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Focus on development, sustainable growth BEIJING: The 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opened its fifth plenary session here on Saturday to draw a roadmap for the country's social and economic growth in the next five years. The four-day meeting will discuss a suggestion draft made by the CPC Central Committee on the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010). A turning point Judging from the policy measures adopted by the Central Committee over the past few years, the next five-year plan focuses on the implementation of a scientific view of development, humanism and sustainable development. As the first...

CBS Shame: Network Helps BTK Killer By Debbie Schlussel Tonight's CBS TV Movie is a two-hour Lifetime-style waste of time on the BTK killer. Besides being the usual brain-addled damsel-in-distress "movie of the week" crap, this movie is exactly what the BTK killer wanted. BTK wanted fame--even wrote notes to police and the press asking what he needed to do to get noticed, to get more publicity. He craved this notoriety, and tortured and murdered ten innocent women to attain it. By doing this two-hour movie, CBS is playing right into his hands--rewarding this cretin on network prime-time. And making...

In response to a congressional inquiry, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) provided a list of documents detailing the record of political donations by SCOTUS nominee Harriet Miers from 1980 to the present. (It should be noted that the list provided includes two donations recorded by the FEC that do not in fact belong to Ms. Miers). The document provided by the FEC can be linked from the Republican Study Committee (RSC) web site http://johnshadegg.house.gov/RSC/ Page 7 of the document provides Miers' contributions for the 1999-2000 election cycle. On 28 Apr 2000, Miers donated $1,000 to the Bush-Cheney 2000 Compliance Committee,...

John Kerry appears to be in a bit of legal hot water. The Massachusetts senator and last year's Democrat presidential nominee was sued in Philadelphia last week for alleged defamation, conspiracy and interference with contractual relations. The lawsuit's plaintiff is award-winning journalist Carlton Sherwood, who contends his anti-Kerry documentary "Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal" was torpedoed last year by Kerry and other top Dems. The Philadelphia Daily News reported the lawsuit alleges that Kerry, during last year's presidential campaign, directed the Democratic National Committee to label Sherwood as "an extreme right-wing activist." This directive supposedly was given just before...

HADITHA, Iraq - They stormed the insurgent-ridden city of Fallujah, returned home, and now are back in Iraq's most troubled province — all in 10 months time. Some prefer this hectic pace. "I didn't join the Marine Corps just to stand around," said Lance Cpl. Giovanni Perez of Los Angeles. But for others, the demands of the overstretched U.S. military are just too much, regardless of the bonuses being dangled before them to re-enlist. "I get out of the Marine Corps in seven months and I can't wait," Cpl. Daniel Trigg of Olympia, Wash., said while guarding a mosque where...

The American operator of a Web site which posted grisly pictures of people killed in the Iraq and Afghan conflicts was arrested on obscenity charges unrelated to the war photos, police officials in Florida said. The Polk County sheriff's office said Christopher Michael Wilson was arrested on Friday and faces one count of wholesale distribution of obscene material and 300 misdemeanor charges relating to the Web site and pornographic photos. The charges were unrelated to the photos of corpses from Iraq and Afghanistan, which the site states were provided by U.S. troops in exchange for free access to pornographic material....

Islamabad/Srinagar, Oct 9. (PTI) The full magnitude of the devastation caused by Saturday's killer earthquake unfolded on Sunday with death figures in Pakistan being estimated at upto 30,000 while on the Indian side of Kashmir it has crossed 600 and could rise further as rescuers struggled to reach inaccessible areas. POK communication Minister Tariq Mahmmod was quoted as saying that over 30,000 had perished in the region, many of them students. Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao, however, said so far over 19,000 people have lost their lives in the country with PoK accounting for more than 17,000. Describing the tragedy...

AOL News State authorities are investigating allegations New Orleans police officers broke into a dealership and made off with nearly 200 cars - including 41 new Cadillacs - as Hurricane Katrina closed in. "It is a very, very active investigation," Kris Wartelle, spokeswoman for the Louisiana attorney general, said Friday. "We expect developments quickly." Wartelle would not comment on why the officers may have taken the cars or whether they were used in the line of duty. However, the cars may have been taken before the hurricane even roared into town Aug. 29, according to the president and general manager...

The United States recently debated launching military strikes inside Syria against camps used by insurgents operating in neighboring Iraq, a US magazine reported. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice successfully opposed the idea at a meeting of senior American officials held on October 1, Newsweek reported, citing unnamed US government sources. Rice reportedly argued that diplomatic isolation was a more effective approach, with a UN report pending that may blame Syria for the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri. The United States has accused Damascus of allowing insurgents to move arms and fighters across the Syrian border into Iraq...

I decided to end my self-imposed exile from posting due to information that I received this past weekend from ‘a little birdie’ in Washington, which I subsequently had confirmed by another ‘insider’ if you can call him that. You know I won’t tell, so don’t bother asking me for names, links, or further information. I trust these individuals, and have received accurate information from them before and shared it here on Free Republic. Of course, all are free to either accept or reject what I am about to share, but if you know anything about the Dog, I don’t change...

Star wars armed and accurate The US missile defence program, initially written off by sceptics as a waste of money and effort, can already intercept and destroy a North Korean ballistic missile aimed at the US mainland. On a brief visit to Australia, US Missile Defence Agency director Henry Obering said the program already had nine missile interceptors between California and Alaska. The system is mainly being configured to cope with missiles launched from North Korea or the Middle East, but it will ultimately have the ability to cope with missiles from anywhere. Australia is deeply involved in the program...

Dear Network Member, Great news! Below is the latest news coverage about our new web platform from this morning's Sunday Washington Post. If you would like to learn how you can now change your community (or if you are a member of the press and would like to discuss), email me at michael@progressnow.org or call us at 303-991-1900. Thank you for helping us make this a huge success. Sincerely, Michael Huttner Executive Director ProgressNowAction.org ****** Dean Camp's Tactics Applied to Colorado Web Site Aims to Organize Liberal Activists By Brian Faler Special to The Washington Post Sunday, October 9, 2005;...

Anthony Zizos was surprised this week when the University of New Hampshire student government called for condoms to be sold in dorm vending machines. As UNH's assistant vice president for business affairs, one of Zizos' many duties is to oversee the school's vending machine contract and he didn't recall asking vending company Canteen to stop stocking condoms. Until two or three years ago, students were able to walk to the snack machines in their dorms and campus apartments and buy condoms whenever they wanted. But the vending tubes that once held condoms now prop up Milky Ways and potato chips....

DENVER -- Whether Oklahoma voters approve a spending-limits proposal known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights next year could hinge on what happens next month in Colorado. Colorado voters will decide Nov. 1 whether to suspend the state's landmark cap on state and local spending, known by the acronym TABOR, and the result is expected to resonate in at least a dozen states now considering similar legislation and ballot initiatives. In some states, the Colorado vote already is being used to sway voters. The fact that Colorado is even considering Referendum C, which would overturn TABOR for five years, shows...

Some Things Never Change...      

This weekend's catastrophic earthquake in South Asia in the wake of recent U.S. hurricanes and December's tsunami is catching the eye of televangelist Pat Robertson, who says we "might be" in the End Times described in the Bible. "These things are starting to hit with amazing regularity," Robertson said on CNN's "Late Edition."

LISTEN, Libertarian! By Tim Condon October 9, 2005 Libertarians are such losers. I know, this is not a way to endear myself to them, even when my best friends are all libertarian or near-libertarian. But success is staring them in the face, and a significant proportion of them deploy massive brainpower and argument to make sure that nothing ever gets better. It's incredible. LISTEN, libertarian! It's over 30 years later, and we're still hearing endless platitudes that keep us from gaining political power in the service of individual freedom. "All we need to do is a better job at selling...

President Bush again used his informational advantage when nominating Harriet E. Miers to the Supreme Court. Bush administration members know what both Ms. Miers and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. think about the constitutional issues most likely to come before the court. Democrats in Congress and the public do not, and are not likely to learn more. By nominating people whose views are known only to administration insiders, the president is best understood as trying to influence the direction of the Supreme Court without having to reveal his constitutional commitments or take political responsibility for advancing a constitutional vision....

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A sign urging the customers of a San Rafael business not to hire day laborers has angered and frustrated local workers, who say it's making it harder for them to find a job. But employees of U-Haul on East Francisco Boulevard who posted the sign say they're only trying to protect their customers - and themselves - from the risks involved in hiring undocumented workers. The large cardboard sign, on display in the moving company's customer service area for the past three days, reads "Please do not hire illegal laborers. We have had numerous reports of injuries, thefts and damages...