Free Republic

MEXICO CITY – The Mexican government dropped a controversial land dispute case against the capital's leftist mayor on Wednesday, ending a battle that had threatened to knock the most-popular candidate out of the 2006 presidential case. Prosecutors said the case against Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador – which sparked massive protests – was dismissed because the legal code laid out no specific punishment for the mayor's alleged offense. Lopez Obrador had fought the investigation with protests and speeches, and accused the government of using the charges to keep him out of the presidential race, allegations President Vicente Fox denied. Under...

Many Californians, like many other Americans, are more than ready to do whatever it takes to put an end to the problem of illegal immigration – provided the solution is simple and pain-free and doesn't inconvenience them in any way. Let us state upfront that illegal immigration is a problem. We're getting to the point in political discourse in this country where every debate is all or nothing, where you can't question whether something is the cure without being accused of somehow condoning the disease. And so let us assert the obvious: We don't condone illegal immigration. Like any sort...

Farmers from the state of Veracruz protested in Mexico City yesterday. The farmers want the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, to return land seized between 1992 and 1998. The PRI governs Veracruz. Stripping to one's underwear has been a common form of protest in Mexico in recent years.

WASHINGTON – Prosecutors often decline to pursue cases against federal prison guards and other employees who have sex with inmates, and when there are convictions the punishment often is light, the Justice Department's internal watchdog said yesterday. It's illegal for a federal prison employee to have sex with an inmate, even if it's consensual. But fewer than the half the 163 substantiated sex cases turned over to federal prosecutors resulted in criminal cases against prison employees in the five years that ended in September, Justice Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said. The major reason is that federal law considers most...

ANALYSISSACRAMENTO – During a productive, bipartisan beginning to his political career, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger uttered a phrase that not only drew worldwide attention, but also foreshadowed a shift to a more combative style: "girlie men." The taunt, aimed at Democrats during stalled budget negotiations last year, was delivered with some humor. Not so with more recent barbs. Schwarzenegger this year has labeled nurse and teacher unions "special interests," called Democratic legislators "spending addicts" and said his proposals are aimed at changing policies and programs "where all the evil is." During his kinder, gentler first year, Schwarzenegger enjoyed soaring approval ratings,...

It took the young emergency-room doctor three days to identify the unconscious El Salvadoran man wheeled into a Los Angeles hospital with his head bashed in. Tracing trails of receipts, clothes tags and phone numbers, Dr. John Halamka got good at tracking down the names and medical histories of "John" and "Jane Doe" patients. "Arthur Conan Doyle would've been proud," he recalled. But Halamka also daydreamed of ways to make the sleuthing unnecessary, saving time and lives. When he heard of VeriChip, a computer-linked ID tag that can be implanted in the human body, he decided to test one...

When Deb Foster died in a La Jolla hospital, she found herself on a stairway surrounded by cats and dogs and mesmerized by a celestial blue sky, the likes of which she had never seen on earth. Mary Clare Schlesinger hovered above her bed in the intensive-care unit, watching her husband and daughter react in shock and fathomless grief at the thought of her passing. Beverly Brodsky said she went on a spectacular journey through a tunnel of intense light, a magic ride with angels and a shapeless God to a place of perfect knowledge, wisdom, truth and justice. All...

PELLA, Iowa A rural Pella man accused of growing thousands of opium poppy plants has been put on probation for two years. Seventy-year-old Al Yang was arrested last summer after agents found 22-thousand plants on his property. Opium poppies, which can be used to make heroin, are illegal in the U-S. Yang, who described himself as medicine man in his home country of Laos, pleaded guilty to a drug charge and faced up to ten years in prison. He was sentenced yesterday in Marion County District Court. Drug charges against Yang's wife and daughter were dropped as part of the...

LOWELL, Mass. -- The assistant principal at a Lowell middle school has been disciplined for forcing a student to clean up another student's blood as part of the punishment for hitting him in the face. Robert Doyle, an assistant principal at Daley Middle School, was disciplined with "appropriate action," Superintendent of Schools Karla Brooks Baehr said. She did not specify the exact punishment. The incident occurred on Tuesday when two eighth-grade boys got into a fight in a locker room and one boy hit the other in the face hard enough to draw blood. Robert Scott III, 14, told The...

A bill to crack down on human trafficking and involuntary servitude has cleared another hurdle in the Nevada Assembly. The proposal, passed by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, is backed by Attorney General Brian Sandoval. It would make it illegal to enslave someone by confiscating a passports, threatening deportation or threatening to harm family members. Offenders could get up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $50,000. A Department of Justice report estimates there are as many as 17,500 cases of human trafficking cases in the US each year.

<p>RENO, Nev. - On a farm about six miles outside this gambling town, Jason Chamberlain looks over a flock of about 50 smelly sheep, many of them possessing partially human livers, hearts, brains and other organs.</p> <p>The University of Nevada-Reno researcher talks matter-of-factly about his plans to euthanize one of the pregnant sheep in a nearby lab. He can't wait to examine the effects of the human cells he had injected into the fetus' brain about two months ago.</p>

MEXICO CITY Mexico condemned the comments today of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who praised civilian volunteers guarding the Arizona-Mexican border in search of people crossing illegally. The Foreign Relations Department said quote: "these types of unfortunate pronouncements are not the way to achieve a better understanding between our country and California." In a radio interview yesterday, Schwarzenegger said of the volunteers, quote: "I think they've done a terrific job, and look, they've cut down the crossing of illegal immigrants by a huge percentage." Minuteman volunteers, some of whom are armed, began patrolling April first for migrants crossing into Arizona over...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Arlen Specter is pushing legislation to expand stem cell research with the perspective of a man fighting a deadly illness. The Pennsylvania Republican has Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph system, and is being treated with chemotherapy. He and two colleagues introduced a bill Thursday that would allow for what is often referred to as therapeutic cloning. "I've got a new hairdo, which you can all observe, and that is indicative of a problem which may well be helped by stem cell research if it were to go forward," said Specter, referring to the loss of...

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday, for the first time explicitly, that he expects tax increases to be part of any eventual agreement to reduce the federal budget deficit. Greenspan, appearing before the Senate Budget Committee, also acknowledged that his support for tax cuts in early 2001 unintentionally led to policies that helped swing the federal budget from surplus to deficits. In pointed comments, he addressed recent Democratic critics who have sought to blame him for the return to deficits. Greenspan reminded lawmakers that government economists at the time predicted budget surpluses "as far as the eye...

State tries to combat the cancellation of insurance policiesDan and Christy Clancy were visiting Palm Springs when the theft happened. A hotel valet had left their car door unlocked, and a thief took $1,436 worth of entertainment equipment. But worse was yet to come. After the Clancys filed a claim with Allstate Insurance, they were told that because it was their second claim in five years – they had filed a claim for $1,645 for wind and hail damage to their roof in 2001 – their homeowners policy would not be renewed. "Two paid losses in the most recent five...

Today and this weekend, we celebrate the 35th anniversary of Earth Day. This year, all living things around the planet have a new ally: evangelical Christians. What will this partner be like? Will evangelicals collaborate with traditionally secular environmentalists? Will they celebrate Earth Day? Evangelicals have rediscovered the biblical mandate to care for creation, but will they go on to tackle issues such as overpopulation and global economic injustices? Will they be hypocrites or leaders? Before I explore those questions, it is only fair to tell you where I'm coming from. I believe that Jesus walked on water – and...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An alliance that includes Catholic health care systems, the California Catholic Conference, disability rights advocates and an association of service workers is lined up to oppose a bill that would bring Oregon’s sort of assisted suicide to the nation’s most populous state. A panel from the California Assembly last week OK’d the legislation, which will be taken up by an appropriations committee before making it to the Assembly floor for a vote. No hearing date had been scheduled at press time. Before becoming law, the bill would also need approval in the Senate and a signature from...

SACRAMENTO – California's adult smoking rate has fallen to a historic low as young adults – the first generation to grow up with the state's aggressive anti-tobacco campaign – posted their biggest decline in nearly a decade, health officials reported yesterday. Only 15.4 percent of California adults still smoke, according to a survey of 8,000 people conducted throughout 2004. That figure, down from 16.2 percent the year before, represents nearly 4 million smokers, but 70 percent of those want to quit, the survey found. Public health advocates were encouraged by a nearly four-point drop – from 22.2 percent to 18.3...

McMINNVILLE (AP) -- A former elementary school teacher charged with having sex with a 13-year-old male student denies that her pending divorce is her fault. Pamela Rogers Turner says she's not guilty of inappropriate marital conduct and she may coutersue her husband for divorce. That comes from Turner's answer to her husband's divorce filing. Chris Turner filed for divorce in January, at the same time a 28-count indictment was returned against his wife. She is charged with sexual battery and statutory rape for allegedly having sex with a student at Centertown Elementary School near McMinnville. Pamela Rogers Turner was...

MEXICO CITY -- Northern Mexico has become one of the most dangerous places in the hemisphere to be a journalist, mostly because of its violent drug cartels, media groups say. Attacks in the past week alone have left one editor dead, one reporter missing and another barely alive after she was shot nine times. "Some of the media outlets here have hired guards," said Roberto Galves, news director of radio station XHNOE. Its crime reporter, Guadalupe Garcia Escamilla, 39, is recovering from wounds to the chest, abdomen, legs and arms after an April 5 attack in the tough border city...