Free Republic

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care plan was molded by a team of staffers as politically varied as California itself - a fact that could accelerate the ambitious proposal's journey from idea to reality. While Schwarzenegger faces plenty of opponents a month after unveiling the plan, their tone has been more conciliatory than confrontational. This, analysts say, is no accident. By stuffing his health advisory team with staffers who represent the often conflicting interests of employers, medical associations, insurers, unions and patient-advocacy groups, the governor has been able to pre-empt a lot of the criticism that could have doomed...

The man who could be the nation's next Supreme Court justice is smart, hard-working, quiet, self-effacing, even shy. But if you really want to understand appeals court judge Samuel Alito, focus on three things, say those who know him best: his family, the law, and the Philadelphia Phillies. They paint a picture of a busy judge, the father of two, sorting through legal briefs among spectators in the stands at school swim meets, or taking his kids - and law clerks - to root for his beloved Phillies. "When he was coaching his son's baseball team, he would leave the...

Bricks with molded designs unearthed in Chongqingwww.chinaview.cn 2004-01-12 20:52:43 CHONGQING, Jan. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Archaeologists in southwest China's Chongqing municipality have unearthed more than 20 pieces of brick reliefs from a tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 A.D.-220 A.D.). Lin Bizhong, a noted archaeologist with the Chongqing MunicipalArchaeological Team, said this was the first time that bricks withmolded designs had been unearthed in Chongqing. Previously, such tomb bricks had been excavated from Sichuan province, southwest China, and have been included as relics under state key protection. Lin acknowledged that the brick-and-stone-structured tomb, fromwhich brick reliefs were unearthed, had been...