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My wife called me up, and asked me to come up with a list of events during this time period that would be considered historic or landmark events to be placed in a school yearbook. She asked me way to fast, and I've now drawn a blank. This is a Christian school, and the only thing I have now is The Passion. Freepers are masters of the news, and events so I thought I'd ask here, and get some perspective from Freepers.

Not only did John Kerry improperly classify a gain on the sale of a painting as a regular capital gain rather than a gain on a collectable which is subject to the higher [28%] tax rate[ see Kerry Files Amended Tax Return]; this error was caught by a Texas CPA [Texas CPA Claims Kerry Owes Extra $12,000 in Capital Gains Tax], but he also failed to pay any estimated income taxes for the entire year of 2003 [see Kerry 2003 tax return]. He sold the painting on March 23, 2003 which means he should have paid quarterly estimated taxes on...

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) - The California Legislature passed a record number of pro-environment laws in 2003, making important breakthroughs in the areas of clean air and e-waste, in spite of a continuing partisan split, according to a report released Thursday by an environmental group.</p>

Reflections on 2003 and Some Thoughts on the Opportunities and Challenges of the Coming Five to Ten Years* EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In 2003, I traveled to China five times. Without a doubt, I would have made more trips if there was no SARS. During my five trips, I traveled with the executives of 11 US companies in total, met with hundreds of Chinese businessmen and government officials, visited over 100 companies primarily in the manufacturing sectors. As I have observed in the last 12 months, the changes in China and the urgency of US companies to respond to the ever-changing world,...

China issues 2003 US human rights record www.chinaview.cn 2004-03-01 10:07:07 BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhuanet) -- China issued the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2003 Monday in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2003 issued by the U.S. on Feb. 25. Released by the Information Office of China's State Council, the Chinese report listed a multitude of cases to show that serious violations of human rights exist on the homeland of the United States. "As in any previous year, the United States once again acted as'the world human rights police' by distorting and censuring...

PARIS, Feb 25 (Reuters) - France, the world's top tourist destination, suffered a drop in visitors and tourism revenues in 2003 as concerns over the war in Iraq and a weak dollar kept away U.S. visitors, official figures showed on Wednesday. Foreign tourists dropped by 2.6 percent to 75 million last year from 77 million in 2002 in what was a poor year for global tourism, junior minister for tourism Leon Bertrand said. U.S. visitors fell 18.3 percent to 2.4 million in 2003, when the dollar fell and relations between Paris and Washington soured over France's opposition to the U.S.-led...

Here it is, the SpinMeister Award of the Year. Why it isn't a picture of Saddam's statue being pulled down can be explained only by those who bestow the "honor." "World Press Photo of the year 2003 by French photographer Jean-Marc Bouju of the Associated Press shows a detained Iraqi man comforting his 4-year-old-son at a regroupment center for POW's near Najaf, Iraq. Picture was taken on 31 March, 2003. Jean-Marc Bouju/Associated Press REUTERS/Jean-Marc Bouju. "

Look closely at the photos - just below Colin Powell, and to the right of Al Sharpton, you will see one of the hundreds of "anti-war" rally posters that had been plastered to lightboxes throughout the city. The photo had been taken after the DC Chapter's stealth "Truth in Advertising Team" had made their rounds one evening. The team of four, led by a former military PsyOp expert, made several late-night missions onto the mean streets of DC to place the stickers. We would go out one night and hit all the boxes around Union Station, the Capitol, Supreme Court,...

  Rumsfeld: 2003 a Busy Year for NATO Countries By Kathleen T. RhemAmerican Forces Press ServiceMUNICH, Germany, Feb. 8, 2004 -- In the past year, "NATO has undergone probably more positive change than in most 10-year periods in its history," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said here Feb. 7. Rumsfeld was in Munich to attend the 40th Munich Conference on Security Policy. Defense ministers, elected and other government officials, and academicians from throughout the world gathered to discuss military and security issues at the annual event. During an address to the full body, Rumsfeld recounted some NATO's successes since last...

Washington, D.C. — Citizens Against Government Waste announced today the final results of its online poll for Porker of the Year for 2003. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) finished first with a whopping 51 percent of the vote, outdistancing his “porky” competitors by a 2 to 1 margin. The other finalists, in order of votes received, were: Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) (25 percent), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) (14 percent), Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) (6 percent), and Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.) (4 percent). The five finalists were chosen by CAGW staff from among the 11 Porker of the Month winners throughout 2003,...

"Most of us know, now, that Rousseau was wrong: that man, when you knock his chains off, sets up death camps. Soon we shall know everything the 18th century didn't know, and nothing it did, and it will be hard to live with us." — novelist and poet Randall Jarrell. If not apocryphal, the quote of 2003 came from an unlikely Spec. 4, only 19, standing over a surrendering Saddam Hussein: "President Bush sends his regards." Iraq was so much the year's dominating story that everything else came in close to last. President Bush led the way, with key congressional...

2003: The Year in ImmigrationBy Steve Brown and Chris CoonFrontPageMagazine.com | January 23, 2004 Even before President Bush’s amnesty proposal for illegal workers already working in the US was released this month, the issue had emerged as one of the hot topics in the US last year. Concerns about homeland security, the economy and other issues stemming from the rising tide of illegals flooding our shores brought the issue to the forefront of America's consciousness. Official government estimates of the number of illegals in the US at the beginning of last year ranged from 8-10 million, swelling to about...

So here we are again, with another calendar year checked off — and the year's winning quotations from the media (mostly television) rated by the Media Research Council (www. mediaresearch.org). It's full of doozies. The MRC collects quotations certifyng generally the idiocy of many in the mainline media, specificially the idiot leftism — even of "personalities" who seemingly will go to their graves protesting the very suggestion they are anything but even-handed caring centrist moderates. With that, here are samples from the MRC's "Best Notable Quotables of 2003" (Disclaimer: I have judged such collections as an MRC panelist in the...

The number of unemployed construction workers increased 1.3% last year, with an average of 810,000 workers in the industry looking for work each month. This was 58% more than the monthly average in 2000. Construction’s unemployment rate in 2003 averaged 9.3%, up from 9.2% in 2002 and a low of 6.2% in the peak boom year of 2000.

Customs Seized Millions in Cash in '03 Wednesday January 14, 2004 10:46 PM By JEANNINE AVERSA Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal authorities seized millions of dollars last year that people were trying to take out of the United States and millions of pounds of illegal drugs smugglers were trying to bring in, the nation's border chief said Wednesday Robert Bonner, chief of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, said his agency seized $51.7 million in currency in the 2003 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. ``A lot of this was outbound - that people were trying to...

The secret is finally out. In 2003, the world finally discovered the Iranian women, something that the Iranian men had discovered thousands of years ago! The purpose of this article is to discuss the progress of Iranian women in 2003 and its local and global consequences in the hope of saving the beautiful planet earth from a catastrophe that’s in the making! In September 2003, Shirin Ebadi was announced as the winner of Nobel Peace Prize. The Iranian women welcomed the news with great enthusiasm. The Iranian men had no choice but to follow suit! Over 10,000 women poured into...

Fifty years from now schoolchildren may learn that 2003 was the year President George W. Bush liberated Iraq, creating a prosperous powerhouse of democratic capitalism in the Middle East. We don't know how it will turn out yet, of course. But we know one thing: The first draft of history out of our national media came from the angry left, furious at the exercise of U.S. power and solicitous of the dictator now in the dock. The worst media eruptions of 2003 now are available in the Media Research Center's annual greatest-misses collection known as the Best of Notable Quotables....

Grant chief 1 of 4 in area killed on job during the last year Grant Police Chief Verlon Lemaster was among 148 police officers who died in the line of duty across the nation in 2003, the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund said Monday. Just four and a half months later, two other North Alabama officers, police Sgt. Larry Russell, 42, and Tony Mims, 40, were shot death when they answered a call Friday from a home in Athens. Farron Barksdale, 28, was charged with counts of capital murder in their deaths. He is being held in the Limestone County...

The Iraq war helped make 2003 a dangerous year for journalists, with 91 killed, most of them covering conflict or corruption, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said here. The number of fatalities was 23 percent higher than the previous year and took place in more than 25 countries, the federation said in a statement from its Australian-based president, Christopher Warren. Citing an IFJ report entitled Media Casualties in the Field of Journalism and Newsgathering, Warren said many of the deaths were due to war, although assassinations and simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time were to...

U.S. Retailers Fare Better Than Expected 22 minutes ago Add Business - AP to My Yahoo! By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writer NEW YORK - Consumers who kept retailers in suspense for weeks gave many storeowners a better-than-expected holiday season after all, coming through at the last minute with a big spending spree. Even struggling department stores ended the season with solid results. December results issued Thursday by the nation's biggest retailers showed that late shoppers helped companies including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., J.C. Penney Co. Inc., and Target Corp. offset a slow start to the season. Still, the end-of-the-season sales...

Twelve months ago, the international community heaved a sigh of relief as the major powers appeared to reach a compromise on how to manage Iraq. But Washington's determination to act on its own cut short the role of U.N. weapons inspectors and challenged the very notion that the organization has a role to play in issues of peace and security. Today, the international scene is much altered. Bogged down in Iraq, Washington is relying on multilateral processes to address threats of nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran. It also has backed down on protectionist tariffs on steel imports condemned...

Down history's road, 2003 may shine brightly as marking a major improvement in how things are going abroad. The spring crushing of the Baathist regime and Saddam's capture a month ago were the top stories abroad. And look what has happened largely as a consequence: • Libya has announced it will scrap its nuclear program. • North Korea, with assistance from the Communist oligarchy in China, has declared it might do the same. • Our good friends the Saudis have begun to get serious about terrorism. • Russia has conditionally promised to forgive its Iraqi debt. • Israel has moved...

Fox News has jumped even further out in front of once dominant CNN, grabbing an astonishing 53 percent increase in viewership and drubbing the rival cable news network's 24 percent increase. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Nielson ratings show that Fox's viewership last year jumped from 667,00 to 1,023,000 while CNN scored a mere increase of 129,000 viewers, from 536,000 to 665,000. MSNBC did even worse, getting a 22 percent increase, from 263,000 to 320,000. Fox's increase in Prime Time viewership was even more dramatic, leaping by a staggering 45 percent as against CNN's 22 percent and MSNBC's 23...

The Time cover that didn’t appear It isn’t often that someone turns down an offer to be Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” especially when that someone is as important as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But that’s what Rumsfeld did when he learned that Time was planning to honor him in its year-end issue last month. Rumsfeld told guests at a holiday party that in this year of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military deserved the honor more than he did, which is why Army Sgts. Marquette Whiteside and Ronald Buxton and Spc. Billie Grimes turned up on...

DALLAS (AP) -- They say it was no contest. The Dallas Morning News editorial board has named President Bush as its first "Texan of the Year." The News editorial board said Bush was the only choice "given the dramatic events of this past year." The newspaper said it took about 500 suggestions for "the newsworthy Texan who in 2003 most stared down adversity and exercised leadership, vision, independence and a gift for trailblazing." The board concluded that -- "Like it or not, Mister Bush is dramatically reshaping our world, the nation and, via tacit support of redistricting, Texas."

The Education Intelligence Agency COMMUNIQUÉ – January 5, 2004 Of the millions of quotes spoken and written about public education each year, only a few dozen are provocative or revealing enough to merit inclusion as Education Intelligence Agency “Quotes of the Week.” Of these chosen few, only the most provocative or revealing rise to the level of “Quotes of the Year.” With that as a criterion, EIA is proud to present the 2003 Public Education Quotes of the Year, in countdown order. Enjoy! 10) “No report because the meeting was long and tedious.” – from the minutes of the Indian...

News from Iraq made 2003 a good year for ratings at cable news networks -- and it was especially good at Fox News. Fox, the cable ratings leader for the past two years, widened its lead over Atlanta-based CNN. Fox averaged 1.02 million viewers at any given moment, a 53 percent increase from the year before. CNN averaged 665,000, a 24 percent increase. Fox grew the most in prime time, averaging 1.7 million viewers for the 8 to 11 p.m. time slot, a 45 percent increase. CNN averaged 1.1 million, a 22 percent increase. Fox also grew slightly more than...

A conservative group has released its annual list of what it calls "the top ten most shameful events" in America's educational system. The group says the incidences of "bias and political correctness" continue to weigh down that system. The Young America's Foundation has put out its "Top Ten Campus Follies" for 2003. At the top of the list was Wesleyan University in Connecticut, which offers what it describes as a "Gender Blind" dormitory floor for students who are not sure what sex they are. According to YAF, students who ask for the floor will have roommates appointed without regard to...

<p>SO ENDED 2003 -- Year 2 of the new era that began on Sept. 11, 2001, another year in which, in some American cities, such mundane activities as Christmas-shopping or attending a large outdoor gathering to usher in the New Year became acts of civic courage and defiance toward terrorists.</p>

AS WILLIAM GOLDMAN is fond of saying, this was the worst year in Hollywood history. The end-of-the-year Top 10 lists are making the rounds and I defy you to put together a roster of 10 movies from 2003 that would pass for very good (or better). Go ahead, give it a shot. While you're thinking it over, let's glance at recent movie history. Last year was nothing special, yet it had "The Two Towers," "Catch Me If You Can," "Minority Report," "Road to Perdition," "About a Boy," "The Quiet American," "Punch-Drunk-Love," and "Chicago." Not a list to blow the doors...

Out with Homeland Security for 2004, in with Social Security, declared the liberal and silly Washington Post on the front page of its Style section on New Year's day. That kind of elitist foolishness — the ennui the chattering class holds for the War on Terror and the cat-and-mouse games that never seem to produce Osama Bin Laden, weapons of mass destruction, or terrorists on Air France flights — is exactly what typifies the Democratic Presidential field. Enough diddling around in Tikriti spider holes, they complain. Eighty-seven billion dollars for what, they ask? Bush is embarrassing Americans abroad with all...

2003 in Review: One Step Backward, Two Steps ForwardDate: December 31, 2003, 19:58:35 ESTTopic: Free Software This year was a year that wasn't exactly how we might have hoped, but overall, the state of GNU/Linux was overall better at this side of 2003 than it was at the other. In our annual tradition, what follows is a look at the ups - and downs - of GNU/Linux and Free/Open Source Software in 2003. The year started hopeful - in our last year-end article, I said, "all indications seem to suggest that 2003 might just be even better [than 2002]." However,...

With giant attack pumpkins, contract hits on police cats and Jesus and marijuana appearing on local flags, 2003 was a typical year in terms of Russian news. No more outlandish than normal, it was just the usual grab bag of ridiculousness. Who would have thought 12 months ago that a rather rich fellow who still hasn't bought himself a razor would become one of the most famous men in Britain by buying one of the least successful teams in premiere league soccer? (And then see his team get beaten 4-2 by Charlton last week?) That is almost as ridiculous as...

The year 2003 dramatically and dolefully illustrated Lord Acton's famous dictum that absolute power corrupts absolutely. An almighty United States, unrestrained by any rival, international body, or world opinion, bestrode the globe, a belligerent colossus determined to monopolize global oil reserves and use its vast military power to crush lesser nations or malefactors that disturbed the Pax Americana. For America's hard right — a curious farrago of Armageddon-seeking southern Protestants; neo-conservative supporters of Israel's right-wing Likud party; and the military-industrial-petroleum complex — the Bush administration's aggressive foreign policy of world domination, and utter contempt for international laws and old allies,...

All across the planet, 2004 was ushered in to the clinking sound of falling dominoes. They are falling America's way. On Friday, it was announced that North Korea has invited an unofficial team of American experts to inspect its nuclear facilities. Kim Jong Il's motives are always opaque, but this seems like good news. It appears he may finally understand that the U.S. won't allow him to turn North Korea into the atomic arsenal of fascism. North Korea's move is especially interesting because it follows a decision by Iran to permit UN oversight of its nuclear program and the announcement...

2003 Top Ten Campus Follies “Gender Blind” Dormitory and “Discriminatory” Flyer Top List Our nation’s education system continues to be weighted down with incidences of bias and political correctness. Young America’s Foundation compiled a list of the top ten most shameful campus events in America’s education system in 2003: 10. Gonzaga University (Spokane, WA) administration officials censored a conservative student group’s flyer advertising a Young America’s Foundation organized lecture because the word “hate” was used on the flyer. The flyer in question featured the topic of guest speaker Dan Flynn’s speech, “Why the Left Hates America,” which is also the...

Two years ago, in The Telegraph, I suggested that the massed ranks of naysayers predicting doom and gloom for America should make a New Year's resolution to stop doubting George W Bush's resolution. Alas, they failed to heed me, and as a result the traditional New Year predictions column is a mite trickier than it used to be. Never mind events that have not yet occurred: we now live in a world where there is no agreement on events that have already happened.For example, last year I thought the Americans won an amazing military victory in Iraq; the European media,...

We name George W. Bush, the president of the United States, Texan of the Year. You may be thinking: yep, saw that coming. Any Lone Star native sitting in the White House can't help being the most consequential Texan of the year. We initially thought the same thing, and began our deliberations determined to avoid the obvious choice. As we debated, though, we found that the most plausible candidates for the distinction – the Texas-based soldiers who helped liberate Iraq, for example – would not have accomplished the deeds that recommended them to our consideration without Mr. Bush. Like it...

Gay news wasn’t just made in the courts in 2003. Apart from the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning sodomy laws and rulings on same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and Canada that brought hard fought victories for gay rights proponents, there was big news out of Hollywood, New Hampshire and on the presidential campaign trail. Five gay guys turned television on its head as “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” became TV’s most talked about show. Rev. V. Gene Robinson was consecrated in New Hampshire as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, and Democratic presidential candidates campaigned hard for...

DEP uncertain of reasons for decline The 2003 deer season wasn't exactly a bust for the state's 35,000 licensed deer hunters, but hunters did bag fewer deer than in 2002. Although final figures may not be available for another month at least, the 2003 number will be lower, Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Matt Fritz said Friday. No one is sure why the tally was as much as a third less than 2002 at some of the state's check stations, including many throughout Litchfield County's Northwest Corner, a popular hunting area. Hunters in 2002 harvested 11,500 deer. The state's population...

Sunday is national trivia day — what better time to look back and have a good laugh at some of the funniest and more absurd events of 2003? From baseball curses to ditzy blonde chicks and celebrity smooches, last year saw no shortage of bizarre moments. The writers and editors of the Trivial Pursuit game apparently had a ball compiling their first year-end trivia list. As one would expect, most of the entries came from the world of pop culture. "It's impressive how much trivia we've been able to generate as a country during an otherwise serious year," said Rob...

Looking Back at 2003 While much of the American public’s attention in 2003 was bandied about like a volleyball between the media’s fix on the war with Iraq, Brittany and Madonna’s shamelessness on stage, and the internet exploits of those who are too young, too stupid and too rich, Europe has been embroiled in extraordinary political change and controversy. It has been regarded by them as a year marred by setbacks and division for the European Union, prompting some to label it “annus horribilis.” Nevertheless, while many bemoan the ever-present infighting in Europe 2003, it may be a year that...

2003-12-24 2003: Year of epochal progress SALIM MANSUR, For the London Free Press Only those infected by cynicism fail to see the promises unfolding since a U.S.-led coalition toppled a monstrous Iraqi tyrant. Only those infected by cynicism fail to see the promises unfolding since a U.S.-led coalition toppled a monstrous Iraqi tyrant. A generation from now, historians of another era looking back at the early years of the 21st century may see the year 2003 in a more favourable light. It was a momentous year by any standards. It will be remembered primarily for the war to liberate Iraqis...

Omega Letter Christian Intelligence Digest Bad Year for Bad Guys Commentary on the NewsSaturday, January 03, 2004 Jack Kinsella Last year was a bad year for the bad guys. Most of the Iraqis responsible for the rape of Iraq are either dead or in custody. Saddam Hussein's 35 year reign of terror ended with his emergence from a hole in the ground with his hands in the air. Instead of going down with the ship, Saddam went to ground like a rat, and repaid his loyal cadre of murderers and martyrs by proving that no cause is worth dying...

This is the time of year journalists begin comprising their list of big events. The stories that shaped our lives and the individuals who shaped those stories over the past year. I'm not really big into lists. I have a hard enough time remembering what I had for breakfast. I am big into big picture things; sometimes dopey things, but for me, meaningful things. When I look back on 2003, I will remember not just a war or a captured tyrant, I will remember a theme. For my money, in my mind, and in my heart, this was the year...

Perhaps it is a function of age to feel so acutely the passage of time, but I was just getting used to putting '03 on my checks and it's already time to learn a new trick. I don't want to stop the world and get off, but I'd like to slow it down just a tad. Yet the supercharged, bunker-buster, drive-through pace of our speck on history's timeline makes it difficult sometimes to focus. Our 24/7 news world feels like an IMAX rollercoaster with events spiraling past so fast, flirting with our peripheral vision, that we have little time to...

<p>His roster of famous friends alone would be enough to have Mustafa Hassain named Muslim of the Year.</p> <p>Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Mustafa Hassain -- "I've been everywhere except beer gardens, not inside a bar or nightclub."</p> <p>As an apostle of Islam in 1950s Detroit, Hassain met and befriended Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali.</p>

By any measure, 2003 was a tough year. It ends Orange, and 2004 promises to be as bad or worse. Next year we will enjoy a presidential election that is certain to produce thoughtful speeches, insightful interviews, and cutting debates. Yeah, well, I don't believe it either. But maybe Madeleine the Short is right, and Dubya has bin Laden stashed away somewhere, to be dragged behind his chariot into the convention hall. If that is to be, I only wish I could be in the CBS booth when it happens. I think Dan Rather would cry. Enough idle musing. There...

A year should never end without a review of some of the more outlandish things American mainstream media players have presented as news. Or so is the belief of the Media Research Center, which annually records the worst of the worst in their "Best of Notable Quotables." (Full disclosure: I was one of their judges this year and last.) 2003's winner for the worst of the year was jarring, from a piece in the Boston Globe Magazine. Writer Charles Pierce wrote, with no sense of irony, "If she had lived, Mary Jo Kopechne would be 62 years old. Through his...

TOP 10 MOST RIDICULOUS STATEMENTS MADE BY IRANIAN REGIME IN 2003: 10. "We don't have political prisoners (Khatami - Iran's President) 9."Only free and fair elections will guarantee that the feeling of the people will be represented," said Khatami ( http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?ArchiveNews=Yes&NewsCode=20262&NewsKind=CurrentAffairs) 8."Khatami told French newspaper Le Monde that Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to win the prize, had in the past encountered “a few problems”." (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1039601/posts?page=4#4) 7. "In order to ease and reduce the sufferings and historical distances, we should place the empowerment of human beings at the forefront of our efforts." (http://www.itu.int/wsis/geneva/coverage/statements/iran/ir.html) 6."The establishment and consolidation of knowledge-based societies...