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As most of you know, the international recognition of me as a scientist began with the day that I captured lightning with a kite. Had I done that experiment the way the popular myth says, I probably would have been electrocuted, an early end to an ordinary career. You probably recall that my formal education ended when I was 14. After that, I bought and read every worthwhile book I could find. I died in 1790, but one aspect of the Other Side that I can share with you is that we get to read and see whatever interests us...

Ben Franklin: On Science by Ben Franklin As most of you know, the international recognition of me as a scientist began with the day that I captured lightning with a kite. Had I done that experiment the way the popular myth, I probably would have been electrocuted, an early end to an ordinary career. You probably recall that my formal education ended when I was 14. After that, I bought and read every worthwhile book I could find. I died in 1790, but one aspect of the Other Side that I can share with you is that we get to...

Muslim civil rights group calls for meeting to clear up 'misconceptions' WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today requested a meeting with Christian evangelist Franklin Graham to discuss his latest remarks attacking Islam. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it has received a number of complaints from concerned Muslims who watched an interview last night on CNN during which Graham stated in part: "...we have many Muslims that live in this country. But true Islam cannot be practiced in this country. You can't beat your wife. You cannot murder your children...

"Resolved, That Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, be a committee, to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America." – July 4, 1776, Journals of Continental Congress For the design team, Congress chose three of the five men who were on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. Although these distinguished committee members were among the ablest minds in the new nation, they had little knowledge of heraldry. To help convey their vision, they chose the artist Pierre Eugène Du Simitière to work with them.

A surprise proposal by the FDA to ban the commercial harvest and sale of Apalachicola Bay raw oysters has Franklin County business and tourism leaders reeling from the implications and united in their resolve to derail the proposed economic threat. The FDA proposal has not only shocked commercial seafood interests all along the Gulf Coast, it has stunned local business and tourism leaders - especially when they learned that the FDA officials had not analyzed the economic impacts of such a proposal.

Larry Franklin, the former Pentagon analyst convicted of revealing classified information, says he worked undercover as an FBI double agent to gather information on the pro-Israel lobby in the United States before the bureau turned on him and pressured him to plead guilty to spying for Israel.

He was arrested, subjected to humiliating interrogations, accused of spying for Israel, lived under the specter of a 13-year prison term and sold everything he owned to pay for his legal defense. But Lawrence Franklin, 63, a former senior officer in the U.S. Air Force, an intelligence expert, university professor and senior official in the U.S. administration, did not crack.

While sitting in the Advanced Placement institute a week ago, the instructor posed a question to the history educators in the room. “Not counting presidents or their wives,” he began, “who would you consider the five greatest, most influential Americans in history?” My mind began to cycle through the most important figures to grace the stage. My first choice was John Marshall. As the first significant Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he established the principle of judicial review, greatly expanding the power of the Court and making the Constitution, according to Jefferson, “a mere thing of wax in the...

The real scandal in this case starts with the attempted criminalization of policy differences and legitimate lobbying, and ends up in the wiretapping of Congress and the wrecked careers of Messrs. Rosen, Weissman and Franklin. This smacks of abuse of power, and somebody at Justice should be held to account.

Did you know that in 1786 there was a US State formed, by the name of Franklin? It's true: In August 1784 delegates from three of the eight western counties of North Carolina met in the town of Jonesborough. There was a vote (by no means unanimous, a gentleman by the name of Tipton was vocal in his opposition) and on the 23rd of the month they declared the lands independent. The state of Franklin was born. Opposition was immediate - North Carolina published a manifesto condemining the formation of the new state. In fact it brought about the first...

President Obama’s trip to Europe last week offered several more opportunities to observe his speeches. I listened to several of them, to see if they had changed at all. They had not. On my desktop I have stored two Doonesbury cartoons from decades years ago. Back then, when many of Doonesbury’s characters were still the same ones we both knew in college, I admired his work. (That was before his politics turned vicious and non-factual, shall we say._ The best of a cartoonist’s skill is to skewer his subject with a handful of words and a few strokes of the...

"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. " I pulled a Benny Hill and had assumed Ben Franklin said this since it seems that virtually any "Ben Franklin Quote Site" claims he said/wrote this. However, I cannot find a citation regarding this quote. Does anyone know the history behind this quote and where it first appeared? Where exactly did Franklin say/write this (i.e. does some kind of record exist that he coined this?). A friend actually brought up that this "quote" was only "documented" as recently as 1988 (see...

Aretha's hat sparks a trendPosted: Jan 23, 2009 07:32 PM EST By Molly Reuter TYLER, TX (KLTV) - On Tuesday, when Aretha Franklin performed in front of millions at President Obama's inauguration with her large hat, ahe started a new fashion trend. Now, an East Texas store has been flooded with calls. KLTV decided to go to "One More Pair" in Tyler to find out what this new buzz is all about. "Ring-ring!' "One More Pair! May I help you," asks Jennifer Johnson, owner of "One More Pair". Her phone has not stopped ringing since Tuesday. Aretha Franklin's celebrity status...

In light of the ongoing naval battles with Muslim pirates operating from Somalia.... America has been fighting Islamists for longer than many realize. Even before independence was declared, American ships were pirated, and their Christian crews enslaved, by Muslim pirates operating under the control of the “Dey of Algiers”—an Ottoman Islamist warlord ruling Algeria.... Lacking the ability to project U.S. naval force in the Mediterranean, America tried appeasement. In 1784, Congress agreed to fund tributes and ransoms in order to rescue U.S. ships and buy the freedom of enslaved American sailors....

No one can yet know when the world economy will reach its low point and begin what may be a long climb to recovery. In the past week we have seen a couple of political events that have already proved not to be turning points: the summit meeting in Paris and the passage of the Paulson plan through Congress. These were no more than village halts on the railroad to depression. However, we do know when the last global banking crisis was turned round, when confidence started to recover. Indeed, the Great Depression has precise dates for its beginning, which...

POWER OF THIS COURT It may receive and promulgate accusations of all kinds against all persons and characters among the citizens of the state, and even against all inferior courts; and may judge, sentence, and condemn to infamy, not only private individuals but public bodies, etc., with our without inquiry or hearing, at the court's discretion.IN WHOSE FAVOR AND FOR WHOSE EMOLUMENT THIS COURT IS ESTABLISHED It is IN FAVOR of about 1 citizen if 500, who, by education or practice in scribbling, has acquired a tolerable style as to grammar and construction so as to bear printing, or who...

Benjamin Franklin’s Thirteen Virtues1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation. 2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation. 3. Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time. 4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve. 5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself:i.e. Waste nothing. 6. Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions. 7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and...

Inuit oral stories could solve mystery of Franklin expedition Randy Boswell, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, June 25 More than 150 years after the disappearance of the Erebus and Terror - the famously ill-fated ships of the lost Franklin Expedition - fresh clues have emerged that could help solve Canadian history's most enduring mystery. A Montreal writer set to publish a book on Inuit oral chronicles from the era of Arctic exploration says she's gathered a "hitherto unreported" account of a British ship wintering in 1850 in the Royal Geographical Society Islands - a significant distance west of the search...

With former President Bill Clinton standing not 20 feet in front of her, Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin took what appeared to be a political shot at the former president's comments about Barack Obama's candidacy. Speaking at the 40th annual MLK commemorative service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Franklin said the country is on the "cusp of turning the impossible into reality. Yes this is reality, not fantasy or fairy tales." Clinton, in supporting his wife Hillary's bid for the Democratic nomination, recently took heat for using the term "fairy tale" to describe Obama's depiction of his stance on the war. Franklin...

Government insiders who engage in unauthorized leaks of classified information are violating their oaths, breaking the law, damaging national security and deserving of punishment. Sometimes those outside government who receive secrets and pass them to others are also breaking the law and deserve punishment. The latter category includes enemy spies. But what about American lobbyists -- and journalists -- who receive secrets and pass them along? In an important trial set to begin in January, the Justice Department has irresponsibly confused the distinction between spying and lobbying. Keith Weissman and Steven J. Rosen, two former employees of AIPAC, the pro-Israel...

~snip~An early test of all these traits will come in the next few weeks, when the new attorney general is expected to review the Justice Department's flawed, embarrassing prosecution of two former lobbyists for AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The lobbyists, Steven J. Rosen, and a junior associate, Keith Weissman, are charged under the 1917 Espionage Act with receiving classified information from Lawrence Franklin, then a top Defense Department official. The lobbyists allegedly passed on the information they had received to a reporter for the Washington Post and an Israeli embassy employee. Much of the information was about...

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and more than a dozen other current and former intelligence officials must testify about their conversations with pro-Israel lobbyists, a federal judge ruled Friday in an espionage case. Lawyers for two former American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists facing charges have subpoenaed Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams and several others to testify at their trial next year. Prosecutors had challenged the subpoenas in federal court. Lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman maintain the Israeli interest group played an unofficial but sanctioned role in crafting foreign policy...

Keith Weissman and Steven Rosen Are PhDs and Middle East Experts Who Did Some Lobbying. They Thought They Were Doing What Washington Insiders Always Do. Thomas O’Donnell didn’t reveal his job when he phoned Keith Weissman in 2004 and got the policy analyst’s wife. He says he didn’t want to scare her. When Weissman returned the call and found out O’Donnell was an FBI agent, his first reaction was to attempt a joke: “What did I do?” “I’m sure you didn’t do anything,” O’Donnell told him. He wanted to meet that day, for five or ten minutes, and get Weissman’s...

Missing the Mark With Religion, Part 7 As a child growing up in New York, I was attracted to the opposite sex. When I saw a pretty little girl flash a smile, my heart fluttered, my cheeks blushed, I shuffled my feet and shyly looked the other way. I always liked girls. No one had to tell me that I should. I just did. When I became a teen, little changed. I still adored them, though when I thought of females, I began to think of marriage. Holy matrimony seemed like a prerequisite to happiness and completeness. Don't ask me...

Another bear, another injured dog, another trap set in someone's back yard. And it appears to be happening more this year ... in the same period last year. Overall, the state Department of Environmental Protection has received substantially more bear complaints this year than last, including a more than 37 percent increase in what it terms "Category 1" calls. That category includes such cases as attacks on animals, entering or trying to get into a home, human attacks, tent or vehicle entry, aggressive bears... Category 2 complaints... are also up just over 32 percent. More than a quarter of the...

Here's an interesting hypothetical for you: Upon reading that Benjamin Franklin initially supported the Stamp Act, reader Luke was, he says, "struck by the relevance to Gov. Romney's conversion" and penned the below. It's quite good: January 5, 1775 Dear Benjamin Franklin, Sir, I write to you today with a heavy heart to inform you that after conferring with my fellow “true patriots,” you are an unacceptable convert to our most noble cause. Please do not leave England and come to America. Our cause will prosper well enough without your assistance. We see your recent pro-American positions for what they...

Early in June 2004, an employee of the American Israel Pubic Affairs Committee, AIPAC--better known by its media tag, "the powerful Israeli lobby"--received an urgent phone call. Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin, a specialist on Iran, informed AIPAC lobbyist Keith Weissman that they had better meet because he had news of the most important kind to disclose. Mr. Weissman not surprisingly agreed to the rendezvous, held in Pentagon City, Va., where he was told about an imminent, Iran-directed assault on American troops and Israeli agents in Iraq. First, though, Mr. Franklin delivered a warning whose purpose would be clear only later....

<p>The case is a spin-off of a probe that has already led to charges under the Espionage Act against two AIPAC lobbyists, whose case is still pending, and to a 12-and-a-half-year prison sentence for former Defense Intelligence Agency official Lawrence A. Franklin. Franklin pleaded guilty a year ago to three felony counts involving improper disclosure and handling of classified information about the Middle East and terrorism to the two lobbyists, who in turn are accused of passing it on to a journalist and a foreign government, widely believed to be Israel. The two lobbyists, who have denied any wrongdoing but were dismissed by AIPAC in April of 2005, were indicted on felony counts of conspiring with government officials to receive classified information they were not authorized to have access to and providing national defense information to people not entitled to receive it.</p>

DAVENPORT, Iowa, OCT. 12, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop William E. Franklin, 76, of Davenport and appointed Auxiliary Bishop Martin Amos of Cleveland as his successor. The Pope also named Father John Dooher, pastor of St. Mary's Church, Dedham, Massachusetts, and Father Robert F. Hennessey, pastor of Most Holy Redeemer Church, East Boston, as auxiliary bishops of Boston. Martin John Amos was born in Cleveland on Dec. 8, 1941. He studied at Borromeo Seminary College, Wickliffe, and St. Mary Seminary, Cleveland. He holds a master's in education. He was ordained a priest of the Cleveland...

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- The Vatican announced the bishop of Davenport's retirement Thursday, two days after the Roman Catholic diocese filed for bankruptcy amid dozens of lawsuits alleging priest sex abuse.Bishop William Franklin had offered his resignation when he turned 75 in May 2005, as the church requires.The Vatican said Thursday that his resignation had been approved and that he would be succeeded by Monsignor Martin J. Amos, an auxiliary bishop in Cleveland.The Diocese of Davenport on Tuesday became the fourth Catholic diocese in the United States to file for bankruptcy amid the national clergy abuse scandal, following the Archdiocese of...

Christian evangelist Franklin Graham blasts Islam, says will rebuild churches in Sudan The Associated Press Published: October 9, 2006 RALEIGH, North Carolina The Rev. Franklin Graham, a Christian evangelist whose criticism of Islam has frequently outraged Muslims, said Islam teaches its followers to "persecute" others until they convert, with the aim being "total domination." Graham's comments, reported in The News & Observer, came as the evangelist said he plans to rebuild hundreds of churches that have been destroyed by the Sudanese government and its allied militias. "There's a war taking place against the church of Jesus Christ in Africa," Graham...

March 7, 2006 Expect Journalistic Tongues to Loosen By Jack Kelly Journalists will be paying rapt attention when Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman go on trial next month for violation of the Espionage Act of 1917. Mr. Rosen and Mr. Weissman were officials of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. They received classified information from Lawrence Franklin, an analyst at the Department of Defense, which they passed on to an Israeli diplomat, and to journalists. They are the first private citizens ever to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act. Mr. Franklin pled guilty Jan. 20th and was sentenced to more than...

Journalists will be paying rapt attention when Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman go on trial next month for violation of the Espionage Act of 1917. Mr. Rosen and Mr. Weissman were officials of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. They received classified information from Lawrence Franklin, an analyst at the Department of Defense, which they passed on to an Israeli diplomat, and to journalists. They are the first private citizens ever to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act. ..... But it's more likely prosecutors will use the Plame precedent to get journalists to disclose their sources. The NSA leak investigation issaid...

We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The Federal Convention convened in the State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787, to revise the Articles of Confederation. Because the delegations from only two states were at first present, the members adjourned from day to day until a quorum of seven states was...

A Louisiana man who helped many evacuees from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Louisiana coast on Aug. 29, 2005, is running for the Libertarian Party’s nomination for governor. T. Lee Horne is a resident of Franklin, La., the community to which many Libertarians sent money and relief materials after the townsfolk made it clear they would not seek or accept government assistance for hurricane refugees. In fact, when volunteers with the Red Cross got lost on their way to New Orleans, they were sheltered by Franklin volunteers. The Red Cross workers said the town...

WASHINGTON - Former Pentagon analyst Larry A. Franklin was sentenced Friday to a 12 years and seven months imprisonment for passing classified information to former American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists Franklin was also found guilty of sharing classified information with Israeli diplomat Naor Gilon. He was also fined $10,000. In sentencing Franklin, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said the facts of the case led him to believe that Franklin was motivated primarily by a desire to help the United States, not harm it.

Above, Pastel portrait of Benjamin Franklin from the late 18th century, attributed to French artist Jean Valade and based on a portrait by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis. A scientific genius, inventor, postmaster, printer, statesman par excellence, and a man of wit and wisdom, Benjamin Franklin is arguably the most accessible Founding Father. More books have been written about him than nearly any other figure of the American Revolution. On Jan. 17, we will celebrate the 300th anniversary of his birth, and The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino is marking the occasion with the display one of...

WASHINGTON -- Benjamin Franklin was a passionate writer, especially in the cause of the democracy he helped found, but even such a prolific man of letters may have had second thoughts about posting too-hasty words, according to an exhibit for the 300th anniversary of Franklin's birth. "Look upon your hands! They are stained with the Blood of your Relations!" Franklin wrote indignantly to an old English friend at the outbreak of the American Revolution. "You and I were long friends; You are now my Enemy, and I am Yours." Perhaps Franklin thought better of that letter because he never sent...

For those of you Civil War buffs, today is the anniversary of the battle of Franklin Tn. It took place on November 30, 1864. The battle consisted of a massive charge by the Confederate Army of Tennessee against strongly defended Union entrenchments on the outskirts of Franklin Tn. The charge was repelled by the Union at a horrific cost to the Confederates. In the battle (which lasted several hours and included large-scale hand-to hand fighting around the Carter House), the Confederates army suffered over 6000 casualties, including 1750 killed. Six generals were killed (Granbury, Strahl, Cleburne, Gist, Adams and Carter)...

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said yesterday the panel may widen an ongoing inquiry to include a look at the case of an accused spy who had previously worked at the White House. Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) said in a telephone interview that the case of Leandro Aragoncillo, the former Marine who is charged with stealing secret documents while working as an FBI analyst at Fort Monmouth, likely will be joined with the committee's other probes. "We have a series of hearings ongoing with leaks and unauthorized disclosures of information, and obviously spying fits into that," Hoekstra said....

Why is New Orleans in so much worse shape today than New York City was after the attacks on Sept. 11? The short answer is that New York was attacked by fire, not water. But then why are urbanites so much better prepared to cope with fire than with flooding? Mostly because they learned to fight fire without any help from the Army Corps of Engineers or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. For most of history, fire was far more feared than flooding. Cities repeatedly burned to the ground. Those catastrophes occurred sporadically enough that politicians must have been tempted...

627 WONT41 KNHC 212106 DSAAT SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 510 PM EDT THU JUL 21 2005 REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT A TROPICAL DEPRESSION HAS FORMED ABOUT 130 MILES EAST OF NASSAU. AN ADVISORY ON THE DEPRESSION WILL BE ISSUED SHORTLY. FORECASTER FRANKLIN

Tropical Depression Six has developed In the Atlantic Ocean just east of the Bahamas. Tropical System resources--the links are self-updating for handy reference:NHC Hurricane Public Advisory Updates Currently published every six hours 5A, 11A, 5P, 11P ET. NHC Hurricane Discussion Updates Published every 6 hours 5A, 11A, 5P, 11P ET GOES WV Storm Floater LoopGOES IR Storm Floater Still OK for dial-up modem Western Atlantic IR LoopAtlantic IR LoopAtlantic Visible Loop (Only works during daylight hours) Miami Long Range Radar LoopNassau Bahamas Radar Latest Frame Only--slow load Florida Buoy DataHurricane Track ForecastHurricane Model Projections Some more resources: Hurricane CityGlobal Satellite...

Mansfield Threatened by Mining Company

Now that it's officially summer, here's my advice to parents who want to continue teaching their kids during the next two months and learn something themselves: visit Civil War battlefields. I probably overdid it with my own children, visiting about 35 in all, but here are my top five: 1. Gettysburg (July 1863) Much as I'd like to make a surprise choice, there's no avoiding Gettysburg's primacy and sadness, with over 50,000 soldiers becoming casualties over three days. Driving and walking this Pennsylvania battlefield explains much: the big rocks of Devil's Den were indeed devilish, and the awesome difficulty of...

Topic #1.WHAT THE FOUNDING FATHERS THOUGHT ABOUT "GUN CONTROL" Benjamin Franklin: Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Nov 11 1755, from the Pennsylvania Assembly's reply to the Governor of Pennsylvania.) Thomas Jefferson: "Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined or determined to commit crimes. Such laws only make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assassins; they serve to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." (1764 Letter...

As amazing as it might seem in the midst of the current Social Security debate, the first reforms to our national retirement program were actually initiated by its founder, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, less than three years after he signed it into law, and, oddly, before it paid out any benefits. In fact, an April 28, 1938 letter from FDR to then Social Security Board Chairman Arthur Altmeyer suggests that Roosevelt’s original proposal in 1935 was largely what marketing and sales organizations today would refer to as a “bait and switch”: “I am very anxious that in the press of administrative...

Pentagon analyst charged with disclosing secrets 13 minutes ago A Defense Department analyst was arrested on Wednesday on charges of disclosing classified information about potential attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq to two individuals with a pro-Israel lobbying group. Lawrence Franklin, 58, surrendered to the FBI and faces charges of disclosing classified U.S. national defense information to the individuals that sources said were with the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The Justice Department, in announcing the case, said that Franklin faced a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Franklin, a Defense Department employee since 1979, worked on the...

On April 17, 1790, American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer Benjamin Franklin dies in Philadelphia at age 84. Born in Boston in 1706, Franklin became at 12 years old an apprentice to his half brother James, a printer and publisher. He learned the printing trade and in 1723 went to Philadelphia to work after a dispute with his brother. After a sojourn in London, he started a printing and publishing press with a friend in 1728. In 1729, the company won a contract to publish Pennsylvania's paper currency and also began publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette, which was regarded as one...

INDIANAPOLIS - Planned Parenthood (news - web sites) sued the state of Indiana Monday to stop the seizure of its clients' medical records, saying investigators were on a "fishing expedition," possibly to identify the partners of sexually active 12- and 13-year-olds. The lawsuit filed in Indianapolis seeks temporary and permanent injunctions barring Attorney General Steve Carter and his Medicaid Fraud Control Unit from searching the private records of clients at 40 Planned Parenthood clinics across the state. Already, the unit has seized records of eight clients from clinics in Bloomington, Franklin and Lafayette, according to Betty Cockrum, chief executive officer...