Free Republic

<p>A 44-year-old Texas man was executed Thursday evening for raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl, despite pleas from his attorneys he was too mentally impaired to qualify for capital punishment.</p> <p>Bobby Wayne Woods received lethal injection about a half-hour after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt his punishment, which was delayed briefly until the high court ruled in his case. His lawyers had argued Woods was mentally impaired, making him ineligible for execution, and that previous appeals to spare Woods' life were unsuccessful because of shoddy work by his lawyer at the time.</p>

SNIPPET: "According to one of my most trusted sources, the blurry image seen on the tape is indeed Osama bin Laden. One of the reasons that this is convincing is that the blurry image remains in the video. As Sahab, which produces al Qaeda's propaganda, is very selective in the information it releases, and rarely leaves garbage in its videos. As Sahab intentionally leaves in this clip, for reasons unknown. Does al Qaeda want to generate a buzz? Is this a hidden message? Perhaps this is a precursor to a new bin Laden tape?"

John Evander Couey, convicted child rapist and murderer has died, depriving Florida and the family of Jessica Lunsford of seeing Couey's death sentence carried out. Mark Lunsford, the victim's father once said of Couey, that he wouldn't mind if Couey died at the hands of another inmate, saying “I would be buying a lot of cigarettes for someone.” Looks like Mr. Lunsford won't have to buy those cigarettes after all. Couey died of cancer today in prison.

Dawns on this poster -- that the ultimate "turnabout is fair play" would be to humiliate and bring down the one person who *invented* the left's politics of personal destruction: Saul Alinsky.

...evidence from the inquest suggested that she survived for hours due to a air pocket. If only Teddy would have called the police, had called for any kind of help, she might have survived...

47O44. I think I can see where the number comes from now. Its the 47th Copy Birth Certificate issued that year/month/day, by O for Oduya, the Deputy Registrar, and 44 refers to the Register/book it's recorded in.

A source close to the Jacksons has exclusively revealed to X17 Online that family will likely have a traditional Muslim burial for late Michael Jackson. "The family is considering following the Muslim burial traditions because they believe Michael would have wanted to be laid to rest in keeping with his new-found religious beliefs," says the source. "Michael's brother Jermaine is educating the family as to the special rites because he feels it's important to bury his brother according to the Muslim way," adds the source. Despite earlier reports that both public and private memorial services for the late music performer...

I wonder sometimes whether the Nixon tapes really will just continue to be the gift that never stops giving. I was in college when Richard Milhous Nixon was first elected president, and I can still remember the profound sense of loathing and disgust that I experienced at the mere sight, let alone the sound, of him and of his most especially repellent sidekick Henry Kissinger. Wiser and older people tell you that the passions of your youth will dry up and that a more sere and autumnal condition will overtake you as maturity advances, but the thought of the Nixon...

Law enforcement sources said they found David Kellermann, acting chief financial officer of mortgage company Freddie Mac, hanging in the basement of his Reston, Va., home, dead from an apparent suicide early this morning. Virginia police say they found David Kellermann, acting chief financial officer of mortgage company Freddie Mac, hanging in the basement of his Reston home, dead from an apparent suicide early this morning. (ABC News)The death was "an active investigation" and there were "no signs of foul play," Fairfax County police officer Sabrina Ruck said. Local police said they were called to Kellermann's home at 4:48am. Kellermann,...

Killing Osama may be a top priority for President Obama, but it's almost Mission Impossible - like it was for his predecessor - if the terror leader is holed up high in Pakistan's snowy peaks, experts say. "The new people are going to face the same problems," warned a top adviser to President Bush. The U.S. has been secretly training for years, however, in case the CIA scores that rarest prize: Bin Laden's home address. But they already know his neighborhood. It's been a challenge, however, gaining intel on the region. Bin Laden hunters have had to turn to Lonely...

HAVANA – Cuba on Wednesday presented a new book by Fidel Castro, who has not appeared in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006 but who authorities claim spent more than 400 hours working on the manuscript. "La Paz en Colombia," or "Peace in Colombia," explores Cuba's role in attempts to end Colombia's civil war, which has raged for more than four decades. The 265-page book was presented during a Havana ceremony that Castro did not attend, though one of his sons was there, as was Ricardo Alarcon, head of the country's rubber-stamp parliament. Several rounds of peace...

LUCASVILLE, Ohio — A death row inmate convicted of murdering two women 22 years ago was set to death Tuesday without any family members present. ~snip~ The 5-foot-7, 267-pound Cooey had tried to avoid execution by arguing that his obesity would prevent humane lethal injection because viable veins in his arms are hard to find. ~snip~Cooey dined Monday evening on the special meal he ordered, including T-bone steak with A-1 sauce, onion rings, french fries, four eggs over easy, toast with butter, hash browns, a pint of rocky road ice cream, a Mountain Dew soft drink and bear claw pastries.

SENIOR AL QAEDA COMMANDER ABU SAEED AL-MASRI KILLED IN PAKISTAN - SECURITY OFFICIAL

Medellin Execute For Rape, Murder of Houston Teens Link Only

This afternoon, Al-Qaida's As-Sahab Media Foundation has released the second audio recording of Usama Bin Laden in the space of only three days--this time, openly addressed "to the Islamic nation." But, perhaps what is most interesting about Bin Laden's latest set of audio recordings is not what they contain--but rather, what they inexplicably lack: the English-language subtitles and matching transcript that have, until recently, been a customary feature of professional-quality As-Sahab videos. An analysis of the history of As-Sahab recordings and their evolution over time would seem to indicate that the responsibility for creating these English-language products fell largely on...

Excerpt - DUBAI, May 16 (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden vowed in an audio tape marking Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations to continue the fight against the Jewish state and its allies and not give up an inch of Palestinian land. "We will continue, God permitting, the fight against the Israelis and their allies ... and will not give up a single inch of Palestine as long as there is one true Muslim on earth," the al Qaeda leader said in the tape posted on an Islamist website on Friday. Bin Laden said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was at the heart of...

HAVANA - Fidel Castro looked frail but alert and even playful in a series of official photographs taken during a meeting with Brazil's president on Tuesday, the first images of the ailing Cuban leader released in about three months. Wearing a tracksuit and tennis shoes that have become his trademark since he fell ill, Castro is seen seated and grinning, his beard well-trimmed and his hair combed as he talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In some images, Castro is seen pretending to snap pictures with a camera. The pictures were given to reporters as Brazil's leader left...

LEFTIST leaders and sympathisers marked the 40th anniversary of the death of revolutionary icon Ernesto Che Guevara today in Cuba, where he is buried, and Bolivia, where he was killed in 1967. Cuba's Acting President, Raul Castro, led the main event under a giant bronze statue of the guerrilla fighter in the town of Santa Clara, some 300 kilometres (186 miles) east of Havana. Convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, 81, was absent, but a homage he penned was read in public. The Argentine-born doctor-turned-guerrilla was "a flower torn up prematurely by the stem. I bow my head to pay tribute...

Krawetz says the inner frame of bin Laden was resaved at least twice, and not at the same time. The images show fine horizontal stripes on bin Laden and a background indicating these came from interlaced video sources. In contrast, the text elements, such as the As-Sahab logo, appear to be from non-interlaced sources. The September 7 video shows bin Laden dressed in a white hat, white shirt and yellow sweater. Krawetz notes "this is the same clothing he wore in the 2004-10-29 video. In 2004 he had it unzipped, but in 2007 he zipped up the bottom half. Besides...

(CNN) -- A new video purportedly featuring an introduction from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden appeared on the Internet Tuesday, the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. In the video's introduction, a voice identified as bin Laden's praises 9/11 hijacker Waleed al-Shehri, from Saudi Arabia. He sat in seat 2B on American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into World Trade Center's north tower.

Osama Bin Laden's widely reported video address to the American people has a peculiarity that casts serious doubt on its authenticity: the video freezes at about 1 minute and 36 seconds, and motion only resumes again at 12:30. The video then freezes again at 14:02 remains frozen until the end. All references to current events, such as the 62nd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan, and Sarkozy and Brown being the leaders of France and the UK, respectively, occur when the video is frozen! The words spoken when the video is in motion contain no references to contemporary...

(CBS) "People of America," he says, "lend me your ears." So says the most wanted man in the world, Osama bin Laden, appearing in a new videotape which has surfaced nearly six years after the attacks of September 11, 2001. In it, he rails against Western corporations, neoconservatives, and Democrats in Congress, telling Americans they had voted for Democrats to stop the war, but in his words, the majority party hasn’t made a move worth mentioning. CBS News consultant Michael Scheuer, a former CIA analyst and author of "Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror" and...

Egypt (AP) - Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden plans a new video addressing the American people regarding the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, terror monitoring groups said Thursday. SITE Intelligence Group said an Internet announcement of the plan included a photo of the al-Qaida leader from the upcoming video—his beard, which in previous messages had been streaked with gray, was entirely dark.

Just reported on FOX News TV

My cellphone has not stopped ringing for the past ten minutes. Various sources inform that an announcement will come within the next few minutes from the Cuban government on Cuban TV and media. Stay tuned and we'll see if we've been manipulated once again or if today is the birth date of Cuba's liberty. Update: Here's the deal and what I know up to now, as of 1500 hours, August 24, 2007: First, South Florida Law Enforcement is on alert. An EOC (Emergency Operations Center) has been set-up and manned somewhere in Homestead. Im also told Local and State government...

Tehran, 30 April (AKI) - The culture committee of the Iranian parliament approved on Monday a bill sentencing to death producers of 'pornography', videos and films deemed vulgar by the country's censorship. The draft law will now go to parliament where it is expected to be approved by an ample majority. Amateur porn films have a properous market in Iran and can fetch up to 30 euros each. The market, tolerated for a long time, became a nationwide issue earlier this year after a porn film of popular television actress, Zohre Mir Ebrahimi, having sex with her partner, was released.

Sayyaf chief dies while in Navy’s custody An alleged Abu Sayyaf leader reportedly died while in the custody of naval personnel in Zamboanga City, where he was brought for interrogation, a military officer said Saturday. The officer, who requested not to be named, said Tandico Saddae reportedly succumbed in a hospital in Zamboanga, where he was brought after complaining of chest pains Friday night. Saddae reportedly tried to escape by jumping from a Navy ship while being brought to Zamboanga from Tawi-Tawi, where he was arrested.“He jumped after asking his guard to [untie] him so could pray. He tried to...

A new statement by al Qaeda's No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri, will be posted on the Internet soon, according to a banner on a militant Islamist Web site. It will be Zawahri's third statement this year alone, in sharp contrast to the fact that nothing has been heard from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden since an audiotape released last July. "It raises speculation that bin Laden may be dead or incapacitated," Middle East political analyst Salameh Nematt told ABC News. The statement is entitled "Lessons, Examples and Great Events in the Year 1427" (the Islamic year that ended...

THE United States believes Osama bin Laden is still alive, but intelligence on the al-Qaeda mastermind has gone "cold". The former comander of US forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry told CNN: "Our working assumption is that Osama bin Laden is alive." But asked whether he knew where bin Laden was located, Lt. Eikenberry said: "The intelligence has gone cold on Osama bin Laden." "The search for Bin Laden will continue because this man has committed mass crimes and atrocities against the American people," he said. "Our military will not rest until that man is found, captured or killed,"...

His poem "Woman In The Window" is set to music and will be released as a single in April. Rock legend Jim Morrison is helping the fight against global warming from beyond the grave, with the release of a song he wrote. Environmental campaigners have taken a poem, "Woman In The Window," written by Morrison shortly before he died in 1971, and set it to music, with the help of New Order and former Jane's Addiction star Perry Farrell. The track was given to Farrell by the Jim Morrison estate. It will be released as a single in April. Dan...

Late Doors frontman Jim Morrison is to make an unlikely comeback - an unreleased song featuring the rocker has been found. "Woman in the Window" will be featured on a forthcoming album by rockers Satellite Party. The new song will feature both Morrison and vocals from Satellite Party. An industry insider says, "To hear Morrison performing on a new track is obviously going to be a dream come true for fans. It's being tipped as a massive hit." The icon died of heart failure in 1971, at age 27.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro has long prided himself on Cuba's doctors and free public health care system, but that system seems to have let him down after he fell ill in July , U.S.-based doctors said on Tuesday. Based on a report in Tuesday's edition of Spain's El Pais newspaper, the doctors -- who have no first-hand knowledge of Castro's condition -- said Castro had received questionable or even botched care at the hands of health experts on his communist-ruled island. "It's not a good story. Too bad they didn't send him to Miami for surgery," said...

Nothing follows ... No mention on any other major news sites.

SADDAM HANGS Just in time for Eid, the Iraqis decided Saddam Hussein was one old acquaintance who really should be forgot. Despite The New York Times’ protests that it’s all been too rushed, it’s three years since the mass murderer was pulled from his spider hole. Here’s what I wrote in The Spectator in December 2003, outlining the possible approaches to the trial: In a nutshell: A courtroom in Baghdad: good. A courtroom in The Hague: bad. Iraqi and coalition judges: good. International jet-set judges: bad. Swift execution: good. Playing Scrabble with Slobo in the prison library for the next...

<p>The Drop Broke Saddam's neck killing him instantly. At the executions following the Nuremberg Trials others were not so lucky.</p> <p>"..The executions, in a brightly lighted prison gymnasium where three looming black wooden gallows had been erected, were witnessed by a handful of Allied military officers and eight journalists, one of whom, Kingsbury Smith of International News Service, wrote a famous newspaper article, "The Execution of Nazi War Criminals, 16 October 1946," based on his eyewitness observations. Although Smith discreetly omitted mentioning it, the experienced Army hangman, Master Sgt. John C. Woods, botched the executions. A number of the hanged Nazis died, not quickly from a broken neck as intended, but agonizingly from slow strangulation. Ribbentrop and Sauckel each took 14 minutes to choke to death, while Keitel, whose death was the most painful, struggled for 24 minutes at the end of the rope before expiring..."</p>

Since it now seems very imminent, I decided that it was an appropriate time to start this up. Links to information and pictures (if we get them) can be posted here.

MANILA (AP) -- Remains believed to be those of the chief of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, one of the objectives of a long U.S.-backed manhunt, have been found in the southern Philippines, the military said today. Khaddafy Janjalani is on a U.S. list of wanted terrorists with a $5 million bounty on his head for a series of beheadings, bombings and mass abductions. He has proved elusive in the dense jungles and mangroves that have become home for Janjalani and his men.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro was not present as a military parade marking his 80th birthday began on Saturday in Havana's main square. The event, expected to last perhaps 1 1/2 hours, is being closely watched to see if Castro is well enough to appear in public for the first time since he had intestinal surgery in late July and temporarily turned over power to his brother, defence minister Raul Castro. Castro's health and questions about his future have overshadowed the military display that experts say is a show of muscle to anyone who thinks communist Cuba...

"The fact that he's dead is unfortunate but looking back on his life it's a very pleasant thought."The father of late The Doors singer Jim Morrison has branded the death of his estranged son "unfortunate," despite the rocker often singing about his family's imagined demise. George Morrison, a retired Navy admiral, insists memories of his rocker son are "pleasant" - even though he once joked his parents were dead and used Oedipal rant "The End" to imagine killing his dad and sleeping with his mother. However, in a new memoir of the band, George remains positive about his child. Contributing...

If you are the kind of person who worries about the future, this might not make happy reading.Scientists have found that on average mammal species enjoy only 2.5 million years of life before being wiped out because of the Earth's "wobble." They say when the tilt and orbit reach key points it can spark dramatic global cooling - and the last time this happened was 2.6 million years ago. This suggests we are overdue a wave of extinction. However, before you panic, scientists say our planet has changed beyond all recognition in the last 3 million years. The new research...

LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A leaked intelligence report of Osama bin Laden's death has met scepticism from Western and Muslim governments but may increase a clamour from his followers to show himself on video for the first time in nearly two years. One theory surrounding the mysterious French leak is that it was designed precisely to flush the al Qaeda leader into the open, prompting him to release a new tape that might give a clue to his whereabouts and state of health.

Fugitive al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is suffering from a serious illness, but his death has not yet been pronounced, according to a senior Saudi intelligence source, CNN reported Saturday. This conflicted with the report earlier Saturday that a French secret service report said Saudi Arabia was convinced the al-Qaeda leader died of typhoid in Pakistan la

PARIS (AP) - The head of terrorist network al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, has died, according to information from the Saudi police, transmitted by the Directorate-General of External Services (DGSE), and reported on the Lorraine daily newspaper L'Est republicain in its Saturday edition. "According to a commonly reliable source, the Saudi police believes that Osama Bin Laden has died," said a September 21st confidential note from the DGSE classified as "defense." L'Est republicain will publish it in its Saturday edition. The note, specified the daily newspaper, would be re-printed "un-edited." According to the note to be published by the L'Est...

HANOI (Reuters) - A Vietnamese man who once appeared on national television to demonstrate his ability to resist electric shocks has been electrocuted while repairing a generator, an official said on Tuesday. Nguyen Van Hung, aged in his early 40s, was killed in Tay Ninh province near the Cambodian border while repairing the generator without first cutting the power supply, a local official said. "When alive, he used to demonstrate at our office how he would insert two fingers into the electrical plughole without problems," the official said. Hung, nicknamed "Hung Electric," had appeared on television's "Strange Stories of Vietnam."

Chavez endorses Fidel's tummy bug recipeFrom correspondents in Caracas August 12, 2006 04:46am THE stomach condition of Cuban leader Fidel Castro is a classified secret, but his close ally Hugo Chavez openly suggests the communist try a dose of his own medicine for his intestinal woes. The Venezuelan president is known to offer graphic details on live television of his digestive troubles, and how Fidel has helped cure them. During a broadcast overnight to inaugurate new health clinics partly staffed by Cuban doctors, Mr Chavez described the recipe for Fidel's home-grown stomach cure-all known as "tsunami." "Fidel has a formula...

At long last, Fidel Castro's 47-year reign as dictator of Cuba may be coming to an end. The 79-year-old Communist revolutionary transferred power to his brother Raul, 75, after emergency stomach surgery earlier this month. No one knows just how sick the onetime guerrilla fighter really is, since, in keeping with Castro's totalitarian regime, his condition is classed as a state secret. Yet it is hard to imagine a man of Castro's age - he will soon be 80 - recovering fully and retaking the reins of government. Castro's illness spurred hundreds of thousands of Cuban exiles and their families...

HAVANA - It was supposed to be the ultimate tribute, several days of parties and concerts to mark Fidel Castro's 80th birthday. But instead of listening to folk music and attending conferences on his legacy, Castro is expected to spend his birthday Sunday in bed, recovering from surgery for intestinal bleeding. Cubans have cultivated a myth over the last half-century that Castro is invincible, but now confront the fact that he is an octogenarian — and frail like other elderly mortals. A few Cubans say it won't be long before Castro is giving five-hour speeches once again, but many believe...

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that Fidel Castro is in a "great battle for life," but added that he's been given reason by the Cuban leader's aides to be optimistic about a quick recovery.