Free Republic

In the twelve plus years that I’ve been writing this weekly column, I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the Highlands Writers Group. That is a shifting association of professional writers, semi-pros like me, and gifted amateurs. One of the finest writers in the group is Anne Doggett; she helped create the Group a decade ago, She’s a distant cousin who creates Southern people and situations on paper easily as well as the legendary Eudora Welty. I won’t mention any of the other members for fear of slighting excellent talent among those I don’t mention, Suffice to say, there’s enough talent...

It turns out that al-Jazeera requested a similar interview from the Democratic mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, Mayor Larry Langford. He refused because of the network’s ties to terrorists. But what was not reported is that they offered the same strange invitation, to be picked up and brought by them to some untold location. To be clear, I have no doubt that the harassment of elective candidates was not a network decision. As I stated in my last column, my cause for concern was that al-Jazeera hires many interns directly from the Middle East with little known about their background.

Extremists are winning the battle for the hearts and minds of Britain's young Muslims, a disturbing police report warns. Increasing numbers have become so alienated from mainstream society that they could even lend their support to jihadi terrorism, the study claims. While most reject violence, many distrust police and are reluctant to inform on extremists. The report was commissioned by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) after last year's failed bomb attacks in London's West End and at Glasgow Airport. It is to be discussed at Acpo's annual conference this week. In the most comprehensive research of its kind...

Bank employees said a man wearing a ski mask and carrying a pistol was thwarted in an attempt to rob the bank because the doors were locked. The man fled the scene. and he was unable to complete the heist,

London, Jun 4, 2008 / 07:24 pm (CNA).- British police said they will not apologize to two Christian preachers who were threatened with arrest by a Muslim police officer for preaching Christianity in Muslim communities in the city of Birmingham. According to the Telegraph, the incident occurred last February when Christian ministers Arthur Cunningham and Joseph Abraham were handing out leaflets and speaking with four Muslim youths about Christianity in Birmingham. Naeem Naguthney, a Muslim police community support officer told them to cease-and-desist from preaching to Muslims and threatened to charge them with a “hate crime.” "He said we were...

Two Christians claim a police community support officer told them to stop leafleting in an area of east Birmingham where many Muslims live. The Christian Institute has complained to West Midlands Police the men were told to leave Alum Rock Road. The US Christians said they were advised they were committing a hate crime by trying to convert Muslims. West Midlands Police has investigated the complaint and said the officer intervened to defuse a row. Arthur Cunningham and Joseph Abraham, a pastor at Grace Bible Fellowship Church, in Saltley, Birmingham, had been distributing leaflets in nearby Alum Rock on 19...

On this day in 1963, police in Birmingham, Alabama -- under the command of the Democrat sheriff, Eugene "Bull" Connor -- attacked several thousand African-American schoolchildren who were demonstrating peacefully for their civil rights. At the time, it should be noted, Connor was the Democratic National Committeeman for Alabama. Connor's men used dogs and clubs... [see http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com for more] Republicans would benefit tremendously from appreciating the heritage of our Grand Old Party. See www.republicanbasics.com for more information.

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

Cannot Post due to copyright issues: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/03/17/080317taco_talk_hertzberg

Suit challenges Langford's first computer charity Tuesday, February 19, 2008 BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE and JOSEPH D. BRYANT News staff writers A charity Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford created more than seven years ago to give every child a computer faces scrutiny from a donor and federal prosecutors over its use of more than $1 million in taxpayer money, including payments on personal credit card bills, expenses for "elaborate" trips and checks written to a star of gay-porn films. The questions about Computer Help for Kids, created in 2000 to carry out Langford's first computer-for-every-child promise as Fairfield mayor, come as the...

The Muslim convert accused of trying to hijack a Ryanair plane from Sweden to Stansted attended an American flying school leaving with a qualification to pilot light aircraft. The revelation that Kerim Chatty, 29, had taken flying lessons in the US - just like the September 11 terrorists - came as detectives investigated reports that he was planning to crash the plane into an American embassy in Europe, possibly London. An intelligence officer in Sweden told Reuters: "We know for sure that the plan was to crash the plane into a US embassy in Europe." If London were the target,...

A Birmingham pastor was arrested for making a terroristic threat against a judge. Birmingham Police Sgt. Cory Hardiman said Wanda Radford was arrested November 9th for making a terroristic threat against a person in public administration. Another police officer told FOX6 News the public official was a circuit court judge. Pastor Radford is the founder of "Mothers Who Want to Stop the Violence," an organization created to promote non-violence in Birmingham. Radford was being held in the Jefferson County Jail on no bond.

Hardline takeover of British mosques       Andrew Norfolk   Almost half of Britain’s mosques are under the control of a hardline Islamic sect whose leading preacher loathes Western values and has called on Muslims to “shed blood” for Allah, an investigation by The Times has found. Riyadh ul Haq, who supports armed jihad and preaches contempt for Jews, Christians and Hindus, is in line to become the spiritual leader of the Deobandi sect in Britain. The ultra-conservative movement, which gave birth to the Taleban in Afghanistan, now runs more than 600 of Britain’s 1,350 mosques, according to...

Yes, it is highly unusual for a Bishop to be transferred to a new diocese with a smaller population and an even smaller number of nominal Catholics. Yet, Birmingham, the new diocese of Robert Baker, the former Bishop of Charleston, includes one specific Catholic institution, which deserves special treatment (for better or for worse). From our collection of episcopal reactions to Summorum Pontificum: In a letter to priests of the Diocese of Charleston, SC, Bishop Robert J Baker takes a warm and positive position. Among the many good things he says are the following, "Let us use this time of...

Tuesday, August 14, 2007 The Wait is Over... Finally. [8am: Updated with statements... scroll down.] Riffing off Sunday’s warning shot, a reader mused that “if it's [neither] the butcher or the candle-stick maker… IT MUST BE THE BAKER.” And it is – and, at long last, it’s official: at Roman Noon today, the Pope named Bishop Robert Baker of Charleston to the diocese of Birmingham, which covers northern Alabama. If you're surprised, you haven't been paying attention. Baker, 63, succeeds Bishop David Foley, who retired as Birmingham’s ordinary in May 2005. Foley, 77, has since served as diocesan administrator;...

Abortion Activists To Square Off In Birmingham By GREG GARRISON and WILLIAM C. SINGLETON III BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Birmingham will be the focus of the national abortion debate when activists on both sides converge on the city for a week starting Saturday. Operation Rescue/Operation Save America has been recruiting people from across the nation to meet in Birmingham July 14-22 for a week of demonstrations against abortion. At the same time, the National Organization for Women is calling activists from across the country to Birmingham for what is being billed as "Alabama Reproductive Freedom Summer,'' a series of demonstrations aimed...

When Your Doctor is a Muslim: Medical Terrorism Comes to America By Debbie Schlussel www.debbieschlussel.com May 17, 2007 Sometimes--so many times--diversity is not what it's cracked up to be. Just ask Joseph Applebaum. Well, you could ask him. But you won't get an answer. He's dead. And he's dead because he was a Jew, and his doctor is a Muslim and grad of "Ayman Al-Zawahiri" Medical School. But Applebaum wasn't denied treatment for being a Jew in Egypt. Or elsewhere in the Muslim world. It happened right here on U.S. soil. In Chicago. As Muslim doctors continue to flood into...

Police in Birmingham having been checking thousands of cars across the city following the bomb alert in London. It is believed the vehicle at the centre of the main alert in the capital could have been registered to an address in the region. An increased police presence in cities throughout the country saw officers from West Midlands Police take to the streets. The force had been placed on high alert after the discovery in London of two Mercedes cars containing similar explosive materials. The first car in question - a Mercedes rumoured to be registered to a Birmingham owner -...

A British Army officer has been abused by Asian women while on a hospital visit to troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Company Sergeant Major Neil Powell was surrounded and heckled by three young women in the unprovoked verbal attack at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham. The women, in traditional Asian dress, ranted about the presence of British troops in Muslim countries. The incident took place in a public area of the hospital used by both civilians and military personnel. In recent months the standard of treatment for soldiers at Selly Oak has been widely criticised. Military personnel have called...

Hi there: there's a job prospect in Birmingham, Alabama. The job is supposed to be in downtown. I have never been in that part of the country before. Does one need to move far out into the suburb to be in a safe neighborhood? If so, what kind of commute am I talking about? Also, the pay is 50-60k/a. Is that a good salary? Thanks for any comments.

BESSEMER, Alabama: A gunman fatally shot two bank employees during a robbery Monday morning at a Wachovia bank branch in Alabama, authorities said. Deputies later shot one suspect as he left the bank with a gun held to a female hostage's head, and they were searching for a possible second suspect, a sheriff's spokesman told The Birmingham News. The spokesman said two other employees were shot and wounded.

Tory leader David Cameron writes of the benefits of integration after staying in Birmingham Sunday May 13, 2007 The Observer The challenges of cohesion and integration are among the greatest we face. I wrote in these pages in January that we cannot bully people into feeling British: we have to inspire them. Last week, I spent two days staying with Abdullah and Shahida Rehman and their family in Birmingham. The experience has strengthened my conviction about the right way to build a more cohesive Britain. First, a concerted attack on racism and soft bigotry. You can't even start to talk...

Spy plane hunts 'terror suspects' By Nick Britten, Richard Alleyne and Nigel Bunyan Last Updated: 2:04am GMT 02/02/2007 Police drafted in a spy plane and extra officers yesterday after it emerged that two suspected terrorists were still being sought. Police remove computers from Blade internet cafe They are said to be connected to the alleged plot to kidnap and behead a serving British Muslim soldier. Detectives were given another week to interview nine suspects already in custody. Three appeared in Coventry magistrates' court amid high security whilst six remained at a nearby police station. A police source suggested none had...

Today's dawn terror raids in Birmingham have heightened the anxieties and suspicions among the Muslim community, it was claimed today. Shabir Hussain, chairman of the Ludlow Road Mosque, near to the house in Jackson Road, Alum Rock, which was targeted by police, said raids like today’s were causing unease among local families. He said: "People don’t trust their own children any more. It’s causing difficulties inside families. "You feel like you should challenge your son or daughter: ‘Where are you going at night? What are you watching on TV? What are you doing on the internet?’ "After this kind of...

HARDLINE preachers delivering messages of hate and intolerance to Birmingham's Muslim community have been exposed in a shocking investigation. Undercover footage of hate-filled sermons condemning Jews, homosexuals and other nonbelievers and calling for British democracy to be torn down and replaced by an Islamic state, were broadcast by the Despatches programme on Channel 4. Last night's chilling documentary saw undercover reporters spend months secretly filming a notorious preacher at the Green Lane Mosque in Small Heath. They also filmed lectures at the Jamia Mosque in Sparkbrook. The preachers filmed in the documentary were said to be followers of the hardline...

LONDON: Aston Villa of the English Premier League said Monday that it had agreed to a takeover by Randy Lerner, owner of the Cleveland Browns in the United States.

Excerpt - The arrest in Pakistan of up to three British men allegedly caught meeting local militants was on Friday night being heralded as the key breakthrough that helped foil a suspected terrorist plot to blow up US-bound aircraft, according to Pakistani intelligence officials. One of those arrested, Rashid Rauf, was last night named by Pakistan’s interior minister as a “key person”. Aftab Khan Sherpao told AP Mr Rauf had ties with al-Qaeda and added: “We arrested him from the border area and on his disclosure we shared the information with British authorities which led to further arrests in Britain.”...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A Birmingham abortion clinic has surrendered its license amid allegations that a woman delivered a nearly full-term stillborn baby after a clinic staffer gave her an abortion-inducing drug and performed other medical treatments without a doctor present, health officials said Wednesday. The Alabama Department of Health issued a suspension order against Summit Medical Center on May 17, citing numerous violations of state health rules. The center has been closed since it was shutdown the next day and will not reopen, said Rick Harris, director of the state health agency's bureau of provider standards. Wednesday's move avoids a...

State health officials on Wednesday shut down a Birmingham abortion clinic after a woman was told she was six weeks pregnant and given an abortion-inducing drug, then delivered a 6 pound, 4 ounce stillborn child at a local hospital.[Not the abortion clinic] The State Board of Health issued an emergency order of license suspension on Wednesday against Summit Medical Center of Alabama on Southside. “That’s not something we do very often,” said Dr. Donald Williamson, state health officer. “The incident involved multiple and serious violations of the rules. There was no other means to address it except an emergency suspension.”...

AT LEAST 400 Al-Qaeda terrorist suspects — double the previous estimates — are at large in Britain, according to police and MI5. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, director-general of MI5, has said the figure could be as high as 600 if all those thought to have returned from combat training in camps in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere are included. The new assessment — effectively a “terror audit” of Britain — was confirmed this weekend by one of Britain’s most senior police officers, who warned that shortages of trained surveillance teams were undermining attempts to monitor all the suspects. “With about 400...

MY DEAR FELLOW CLERGYMEN: While confined here in the Birmingham City Jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would be engaged in little else in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine goodwill and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in...

Killings up in state, nation FBI reports increase for first 6 months of '05 Tuesday, December 20, 2005 CAROL ROBINSON News staff writer The number of killings in three of Alabama's four largest cities climbed in the first six months this year, mirroring the nation, according to preliminary FBI statistics released Monday. Huntsville saw the biggest jump, with the number of murders doubling. But that was only six killings in the first half of 2005 compared with three during the same 2004 period. Birmingham by far had the highest count with 38 homicides from January through June, up from 24...

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Does U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice want to be president? Even a young girl at a photo opportunity with Rice in her former elementary school wanted the United States' most prominent black Republican to answer the question. Rice, whose wide smile had been fixed on her face as the 10- and 11-year-olds asked her about growing up in the segregated South and playing the piano, furrowed her brow and narrowed her eyes for an uncomfortable moment. Sitting on a knee-high chair in front of shelves of books and teddy bears -- and next to the...

A rumour, outrage and then a riot. How tension in a Birmingham suburb erupted · 23-year-old man stabbed to death amid violence · Police appeal for rape victim to come forward Hugh Muir and Riazat Butt Monday October 24, 2005 The Guardian It began as a whisper, an inflammatory rumour that gained horror and currency each time it was told. It was said that after being caught shoplifting, a girl of 13 or 14 had pleaded for leniency, but had been raped by between three and 25 Pakistani men in a suburban beauty store. When the attack was supposed to...

We went to the AL/TN game where she tossed the coin. We spent the night in Birmingham at the same hotel where she was. Her secret service was everywhere. I couldn't get my dh to wait for her to come in the lobby so I could try to get her autograph. I was thinking that the security could have been tighter. Like I was wondering how they knew who was staying in the hotel. My dh booked two rooms in his name, one for us and one for his customer and his wife. There is no way they knew who...

Rioting erupts on Birmingham streets One man killed, many hurt as racial tensions overflow Press Association Sunday October 23, 2005 The Observer One man was killed and a police officer was injured in clashes in the Lozells area of Birmingham last night. The riot, between Asian and black youths, broke out after a public meeting was held about an alleged sex attack on a teenage girl. Tensions have been high in the area since the alleged attack took place several days ago. It is claimed the girl - an illegal immigrant - had been kidnapped and raped by three men....

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A ceremony Saturday marking a seminal event in the civil rights movement - a church bombing that killed four black girls - drew native daughter Condoleezza Rice, a friend of one of the victims. In a park across the street from the 16th Street Baptist Church, the secretary of state said that the act of terror - coming less than three weeks after Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech - was meant to "shatter our dreams. It was meant to say we couldn't rise up." Even though the four girls were denied a chance to...

The memories rushed back for Condoleezza Rice when she entered the Brunetta C. Hill school for the first time in 39 years. She was a pupil there from grades four through six and seemed delighted she could still remember the location of her classrooms and the library in the aging two-story building in the city's Smithfield section. It was a happy time for the piano-playing youngster, but a period thick with racial tensions in Birmingham, best symbolized by the murder of four black girls at the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963. Now things are different. Rice said Friday that...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Police suspect robbery was a motive in the shooting death of a tow truck driver also known as a preacher to Birmingham's homeless. James Richardson, 43, was killed on an East Lake street early Friday. His wallet was missing. There were no immediate arrests. Jim McChezney, who organized ministry and outreach programs at the city's Linn Park, described Richardson as a "mighty man of God," who will be missed. Richardson was one of two tow truck drivers called to an accident scene late Thursday evening at the request of Birmingham police. The first driver picked up...

A man has been arrested at a Birmingham station in connection with the London bombings, according to British Transport Police (BTP). The man was arrested at Snow Hill Station in the city centre on Friday. He was detained under anti-terror laws and was reportedly carrying suitcases that may be connected with the London attacks on Thursday. The station and surrounding area evacuated shortly after 1800 BST. BTP said the situation was ongoing. The two suitcases were reportedly being dealt with by explosives officers.

21 arrested as police find suspect device Jul 11 2005 People were evacuated from their homes last night after West Midlands Police found a suspect device during raids which resulted in 21 arrests. Farm Road, in Rowley Regis, Sandwell, and neighbouring streets were sealed off as a bomb disposal team dealt with the suspect package, which was discovered to be a black box containing a stopwatch and wires. There was no controlled explosion and the box was taken away for further examination. A man was arrested at the property. Armed officers were involved in the operation in which 15 men...

BBC Five Live are reporting that Birmingham city centre is being evacuated after an security alert. More soon.

If this is true ... Sheila Smut Smoot should publicly apologize and then resign from the Jefferson County Commission ... and the supporters of City Stages should reconsider whether to continue supporting filth.Were you there ? Did You Hear That Which CM alleges happened ? Let us know if these allegations are substantive. Dear Russ: Hey just wanted to let you know that Shelia Smoot introduced the rap act Ludacris at City Stages Friday night. Ludacris then went on to use the "N" word several times in his songs and claimed that Birmingham had the best weed around. Some of...

"Condi, honey, come take a look at this dress. Do you want to try it on?" Seven-year-old Condoleezza Rice nodded eagerly. It wasn't often that her mother took her shopping in the downtown Birmingham, Alabama department stores. Angelena Rice took the dress off the rack and handed it to her daughter. The pair strolled toward the fitting room, then stopped as a store clerk barred their entrance. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you'll have to use the storage room in the back of the store. These rooms are for whites only." Angelena stared coolly at the clerk. "My daughter will change...

A five-year manhunt for Eric Rudolph ended in 2003, when someone recognized him while he was foraging for food behind a grocery store in Murphy, North Carolina. Scavenging in a trash dumpster and hiding as a lone survivalist in the mountains of western Carolina are quite revealing. Rudolph had no support, aid or comfort within the pro-life community. Rudolph is a cowardly killer disguised as a defender of life. Rudolph, 38, pleaded guilty April 13 to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing and two other explosions, after earlier admitting to orchestrating a 1998 abortion clinic bombing in Alabama. The bombings killed...

LONDON (AP) - Cash-strapped car manufacturer MG Rover Group is going into financial administration after a proposed takeover deal with a Chinese firm fell through, the British government said Thursday night.  "MG Rover has announced that their board has decided to call in the receivers,'' Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said.  Rover said it had asked PriceWaterhouseCoopers to "accept engagement to advise the board of directors on the current position at the company.''  Earlier Thursday, Rover - the last major British-owned carmaker - suspended production at its British factory and called on the government to firm up its...

BEIJING: Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp's (SAIC) planned purchase of troubled British car firm MG Rover has run into difficulties with Chinese regulators stalling on a decision, the Financial Times reported. It said state regulators are resisting British pressure to fast track approval, angered by Rover's decision to reveal it was in negotiations with SAIC, China's largest state-run automaker. For the deal to proceed, SAIC needs approval from the Shanghai city government, its owner, and from the National Development and Reform Commission, which is responsible for foreign investments by state-owned companies. However, Rover's decision to reveal it was in talks...

January 28, 2005, 9:51 a.m. Islamo-Klansmen@Work From Bombingham to Baghdad. As Iraqis prepare to cast secret ballots in Sunday's free election, terrorists work day and night to obliterate the entire project. Their political violence recalls that of white supremacists who shielded Jim Crow in the battle for civil rights. Those who block the doorway to Iraqi self-determination are nothing more than Islamo-Klansmen. "Those of you who think you can vote and then run away...we will shadow you and catch you, and we will cut off your heads and the heads of your children," threatened one Muslim-extremist leaflet the New York...

The recent Sikh assault on a theater in Birmingham, England, illustrates once again how religious radicals are using violence and threats of violence to curb basic freedoms not just in their former homelands, but throughout the West. In Birmingham on Dec. 18, a mob of some 400 radical Sikhs stormed the Birmingham's Repertory Theatre prior to a performance of Gurprett Bhatti's play Dishonor. During the subsequent melee, 800 theatergoers had to be rushed from the theater, while the mob smashed doors, shattered windows, battered security guards, and destroyed equipment. Five police officers were injured in the brawl. Three Sikh's were...

I've been gone from Free Republic for a while, starting a new business...anyway, located in my building in downtown Birmingham, Al. is the state Kerry campaign headquarters. They have littered their storefront with tacky signage despite orders from local authorities to keep them tasteful, and are basically a general nuisance. They have gone unmolested until today, when some sole soul spent his lunch hour sitting on a bench in front of the Kerry office with his Bush Cheney sign. I am assuming this person is a freeper and want to know who. My business does depend on an "air" of...