Free Republic

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: I have been unable to find any news today about where the first couple are spending the weekend. However, I did find this interesting bit of news from the website of KSL-TV News (Utah). Utah Artist To Present Portrait To President Bush Jun. 24, 2005 (KSL News) -- A Utah artist is headed to Washington to present President Bush with a special portrait. Rebecca Bornemeier of Layton was inspired by the president's actions following September 11th. She painted this picture in his honor. She emailed the governor's office, and then Senator Orrin Hatch about getting...

WHITE HOUSE President Bush is shrugging off the polls showing his job approval rating at low ebb. At a news conference with Iraq's visiting prime minister, Bush jokingly suggested the word "quagmire" to a reporter asking about a possible "second-term slump." The president says he knows U-S troops have a difficult mission in Iraq against a bloodthirsty and determined enemy. And he says on domestic issues, he's asking Congress to "take on some big tasks." He says he's not surprised his idea for a Social Security overhaul has met stiff resistance from lawmakers. Bush added: "This is a time of...

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's son Euan is to take an internship with a leading US Republican Congressman, a newspaper said. Euan Blair is to spend three months unpaid with the Republican majority on the House of Representatives Committee on Rules, the Sunday Telegraph revealed. He will reportedly be under the wing of Californian lawmaker David Dreier, the committee's chairman and a member of the lower House of Representatives for the Republican Party of US President George W. Bush. 21-year-old Euan, Blair's eldest son, is soon to graduate from Bristol University in southwest England with a degree in ancient history....

Just over half of Americans, 53 percent, now say the war in Iraq was a mistake - the highest percentage to say that in AP-Ipsos polling since December 2003, when two-thirds said the war in Iraq was the right thing to do. The poll taken earlier this week also found that almost six in 10 disapprove of the Bush administration's conduct of the war, but about the same number say they would prefer keeping troops until the situation is stable instead of immediately withdrawing them from Iraq. Some other findings: -Who most favors the war: Suburban men, Republicans. -Who is...

Euan Blair, the British Prime Minister's eldest son, is to take up an internship working on Capitol Hill in Washington for a leading Republican in the House of Representatives. The 21-year-old, who is about to graduate from Bristol University with a degree in ancient history, will spend three months as an unpaid intern with the Republican majority staff on the powerful Rules Committee. Euan Blair's internship follows Prime Minister John Howard's son Richard's 2004 spell working for President George Bush's re-election campaign. The UK Sunday Telegraph reported that Blair will be mentored by the chairman of the committee, David Dreier,...

Well, that time has come for me. I’m leaving FR. However, I do not consider this an “opus”, as I am NOT going to use it to rehash old slights or arguments, or to give my personal opinion of what “should be done around here”. As has been so often pointed out, this is Jim Robinson’s site, and he runs it as he sees fit. Rather, all I’m going to do here is give a general reason for my departure, and say a hearty-but-sad “GOODBYE!” to all the folks here who have enriched my life in the past four years....