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Two men who were asked to rap to get out of a ticket are seeking large amounts of money for what they believe was a violation of their civil rights. One of the men has filed a claim against the city of Tempe for $50,000 and the other filed a claim for half a million dollars. A claim is the first legal step toward a lawsuit against a government entity. James Baker and Robert Tarvin, who are black, were shown rapping on a segment of the police-produced cable-TV show "Tempe StreetBeat" after Tempe police Sgt. Chuck Schoville pulled them over...

9/11 widow recounts her role as an activist In her new book, “Wake-Up Call,” Kristen Breitweiser tells how the terrorist attacks transformed her from a stay-at-home mom into a government critic.

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, September 5, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In May this year, a group of pro-life students at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) set up a display of white crosses to memorialize those children killed in the US by abortion. Such displays are popular with student groups as an affordable means of emphasizing the loss of life brought about by abortion, and are often vandalized by abortion supporters.True to form, a feminist professor incited a group of students to destroy the Northern Kentucky University display and its accompanying sign. Unlike Canada, however, the story at NKU has a happy ending for...

How they vote in the United Nations: Below are the actual voting records of various Arabic/Islamic States which are recorded in both the US State Department and United Nations records: Kuwait votes against the United States 67% of the time Qatar votes against the United States 67% of the time Morocco votes against the United States 70% of the time United Arab Emirates votes against the U. S. 70% of the time. Jordan votes against the United States 71% of the time. Tunisia votes against the United States 71% of the time. Saudi Arabia votes against the United States 73%...

‘Quake money’ used to finance UK plane bombing plot * Funds given to two British citizens of Kashmiri origin and an Islamabad-based Kashmiri builder * ‘Earthquake relief’ money remitted to individuals alarmed British agencies By Sarfaraz Ahmed and Maqbool Ahmed KARACHI: A UK-based Islamic charity organisation remitted a huge amount of money to three individuals in three different bank accounts in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, in December last year with the sole purpose of helping its recipients and their organisations carry out the aircraft bombing plan in the UK, insider sources told Daily Times yesterday. An investigation carried out by Daily...

About 200 people confronted police outside Foreign Affairs headquarters, demanding to come inside to tell politicians that Canada is complicit in Israeli "war crimes" against Lebanese civilians. "It sounds like our politicians are too afraid to hear their own people," Montreal activist Aaron Lakoff yelled into a megaphone outside the Sussex Dr. building yesterday. "Maybe it's because they know they're supporting apartheid, war crimes and state terrorism. They have to stop their complicit support for Israel's war on Lebanon and Palestine." A small group was allowed inside to deliver a garbage bag full of letters to Foreign Affairs staff. Arriving...

No, this is not a list of engineer jokes. It is the story of my participation in the writing of a new stormwater manual to meet the Phase II Clean Water Act requirements. It is more like the “no good deed goes unpunished” story. The Clean Water Act was passed in the late 1960’s, originally to stop cities from dumping raw sewage into the nearest stream. It has been tightened several times since then and has made a significant improvement in water quality and safety. About 10 years ago, it was expanded to include stormwater runoff. The deadline for us...

LANARCA, Cyprus — It could be a long trip to Ottawa for Prime Minister Stephen Harper if he decides to mix with the Lebanese evacuees he is ferrying home. "It was a horrible trip," one after another describe their 13-hour voyage from Beirut to Cyprus when they disembark in the scorching heat here. "People were vomiting, there were no beds, the toilets with filthy. "There was no air conditioning and they ran out of water," one young women told reporters before storming on board the waiting buses laid on by the Canadian government. The arrival of the Blue Dawn, the...

Whiners: Find your own way out of Beirut After being rescued from war zone, a little gratitude would be nice The Edmonton Journal Fri 21 Jul 2006 Page: A18 Section: Opinion Byline: Lorne Gunter Aw, the boat ride was too long, was it? And you say it was too hot? There was no doctor on board, either? And the departure was delayed. And the port was chaotic. And too little food and water had been laid in. And some of you had to sleep on the floor!? Oh, the indignity of it. To listen to the whining and carping...

Fox News just had an interview with a woman who showed the world what an absolute ungrateful bitch she is. She said that our government didn't make arrangements quickly enough. In other words, it's Bush's fault. These people have known that Lebanon have been a hot spot for 25 years and to go there, you are going at your own peril. I hope we are charging each and every person a premium for going in there and helping them leave. This irks me to no end!

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Jonathan Chakhtoura, a 19-year-old Lebanese-American, is eager to escape the outbreak of Mideast fighting here. But he says he's extremely disappointed with the way U.S. authorities have handled the evacuation. "Every time I call to see what's going on the lines are busy," he said of the U.S. Embassy. "When they answer, they say they don't know," said Chakhtoura, who wants to be back in Boston before his fashion design classes start Sept. 6. "A lot of people don't know what is going on. There is so much confusion. If it's security they are worried about, then...

According to today's news, Indonesians are "angry" at the US for not responding quickly enough with enough aid to help them recover from the most recent disaster (the earthquake) in an unbroken series of disasters. Excuse me? Angry because we have not gone once again to save their sorry butts from the results of their government's corruption, incompetence, illiteracy, and criminality? When did we become responsible for their mess of a country? Apparently I didn't get the memo.

Mobs cheer British deaths as Basra slips out of control By Oliver Poole, Iraq Correspondent (Filed: 08/05/2006) It took the soldiers from 1 Bn Light Infantry all the night and most of yesterday to remove the wreckage of the Lynx helicopter that came down in Basra at the weekend, killing five British servicemen on board. As they used heavy lifting equipment to separate twisted metal from the debris of a house that the aircraft had crashed into, military experts were trying to establish whether the crash was caused by mechanical failure or hostile fire. British officers believe the most likely...

On a day that is celebrated as Labor Day in many countries, local supporters of immigration law reform will once again take to the streets Monday with American flags to promote awareness of what immigrants offer this country. "I think it's important that the community knows that immigrants are professional people who are not treated as such here because they do not have the proper paperwork," said Dora Hidalgo, president of South Texas Amigos de Mexico and a march organizer. "It's to promote awareness to the contributions they have made to the country and the community." The march, or la...

Protesters are gathering to rally against a new round of raids on undocumented immigrants. Numerous raids have left Chicago families without their loved ones, and this morning the government is talking about its new policy.[snip]But illegal immigrant advocates are calling this action and crackdown immoral and they are outraged. They are planning a protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters and another protest is planned this afternoon. They are asking immigration officials to halt action until Congress comes up with its new laws because it might allow some immigrants to remain in the U.S.

"The Great American Boycott" is spreading south of the border, as activists call for Mexicans to boycott U.S. businesses on May 1. The protest is timed to coincide with a May 1 boycott of work and shopping in the United States that also has been dubbed "A Day Without Immigrants." The boycott, which grew out of huge pro-migrant marches across the United States, is designed to pressure Congress to legalize millions of undocumented people. Mexican unions, political and community groups, newspaper columnists and even some Mexican government offices have joined the call in recent days. "Remember, nothing gringo on May...

Pardon me if I don't cheer for the three survivors of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) freed in Iraq, whom I consider misguided, arrogant and foolish and who cause more problems than they solve. Of course, I never wished them dead and, like everyone else, am relieved they were rescued from a situation they brought on themselves. Four of them were kidnapped in Baghdad Nov. 26. Their American colleague was murdered because of his nationality. Nice guys. Not all of the 400 or so who've been kidnapped in Iraq escaped so lightly. In Sault Ste. Marie, Jim Loney's mother calls...

By The Associated Press Most people in the United States think illegal immigration is a serious problem. A solid majority oppose making it easier for illegal immigrants to become legal workers or citizens. Some findings in recent polling: _ Some 59 percent say they oppose allowing illegal immigrants to apply for legal, temporary-worker status, an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll found. _ More than six in 10, 62 percent, say they oppose making it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. Nine in 10 in that poll say they consider immigration to be a...

Freed hostage will arrive home today amid growing concern, report our correspondents  Norman Kember, the freed peace activist, will arrive back in Britain today amid growing controversy over his failure publicly to thank the military forces who rescued him.   Neither Professor Kember nor the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) organisation for whom he worked have acknowledged the work of the soldiers who rescued him and two Canadian hostages on Thursday, or of the teams of military and intelligence officials who spent months trying to track them down.   General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the British Army, expressed the...

Released hostages 'refuse to help their rescuers' By Oliver Poole in Baghdad (Filed: 25/03/2006) The three peace activists freed by an SAS-led coalition force after being held hostage in Iraq for four months refused to co-operate fully with an intelligence unit sent to debrief them, a security source claimed yesterday. The claim has infuriated those searching for other hostages. The Canadians: Harmeet Sooden and Jim Loney Neither the men nor the Canadian group that sent them to Iraq have thanked the people who saved them in any of their public statements. One of them, Norman Kember, 74, a retired physics...