Free Republic

The law is full of exceptions, and when it comes to conflicts of interest involving personal investments, Congress found a big one: It didn't write a law. While Congress prescribed a strict conflict-of-interest law for the judiciary, which prompted Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to remove himself from a punitive-damages case involving Exxon Mobil, it didn't apply the same test to lawmakers. That has allowed Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to oppose bills that would hurt Irving-based Exxon, in which Ms. Hutchison owns stock valued between $100,000 and $250,000, according to disclosure reports. *snip* Some experts say different rules apply to...

Palestinian Terrorists: Israel Gives Jobs, We Make Peace Palestinians are learning that the dove of peace lives on bread and software, not bullets and bombs. By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem----April 12..... After so many years, it appears that they finally got it. First it was war money from Egypt and Jordan, the promises of land in Palestine. Then the cash poured in from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria. Cash for terrorism, guns and Islamic terror suicide bombers. To make the job easier for the bombers, they were promised 72 virgins in heaven and their proud parents...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 - Just last week, Stanley Greenberg was the polling mastermind guiding the way three liberal groups spent tens of millions of dollars attacking President Bush and registering voters. But he quit that position to be an unpaid adviser to the Kerry campaign as it presses to sharpen its message in the final 56 days before the election. Mr. Greenberg is just the latest in a procession of top strategists who have moved between the campaigns and advocacy groups called 527's - the very organizations that are not supposed to coordinate their activities under campaign finance rules. The...

... John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, last month raised three times as much as President Bush. Mr. Kerry banked $36.5 million compared with Mr. Bush's $13 million, according to financial disclosure records released yesterday.Mr. Kerry spent about $18 million on advertising and reported having $36 million in the bank on June 30. Mr. Bush spent almost as much as he raised, but he still had $64 million in the bank at month's end. ... Mr. Kerry's campaign also is being bolstered by independent, Democratic-leaning groups that are raising and spending gobs of money to bolster a Kerry candidacy. Just...