Free Republic

An alert this week from backers of Judge John Roberts cautions not to take seriously Democratic complaints that they cannot stop his confirmation. A three-page memo sent to thousands of conservatives across the country warns that the assault on President Bush's first Supreme Court nominee is yet to come. A major reason cited for this belief is the man back at Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's side on the Senate Judiciary Committee: James Flug. ''It is hard to fathom Mr. Flug coming back to Capitol Hill after 30 years of private practice for anything other than a bitterly tough confirmation fight,''...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 - It was July 1985 and the newly confirmed attorney general, Edwin Meese III, was preparing to address the American Bar Association. Trouble was, he was conflicted about what to say. A 17-day hostage crisis involving a hijacked American airliner had just ended, and Mr. Meese felt obliged to discuss terrorism. But the Supreme Court had just delivered a series of decisions that infuriated conservatives and reinforced President Ronald Reagan's resolve to steer the judiciary rightward. In the end, Mr. Meese gave what many say was the speech of his career. Helping lay the foundation for the...

CHICAGO - Supreme Court nominee John Roberts skipped the American Bar Association's yearly meeting, but big-name conservatives like Kenneth Starr and Theodore Olson were there to promote his credentials. Roberts' nomination to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is a watershed for lawyers. And with Senate confirmation hearings just a month away, he was the inescapable subject at the meeting of the country's largest lawyers group. Top conservatives, from Starr and Olson to Reagan administration Attorney General Edwin Meese and Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo, were attending the meeting and serving as unofficial ambassadors on Roberts' behalf. "For those people...

Moose set off on long-distance swim Wildlife officials in northern Norway are trying to figure out whether a fully grown moose grew tired of summer on the mainland, or was worried about the upcoming hunting season. Whatever the reason, he plunged into the sea and swam to an island quite a ways offshore. The moose turned up on the island of Træna, 40 kilometers (24 miles) off the coast of Nordland County. Moose sometimes do go swimming, but it's rare that they swim so far. "The most important thing now, is that he's left in peace," Terje Bø of the...

Links to both Parts (text of both parts is in this thread): Part 1: http://www.bizzyblog.com/?p=227 Part 2: http://www.bizzyblog.com/?p=228 _________________________ Digesting the meaning of the 2nd District Primary Results, who gained, and who lost: Winners: Every single resident of The 2nd District. No matter who wins on August 2, we will be represented by someone who lives with us, works with us, has integrity, and will effectively represent us (yes, even a Democrat can do that). Winners (again): Every single resident of The 2nd District. A McEwen victory would have forced BizzyBlog to fully research and verify a great deal of...

Previously, I have criticized Paul Weyrich's endorsement of Bob McEwen here in detail and here for his (Weyrich's) inconsistency on term limits. There is a larger topic here, and that is the propriety of such endorsements in a race of this nature. There is a place for outsider endorsements in politics, but this race isn't it, and I'll explain why.Outsider endorsements can pass the smell test in two situations: The first is if there are only a few candidates involved, and there is a clear philosophical divide between those few candidates. The outsider can claim that they know the person...

The so-called Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) is a bad idea whose time should never come up -- at least for the United States and for those who believe in economic liberty and national security. That was the view of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and would remain his view today if he were with us to express it. The actual title of the treaty is “the United Nation’s Convention on the Law of the Sea.” As its name suggests, it gives to the United Nations, through its subordinate organizations established in the treaty, unprecedented economic powers and...

Dog-owner sued for moose damageA wild moose caused NOK 50,000 (USD 7,900) worth of damage to a swimming pool, and in a possible legal first, a dog-owner is being sued for responsibility.The bizarre episode occurred during a moose hunt in Bamble, Telemark, southwest of Oslo in mid-October 2003, NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) reports.A group of hunters and their moose hound Nancy had chased a female moose and her calf but the party was not licensed to kill these animals and tried to set them free.Unfortunately, Nancy would not give up the scent and her owner failed to get control over the...

A former Justice Department official has accused the Supreme Court of abusing its limited authority over immigration law to become the "architect" on how illegal aliens enter and remain in the country, and whether they are entitled to public benefits.

A Norwegian-owned ship made a grisly discovery in the waters off Sumatra early this week. Nine corpses, almost surely victims of the December 26 tsunami, were floating on the surface, but the ship opted against picking them up. It was a moral dilemma for the captain of the vessel, which is under foreign registry. Neither the name of the captain, the shipowner or the vessel is being released. The captain said he considered picking up the bodies, but they were badly decomposed after being in the water for 14 days. Nor did the ship have any refrigeration facilities in which...

A Norwegian furniture maker has begun his 15th year of going barefoot, even when there's snow on the ground. A bet he placed with his brother in the summer of 1990 has simply turned into a way of life. Terje Gordon Jensen, age 30, started going without shoes as a teenager, after making a wager with his brother. The bet was over who could (or would) go around barefoot the longest. His brother lost. "Now I think it's terrible to wear shoes," Jensen told ration station P4. "I struggle just to try getting them on." Jensen, who lives in the...

Angry moose attack dogsled, after another runs wild in clothing store Two moose charged a dogsled led by 12 huskies over the weekend. The attack came just a day after another moose broke into a children's clothing store in Lillehammer. A confused moose rambled about for several hours inside the children's clothing store in Lillehammer. The two incidents were the latest in a string of unusual moose behaviour in Norway. The country has a large moose population, but the huge animals are generally shy and stay away from people and populated areas. All the more reason why Reidar Stenmark was...

Moose attacks laundry rack There's either a love- or hate-relationship going on between local moose and outdoor laundry racks in Norway. Another garden was plundered last week in Gjøvik, and only the clothes that were hanging on the rack were left behind. Related stories: Landowners see gold in moose hunting - 29.11.2004 Man fights back after moose attack - 05.10.2004 Moose breaks into grocery store - 12.08.2004 'Dead' moose attacked hunter - Moose on the loose in Oslo - Moose 'terror' dented in Arendal - Flying moose lands on car's roof - Hungry moose head to town - Drunken moose...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 - President Bush on Wednesday nominated Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel and a longtime political loyalist, to be his next attorney general. The speed with which Mr. Bush acted, only a day after making public the resignation of John Ashcroft, indicated that the president wants to get his new appointees in place before the start of his second term, 10 weeks from now. The nomination of Mr. Gonzales would also put one of his most trusted aides in a post where past presidents have wanted to have a confidant, as well as someone who can...

...Ashcroft.... will go down in history as the Attorney General who led the legal fight against terrorism. Every wartime AG has had to make tough calls about the balance between civil liberties and national security, and in a better world Mr. Ashcroft would be retiring to bipartisan accolades for taking on these difficult issues.... Yet no one in this Administration has endured more personal and political abuse. Granted Mr. Ashcroft isn't the smoothest public spokesman, and his cultural conservatism and strict interpretations of the law on the death penalty, partial-birth abortion and sentencing guidelines incensed liberals.... The irony is that...

...Mr. Gonzales has many things going for him, not least his relationship with the President, whom he has served for more than a decade starting in Texas. These personal ties -- much like those between Californians Ed Meese and Ronald Reagan -- will give him a stronger influence in the Cabinet than Mr. Ashcroft had. But his job will nonetheless be to build on the Ashcroft legacy. That includes moving ahead with terror cases, riding hard on the FBI as it reshapes itself to fight terrorists, and working for the renewal of the Patriot Act, portions of which expire next...

Racicot: "John Kerry Continues to Play Politics with Important Security Matters" ARLINGTON, VA -- Earlier today, Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Chairman Gov. Marc Racicot and former Attorneys General William Barr and Dick Thornburgh spoke at a press conference in Washington, D.C. to highlight the importance of the Patriot Act in winning the War on Terror. The press conference also pointed out Sen. John Kerry's continued efforts to play politics with important security matters. "The Patriot Act is essential to protecting Americans from terrorist attacks and all responsible public figures must explain this to the American people. I applaud President Bush...

Russia's elk prove tough to tame By Artyom Liss BBC, Kostroma Trying to milk an elk might seem like a task for the brave or foolhardy. But it's exactly what Russian biologists are trying to master, on a remote Soviet-era farm. A domestication experiment in Kostroma, 360 kilometres (220 miles) north of Moscow, focuses on elk - one of the living symbols of Russia. The Kostroma elk farm was set up more than 40 years ago, but some of its workers admit that so far they have achieved almost nothing. As the elk are being herded away from enclosures in...

President Bush Discusses Iraq in Veterans Day Address Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Washington, D.C. 1:16 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Ed, thank you very much. It's an honor to be here. I appreciate your invitation. I want to thank you for your decades of leadership in the conservative movement. Presidents come and go, except here at the Heritage Foundation. (Laughter.) I appreciate being with your good bride, Linda; the trustees of the Heritage; the longtime Heritage supporters; and the Ronald Reagan Fellow at Heritage, a man who is a fine leader and a fine Attorney General, Ed...

Former Attorney General Ed Meese said Tuesday that the Republican controlled Senate should have censured Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., after he called President Bush a liar last month, saying that Kennedy was "a reprobate." "The worst thing that I've seen in Washington in a long time was Teddy Kennedy - that reprobate - standing on the floor of the Senate and calling President Bush a liar, and nothing happened [to him]," Meese told radio host Sean Hannity, who was broadcasting from the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. The Reagan administration's top lawman continued: "I would have thought that the entire...