Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in Congress could stand in the way of Democratic President-elect Barack Obama's hopes of signing a massive economic stimulus plan into law right after he takes office on January 20. The plan, aimed at easing the financial crisis, tops the agenda of the newly elected Congress due to be sworn in on Tuesday -- two weeks before Obama. Hearings in the new Congress could push a final package well into February. Democrats who control Congress predict the plan -- including tax relief for the middle class and spending on schools, roads and other infrastructure -- will...

When I returned home last night, my wife was sick. We are senior citizens. She said she had heard that the Democrats were going to raid our Retirement Plan. She said it's happening NOW in Argentina. She was very concerned that Obama and his Left-Wing Liberal Democrats were going to steal away from us our little retirement nest egg. I told her I had read on the Congressional website that the House Committee on Education and Labor has, indeed, been holding hearings on this exact thing. In addition, I said, the Democrats are advocating that an additional 5% of our...

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2008 – Individuals and organizations around the globe are planning special commemorations to mark the quickly approaching seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. So far, nearly 185 America Supports You Freedom Walks are scheduled to take place on and around Sept. 11. Of those walks, eight are scheduled overseas, in Heidelberg, Germany; Santa Rita, Guam; Baghdad; Vicenza, Italy; Iwakuni, Japan; Moron, Spain; and Seoul and Daegu, South Korea. America Supports You is a Defense Department program connecting citizens and companies with servicemembers and their families serving at home and abroad. “The America Supports...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The federal government will open up nearly 46,000 square miles off Alaska's northwest coast to petroleum leases next month, a decision condemned by enviromental groups that contend the industrial activity will harm northern marine mammals. The Minerals Management Agency planned the sale in the Chukchi Sea without taking into account changes in the Arctic brought on by global warming and proposed insufficient protections for polar bears, walrus, whales and other species that could be harmed by drilling rigs or spills, according to the groups. The lease sale in an area slightly smaller than the state of Pennsylvania...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Pentagon plans to train and equip an expanded paramilitary force in Pakistan's tribal areas in a major effort to counter the growing strength of Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces, officials said Monday. US Army troops will be used to train the Pakistani Frontier Corps at a new center in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan, said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell. The efforts come amid political instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan under President Pervez Musharraf and mounting US concerns over the spread of Islamic militancy. It was unclear how many military trainers will be required, but any increase...

PARIS (Reuters) - Petitions in London, protests in Cologne, a court case in Marseille and a violent clash in Berlin -- Muslims in Europe are meeting resistance to plans for mosques that befit Islam's status as the continent's second religion. Across Europe, Muslims who have long prayed in garages and old factories now face skepticism and concern for wanting to build stately mosques to give proud testimony to the faith and solidity of their Islamic communities. Some critics reject them as signs of "Islamisation." Others say minarets would scar their city's skyline. Given the role some mosques have played as...

WASHINGTON - Detailed plans for the new U.S. Embassy under construction in Baghdad appeared online Thursday in a breach of the tight security surrounding the sensitive project. Computer-generated projections of the soon-to-be completed, heavily fortified compound were posted on the Web site of the Kansas City, Mo.-based architectural firm that was contracted to design the massive facility in the Iraqi capital. The images were removed by Berger Devine Yaeger Inc. shortly after the company was contacted by the State Department. "We work very hard to ensure the safety and security of our employees overseas," said Gonzalo Gallegos, a department spokesman....

President Bush said Thursday he wished the execution of Saddam Hussein "had gone in a more dignified way." Bush also said he will make a speech next week announcing his long-awaited decisions about how to proceed in the unpopular war in Iraq. Considering more troops to deal with the rising violence in Baghdad, Bush said, "One thing is for certain: I will want to make sure the mission is clear and specific and can be accomplished." Senior generals have cautioned against sending additional troops unless their role is defined. Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki spoke on a secure video...

Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she will create a new congressional panel to examine the administration's intelligence budget and to make sure the money is being spent properly. Creating the panel, Pelosi said at a news conference, "makes oversight stronger and makes the American people safer." Democrats have been highly critical of the conduct of intelligence agencies in the days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the lead- up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Pelosi, D-Calif., also said that one of the first tasks of the Democratic-controlled House she will lead beginning in January will be...

Before the fall of the Soviet Union, “Kremlinologists” got paid to sift through the lies and decipher goings-on in Moscow. We’ll need similar skills to see through the Democratic Congress’ smoke screen. Again and again during the congressional campaigns, Democrats insisted they were not the party of cut-and-run in Iraq. But now that they’ve won both the House and Senate, the leaders of the incoming Congress are abandoning all pretense. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who will be Armed Services chairman, told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday: “We need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to...

A federal judge on Wednesday denied a former Republican congressional candidate’s request for a restraining order barring President Bush or Vice President Richard Cheney from bombing Iran or Syria. Mary Maxwell, 59, of 179 Loudon Road, Apt. 10, Concord, filed a lawsuit Monday against Bush, Cheney and other “unnamed defendants actively engaging in acts of war against Iran and Syria in the guise of the war against terrorism.” Maxwell’s suit seeks a ruling that the administration lacks legal authority to pre-emptively attack either Iran or Syria without a Congressional declaration of war, and that radioactive fallout from the use of...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2006 – Atlanta will join communities across America to host a Freedom Walk Sept. 11, the fifth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States. The Freedom walk is being sponsored by Checkers restaurants, and presented by Operation Homefront. “We wanted to reflect on the events that happened on 9/11 at the Pentagon and the twin towers in New York City, and in Pennsylvania,” said Vicki Sarracino, president of the Georgia chapter of Operation Homefront. “And we also wanted to renew our commitment to freedom and the values of our country, and to honor the...

America Supports You: Indiana Town Plans Freedom WalkBy Samantha L. QuigleyAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2006 – Residents of Crawfordsville, Ind., will gather Sept. 11 to participate in a Freedom Walk, joining an ever-growing number of Americans who will pay similar tribute to the victims of 9/11 and the nation’s past and present veterans. Defense Department officials said this morning that so far, 75 communities in 36 states have registered similar events on the department’s Freedom Walk Web site. “We have gotten the message out to the local churches, so they’re going to put the (announcement) in...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2006 – San Diego will honor its military heritage with a Freedom Walk planned to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. “The walk begins and ends at the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center,” said Beth Steinke, president of Operation Homefront-San Diego, the nonprofit group organizing the walk. “It’s a leisurely two-mile stroll through the park.” The walk, presented by DefenseWeb, a software company, will begin with opening ceremonies at 9 a.m. in Balboa Park, she said. A color guard and a chaplain are scheduled to participate in the opening ceremonies. “We’re hoping...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 2006 – A veteran Utah Army National Guardsman from Salt Lake City is coordinating efforts to hold the municipality’s first Freedom Walk. Salt Lake City’s Freedom Walk is slated for the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Chief Warrant Officer Paul Holton, an Army interrogator, said. “It’s important for people to remember how we felt that day,” Holton said. It’s also important to honor military veterans, especially those who’ve given their lives safeguarding freedom, he added. Holton is working to get sponsors and publicity for his city’s Freedom Walk....

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2006 -- In conjunction with similar events across the country, up to 1,000 people are expected to walk the streets of downtown San Antonio Sept. 11 to pay tribute to those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, and to thank America’s veterans, past and present. Operation Homefront, a national nonprofit group that provides emergency support and assistance to servicemembers and their families, is sponsoring the San Antonio Freedom Walk, which will start at the Alamodome and end at North Plaza, in downtown San Antonio. The overall route will be a little more than two...

Rebel MPs wreck Australia's tough immigration plans By Nick Squires in Sydney (Filed: 15/08/2006) A revolt by backbench MPs forced the Australian government to abandon a controversial immigration law yesterday. The legislation would have meant that asylum seekers were sent to a detention centre on the remote South Pacific island of Nauru while their applications were processed. Opponents said that asylum seekers, including women and children, would be kept behind razor wire for months or years in a refugee equivalent of Guantanamo Bay. John Howard, the prime minister, had to take the humiliating step of withdrawing the legislation, knowing that...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2006 – The city whose native son helped turn the United States into a nation of motorists will shun Henry Ford’s invention for a time on Sept. 11. Michael A. Guido, mayor of Dearborn, Mich., shows Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for internal communications and public affairs, a flag that flew over Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. New York firefighters presented the flag to the city in 2002 in appreciation for the $125,000 the city raised for the families of fallen firefighters. Courtesy photo  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “We...

SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his health care affordability summit Monday to unveil a plan to expand health access for California children as he met with noted business, labor and medical leaders to discuss reforms to the overburdened health care system. Across campus at the University of California, Los Angeles, state Treasurer and Democratic nominee Phil Angelides staged his own "town hall" event with the associate director of the university's Center for Heath Policy Research and a handful of senior citizens and university students. Angelides pledged to sponsor legislation to expand the state's Healthy Families Program and force all companies...

NASA needs to rethink its Mars exploration plans after 2010 given new understandings about the red planet and likely funding levels in the coming years, according to a report just out from a panel of outside experts. By adding to a reworked mix of future missions-for example, a geophysical/meteorological network as well as a sample return mission-the space agency would garner a greater scientific impact at Mars, the panel concludes. Moreover, the space agency must fortify its ability to analyze the data streaming in from Mars. That research can help flesh out a safe and scientifically productive role for humans...