Free Republic

Barack Obama will stop at nothing to get elected president. The truth about his prayer at the Western Wall has finally been revealed. It was nothing more than a planned political stunt by his campaign. If his “private” prayer is to be “discovered,” should it not be about something other than “me, myself, and I“? The Israel Insider has the news story. http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/13021.htm “What initially seemed to be a journalistic scoop of dubious moral propriety now seems to be a case of an Israeli paper being played by the Barack Obama campaign. Maariv, the second most popular newspaper in Israel,...

The yeshiva student who pried Barack Obama's prayer note from the Western Wall has apologized. US Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama places a note in the Western Wall on Thursday. Photo: AP Slideshow: Obama in Israel Identified only by the first initial of his name, Aleph, and with his face obscured, the student went on Channel 2 television Sunday to confess that he took the presidential contender's note last week and passed it to the press. . . . "I'm sorry. It was a kind of prank," Aleph said, his hands shaking as he fingered the tightly wadded-up sheet...

The Berlin Wall had a 29-year history when it finally fell in November 1989 to scenes of unprecedented jubilation in the then divided city. Now, close to 19 years later, it seems not all Berliners are happy about the wall being consigned to the dustbin of history. Every ninth Berliner would prefer the barrier, which used to divide and encircle the city, was still in place, according to a survey carried out on behalf of Berlin's Free University (FU). Professor Oskar Niedermayer, 56, teaching political science at the FU, says that of the 2,000 citizens in Berlin and the surrounding...

Investors this summer have been placing their bets on an Obama presidency, and for the most part that hasn't been good for the market. Without giving him a chance to explain himself in detail on the campaign trail or at the Democratic National Convention, they are voting with their shares by tossing financial, health insurance, manufacturing and high-dividend stocks into the ash can, and are growing skeptical about energy companies as well. It's not that major institutional investors don't like the man -- far from it. He has many backers among the financial elite, including multibillionaires George Soros and Ron...

EDINBURG -- Hundreds of people chanting "No border wall" marched to the Hidalgo County Courthouse on Saturday evening seeking to persuade local politicians to abandon their support for the planned barrier. Protesters specifically targeted Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas and other county officials for linking the building of the wall to the repair of the county's deteriorating levee system. Salinas has consistently said he opposes the border wall. But when it began to seem the barrier's construction was inevitable, he and other officials started lobbying the federal government to combine the project with levee repairs to better leverage federal money...

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On June 12, the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall will arrive and be assembled in McDonough for our county and surrounding areas to come seek and find the names of loved ones lost during the Vietnam War. Even if you did not lose someone during that war, the memorial still stands as a silent tribute to the 58,256 men and women who gave their lives during the conflict. The actual Wall is located in Washington, D.C. and is made of two reflective black granite walls, each 246 feet, nine inches long. At the highest point, the wall is over ten...

This is why we keep close watch on Congress.  In a bipartisan effort accomplished quickly and virtually under the table, Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) -- in Senate Appropriations markup of the War Supplemental bill -- obtained approval of an amendment that would create an amnesty for illegal alien farm workers.  The measure, called the Emergency Agriculture Relief Act, was added to the War Supplemental bill in a 17-12 vote last Thursday. Known as the AgJob amendment, the Feinstein-Craig measure revived instantaneously the controversy that caused conservatives to lash out at the White House and Congress last summer. ...

Bank of America Corp , the second-largest U.S. bank, on Monday said quarterly profit fell 77 percent, hurt by more than $5 billion of write-downs and credit-related costs as more borrowers fell behind on payments. First-quarter net income fell to $1.21 billion, or 23 cents per share, from $5.26 billion, or $1.16, a year earlier. Excluding merger costs, profit was 26 cents per share, below the average analyst forecast of 45 cents, according to Reuters Estimates. Results included a $776 million gain from credit card network Visa Inc's initial public offering last month. Net revenue dropped 6 percent to $17...

Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division and Multi-National Division - Baghdad, presents an impact Bronze Star Medal to Sgt. Shawn Griffith, a native of Richwood, W.Va. Griffith, who serves with 769th Engineer Battalion, 35th Engineer Brigade, was one of six of the battalion's Soldiers recognized for their hard work and dedication in installing approximately 130,000-square feet of rocket-propelled grenade fencing and sniper-screen material over a 1,200 foot distance, with heights measuring up to 40 feet, at Joint Security Station Ur in the Sadr City District of Baghdad to veil the aerostat and its docking...

Build the U.S. Border Fence Now! Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and the Bush administration are deservedly under assault for not keeping their promises. After a long public outcry over promises broken, the government says they have agreed to construct a border fence. But this is Washington, promises aren't meant to actually be honored. Chertoff and the Bush administration are creating needless public controversy about the fence over what must be done to and with the land, and they are exploiting a backdoor Democrat Party and Open Borders Lobby effort that provides a smoke screen for the feds to...

Egypt walls up Gaza border By ASHRAF SWEILAM ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER RAFAH, Egypt -- Egypt is building a 13-foot high concrete and rock wall interspersed with watch towers along its narrow boundary with the Gaza Strip to prevent Hamas militants from breaching the border, an official said Thursday. The wall, set back nearly 35 feet from an existing metal barrier, has guard towers every 100 yards. With it, Egypt hopes to prevent any future breaches like one in January when Palestinians broke through to escape an Israeli blockade, a security official said on customary condition of anonymity. On Jan. 23,...

El-ARISH, Egypt -- Egypt is building a 10-foot-high concrete wall along its border with Gaza to prevent any new breaches after Palestinian militants blasted through the barrier in January to escape a blockade of their territory, an official said. The new wall replaces a mixed barbed-wire, iron and concrete barrier which was breached in several places when militants blew it open with explosives, added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the media. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded across the open border unchecked for 12 days before Egypt managed to...

Excavations In Iran Unravel Mystery Of 'Red Snake' ScienceDaily (Feb. 18, 2008) — New discoveries unearthed at an ancient frontier wall in Iran provide compelling evidence that the Persians matched the Romans for military might and engineering prowess. The 'Great Wall of Gorgan'in north-eastern Iran, a barrier of awesome scale and sophistication, including over 30 military forts, an aqueduct, and water channels along its route, is being explored by an international team of archaeologists from Iran and the Universities of Edinburgh and Durham. This vast Wall-also known as the 'Red Snake'-is more than 1000 years older than the Great Wall...

A proposed wall or fence between Mexico and the United States has finally gotten very close to home for many local and regional landowners along the Rio Grande. No one—not even the government—has asked them what they think about the idea or what impacts such a barrier might have on their agricultural operations. The corridor is largely ranchland, and the owners are not happy, but neither are other agribusinesses.

As tens of thousands of Palestinians clambered back and forth between the Gaza strip and Egypt today, details emerged of the audacious operation that brought down a hated border wall and handed the Islamist group Hamas what might be its greatest propaganda coup. Hamas, which took control of the coastal territory last June after a stand-off with Fatah, has denied that its men set off the explosions that brought down as much as two-thirds of the 12-km wall in the early hours. But a Hamas border guard interviewed by The Times at the border today admitted that the Islamist group...

I dare you all to listen without a tear....

Elusive biblical Jerusalem wall finally found, Israeli archaeologist says The Associated PressPublished: November 29, 2007 JERUSALEM: A biblical wall that has eluded archaeologists for years has finally been found, according to an Israeli scholar. A team of archaeologists in Jerusalem has uncovered what they believe to be part of a wall mentioned in the Bible's Book of Nehemiah. The discovery, made in Jerusalem's ancient City of David, came as a result of a rescue attempt on a tower which was in danger of collapse, said Eilat Mazar, head of the Institute of Archaeology at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem-based research...

McALLEN — To reduce illegal immigration from Mexico, federal officials need to build more bridges across the border — not fences — said Tamaulipas Gov. Eugenio Hernandez on Wednesday. “In Tamaulipas, we have many bridges with Texas and we are building more,” Hernandez said during an address to about 120 people during a Texas Border Coalition luncheon at the McAllen Convention Center. “But just as important as these physical bridges are the economic, political and cultural bridges that we are given.” Hernandez talked about how during the 1980s, Spain’s economy lagged behind other Western European countries and many people attempted...

'Oldest' wall painting looks like modern art By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 6:56pm BST 11/10/2007 French archaeologists have discovered an 11,000-year-old work of art in northern Syria which is the oldest known wall painting, even though it looks like a work by a modernist. The painting resembles the work of Paul Klee The two square-metre painting, in red, black and white, was found at the Neolithic settlement of Djade al-Mughara on the Euphrates, northeast of the city of Aleppo. "It looks like a modernist painting," said Eric Coqueugniot, the team leader. "Some of those who saw it have...

Countries throughout the world should embrace globalization and explore new ideas on how to overcome challenges including security, poverty and environmental damage, Mikhail Gorbachev told more than 1,000 people at the University of Texas-Pan American on Tuesday. “Everything will hinge on how we use globalization,” he said through an interpreter. The Nobel laureate and former Soviet leader’s speech began the university’s Distinguished Speakers series for the 2007-08 school year. Gorbachev, who led the Soviet Union from 1985 until its collapse in 1991, has visited various places throughout the United States in the past couple of weeks, including New Orleans, where...

Here is Rep Carter's Resolution Draft: 110TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. Condemning the actions of September 7, 2007, resulting in damage to the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. CARTER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on ...... RESOLUTION Condemning the actions of September 7, 2007, resulting in damage to the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial. Whereas the Vietnam Veterans Memorial serves as a memorial to the 2,700,000 men and women in the United States Armed Forces who served in the designated war zone during the Vietnam Era; Whereas 58,256 men and...

Sometime during the evening hours of September 8th, 2007, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. was defaced with a petroleum based acid liquid. The liberal media barely mentioned this outrageous vandalism. Most avoided the news completely. Not one Senator or Congressman has stood-up and demanded better security for the memory of these 58,249 killed during the Democrat war in Vietnam. Could it be guilt over their deaths, or guilt that a left-wing Democrat group organized this despicable act at yet another time in history when Democrats consider United States Military personnel little more than "Nazi storm troopers"? (quote...

Pali Dictionary (2007)   The guide to the Arab Muslim 'Palestinian' propagandist    A security 'check point' (the one you have in the airports that effects all Israelis too) = "oppression".   Arrests of terrorists = "subjugation".   Equal rights, equal treatment, freedom for all & democracy = "apartheid".   Terror camps = "refugee camps".   Terror attacks aiming at the unarmed innocent civilians = "freedom fighting".   Cowards hiding among civilians = "fighters".   Reluctance to shoot at terrorists surrounded by civilians = "weak Zionists".   Use of human shields = "heroism".   Unintended deaths of human shields = "victims...

Israeli Court: Israel must re-route barrier http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070904/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_barrier_9 By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer 11 minutes ago BILIN, West Bank - In an embarrassing blow to Israel, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the state to redraw the route of its West Bank separation barrier near a Palestinian village that has come to symbolize opposition to the enclosure. ADVERTISEMENT Residents of the village of Bilin went to court arguing that the current route, built on village land, kept them from their fields and orchards, which remained on the other side of the barrier. Villagers and their Israeli and foreign supporters have...

High Court Gives Go Ahead to Separation Fence in N. Judea by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz (IsraelNN.com) The High Court of Justice on Thursday rejected a petition against continued construction The IDF agreed to cut the fence's protective shoulders by 50%. of the separation barrier in Gush Etzion, in northern Judea, after the IDF agreed to cut the fence's protective shoulders by 50%. Residents of the Palestinian Authority who appealed against the fence claimed that it was being built on their expropriated farm lands. "We are satisfied that, under the circumstances, the balance struck by the military commander between the needs of...

'Israel is a free society." This is a claim Israeli governments are proud to make. It's true too - most of the time. However on one issue this country seems to lack respect for individual freedom which would be deemed unacceptable in Europe and which even surpasses some of her neighbors' attitudes. That is that when it comes to dealing with enemy states, anybody tainted by even the most fleeting association with them is treated at customs like a guilty man. That, at least, has been my experience. I went to Lebanon for the first two weeks of June to...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Construction on a border wall in southern Texas is expected to begin by this autumn, despite strong local opposition, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in an interview published on Thursday. Chertoff told the Houston Chronicle the federal government "can't rule out" using powers of eminent domain to seize land for the wall that is intended to stem the flow of illegal immigrants entering the United States from Mexico. In heavily Hispanic southern Texas, where cultural and economic ties to Mexico run deep, local officials, business groups and environmentalists have spoken out against the wall as...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Federal officials confirmed today that they'll remove a vehicle barrier placed on the wrong side of the US-Mexico border. A US Customs and Border Protection spokesman says the fence will be rebuilt on the right side of the border. Joint Task Force North from Fort Bliss, Texas built the barrier is 17 miles west of Columbus, New Mexico. But it encroaches into Mexico territory by from one and six feet along a 1.5-mile stretch. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Michael Friel says the US government didn't intentionally erect the five-foot-tall barrier in Mexico. But an aerial...

The audacity of this administration and this congress has my blood boiling. How they can continue this Kabuki Dance is beyond comprehension.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., center, chats with with Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., right, Los Angeles radio host Eddie 'El Piolin' Sotelo, left, and others, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 14, 2007, prior to a news conference on immigration reform. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)****  Eddie Sotelo is a big Spanish radio personality. He's been rallying illegal aliens and was one himself until he got his "status adjusted"

A sign that democracy works: Chambliss and Isakson were at the press conference announcing the Senate Grand Compromise, but now they are singing a different tune. Here's the entire release: WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today sent a letter to President Bush urging him to send an emergency supplemental spending bill to Congress to fund border security. Chambliss and Isakson believe emergency supplemental funds to secure the border will go a long way towards restoring the confidence of the American people in the federal government’s commitment to border security. The text of the letter...

Concrete Barriers Safeguard Adhamiyah Residents in Baghdad Temporary walls keep out vehicle-borne explosives By 2nd Brigade Combat Team 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs BAGHDAD, June 6, 2007 — The thick chains attaching the “T-Wall� barrier to the crane shuddered as the slab of heavy concrete was lifted into the air. The crane operator worked his control stick, first swinging the barrier through the air, and then slowly lowering it into place.As the 14,000 pounds of concrete settled onto the ground with a grinding crunch, the project to secure a neighborhood in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah District behind miles of protective barriers...

To prevent infiltration from the Pakistan border, Indian authorities are extending barbed wire fencing along the border deep inside the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. This region falls in the periphery of Rann of Kutch in Gujarat -- a marshy, barren and treacherous terrain extending for several kms where one would hardly find a blade of grass. The barbed wire fencing is being extended so that no portion of the Indo-Pak border remains easy for intrusion. Just across the barbed wire fencing, one can see the white border pillars from where the Pakistani territory begins. The entire Rann of Kutch...

He has never called for the deportation of all illegal immigrants, but Lou Dobbs believes the U.S. could pull off such a feat if it really wanted to. The CNN anchor, whose stance against illegal immigration has helped raise his ratings but also fueled criticism, speaks to Lesley Stahl for a profile to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, May 6 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Dobbs is against amnesty programs for illegal immigrants and the president's guest worker proposal, so Stahl wonders whether Dobbs thinks the government could deport all illegal immigrants. "I've never called for...

The New York Times is always ready and willing to serve as lead public relations staffers for the open-borders movement. On May Day, the day of mass illegal alien protests across the country, the paper saw fit to print a front-page sob story decrying rising illegal alien deportations. "Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, facing intense political pressure to toughen enforcement [read: do their jobs], removed 221,664 illegal immigrants from the country over the last year," the Times reported ominously. That's "an increase of more than 37,000 -- about 20 percent -- over the year before, according to the agency's tally."...

Work is under way on the construction of a security wall that will surround a parking lot used by Cameron County state district judges and the district attorney. County workers on Monday used a backhoe to break up the concrete in the parking lot at the Cameron County Courthouse on Harrison Street as they readied it for rebar. The construction will take from 60 to 90 days depending on the weather, said County Administrator Pete Sepulveda Jr. Although the estimated cost of the wall is $240,000, Sepulveda anticipates it will be “much less than that” because the work is being...

Those who doubt the necessity of building a wall on our southern border should reconsider after realizing these startling facts — immigration-related felony cases are swamping federal courts along the southwest border. Judges in the five, mostly rural judicial districts on the border, have the heaviest felony caseloads in the nation. Defendants have not been charged with illegally crossing the border, but are accused of felonies committed on American land. According to The Associated Press, each judge in New Mexico, which ranked first in caseloads, handled an average of 397 felony cases last year, compared with the national average of...

Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Sam Brownback said yesterday he no longer supports the immigration overhaul bill that he helped pass in the Senate. "I would not vote for the same bill," Mr. Brownback told reporters yesterday morning, saying that after the bill passed the Senate he had a chance to study its effects and decided it led to too much immigration. It's a major reversal for a man who is listed as one of seven original sponsors of the bill, along with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, and Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, who spearheaded the bill... He said...

...the explosive growth of the U.S. Hispanic population over the next couple of decades does not bode well for American social stability. The dimensions of the Hispanic baby boom are startling. By 2050 the Latin population will have tripled, the Census Bureau projects. It's the fertility surge among unwed Hispanics that should worry policymakers. Hispanic women have the highest unmarried birthrate in the country - over three times that of whites and Asians, and nearly one and a half times that of black women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Social workers in Southern California... are in...

EL PASO, Texas -- For all the tough talk in Washington on immigration, illegal aliens caught along the Mexican border have almost no reason to fear they will be prosecuted. Ninety-eight percent of those arrested between Oct. 1, 2000, and Sept. 30, 2005, were never prosecuted for illegally entering the country, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data. Those 5.2 million aliens were simply escorted back across the Rio Grande and turned loose. Many presumably tried to slip into the United States again.

BISBEE — After nearly two years of declining numbers, illegal border-crossings took a sudden jump last month in Cochise County, law enforcement officials say. Gustavo Soto, a spokesman for the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, said agents at the Naco, Douglas and Willcox stations apprehended just over 13,000 illegal immigrants last month, a 30 percent increase over March 2006. Prior to the spike, Border Patrol apprehensions in the county had been down 13 percent since the current fiscal year began on Oct. 1. That decline followed a 45 percent drop during the previous year. Sgt. Taron Maddux, spokesman for the Bisbee...

SAN DIEGO -- More than one-third of 18,000 people arrested in a nearly yearlong federal crackdown on illegal immigrants were not the people authorities targeted, according to government figures. The so-called "collateral arrests" involved people picked up by immigration agents while seeking fugitives such as drug smugglers, thieves, drunken drivers and others who flouted deportation orders. When tracking down fugitives, authorities visit a suspect's last known address and often find other immigrants, who are then asked to prove they are legally entitled to live in the United States. Supporters of such tactics say the government is just doing its job...

Organizers expect several thousand people at an immigrant rights rally on Saturday, saying many illegal immigrants are angry about a White House plan that would grant them work visas but require them to return home and pay hefty fines to become legal U.S. residents. Immigrant rights advocates say many of the area's illegal immigrants feel betrayed by President Bush, who they had long considered an ally. "People are really upset," said Juan Jose Gutierrez, president of Los Angeles-based Latino Movement USA, one of several organizers of Saturday's rally. "For years, the president spoke in no uncertain terms about supporting immigration...

Family shares dream Scholarship to help students study veterinary science By John Finnerty The Daily Item March 31, 2007 MILTON — Carly Snyder had hoped to pursue a career in animal sciences, but abandoned that dream because she was daunted by the years of higher education required, her mother Alice Snyder said Friday. The 20-year-old Milton woman was an animal lover who had an Appaloosa horse named Tizzy when she was younger. And had owned both a chocolate Labrador retriever and a Rottweiler. Now, almost two years after Ms. Snyder was slain in her home by an illegal alien who...

Velazquez-Nava, 24, had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit when the crash occurred early Wednesday on Pacific Coast Highway, police said. He is a native of Mexico who federal authorities said was in the U.S. illegally. The crash killed Clark, the director of "A Christmas Story" and the "Porky's" movies, and his son Ariel, 22. Velazquez-Nava suffered minor injuries in the accident.

A Mexican national accused of causing the crash that killed ”A Christmas Story” director Bob Clark and his son will face deportation proceedings once the charges against him are resolved, officials said Thursday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement put an immigration hold Wednesday on Hector Velazquez-Nava, a 24-year-old illegal immigrant living in Los Angeles, said agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice. The action means Velazquez-Nava will be turned over to federal immigration officials and placed in deportation proceedings once his local case is completed. He was arrested for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol and gross vehicular manslaughter, and was...

An illegal alien suspected of causing a traffic accident and killing movie director Bob Clark, whose "A Christmas Story" has come alongside "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street" as a perennial holiday must-watch, has been placed under an immigration hold by federal authorities. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency placed the hold on Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24, a Mexican national who was living in Los Angeles as an illegal immigrant, according to a report from Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee.Agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the hold means Valezquez-Nava, when his Los Angeles court proceedings are...

Illegal Immigration: For one-tenth the cost of the pork added to the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill, we could complete a border fence that would benefit the U.S. and Mexico. Hey, Congress, can you spare an earmark? Last fall, when President Bush signed legislation authorizing the construction of a 700-mile border fence, we voiced concern it may never be built. And when the Democrats took control of Congress, our concern grew.

A US woman weighing 318 kilograms has been rescued from her second-storey bathroom by firefighters, who cut away part of an exterior wall and removed a window before lowering her to the ground.