Free Republic

Police Chief: King Remains Under State Of Emergency Until Monday: KING, N.C. -- Authorities lifted a curfew and alcohol restrictions in King on Sunday, but said a state of emergency declaration remained in effect until Monday. Authorities said the state of emergency declaration would continue until Monday 9 a.m., barring any unforeseen circumstances or severe changes. Effective Sunday afternoon, alcohol restrictions and a curfew were lifted. All other remaining restrictions would continue until Monday, said Paula May, King police chief. Other restrictions include a ban on the sale or purchase of any type of firearm, ammunition, explosive or any possession...

BANGOR, Maine — John “Bobby” Surles, who was mortally wounded by a gunshot on Wednesday, was defending a friend during a group fight on Cumberland Street when a fellow teenager turned a gun on him and pulled the trigger, family members said Friday. Allen and Mary Ann Suddy, who are Surles’ grandparents, also adopted him as their son nine years ago. The grieving couple on Friday described the circumstances of their 19-year-old son’s death Wednesday — as told to them by police as well as by Surles’ friends who were at the fight. Zachary Carr, 18, of Bangor was charged...

As Barack Obama begins his second year in office, the public’s priorities for the president and Congress remain much as they were one year ago. Strengthening the nation’s economy and improving the job situation continue to top the list. And, in the wake of the failed Christmas Day terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound airliner, defending the country from future terrorist attacks also remains a top priority. At the same time, the public has shifted the emphasis it assigns to two major policy issues: dealing with the nation’s energy problem and reducing the budget deficit. About half (49%) say that dealing...

Texas won't compete for up to $700 million in federal stimulus money for education because the program "smacks of a federal takeover of our public schools," Republican Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday. The funding is from the U.S. Department of Education's "Race to the Top" program, a $5 billion competitive fund that will award grants to states to improve education quality and results. The program, created in the economic stimulus law, is part of Democratic President Barack Obama's efforts to overhaul the nation's schools. Perry has been critical of the federal stimulus program and the federal bailout of the nation's...

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue warned the U.S. faces a double-dip recession because of the taxes and regulations under consideration by the Democratic Congress and President Barack Obama. “Congress, the administration and states must recognize that our weak economy simply could not sustain all the new taxes, regulations and mandates now under consideration. Donohue said the lawmakers should not let former President George W. Bush's tax cuts expire at the end of year and lambasted Democratic efforts on healthcare and financial regulatory reform as well as climate change. If the tax cuts are allowed to expire, “we will...

First it was Driving While Intoxicated. Then they changed it to Driving Under the Influence. In Ontario, Canada they’re going to have to come up with a new one, Snow Blowing While Intoxicated. A civic-minded but drunken man has been charged with pushing a snow blower into a major intersection north of Toronto. The unidentified 41-year-old man caused traffic mayhem during rush hour in Barrie, 50 miles north of Toronto. Before a passing officer was able to reach the man, he was almost struck by cars twice amid clouds of snow he was stirring up. “His capacity to make sound...

A Sturgis woman had a blood-alcohol level of .708 percent, possibly a state record, when she was found earlier this month behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle parked on Interstate 90, according to Meade County State’s Attorney Jesse Sondreal. A South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper discovered Marguerite Engle, 45, on Dec. 1 passed out behind the wheel of a delivery truck reported stolen in Rapid City. Her blood-alcohol level was almost nine times South Dakota’s legal limit of .08 percent. Checks with local and state labs where blood-alcohol levels are tested suggest Engle’s reading may be the highest ever...

HAVANA (AP) - Cuba's foreign minister called President Barack Obama an "imperial and arrogant" liar Monday for his conduct at the U.N. climate conference, a reflection of the communist island's increasingly fiery verbal attacks on the U.S. government. Bruno Rodriguez spent an hour and a half lambasting Obama's behavior in Copenhagen, telling a news conference, "at this summit, there was only imperial, arrogant Obama, who does not listen, who imposes his positions and even threatens developing countries." He called the summit "a fallacy, a farce" and said Washington used back-room deals and strong-arm tactics to foist on the world a...

Lindsay Vonn's dual victories at Lake Louise over the weekend have drawn sharp criticism from ranking Democrats, followed by demands for an inquiry into the troubling incident. President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder held a press conference announcing an investigation into Vonn's motives. "America has been arrogant in the past," stated the president. "We need to atone and ask for forgiveness. These victories in the women's downhill events send the wrong message to the world - that America is still arrogant and seeks to win. For this I intend to apologize directly to the IOC." ~ Eric Holder supported...

NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AFP) – Iranian forces took control of a southern Iraqi oil well on a disputed section of the border on Friday, US and Iraqi officials told AFP. "There has been no violence related to this incident and we trust this will be resolved through peaceful diplomacy between the governments of Iraq and Iran," a US military spokesman told AFP at Contingency Operating Base Adder, just outside the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. "The oil field is in disputed territory in between Iranian and Iraqi border forts," he said, adding that such incidents occur quite frequently. An official of...

BAGHDAD -- Turning on their TVs during the long holiday weekend, Iraqis have been greeted by a familiar if unexpected face from their brutal past: Saddam Hussein. The late Iraqi dictator is lauded on a mysterious satellite channel that began broadcasting on the Islamic calendar's anniversary of his 2006 execution. No one seems to know who is bankrolling the so-called Saddam Channel, although the Iraqi government suspects it's Baathists whose political party Saddam once led. The Associated Press tracked down a man in Damascus, Syria named Mohammed Jarboua, who claimed to be its chairman. The Saddam channel, he said, "didn't...

ACORN’s San Diego office isn’t the only place its been careless with sensitive documents. Late last year, ACORN abandoned an office in Oklahoma. In its haste to vacate the office–and skip out on the landlord’s claim of back-rent–ACORN abandoned piles of documents, as well as a computer. Below is a copy of ACORN’s “Oklahoma Power Plan,” a long-term political plan to reshape politics in the Sooner State. The “Power Plan” is a very interesting document. First, it provides another example for how ACORN’s political operation thinks strategically. The plan is focused on impacting state legislative races to create momentum and...

Ex-Mossad official sees massive attack on U.S. homeland – www.worldtribune.com WASHINGTON — Yuval Aviv, who predicted the Al Qaida strikes on London's mass transit system in 2005, said he believes Al Qaida was planning a series of mass-casualty strikes throughout the United States. Aviv said the most likely targets were places such as Disneyland, Las Vegas casinos, malls and subways. "The attack will be characterized by simultaneous detonations around the country — terrorists like big impact — involving at least five to eight cities, including rural areas," Aviv, a former Mossad official said. Aviv, responsible for the Israeli offensive against...

About 5 percent of spending in federal programs in fiscal year 2009 was improper, according to new details of a government financial report that were released Tuesday. WASHINGTON -- More than $98 billion in taxpayer dollars spent by government agencies was wasted, much of it on questionable claims for tax credits and Medicare benefits, representing an increase of $26 billion from the previous year. In all, about 5 percent of spending in federal programs in fiscal year 2009 was improper, according to new details of a government financial report that were released Tuesday. Saying the overall error rate was similar...

TEL AVIV — A classified assessment relayed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Obama and his senior advisers would incrementally diminish U.S. strategic cooperation with Israel developed over the last 20 years. "Obama wants to make friends with our worst enemies and until now the worst enemies of the United States," an Israeli source familiar with the intelligence assessment said. "Under this policy, we are more than irrelevant. We have become an obstacle."

WASHINGTON — The number of significant pro-Iran lobbyists has grown and key players have gained access to the new administration of President Barak Obama, a report said. The Center for Security Policy said veteran Iranian lobbyists, several of them former government officials, have been granted access to the Obama administration. "A complex network of individuals and organizations with ties to the clerical regime in Teheran is pressing forward in seeming synchrony to influence the new U.S. administration's policy towards the Islamic republic of Iran," the report, titled "Rise of the Iran Lobby," said. "Spearheaded by a de facto partnership between...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials said Al Qaida has activated sleeper cells long dormant in Iraq in an effort to demonstrate the capabilities of the insurgency movement The officials said many of the sleeper cells were located in Baghdad and deactivated in 2007 amid the U.S. military surge. "Al Qaida apparently felt that there was no point in directly confronting the United States during the surge," an official said. "Now, that the U.S. military is preparing for withdrawal, these suicide bombing cells have been placed back on operational footing." In March, at least 60 people were killed in a series of...

To automate the growing number of grievances, reduce paperwork, and bring the grievance collecting into the 21st century, the Obama Administration has created a new agency, the U.S. Department of Grievances, linked with other agencies and taxpayers through the newly launched 2009 Hope'N'Chage Operating System. Given that the most optimistic evaluation of Obama's stimulus plan included this language, "If we do everything right, there's still a 30 percent chance we'll get it wrong," and that the government's record of "getting everything right" is shaky at best, the new department's current goal is to prepare for the impending "30%" outcome. If...

No matter how much you cheat the government in taxes, you'll never get close to being even. Trust me. (Tim Geithner, Treasury Secretary's proverb) Good intentions make the most noise. (Proverb of Obama's Economic Recovery Team) All good things are either illegal, immoral, or lead to obesity. (Kennedy family proverb) Surely you can fool all the people all the time. (Proverb of the mainstream media) To err is human, and we use this faculty frequently and with much pleasure. (Proverb of the US Congress) All work and no pay makes Jack an exemplary citizen. (Proverb of Obama's Economic Recovery Team)...

"I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen," says Nobel winner Steven Chu. 'We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California,' Steven Chu says. He sees education as a means to combat threat. Reporting from Washington -- California's farms and vineyards could vanish by the end of the century, and its major cities could be in jeopardy, if Americans do not act to slow the advance of global warming, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said Tuesday. In his first interview since taking office last month, the Nobel-prize-winning physicist offered some...