Free Republic

In a pig’s eye. Last week we told you about the menu change at federal prisons where pork products disappeared from the table back on October 1st. What was up with that? At the time I wondered whether it had to do with pressure from religious groups who don’t eat pork or perhaps some sort of political shenanigans between the administration and the pork industry. We don’t have all of those answers yet, but the resulting uproar spurred somebody to action and the ban on pork in prison has apparently been ended… at least in part. (Washington Post) After a...

The Justice Department has backed away from a court battle over its authority to classify and restrict the discussion of information it has already released, handing a local advocacy group a victory by granting it explicit permission to publish letters written by two senators that contain the contested information. The case was considered a potential test of limits to the government's power to restrict access to information in the public domain on national security grounds. Former attorney general John D. Ashcroft had strongly defended the practice in this case by likening it to putting "spilt milk" back in a jar...

WASHINGTON, April 25 - After months of political maneuvering, presidential campaigning, advertising and ultimatums, the 20-member Senate Finance Committee plans to start grappling this week with overhauling the Social Security system. So far, the committee has proven to be just about as divided - and stalled - as the Senate at large. Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the committee, says somewhat ruefully that most of his committee members simply wish the issue would go away. Instead, with the Senate now expected to move before the House on Social Security, Mr. Grassley's committee could play a decisive...