Free Republic

John McCain is a fighter -- at least when it comes to defending his military record. Today, a "Truth Squad" for the presumptive Republican nominee forcefully rejected General Wesley Clark's comments that McCain lacks foreign policy experience, and suggested Barack Obama do the same. Led by John Warner, a Virginia Republican who serves with McCain on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the squad blasted Clark and sought to reenforce the military reputation of McCain, a former Vietnam POW who once headed the largest Navy aviation squadron. "I find General Clark's comments to be unworthy, unseemly, for someone of his stature....

PORTOLA The state Department of Fish and Game says it wants to poison a Sierra Nevada lake next year to rid it of voracious northern pike before the invasive fish can spread downstream and devastate wild fish stocks. The department proposes to drain Lake Davis in Plumas County to about a fifth of its current size, then poison the remaining water along with the lake's tributary streams, springs, and ponds. A final decision is expected in January so that the department can begin draining the lake. The poisoning would take place next September. This would be the second time the...