Free Republic

As everyone knows and remembers, tomorrow is 9-11. for the past 8 years (almost), we have been safe and free from a heinous attack on the scale of 9-11 or worse. Every year around this time, though, most did not worry of another attack because of the safety measures and the two fronts of the WOT. I was one of those people for the last 4 or so years. But, recently I have had a bad feeling, almost a premonition, that something may occur, what, where, and when, I don't know, around this time. I don't want to frighten anyone,...

Somalis wary of 'Bin Laden' tape Bin Laden was giving an opinion, the Somali leader said The powerful Islamist movement in Somalia has distanced itself from comments about Somalia attributed to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. An internet audio recording warned the West not to send troops to Somalia. But a leader of the Union of Islamic Courts, which has taken control of the capital, Mogadishu, said they did not rely on any outside group. The US has accused one Islamic leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, of links to al-Qaeda and involvement with terror. Mr Aweys denies the US allegations,...

The organization for truckers serving California harbors supports a Bush administration plan to check the backgrounds of port workers as long as it doesn't interfere with their livelihood, an official said Tuesday. However, a longshore union official called the plan "harassment." The government envisions looking into the backgrounds of hundreds of thousands of workers in the most sensitive areas of the nation's ports, and also issuing tamper-proof identification cards. Stephanie Williams, vice president of the California Trucking Association, said she supported background checks if they are quick and don't interfere with the work of the nearly 12,000 truckers at the...

Farmers wary of Mugabe land offer By David Blair in Johannesburg (Filed: 10/02/2006) By the time Vernon Nicolle lost his farm in Zimbabwe to a High Court judge, all his equipment had been looted and an irrigation system for 4,000 acres lay in ruins. His fertile fields were reduced to neglected wastelands. The disclosure that president Robert Mugabe's regime will give some dispossessed white farmers back their land fills him with suspicion and incredulity. "I had a gem in Zimbabwe, a real gem, and it's all been vandalised," Mr Nicolle said. "I find it very difficult to even consider going...

JUNEAU, Alaska - The tiny north coast town of Kaktovik officially supports responsible development of oil and gas. But many reacted warily to the Senate vote to allow drilling in their back yard. Even with just 284 residents, Kaktovik is the largest town on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's coastal plain. Mayor Lon Sonsalla said just about everyone has concerns about changes that could accompany any work in the 1.5 million-acre stretch, where billions of barrels of crude oil are believed to rest beneath the tundra. "We are now given notice that we have to be on our toes," said...

In a sign of California's uneven economic recovery and changing political landscape, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's vow this week that higher taxes are "out of the question" barely raised a peep in a state with a $9.1 billion deficit. With the exception of state Treasurer Phil Angelides, Democrats for now have dropped earlier calls for higher taxes to fix the budget. Instead, the Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, reacted to Schwarzenegger's budget proposal by talking about closing corporate tax loopholes and getting more federal dollars from Washington. "You don't see us saying we're going to raise taxes," said...

Wavering Voters Anti-Iraq, Wary of Kerry 12 minutes ago By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer WASHINGTON - In an election where most voters have already chosen sides, the presidency could be decided by a small slice of America in the mushy middle — wavering voters who are more likely than others to question President Bush's honesty and think the war in Iraq was a mistake. An Associated Press study of 1,329 "persuadable" voters, conducted by Knowledge Networks in advance of the presidential debates, suggests these people are deeply conflicted about change in the White House. While they have problems with...

<p>Bay Area nonprofits and anti-war leaders are fuming about what they see as an attempt by the Justice Department to clamp down on peaceful dissent by filing criminal charges against a group for the nonviolent actions of its followers.</p> <p>Local activists are closely watching a case winding through the federal courts in Miami. There, a federal prosecutor has dusted off a 19th century law designed to prevent bar owners from luring sailors ashore with booze and prostitutes to file charges against Greenpeace in connection with an April 2002 case in which two activists tried to hang an anti-President Bush banner on a container ship headed into port.</p>

UN remains wary of Iraq's claim on anthrax stocks By Kim Sengupta in Baghdad 04 March 2003 Iraq will submit a new report on VX gas and anthrax to the United Nations in the next six days in an attempt to prove that it has destroyed its entire stock of the chemical and biological agents. During what is widely considered to be the endgame of a looming military strike on Iraq by the United States and Britain, the detailed report will play an important part in deciding whether Baghdad is in "material breach" of Security Council resolution 1441. A senior...

American Indians Wary of DNA Tests BY TIM SULLIVAN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Ever since the arrival of white colonists, American Indians have been tapped for their resources -- most recently their genes. And with an eye toward past abuses, some of them are growing wary of geneticists and anthropologists taking their blood, hair or ancestors' bones for research purposes. In Utah, tribes don't have as much experience with these exchanges as in other parts of the Americas, but officials with the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes and the Northwest Band of the Shoshone feel they should be prepared. On...

US wary of Pakistan intelligence services' links to al-Qa'ida By Robert Fisk in Islamabad 21 July 2002 The FBI is becoming almost as distrustful of its Pakistani counterpart as the CIA is of the warlords across the border in Afghanistan. During the trial of journalist Daniel Pearl's murderers – which ended with the conviction of the British public schoolboy Omar Sheikh – one small but disturbing fact never made its way into the headlines: that one of the co-accused was a former Pakistani police officer. The final testimony of the trial – released only yesterday morning – must owe something...