Free Republic

The author of the controversial memo that upended Google in August is suing the company, alleging that white, male conservatives are systematically discriminated against by Google. James Damore was fired as an engineer after the manifesto, which questioned the benefits of diversity programs and suggested women may be biologically inferior engineers, was widely passed around the company. In a new lawsuit, he and another fired engineer claim that “employees who expressed views deviating from the majority view at Google on political subjects raised in the workplace and relevant to Google’s employment policies and its business, such as ‘diversity’ hiring policies,...

When Ryan and Breanna Anderson decided they wanted to purchase a home in Lodi for their young family, they knew they would have to act quickly to take advantage of plummeting prices. And though prices for homes in the area are down, so is inventory. And interest rates are near historic lows. That’s making it tougher to snap up bargain homes — and has led some to say Lodi’s real estate market may be stabilizing.

Two arrests in connection with a federal identity theft investigation were made at the Marshalltown Swift plant Tuesday, though a large-scale, sweeping raid like the one in December did not take place. A union representative and human resources worker were arrested at the Swift & Co. meatpacking planton charges of bringing in and harboring illegal immigrants. The arrests were part of a nationwide sweep of Swift plants that netted 19 arrests overall, said Richard Rocha, a spokesman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Burping cows and sheep are being targeted by UK scientists to help bring down Britain's soaring levels of greenhouse gas pollution. Experts at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Aberystwyth say the diet of farmed animals can be changed to make them produce less methane, a more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide. Farmed ruminant animals are thought to be responsible for up to a quarter of "man-made" methane emissions worldwide though, contrary to common belief, most gas emerges from their front, not rear, ends.

LODI -- Taj Khan, leader of a project to build an Islamic center in southwest Lodi, said he was mystified this week when county supervisors decided against giving the proposed Farooqia Islamic Center a necessary permit. But Khan said Wednesday he doesn't believe that the recent federal terror probe in Lodi influenced the supervisors' unanimous vote Tuesday. However, others are certain that the FBI investigation played a role in vote, even though supervisors said they were primarily concerned about land use at the proposed center site at Lower Sacramento Road and Harney Lane. A representative of one national Islamic advocacy...

STOCKTON -- A group of environmentalists, farmers, and fishermen gathered in Stockton Monday to protest legislation by Rep. Richard Pombo that it says tears holes in the federal safety net for wildlife living on the brink of extinction. The group, following a brief news conference, hand-delivered to Pombo's Stockton office the signatures of 3,000 Californians objecting to Pombo's revised version of the Endangered Species Act. Former Rep. Pete McCloskey -- a Republican like Pombo -- co-authored the original 1973 law and stood nearby when President Nixon signed it into law. McClosky said he's so angry about Pombo's bill, he is...

Shrouded in controversy, the fate of a Farooqia Islamic Center off Lower Sacramento Road has been up in the air for years. When a land use permit to begin construction was finally approved in July, however, would-be neighbors filed an appeal against the project, citing concerns about noise and traffic. That appeal will be approved or denied Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors, whose members will focus on the specific complaints of noise and traffic. Jack Sieglock, who represents Lodi on the board, said the group will not likely address broader concerns about what the applicants want to do...

They've interviewed people, followed people, arrested people and even, some say, directed planes to fly ceaselessly over the city. There is little doubt the FBI has been a powerful presence in Lodi in the days since the arrest of several local Muslims in what has been termed a terror investigation. Two former Lodi imams were also arrested on immigration charges: Shabbir Ahmed, 35, and Mohammad Adil Khan, 47, and Khan's son, Mohammad Hassan Adil, 19. Adil Khan and his son have agreed to be deported rather than face federal charges. The arrest drew a boisterous legion of media -- and...

16 cards sent to state investigatorsA dead Republican was registered as a Democrat in a San Joaquin County voter-fraud case, one of hundreds of voter registrations being reviewed by the county's registrar of voters. Helen Seymour had been dead six months when she was registered in March, county records show. The ongoing review could result in criminal charges against Deborah DuBrutz and Bonnie Fetters, both of Stockton, registrar Deborah Hench said. County elections officials have mailed state investigators 16 registration cards that the two women submitted, Hench said. Some cards registered Republican voters as Democrats. Some contained altered birth dates...

The dedication ceremony for Stockton Unified School District's newest elementary school will feature all of the traditional trimmings: decorations, cookies, speeches, singing, dancing and, yes, even ribbon-cutting. But this time, the district has its hopes set on a little something extra: The most powerful man on earth. It would be appropriate, of course: the school, which opens Tuesday, is said to be the first in the country named after President George W. Bush. So, despite already receiving a not-a-chance rejection letter from a White House aide, the district isn't giving up. "We're going to go through all of our avenues,"...

MONTEITH UNCOVERS CARDOZA MONEY LAUNDERING Multiple transfers from Cardoza Assembly account to candidates used to “clean” money to benefit Cardoza congressional campaign Modesto- State Senator Dick Monteith’s congressional campaign uncovered multiple instances of improper financial activity by Dennis Cardoza’s congressional campaign and will seek to file a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Monteith’s campaign cited a plain reading of FEC Advisory Opinion Number 1996-33 for the grounds of its complaint. Monteith’s campaign prepared documentation showing that Cardoza for Congress received $8,500 in contributions transferred from legislators from Los Angeles and San Francisco as well as political action...

Vienna, 4 September 2002 - The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) has submitted a set of statements to the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that document serious violations of the Helsinki Human Rights standards. The meeting will be held from 9 to 19 September in Warsaw. It will deal with some key human rights issues such as freedom of expression and freedom of religion; the right to a fair trial, freedom of association and peaceful assembly; prevention of torture and minority rights; as well as the prevention of aggressive...

...PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...COR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 430 PM PDT WED JUL 10 2002 ...ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN DEGREES IN SACRAMENTO BY 330 PM... THE TEMPERATURE IN DOWNTOWN SACRAMENTO REACHED 111 DEGREES AT 321 PM THIS AFTERNOON. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THE MERCURY HAS REACHED 111 DEGREES SINCE AUGUST 4 1998. THE RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR THIS DATE WAS PREVIOUSLY 107 SET IN 1988. THE PERIOD OF RECORD FOR THE DOWNTOWN SENSOR BEGAN IN 1880. THE DOWNTOWN SACRAMENTO SENSOR HAS REACHED 111 DEGREES ONLY SEVEN TIMES SINCE 1880. THE OTHER FIVE INSTANCES OCCURRED IN 1991...1990 ...1961...1933...AND 1925. THE SENSOR...

Republicans on the Stockton Unified school board acknowledged Wednesday that partisan politics played a role in their decision to be likely the first district in the country to name a school after President George W. Bush. Trustees defended the merits of their decision against criticism Bush hasn't established a legacy worth memorializing. "We have a tradition in Stockton Unified of naming our schools after presidents, and George W. Bush is one of the most dynamic presidents in our recent history," said board President Glen Dolberg, who made the motion for Bush's name and voted in favor of it. "How wonderful...

What do Cesar Chávez and George W. Bush have in common? They both will have schools named after them in Stockton Unified School District. By a 6-1 vote, with board President Glen Dolberg opposed, trustees forsook history for the future in naming the district's soon-to-be-built high school in northeast Stockton Cesar Chávez High School, rather than Stockton High School, a proposal supported by graduates of the defunct school that was closed in 1948. Later, after the supporting contingent for Stockton High School had already left the meeting, trustees decided to name a new charter high school that will be located...

Triumphant graduates pay homage to heritage Ceremony honors black S.J. students By Neil Gonzales Record Staff Writer Wanting to be successful in life is just part of the equation. How to be successful is the other. Recent Lincoln High School graduate Mark Harris realized that lesson from watching people such as his older brother, Maurice Harris Jr. "He handled himself well in school and got involved in the community," Mark Harris said of his brother, who graduated from Lincoln High in 1999 and is pursuing a dream in fashion at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. "I...

SACRAMENTO -- Whether or not the scandal over California's $95 million software deal with Oracle Corp. rises to the level of a political corruption case, it still has potential to color the gubernatorial debate in a way that benefits Republican challenger Bill Simon. The Oracle fiasco is ugly and embarrassing. Billed as a money-saver, the software-licensing agreement could cost the state $41 million more than if there were no contract. It's led to three high-level resignations, provided the spectacle of police entering a state office building to prevent document shredding, Gov. Gray Davis said Friday he's been working for weeks...

SACRAMENTO -- If the 2000 presidential election was done over in California, George W. Bush would beat Al Gore by a seven-point margin, an astonishing turnaround in a state that the president lost by 12 points two years ago, according to a Field Poll released today. So it makes sense that Democrats said they would prefer to have someone besides the former vice president carry their banner in the 2004 election. Of those surveyed, 45 percent said the party needs a new standard bearer, and 40 percent thought they should stick with Gore. Fifteen percent had no opinion. The statewide...

<p>CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. — A local high school’s plan to put a cow out to pasture in order to make money for a prom will go on despite protests from a group of animal rights extremists that the fundraiser is demeaning to the animal.</p>

<p>Danville -- Now this surprised and amazed. Ever elusive Dick Cheney on Wednesday decided to emerge from Area 51 - or whatever undisclosed, super-secret location at which he lays his shiny head down to sleep - for a stop in Pleasanton to campaign for pal Richard Pombo, the Tracy congressman whom Cheney's boss has charmingly nicknamed "Marlboro Man."</p>