Free Republic

Maybe the early bird will get that elusive worm of news-cycle dominance today. As of this writing, President and Mrs. Bush have already done an NBC Today Show interview with Matt Lauer, and participated in an early morning Habitat for Humanity build in Covington, LA. They'll soon visit a re-opened elementary school in Pass Christian, MS. The intent: to change the subject from Miers/Rove/DeLay/Iraq to the Administration’s effort to rebuild the Gulf Coast, around which Bush appears to be re-centering his domestic agenda. Democrats and like-minded interest groups are also adjusting to try to block this effort; see below for...

One of the strangest, and most useful, bombs employed in Iraq has been the concrete filled smart bomb (laser guided or JDAM). Why deliver a 500 pound bomb filled with concrete instead of explosives? You do that if you want to do some damage, but not a lot. Concrete JDAMs were first used in the 1990s to destroy anti-aircraft guns, radars and missiles that Saddam Hussein placed in residential areas. He believed that the Americans would not attack these weapons, for fear of hurting nearby civilians. But it turned out that a laser, or satellite (JDAM) guided concrete smart bomb...

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

Here is the list so far for sponcers to this hate America fest: ANSWER Code Pink UFPJ NION Al Awda World Workers Party Ruckas Revolutionary Communist party Moveon.org ACORN Campus Antiwar Network International Socialist Org Greens Party Muslim Student Association CPUSA

The notion of privacy and the judicial construct of the “right to privacy” are inextricably linked with American concepts of sexual conduct. This linkage is so accepted, that we fail to notice that it is based on an ambiguity and a logical fallacy. When the Supreme Court recognized the “right of privacy,” it was not in fact referring to privacy, but to liberty. The notion of preventing legislative action in matters of sex and reproduction was introduced by Justice Harlan in 1961 with his declaration: "I believe that a statute making it a criminal offense for married couples to use...

CHICAGO (AP) A bus driver for the Dave Matthews Band pleaded guilty Wednesday to dumping 800 pounds of human waste from the vehicle's septic tank onto a sightseeing boat on the Chicago River last summer. The driver, Stefan Wohl, was sentenced to 18 months probation, 150 hours of community service and the maximum $10,000 fine, which will be paid to Friends of the Chicago River, said Tom Stanton, a spokesman for the Cook County State's Attorney's office. Wohl, 42, of Selma, Texas, pleaded guilty to the original charges filed against him in January, reckless conduct and discharging contaminates to cause...

Dec. 24, 2004 -- A "mostly" unidentified object was spotted this morning soaring at extremely high altitude just north of Alaska, apparently headed south. After pin-pointing the object on radar, U.S. military aircraft was poised to provide an "emergency" escort to the United States and other points through midnight tonight. Though uncertain of the origin of the high-flying object, it is believed to resemble an old-fashioned sleigh and a jolly fat man can be seen with the reins to a passle of wild reindeer. The object appears to be overloaded, with strange packages spilling out and dropping onto villages and...

Funneling of entrants onto Goldwater Range is feared The U.S. Border Patrol's latest plans to build more fences, roads and other facilities along the Arizona-Sonora border might send more illegal entrants onto the Barry M. Goldwater bombing range, critics say, and further stress the environment. Some of the proposed improvements are in the agency's Yuma Sector, where a new port of entry is planned east of San Luis by 2007. The Border Patrol wants to install more than three miles of new primary fencing and nearly seven miles of secondary fencing, as well as utilize several miles of permanent and...

Thought a thread in Breaking News for the weekend covering Hurricane Jeanne would be a good thing. Post your link, pics, updates and freeper check-in's here

A captured Al Qaida document reveals that US energy companies were secretly negotiating with the Taliban to build a pipeline. The document was obtained by the FBI but was not allowed to be shared with other agencies in order to protect Enron. Multiple sources confirm that American law enforcement agencies were deliberately kept in the dark and systematically prevented from connecting the dots before 9/11 in order to aid Enron’s secret and immoral Taliban negotiations. The suppressed Al Qaida document tends to support recent claims of a cover-up made by several mid-level intelligence and law enforcement figures. Their ongoing terrorist...

Norwegian fined for snowballing US embassy OSLO (AFP) - A 34-year-old Norwegian who bombarded the US embassy in Oslo with snowballs after an evening of heavy drinking has been fined 700 dollars (576 euros). The Oslo district court found the man guilty of disturbing the peace and said the offence was particularly serious since he was a known offender, the online edition of daily Aftenposten reported Wednesday. The man had thrown a number of snowballs at the US embassy and policemen guarding the building in the wee hours of February 14. Police arrested him after he tried to climb the...

Things that I think should be in the political campaigns are kind of floating around in outerspace. I read a "heated discussion" among various players on the Mel Martinez for Senate string that started because he/she had not searched for like strings and posted without links/research. I like the way DU is organized so that I can find interesting strings without searching for a particular topic. I also like that they have a breaking News section...

A state trooper has survived The Attack of the Flying Toilet. It sounds like a really bad science-fiction movie from the 1950s, but an airborne outhouse wreaked havoc on a State Patrol car on I-90 near La Crosse on Sunday night, the patrol reported Friday. Trooper Rich Vanko wasn't hurt, said his supervisor, Sgt. Bruce Holsclaw. His co-workers, however, have dumped a load of off-color jokes on him. Vanko had stopped to help a stranded motorist change a flat tire and was standing at the side of the road when a truck passed by and "all of a sudden, something...

Jihad Abu Sawara is the latest leading Hamas terrorist to be killed by IDF forces. The army encircled his house in the Nuseirat neighborhood in Gaza last night, and called out for him to give himself up. He opened fire and wounded three soldiers. Israel Air Force helicopters fired missiles at the building, and the terrorist's body was later found in the rubble. One of the wounded soldiers was operated on in Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva, and is listed in serious condition. Palestinian terrorists fired at a civilian convoy making its way to the central Gaza community of Netzarim...

The Great Planet X Debate 11p-12a PST: coast to coast AM radio Astronomer Phil Plait (badastronomy.com) will debate alien contactee Nancy Lieder (zetatalk.com) over whether a 'Planet X' will pass close enough to the Earth to cause a pole shift and spur many disasters in the next few weeks. Plait will then be the solo guest for the last two hours. for information and discusion only,not for profit etc,etc.

Niburu and Other Nonsense By: David Morrison The wild stories about an approaching planet or comet are false! For months, weird stories have circulated on the Internet predicting the close passage by Earth this month of a Planet X sometimes called "Niburu", or in some versions a giant comet. I have even seen it linked to both Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) and Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs), although why either of these is relevant is not clear to me. This news note is for those who may have heard such rumors and wondered if there was any reality to them. The...