Free Republic

When we first read the newspaper today, we were intrigued by the article about a website called www.whosarat.com. The story describes the site as an information clearinghouse about confidential informants who have participated with government investigations and helped put people behind bars. Many of these informants have their own criminal histories and some of the defendants and defense attorneys can use this information to try to save themselves, or their clients, from prosecution. The first thing we did was check out the site for ourselves. We barely got past the front page when we were asked to spend $7.99 for...

LOS ANGELES -- The California Department of Justice issued a new confidentiality policy Monday spelling out when information on its contracts may be withheld from state records. An Associated Press investigation had found tens of millions of dollars of contracts were improperly shielded from public view. "This policy change will absolutely ensure those things don't happen again," said agency spokesman Nathan Barankin. The AP investigation found that information on scores of Justice Department contracts, many of them let without bids, was erroneously labeled "confidential" and omitted from computerized state records, cloaking it from public sight. The hidden contracts included spending...

Chuck Muth's DC CONFIDENTIAL November 8, 2006 ELECTION POST-MORTEM While most Republicans woke up this morning lamenting Armageddon Tuesday, some of us didn't lose any sleep over the election results. Happy at the prospect of two years with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi running Congress? Hardly. But there are a lot of silver linings behind these otherwise dark clouds.

The promotional campaign for 'Art School Confidential' employs the phrase “Just throw it on the wall and see what sticks.” The film adheres fine at first, working best as a collection of caricatures, but the humor eventually dries up and a half-hearted attempt at grander satire causes the second half to peel away, no matter how hard you try to smooth it back down. Jerome (a meek Max Minghella) wants to be the next great artist. As such, he decides to attend the Strathmore Institute, where other creative souls flock in the pursuit of greatness (or success, whichever comes first)....

Greensboro Leaders To Take Polygraph ExamLeaked Report Is Subject Of Investigation UPDATED: 5:15 pm EDT May 2, 2006 GREENSBORO, N.C. -- City leaders are looking for the truth through the use of a polygraph exam. Some members of the City Council are taking the exam to prove they didn't release to the media a confidential report about the police department. Council members voted 8-1 to submit to the exam. Dianne Bellamy Small gave the dissenting vote and has said in the past that she's not responsible for the leak. Another member of the council, Yvonne Johnson, said she didn't like...

In a confidential report, Young Muslims and Extremism, prepared jointly by the Home and Foreign offices in mid-2004 and presented to Prime Minister Tony Blair, we learn something about the inner thinking of the British government. Leaked to the Sunday Times of London, the report is now available in four parts in .pdf format at the newspaper's site.Its goal is "to encourage moderate Muslim opinion to the detriment of extremism" and to that end proposes an "Operation Contest." Along the way, it contains much of interest in it, including these points: "A number of extremist groups are actively recruiting young...

INDIANAPOLIS - Planned Parenthood (news - web sites) sued the state of Indiana Monday to stop the seizure of its clients' medical records, saying investigators were on a "fishing expedition," possibly to identify the partners of sexually active 12- and 13-year-olds. The lawsuit filed in Indianapolis seeks temporary and permanent injunctions barring Attorney General Steve Carter and his Medicaid Fraud Control Unit from searching the private records of clients at 40 Planned Parenthood clinics across the state. Already, the unit has seized records of eight clients from clinics in Bloomington, Franklin and Lafayette, according to Betty Cockrum, chief executive officer...

I heard from two different sources in two days that there have been some reports that the army reservists working at Abu Graib were being prescribed anti-depressants because of the high stress of their jobs. Now I am not saying this is true, but I am asking if anyone here at FR has any contacts to find this kind of info out. I know in the case of those kids at Columbine, it took over a year for the info that those kids were on similar drugs to come out. It was all quashed because of doctor/patient confidentiality. I think...

GUEST OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Los Angeles Say that an I.R.S. agent leaks a politician's income tax return to a newspaper reporter, an act that is a federal felony. The newspaper may have a First Amendment right to publish the information, especially since it bears on a matter of public interest. The government, meanwhile, is entitled to punish the agent, to protect citizens' privacy and ensure a fair and efficient tax system. To punish the agent, prosecutors may need to get the leaker's name from the reporter; but if the reporter refuses to testify because of a "journalist's privilege" to protect confidential...

The September11 terror attacks in the US were staged to overcome disunity in al-Qa'ida, confidential computer records reveal. Alan Cullison reports on what happened after his laptop was wrecked while he was covering the combat in Afghanistan IN the autumn of 2001, I was one of scores of journalists who ventured into northern Afghanistan to write about the US-assisted war against the Taliban. After losing use of my computer in an accident, I scrawled stories by candlelight with a ballpoint pen and read dispatches to my editors at The Wall Street Journal over a satellite phone. When the Taliban's defences...

Exposing Howard Dean Part Three: Universal Medicine Equals Socialized Medicine By Ryan Thompson on 08/30/03 This is the third of several pieces exposing the agenda of Governor Howard Dean on several issues. Now I am going to discuss Governor Dean’s plans involving healthcare. The information from Governor Dean’s own website (www.deanforamerica.com) is the basis for my analysis. Also, I look at the past actions of the Governor to determine his agenda. Governor Dean’s plan has four major components: 1. Redefine and expand Medicaid along with the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover every person under the age of 25....

<p>DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) --  A state judge upheld his decision that pregnancy test records aren't confidential and ordered Planned Parenthood to turn over records to help investigators find the mother of a newborn whose body was dumped in the trash.</p>

VISIT TO AN AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL FROM HELL-OBERVATIONS OF A MAD DAD! My teenager & I recently made a visit to a local public high school, McCann Technical School, North Adams, MAss., (413)-664-9424, www.mccanntech.org. This is what we found, and why my child will not be sent to a public school in America today up in old New England. A poster I noted in the guidance dep't, "Evolution may take millions of years, but..." The theory of evoution is scientifically impossible. The very increadible order of every part of the physical world testifies to the clear presence of intelligent design....