Free Republic

Historians depict Gov. Hiram Johnson's successful 1911 crusade to give voters the power to make laws via initiatives as a triumph of idealism. Ninety-five years later, initiatives inspire far more cynicism than idealism among voters – and the batch on the Nov. 7 ballot shows why, according to Union-Tribune editorial writer Chris Reed. He breaks the 13 measures down into three categories. The good and pretty good PROPOSITION 1A advances the novel notion that the 6 percent state sales tax on gasoline should pay for transportation projects, as voters decided via Proposition 42 in 2002, and not be a kitty...

Iceman cometh - from Italy By Jo McAllister in Vienna July 25, 2003 A BITTER row between Austria and Italy over which country can claim to be home to the world's oldest ice mummy has been settled thanks to the work of a scientist from an Australian university. The 5300-year-old mummy, known as Oetzi after the Oetz Valley region between the two countries where he was found, was at the centre of the bizarre ownership row after his corpse was found on the mountainous border region separating the two, in the disputed region of South Tyrol. The question of whether...