Free Republic

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2006 – Anti-insurgent efforts in the Iraqi city of Ramadi are beginning to bear fruit, a senior U.S. military officer said today. "We're in a transition point in the fight for Ramadi. There's still a lot to do, but we're on the right track," Army Col. Sean B. MacFarland said from his headquarters in Ramadi during a satellite teleconference with Pentagon reporters. MacFarland is the commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division. The 1st Brigade assists Iraqi soldiers and police in defeating insurgents within the unit's area of operations, he said. Ramadi is the...

Hollywood stars and business moguls alike are paying retired jurists to quietly handle their civil disputes outside the glare of public courthouses, a practice some warn is creating a secret justice system for the rich and famous. Under California law, the parties to a lawsuit can agree to hire a private judge who, unlike those paid to act as mediators or arbitrators, issue rulings that can be appealed. Such cases are still subject to the same public access requirements of trials held in court, but often many of them prove difficult to track. Proceedings are held in private offices and...

AMERICA AT THE CROSS ROADS OF HISTORY When the terrorists attacked the United States on September 11th, 2001, it signaled that they were no longer satisfied to only attack US interests outside the United States. It signaled that they felt comfortable enough and were savvy enough to realize that the US is no longer a unified country, ethnically, socially, politically, or spiritually. Some may believe that it never was, and that comes from a lack of knowledge about the country. Of course, there were slaves, mostly black Africans, but there were also white slaves who bought passage to the New...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - More than a dozen dairies in California are building contraptions to turn one of their least-valued products - the gases that rise from decomposing manure - into one of the state's most sought-after commodities - energy. The state's 1.72 million dairy cows, clustered heavily in the Central Valley, have made California the country's top dairy state. Their milk and cream sell for more than $4 billion a year, and the industry brings jobs and tax revenue to counties with double-digit unemployment. But according to air officials, the state's cows also contribute about 10 percent of the...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado ? The dream of interplanetary exploration is alive again, but crawling out of the gravity well of skepticism and cynicism is as challenging as landing humans on other worlds, it seems. Sean O?Keefe, NASA Administrator, called upon the public, the Congress, and the aerospace community today to back a broader space exploration agenda. The tragic loss of the crew of space shuttle Columbia last year sparked a reappraisal of NASA?s exploration goals. Those long-range objectives of the exploring the Moon, Mars and beyond with both robots and humans can be sustainable and affordable -- a message...

Has the nation's television audience burned out on serious news? American soldiers are dying in Iraq almost daily; questions continue to swirl around the Bush administration's case for the invasion there in March; and U.S. Marines are poised off the coast of Liberia. At home, decisions by the Supreme Court prompted national debates on affirmative action and gay rights; a basketball star stands accused of sexual assault; and the California governorship hangs in the balance. And yet, television news viewers are tuning out. The total evening news audience on the broadcast networks has been lower this summer than it was...

<p>SAN JOSE, Calif. - Americans are turning to the Internet in record numbers for news and opinion, underscoring in new ways the Web's powerful, global reach as the U.S prepares for war.</p> <p>By the millions, they are going online to get up-to-the minute news, read reports in the foreign and alternative press, and check out so-called "warblogs," electronic diaries pushing myriad views on the conflict with Iraq.</p>