Free Republic

WASHINGTON - New evidence is emerging that the top Democrat on the Senate committee currently investigating Jack Abramoff got political money arranged by the lobbyist back in 2002 shortly after the lawmaker took action favorable to Abramoff's tribal clients. A lawyer for the Louisiana Coushatta Indians told The Associated Press that Abramoff instructed the tribe to send $5,000 to Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record)'s political group just three weeks after the North Dakota Democrat urged fellow senators to fund a tribal school program Abramoff's clients wanted to use.The check was one of about five dozen the Coushattas listed...

The Finest Court in the Nation Hooray for Michigan justice. Among the people recently mentioned as potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees, Maura Corrigan and Robert Young were relatively unknown. But both are noteworthy representatives of what may be the finest court in the nation. For the past six years, the Michigan Supreme Court has been a leader in attempting to restore a proper balance between the judiciary, the legislature and the people. The bloc that constitutes the court's frequent majority--Justices Clifford Taylor, Stephen Markman, Corrigan, Young and, often, Elizabeth Weaver--has consistently refused to substitute its policy preferences for those of...

Angry Sierra Leoneans jeer Sankoh's body August 02, 2003, 09:27 PM Hundreds of angry Sierra Leoneans turned out in the capital Freetown today to jeer the body of former rebel leader Foday Sankoh, a man reviled for launching one of Africa's most horrific wars. "Take his body to hell or give it to us, the crowd, to burn his body to ashes," shouted Dowu Johnson, a woman in the crowd. The former warlord, who had been indicted for war crimes by a UN-backed court investigating atrocities during the West African nation's decade-long civil war, died in hospital on Tuesday. His...

Bloody past is catching up with Liberian despot By David Blair in Calabar (Filed: 02/07/2005) After impoverishing his country, killing thousands and stealing a fortune, Africa's most notorious fallen tyrant is facing a rising clamour for him to face justice. Charles Taylor, the deposed president of Liberia, benefits from asylum in Nigeria despite being the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant and an indictment on 17 counts of war crimes. Charles Taylor: Africa's most prominent fugitive A life steeped in bloodshed has not prevented Taylor from enjoying Nigeria's official hospitality and a grace-and-favour residence in a government lodge in the...

Al-Qaïda and Taylor destabilize West Africa New York (the United Nations) - terrorist organization Al-Qaïda is active in West Africa and supports in particular activities of destabilization of the area to which the bast former president Charles Taylor delivers itself, affirmed Tuesday of the members of the special Court for Sierra Leone. The principal target of these activities of destabilization is Guinea where an attempted murder of president Lansana Conte already took place last January, in which Charles Taylor was implied, Al White affirmed, principal investigator of the Court, at the time of a press conference to the head...

Researchers at the Iowa Great Ape Trust are putting eight intelligent bonobos in a human-like living situation to study how culture may emerge. From the Associated Press: The bonobos will be able to cook in their own kitchen, tap vending machines for snacks, go for walks in the woods and communicate with researchers through computer touchscreens. The decor in their 18-room home includes an indoor waterfall and climbing areas 30 feet high... Using a network of cameras and computers, the bonobos can see visitors who ring the doorbell -- and will be able to choose through a computer touchscreen who...

An advertisement that ran in today’s print edition of The Daily Mississippian contained a racist message. The ad (pictured at left) was paid for by the New Century Group and promotes American Renaissance, a monthly magazine launched in 1991 that espouses incendiary views about immigration and race relations. The Daily Mississippian advertising staff will include a retraction and apology for the advertisement in Monday’s edition of the paper. Melanie Wadkins, advertising manager for the S. Gale Denley Student Media Center, said American Renaissance will be refunded the $220.50 paid for the three-column, 10 inch ad. Wadkins, who is the staff...

This is my first post so I hope I got it right. This is breaking here in San Anonio. A single engine plane has been forced down at Stenson Field south of San Antonio. Homeland Security, DPS and SAPD are on the scene. They are waiting for a Chinese tranlator but they have Chinese illegals in custody and said that the pilot was someone Homeland Security has been looking for. I'll post more as it comes available.

Editor's note: Readers may be interested in two related stories: "Invested in Terrorism" and "BBC: U.S. Damned if it does and damned if it doesn't". -ALJ Douglas Farah uncovered the story of al-Qaeda's involvement in West Africa's diamond smuggling while reporting on Africa for the Washington Post, which he described in Blood from Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror (New York: Broadway, 2004). Mr. Farah, now a consultant, freelance writer on terror finance and national security matters, and a senior fellow at the Consortium for the Study of Intelligence, addressed the Middle East Forum in New York City on...

WASHINGTON - Sean Taylor, the Redskins top pick last spring, failed field sobriety tests when police stopped him for a speeding violation early Thursday on the Capital Beltway. "During the stop, the trooper felt that Mr. Taylor had been consuming some type of alcohol. He failed sobriety tests," Virginia State Police Lt. Harry Newlin tells WTOP. After the 2:43 a.m. traffic stop near Route 193, police charged Taylor with driving under the influence. Taylor refused a breathalyzer test, Newlin says. Taylor has been released on his own recognizance after posting a $5,000 bond in Fairfax County. He'll appear in court...

...Kennedy did only slightly better in 1960, scoring 49.8% against Nixon. His plurality was one of the smallest in U.S. history..... This election was significant in that it marked the occasion when TV played a major, perhaps determining, part. Roosevelt had already demonstrated the importance of radio when his skill at the media, honed in his "Fireside Chats" as president, helped to secure his landslide re-election in 1936. In 1960, the media (overwhelmingly pro-Democrat) judged Kennedy an outright winner in the TV debates. It was said that his team persuaded the studio to turn up the lights so that Nixon...

DAKAR - Former Liberian president Charles Taylor sold conflict diamonds to known al-Qaeda operatives that may have been used to finance the September 11 attacks on the United States, according to a confidential report from the UN-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone. "It is clear that al-Qaeda had been in west Africa since September 1998 and maintained a continuous presence in the area through 2002," said the document, produced by the office of prosecutor David Crane. The document, gleaned from press reports, witnesses to sightings of al-Qaeda operatives in Liberia and interviews with a single, unnamed source, is the...

Kerry visits Taylor for evening barbecue and softball game By DEE-ANN DURBIN The Associated Press 8/1/2004, 8:10 p.m. ET TAYLOR, Mich. (AP) — Democrats hoped voters would see a more casual side of presidential candidate John Kerry Sunday at a barbecue and softball game in this blue-collar suburb of Detroit. Kerry was expected to arrive at Taylor's Heritage Park around 9 p.m. EDT. He spent the earlier part of the day campaigning in Ohio and was to visit Grand Rapids and Muskegon Monday before taking a ferry across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee. By 8 p.m., thousands of people had gathered...

Fieger says he will file complaint against four state Supreme Court justices By BREE FOWLER The Associated Press 7/28/2004, 4:52 p.m. ET SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) — Saying that four Michigan Supreme Court justices are determined to take away the people's right to sue, attorney Geoffrey Fieger announced Wednesday his intent to file a complaint with the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission against the justices. The complaint comes just days after a $21 million sexual harassment verdict Fieger won against DaimlerChrysler AG was overturned by the court. During a news conference held at his law offices in Southfield, Fieger accused state Supreme...

J. Hudson Taylorby Fred Barlow Used with permission.* 1832-1905 English missionary to China. Founder, China Inland Mission. Spent five years translating the New Testament into the Ningpo dialect. At his death in 1905, there were 205 stations with 849 missionaries, and 125,000 Chinese Christians in the China Inland Mission. "He must move men through God--by prayer," that was the philosophy of J. Hudson Taylor, first missionary to the interior of China and the founder of the China Inland Mission. And from that December day when as a teenager he heard from Heaven, "Go for Me to China, "this young...

<p>Four justices who joined the Michigan Supreme Court since 1997 form a solid, conservative majority, a Free Press analysis of cases decided in 2002-03 shows.</p> <p>Chief Justice Maura Corrigan, and Justices Stephen Markman, Clifford Taylor and Robert Young Jr., all nominated by the Republican Party, formed the core of the majority opinion on almost every decision, the analysis found.</p>

Alleged spy for Iraq gave Lockerbie depositionFormer Democrat congressional aide was at center of CIA controversy Posted: March 12, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By Sherrie Gossett© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Former journalist and congressional press secretary Susan Lindauer, who was arrested yesterday on charges she acted as an Iraqi spy before and after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, came to the forefront of politics in 1994 over a controversial meeting she had with an alleged CIA operative based in Syria. That meeting resulted in her giving a deposition in the Lockerbie bombing trial that suggested Libya was innocent of the bombing. The 1994 deposition received...

International police organisation Interpol says it has issued a notice for the arrest of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, indicted for war crimes in Sierra Leone. Interpol, based in Lyon, France, said the notice - which is not an arrest warrant but can be used by national police to make a provisional arrest - was issued at the request of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Mr Taylor has gone into exile in Nigeria. As with all its "red notices", a photograph of Mr Taylor appeared on Interpol's web site, accompanied by the caption: Taylor, Charles Ghankay. Born on 28...

Seems Deion and Boomer were arguing about Lawrence Taylor's book and interview. All I gotta say it, GO BOOMER!!!!

LAGOS, Nigeria, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Former Liberia President Charles Taylor is reportedly living in Nigeria on a $1 million annual stipend from South Africa. A source in the Nigerian president's office told Wednesday's Lagos Daily Champion the payment was part of an agreement reached between Taylor and South African President Thabo Mbeki to enable the former to go into exile in the first place. According to the source, Nigeria was mandated by African leaders to, among other things, ensure the provision of "a very comfortable accommodation" for the former Liberian warlord. The source, who asked for anonymity, added efforts...

Reporting for duty: Wesley Clark Posted: September 23, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 David H. Hackworth With Wesley Clark joining the Democratic presidential candidates, there are enough eager bodies pointed toward the White House to make up a rifle squad. This bunch of wannabes could make things increasingly hot for Dubya – as long as they don't blow each other away with friendly fire. Since Clark tossed his steel pot into the inferno, I've been constantly asked, "Hack, what do you think of the general?" For the record, I never served with Clark. But after spending three hours interviewing...

Charles G. Taylor, who was forced out as president of Liberia on Aug. 11 and flew to exile in Nigeria, took with him $3 million donated for disarming and demobilizing thousands of armed combatants, a senior United Nations official said today. The sum is roughly equal to six months of current government revenues in Liberia, by any measure one of the poorest nations on earth. The senior United Nations official here, Jacques P. Klein, the special representative of Secretary General Kofi Annan, described the theft and said the donor was an Asian nation. Other government officials said it was Taiwan....

An HIV-positive man sued the State Department yesterday for refusing to hire him as a diplomat because of his condition and said he was the victim of illegal discrimination. Lorenzo Taylor, 48, passed the oral and written exams to become a foreign service officer but was turned down because he has the AIDS virus, according to the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which filed the lawsuit in federal court on Taylor's behalf. Lambda Legal said the State Department has a policy of not hiring people who are HIV-positive as diplomats on the grounds they may need medical treatment that...

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) -- Liberia's rebels and government picked a Monrovia businessman to lead the country's post-war transition government, and international mediators closed peace talks after 78 tumultuous days. The chief mediator, retired Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, officially announced selection of Gyude Bryant to head the two-year power-sharing accord, and sent warring parties home to implement it. "The first step of unifying the people starts from today,'' Abubakar said. "Do not let your people down.'' Selection of the transitional government's leaders follows Monday's signing of a peace accord, made possible by warlord-president Charles Taylor's Aug. 11 resignation and flight into...

Charles Taylor arrived at Calabar The bast former president Charles Taylor arrived by plane early Tuesday morning at Calabar, city of the south-east of Nigeria, country which offered the exile to him, brought back a correspondent of the AFP. Charles Taylor, accompanied members by his family, came from Abuja, the capital of Nigeria where it had arrived the day before after having left the capacity in Monrovia. It was initially to be taken along in the house of the governor, surrounded by forces of safety, indicated high persons in charge. In Calabar, city of the State Cross-country race To...

US warships sail into Monrovia as Taylor finally goes By Declan Walsh in Monrovia 12 August 2003 Up to the last moment many Liberians could hardly believe it was true. But after six years of destructive rule, Charles Taylor surrendered power to his deputy, Moses Blah, at his executive mansion yesterday and flew into exile abroad. Almost immediately, the momentum for a peaceful solution to Liberia's war started to spin faster. Three US warships sailed before the shores of Monrovia, causing joyful residents to flood onto the city's rubbish-strewn beaches to watch them pass. Two large helicopters rose from the...

Charles Taylor on board an official plane of the Republic of Nigeria The outgoing president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, took seat Monday with 17h00 local and GMT on board an official plane of the federal Republic of Nigeria which must lead it in exile, noted a journalist of the AFP to the airport of Monrovia. Two girls of Mr. Taylor as his old carries word, VAnii Passewe, also took seat aboard Boeing. Mr. Passaweh indicated to the AFP that it had been appointed assistant ambassador of Liberia with Abuja and that it would leave on the same aircraft as...

Does anyone know if Taylor has gone or not?

Charles Taylor, Liberia's President, began his last full day in office today before his promised resignation under US pressure to try to end 14 years of strife that have spewed chaos into West Africa. The latest bout of bloodshed between Taylor's forces and rebels has left at least 2000 dead in the capital Monrovia since June and stranded hundreds of thousands without homes or enough food. Since Taylor began a war to end a brutal dictatorship in 1989, the country founded in hope by freed 19th century American slaves has become a byword for anarchy. At least a quarter of...

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) - West African peacekeeping forces drove into Liberia's rebel-besieged, famished capital on Thursday to deafening cheers from the city's people. The triumphant arrival came as President Charles Taylor announced his successor - a step toward his much-anticipated resignation and toward ending two months of bloody warfare in Monrovia that has killed at least 1,000 people. In a letter to Congress, Taylor said he would hand power to his vice president, Moses Blah. Lawmakers approved the decision, paving the way for Taylor's stepping down Monday, as promised. Blah said Taylor called him Thursday morning to tell him the...

CRAWFORD, Texas Aug. 5 — President Bush has authorized a small contingent of U.S. troops to enter Liberia to provide logistical support for West African peacekeeping forces in the war-ravaged country, a senior administration official said Tuesday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Bush approved the contingent of six-10 U.S. troops Tuesday morning, at his ranch. The troops could enter Liberia as early as Wednesday, the official said, and the team could grow to as large as 20 in coming days. A defense official in Washington, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the deployment, but...

U.S. Marines may soon go ashore in Liberia. A senior government official, who doesn't want to be identified, said there is a probability that Marines will be sent in to assist. They are currently on warships off the Liberian coast. Peacekeepers from other African countries began arriving in Liberia Monday and are setting up defenses at the main airport. Officers said they won't move into Monrovia until more troops arrive. Liberian President Charles Taylor has promised to step down, but only when enough peacekeepers arrive, and after a war crimes indictment against him is dropped. Copyright 2003 Associated Press,...

MONROVIA - Liberia's president appears to be backing away from a promise to leave his war-battered country and take up asylum in Nigeria. Charles Taylor agreed to quit his post next Monday in a bid to end fighting between government forces and rebel groups. But on Tuesday, a Nigerian official said Taylor is now demanding that a war crimes court in neighbouring Sierra Leone drop charges against him before he leaves the country. Taylor's latest demand comes just a day after the first contingent of West African troops arrived in Liberia to oversee his departure. Nigerian soldiers arrived by...

MONROVIA (Reuters) - West African peacekeepers swooped into Liberia by helicopter on Monday, as hundreds of war-weary Liberians danced for joy in the capital's ruined streets on hopes of an end to 14 years of bloodshed. Nigerian soldiers in flak jackets and helmets leapt out into driving rain at the international airport near the war-battered capital Monrovia, as hundreds of Liberians welcomed them with cheers and chants of "No more war, we want peace." In Rome, the leader of the main rebel group, LURD, which controls Monrovia's vital port, said his fighters would withdraw once the Nigerians moved in....

The United Nations special envoy to Liberia has warned that if the country's President, Charles Taylor, delays his departure too long he could lose the chance of escaping into exile. "He's been provided a safe haven in Nigeria, but I'm afraid if he plays around too long that he may very well lose that opportunity as well," Jacques Klein said in a BBC interview. "He's a psychopathic killer so we don't know when he's going to resign or what he's going to do," Mr Klein told the World This Weekend programme. Mr Taylor has said he will step down...

MONROVIA, Aug 3 (AFP) - The soldiers approach at a run, supporting a wounded comrade. Bullets whistle around them, smash into the ground, explode on the guard rail of the bridge. The men send off a rapid volley of covering fire. They get the wounded man into the back of a jeep and there he dies in the arms of a comrade who bellows his grief and anger. An officer arrives, revolver in his hand. "You are fighting for Charles Taylor; don't cry like a woman, you know why you are in battle. Back to the front! Back to...

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- Pressured by West African leaders, President Charles Taylor promised Saturday to resign Aug. 11 after the expected arrival of peacekeepers, as his forces stepped up their battle against rebels for Monrovia's port. As fighting surged in the city outside, Taylor told reporters at his lavish Atlantic Ocean mansion that he would hand over power during a joint session of Liberia's congress next week. Taylor said he would step down the morning of Aug. 11 and "and the new guy will have to be sworn in." But he refused to say when he would leave Liberia,...

West African leaders pledged on Thursday to send the Nigerian vanguard of a multinational peacekeeping force into war-torn Liberia by Monday at the latest. President Charles Taylor would step down and leave the country three days later, they said in a communique at the end of a hastily convened ECOWAS summit in the Ghanaian capital Accra. Heavy fighting broke out again in the Liberian capital Monrovia within an hour of the announcement. Eyewitnesses said the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development (LURD) rebel movement captured the northern suburb of Gardnersville sending thousands of panicking civilians rushing towards the eastern suburb...

State Department-AP -- The US has drafted a United Nations resolution that would authorize a peacekeeping force for Liberia. The State Department spokesman says the US is circulating this draft to other UN members today. Richard Boucher says no date has been set for a vote yet, but the US hopes action would be taken "rather quickly." He says the main point is to get the fighting to stop, have a cease-fire take effect and have peacekeepers move into Liberia. Boucher says the resolution refers to deployments from West African states. Six African countries have promised a total of...

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- President Charles Taylor is reconsidering his pledge to cede power, seeing it as only encouraging rebel attacks, his spokesman said Tuesday. The president has been angered by the rebel capture of Buchanan, the nation's second-largest city, on Monday. "We are of a different opinion now in the government about the validity of the overtures of the president to step down,'' spokesman Vaanii Paasawe said in Liberia, the capital. The statement marked a change in tone by Taylor, who has repeatedly pledged to resign even though he then hedged or reneged outright on his promises. Most...

UN special representative to Liberia says country is 'basically destroyed' UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Liberia is "basically destroyed" and its only hope is for the world to quickly send more money and soldiers to stop the killing, the UN special representative to the West African country said Thursday. Jacques Klein, an American, welcomed news Nigeria plans to send the first troops of a multinational force but expressed doubt they could arrive within the promised seven days. Klein also welcomed the U.S. decision to provide $10 million to help the peacekeeping force deploy and urged the United States to play...

LAGOS, Nigeria - Prince Johnson gained notoriety in 1990 for gruesome video footage that showed him swigging beer and ordering his fighters to torture Liberia's toppled president, Samuel Doe. Johnson is now an evangelical preacher in Nigeria, and one of several exiled faction leaders from Liberia's 1989-96 civil war looking to return to politics in Liberia when — and if — President Charles Taylor, a former warlord himself, leaves power at last. Like Johnson, their pasts are tainted from years of civil war in Liberia that saw horrendous acts of cruelty, but they all pledge to restore democracy and bring...

BERN: Authorities in Switzerland said Wednesday they had frozen 2 million Swiss francs ($1.47 million) in bank accounts linked to Liberian President Charles Taylor. The Justice Ministry said the accounts, held in Zurich and Geneva, belonged to two individuals associated with Taylor. As it customary in Switzerland, it did not identify the account holders or the banks concerned. ``No accounts held directly by President Taylor have been found,'' the ministry added. The ministry last month ordered Swiss banks to block and report any assets believed to be connected to Taylor. The move followed a request from a court in neighboring...

MONROVIA, Liberia - Rebels took control of a key bridge at Liberia's capital Wednesday in fighting that shattered a day-old cease-fire pledge, sending thousands of families fleeing in a city desperately short of food, water and shelter. Separately, West African foreign ministers meeting in Dakar, Senegal promised to deploy two Nigerian battalions to Liberia within days - vanguard of what ministers said should be a 3,250-strong international force to bring peace to the devastated nation. Explosions boomed in the capital, Monrovia, on Wednesday, one day after rebel leaders announced a unilateral cease-fire. "This morning we're still under attack," Defense...

The LURD ordered to its men to stop the offensive on Monrovia The rebellion of the LURD (Bast plain for the reconciliation and the democracy) ordered to its men to stop their new offensive on Monrovia, declared Tuesday with the AFP its representative with the inter-bast peace talks in Ghana, Kabineh Ja' neh. This order already was given here 48 hours and was renewed by the leader of the LURD, Sékou Damate Conneh, but "with each time our men try to leave or operate a tactical fold, the honest forces with president Charles Taylor open fire, which complicates much...

Liberia: the LURD wants to take "the total control of Monrovia", according to its head The head of the bast rebels of the LURD, Sékou Damate Conneh, has affirmed with the AFP by telephone Monday evening that its movement did not have an other choice only to take the "total control" of Monrovia, where of violent one engagements oppose the rebels to the combatants of president Charles Taylor for three days. "what we must do is to take the control of Monrovia completely. It is not necessary that that takes too much time because too many people suffer ",...

The American embassy in Monrovia touched by a shell, not of victim The embassy from the United States in Monrovia was touched Monday at the beginning of afternoon by a shell, which did not make victims, noted a journalist of the AFP. "the American embassy was touched level of a building sheltering a deposit, it did not have a victim in this attack there", confirmed a military spokesman of the embassy, the lieutenant commander Terrence Dudley. Another shell touched a building close to the American diplomatic mission accomodating bast agents of safety working for the embassy and one of...

The rebels bombard the district of the embassies in Monrovia The rebels of the LURD (Bast plain for the reconciliation and the democracy), which continued Sunday evening their offensive on Monrovia, started to bombard the district of Mamba Point, where the buildings of the embassies and the humane organizations are located, noted a journalist of the AFP. The rebels of the LURD tried Sunday to take the control of the bridges Gabriel Tucker and Old Bridge, which give access to the heart of the city, and several mortar shells as from the rockets had already fallen Saturday evening on...

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- Rebels battling to oust President Charles Taylor pushed into the capital Saturday, as thousands of civilians and government soldiers fled the assault. Using heavy machine gun and mortar fire, rebels crossed the bridge marking the boundary of Monrovia, said Liberia's military chief Gen. Benjamin Yeaten -- the third time in the recent fighting that rebels made it into the city. At the end of June, rebels retreated after government retaliation and international pressure. Insurgents appeared to be heading toward Monrovia's port, said residents of the Duala neighborhood, a largely commercial area where rebel troops have...

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- Thousands of panicked residents streamed toward Monrovia's city center Saturday, fleeing explosions that shook the Liberian capital's northwest edge. Sources said the fighting had reached Iron Gate Junction, less than 3 miles from the city. People grabbed bags and were seen running downtown in long columns as far as the eye could see. Some had bundles of clothes and rolled-up matresses balanced on their heads. Others pushed wheelbarrows. One resident was seen fleeing with a chair on his head. "The sounds are terrifying. We want to move, but besides not knowing where it's safe to...