Free Republic

SNIPPET: "Discussion: I first observed discussion of binary explosives on the al-Firdaws forum in January of 2007. In light of recent events I will post here my archive:" SNIPPET: "Implementation: On Christmas Day, 2009, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab boards a flight in Amsterdam, bound for Detroit, and on final descent he attempts to set off what was most likely a binary explosive. Thank goodness he either screwed up or had bad instructions, because the chemicals he was working with were evidently quite good."

This is a two-fold story about an adaptive sports rehabilitation program for severely disabled US soldiers who are veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The first half focuses on a river rafting trip down the Salmon River in Idaho, the second focuses on the medical facility where these men have been rehabilitated. It is a story of how these men reach a point where they can embrace life again and feel a reason to go forward despite their permanent, often horrifying injuries. The three soldiers on the river trip are Major Anthony Smith, 39, an African American man who...

SACRAMENTO – Eight years ago, 61 percent of California voters passed a novel initiative requiring treatment instead of jail or prison for tens of thousands of drug offenders. Supporters of that initiative are back with a follow-up measure that would require even greater leniency. Billionaire investor and liberal activist George Soros is helping fund Proposition 5 on the Nov. 4 ballot. The measure would prohibit sending paroled drug offenders back to prison for parole violations unless they commit a new felony, have a violent or serious record or are considered high risk by prison officials. The initiative would shorten parole...

Saudis use cash and counseling to fight terrorism About 3,200 former militants have completed the ambitious program aimed at persuading them to disavow violent Islamist ideologies. By Caryle Murphy | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor from the August 20, 2008 edition Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Khalid al-Hubayshi's career as an Islamic warrior came to an end with the siege of Tora Bora in Afghanistan. Ordered to retreat, he walked through snow for six days. He was captured by Pakistani forces, delivered to the Americans, and relocated to a cage in Cuba. The young Saudi's break with militant jihadi ideology...

Propositions that are on the November 4, 2008 General Election Ballot* Bond MeasureProposition 1 SB 1856 (Chapter 697, 2002). Costa. Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century.** **Note: The Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century was originally scheduled to appear on the November 2, 2004, General Election ballot. Subsequently, Senate Bill 1169, Chapter 71, Statutes of 2004, provided that it appear on the November 7, 2006, General Election ballot. However, most recently, Assembly Bill 713, Chapter 44, Statutes of 2006, provides for the submission of this Act on the November...

Changes since the last update: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1310. (07-0081) Nonviolent Offenders. Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation. Statute. Qualified for the November 4, 2008 General Election 1326. (07-0094, Amdt. #1S) Criminal Penalties and Laws. Public Safety Funding. Statute. Qualified for the November 4, 2008 General Election 1304. (07-0066, Amdt. #1S) Renewable Energy. Statute. Qualified for the November 4, 2008 General Election 1298. (07-0068) Limit on Marriage. Constitutional Amendment. Qualified for the November 4, 2008 General Election Propositions that are on the November 4, 2008 General Election Ballot Bond MeasureSB 1856 (Chapter 697, 2002). Costa. Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2007 – Programs in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are focused on improving the education and vocational skills of detainees and preparing those who are no longer a threat for release to their families, a U.S. general in charge of detainee operations in Iraq said today. (Video) Speaking to reporters in Iraq, Marine Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, Multinational Force Iraq’s deputy commanding general for detainee operations, emphasized that all detention operations in Iraq are in accordance with international law and human rights standards, and are always open to inspection by credible agencies. “Our goals and...

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The 100-acre bluegrass pasture at the state prison where Tomo, a retired thoroughbred, spends most of his days grazing under the hot Kentucky sun is a long way from the glitzy, fast-paced racetracks where he grew up. At age 6, with a less than stellar career behind him, Tomo was headed to a slaughterhouse last year, like thousands of horses whose racing days have ended. But he is one of the lucky ones. He landed a slot at the Blackburn Correctional Complex, where inmates care for the horses as if they were their own. It was on...

Convicts were forced to march to a new top-security jail — wearing just pink underpants and flip-flops to deter escape bids. Prison bosses reckoned the 700 hardmen would be too embarrassed to go on the run in gay-style garb. Muscle-bound, tattooed thugs were linked with pink handcuffs for the two-mile hike. And when they reached the new clink in Phoenix, Arizona, one con had to cut a pink ribbon to open it. Tough Sheriff Joe Arpaio said: “I put them on the street so everybody could see them. They can see this is what happens to people who break the...

Confining sex offenders past their terms has almost never met a stated purpose of treating the worst criminals until they no longer pose a threat.

From mass killer to 'lovely guy' By RACHEL GRUNWELL - Sunday Star TimesSunday, 21 January 2007 Raurimu killer Stephen Anderson is living in psychiatric community housing in Wellington and could soon be considered for full release. He had been working as a dental assistant until his employer became concerned about adverse publicity. February 8 marks the 10th anniversary of Anderson committing one of New Zealand's worst mass killings at Raurimu in the central North Island in 1997. Anderson was found not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering six people including his father, and the attempted murder of four others....

For an older woman I know who was suffering from “implacable depression” that refused to yield to any medications, electroconvulsive therapy — popularly called shock therapy — was a lifesaver. And Kitty Dukakis, wife of the former governor of Massachusetts and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, says ECT, as doctors call it, gave her back her life, which had been rendered nearly unlivable by unrelenting despair and the alcohol she used to assuage it. Neither woman has experienced the most common side effect of ECT: memory disruption, though Mrs. Dukakis recalls nothing of a five-day trip to Paris she took after...

The psychiatrist who upset Freudian dogma in the 1960’s by developing cognitive therapy is one of five winners of this year’s Lasker Awards, widely considered the nation’s most prestigious medical prizes. The awards, announced yesterday by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, are also going to four scientists who made important discoveries about aging and cancer. Mary Lasker created the awards in 1946 as a birthday gift to her husband, Albert, in hopes of curing cancer in 10 years. Each award carries a $100,000 prize. The psychiatrist, Dr. Aaron T. Beck, 85, of the University of Pennsylvania, won the Lasker...

When Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs are examined in controlled studies, a new review reports, scientists find no proof that they are superior to any other intervention in reducing alcohol dependence or alcohol-related problems. The researchers, led by Marica Ferri of the Italian Agency for Public Health in Rome, found little to suggest that 12-step programs reduced the severity of addiction any more than any other intervention. And no data showed that 12-step interventions were any more — or any less — successful in increasing the number of people who stayed in treatment or reducing the number who relapsed...

5/17/2006 - Fort Sam Houston, Texas (AFPN) -- Brooke Army Medical Center hosted a military amputee advance skills training workshop for Veterans Affairs’ prosthetists and therapists. Nearly 100 VA rehabilitation team members from 15 medical centers attended the workshop May 10 through 12 to learn the patient care methods used at Department of Defense facilities to help injured servicemembers recover, adjust to using prosthetics, and return to duty or to a full civilian life. “We are learning what the military is doing so that when a Soldier comes to their local VA it is a seamless transition,” said Bob Gailey,...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had had no alcohol before the accident. Kennedy, D-R.I., addressed the issue after a spate of news reports. "I was involved in a traffic accident last night at First and C Street SE near the U.S. Capitol," Kennedy said in a written statement released by his office. "I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident. I will fully cooperate with the Capitol Police in whatever investigation they choose to undertake." Kennedy appeared to be intoxicated when he crashed...

THERE WAS an average of about one murder a day in Philadelphia last year, the most homicides in about seven years. One of the reasons, according to the mayor and police commissioner, is that guns are too easy to obtain in Philadelphia. If easy access to guns were responsible for homicides, then gun clubs would be the most dangerous places on the planet. But it isn't - and they aren't. In 1998, the city was also trying to solve the homicide problem. The city brain trust created a Youth Violence Task Force that included such liberal luminaries as Temple law...

The Tappan Zee Bridge, the most critical transportation link across the Hudson River north of New York City, is not even half as old as the Brooklyn Bridge, but its warranty has already expired. Started on the cheap during the Korean War, the Tappan Zee was deliberately built to last just 50 years. It passed that milestone last month, just days after transportation planners began gathering public advice about how to fix or replace it. But the decaying, overburdened span's anniversary was more bitter than sweet. Little love has been lost between the Tappan Zee and the tens of thousands...

Two-thirds in state support the death penalty, but polls haven't asked questions about redemption. Pollsters regularly measure the public's opinion of the death penalty, but there is scant research on the soul-searching question that shrouds the case of Stanley Tookie Williams, the quadruple killer and gang founder who is scheduled to be executed Tuesday in San Quentin prison: Do you believe that inmates have the capacity to reform? Advocates on both sides of the death penalty issue believe that Californians are having their most introspective public discussion in decades about whether the state should execute people. Though polls show that...

NEWARK, Aug. 25 - With its gangs, police shootings and struggles to modernize, this city seems to have enough problems. Now it has one more. Dewey Street used to be a proud middle-class neighborhood, a chamber of peace and quiet in Newark's gritty heart. But last year when the state cleared out tracts of land to build a school, most of the families were driven away. And now that the money for the school has evaporated, more than three dozen lots sit abandoned, one after another. James Searcy is one of the last residents here, a 74-year-old man with milky...