Free Republic

You don't need a fortune cookie to learn that China isn't playing straight with the rest of the world. The men in Beijing may be taking some of their clues from the most important page of Mao Tse-tung's Little Red Book: "Every Communist must grasp the truth, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.'" We've been lulled into thinking the Chinese brand of "free markets" will move that country toward democracy. Maybe someday, eventually, it will. But free markets must be accompanied by personal freedoms and representative government, and that isn't happening. In fact, there are disturbing...

Irish rock star Bono, rapidly rising in the charts as a global aid advocate, won an endorsement Wednesday from a big fan, U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. During a press conference at a United Nations (news - web sites) conference on development aid, O'Neill sang Bono's praises for his work in promoting increased aid for the world's needy and said he looked forward to showing him Africa "through my eyes" next month. The hugely successful leader of rock band U2 and the former business tycoon will visit Africa together next month to see firsthand how poverty and AIDS (news -...