Free Republic

The State Department says its annual worldwide lottery for U.S. immigration visas was corrupted by a computer glitch and the results will be scratched, disappointing tens of thousands of would-be immigrants who were notified this year that they had won a chance to come and live legally in the United States. A department official said Friday the software glitch caused the drawing to select 90 percent of winners from entries submitted on only the first two days of the 30-day registration period that ended Nov. 3. The official said the problem has been fixed. A new lottery will be held...

Has another state information technology project gone badly wrong? Will it have to be scrapped? That's the obvious question raised by a scathing audit released last week that slams the Administrative Office of the Courts' handling of a $2 billion, seven-year-long statewide court computer system project. The AOC inadequately planned for the California Court Case Management System from the beginning, auditors concluded. It failed to analyze the basics – whether the computer system, as conceived, "would be a cost beneficial solution to the superior courts' needs." Court administrators structured a contract with the vendor that made it impossible to control...

Amazing video of a botched demolition in Ohio where a tower falls onto a powerstation and onto high voltage lines. This was today (Video)

Biden to Obama ...

DALLAS — The search for suspects who raped an SMU student last weekend led police to a southeast Dallas neighborhood off Jim Miller Road and Red Bud Drive. Ruben Moontiel also saw SWAT officers near his home on Red Bud Saturday afternoon while he landscaped his front yard. No sooner had he gone inside to tell his wife police were suiting up outside when SWAT kicked in his front door. "I felt humiliated," Moontiel said. His wife, Agueda, said Dallas SWAT officers rushing into her home trampled over her foot and fractured it. DPD detained the entire family for four...

Just in from our computer tech. Last night/early this morning. MS forced an update patch on all Windows users. We know it affected all running XP. It may have hit Vista and 7 as well. Many users had a forced Windows reboot/restart this morning. Seems the patch is causing havoc in email systems nationwide. Our computer guy normally gets 8-20 trouble calls a day. So far today, it's more than 250. His affiliates across the country report the same. Our internet access is fine (as others seems to be to) but emails are very slow (3 to 5 minutes from...

The northern Virginia socialite couple now being investigated by the Secret Service for crashing President Obama’s first state dinner on Tuesday were reportedly "cleared" to attend by the White House, their attorney claims.

Well now. Our economy is really lunging forward, isn’t it? What a ride! Are you holding on? We’re billions of dollars further in debt (trillions?) and the economy is still stagnant. TARP, the stimulus bill, massive debts our children and grandchildren will have to pay .. and what has this all brought us? Banks aren’t lending, businesses aren’t hiring – let along expanding – and consumers aren’t buying. Oh, to be sure, the malls are crowded. Turn up the thermostats and see how long that lasts. Those aren’t shoppers, they’re just your neighbors trying to stay cool while watching the...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama is embracing a mantle of confidence-builder in chief. Whether he is meeting with his own economic advisers or worried business leaders, his message is meant to be calm and reassuring -- even in the wake of more bad economic news.

Two people have been killed in a shooting at a school in southwest Germany, local media reports say. A number of people are also thought to have been wounded in the incident in Winnenden, near Stuttgart. Reports say the gunman wore a black combat uniform and fled into the town. However, local police were not immediately available to comment.

President Barack Obama's aides, who ran the most tech-savvy US election campaign in history, were forced into a red-faced admission Monday -- the White House email system has crashed. "Our email system is not working so well," press spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters at the start of his daily briefing. "We'll endeavor to get you information from earlier in the day, hopefully in a little bit more of a timely manner, if we can get the email to work." At one stage, Obama aides were forced to turn back the clock and hand out copies of memoranda signed by the...

Late Sunday night, my wife and I drove from Sacramento, Calif., to Los Angeles. We figured that it would be wise to leave Sacramento in the early evening to avoid traffic. At 7 p.m., we climbed into the car and headed for Interstate 5, the major highway connecting Northern California and Southern California. For the first five hours of the drive, things went as planned. The highway was relatively clear, and we sailed along happily at 80 mph. Then we saw it. A sign. A large orange sign reading: Freeway Closed Ahead, 11 p.m.-4 a.m. It was too late to...

Voters in San Francisco on Tuesday had the uninspiring civic duty of casting ballots in a mayoral election whose outcome was considered inevitable yet may not be confirmed for weeks. With 17 challengers, but only nominal opposition in his re-election race, Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to easily win a second term after running a comparatively inconspicuous campaign, according to political analysts. The last time a San Francisco mayor was positioned for such an easy victory was 1983, when Dianne Feinstein ran without a serious opponent. She is now California's senior U.S. senator. Because of concerns about the reliability of...

70 punished in accidental B-52 flight By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 3 minutes ago The Air Force said Friday it has punished 70 airmen involved in the accidental, cross-country flight of a nuclear-armed B-52 bomber following an investigation that found widespread disregard for the rules on handling such munitions. "There has been an erosion of adherence to weapons-handling standards at Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale Air Force Base," said Maj. Gen. Richard Newton, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations. Newton was announcing the results of a six-week probe into the Aug. 29-30 incident...

I've been hearing rumors for a couple of weeks now that New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin is considering running for Governor. I finally found a news outlet that confirms this rumor, thanks to freelance journalist Jason Berry, who appeared on Informed Sources last night to predict that Nagin will run for Governor. Hat tip to Library Chronicles. As an aside, is this Jason Berry the author of Amazing Grace, an account of Charles Evers' run for Governor in Mississippi back in 1972? But back to the issue at hand - Ray Nagin running for Governor of Louisiana. This makes...

Iranian intelligence officers told the 15 British captives they first became suspicious about their activities after watching an interview with one of them on British television. Families of the hostages said that their loved ones had told them the Iranians had made the claim soon after capturing them. The revelation is likely to raise questions about the Ministry of Defence's decision to allow the media to accompany Cornwall, the ship on which the service personnel were based, and report on its activities. On 13 March - 10 days before the 15 were seized - Channel 5 broadcast an interview with...

A ruling by an appeals court leaves no question. Cincinnati was not entitled to acquire Clif-Cor properties in Clifton Heights by eminent domain. Now the future for the Calhoun Street business district near the University of Cincinnati is in question. This section of the Clifton Heights business district, one a vibrant strip, has been reduced to a pile of rubble. While the judge's ruling is clear, it has left more questions. The Hardee's and Arby's restaurants have both been boarded up. Joe Kennedy's Acropolis restaurant has been torn down. But what happens next for the proposed McMillan development? The plan...

CNN anchor Kyra Phillips, whose bathroom gossip was broadcast live on CNN on Tuesday, appeared on Thursday's Late Show with David Letterman to give her side of the story. That is, she delivered Top 10 list of reasons why things went wrong. (Phillips accidentally left her mic on when she went to the ladies room while covering a speech by President Bush in New Orleans – and her family gossip was broadcast live. CNN issued an apology, and Phillips told Letterman no one was fired as a result of the snafu.) Phillips's Top 10 list: 10. Still haven't mastered complicated...

GE's Alternative Engine Program Also Facing Hiccups During Development By David A. Fulghum 06/02/2006 Developing an engine with all the necessary power and flexibility to both fly supersonic and then land - vertically - a stealthy, bomb-carrying fighter is proving to be a tough proposition for all the engine companies involved. Officials at General Electric, developer of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's alternate engine program, confirmed that they've had problems with a prototype engine that was designed in conjunction with partner Rolls-Royce. Its role is to test advanced parts destined for use in a more mature System Development and Demonstration...