Free Republic

A Washington watchdog group has called on Congress and the IRS to investigate Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, for a laundry list of what it calls the lawmaker's ethics violations.Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington -- CREW -- on Thursday released a 13-count ethics complaint and a letter it sent to the Internal Revenue Service.Pombo called the charges a politically-motivated assault timed to appear just weeks before the June 6 primary election, where he has two opponents."I have never engaged in any illegal or unethical conduct whatsoever in my nearly 14-year career in the House, nor has any evidence been...

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2006 – The Blue Knights International Motorcycle Club is sponsoring a Purple Heart Ride April 23 to raise money for servicemembers and their families. Members of the Maryland IX Chapter of the Blue Knights will be riding to the National Naval Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., near the nation's capital, to demonstrate their support for members of the armed forces who have valiantly served the country and have been wounded, according to an Armed Forces Foundation news release. Money from the ride will go to the Armed Forces Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving quality of...

Murtha tells City Club the war is lost Pa. congressman outlines failures Saturday, April 08, 2006 Donna J. Miller Plain Dealer Reporter U.S. Rep. John Murtha's booming Marine colonel's voice filled the tight spaces between Greater Clevelanders packed into the City Club Friday to hear him protest President Bush's war on Iraq. He repeated the message he began trumpeting in November: that American military efforts in Iraq are failing and will continue to fail, while costing taxpayers $450 billion by the year's end. The 37-year decorated Marine and 32-year congressman from Pennsylvania said: Iraqis with 80 percent of them wanting...

Canada's annual seal hunt, the focus of a major protest effort by animal activists, will start on Saturday and could last longer than usual because the ice floes on which the seals gather are in poor condition, officials said on Thursday. Canada says a total of 325,000 harp seal pups can be shot or clubbed to death this year. The first stage of the hunt, which takes place on ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Canada's East Coast, will account for just over 90,000 animals. Activists, who say the killing is cruel and unnecessary, say they will film...

Dozens of donated plastic models are available for deployed service members to assemble in their free time. U.S. Army photo U.S. Soldier Starts Tikrit Chapter of Hobby Club The Tikrit chapter of the International Plastic Models Society has fifty members and that number is growing. By U.S. Army Spc. William Jones 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment TIKRIT, Iraq, March 2, 2006 — Some U.S. soldiers assigned to the 101st Airborne Division are passing the time during their deployment by doing something they enjoyed doing as kids – building plastic models. “It is something that totally immerses you in to...

PINE VALLEY, Calif. ­­–– (Feb 23, 2006) -- Fifteen members of the Pendleton Sportsman Club had a free day of hunting here on behalf of the Green Head Hunting Club when it hosted a military appreciation on its property Feb. 11. The event that united the Marines and Sailors, who appreciate the trio of guns, barbecue and hunting, for a day of sportsman activities was a way the club could show their military support, explained club member Al Hoyo, 58, of San Clemente. The Vietnam War veteran, who served with the Army’s 25th Infantry Division, understands the importance of showing...

Designer Julien Macdonald and heiress Paris Hilton were pelted with flour by anti-fur protesters after his show at London Fashion Week. They were attacked by campaigners from PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - after a catwalk show which featured a series of models dressed in fur. Macdonald was covered from head to toe in flour as he posed for pictures with Hilton, who escaped with a sprinkling on her shoulder. She had made a surprise appearance on the catwalk of Macdonald's show at Freemasons Hall in Covent Garden, wearing a number of his gowns. But when...

PHOENIX — The World War II-era black officers’ club on Fort Huachuca has been listed as one of 12 Arizona’s Most Endangered Historic Places by the Arizona State Preservation Foundation. The listing on Jan. 24 is seen as an additional positive step by the president of the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers in the organization’s attempt to save Building 66050. “It (the listing) brings us more publicity and will help in fund-raising,” Tom Stoney Sr. said Monday. SWABS has also applied to the National Trust for placing the black officers’ club on its annual list of historic places in danger,...

56 schools now in $1 billion club The number of U.S. colleges with endowments topping $1 billion has jumped to 56, a new study says, with nine schools joining the elite club in what was an average year for university investments overall. Harvard remained the richest, with $25.5 billion, followed by Yale with $15.2 billion. For comparison, the University of Florida, the state's largest public institution, boasts an endowment of about $836 million. The wealthiest per student was Rockefeller University in New York, which has no undergraduates, followed by Olin College, a small engineering school in Massachusetts that opened in...

SIERRA VISTA — The path to saving the black officers club on Fort Huachuca is getting smoother, according to a man leading an effort to protect it. Harlan Bradford, chairman of the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers’ project to save the World War II facility, also said his organization is hoping Building 66050 will be designated one of “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He said the building being listed would be a great help in saving the facility. Last year, SWABS tried to have the building listed as one of “America’s 11...

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — who ripped Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito for ties to a group that discriminates against women — says he’s going to quit a club notorious for discriminating against women “as fast as I can.” Kennedy was outed by conservatives late last week as a current member of The Owl Club, a social club for Harvard alumni that bans women from membership. In an interview with WHDH Channel 7’s Andy Hiller that aired last night, Kennedy said, “I joined when I . . . 52 years ago, I was a member of the Owl Club,...

Via Drudge... A couple who forced a plane to land in Bermuda after they attacked cabin crew who stopped them having sex are facing a $34,000 bill for their pleasure. SNIP Bermuda Airport manager Jim Howes said: "It's always the joke among us pilots, and I am a pilot, about have you joined the mile high club?" When asked if he had Mr. Howes said: "I can't comment – and you can quote me on that." Although he did say that on that long haul flight the couple had probably joined the seven-mile high club.

Users of a city mosque are angry after an advert for a "gentlemen's club" went up opposite their prayer room. The picture of a scantily-clad woman has been plastered across a billboard in Conduit Street, Leicester, opposite the Central Mosque. Muslims who worship there said they found it offensive. Owners of the Aviary club said they had not received an official complaint but did not want to cause offence. Gul Mohammed, who works at the mosque, said: "It's not the kind of thing you want to see when you are doing your prayers. "Also, when people - men, women and...

CEO disputes $241K tab at topless club Attorney says charges were fraudulent NEW YORK (AP) -- American Express is suing the CEO of a communications company for payment of $241,000 worth of disputed credit card charges at a Manhattan topless club. American Express says in papers filed in state court that Savvis Inc. chief executive officer Robert A. McCormick was in the club Scores in October 2003 with at least three other men. After McCormick got the $241,000 corporate credit card bill, Savvis called American Express and complained that some of the charges were fraudulent, the lawsuit says. The communications...

I was recently inspired by an idea I saw on, of all things, The Simpsons. The plot started as Marge and her friends were gathered at their weekly investment club meeting. Helen Lovejoy was presenting to the club a chart of Dynaflux Unimatics's stock up seven and three quarters.

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — A man was charged with shooting and killing the owner, a bouncer and a patron of an after-hours club where he was denied admission early Sunday. Miguel Padilla was being held without bond in the Blair County Jail after his arraignment on three counts of criminal homicide in the shootings at the United Veterans Association Club, authorities said. All three men were pronounced dead at the scene and Padilla, described by police as an illegal immigrant, was arrested there shortly after the shooting, police said.

LITTLE FALLS — A Morrison AP) Little Falls, Minn. A judge in Morrison County has ordered a strip club, adult book and video store near Swanville, Minn. to close, citing the county's revised zoning ordinances. The ordinances restrict where adult-oriented businesses can locate and create a fee scale and licensing requirement. The ruling by Judge Thomas Godzala closes Lookin' Fine Smut and Porno, located at Minnesota Highways 27 and 28 near Swanville. Gordy Wheeler opened the business in October 2003. It is located about 930 feet from a tavern. The county's revised zoning ordinances prohibit any adult uses within 1,320...

You’ve probably never heard of The Doe Run Company of St. Louis or its subsidiary’s copper and lead smelting operation in the small mountain village of La Oroya, Peru, about 112 miles from Lima, but not long ago, the village had a distinguished visitor, Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace and chairman and chief scientist of Greenspirit Strategies. The day he arrived, La Oroya’s mayor was leading thousands of marchers. Were they protesting Doe Run Peru? No. They were demonstrating against anti-mining activists, like Oxfam and groups tied to Christian Aid, the Sierra Club, EarthJustice and Friends of the Earth...

Montgomery County Public Schools yesterday halted a new sex-ed curriculum that was to have begun today, after a federal judge ruled in favor of a lawsuit that charged the course is unconstitutional and promotes homosexuality. U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. had granted a 10-day temporary restraining order yesterday to halt the teaching of the new course. "I have directed the office of the deputy superintendent of schools to review and evaluate the materials referenced in the judge's order," Superintendent Jerry D. Weast said, "...before any decisions are made about any future pilot testing of the revised curriculum in our...

FORT HUACHUCA - The World War II black officers club on this Arizona Army post is falling apart. Windows have been boarded up. In a couple of places, beams of light shine in through deteriorating roofs to break the darkness inside. Looking from in and out of the building, retired Army Dr. (Col.) Clotilde D. Bowen sees a patient that can be helped. She is a psychiatrist, used to working through the deep, troubling recesses of people's troubled minds. She knows what once was bright can be made whole again. Bowen only recently heard about the plight of the building....