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John Evander Couey, convicted child rapist and murderer has died, depriving Florida and the family of Jessica Lunsford of seeing Couey's death sentence carried out. Mark Lunsford, the victim's father once said of Couey, that he wouldn't mind if Couey died at the hands of another inmate, saying “I would be buying a lot of cigarettes for someone.” Looks like Mr. Lunsford won't have to buy those cigarettes after all. Couey died of cancer today in prison.

September 22, 2009 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- A man Chicago police call a burglary suspect has died after being shot by a homeowner during an apparent break-in. The attempted burglary and shooting happened late Monday morning in the 7100-block of South Coles in the city's South Shore neighborhood. Investigators say 45-year-old Maurice Smith, of Chicago, and another unknown suspect were attempting to burglarize a home when the homeowner opened fire and shot Smith. The other suspect ran away and remains at large.

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: Al Qaeda’s operations chief in Pakistan and a top aide have been killed, Pakistani officials confirmed on Friday. Operations chief Osama Al-Kini was thought responsible for attacks including the bombing of Marriott hotel in Islamabad and an unsuccessful attempt to kill former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Al-Kini and his lieutenant Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, both Kenyans, were killed in a missile strike in South Waziristan on January 1. Security officials in Islamabad said Al-Kini’s killing would relieve the security apparatus of a ‘big worry’. agencies

Down to single digits in his days left in office, President George W. Bush is warning the Republican Party not to become "anti-immigrant" as it regroups from defeat and retools its leadership. "It's very important for our party not to narrow its focus, not to become so inward looking that we drive people away from a philosophy that is compassionate and decent," the departing president said in an interview broadcast Sunday, nine days before his term ends. "My call for our party is to be open-minded."

An intended rape victim shot and killed her attacker this morning in Cape Girardeau when he broke into her home to rape her a second time, police said. The 57-year-old woman shot Ronnie W. Preyer, 47, a registered sex offender, in the chest with a shotgun when he broke through her locked basement door. Click Here! The woman told police he was the same man who raped her several days earlier. Officials do not intend to seek charges against her. In the first incident, the woman heard glass breaking in her basement about midnight on Saturday. She went to leave...

Attorneys make closing arguments in Gear trial By Joe Johnson | joe.johnson@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 4:20 pm on 12/1/2008 WATKINSVILLE — Attorneys made final arguments this morning in the case of a Bogart man who authorities say shot a motorcyclist in the back last winter. When Oconee County jurors return from lunch, Superior Court Chief Judge Lawton Stephens will instruct them on the law before they begin deliberating. Jurors must decide whether Richard Harold “Ricky” Gear is guilty of malice murder, felony murder and other charges in the Feb. 25 shooting death of Bryan Joseph “B.J.” Mough. Gears says...

LUCASVILLE, Ohio -- Ohio has executed a 5-foot-7, 267-pound double murderer who argued he was too fat to die humanely by lethal injection. Richard Cooey died at 10:28 a.m. Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. There were no immediate reports of problems finding suitable veins to deliver the deadly chemicals. His attorneys had argued that his weight problem could make it difficult for prison staff to access a vein. A prisons spokeswoman said earlier that Cooey received a pre-execution exam and was cleared. Cooey was the first inmate executed in Ohio in more than a year, and...

OJ Simpson jury to announce decision tonight in Las Vegas at 10pm Pacific.

Well placed but unnamed sources close to anonymous high-ranking members of the Democratic campaign speaking confidentally have revealed a new line of attack against Governor Sarah Palin (R), John McCain's vice-presidential running mate. "It's true that our polling data shows we are really taking a bitch-slapping right now, and we're looking to staunch the hemorrhaging. Anything that puts us on the attack and gets the enemy's panties in a wad is seen a a giant plus. "For the first time in history the American people have the opportunity to elect to the vice-presidency someone who is menstruating. And if there...

It just keeps getting better. According the head of the South Caolina Democrates, Gov. Palin's main qualification for being VP is that "she hasn't had an abortion" By Nov. 4th, will the "ONE" get even one single vote from a female?

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama should do two things about GOP vice presidential pick Sarah Palin. The first is repeat: "I´m running against John McCain and I´m running for president not Vice President." He should keep repeating that as many times as it takes to get him to back off the distracting, pointless, and self-absorbing amount of time he´s spent knocking her. The strength of his appeal and campaign has always been that he´s taken the political and ethical high ground. He´s stuck to talking about the issues of tax cuts, the Iraq War, the economic meltdown, health care, the...

DALLAS — Illegal immigrants are returning home to Mexico in numbers not seen for decades — and the Mexican government may have to deal with a crush on its social services and lower wages once the immigrants arrive. The Mexican Consulate's office in Dallas is seeing increasing numbers of Mexican nationals requesting paperwork to go home for good, especially parents who want to know what documentation they'll need to enroll their children in Mexican schools. "Those numbers have increased percentage-wise tremendously," said Enrique Hubbard, the Mexican consul general in Dallas. "In fact, it's almost 100 percent more this year than...

Officials: Al Qaeda's Mad Scientist Killed One of al Qaeda's top chemical and biological weapons experts was killed in an air strike by a CIA pilotless drone in a remote Pakistani border region, senior Pakistani intelligence officials told CBS News Tuesday morning. Intelligence officials investigating the Sunday night missile attack confirmed that Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri was one of six men killed and his remains had been positively identified. "We now have a positive ID on the body. I can confirm to you that Al-Masri has been killed,"

Retired General Antonio Taguba, the officer who led the Army's investigation into Abu Ghraib, recently wrote in the preface to the new report, Broken laws, Broken Lives: "There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account." Should those who ordered war crimes be held to account? With the conclusion of the Bush regime approaching, many people are dubious, even those horrified by Administration actions. They fear a long, divisive ordeal that...

Father of victim says U.N. body's order 'don't mean diddly' Texas is refusing to bow to yesterday's World Court order to stay the Aug. 5 lethal injection of convicted rapist-killer and illegal alien Jose Medellin. (snip) Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office rejected Mexico's complaint. "The world court has no standing in Texas, and Texas is not bound by a ruling or edict from a foreign court," Perry spokesman Robert Black said. "It is easy to get caught up in discussions of international law and justice and treaties. It's very important to remember that these individuals are on death row for...

Bush may have done a service to us all. The eight years gave us lay offs and unemployment not seen since the great depresion, wars and attrocities commited in the name of advancing american multi corporate agenda and white Christianity, we saw the rich get richer and the poor become even more poor, we heard slogans such as jobless recovery, strategery, modern economy, trickledown effect Ad nauseum. The values of Bush are the values of the capitalist system, another word for fascism. the eight years of Bush proves capitalism is a failed system. We see more debt, unemployment and 100...

I wish you all the best. I have tried to post tributes to the Army, info on Obama's horrendous run for office and McCain's slightly less horrible attempt. I wish you all the best but FR is just as likely to exclude people from the deabte as anyone else. They have that right, freedom to cleave to whoever you like is a right I agree with but I am guessing I am not one Jim wants associate with. I wish you all the best but I am bowing out of this forum. Have a great life. God bless u all!

WASHINGTON — President Bush overstepped his authority when he ordered a Texas court to grant a new hearing to a Mexican on death row for rape and murder, the Supreme Court said Tuesday. In a case that mixes presidential power, international relations and the death penalty, the court sided with Texas 6-3. Bush was in the unusual position of siding with death row prisoner Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican citizen whom police prevented from consulting with Mexican diplomats, as provided by international treaty. An international court ruled in 2004 that the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death...

It was a horrible, shocking, unnerving experience. Reading some of the things Barack Obama's pastor has said, I suddenly saw something with which I completely agree!! He said five days after 9/11: "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye...." His point: Chickens were coming home to roost. I agree. We certainly committed terrorism and murder when we dropped two atomic bombs on open cities in Japan. And, as Ron Paul has said, correctly, re: 9/11: The terrorists were over here because,...

ALBANY, New York (CNN) -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Wednesday that he will step down from the state's top office and promised to "atone for my private failings" with family members.

Shi'ite cleric and leader Muqtada Al-Sadr was secretly transferred a few days ago from Iraq to Iran for hospitalization as he was comatose. It was reported that his illness resulted from food poisoning. Al-Sadr is being treated by Iranian specialists, as well as by Russian doctors brought in to help the Iranian medical staff treat him.

U.S. forces found, targeted and killed in a Somali desert city the senior al Qaeda operative who masterminded the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa and had since spent a decade in hiding, The Washington Times has learned. Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who is one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, was the target of a U.S. missile strike on a residence in Dobley, a small town in southern Somalia near the Kenyan border, according to a U.S. military official who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity because of the nature of the operation.

DAMASCUS BLAST ON TUESDAY KILLED SENIOR HEZBOLLAH MILITARY COMMANDER - LEBANESE POLITICAL SOURCE

Hey, Freepers Want do you think if instead of Bush winning in 2000 McCain won? How would have McCain have done on the issues of the day compared to Bush? Courts, LAWS, Policies, ect

Remote detection satellites are used by the intelligence branch of the military to conduct mind control exercises in the theater of war. All this technology is dependent upon the higher branches of particle physics and quantum mechanics. The array of satellites safe in deep space cover the entire earth making the mind control intelligence program widely successful. Be amazed as you view this military program break out of the box. Go to the following web site that shows a real-time mind control zombie being manipulated by satellite and the military. www.MindControlUSA.com

HAVANA - Philip Agee, a former CIA agent who became an outspoken critic of the agency and opened a travel site to bring Americans to Cuba in defiance of U.S. law, has died following ulcer surgeries, Cuban state media reported Wednesday. He was 72

Hillary Clinton's campaign, anticipating probable defeat here in New Hampshire on January 8, is gearing up for an extended trench-warfare battle against Barack Obama. The former First Lady is planning to fight Obama in South Carolina on January 26, and in the gargantuan nationwide primary on Tuesday, February 5 -- with contests in 19 states, including New York, California, New Jersey, Georgia, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Colorado. If she remains competitive, Clinton's plan is to continue to compete in Louisiana on February 9, in Virginia and Maryland on February 12, in Wisconsin on February 19, in Ohio on March 4 --...

A senior Islamic militant, wanted by the US government, has been killed in a clash with the Philippine military in the nation's restive south, an official said Sunday. Abdul Mubin Sakandal, a leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, was killed during a joint navy and marine operation on the remote island of Tawi-Tawi, a military official said. Sakandal, also known as Abdurajak Mobin, had allegedly helped carry out a string of high-profile kidnappings of foreigners from resort islands in neighboring Malaysia and from the Philippine isle of Palawan. "Our naval elements neutralized Mobin ... during a dragnet operation at...

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- San Jose police said a protective pit bull played a part in the arrest of a man accused in the attempted sexual assault and burglary of a San Jose woman. According to police reports, the 31-year-old single mom had just returned to her home after a birthday celebration in June when she was attacked by a stranger who was already in her home. SJ Prosecutors Credit Dog For Cracking Sexual Assault Case | SLIDESHOW: View ImagesThe man began strangling her as she tried to stab him with her keys, police said. Then, the woman’s pit bull,...

MADRID, Spain: An Algerian fugitive suspected of playing a key role in the Madrid terror bombings of 2004 died in Iraq while fighting U.S.-led forces, a newspaper reported Sunday. Spanish investigators learned from foreign intelligence services that Daoud Ouhnane died in Iraq in October or November 2006, El Pais said, quoting a confidential police report. The report said that after fleeing Spain following the string of bombs that targeted the Madrid commuter rail network on March 11, 2004, Ouhnane was in contact with suspected Islamic extremists in Spain's northeast Catalonia region in 2005 and 2006, El Pais said. Police could...

DALLAS -- Two teens are dead after police said they tried to rob a security guard patrolling a shopping center parking lot overnight. Police said three men approached the security guard and told him to get out of his car just before midnight Thursday in the Golden Triangle Shopping Center near the intersection of West Redbird Lane and Highway 67. The security guard obliged and then fired his rifle at them, hitting two of three, according to police. One of those shot by the guard was Sergi Vann, 19, who died shortly after arriving at Methodist Medical Center. The other...

Here is the transcript. The YouTube address is at the end. * Q: Do you think the U.S., or U.N. forces, should have moved into Baghdad? A: No. Q: Why not? A: Because if we'd gone to Baghdad we would have been all alone. There wouldn't have been anybody else with us. There would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq. None of the Arab forces that were willing to fight with us in Kuwait were willing to invade Iraq. Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to...

I was trying to put some pure acetone which I just bought for 5 dollars for 32oz into my car

A feature piece in this coming Sunday's New York Times Magazine on Republican candidate for president, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, portrays his followers as including a wild mix of "wackos" on both ends of the political spectrum. Paul, a libertarian, has been gaining media and public attention of late. The cover line reads: "A Genuine Radical for President." The headline inside: "The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-medicare Candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul." The article closes with the author, Christopher Caldwell, attending a Ron Paul Meetup in Pasadena. The co-host, Connie Ruffley of United Republicans of California, admits she once was...

I guess hereby I am saying goodbye to this place. That is though, I will check back here when big breaking news stories happen. My first consern is saving my own nation. When the war on terror started I never thought it would come to this. I got into fisty cuffs with an anti American idiot over here... Now, I see people here (free-republic) cheering on the demise of the civilization in Europe. Cheering on the demise of my own nation. All the while Bush, advocates Turkey to become a member of the EU. Your president can go to Hades...

<p>Rosie O'Donnell has fought her last fight at `The View.' ABC said Friday she won't be back on the show following her angry confrontation with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Wednesday.</p> <p>O'Donnell asked for, and received, an early exit from her contract. She was due to leave "The View" in mid-June.</p>

Caught in the middle of the Helmand river, the fleeing Taliban were paddling their boat back to shore for dear life. Smoke from the ambush they had just sprung on American special forces still hung in the air, but their attention was fixed on the two helicopter gunships that had appeared above them as their leader, the tallest man in the group, struggled to pull what appeared to be a burqa over his head. Strike force: An Apache gunship on patrol in Afghanistan As the boat reached the shore, Captain Larry Staley tilted the nose of the lead Apache gunship...

Jimmy Lee Smith, the notorious, lifelong criminal whose role in the 1963 kidnapping and killing of a police officer inspired Joseph Wambaugh's true-life crime novel "The Onion Field," has died in jail at age 76, a state prisons official said Saturday. Smith died Friday at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, where he was being held for failing to report to a parole officer, said Bill Sessa, a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman. The cause of death was under investigation, according to the county coroner's office, although foul play was not suspected. Smith was once sentenced to death...

Unfortunately it wasn't an April Fools joke. At the end of Sunday's NBC Nightly News, John Seigenthaler announced that he is leaving the anchor desk. It came as a shock to viewers: "This is my last broadcast on NBC Nightly News. It's been my privilege to be associated with this news organization for the last 11 years, so a few thank you's are in order.First, thanks to my colleagues, my friends in New York and around the world for their inspiration and support. A special thanks to you the viewers for your loyalty to this network and in particular this...

Jury deliberated for just over an hour and gave Couey the death penalty.

GREENSBORO, N.C. | Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Tuesday his campaign would seek to eliminate its contribution to global warming by becoming "carbon neutral." Speaking to a crowd of college students at Bennett College, the former North Carolina senator urged all Americans to help reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. "It's time for the president of the United States to ask Americans to be patriotic about something other than war," Edwards said. "This is an emergency. This requires action now." Edwards said his campaign will consult with experts to calculate its total carbon emissions -...

Verdict up

(AgapePress) -- A Texas pro-family group says Governor Rick Perry's executive order mandating HPV shots for schoolgirls entering sixth-grade not only usurps the authority of the State Legislature, but also the rights of parents. In addition, the American College of Pediatricians has recommended against the vaccine for young girls. A conservative group in Texas is raising strong objections to Republican Governor Rick Perry's executive order mandating HPV shots for 11- and 12-year-old female students. On Friday, Governor Perry signed an order that requires all Texas schoolgirls entering sixth grade to get Gardasil, Merck & Company's new vaccine against the Human...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry ordered today that schoolgirls in Texas must be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, making Texas the first state to require the shots. The girls will have to get Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass laws in state legislatures across the country mandating it Gardasil vaccine for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government,...

Molly Ivins, whose biting columns mixed liberal populism with an irreverent Texas wit, died at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at her home in Austin after an up-and-down battle with breast cancer she had waged for seven years. She was 62. Ms. Ivins, the Star-Telegram’s political columnist for nine years ending in 2001, had written for the New York Times, the Dallas Times-Herald and Time magazine and had long been a sought-after pundit on the television talk-show circuit to provide a Texas slant on issues ranging from President Bush’s pedigree to the culture wars rooted in the 1960s. "She was magical in...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday he will oppose efforts to repeal a law, which he signed six years ago, giving tuition breaks to illegal immigrants attending state universities."I'm for leaving the law like it is because I think it serves a good purpose," he said.The governor also said he is willing to consider legislation to expand the death penalty to repeat child molesters, even if the victim isn't killed, but stopped short of endorsing the proposal. "Let's have the debate and see how they do it," he said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.Perry said he and...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry said today he will oppose efforts to repeal a law, which he signed six years ago, giving tuition breaks to undocumented immigrants attending state universities. ``I'm for leaving the law like it is because I think it serves a good purpose,'' he said.CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY

Some comments on the executing of Saddam Hussein: ___ "Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him, and there will be no review or delay in carrying out the sentence." — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. ___ Saddam's execution punishes "a crime with another crime. ... The death penalty is not a natural death. And no one can give death, not even the state." — Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict XVI's top prelate for justice issues. ___ "Today marks an important milestone in the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of...

Since it now seems very imminent, I decided that it was an appropriate time to start this up. Links to information and pictures (if we get them) can be posted here.