Free Republic

Overrides fuel higher taxes, but not higher turnout By Rick Holland / Townsman Staff Thursday, May 8, 2003 As yard signs pop up and rhetoric intensifies on both sides of Wellesley's $2.9 million override question, recent history suggests that the measure will be decided upon by only about one in every four registered voters. The town has a total of 15,256 citizens eligible to vote on the override question next Tuesday, but if past override votes are any indication, only about 4,000 will make their way to the polls on May 13. And according to Town Clerk Kathy Nagle, procrastinators...

<p>There are many words to describe New Englanders.  "Generous," it would seem, isn't one of them.</p> <p>A new study by the Chronicle of Philanthropy shows that when it comes to giving charity, taxpayers in the six New England states are some of the stingiest people in America.  It isn't a new indictment.  In a 1998 survey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were among the five least charitable states in the nation -- despite being among the wealthiest.  In 2000, the Urban Institute's "Generosity Index" put Massachusetts dead last, with most of its neighbors clustered nearby.  On this page in 1997, I wrote about what were then the latest tax statistics on charitable giving: "When the IRS numbers are ranked by state, New England is invariably at the bottom."  At the top, then as now, were Utah, Wyoming, and much of the Deep South.</p>

<p>When Allied troops liberated the concentration camps 58 years ago this spring, they were greeted by living skeletons -- human beings nearly dead from hunger, disease, and savage abuse.  The men and women behind the barbed wire were emaciated and traumatized, some so weak they couldn't move.  Many were the last remnant of a murdered family; all had witnessed horrors beyond words.</p>

<p>"Where does Washington find the gall to condemn Saddam as evil?  Saddam might not even be alive today if Washington hadn't been his best friend during the Iran-Iraq War.  It's all very well for Bush to thunder about Iraq's stash of chemical and biological weapons -- but who sold Iraq those germs and poisons in the first place?  We did!  It's not the peace movement that is morally obtuse, it's a foreign policy that never cared about Saddam's crimes as long as it was convenient to ignore them."</p>

<p>ASSACHUSETTS voters could never quite figure out who John Kerry is. Now there is some explanation for the air of mystery that surrounds him: In a most literal sense, John Kerry doesn't know who he is, either. The story published in Sunday's Boston Globe, ''Search for Kerry's roots finds surprising history,'' reveals fascinating details about the man who served this commonwealth as junior senator since 1984, and before that as lieutenant governor, and who now seeks the Democratic presidential nomination.</p>

"In their solidarity statement published in newspapers across Europe on Thursday, the leaders of Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland declared that it was vital to preserve unity and cohesion now 'more than ever before.' "

Online petition (which will eventually be printed and sent to Sarandon & Co.) against celebrity "pundits". FREEP! http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/hollywoodceleb/index.html --CWL

Okay, uh, I ran across this site tonight, and it freaked me out, because it is ACTIVELY CALLING FOR MILITARY TO DESERT. Go look and judge for yourself. And it's located in *Washington (the state)*. Someone tell me this is government propaganda...*please*...whois information listed below -- it's hosted by EARTHLINK! If this thing is for real they should get FReeped HARD! Enter the site and check out: "Coming; "Who do you serve?" A page for military and law enforcement personnel." PUBLIC WHOIS INFORMATION: Organization: Roger Bullock Roger Bullock 2101 South 324th St. #16 Federal Way, WA 98003 US Phone: (253)...

Four people detained Friday PM when they tried to drive a car containing guns and ammunition onto the CBS Television City lot in Los Angeles... Anybody have any news on this? --KL

<p>Michael Newdow, the atheist who went to court to get the Pledge of Allegiance declared unconstitutional, spent his 15 minutes of fame last week asserting that the Founding Fathers would have cheered his campaign against the words "under God."</p> <p>"He is confident," The Washington Post reported, "that the framers of the Constitution would have supported his view, noting that they did not mention God in the nation's founding document." He had earlier made the same claim on television, telling Katie Couric, "There is no reference to God in the Constitution. It's striking . . . that it is missing."</p>

<p>June 27, 2002 There are times, George Orwell is reputed to have said, when the first duty of an intelligent man is to restate the obvious. President Bush did his duty this week when he cut through the murk of the past nine years -- the years of the Middle East "peace process" -- to assert some obvious truths.</p>

The Feral Cortex Kip Lange June 27th, 2002 Take This Pledge and Shove It Just when I think it’s safe to sit around and do nothing but watch softcore porn on Cinemax, the liberals rise from their dreary coffins and wander around, attempting to eat the brain of American society and culture. What’s the target this time? The Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance has been declared unconstitutional by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, or rather two members of it, although I rather suspect that underneath the human masks they wear, they are, in fact, very, very...