to promote the $37.3 billion public works bond package approved last week for the November ballot. “When I ran for governor, people always said it would be impossible to bring Democrats and Republicans together,” the Republican governor told an airport news conference in San Diego. “But we've proven again that we can come together.” Schwarzenegger highlighted school construction money that would go to San Diego if the education component of the package is approved in the November election. “For San Diego, this means that for...

OAKLAND — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Legislative leaders barnstormed the state Monday to tout their agreement on a $37.3 billion infrastructure bond package likely to play a pivotal role in November's election. The tarmac at Oakland International Airport was awash in bipartisan praise as the "Big Five" — the governor and the Assembly's and state Senate's Democratic and Republican leaders — held their news conference before jetting to Burbank, Santa Ana and San Diego for similar events. "I think this is going to be terrific for the whole state of California," Schwarzenegger said of the plan lawmakers approved in the...

SACRAMENTO – State lawmakers early Friday approved a series of bills that would place a record public works spending plan before voters in November, reviving a proposal that had broad public support but failed to pass the Legislature earlier this year. The $37.3 billion package would be the largest bond issue in California history and now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor, who proposed an even larger spending plan in January, called the votes in each house “a landmark accomplishment that will yield benefits for generations to come.” “For the first time in a generation, we are making a...

Economic Reforms Sacrificed For Political Gains By Louis-Vincent Gave April 8, 2005 When told of the 1938 Munich accords that allowed Hitler a free rein into Czechoslovakia, Churchill said: "they sacrificed honour for peace, and they shall have neither". Witnessing recent events in Brussels, Churchill's statement comes to mind. Two weeks ago, European leaders tore away the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) and dismantled any hopes of liberalization of European services (the Bolkestein reforms) in the hope of securing a "Yes" votes in the May French referendum on the European constitution. In so doing, Europe's leaders sacrificed necessary economic reforms...