Free Republic

Well, so much for that 50 state strategy. The Obama camp surrendered 4 states to McCain-Palin today. And, you know what that means? It's time to play the racism card! Andrew Malcolm at the Top of the Ticket ties this decision by the Obama Campaign to close election offices in North Dakota, Alaska, Idaho and Georgia to a poll on Democratic racism that was released this weekend: Exactly 44 years after Lyndon B. Johnson became the last Democrat to capture the state of North Dakota in a presidential election, it looks like Barack Obama won't be the next. The Associated...

The intelligent question thrown out among strategists for both campaigns is, can John McCain really win Pennsylvania? Really win it, not pretend to go for it, as Republicans did in 2004, all the while closing the deal in Ohio when no one was looking. The last Republican presidential candidate to win Pennsylvania was George H.W. Bush, in 1988 -- a win preceded by two Reagans but followed by two Clintons, a Gore and a Kerry. The Kerry win was narrower than the others, however.

ALBANY, GA (WALB) - The Republican Vice Presidential Nominee has inspired women in South Georgia. It's not just her political platform. Sarah Palin's eyeglasses have inspired women to want the same look. Optometrists in Albany say they are seeing customers demanding "the Palin effect." The Governor of Alaska burst into the national spotlight when she was named John McCain's vice presidential running mate. Her eyeglasses part of her signature look, and women in South Georgia noticed, and want them. Beverly Johnson said "I thinks she looks very nice in her glasses, and I would consider buying that kind of glasses."...

Kennesaw, GAGeorgia's 6th & 11th Districts Monthly Meeting is every third Saturday at 9 a.m. The meeting takes place at the Golden Corral on Barrett Pkwy in Kennesaw. Date: Saturday, July 19, 2008Time: 9:00 AM Repeat on the third Saturday of the month until 07/20/2008 This event does not require an RSVP. Registered users can request event reminders. Register

A Bainbridge man refused to be robbed when he was accosted around 5 a.m. Saturday morning. The complainant, a resident of Spruce Street, told BPS that he was sitting on his front porch smoking a cigar and drinking a cup of coffee. According to the resident, a man wearing a mask and carrying a large knife approached and demanded that he hand over his wallet. The citizen said he told the masked robber that he had to go inside the house to get the wallet. The homeowner returned, not with his wallet in hand, but instead wielding a pistol, which...

A Protestant church in Georgia has added a drive-thru service, says the Post Bulletin. By the time the Rev. Norman Markle started his sermon, everyone was still in their vehicles -- just as planned. The 150-year-old New Hope United Methodist Church is offering a drive-in service, hoping to attract new visitors with an unusual worship experience. "Maybe they don't have a church or don't care to get dressed up to go to church; let's find a way to eliminate all that," Markle said. "People go where they're comfortable." The service has all the markings of traditional worship -- hymns, a...

April 12, 2008 Warwick--Funnel cake, barbeque and lost of grits was in order for anyone in the Warwick town square on Saturday. The town dubbed the grits capital of Georgia held the 11th annual festival this year and organizers said it was the biggest so far. "It was fabulous, fabulous, fabulous, the lord blessed us with rain and the lord blessed us with sunshine, we had an exorbitant amount that got in the grits pit", said Robbie Woolbright. Morgan Nolen and Olivia Deal participated in a festival favorite, the Quaker Grits Pit. "It was disgusting it stunk really bad," said...

Obama hits traffic snarl That screeching sound that you just heard on the expressway to the White House is the brakes on Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign bus. And the foot on the brake pedal is that of the man who Obama credits as being his spiritual leader, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who was pastor of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ that Obama and his family attend. Wright has started what may well be a full-blown pileup for Obama’s campaign, which until now had been speeding toward the Democratic nomination despite some political fender scratching when he passed his chief...

March 14, 2008 Echols County - A bootleg liquor operation in South Georgia has been put out of commission. Echols County Sheriff's Office discovered two moonshine stills Wednesday. Sheriff Randy Courson says they located the stills on the Wolf Bay Hunting Club Property just off of Highway 84. Together the stills produce about 130 gallons of liquor. They estimate they'd get $35.00 a gallon if sold. They say the stills are so dangerous and dirty that the best way to get rid of them is to blow them up. The GBI, DNR, and the Department of Revenue was brought in...

This former BBQ smoker is armed with a water gun to chase off bums and drug dealers in downtown Atlanta. ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- It's midnight on the streets of Atlanta, and bar owner Rufus Terrill patrols his neighborhood with a rolling crime fighter of his own creation. Meet "Bum-bot," as Terrill describes it; others in his neighborhood call it simply, "Robocop." 1 of 2 It's a barbecue smoker mounted on a three-wheeled scooter, and armed with an infrared camera, spotlight, loudspeaker and aluminum water cannon that shoots a stream of icy water about 20 feet. Operated by remote...

Valdosta - A stalled housing project at Moody Air Force Base may soon be finished. Congressman Jack Kingston confirms the Air Force signed a letter of intent with a new contractor to finish work on the Moody Family Housing project. US Senator Johnny Isakson says he expects a contract to be finalized by the end of the month. That's good news for dozens of area sub-contractors who are still owed millions of dollars for their work. American Eagle, owned by the Carabetta Group, was hired to construct 600 new homes for the airmen stationed at Moody Air Force Base. Work...

February 21, 2008 Dougherty County -- A Dougherty County woman is arrested for running over her cousin with a car-- twice. Investigators say 24-year-old Vondrameke Polk and Lazzora McCoy were fighting at a relative's house on Pinson Road. That's when McCoy chased Polk out of the house with a knife. Police say McCoy jumped on the hood of Polk's car and broke the windshield, and when she fell off, Polk ran over her leg. Then, she then backed up and ran over it again. Polk is charged with aggravated assaulted and aggravated battery. McCoy is in fair condition with a...

Explosion at Chatham County Sugar Refinery There was an explosion just after 7 p.m. at the Imperial Sugar Co. in Chatham County. Between 50 and 100 people were possibly injured. News 3 crews are on the scene. http://www.wsav.com/midatlantic/sav/home.html

Leesburg -- Several Lee County High parents voiced their disapproval Friday, when the school held a Black History Assembly for the black students only. White students were told they could not attend. Only about 19% of the Lee County High School student body is black. Principal Kevin Dowling said he held the black student only assembly to talk to them about test scores, so that none of them would be embarrassed. In Georgia and in Lee County, the black students test scores as a whole are lagging behind white students. In the assembly, Dowling had black parents and teachers talk...

9/7/2007 - ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) -- While some kids might boast about having a Little League World Series under their belts, the Warner Robins American Little League baseball players are taking it all in stride. Parents of five of the players who were part of Robins team said the journey to the Little League World Series, which started in early June and wrapped up with a World Series Championship in Williamsport, Pa., was one marked by excitement and fatigue. Now, the baseball players and their families are just trying to take their new-found fame in and get...

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A woman's out-of-state phone call requesting a well-being check on her boyfriend led Orange County sheriff's deputies to the bodies of three men in an apparent double murder-suicide. The woman's phone call was received at about 9:13 a.m. Thursday and led deputies to 2420 Hickory Oak Blvd., according to sheriff's deputies. When deputies arrived, the home's front door was open, and officers said they found the victims inside. All three men appeared to be in their mid-30s, sheriff's deputies said. Several vehicles were parked in the home's driveway. Orange County sheriff's investigators said the deaths are...

Atlanta's newly incorporated suburbs set up bare-bones government. One has just five workers. County officials are adjusting too. ___ ATLANTA — At last, Eva Galambos is thrilled with her hometown of Sandy Springs: It has almost three times as many police officers now than two years ago, she says, and the streets are cleaner, and the strip clubs will -- hopefully -- be gone soon. "The most stunning thing," she adds, "is that we're not paying more taxes." Galambos is the mayor, so it is not surprising to hear her promote this 2-year-old suburban city. What is striking, though, is...

Metro Atlanta's Roman Catholic churches are keeping their pulpits filled better than many regions of the country.Across the nation there is a shortage of priests, but the Archdiocese of Atlanta's 95 churches and missions have 262 priests and more than 50 seminarians in training. RELATED: • More Atlanta news "We have one of the strongest vocational programs in the country," said Father Luke Ballman, the director of vocations.About 600 Serrans, lay Catholics dedicated to supporting and educating those choosing church vocations, are in Atlanta this weekend for a national conference.Serra clubs across the country raise money for scholarships, organize prayer...

When Emelina Ramirez's roommates attacked her, punching and kicking her in the stomach, she called the police for help. The police handcuffed her, took her to jail, and ran her fingerprints through a federal database. She is now in an Alabama cell awaiting deportation. In the last month, Ramirez's story has spread beyond the Hispanic community in Carrollton, the small rural town west of Atlanta where she lived, and across Georgia, which has just enacted one of the nation's harshest laws against illegal immigration. It is a story that, for many undocumented immigrants, has one moral: Do not trust the...

From the Department Of We Sure Didn't See This One Coming, consumer talk radio kingpin Clark Howard is seriously considering a move into political office. Could the notoriously cheap bargain hunter become a future Georgia governor or Atlanta mayor? In a new interview with the AP's Shannon McCaffrey, the syndicated host is opening the door to that kind of move. But where does the king of coupon clippers stand on the issues? That's a tough one, as we see in the piece: ...

(CBS/AP) A small plane trying to make an emergency landing crashed into two houses Tuesday, killing five people and starting fires that seriously burned three others in one of the homes, authorities said.

MARIETTA - City officials on Wednesday loosened a ban on war veterans handing out thousands of miniature American flags during next week's Fourth of July parade. Officials announced yesterday afternoon that the city will allow veterans and others to pass out 3-by-5 inch U.S. flags, but only before and after the parade, not during the 1.5-mile route as they walk next to their "Let Freedom Ring" float.

ATLANTA — One of the main arguments leveled at a crackdown on illegal immigrants passed by the General Assembly last year was that the state shouldn’t meddle in a federal issue. Now, with Congress struggling mightily even to get a floor vote on comprehensive reform legislation, supporters of the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act are saying “I told you so” about the state law, which takes effect July 1. “Georgia’s put together the strictest package yet,” said Jimmy Herchek, a member of Georgians for Immigration Reduction from Gwinnett County. “It’s because of the federal government’s failure to act.” But...

In what could be a harbinger of next year's congressional campaigns, Iraq and immigration have dominated the special election to replace deceased Republican Rep. Charlie Norwood in northeast Georgia. Ten candidates _ six Republicans, three Democrats and a Libertarian _ have lined up to represent the 10th congressional district, which includes Athens, home to the University of Georgia, as well as Fort Gordon and parts of Augusta. The election on Tuesday is the first congressional contest since the Democrats won control of Congress last year and it will be watched closely for any clues it might provide to the high-stakes...

When President Bush arrives in Brunswick today, expect to hear the White House's best plans for dealing with the nation's immigration issue. But don't expect to see 1st District U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., and U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., joining Bush on the podium. Kingston will be in Cuba on an agricultural mission and Isakson has a prior commitment. As of Friday, the office of U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., wasn't sure whether his schedule would permit him to be in Brunswick for the president's visit and address. Congress is on break this week. The president will tour the...

Georgia's two Republican senators played a lead role in producing a bipartisan deal on immigration reform last week. But after enduring angry calls and even boos from conservatives who say the plan amounts to amnesty, Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss are going out of their way to clarify that they might not support the measure in the end. Chambliss said today that he and Isakson have never committed to vote for the bill. He said their position has been to wait for the amendment process to proceed before making a final decision. Isakson, who drew compliments from Democratic and...

Gov. Sonny Perdue and House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) continued to clash over government spending at the state Republican Party convention Saturday, signaling their long-running and unusually public rift is far from over. Richardson dropped a bombshell when he took to the podium, announcing the House would institute a "zero-based" budgeting system in which all state agencies would be forced to justify every dollar they spend every three years. Richardson complained that some state agencies now give justifications only for their budget increases.

Some stray observations tied together: — The immigration bill is already resonating here at the state GOP convention. Not favorably, either. Mitt Romney’s comments are below. A lime-green flyer is being passed out by NumbersUSA, declaring that “Sen. Isakson and Sen. Chambliss stand with Kennedy for largest amnesty in history.” James Herchek of Gwinnett County stood in front of the convention hall with a placard reading, “No Amnesty: Deport pro-invastion politicians.” He pronounced himself “extremely disappointed” with the bill, which will be debated in the Senate on Monday. — The fight over the governor’s veto of a tax rebate is...

WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA, USA -- A Purdue University engineer has developed a method that uses an aluminum alloy to extract hydrogen from water for running fuel cells or internal combustion engines. The technique could be used to replace gasoline, though it is not quite cost-competitive yet. The method makes it unnecessary to store or transport hydrogen - two major challenges in creating a hydrogen economy, said Jerry Woodall, a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue who invented the process. "The hydrogen is generated on demand, so you only produce as much as you need when you need...

May 17: Sen. Edward Kennedy, and from left, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Sen. Johnny Isakson. WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of Senate lawmakers and the White House struck an immigration reform deal Thursday that would grant legal status to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States and increase border and interior enforcement initiatives. The plan would establish a temporary worker program for new arrivals to the United States with a separate program for agricultural workers. The bill also would include provisions for new technology to ensure against...

Sainthood sought for slain 16th-century Ga. missionaries By RUSS BYNUMAssociated Press Writer SAVANNAH, Ga. - The report took 23 years to compile, with each of its nearly 500 pages individually notarized to ensure authenticity, before the Rev. Conrad Harkins carried it across the Atlantic Ocean in a box sealed by the Catholic Diocese of Savannah. Harkins arrived at the Vatican with the package in late March. After 410 years, five Spanish missionaries slain by Guale Indians on what's now the Georgia coast were on the path to possible sainthood. The documents delivered by Harkins make up the official case urging...

March 29, 2007 Lee County- A Lowndes County man's call for help missed its intended mark. Instead, in the middle of a medical emergency 73-year-old Billy King found a stranger on the end of the line more than 100 miles away. That stranger turned out to be an angel for a paraplegic man in desperate need of help. Monday afternoon Suzanne Harnage was sitting on her boyfriends Lee County front porch when she got a strange call. "I answered the phone and the guy sounded like he was asking for someone else and I said, 'Sir, I think you have...

I read with great interest the column by Congressman Sanford Bishop regarding his vote on the non-binding resolution to “support our troops, but to oppose the president’s plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq.” As the wife of an active duty Marine officer, for me they are one and the same. But that is a discussion for another day. I want to call into question the congressman’s statement that “72 percent of Americans who served in Iraq last year believe that we should be out by now.” I’d love to know where the congressman got that data. My husband...

WASHINGTON Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is asking for help in retiring nearly 60-thousand dollars in debt from her losing re-election campaign last year. But her plea doesn't square with the end-of-year finance report she submitted recently to the Federal Election Commission, which showed her campaign having almost 25-thousand dollars left over. Campaign finance experts say it's possible McKinney could have late-arriving bills that didn't show up before the report was filed. But because McKinney lost in a primary runoff in August, that would be an unusually long lag. As of this afternoon, McKinney's Web site said the campaign owes...

A message of defeatism is going on in the U.S. House of Representatives. The non- binding resolution says, “We support the troops but we do not support your commanders.” Actually it is a message of support for the enemy. It is unfolding on CSPAN, a network that all the world sees but that most in the United States don’t watch or hear. The emboldened Democratic majority is taking the opportunity to rub defeat into our faces in the name of the American people. Al-Qaida is watching with glee. President George W. Bush, commander- in-chief of U.S. military forces, is being...

A Georgia lawmaker today introduced a bill that would protect human life from the moment of conception and outlaw the killing of preborn children. HB 1, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Franklin and co-sponsored by Rep. Melvin Everson, directly challenges Roe v. Wade -- the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. The legislation reads, in part: "Justice Blackmun, writing for the majority in Roe v. Wade … wrote: ‘when those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and the theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man’s knowledge, is...

<p>Two agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were shot serving an arrest warrant early Friday at an apartment complex near Atlanta, authorities said.</p>

Former congressman Mac Collins spent most of Wednesday saying, through his campaign staff, that he was still in a close race for the 8th Congressional District, and that he wanted to see every vote counted. U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Ga., held 50.5 percent of the vote and a 1,733 vote edge. He had declared victory. There were some votes still uncounted, but a Telegraph check of outstanding ballots didn't turn up enough uncounted votes to swing the race. Throughout the day, the Collins campaign had volunteers and attorneys in various counties, watching the process of cataloging provisional ballots and any...

Female genital mutilation in Atlanta It's not "unthinkable" in Khalid Adem's culture, and since it is justified by some Islamic religious authorities, you should expect to see more stories like this in the U.S. in the future. "Dad stands trial over daughter's mutilation," by Lateef Mungin in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, with thanks to Glenn: A father stands accused of the unthinkable: brutally cutting his daughter's genitals. The girl was only 2. Monday, activists from all over the world will be focused on a Gwinnett County courtroom as Khalid Adem, accused of cruelty to a child and aggravated battery for allegedly...

NEW YORK - A small plane with New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle aboard crashed into a high-rise condominium tower Wednesday on the Upper East Side, killing at least two people and raining flaming debris on the sidewalks below, authorities said. The New York City medical examiner's office now says two people have died in the plane crash, not four as the office had previously reported. There was no immediate confirmation Lidle was among the dead, although a federal law enforcement official said Lidle's passport was found on the street beneath the crash site. A law enforcement official in Washington,...

Ga. Terror Suspects Want Charges Tossed Wednesday October 4, 2006 4:46 AM By HARRY R. WEBER Associated Press Writer ATLANTA (AP) - Lawyers for two men charged with providing material support to terrorists want some charges against their clients dismissed and some evidence and conversations with investigators suppressed. A flurry of motions were filed by defense lawyers for Syed Ahmed and Ehsanul Sadequee in federal court in Atlanta this week. Sadequee, 20, and Ahmed, 21, are accused of discussing terror targets with Islamic extremists and undergoing training to carry out a ``violent jihad'' against civilian and government targets, including an...

WASHINGTON -- Congress, it appears, is channeling Al Gore. After years of debating whether global warming was real or a hoax, the House and Senate staged six hearings this week on how the government should respond to climate change. And the Bush administration, which has downplayed the threat of global warming during its six years in office, released a 244-page strategic report this week laying out plans to address the rapid warming of the planet. Critics say the White House and the Republican-led Congress are not yet ready to take the politically difficult steps needed to combat global warming --...

ROME, Ga. -- The never-ending march of technology now means school children here can pay for their cafeteria sloppy joes with their fingers.Rome City Schools is switching to a scanning system that lets students use their fingerprints to access their accounts. In the past, students had to punch in their pin numbers. "The finger's better because all you've got to do is put your finger in, and you don't have to do the number and get mixed up," said Adrianna Harris, a second grader at Anna K. Davie Elementary School. The new system speeds lunch lines, said city administrators. It's...

TIFTON, Ga. - Part-time farmer Jimmy Griner hopes his ever-so-fragrant, crystal-clear, 180-proof moonshine can help solve the nation's energy problems. Griner arrived at the Georgia Bioenergy Conference this week carrying of quart of the stuff in a Mason jar. He's licensed to make 10,000 gallons a year of the high-octane elixir that's distilled from fermented Georgia-grown wheat. Sponsored by the University of Georgia, the three-day conference attracted about 500 farmers, scientists, engineers and politicians. Speakers from across the nation and at least one foreign country, Brazil, discussed the future of global energy supplies, the economics of biofuels, energy legislation and...

ATLANTA - Seeking an edge in the tight race for Georgia's No. 2 job, Republicans Ralph Reed and Casey Cagle battered each other in a final debate before Tuesday's election. Reed, the former Christian Coalition leader, questioned Cagle's voting record, including pro-business votes he cast while building a banking and real estate fortune, and cast him as an insider in a state Senate badly in need of "new blood." Cagle, a state senator from Gainesville, reminded voters of Reed's ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and badgered him about his latest campaign headache: A lawsuit from a Texas Indian tribe...

It is curious enough to see Ralph Reed, a man who was on the cover of Time magazine at age 33, the man widely credited with galvanizing evangelical Christians into a national political force, putting everything he has into a race for the relatively low-profile job of lieutenant governor of Georgia. But it is stranger still to see him losing ground. Because of Mr. Reed’s entanglement in a national lobbying scandal, a political contest that once seemed well within his grasp has turned into a battle for his personal and professional reputation, and it is not clear whether he will...

Teenaged Burglar Shot By Homeowner GWINNETT COUNTY -- Police say a man shot and wounded a teenager he found in his home – attempting to rob him. Police say 27-year-old Ronald Ramsey arrived at his Lawrenceville home Tuesday afternoon and found 17-year-old Alrazi Basher of Duluth inside, robbing him. Officials say when Basher tried to flee the home, Ramsey shot at Basher and hit him and his vehicle. (More...) Clerk fatally shoots robber at liquor store A liquor store clerk shot and killed one of two armed men who tried to rob the southwest Houston business Wednesday night, police said....

TICONDEROGA, N.Y. (AP) - May 11, 2006 - Chocolate was more than a treat for the Continental Army – it was their MRE's. Rodney Snyder, a historian for candy maker Mars, Incorporated, says the soldiers in the Continental Army would have a couple of cups of hot chocolate in the morning and be good until lunch. He says chocolate was a staple of Revolutionary War rations. Mars is out with a new line of products based on old recipes. American Heritage Chocolate was introduced at a historic fort in upstate New York yesterday. The products will be sold at just...

ATHENS, Ga. — Laid out on a table-length display at the University of Georgia library one day each year is the document that established a government to rival the one in Washington, plunging Americans into civil war. The only known copy of the Confederate Constitution draws hundreds of visitors to Athens every April 26, which is Confederate Memorial Day in Georgia. History buffs who marveled at its impact on American culture jockeyed for space Wednesday with students who simply wanted to steal a glance at the fragile document. Some who made the trek were Confederate scions, looking to commemorate the...

MINUTEMEN COMING TO THE CAPITOL!Our Brave Minutemen are traveling from Los Angeles to Washington DC in a caravan. They will reach Atlanta, GA on Tuesday, May 9th. Come Join us in a HUGE WELCOME and a RALLY OF SUPPORT! The Festivities will begin at 8:00 pm. This event is Sponsored by: John Konop and the Minutemen Caravan Across the Country.